Happy Tuesday y'all!

Sandy Pearlman, the man who first applied the term "heavy metal" to music, has been using the concept of frisson, long used to explain "goosebumps" in film, as a way of describing music. In a recent essay at DWT he explains his concept and gives examples like Bach, Magnificat; Beethoven; Berlioz, Requiem; Holst, The Planets; The Doors, Light My Fire and When the Music’s Over; Patti Smith, Horses and Bird Land; Gordon Lightfoot, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald; etc. How about "April Skies" by Jesus and Mary Chain song from Darklands? Or, better yet, pick a song and explain why you think it's an example of frisson. The best paragraph wins the writer a 5 disc Byrds box set, There Is A Season. Send your paragraph to downwithtyranny AT aol DOT com.

When I had a small indie label in San Francisco, 415 Records, my partner Chris was a Roky Erickson fanatic. I didn't know who he-- or his old band, Texas' 13th Floor Elevators-- were but Chris played me the tapes and told me they were like the Texas version of the Grateful Dead. I was floored by what I heard and we put out The Evil One. In person, Roky was... pretty much just like his music.

Many years later, I was working at Sire Records and I helped another Roky fanatic, Bill Bentley, put together a tribute record of many of Roky's greatest songs. I was surprised such a diverse array of artists-- from R.E.M, Jesus & Mary Chain, Primal Scream and Julian Cope to ZZ Top and Doug Sahm-- were eager to cover songs. This is the actual Roky version of "Two Headed Dog" from the 415 release:

(Guest blogged by Howie Klein)

I stopped attending Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominating Committee meetings a few years ago because every year the committe's #1 nominee would be Patti Smith and every year whoever counted the final ballots always claimed she didn't get enough votes. That same person once told me that "She isn't really rock'n'roll." And never showed up again.

Yesterday, though Patti, one of the most--if not the most--influential writer/performers in the history of modern rock, finally made it.

Along wih R.E.M., Van Halen, The Ronettes and Grandmaster Flash, Patti will be inducted on March 12. Here's Patti doing her classic version of "Gloria" live on Italian TV in 1975.

Be one of the first 5 to tell us whose sins Jesus died for and win a copy of THE POWER OF PINK, a compilation of great songs by powerful women (including Sarah McLachlan, The Fugees, Pink, Evanescence, Indigo Girls, etc). Send your elegent and clever answer to Howie at downwithtyranny@aol.com

Wednesday with Howie.

(guest blogged by Howie Klein)

Sometimes I go walking in the hills behind my house with my iPod plugged into my head and for an hour I'll just listen to one song over and over until I'm hallucinating on it. Last weekend the song was Krafty" from the latest New Order album, WAITING FOR THE SIREN'S CALL. This is Morel's Pink Noise Vocal mix (so not the version on the album).

Download | play -MP4

(Howie has another giveaway below. Please leave your answers in the comment section so he can pick the winners.)

Continue reading »