Strung Out
Prototypes and Painkillers
So Cal punks Strung Out give fans much more than just the odds-and-ends on this compilation disc. In addition to old demos and cover songs, “Prototypes and Painkillers” makes a home for 17 year’s worth of material that has ended up on various split 7 inches, Fat Wreck Chords samplers, and limited edition CDs.
Had the band been a bit more discriminate in their 25 song track listing, they easily could have put out a 12-song album to rival any of their studio releases. As it stands, the record has plenty of polished moments, while still showing just how far the band has come since their early days.
“Protypes” also shows how many great songs the band wrote in the early 2000’s. Standout tracks “Don’t Look Back,” “Your Worst Mistake,”and “Lost Motel” all came from the “An American Paradox” sessions. The album also features a very impressive acoustic reworking of “Velvet Alley” from “Paradox.”
Though is album is intended for long-time fans, there’s plenty for those Strung Out newcomers to get excited about.
Strung Out - Lost Motel
For fans of: 10 Foot Pole, Guttermouth
Rating: 3.5 of 4
The Thermals
Now We Can See
What’s awesome about the Thermals? Oh, so much. Hutch Harris’s deadpan vocal delivery and pounded power chords. Kathy Foster’s 1-2-3-4 drums and cool synth lines. And most of all, the band’s youthful irreverence.
What’s wrong with “Now We Can See?” The passion seems to be missing. Though the songs are pretty good, they are devoid of the righteous rebellion that makes The Thermals so great. That’s not to say this album is a throwaway. “I Let it Go” and “Now We Can See” are great, catchy tunes. “When We Were Alive” is a fuzzed-out punk rock gem and “When I Was Afraid” is perfectly moody.
Harris’s lyrics also continue to impress. One of the highlights comes on “When I Died,” when he sings “The earth was too hot/The air was too thin/I took off my clothes/I took off my skin/I crawled to the sea/That was calling for me.”
But much like tracks “At the Bottom of the Sea” and “Liquid In, Liquid,” the album struggles under a heavy weight of resignation. Let’s hope these 30-year-olds get over their musical midlife crisis.
The Thermals - I Let it Go
For fans of: The Hold Steady, Against Me!
Rating: 3 of 4
I like NOFX for the same reason I get sucked into CSI:Miami—even if you only check in once every couple of years, the story still makes sense. You get an hour of entertainment and then you’re free to get on with your day.
With their 13th studio album, the band also celebrates their 25-year anniversary (and encourages fans to use their CDs as coasters). This NOFX episode is all about singer Fat Mike’s raging alcoholism and drug abuse. Fortunately, these addictions haven’t dulled his razor-sharp wit. He jokes about going to the bar at 6:00 a.m. (“First Call”), forgetting all the good times (“I AM an Alcoholic”), and asking Tegan or Sara (he’s not sure which) where he can score pills (“Creeping Out Sara”).
The rest of record contains standard NOFX fare—hating corporate America (“We Called It America,” “Suits and Ladders”) and Jesus (“Blasphemy,” “Best God in Show”). There is, however, a rare moment of sincerity (“My Orphan Years”) when Fat Mike laments the passing of his parents.
After 25 years, NOFX are enjoying the best of both punk rock worlds—musically they’re tighter than ever and socially they still act like 15-year-olds. Here’s to another quarter century!
NOFX - Creeping Out Sara
For fans of: Lagwagon, Pennywise
Rating: 3.5 of 4
The Offspring just don't get no respect. They've never been cool like Green Day or teenage heartthrobs like Blink 182. (This could certainly be due to tracks like "Pretty Fly For a White Guy" or singer Dexter Holland's awful braided hair in the '90s). But the reality is that they've consistently churned out hit after hit for 15 years.
This was made abundantly clear at USANA Amphitheatre Friday night. The set list played like a greatest hits album as the weathered So Cal punks blistered through fan favorites past and present.
The foursome opened up with 2008's "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid" and 1994's expletive-filled sing-along "Bad Habit" and didn't slow down for the next 30 minutes—when Dexter Holland made the only rockstar indulgence of the night, rolling out a piano for a solo performance of "Gone Away." (Though it was a nice change of pace, it was far from a masterful reworking of the great song.)
The biggest chunk of older songs came from 1998's "Americana," including "Staring at the Sun," "Pretty Fly," and the album's title track. But the band was not afraid of busting out new materials as well. In addition to "Go Far, Kid," the band rifled through "Hammerhead," and "Kristy, Are You Doing Okay?" all of which were show highlights.
