Pylon, Gyrate

By Jimmy Ether

Rock punditry tends to beg for “who’s better” comparisons between bands. Either because they were rivals, peers, or part of the same scene. Beatles or the Stones? Nirvana or Pearl Jam? The Brian Jonestown Massacre or The Dandy Warhols? But if asked who from the 1980s Athens, Georgia music scene should battle it out for that trophy, you’re more likely to be asked “REM or The B-52s?” than you are to ever hear mention of the band Pylon.
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Do You Want Trombone Or Do You Want The Truth?

By Jimmy Ether

In the documentary Kill Your Idols, Lydia Lunch expressed her frustration with the current music scene:

“The commodification and homogenization of especially bass, guitar, and drums is the downfall of music. Where’s the fucking tuba? A trombone! Anything but a bass, guitar, and drums!”

That seems an odd statement coming from someone who very successfully used those very instruments with Teenage Jesus and the Jerks to challenge rock conventions along side bands like D.N.A., Mars, and many of the other bands from the influential New York City No Wave scene. To a certain extent, she has a point.
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Buke And Gass, Riposte

By Jimmy Ether

In the few short weeks that I’ve been aware of Buke and Gass, I have become their biggest fan. Seriously. I’ll fight you for that bragging right! Let’s go!

Aron Sanchez and Arone Dyer create a sound—simultaneously backwoods and urbane—which fans some deep, primordial fire in my chest. They are positively . . . explosive. And they make me feel explosive.
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A Bit On The Bits From A Bit Of Fry & Laurie

By Jimmy Ether

To misappropriate one of my favorite quotes, writing about comedy is like dancing about architecture. It’s difficult to articulate what it is about something that really makes us laugh. Like music, humor touches us deep down at the core. It reaches into our baser instincts where fear, sexual desire, and the cravings for candy reside. On paper, a skit appears to be trite silliness. The analysis obscures the subversive nature of great comedy in which it fights to acknowledge the world and our lives as a ridiculous, nonsensical mess—and then laugh at it.
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Driving Me Backwards (Apologies To Brian Eno)

By Jimmy Ether

As a kid, backward masking gave me chills. But, I was also intrigued by the idea of spinning records backwards to see what crazy messages I might hear. The creepiest one to me at the time was Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.” As the urban legend goes, Jimmy Page purchased Aleister Crowley’s mansion and was, effectively, living with Satan. He then encoded backwards messages of this experience into “Stairway to Heaven”. If you play the fifth verse of the song backwards, you hear an account of life with this terrifying Prince of Darkness.
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Madness, Madness

By Jimmy Ether

The second British invasion hit me squarely between the eyes in 1983. Having just been graced with the glowing electric love of cable (and, as a result, MTV), I was transfixed by Kevin Rowland and his rag-tag overall-clad crew dancing in the streets to “Come on Eileen.” Dexys Midnight Runners was my first visual splash of Great Britain, and while I had grown up listening to healthy amounts of my Dad’s Brit-rock, I never really geographically separated The Beatles from The Beach Boys or The Who from Aerosmith. But, with video, the contrast was sharp.
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Van Halen: Imps of Summer

By Jimmy Ether

Ever notice how some bands seem timeless while others are permanently affixed to a particular period of time in your life? Van Halen is definitely the latter for me. They epitomize adolescence—especially the testosterone-laced variety of adolescence. They were largely the soundtrack to my pre-teen and early teen years, and while they are indelibly connected to my own coming of age, they are even more associated in my mind with summer. It doesn’t matter what time of year you are listening to a Van Halen album. It feels like summer. Heat and humidity radiate from the speakers making you crave cold beer and swimming pools.

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The Minutemen, Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat

By Jimmy Ether

It’s difficult for me to fully express the effect that the Minutemen had on me. “Life changing” may seem over-dramatic, but it would not be inaccurate. They were the ultimate underground band. A perfect blend of outrage, respect, art, sweat, and brotherly love. They never fit the hardcore genre into which they have been historically placed. They were not about aggression, rebellion, and noise. They were blatant self-expression and open-mindedness. They projected a very conceptualized vision of what a free, musical lifestyle meant. . . zen and the art of “the spiel.” They dabbled in self-mythology while remaining entirely modest everymen from blue-collar San Pedro, California.

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Those Old Melodies: Songs Rediscovered

Intro by Less Lee Moore

Recently I was listening to The Vines’ Highly Evolved album again. My history with this album is intriguing, and proves my theory that some music needs to be fully digested before you can appreciate it.
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