Sunday Sonance at the Raven Cafe in Port Huron

Join yours truly and Franck for tunes, food and drinks at the Raven Cafe in Port Huron. We've been doing this the first Sunday of every month for almost a year and out of any of the nights I get to spin tunes for the general public it's one of my favorites.

PSYCHEDELIC HORSESHIT "Too Many Hits" 2x7inch EP

With people going around claiming the newest Flaming Lips being a "return to form" I looked forward to hearing it. When I did it had me figuring that return to form everyone was taking about was sadly sublime & the brooding/pretty pastorals) or it's follow up Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (which, save for 2 or maybe 3 songs, is nothing but a bunch of unfinished ideas and sound effects. Oh boy! There was talk of them making a Broadway musical out of it) and not, say,(two personal favorites) or those albums way back when they were on Restless that expanded my head and primed my brain when it was much younger and fiending for such things during it's waking hours. Not "You got to listen to the album start to end. It's the only way to feel it man!"
What? That's people used to me about listening to a to a Pink Floyd album. Dammit! I want Pink Floyd that bummed out all the "real music fans" in my high school. The freaking out and falling apart Syd Barrett Pink Floyd-not the conceptual jazz rock put your headphones and fall to sleep Pink Floyd.
Because of this it's good to have the hippie harshing, bad tripping, cranky and rat trap sounds of Psychedelic Horseshit around. Some would consider listening to them on headphones would be a test of endurance and if you fell asleep with them playing everyone would then find out if you can die in your dreams or not. Comparing Matt Horseshit to Lord Syd or St. Coyne might make some gasp and think that I don't really even listen to music anymore but once what I thought was an off handed observation, not to forget to mention on their Shitgaze Anthems rec there was a song titled, "We're Pink Floyd, Bitch" seems more sensical every day.
Songs that would be the basis of pastoral sound paintings in other hands though get shook of the walls and trampled underfoot like broken glass. When it's time for a loud and weird rock-n-roll unlike other bands who will gussy it up with prerecorded sound effects and electronic gadgets to twist the sound Psychedelic Horseshit would rather just have play a Shop-Vac as a set of bagpipes (or maybe that isn't a Shop-Vac and it isn't suppose to sound like bagpipes it's just the way the hiss and screech affects these eardrums) and have someone fire off a shotgun full of buckshot at a metal garbage can (figuratively and possibly literally). Anchored by Matt's half asleep/all the way smug & phlegmy vocals, shitbox "is that even in tune" guitar sound and chug-chug like Velvet Underground rhythms the 8 songs spread over 4 sides here don't drift far from the path they've stumbled through on their previous records but as also with each consecutive there seems to be a tendency more and more towards something that resembles, dare I say it, actual pop songs with discernible melodies. Something that resembles such but also far from it and just not right. With this band there shouldn't ever be any other way.
http://columbusdiscountrecords.com/
Smashin' Transistors interview with Psychedelic Horseshit from a couple years back

North Peak Diabolical IPA

Ya gotta really dig the whole retro throwback package that this brew presents. The label design is clean, simple & fun (after all, they've do have a jackalope on the label here) and the stubby bottles give off the feeling that you're drinking something from Michigan (in this case Traverse City) for Michigan , not national, brewery that your grandpa used to swear by before progress and commodification made it closed it's door for good. This looks a bit darker than usual compared most IPA's that get poured into the glass around the Smashin' Transistors digs.
Quite a dark amber shade to it. The head is light and study taking it's time to melt away leaving a thick and sticky lacing behind. The scent is very earthy with pepper with a burst of lemon peel.
A tart hop bite jumps out a bit in the first sip. Though it is definitely a Michigan take on the IPA style with it's grassy & pine notes nuances there are things about the particular bitters here that might remind some of an ESB. The malt backbone stands strong bringing a smokey & toffee meatiness to the affair. This medium body brew finishes with a nice mix of the flavors about. Bitter but not too sticky.
I've turned some of my fellow IPA pals onto this after stumbling across it last month and all of them have agreed that it's unique in it's approach with comments like "It's like they pushed it as far as they could without it being considered a DIPA" to "One of the best IPA's I've ever tasted."
I'm cool with turning them on to something that's new and brewed in this state but also worrying that now that others are discovering it'll be harder to find in this city where craft beers are already hard to find (well, except for Bells but you can find the even in the giant grocery stores now). The store where I initially found it at has been out of stock of it for a couple weeks now. I had to drive 45 miles to score this particular 6 pack. If it wasn't for that I'd already be considering this one of my "go to" IPA's.
http://www.northpeak.net/

