December 2003 Archives

Paul Westerberg - Come Feel Me Tremble (Vagrant) [mp3] [upcoming shows]

Last year's double shot, Stereo/Mono, broke Grandpa's long, embarrassing losing streak (89 - 99), by finally leaving behind the studio sheen & pop star dreams. Come Feel Me Tremble picks up right where those records left off. Westy seems to have found his best self again, in these short, crunchy & raw, rock & roll numbers. Songs like Knockin' Em Back ('I'm drinking once again, to make the pills kick in") & "Dirty Diesel" are as fun as anything in the back catalog, and "Crackle and Drag" is just as moving. It would be hard to ask for more.

Camarosmith - Camarosmith (Dead Teenager Records) [mp3s] [upcoming shows]

Wicked band name for a bunch of sun-baked stoners from, where else, Seattle. The band features Zeke's former rhythm section and slogs it's way through a baker's dozen '70s-influenced hard rock anthems (notice the band's homage to Black Sabbath on the CD cover). Camarosmith may very well be the missing link between Seattle grunge (Soundgarden, Mudhoney) and Seattle stoner rock (Queens of the Stone Age, Alta May) as evidenced by the fist pumping, devil-horn throwing rockers "SOS," "714" and "Sell Out."

Yo La Tengo - Today is the Day EP (Matador Records) [mp3] [upcoming shows]

Given that the first three tracks on this EP are "Painful"-style balls of beautiful fuzz-rock, there's a part of me that hopes Yo La Tengo is trying to tell us that they're turning back the clock. Taken as a whole, though, it's more of a signal that they'll never give up anything. Spanning the aforementioned fuzz buzz to acoustic melancholy, with a dash of spaghetti-western funk and freak-out reedwork, Today is the Day is a solid little overview of the sounds YLT has made its own thus far.