Tasty (Yucky) Tracks

Posted on March 24, 2012 by poppapa

Went to see these guys several months ago with a friend at the Independent where I had zero expectations. I had never heard of Yuck but my friend said the three magic words that will prompt me to check out any band… “wall of sound”.

For lovers of nineties shoe-gazers like Ride, Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine (“Loveless” is one massively influential record, see below for the amazing “Only Shallow” – had to include it here), Yuck will definitely satisfy.

The show was compact non-stop wave of music – with a mix of driving yet melodic layered gems like “Holing Out” (my fav) and “Rubber” (of which the latter half is beautiful slow thick whirlpool of feedback, layered guitars, vocals that mesmerizes) and the Sonic Youth-tinged slow downs “Suck” and “Suicide Policeman”.  A young crew – one American and three Brits – the leader Daniel Blumberg wears his love for Nineties lush-rock on his rolled-up sleeve. If they swing by your neck of the woods – definitely make the effort to check them out.

Yuck: Holing Out

Yuck: Suck

My Bloody Valentine: Only Shallow

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Album of the Week: Sarolta Zalatnay

Posted on September 30, 2009 by poppapa

I find that  playing music sung in languages other than English helps my kids understand that there are places other than the United States and bands other than Black Eyed Peas that can crank it out. So, let’s pick a country…  say Hungary and let’s pick a time – say 40 years ago – with that let me introduce you to Sarolta Zalatnay. Discovered amid the staff picks at Green Apple Bookstore in San Francisco (arguably one of the best – if not the best, book store in the city) – it’s a fav on our play list rotation. Sarolta Zalatnay

So, if you like killer hip-hop back beat, fuzzed-out wah wah guitar, lots of big crunchy power chords and a major dose of Janis Joplin with a pinch of Geddy Lee via Budapest circa 1969 then you’re gonna love her. Check out the grooves in Itt a Nyár and Hadd Mondjam El or the haunting Adj Egy Percet). I’ve tossed a few of her songs into some iPod play lists where several fellow musically discerning friends were clearly intrigued… and stumped. They would first look vacantly towards the sky as if they were trying to place the sound, then look quizzically at me – with expressions of delight yet wonder – their well honed databases of all things musical clearly unable to call up the artist. Click hear to get the album: Zalatnay

Egyser Itt a Nyar Adj Egy Percet Hadd Mondjam El

I have to admit that, even at my advance age of forty-something, discovering a random golden nugget like Sarolta still makes my day.

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