Just Another Band From East L.A.

Back from the dead, it's time to resurrect this forgot space of the blog o sphere. If memory serves me right I left off somewhere in the middle of featuring bands that you wouldn't really expect to find in my vast collection. So let's pick up where I left off and feature a Chicano Rock Band from Los Angeles that's been around since '73. Los Lobos pretty much laid the blueprint for Chicano Rock in America. Hailing from East LA the band perhaps may be best know for providing some of the soundtrack to the biopic about the late Richie Valens, "La Bamba".

The band formed in '73 and by the mid '70's were unhappy with only playing an American Top 40 sound. So the bad began to add influences of Mexican music into their sound. The band of course has made a career of blending Rock and other style of music into their sound. The band continues to release new albums to this day and even has put out some Disney Covers.

For the jukebox though I've decided to go with a two CD compilation from 1993. 'Just Another Band From East L.A' takes the bands hits, live cuts and unreleased material and beautifully crafts them into this great collection. The well known tracks from "La Bamba" are here as well as some more of the Mexican influenced material, see the opener a Live version of "Volver Volver".

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Liar

Back from the depths it's the continuation of albums you wouldn't expect to find in my collection. Up next is some Noise Rock. The Jesus Lizard were at the forefront of the early 90's Noise Rock scene. Formed in Austin TX, but based out of Chicago, the band was somewhat of an underground band despite being signed to a major label and having releasing a split single with Nirvana. Fronted by David Yow, the band blended Garage Rock, Noise Core, Grunge and Industrial sound into the ear splitting genre of Noise Rock. The bands sound was a mix of crazy vocals with Guitar driven rock. The band over their career released six albums and a handful of EP's.

'Liar'  marks the fourth release by the band, their third full length album though. Release in '92 and the dawn of the Grunge era, 'Liar' is far from the craziest of the Jesus Lizard records, but perhaps one of their best efforts. Produced by legendary producer Steve Albini, the album is just over a half hour of frantic in your face chaos. Featured here is the reissue of the record with a couple of extra tracks, including a cover of The Dicks "Wheelchair Epidemic". While the band called in a day in 2010, 'Liar' serves as a reminder of what the 90's were all about.

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Okanagana Waves

As we press on through the finding random things in my collection it's time to slow things down a bit with some Ambient Rock/Shoegaze music in this post. For those not familiar with the Shoegaze genre, it's like being doped up on tranquilizers while you stare vacantly at your shoes while melodic ambient music plays in the background. That being said, there's not a whole lot of that in my collection. But there is some and in this post we focus on the duo Hollow Branches.

The band has been around for some time now, releasing a handful of EP's and what not. Based in two different cities, Portland Oregon and Oslo Norway, the duo of Robert Osgood and Marius Sjoli craft an Ambient Rock album full of goodness in 'Okanagana Waves'. The name draws on a scientific classification of moths, this album is a mellow laid back mix of Ambient Rock, Shoegaze and Post Modern Rock. Recorded over a nearly three year period, and released in '12, this marks the bands first real album. The bands previous works were short EP's and featured Jason Walton of Agalloch on tracks. So take a step back and relax to this prime slice of music.

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The House Tha Dirt Built

This post will feature a band that up until a few years back didn't really peak my interest. I didn't know too much about them, just that they had a song used in a Kia commercial. It took an off chance seeing them Live to actually get into the band.

The Heavy hail from Bath England. Yes there's a town called Bath. Jokes aside, The Heavy are a British Inidie Rock band that combine Indie with an upbeat approach to Rock. Look no further than their second album. 'The House That Dirt Built'. Founded in 07, the band has had a steady following since their early days. Releasing four albums to date, the band continues to release their high energy brand of Indie Rock to the masses. For this post we will focus on 'The House That Dirt Built'. Released in '09, the album may be better known for the single, "How You Like Me Now?" which has been featured in numerous commercials and shows. "Short Change Hero" can be heard in various movies and video games as well. The album s far from dull boring Brit Indie Rock. The album from start to end is uptempo complete with dirty garage rock and horns that make you wanna move.

It was a chance night that I got to see The Heavy Live in a little club here in STL called The Old Rock House. Pretty cool intimate venue nestled on the outskirts of downtown. My roommate at the time had wanted to go the gig. I was mulling about that day not really wanting to venture out or do much of anything. After a bit of discussion we were out the door and headed towards the venue. Not sure on what exactly to expect from an Indie Band, feeling a bit close minded that night perhaps. What ensued was a high energy rock show for the next hour. By the end of the gig I was a fan. Proof that going to Live gigs holds the unexpected.