Short's Uncle Steve's Irish Stout

Since they started bottling their beer earlier this year Bellaire, Michigan brewery Shorts has jumped into the ring and really started swinging. Earlier this month they introduced eight new bottle beers to a statewide market and POOF most of them were gone for shelves in days. Though us here at Smashin' Transistors thought we were being diligent with our beer hunting we missed out on a couple of them (if anyone has a line on the wet hopped Kind ale drop me a note please) but we're able to snag a few-Uncle Steve's Irish Stout being one of them.
Deep, rich mahogany in color. Holding it up to the light though dark ruby highlights shine though. A very healthy, rocky and reddish head hangs on for a quite a bit and leaves lots of thick lacing behind. The scent is roasted & biscuity but on the sweeter ends of things. Reminds me of brownies to some extent.
Dark rich malts and bakers chocolate flavors are the first to introduce themselves in the flavors. In the middle it takes on something akin to dark fruits and green apple. The finish is quite interesting with a cool balance between the malt and hops but still finishes with a dryness that is expected from any proper Irish stout. Short's nails it again with taking an age old recipe, putting their own twist on it but not tweaking or overdoing it too much.
http://www.shortsbrewing.com/

Dale's Pale Ale

First off, let me get this out of the way because I see it in every blurb, article and piece on Oskar Blues beer brands I look it. A good beer in a can? We all know there is those certain connotations and stigmas that canned beer carry but when your going to the beach, fishing, going out in a canoe, sticking a sled in the back of the car to go bombs some newly snowed on hills, wanna throw a couple in your back pack before you hop on the back of your bike and ride somewhere and so on-cans work those situations much easier. Oskar Blues is fulfilling a need and service with their transport vessel of choice.
Out of the can it pours a fairly see through rich copper color and a study one inch head. As the foam fades a healthy amount of lacing is left along the glass. The color and consistency of it make it look a bit more full flavored and robust than some other brews that fall under the APA umbrella. Looking at it and thinking maybe it's an IPA just acting modest. It's a great looking beer. Earthy and citrus hops aromas are the first thing to the scent. It's followed by the scents of honey, biscuits & honey and caramel. Scent also gives off an IPA impression too. If it tastes half as good as it looks & smells it should be a real treat can or not.
First impression from tasting is how full and fluffy it feels. Not much in carbonation but still very lively. Nice sweet mix of a peppery hop bite and honey in the flavor upfront. The malt backbone takes the bite off with a sweet caramel flavor pulling the brew together for a warming feeling and a mellow somewhat wood aged spice.
You can't get these in my parts and my little sis sent some of these my way along with some of the Imperial stout, Ten Fiddy, that Oskar Blues makes and some other brews (Racer 5, Saint Arnolds, some winter warmers). I'll be keeping busy sampling some things I don't usually get to sip. My little sis RULES! A good beer in a can? Nope! A really, really good beer whether it came out of a can, a bottle or even at the end of a water spigot is what I'm thinking.
http://www.oskarblues.com/

BARE WIRES "Let Down" 7inch

Sounding something like an Americanized Swell Maps or a less incorrigible version of the Fall (even in the Brix period) the Bare Wires take fuzzy/popish lo-fi bedroom punk and give a good "my parent won't be home til later" romp that a slew of the such ilk seem to be to shy to do.
"Let Down" is straight ahead with it's rolling riff of jangle, "tick, tick, boom" drum sound and the kinda reedy but honest and assertive voice that many of these kinda of records have had and have made them good for so many years. Throw in a tone overdriven needles pinned in the red nod to James Williamson guitar solo and you've got a song that you could possibly find yourself humming days later and thinking "What the hell song is that?"
Best described as a wolf in sheep's clothing side two's "Looking For Action" starts out sounding like some pretty psych-folk weeper. It lures you into a world of of pretty sound float away sound then it bares it's fangs and throws hot bacon grease at your ears with a RRRWWWRR of more of that hot mess guitar noise that leaves a welt.
http://www.myspace.com/milknherpes

SHARP ENDS "Crack Trap" 7inch

With a rumbling bassline and a choppy guitar side one from this Alberta band, "Crack Trap", resembles Joy Division who if they looked out their window didn't see the gray industrial decay that was their city but prairies, mountain and trees. Musical vistas that are more wide and rambling than fogged claustrophobia. It give the song a bit more of scruffy and well worn jean jacket comfortableness than a cumbersome stiff and bulky trench coat. Glacial but not foreboding.
"Loaded Hearts" is the flipside meaning more than just the song on the other side of the record. If the other side could be described as icy-here a blast of heat melts that away. It leaps out through the speakers with slashy guitar ala the first Generation X album while general feeling of the song is a lost teen angst 60's nugget blaster sharing it's bed with some late 70's DIY post-punker. The sound of the two tug & push for dominance making the scuffle an exercise in poisoned soul piss & vinegar and introspective recollections of spite & revenge.
http://www.myspace.com/sharpends

New Holland Cabin Fever

Cabin Fever. After the the last day or two of actual Michigan winter weather rolling in the feeling that such an epidemic coming forth is expected so might as well treat it with some beer, huh?
Though this is a brown ale color wise it could be described as dark ruby in color. Very minimal head but a white rim that leaves a running lacing that slides right back down into the brew. A very sweet and warm aroma. Malts obviously along with roasted almonds, black cherry and butter cream come to mind when giving it a sniff.
The top of the flavor as well as the feeling in the mouth has an almost milk stout characteristic to it. Sorta thick and sweet is the first impression then it is followed up with something akin to raisin toast without all the cinnamon. It finishes with a slight hop tinge and even it being only 6% abv has a bit of alcohol warmness that fills the body. Such things are welcomed on cold, cold nights like the one I can see out my window as I sit and type this.
To these tastebuds a lot of brown ales have a gritty and well, browness, to them that I can only hang with for one of two glasses. With Cabin Fever I'm in the middle of my second bottle and considering having a third before I hit the hay.
http://www.newhollandbrew.com/

A New Years DAY Rock-n-Roll Houseparty

Not too sure if it's cure all for a hangover but it'll be rockin' time with The Jetty Boys, Smackmadam and the Roman Line none the less.

LOVE CITY "EP" 7inch EP and LOVE COLLECTOR "My Baby Goes Waaah!" 7inch EP

There's plenty of dumb opening lines that could start off this review. A mention of there being a whole lotta love going on or saying something like "Looks we got a double shot of love here." The truth of the matter is though that since I was preoccupied with other things for months now that my review duties here have been neglected and I'm playing a lot of catch up. Gotta pare down the backlog some way or another so why not find some creative ways of combining some of the reviews together into one post. Two bands of LOVE seemed so obvious. While listening to both records back to back though it seems that a 2nd nuance with the theme starts to rise to the top as both bands show a love for the sounds of the 60's but neither of them showing much time for silly nostalgia.
Hailing from Philly, Pa., a town which both holds the distinction of being the called both "The City Of Brotherly Love" and "Hostile City", Love City do the haunting and possibly disturbed garage rock thing in a Lollipop Shoppe/13th Floor Elevators vein. They also lay down a lot of spine chilling organ sound through all 4 songs. They definitely have immersed themselves in the sights and sounds of the era but, thankfully, haven't thrown themselves completely head first into "Music died in '67" purist kind of way. Not restricting themselves to that gutter they end up being reminiscent of something like Love if they came along during the 90's trash rock 7inch explosion.
Hailing from Austin it sounds like Love Collector has spent their time listening to both some of the grimy Texas trash like the Motards (or hell even going back farther Huns and Bobby Soxx) AND 60's Brit RnB merchants the Downliner Sect. Guit/vox man Shaun Carpetbagger leads a spazz-snot charge into punk rock to pogo to, rock-n-roll to drive fast to and garage rock to fuel any night where at least a case of cheap and getting warm beer here. Those records are always the best to blast when the day is pissing you off. Put this on and knock lamps off endtables.
http://www.myspace.com/lovecityband
http://www.myspace.com/lovecollectorband

New Holland The Poet

In the winter time I tend to not get very excited about most Christmas ales and Winter Warmers. There's a few here and there but for the most part I end up feeling disappointed by them and wondering why I paid so much for them (esp. considering some run upwards to $15 a sixer or $10 or more for a bomber in some cases.) Nothing against them-I know it's a matter of taste. My diversions from my standard favorite style's in the cold months tend to lean towards a porter here and there, the occasional Scotch ale and all the different ways stouts are made.
Michigan is in really bad economic shape these days. Over 15% percent unemployment say most recent reports. In an attempt to keep as much money possible in this state I try to go for things made here first before I venture into other places wares. My first stout of this season was Mt. Pleasant's Steam Engine Stout. My second is this oatmeal stout out of city of Holland.
Very dark brown in color but when held up to the light auburn shades come through. Nice half inch head that dissipates fairly quickly leaving a spotty cloud on top and a lacing that builds more and more along side of the glass as the beer is drank. The aroma is very chocolaty malted up front with underlying notes of oatmeal and coffee. The chocolate characteristics are not over bearing and the oatmeal and coffee nuances work very nicely with it.
A very rich and roasted malt & coffee flavor is the backbone of it's taste. There a slight bit of smokiness in there that compliments a sweet dark chocolate and oat demeanor through the middle. It finishes with a slight hop tinge that brings the whole thing together with simple but nice complexity. The amount of carbonation here is nice too making the beer somewhat more effervescent than a lot of other oatmeal stouts but not enough to make it too fizzy. Because of this, and not too boozy 5 and a half percent abv, it's the kind of stout one could drink all day without getting too blown out while watching the snow fall outside.
http://newhollandbrew.com/

R. Stevie Moore "U.R. True" 7inch EP

Most people who have heard of R. Stevie Moore probably first heard of him in the late 70's and on through the 80's in magazines like Trouser Press and Op. It was through those years that he became a major figure in DIY cassette culture world but his musical career started decades earlier when his voice was heard on a Jim Reeves song in 1959. Most folks of his vintage, if they're even still playing music these days, have relaxed into an box of oldies but goodies or go out there and fancy themselves as preaching the blues (as long as that blues is Clapton or SRV. Mention, say, Son House, Ma Rainey or even Leadbelly to a lot of those type of dudes and blank stares are usually expected rather than any lesson in American roots music). On the other hand Moore is still at making the type of sounds that have gotten him dubbed a "lo-fi legend" in places more hoity toity than the page you are reading right now.
It doesn't say on the record what year these songs were recorded but it doesn't really matter cuz Mr. Moore has always been a man out of his time. The ramshakle tape deck still rolls and out comes a conglomeration of things that he was doing over 25 years ago that today are pegged as Bedroom Pop & Weird Punk. Nervous new wave collides with Hawkwind on "U. R. True". It's followed by "How Many Moore" which is anchored by a lunkhead hard rock riff and the mental image of Lemmy Kilmister inviting you to join him in one of those inflatable bouncy castles.
"Advertising Agency Of Fucking" brings 60's melody wrapped in a blanket of peak limited tape hiss and "Oh Pat" finishing off the record resembling Syd Barrett if his sense of humor leaned more to slapstick than whimsy.
http://www.wtv-zone.com/rsmko

DONALD THOMPSON "Bite My Ass" 7inch EP

A few years ago I put a whole slew of late 90's/early 00's records up on eBay. Hellacopters, Turbonegro, Glucifer and so on. A friend of mine joked telling me that I was to ahead of the "Rawk" revival curve and that I should've hung on to those records a few more years to make a real killing off them. Listening to this record by Donald Thompson I'm wondering if they're way ahead or way behind the RAWK revival curve.
The name drop touchstones with these type of bands always end's up being Iggy and the Stooges "Raw Power" and Bon Scott era AC/DC. Both incredible rock-n-roll bands. The former rips your head off, sounds like it was recorded under the most messed up of situations and is about to blow up in a million pieces at any second. It either lures you into wanting try the most dangerous of illicit substances or scare you away from them forever. The latter took the templates of blues and the originators of rock-n-roll boiled it down to it's basics then souped it up with a Marshall stack swagger that the generations beforehand could only dream of. The rub is though is that a lot of the RAWK bands that have followed and used such things as their base pallet since seem to want to refine it taking out the impurities and grubbiness and replacing it with just flash (but not stoned out of their gourd make up applications) and baseball hats. Recklessness gets substituted with studying. Big dick swinging attitude bad assery finds itself switched out for cucumber stuff down the pants contrived arrogance. It fills a void the way a McDonalds hamburger fills hunger pangs. It's not exactly what you were craving but it'll have to fill the spot until something better is put in the gut. Donald Thompson do RAWK and maybe their hearts are in the right place and they have the best intentions but if they actually ROCK is a whole 'nother discussion.
http://www.myspace.com/donthompsonband

MOON DUO "Killing Time" 12inch

If the Wooden Shjips are an earthy and organic pillar when it comes to drone out head music that you could groove to then the Moon Duo, a side project featuring the Shjips main man Ripley Johnson, are a clandestine rocketship sauntering towards the stars. Soundwise there are parallels between the two such as disjointed and reverbed almost to the point of incomprehensible infinity vocals and peas soup thick guitar fuzz but where the Wooden Shjips set adrift their sound washing over the ears and sparkling the Moon Duo are straight jettison full of glare.
A backbeat sounding like beach blanket Motorik sets the tone for this record on the opening title track. It's followed by "Speed" where a spiky organ sound possibly lifted from Deep Purple blares and guitar noise ungulates then is joined in towards the end by milky way bound blues harmonica.
Both songs on side two are all about a floating in space with feeling with "Dead West" sci-fi keyboard line and "Ripples" doing just that with a Spacemen 3 having a nice lazy day in the sun sound instrumental.
It's hard to find good modern head trip music. All the modern hippies try to prescribe something that ends all noodly so you can't really veg out too because it's too damn busy and the intellectual stoners want to play you something that sounds like the aural equivalent of watching paint dry. "Killing Time" is an antidote for both of them.
http://www.myspace.com/moonduo

Mt. Pleasant Steam Engine Stout

After picking up a 6 six of this I went over to a friend's house who attended college in Mount Pleasant at CMU. They still go out there to visit several times a year and seemed surprise to learn that the city had it's own brew pub let alone one that was bottling it's beer and selling it around the rest of Michigan. We checked around on the web for a few before cracking the bottles open. We became a little hesitant because some of the opinions of the beer they weren't the most glowing. The more we looked around though we noticed that the more positive reviews were of more recent vintage so maybe they figured out whatever the problems were and rectified them.
Steam Engine Stout is very, very dark in color. Almost black actually if it wasn't for the slight bit of light that peeks around the edges giving the look a bit of a brown luminescent glow. A inch head melts away pretty quickly and leaves minimal lacing behind.
Chocolate and smoke can be detected in the scent but neither of them really jump out. It takes a couple of deep whiff's to detect them but while doing so there's also something akin to blackberries that comes out as well. There is a bit more going on in the flavor department though. Roasted malt is on the front end followed by dark chocolate and ends with a slight hoppiness.
The brew itself is a bit thinner than some of the other stouts I've been leaning towards in stouts but it's not wimpy and fizzy like a Guinness or anything which made go down pretty easy and quite sessionable.
If you're looking for a big and burly stout that'll grow hair on you knuckles thicker than a national forest this may not be one to reach for (which is maybe where some of the poo-poo'd reviews we read came from) but if you're looking for a solid winter stout that you can drink a few of at a time in these cold winter month this might just be one that hit's the spot.
http://www.mtpleasantbrew.com/