The show's best moment, however, came when every person in the crowd shouted along to every word to "Self Esteem," the most popular song to ever use the word "dweeb." Who would have thought that song would still be so good after 15 years?
I thought this state was supposed to be conservative. You’d think it’d be easy enough to get a hold of an edited copy of Eminem’s “Relapse.” Nope.
I’m going to review it for IN and I figured I could eliminate some of the disgustingness with a clean copy. I knew I could find one at Wal-Mart, but I despise Wal-Mart. So I headed to Best Buy. They had 8,000 copies of the album, but none edited. Same thing at Target. So I gave in and went to Wal-Mart. Three stores in one night is quite a task for one dad and two kids.
Out of all the CDs surrounding us in our travels, Paige was of course able to find stuff she likes everywhere we went. Somehow she managed to get a hold of “Andre Rieu Live in Vienna,” “Two Tongues,” and “Now That’s What I Call Music 29,” which contains her current favorite song, Katy Perry’s “Hot and Cold,” or as she calls it, “Your Hoppin’ You’re Cold.” (The second she saw it she immediately started singing, “Your hoppin’ your cold/You’re yes and you’re no…”)
I finally bought the CD at Wal-Mart. I love that the clean version costs $5 more than the original. Who knew swears were such a bargain these days?
In Holland and Belgium (and I'm guessing throughout Europe), instead of fast food restaurants, there are little snack shops on corners that sell French Fries or "frites." The best are the Vlaamse Frites (Flemish Fries) and they come topped with your choice of ketchup, curry ketchup, peanut sauce, mayonnaise, or patat oorlog (potato war)--which is the combination of all of those things. Though it took a while to get used to, mayo became my topping of choice.1. Describe the first time you heard the album. Put us there. How did it affect you?
2. Tell us something we may not know about the artists or the album; do a bit of research.
3. What do you want the audience to walk away with after listening to music that you selected?
Though it's going to be like two minutes long, I, of course, am taking it deathly serious. Now that I finally have the chance to talk about what I always want to talk about, what am I going to talk about?
Vanilla Ice
Matt & Kim
Grand
Matt & Kim are easily the happiest couple in punk rock. Matt delightfully pounds away at his keyboard as he shouts snarky lyrics and Kim never stops grinning at him from the drum kit.
“Grand” picks up where their 2006 debut left off, with the low end of the synthesizer buzzing away and the drums pushing the pace. However, the duo has also expanded their musical palette a bit. “Daylight” is the band’s most adventurous piece to date, adding symphonic hits and drum breaks to the simple piano riff. The string-driven “Good Ol’ Fashioned Nightmare” also shows another dimension to the band’s arranging abilities.
Matt & Kim’s strongest suit is still the fast stuff. “Lessons Learned” is simultaneously totally punk and completely gorgeous, and the frenetic instrumental “Cinders” is enough to throw a person into a dance-induced seizure. It’s nice to see that Matt & Kim can grow up a bit without getting old.
MC Hammer/Vanilla IceMcKay Events Center
February 27
MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice. Together again. The best part of the one-night-only event was not having any idea what was going to happen. Would it be great? Would it be awful? Would it matter?
I headed down to the show with my buddy Rich. Of course he’d prepared a mix for the 30 minute trip from Salt Lake to Orem, consisting of tracks from both MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice’s greatest hits albums—he’d downloaded them the night before. He said he’d also watched the “2 Legit to Quit” video about a dozen times in the last 24 hours and was thoroughly convinced that MC Hammer was, in fact, “blessed with two hype feet.”
Rich’s excitement was palpable. This struck me as curious, seeing that he is only 26 (which would have made him seven when “Ice, Ice Baby” went #1). He had an explanation. “I remember playing kick the can or something on our street and hearing my friend say, ‘Slice like a ninja, cut like a razorblade.’ It was the coolest thing I had ever heard.”And that’s when he became a Vanilla Ice fan for life.
I would guess the majority of the 8,000+ people in attendance (most of which were in the 18-22 range) were also trying to grab a hold of some sort of intangible nostalgia. Or maybe they were intrigued by the novelty of two one-time pop icons sharing the stage together for the first time in nearly two decades. Maybe they just wanted an excuse to wear neon t-shirts and makeshift Hammer pants.
Go White Boy, Go
By the time Vanilla began his set, the crowd had already been waiting for three hours. The second Mr. Van Winkle entered the stage (through a 10-foot blowup Grim Reaper) and began spewing lyrics, the delay was immediately forgotten.
