Bob Mould to play “Copper Blue” in its entirety February 24 at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco

Holy mackerel, did I read that post on the official Bob Mould Facebook page right on January 11 that he is going to play “Copper Blue” in its entirety February 24 at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco? Oh my …

Folks, there are records that have been created over the years that had an incredible influence on me, maybe not from the perspective of inspiring me to create music of my own but albums that helped shaped my philosophy and path in life. Never Mind the Bollocks from the Sex Pistols. Nevermind from Nirvana. This is the Voice from Agent Orange. Murder in a Foreign Place from M.I.A. Rocket to Russia from the Ramones. Ocean Rain from Echo and the Bunnymen. There are several albums in my collection that I consider to be bigger favorites of mine, but this post is about music that has shaped my life. And one of those albums has to be the debut from one of my all-time favorite bands, Sugar.

Best songs of 2011

Hello folks,

There is one more critical topic to address when discussing the best in music from 2011 – songs. In a world where most people download singles now from iTunes, Amazon and other resources, strong singles become even more significant since too many people do not possess the patience to listen to an entire album. This is both unfortunate and pathetic but since that seems to be the case with most listeners great songs become even more important for an artist to generate any revenue.

A disclaimer about this list! I consider a song to be one created for the year when it appears on an official album or EP release in 2011. This will explain the inclusion of a song I have heard live since 2010 or even before that in one instance on this list. The Musings has established the rules, I abide by them.

Here are my picks for Best Songs of 2011. For those of you wondering how I could continuously say Elbow is the greatest band in the world yet not vote build a rocket boys! my Album of the Year or the October Los Angeles show at the Greek Theater Concert of the Year … well, I think I will make those people happy now. Once again, we start with #10:

Best Concerts of 2011

Hello everybody,

Another great year of shows my friends! This was a tougher Top Ten to come up with than last year, especially my Top Five. Five of the bands that made the Top Ten are bands I grew up listening to, including one band I never had a chance to see during its original heyday in the mid-eighties. Punk rock was a heavy component of this year’s list. The unique characteristic of this list is this is the first time a classical concert was my top pick for the year.

If the show has been hyperlinked I did a review for the concert earlier in the year for The Musings. I really sucked in regards to posting in 2011, only four postings. Also, I only listed the primary band of the evening that solidified the pick for me, but either the hyperlinked review or the brief review on this post will list the support.

Thanks to SilverPlatter.info for all you have done for me in the past two years with shows, luck forward to another great year! Please visit this website folks, best site on the web for venue and show information here in the Valley of the Sun.

Here we go, starting with #10!

Tfronky’s contribution to the annual Stinkweeds Best Of book

Hello everybody!

The end of 2011 is tomorrow and that means many things. Time to wrap up this sorry excuse for a year (loss of a job, loss of respect for several schmuckos and the loss of six family members from both sides) and get ready for what I think will be a great New Year. However, new music did not suffer at all and there were some killer new releases in 2011. This was the second year in a row I have had the opportunity to contribute to the Stinkweeds annual Best of book.

Since I already completed a brief review of each album for the book I just copied those entries into this post. If I happened to review the album on the Stinkweeds reviews page those will be linked on the name of the album. The list is in order from #10 to #1 and I am very stoked my two favorite local bands made this list.

So without further adieu, here we go, starting with my #10 pick. Enjoy!

X and a slew of other great artists come to Tempe this Friday, December 9 at Club Red

Hello everyone,

Usually I do a monthly post about upcoming concerts for the month but I will be honest; December is kind of a crap month. Fatigo will be at Hollywood Alley December 9, CAKE will be at the Marquee Theater and the 10th Annual Joe Strummer Memorial Show at George and Dragon both happen on December 10, Brian Setzer will be at Marquee on December 13, Jimmy Eat World will be at the Crescent Ballroom December 23 and Courtney Marie Andrews will also be at Crescent on December 28. Maybe musicians don’t like performing during the holidays.

However, there is one GYNORMOUS show happening this coming Friday! Right now Chameleons Vox, Black Swan Lane and The Captives at the Rhythm Room, the live rendering of The Fellowship of the Ring at Jobing.com, Agent Orange and the Father Figures at The Modified, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Bear Hands and Royal Bangs at the Crescent Ballroom and Elbow and DeVotchKa at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles rank as my top shows of the year. Friday could very easily surpass those concerts due to a ridiculous line-up of seven great bands.

