Foetus, Limb

By Less Lee Moore

For a discussion of the design elements of the 48-page Limb booklet, please read Ann Clarke’s review here.

For a discussion of the Foetus NYC documentary, please read my review here.

Those fans introduced to JG Thirlwell via The Venture Bros. might be surprised (or perhaps confused) by the unique listening experience that Limb, the new Foetus release, provides. If you already knew about the avant garde and experimental reference points which inspired the pieces on Limb, you’ll likely have a different perspective on it than I do. So I’m not going to front and tell you I was intimately familiar with Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Philip Glass, and John Cage before I heard this album.
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Peter Holsapple & Chris Stamey, Here and Now

By Less Lee Moore

It’s been 17 years since Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey recorded an album together. The first time it was the Mavericks album in 1992 and as Holsapple notes, “[It] was recorded and mixed in one fell swoop; this one took a couple years and a hurricane to complete.”
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Tinted Windows, S/T

By Less Lee Moore and Noreen Sobczyk

A band with Bun E. Carlos and Taylor Hanson probably sounds strange (and horrifying) to those who think Cheap Trick has nothing in common with Hanson. As a fan of both bands, we were excited about hearing this album. Having James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins) and Adam Schlesinger (Fountains Of Wayne) as part of the mix could have rendered the whole affair nothing more than a poorly executed publicity stunt, but it really works.

So here is a track-by-track review…
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NYC Foetus DVD

By Less Lee Moore

For a discussion of the music on Limb, please read my review here.

For a discussion of the design elements of the 48-page Limb booklet, please read Ann Clarke’s review here.

JG Thirlwell has been making music since 1978. . .
He is a singer, a producer, a musician, a composer and a graphic artist.
From the intro to NYC Foetus, directed by Clément Tuffreau
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Record Stores Died For Somebody’s Sins (But Not MySpace’s)

Pretty In Pink, 1986
Screencap from Striped Wall

The new millennium has become the Battle of the Social Networking Websites. Which one you prefer depends upon how you utilize each one. As much as Facebook fans may bitch that MySpace is ugly and user-unfriendly, when people want to hear what a band sounds like, they usually go to MySpace.
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Gargoyle Sox and That Song

By Less Lee Moore

Anyone who’s discussed music with me at length knows about the box of dusty old tapes I’ve kept since I was a teenager. Back in the day, when my music taste was heavily informed by WTUL New Orleans, I would spend hours taping songs from the radio. In fact, I didn’t buy a whole lot of albums at that point because buying blank tapes gave me more bang for my broke teenaged buck.
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These Are My Salad Days: Spandau Ballet On YouTube

By Less Lee Moore

You can’t step twice into the same YouTube river. The channel has undergone enormous transformations since its debut. In just the last few years, there have been heated disputes over copyright in the US and the UK, embarrassing incidents of corporate confusion, and irate fans who rejoice in finding long-loved-and-lost videos only to be crushed when those videos are removed for various reasons.

Thankfully, many bands have stepped up (with apparent legal muscle as well as capital) and created their own Official YouTube channels. This issue we’ll be profiling the Official Spandau Ballet YouTube channel.
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Michael Hurtt and His Haunted Hearts, Come Back To Louisiana

By Less Lee Moore

When first heard Michael Hurtt and His Haunted Hearts, I was dazzled. I’d seen Hurtt play with The Royal Pendletons dozens of times when I lived in New Orleans, but this was something altogether different.
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Top Five Cover Versions That Will Never Happen

By Less Lee Moore

5. INXS, “Some Kind Of Wonderful” by Grand Funk Railroad

I grew weary of the Hutchence/Geldof/Yates love triangle drama in the ’90s, so I wasn’t completely shocked by Michael Hutchence’s death. But when the remaining band members subsequently devised a reality show to find a new lead singer, I was offended on behalf of Hutchence as well as my own ’80s INXS fandom. His voice was sensual and bluesy, yet perfectly poised for pop songs. I didn’t realize how much I missed it until he was gone. Which is why the fact that he’ll never be able to cover “Some Kind Of Wonderful” (or sing and perform ever again, for that matter). makes me so very sad. In addition, INXS was one of the rare bands who utilized saxophone judiciously rather than embarrassingly and that would have been a great asset in a reimagining of this song.
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John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band, Live In Toronto ’69 DVD

By Less Lee Moore

“It gave me a great feeling, a feeling I haven’t had for a long time. It convinced me to do more appearances, either with or without the rest of the Beatles. Everything went down so well.”
—John Lennon, as quoted on the Ottawa Beatles Site

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