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THE INDIE ROCK BLOG
The Indie Rock Blog is a collection of Sugartune Artist News and entries from our friends at the Rock and Roll Report. If sweet, sugartunes are stirring in your soul, keep your soul stirred with a subscription to our news feed. 
As if Noel Gallagher didn’t already wear his Beatle’s influence on his sleeve, it looks like he is now trying to recruit Ringo to play on a track on the “when is it ever going to be released” next Oasis record. I still like Noel. Liam can be a pain in the ass but Noel seems pretty cool.
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I don’t know what impresses me more about The Time Machine. The fact that Michael McCartney actually understands the concept of rock and roll radio by playing cool yet unknown new stuff with classic yet rarely played old stuff or the fact that it is broadcast out of Hawaii. Either way, The Time Machine is great rock and roll radio. Combining old and new rock and roll that you won’t likely hear on your local radio station with inciteful interviews and great gag commercials, The Time Machine is well produced radio done right. Check the website for actual stations and times of broadcast. All I have to do is swing an invite to the studio and I’ll be in double heaven! Great stuff that goes Pop!
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If you are a big Randy Rhoads fan like me then you will be pretty jazzed to hear that on Kevin Dubrow’s new website there is an unreleased early Quiet Riot tune called “Come and Gone.” Still depressing to think of what could have been…
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If you are looking for a nice jolt to the synaptic nerves then do yourself a favour and check out The Detonations. They say that they play “old school punk.” Listen to Feel It and Speakereater and tell me if that doesn’t give your eardrums that satisfying buzz you crave. Great stuff and they are on tour now so catch them now when you can.
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I haven’t talked much about what’s happening in the wild and wooly world of legal downloads lately but there are two services that recently caught my eye.
The first is Download Punk, a download service specifically targeted to serving the punk and indie rock community. Boasting over 30,000 songs from 120 different labels, Download Punk appears to be quite user friendly with a variety of price points and compatibility with both MP3 and WMA, a smart move in my books.
At the other end of the spectrum is the new Virgin Digital service, currently only available in the United States. I have always been a huge admirer of Richard Branson and the guy definitely has the chutzpa to take on Apple and Microsoft. With over 1,000,000 tracks available in both subscription and paid download formats plus all kinds of cool user interface goodies with their free software, Virgin Digital could make quite the impression in the coming months. The only part that I don’t like is that it only supports the WMA format so Mac and Linux users are out in the cold. Aside from that the service looks like a winner.
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I just heard from Jaimie Vernon of Bullseye Records that Roger Mayne of the legendary Canadian ‘60s band The Ugly Ducklings has passed away at the age of 58. For those of you not familiar with The Ugly Ducklings, Mick Jagger stated in 1966 that they were his favourite Canadian band at the time. R.I.P. Roger.
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Another great web-based music magazine, Play it Louder leaves no questions as to where their hearts lie. Play it Louder covers music that should, that must be played loud. Join up for their free Singles Club for some choice free downloads.
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If you are looking for an answer to what binds us all together, a unifying theory of the universe if you will (and no it is not the force my young padawan) then check out the Unifying Theory of the Universe: Where the worlds of science and garage rock converge! By Professor P. Edwin Letcheinstein. The answers are all there my friends. No need to search any longer.
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Just got the news that the fine folks over at Career Records are actively seeking out new talent for their fine record label. If you think that you’ve got what it takes then by all means get those tunes on CD and send them in ASAP. Rock and roll stardom could be around the very next corner!
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I am proud to announce that The Rock and Roll Report is now an official Not Lame affiliate. Not Lame are one of the finest purveyors of pure power pop on the planet and now you may fulfill all of your power pop needs through one convenient stop here at The Rock and Roll Report. Thank you for your continuous support. Now go listen to some records you crazy cat!