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Garbage

Time to head back to the 90's with a band that sort of came out of nowhere and had some decent success during the Alt movement of the 90's. Garbage is a band that hails from the Madison Wisconsin or all places and among it's ranks features a noted producer in Butch Vig and a Scottish frontwoman in Shirley Manson. Vig is perhaps most known for his work on the 'Nevermind' record from Nirvana. Manson perhaps best known for her work with the band Angelfish. The band has been around since the mid 90's and is back in the studio for work on another album. For this post we'll go back to the beginning with their self titled debut 'Garbage'.

The band sound is really hard to pin down. At best it's a mix of Alt Rock/Trip Hop/Techno/Shoe Gaze. While the guitars and all are present the band does rely on samples as well. Case in point on "Stupid Girl", The Clash's "Train In Vain" is sampled. For what it's worth Garbage really came out of nowhere. The lead single overseas was intended as a non album track. "Vow" did make the cut in the end however, but for stateside purposes, "Queer" ended up as the first single. By the time the video hit MTV, Manson became a video vixen. Don't believe me, look no further than the follow up single and video "Only Happy When It Rains". Garbage got big real quick and followed up the self titled release with 'Version 2.0', but success wouldn't last too much longer. Despite doing the theme for the Bond movie 'The World Is Not Enough', the band seemed to quickly fall by the wayside. Garbage however still remains one of those bands where if you bring up their name today, everyone remembers that first record.

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The Four Tops

Time to go to Detroit for this installment of stuff you'd be surprised that's in my collection. Ah Detroit, home of a crumbling economy, Enimem and Robocop. Hailing from that area nowadays isn't something to be proud of. But if days of yore the area churned out quite a number of successful artists spanning many genres. One of those groups was The Four Tops. Of course back in the 60's Detroit was home to the famous record label Motown. Which gave us so many superstars. The Four Tops were one of those artists that gave us countless hits.

The Four Tops started out with a group of High School friends in Detroit in the mid 50's. The band at that point was dubbed The Four Aims ans signed to another legendary label in Chess Records. After years of going nowhere and getting little to no attention, Motown head Berry Gordy Jr. convinced the band to join the Motown label in '63. From there it was a constant stream of success up until the mid 70's. Here's an amazing fact to, the bands lineup didn't change at all from '53 to '97. Think about that, over four decades with the same guys, still releasing music and touring. The only reason the lineup changed was death. Groups today simple don't have that staying power anymore. Much like every "Oldies" act, there's been a ton of best of releases throughout the years. That being said, for the post I'm going with the '74 release, 'The Four Tops Anthology'. This is a pretty much in depth 2 CD collection of the groups material from the Motown years. All the jams are here, including some collaborations with fellow Motown artists, The Supreme's. Well worth the listen.

Growing up Motown played a big part of my musical life. I grew up listening to all the Motown greats, The Temptations, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, The Four Tops and the list goes on and on. Somehow I've always felt that The Four Tops didn't get enough respect maybe as fellow labelmates The Temptations. The group always had solid hits with the likes of "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)", "It's The Same Old Song", "Reach Out I'll Be There and "Bernadette". In any case it's time to dust of the hits and enjoy some good ol R&B.

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Foo Fighters

Moving away from the Folk Rock posts and jumping back to the days of when Grunge ruled the world for this post. Again I feel like there should be another disclaimer with this post and it'll come in a minute. So with this post I'm going with the self titled debut from the Foo Fighters. You know that band Dave Grohl made famous after Nirvana was done for. So disclaimer time. I've never really been a huge fan of the Foo Fighters or Dave Grohl for that matter. That being said Deave has done some pretty cool stuff outside of the Foos. Go check out Probot or the killer documentary on Sound City Studios. Rumor has it too he's sat behind the kit for the mysterious Swedes in Ghost. In any point, I dug the first Foo record and after that I'm not sure what happened, perhaps my tastes changed or the fact that their material is overplayed. Whatever the case, this is an album that's a shock that's in my collection.

After Cobain decided to pretty much end the Grunge movement in 94, then Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl set out to record new music as an outlet to deal with the death of Cobain. Despite having offer to join some well named bands, Grohl declined and wrote and played every instrument on the debit Foo Fighters album. Pretty impressive feat really. He kept the band a secret for a bit, before recruiting former Nirvana touring Guitarist and ex The Germs guitarist Pat Smear and the rhythm section of the now defunct Seattle band Sunny Day Real Estate. The played a few shows under the name and while fans were expecting Nirvana covers and more Grunge goodness, they instead were met with a solid debut album of Alt Rock. Released on the Fourth of July in 95, 'Foo Fighters' delivers a mix of Alt/Punk/Hard rock while showcasing the multi instrumental Grohl. While the singles on the record obviously stand out, along with the spooftastic video for "Big Me", the band began their domination on the Modern Rock scene.

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