Source Victoria CD release party for “Slow Luck” at the Crescent Ballroom 11-25-2011

Hello friends,

I know some of you are thinking, “Seriously, another Source Victoria post”? First, F you. Second, did you really think after all the posts leading up to the show that I wouldn’t write a review of the show?

Yep, I have been psyched about this show since word got out that the album was finally done and the release party date was set. I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a copy of the disc early so I could post a review of Slow Luck prior to the show. I had the opportunity to interview singer/guitarist/songwriter Brendan Murphy a week and a half before the show to gain some more insight to the making of Slow Luck and the overriding theme of the album. But I got to a point when I just wanted the show to arrive so everyone else would have the opportunity to get the disc for themselves and watch the band perform songs from the album live. Needless to say the Crescent Ballroom crowd was not disappointed!

Interview with Brendan Murphy of Source Victoria

Hello everybody,

Yes, I know the picture is a little grainy. I have told you before,  I write, my photography skills can aptly be described as “pathetic”. Deal with it or take a better picture at the Slow Luck CD release show November 25.

I had the pleasure of spending a couple of hours on Tuesday, November 15 with Brendan Murphy, singer/guitarist/songwriter for one of my favorite local bands Source Victoria. Let’s be honest here, this five-some has steadily become one of my favorite bands – period. I love their mesh of indie rock and dreampop, go to a lot of their shows and have been chomping at the bit for their third release Slow Luck for about 20 months now.

Brendan is the real deal folks, no rock star BS here. The first time I saw these guys play at the Rogue Bar opening for Adam Franklin back in January 2010 he GAVE me a copy of the band’s second release The Fast Escape. I wanted to buy it; he said “no, just promise me you’ll come see us again if you like it.” I did not like the disc, I absolutely loved it. We have become friends the past couple of years and I have come to respect this man as a genuinely good individual that just so happens to be the frontman for a very cool band.

A good indicator of a good interview is the fact I had the recorder going for about 47 minutes before even asking the guy my first official question. We spent that time talking about bands, concerts we had been to, sports and work. It was a perfect way to break the ice and get comfortable with one another. It laid the foundation for an amazing interview.

There is a lot from the time Brendan and I spoke that WON’T be in this transcript. Simply put, I discovered some things, very positive things, that I feel should be kept between two friends rather than being put out there for anyone to read. All I will say is this; I had a lot of respect for Brendan Murphy already but that increased exponentially by the time we were done.

Plus, the guy makes a mean cup of java. So without further adieu, I hope you enjoy this written portrait about Source Victoria and the creation of their outstanding new release Slow Luck.

Source Victoria delivers its strongest effort yet with the release of “Slow Luck”

Source Victoria - "Cactus" (Photo credit: Lindsay Piccinati Murphy)

Hello everybody,

Since this post is going live on Saturday, November 19, that means there is only six more days before the Slow Luck CD release show at the Crescent Ballroom next Friday November 25, the day after Thanksgiving. I am going to be real honest folks, there were three albums that came out this year that I suffered from impatience waiting for the official release date: Father Figures – Lesson Number One; Elbow – build a rocket boys!; Source Victoria – Slow Luck. All three times I have been extremely happy once I had the finished product in my hands. The only thing I have to figure out with the latest release from Source Victoria is where on my Stinkweeds Best Albums Top Ten List Slow Luck will land.

Tfronky’s choices for favorite female vocalists

I couldn’t sleep Tuesday night so turned on the iPod. I wanted to listen to something mellow so rather than simply set the iPod on Shuffle I went through the Artist list to find some appropriate music. I had not listened to The Sundays in quite some time so picked them. Holy cow, I forget just how incredible of a vocalist Harriet Wheeler was! Listening to those songs inspired this post because the music world has been blessed with some dynamite female vocalists over the years. Some of them deliver a beautiful style of music, some deliver a more aggressive style of vocals. ALL of them have powerful voices that continue to resonate for years.

Tfronky’s concert picks for November in the Valley of the Sun

Hello everybody,

I can’t believe we are already up to November of this year. 2011 went by WAY too fast. There are plenty of great shows this month, one that features one-half of one of my all-time favorite bands, two CD release shows from a couple of great local bands, a band performing that features a member of the Sunnyslope Crew that I have known since grade school and the return of my favorite FatCat Records band after a great show at the Rhythm Room last year. I will miss a few of these because I will be in Seattle November 9-14, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings one night, The Appleseed Cast another and lots of coffee in between. The weather is finally getting nice, a perfect opportunity to get out of the house and enjoy some good shows around town. Anyway, here we go!