Prey for the Hunted

God how clearly I can remember staying up late into the night to put together the perfect mixtape in some futile attempt to win back the heart of some highschool girlfriend. It is not just about selecting the right songs, it is picking a theme and selecting a song order to set the mood or tell a story. Well now 20 some years later we have the new web 2.0 version of the venerable art called MUXTAPE . Muxtape allows you to upload 12 songs in MP3 format of up to 24mb per song. It is so stupidly simple you put up the songs and arrange the order on screen with some intuitive use of Ajax.

Fortunately I am devoid of heartbreak at the moment so I use Muxtape to share music with friends around the country. My lastest Mux is a list of great rock songs that everyone recognizes but forgets who sings them. Get your Classic Rock on and check out my Muxtape Here

Most of the time when I hear "Psychedelic Rock" i want to take an ice pick and get all basic instinct on my ipod, so I wasn’t real excited when I heard about Sleepy Sun and their new record Embrace . When I think psychedelic rock I want old Black Sabith not this new brand of sonic torture where the artist try to invent new ways to twist music into bizarre dischord. The Sleepy Sun I have heard does have some of those psychedelic wanderings but they are intentional not just experimental and they always come back around to a solid rock ‘n’ roll foundation.

The Song below New Age, is worth a listen and is a good example of the sonic yovage Sleepy Sun is about to take the music scene on.

In a room full of NYC’s hip-est hipsters gathered at the Bowery Ballroom you’d expect grumbles, sneers, and eye rolling if you announced that some middle aged Israeli dudes were going redefine the rock ‘n’ roll experience. Monotonix is out to blow minds and they are doing it one venue at a time. Having played some 300 shows since they started out in Tel Aviv in 2005 Monotonix have become known for setting themselves and their equipment on fire, stealing drinks from audience members to pour on themselves, and generally turning their shows into unabashed, frenzied dance parties. The band channels riff heavy influences Led Zeppelin, the Sonics, and Thin Lizzy to create raw, driving rock & roll.

Reading and listening to them on some lame blog is like saying watching porn is the same as sex. Take a listen and find out when they are coming to your city.

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After reading the praises heaped on Crystal Antlers by Pitchfork and others I figured i would give these Long Beach rockers a try. I am normally opposed to rock ‘n’ roll from the left coas as it seems even the gritty stuff gets dilluted as LA rockers try to hard to be"LA Rockers". After scouring the web i have only found a few tracks from the Crystal Antlers, some from their live shows and some from their self released EP.

Damn you Crystal Antlers for only putting out 4 songs, damn you for being so raw, damn you for being stuck on repeat in my itunes cause all other summer music is sucking, damn you for not touring, and damn you if you turn into some manufactured LA rock.

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