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Best tunes of 2013: #20 Bleached “Dead in your head”

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For the second time in just over a month, I was digging around the internet for content related to a song I was writing about and I came across a reference to a certain club with a particular name. Curious, I dug further this time and ended up down a rabbit hole of articles and videos about said place.

Apparently, The Smell is an all-ages, DIY, punk, arts and culture space, that was instrumental in the launch of a number of L.A.-based musicians throughout this new millennium. Artists that have played there include Warpaint, Ty Segall, Best Coast, and Moaning. Sisters Jennifer and Jessica Clavin not only often played The Smell with their first band, Mika Miko, but they volunteered there as well.

I haven’t checked out Mika Miko at all but by all accounts, they were a pretty great live act. The garage rock quintet was formed in 2003 and in the seven years before they split, released a pair of full length albums and a half dozen EPs and singles. In 2011, the year after Mika Miko called it quits, Jennifer and Jessica started up Bleached. Under this moniker, there’s been three successful full length records, each charting on the Billboard charts, and though they haven’t officially called it a day, they too seem to be on hiatus.

I came across Bleached with their debut album, “Ride your heart”, back in 2013 and found myself hooked. They mined a similar 60s girl group sound structure as that of Dum Dum Girls, but instead of the wall of sound shoegaze imbued by Dee Dee Penny, the Clavin sisters preferred to hang on to their punk roots. With most of the tracks in the two to three minute range, “Ride your heart” is gunshot raw, and at times is aggressive and discordant, but at its heart, it’s really a pop record rife with ear worm melodies.

“I never wanted to lose the boy I loved the most
I never wanted to hurt the boy I loved the most”

Track four is the longest song on the album, clocking in at just over four minutes, and this is mostly due to a dreamy intro that lulls you into thinking this might be a slow love ballad. Then, the foot stomping on kickpedal wakes you right up and the marching bass line drags you into the fray. The vocals and guitars play a bit of call in response during the verses with flourishes that have the potential to induce whiplash and the choruses are all fist pumping and shouting along wistfully for the one that got away. “Dead in your head” is big, bold, and anthemic and yes, demands replay after replay.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2013 list, click here.

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Best tunes of 2020: #13 Moaning “Ego”

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Moaning is an American indie rock trio that was formed in Los Angeles, California back in 2014. This wasn’t the first rodeo, though, for Sean Solomon (vocals, guitars), Pascal Stevenson (bass, synthesizers), and Andrew MacKelvie (drums, percussion). All three members were veterans of the hometown music scene and in fact were in a previous band together, having met and formed a friendship back in high school. This band seemed fated for more success, though, after some chance encounters led to Alex Newport producing their self-titled debut album and to their signing with iconic indie label Sub Pop for its release.

Moaning quickly drew comparisons Joy Division with their bass-heavy, dark, and angular post punk sound and Sean Solomon’s dour vocal delivery. They could’ve done worse in many people’s eyes and ears, especially since the mention in the same breath was not imbued with any derogatory irony. From album one to album two, the progression left room for the haunting synths to appear, giving the whole party a retro and nostalgic feel. And not forgetting of course, that at their base, all of their songs are dance floor, freak-out ready.

“The highest high, the lowest low
I wanna lose my ego
It’s easier to complain
But there is beauty in the mundane”

Track one opens Moaning’s sophomore album like a scraping footstep in an empty and very likely haunted house just after midnight. “Ego” is a driving and rumbling bass line that Peter Hook might be proud of and the drums just trounce along, adding a thudding heartbeat to this psychological thriller. Wailing synths grace the chorus, only slightly foretold by alien sounding creaks, just below the surface, seething and biding their time to strike. And as dark and sinister as this all sounds, the inspiration for the lyrics are quite the opposite, exploring the idea of thinking of others outside of one self, putting aside your own bs to see that the world is still happening around you.

“I wanna be anybody but myself
I wanna love anybody but myself”

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2020 list, click here.

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Eighties’ best 100 redux: #87 Wall of Voodoo “Mexican radio” (1982)

<< #88    |    #86 >>

At song #87 is Wall of Voodoo’s hit “Mexican radio”, easily the most accessible track in the band’s early catalogue.

Wall of Voodoo was an American New Wave band whose beginnings in film scores informed the band’s early spaghetti western-infused sound, along with original frontman, Stan Ridgway’s dark lyrics and easily recognizable droll vocals. “Mexican radio” took the band’s normal dark and unique sound further, almost to an oddball or kitschy place, and produced for Wall of Voodoo their only radio hit, boosting record sales of their second album, 1982’s “Call of the west,” to their highest charting. Ridgway left the band shortly afterwards for a solo career, was replaced by Andy Prieboy, and the band’s unique sound was lost to a more conventional New Wave sound. The group would release two more albums before disbanding for good in 1988.

I discovered/rediscovered “Mexican radio” on a retro compilation I purchased in 1999 called “Retro 80s volume 2: Rare and brilliant” and it quickly became a favourite of mine. It’s quirky and vibrant, and has inflecting lyrics that drum up images of picking up foreign language radio signals, a repeating chorus line that you really can’t help but digest and join in. I distinctly remember drunkenly dancing-slash-stumbling and shouting along to this song one Sunday retro night at Studio 69, a long-defunct downtown Toronto bar with my old housemate, Ryan. This one’s for you, buddy, wherever you might be.

Sing it with me: “I’m on a Mexican whoa-oh radio”

Original Eighties best 100 position: #95

Favourite lyric: I wish I was in Tijuana / Eating barbequed iguana” That’s some serious rhyming…

Where are they now?: The last we heard from Wall of Voodoo was in 2006 when Stan Ridgway resurrected the name, put together a band that included none of the other original members, and toured in support of Cyndi Lauper. No other real reunions have been serious discussed, especially since Marc Moreland, the other founding member died in 2002.

For the rest of the Eighties’ best 100 redux list, click here.