Backed by a drummer, DJ, and a dancer dressed in a Santa Costume and clown mask, the Ice Man began his set one of his newer tracks. Enormous applause. He moved on to another new track. Applause. When he began the third new (a.k.a virtually unknown) song, the crowd’s goodwill had just about run out.
And that’s when he finally took it back to the old school. When he shouted the lyrics to “Ice, Ice Baby,” it was like he was being backed by a 7,000 person choir. (Take that, Mo’ Tab!) He invited Hammer on stage to smile and wave during “Play that Funky Music White Boy” and then rocked through “The Ninja Rap” and “Stop that Train.”
For Vanilla Ice, this show wasn’t some grand comeback and it certainly wasn’t 1990. It was pretty much his average 2009 rock show, with loose interpretations of a few old songs thrown in. But he had a great time, the crowd had a great time and we all got to yell “Go ninja, go ninja, go ninja, GO!” together. What more could we ask for?
Turn This Mutha Out
While Ice’s performance was about emotion, Hammer’s was about entertainment. The former rapper/current Christian minister pop-‘n-locked his way through all of his greatest hits, each with its own choreographed dance. (One of the dozen or so teenage dancers was his 14-year-old son, who certainly inherited his dad’s skills.) Hammer used his soundtrack hit, “Addam’s Family Groove” to let each dancer show off their solo skills. While this was cool, with the huge age between artist and dancer, it felt like it should have been called “The Hammer & Kids Show.”
The highlights were obvious: doing the “2 Legit” hand gestures, singing along to “You got to pray just to make it today” and watching Hammer do the typewriter with 200 fans shoved onto the stage with him. When it comes to performers, Hammer is the real deal.
Was this a great show, musically? Heavens no. Was it one for the memory book? Hell yes.
Here's the Vanilla Ice article I submitted to IN. (It's incredibly long, I know.) It'll come out this Thursday. It's the cover story, so make sure you pick up a copy at the nearest bus stop.MC Hammer/Vanilla Ice
February 27
McKay Events Center
I must admit, I'm a bit embarrassed by how incredibly nervous I was to talk to Vanilla Ice. The way the cell phone was shaking in my hand, you'd think it was 1990 all over again.
Much like every other human who listened to the radio in the early '90s, I knew—and still know—all the words to "Ice, Ice Baby." But because I was the impressionable age of 10 when the track hit number one, I also remember bleaching my bangs blonde, shaving stripes in my eyebrows, and doing "the worm" at a sixth grade dance. I guess that's really what I should be embarrassed about.
The reason for the phone call was not to discuss the four hardcore albums he's released since "To the Extreme" sold more than 10 million copies, to talk about his amateur motocross career, or even reminisce on his time as a cast member of "The Surreal Life." Instead, we talked about his upcoming performance with MC Hammer.
With '90s groups like New Kids on the Block and the Spice Girls already riding the nostalgia train, it makes perfect sense that the decade's biggest rap artists would want to cash in as well. But here's where it gets weird. The pair's first duo performance in 18 years isn't part of a huge, orchestrated comeback tour. It's a one night only event. In Orem.
I didn't know what to expect from the interview. Would Vanilla Ice (or Rob Van Winkle, as he introduced himself) be annoyed by questions about the "Ice, Ice Baby" years? Would he get upset if I asked him about Eminem incessantly taking shots at him? Would he ask me if I own a copy of his 2003 nu metal album "Hot Sex?"
It turns out, I had no reason to be nervous--or even embarrassed. Mr. Van Winkle was upbeat, excitable, and hilarious. And more than anything, he seemed like a guy who, despite being put through the ringer, is really happy with where he's been, where he's at, and where he's going. (He also cursed like a sailor and called me "bro" a lot.)
An MC Hammer/Vanilla show? Why now?
[When I heard about it] I said, 'A show with Hammer? Are you for real?' I thought it was a joke at first. But then I thought, 'This could be good, it could be fun.'I'm gonna have fun with this. I'm excited about it, man. With all this economy and bad news, it's a good time to put a smile on people's faces again.
Back in the day, when me and Hammer did it, we pretty much set the world on fire. I'll have my full band, pyrotechnics, cannons blasting—it's gonna be full-blown entertainment. Like it used to be.
I'm definitely doing some old school stuff that I haven't done since [the '90s]. We're gonna take 'em back to the old school, do some middle school, and some new sh**, too. It's just going to be a big adventure.
Was Hammer your musical foe back in the day? The Magic Johnson to your Larry Bird?
