Month: January 2009

From The Desk Of A.C. Newman: The Equals

Post author By MAGNET Staff
Post date January 21, 2009
1 Comment on From The Desk Of A.C. Newman: The Equals

“There are maybe 10 or 12 things I could teach you,” sings Carl “A.C.” Newman on his new solo album, Get Guilty (Matador). “After that, well, you’re on your own.” This week, MAGNET lets the New Pornographers frontman steer our website toward 10 or 12 of his own favorite things in music, film, literature and life.

Read our verdict on the orchestral-pop case of Get Guilty and a Q&A deposition with Newman here.

Newman: The Equals were Eddy Grant’s first group. It was an amazing shock to find out they existed. I love when you find a band you never heard about before and they’re completely amazing. I think Eddy Grant was 18 or 19, and he wore a blonde wig. They had one or two hits in England, and they did the original version of “Police On My Back” by the Clash. That’s an old ‘60s song by the Equals. Everyone thinks it’s a Clash song, but it’s a song written by Eddy Grant, the same guy who wrote “Electric Avenue.” The Equals are as good as the Troggs, I think, and in that same kind of style: driving, ‘60s hard rock with a real pop sensibility.

The Equals’ 1967 live performance of “Baby Come Back”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0saLJ4azDk&feature=related

NEWS

Bill Callahan: Honky, Please!

Post author By MAGNET Staff
Post date January 21, 2009
1 Comment on Bill Callahan: Honky, Please!

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In today’s mail: an advance copy of Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle, the new album by Bill Callahan (the man formerly known as Smog). Callahan’s 2007 release, Woke On A Whaleheart, was understated and quite funny, lyrically, in a Lee Hazlewood kind of way; it really took a few listens for the dryly clever folk/pop songs to seep in. Which is why it’s so puzzling that Callahan’s label, Drag City (now identifying itself as “Drag City Alternative Medicine” on its mailing labels), saw fit to discourage illegal copying and filesharing of the similarly low-key Eagle by marring each track with … sounds of cars honking.

How did it come to this? (Wait, don’t answer that.) At least the honking is of the slightly wheezy, beeping variety. We’re thinking maybe it’s a Model T air-bulb horn run through a tube amp and recorded by Steve Albini.

Still, we can’t be mad at Drag City. They sent us the best Christmas card we’ve ever received.

“Diamond Dancer” from Woke On A Whaleheart:

PUT UP YOUR DUKES

Put Up Your Dukes: Hunter S. Thompson

Post author By MAGNET Staff
Post date January 21, 2009
4 Comments on Put Up Your Dukes: Hunter S. Thompson

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Two of MAGNET’s Matts—editor Matthew Fritch and writer Matt Ryan—go to the mat to see whose opinion is more correct. Today’s topic: gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson. Put up your dukes!

From: Matthew Fritch
To: Matt Ryan
For this inaugural edition of Put Up Your Dukes, I come to you with an honest question. It’s prompted by our coverage of The Gonzo Tapes boxed set in the most recent issue. I listened to some of it (nobody can listen to five discs of that maniac rambling). I decided to watch the 2008 documentary Gonzo: The Life And Work Of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. What, exactly, is the appeal of this guy? Is it his confused self-image that mistakes “asshole” for “rebel”? His cliched macho obsession with guns and motorcycles? The fact that he treated his body like a garbage can? Please, god, don’t tell me it’s his writing.

“In Search Of The American Dream” from The Gonzo Tapes:
https://magnetmagazine.com/audio/InSearchOfTheAmericanDream.mp3

GUEST EDITOR

From The Desk Of A.C. Newman: The RockATeens

Post author By MAGNET Staff
Post date January 21, 2009
2 Comments on From The Desk Of A.C. Newman: The Rock*A*Teens

Read our verdict on the orchestral-pop case of Get Guilty and a Q&A deposition with Newman here.

Newman: The Rock*A*Teens broke up years ago, but I just got into them last year. I was floored at how good they were. Kelly Hogan, who sings with Neko (Case), was in the band. I think they’re one of the most underrated bands of the mid-’90s to early 2000s. Dan (Bejar) and Neko were both big fans, but I missed out on them for some reason. I can’t quite explain it: Few bands can pull off being sloppy and symphonic at the same time. They remind me a little bit of Frog Eyes, too. They were a guitar band whose songs sounded like they could’ve been played by a string quartet; instead, they played them with loud, reverby guitars. Sometimes it sounded like garage music. The really great bands are hard to describe. The Rock*A*Teens were so good and out on their own, I don’t know who to compare them to. The Pixies are the same way. The great bands are on their own. They just sound like themselves.

“What Took You So Long” from 1999’s Oh, Merge: Merge Records 10 Year Anniversary Compilation:
https://magnetmagazine.com/audio/WhatTookYouSoLong.mp3

15 IN PHILLY

15 In Philly: The Delta 72

Post author By MAGNET Staff
Post date January 21, 2009

Spend 15 years in Philadelphia and you’ll figure out that things in MAGNET’s native city aren’t always sunny or bursting with brotherly love. But underneath the tough exterior are some pretty sweet sounds. In honor of our anniversary, we pay tribute to our hometown scene.

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Somewhere between Jon Spencer’s trash-rock blues and the Make-Up’s R&B fakeout was the Delta 72, Philly’s sometimes brilliant, sometimes hucksterish soul-garage outfit. If you weren’t there for the tent-revival exhortations that charismatic singer Gregg Foreman performed onstage at America’s whitest rock venues, you missed it. But you can hear the Delta 72’s engine purr on the three albums the band issued on Touch And Go from 1996 to 2000.

“I Feel Fine” from 2000’s Ooo: