I’ve been spinning tracks by San Pedro’s Minutemen all day, since it was 27 years ago today (12/22) that lead singer, D. Boon, died in a car wreck. Minutemen were such an important band to me and my cohort back in the early 1980s. They were a band that cut through the image-centered video-centric MTV acts that dominated the music scene, with a healthy dose of punk rock … [Read more...] about Song Of The Day – “This Ain’t No Picnic” by Minutemen
Post Punk
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “The Nights Of Wine And Roses” by Japandroids
Looking back at the 2012 Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, it was full of outstanding new music mostly performed by artists I had never heard of. Clearly, that is what makes Pitchfork one of the coolest festivals on the planet. One of the standouts was Canada’s Japandroids, a Husker Du-ish duo consisting of Brian King on guitar and David Prowse on drums who steamrollered all … [Read more...] about Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “The Nights Of Wine And Roses” by Japandroids
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Johnny Carson” by Das Damen
Das Damen was an alternative band from New Jersey who was originally signed in 1986 by Thurston Moore (of Sonic Youth) to his record label. The band consisted of Jim Walters and Alex Totino on vocals and guitar, Phil Leopold von Trapp on bass and vocals and Lyle Hysen on drums. They recorded throughout the late 80s and early 90s mostly for the SST record label which was also … [Read more...] about Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Johnny Carson” by Das Damen
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “I Felt Like A Gringo” by Minutemen
From San Pedro, California came this trio that were so ferocious in concert and so spot-on with their message and "econo" motive, they couldn’t help but transform the people they played before. One such transformed audience member was yours truly, who was lucky enough to witness this band do their thing four times. For the uninitiated, the Minutemen were D. Boon on guitar and … [Read more...] about Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “I Felt Like A Gringo” by Minutemen
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Plateau” by Meat Puppets
Psychedelic desert post-punk rock from one of the best bands on the influential SST record label. Brothers Curt Kirkwood (guitar/vocals), Cris Kirkwood (bass) and Derrick Bostrom hailed from Arizona and burst onto the scene in the early '80s as a hardcore punk band. Indeed their first record was loaded with fast tempos, pounding drums and indecipherable vocals. They then began … [Read more...] about Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Plateau” by Meat Puppets