Nah. I started out as MC Hammer's opening act. It was hilarious because my record passed his on the charts. I knocked him from number one and he was opening for me all the sudden [laughs]. He and I have always been friends and have always remained friends. I've always looked up to him. He's an icon.
What was life like as the 'White Rapper'
I had to knock down a lot of barriers back in the day. Hammer and I were both entertainers and both ran along the same lines, but I had to face a lot more adversity--being the white guy in rap music. There was nobody in front of me that I could use as a guideline, like Eminem could use my career as a guideline.
How did you go from radio rap to hardcore rock?
I look at music a lot different than most people. I look at it as a reflection of how you feel. That's how it should be. Music shouldn't be about image or gimmicks or f***ing American Idol. When somebody else choreographs your dance moves, somebody else writes your lyrics, someone else chooses your clothes and does your hair, in the end you're artificial. So I boycotted against all that sh**, man.
I resented myself a lot. So I rebelled against myself and my whole image. Music shouldn't be about image. I like my music to be like my diary. I had a lot of anger toward my old self and other issues in my life, so I worked with [producer] Ross Robinson (Limp Bizkit, Korn) who pulled it all out of me and helped me realize music works best when it's used as therapy. Since then, I've made records with a lot of personal, heavy sh**. And I love it.
When you've got anger, you should let it out. The greatest thing that's ever happened to me is to go on a musical adventure and do everything the rulebook says you're not supposed to do. Rappers don't make rock music. Well, white rappers don't rap. I like to go against the grain and do whatever I feel like doing. It just comes out that way in the music, it's never planned. I don't have some sort of master plan. I just go in and I vibe.
What's in the Vanilla i(ce)Pod?
Sh**, I listen to everything, bro. When I'm racing motocross, I'm listening to Slipknot. But I can also jam to Kanye West, Jadakiss, Black Rob. I even listen to country sometimes, bro. It's weird, but some of that Kenny Chesney sh** is pretty cool. I can't hate it.
How do you deal with getting dissed by other artists?That's just entertainment, my friend. It got to me at first. The greatest thing I could do was [1998 album] "Hard to Swallow." It was therapy. Now I go back, I look at everything, and I love it. I still love the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, bro. Come on. [Vanilla Ice contributed the cleverly-titled track "Ninja Rap" to the first Ninja Turtles movie. He also made a stirring cameo appearance.]
There's no shame in my game anymore, man. Humiliation is a great thing. If you use to your benefit, nothing can stop you. There's where I'm at. That's why I'm going to have fun coming to Utah and doing this show I haven't done in 18 years. I've got all sorts of crazy things running through my head right now, ideas I'm of what I'm going to do. I'm gonna have fun, man. It's time.
What do you hope will be the Vanilla Ice legacy?
I don't have much an ego left [laughs]. Whether they give me credit for it or not, I paved the way for people—not just Eminem—but hip hop in general. My record was the first hip hop song ever to be played on a pop station. Ever. It brought hip to people's ears who'd never considered listening to it.
At one point, we were selling a million albums a day. It was a phenomenon. It almost killed me. It was a huge roller coaster, but without the low points I wouldn't be who I am today. We are who were because of who we were.
I'm very happy with who I am today. Life is about family and friends, bro. It's a simple thing.
Word to your mother.
Here's the deal, I'm pretty sure that I'm in love with Lily Allen. It just happened so suddenly. Sure, I felt fine about her first album, but the second I heard "It's Not Me, It's You," well, the deal was sealed. Here's my review for this week's IN. I'd recommend this album to anyone who's a sucker for pop music.With all of her tabloid exploits and Myspace confessions, Lily Allen's music often takes the backseat. What a shame. Witty, brash, and eccentric, Allen has all the right moves for a celebrity. But what's most impressive is how she packages her over-the-top personality into brilliant little pop songs.
On "The Fear," Allen is able to both poke fun at her superficiality and revel in it. "Life's about film stars and less about mothers/It's all about fast cars and passing each other/But it doesn't matter cause I'm packing plastic/And that's what makes my life so f***ing fantastic."
With the help of collaborator Greg Kurstin, the songs are catchy, but not weightless. One moment Allen is a dancehall diva ("Everyone's At It"), the next she's the sweet girl next door ("Not Fair). Though the album loses a bit of steam at the end ("Who Who'd Known," "Chinese"), Allen shows she's got plenty to offer.
For fans of: Kate Nash, Natasha Bedingfield
Rating: 3.5 of 4