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According to Judge Strikes Down Anti-Bootleg Law (via The Day in Rock), the 1994 law banning the sale of live bootlegs is un-constitutional as it unfairly grants “seemingly perpetual protection” to the original performances. Bets on how long this will last, anyone?
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I would like to welcome Ari Schwartz to the fold. Ari will be contributing the occasional record review to The Rock and Roll Report and he starts things off with a review of the fascinating new Ben Harper album. Take it away Ari.
When a man who has worked so hard to get an enormous fan base through years of touring, decides to take a risk in his music, decides to follow his passion, his heart, his soul, you must give him credit. Harper combines with the two-time Grammy award winning gospel group ‘ The Blind Boys of Alabama’ to create an album of great praise and admiration.
Harper ignores all other styles of past albums (Rock, acoustic folk, reggae, funk), rather deciding to dedicate a full album to pure gospel. The depth of Harpers song writing is heard through this album, with blues gospel, funk gospel, church style gospel and even accapella gospel being heard throughout this magical journey of music. If G-d was a musician, his competition would be Ben Harper, who evokes a spiritual love for life in all his songs.
From the word go Harper starts at a frantic pace combining gospel, church and funk all in the upbeat ‘take my hand’. ‘Where could I go’ sings of heart-break, where a child expresses his anguish to G-d, crying out ‘nothing else could save a sinner like me but an angel’s word’. From the slow bluesy soul of ‘Where could I go’ Harper fuses gospel, Hendrix like soloing and church style lyrics all in an absorbing and powerful ‘Church House Steps’. Harper’s spiritual power takes over in the next few tracks with the mysterious ‘11th commandment’ and the original sounding Dylan cover ‘Well, Well, Well”. Honestly, in this cold and scary world, Harper brings a warm sense of hope in the album’s title ‘There Will Be a Light‘.
This might sound like an omen to Harper from a fan, but the reality is Ben Harper and ‘The Blind Boys of Alabama’ have created some heavenly inspiring music here and it should not be overlooked. Want to rekindle your love for life? Take a chance.
By Ari Schwartz
Ever wonder what ever happened to Keith Richard’s daughter Dandelion? Or how many kids Mick Jagger really has? Well some of those questions are answered in Fathers Little Helper over at the Guardian. Nice to see that Marlon Richards is doing so well. Have a great weekend everybody!
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If you want to know how the new and improved Iraq is dealing with rock and roll and in particular Iraqi heavy metal band Acrassicauda and their attempts to revive rock and roll in their native country read Iraqi Heavy Metal Band Acrassicauda Forced Out by Radical Islamists over at Blabbermouth.Net. I always say the same thing when I read stuff like this: “What in the world are these people afraid of?”
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No Love For Ned is a very cool North Carolina based radio show that you can download every two weeks (I believe) and hear some really cool indie rock tunes that might otherwise escaped your regular listening habits. It used to broadcast every Monday night on WSRU but I believe it is an Internet only show for now. Download a show and enjoy. (Thanks to Largehearted Boy for the tip).
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If you are looking for something to do this Sunday, September 26th and you were intrigued by the Brought Low and Some Action spotlights I had this week, you might want to head out to Magnetic Field (Atlantic between Hicks and Henry Streets)from 11:00 AM to 6PM for a free concert featuring:
LYRES (Boston ’80s garage-rock legends!)
SOME ACTION (NYC’s hottest new punk-rock’n'rollers!)
THE FABULOUS SOUL SHAKERS (Soul/vocal harmony sounds straight outta Harlem!)
THE BROUGHT LOW (Southern Brooklyn rock!)
THE DANSETTES (’60s girl-group soul action!)
Plus: Ace DJ action from the likes of Tom Dash (Dot Dash), Jami Wolf (Shop Fronts), Dom (Rockit Scientist), “Young” Jon Dixon (Martha Stewart Living) and more TBA.
Sounds like it will be a great time.
