Blast from the 1976 past: Vom!

     You know when you have a song stuck on the broken record player that is your brain? That’s where I’m at right now with Vom’s “Too Animalistic.” For a defunct Richard Meltzer band whose name is short for vomit, that’s pretty bad-ass that THIS song has the dumbest yet catchiest chorus EVER.

     Before I get into any warm hot tingly feelings too much, there’s another Vom song that needs mentioning too called “I’m in love with your mom.” I mean, Meltzer, I know my mom’s a good-looking old lady and the dudes may very well want to shag her, but, really? You silly goose, you!

     The video for “Too Animalistic” is on youtube. The band’s a bunch of dopey Venice beach-looking characters blaring along on their instruments. Just some 1970s punk rock’n’rollers having some good clean fun! Makes me wanna take a bath with my duckies and my-little-ponies (no bathroom beat-off, promise ma!) and have the boys of Vom scrub all those hard-to-reach places.

     The best part of the song, besides a simple and hooky chorus chanting “Too An-i-mal-listic” is the shear simplicity of the music. No guitar god getting their rocks off to how fast it can play. No prog-rock “trying something different” shtick. Nope, none of that. Just straight forward rock’n’roll. For what it is, I can dig it. Nothing complicated. Immediate gratification. A sonic suck-off from start to cum, leaving me satisfied. I’m in love with you Vom.

A Quiet Evening with Wild Flag

     It was a grrrls night out at the Mercy Lounge on March 22, with Wild Flag raising the third-wave feminist, all-girl band banner. There was a modest crowd that filled a slightly larger than intimate standing area and the seats around the stage, but for a comfortably warm Tuesday night I was impressed.

     Opening the show was Times New Viking: a Columbus, Ohio, three-piece with a lo-fi, dreamy electro-powerpop sound. Think My Bloody Valentine meets Guided By Voices. Oh how musicians just love being influenced by MBV and GBV. Perhaps the key to Rock’n’Roll culthood is having a three word band name that can be abbreviated to something with -BV at the end? Sorry, Times New Viking. 

     As cute and hipster-cool as the band looked and sounded, it was a little stale – something of a heard-it-once-heard-it-all sort of sound. Oh My Bloody Valentine and Guided By Voices, how you started a… revolution?

     The crowd wasn’t really digging Times New Viking, but not quite not digging them – ‘cept for one guy and an unrelated girl who were both dancing their asses off.

     Obvious fans or obviously stoned? You tell me.

     With lyrics like “I need more money ‘cause I need more drugs” I think it’s probably because of the latter. After the required waiting period, Times New Viking made way for the main attraction, Wild Flag.

     This four-piece band is the latest musical project of – now defunct – Sleater-Kinnery guitarist/ vocalist Carrie Brownstein and drummer Janet Weiss. Joining the duo is guitarist Mary Timony and Rebecca Cole on keyboard.

     Being such a Sleater-Kinney fan, it was hard for me not to feel like I was seeing that very band. In an idol-worship way, Wild Flag’s music sounds like it could be a natural audio ascension from Sleater-Kinney’s last album, The Woods. But, Wild Flag is a new beast - birthed in part from Brownstein and Weiss’s musical legacy and from the perfect combination of the four women jamming out with their clams out.

     Wild Flag gave the crowd exactly what they paid for, and more. There’s always something satisfying about seeing an all-woman­ (these ladies aren’t just some girls) band getting on stage and OWNING it.

     “Glass Tambourine” is definitely the song that’s burning Wild Flag’s flag with raw power and passionate musicianship. The crowd couldn’t stop applauding to the rocket launch of Timony’s guitar into phaser-distortion heaven. Timony had her ax over her head as a heart-exploding rush of psychedelic love and struggle emanated from the stage.

      In the end, Wild Flag delivered. Girls were screaming out for Brownstein to go home with them. The crowd was stimulated, serviced and having a post-show cigarette. What more can a band ask for? I give Wild Flag 10 golden stars and offers for sex any time.

Welcome to the broken record player which is my brain

   So, I think it's about time I have a blog. I've teased the idea for a while, but never did it.
 
   Thanks in part to a healthy portion of booze and coffee, a dose of the required daily meal, and a sprinkling of cigarettes, I'm finally on my way to having my every waking, obnoxious though posted for all of you lovely people to read and (hopefully) enjoy - or scream at! Who knows, but, thanks for your... support?
Love,
Miss Marsha Mallow