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In early February 1968, the Beatles and various members of their entourage packed up their guitars, love beads and a suitcase full of baked beans for Ringo and famously headed off to the ashram of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Rishikesh, India in a attempt at finding solace and escape from a Beatle-mad world. Although Ringo lasted a mere two weeks, over all the visit seemed to do the band some good with a lot of meditation, relaxation and some good-old fashioned writing and guitar pickin’ taking place, much to the delight of the Beatles themselves. The whole trip is covered wonderfully in the book Beatles in Rishikesh (Penguin Studio Books) by Paul Saltzman. Amazingly, this famous Beatles landmark is abandoned and has fallen into disrepair. Think of the possibilities that this could present to the aspiring Beatle-crazed Richard Branson wanna-bes out there. The ashram could be transformed into a Beatle-themed eco-tourism hot spot! Honestly. While I am no business genius, the possibilities seem to be endless. Let’s get a consortium together and investigate the possibilities. I’ll even chip in 50 bucks to get started. Let’s get to it before Donald Trump does. It is to dream…
UPDATE! Apparently I am not the only one who thinks this is a good idea judging from the hits on this story so let’s kick things up a notch. If you want to help look into the feasibility of this whole madcap proposal, e-mail me at ashram@rockandrollreport.com and hopefully we can get something going as to if it would be in fact possible or whether this could result in Fawlty Towers with a Beatles twist! Who knows what will happen but it could be fun just giving this idea a whirl. Onwards…
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The mighty Not Lame has finally announced a ship date for their eagerly anticipated A Tribute To the Cars featuring Cars songs performed by such artists as Jason Faulkner, Sparkle Jets UK, Jon Auer and Action Action. I always smile when I read in the accompaning booklet to the great double-CD set “Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology:”
“During the late ’70s and early ’80s, most rock fans were split into two camps, with hardly any common ground. Either you listened to ‘punk” bands like The Clash, Talking Heads, and The Cars, or you were into “mainstream” bands like Aerosmith, Queen, and The Cars.”
True enough! Should be a fun CD to listen to.
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MP3 blogs are all the rage these days and I especially enjoy Garage Hangover, especially right now when I need a Ramones fix every couple of hours. Great blog.
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For you’re looking for some action then by all means go and check out Some Action, a great band from New York City. Absolutely breakneck rock and roll. You can listen to Some Action here for a sample of what they have to offer.
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Check out the schedule for the Sound Unseen Film and Music Festival coming October 1st - 10th in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Featuring “rare films about independent music” Sound Unseen is in its 5th year of operation and is getting stronger every year. There are some really cool films to look forward to including “End of the Century: The Ramones,” “Paul Westerberg: Come Feel Me Tremble” and “Edgeplay: A Film About The Runaways” making this a film festival worthy of your time. Check it out if you can and report back on all the fun.
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If you can’t get enough of the Thirteenth Floor Elevators and Roky Ericson then you have to subscribe to the excellent Texas Psych e-list at Yahoo. An excellent source of news, reviews and MP3s that will keep you feeling all warm and fuzzy until the Golden Dawn. Cool stuff.
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This sounds cool. The West Hollywood Book Fair is having a panel discussion on rock myths featuring Kim Cooper, Gene Sculatti, Domenic Priore, Pamela des Barres and moderator, Becky Ebenkamp on October 3, 2004 at 3:00 PM. If Miss Pamela is going to be there then it will definitely be sizzling! If anybody gets a chance to go drop me an e-mail to let me know how it went. Thanks.
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Check out this demo of A Better Life by New York City band Brought Low for some great toe-tappin’ good time boogie rock and roll. I really like it just the way it is! Anyhow they have a couple of shows coming up on the East coast and a split seven-inch that should tide us all over until their (hopefully) next full-length record. Very cool stuff indeed.
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For all you B-movie buffs today is a sad day indeed as legendary director Russ Meyer has passed away at age 82. R.I.P. Russ. Thanks for the mammaries, I mean memories!
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Creature
Moonshine Orchestra
The Snitches