Live: Thurston Moore @ Fuzz Club (Athens, April 25, 2015)

The odds of seeing Sonic Youth live in the foreseeable future don't look too good at the moment, but at least we can console ourselves with the fact that in the last six months we got to see in action here in Athens three out of the four of them. 

So, after Lee Ranaldo's solo performance back in October, this time it was Thuston Moore's turn to drop by bringing along with him his current all-star band which includes guitarist James Sedwards, My Bloody Valentine bassist Debbie Googe and, of course, Steve Shelley behind the drum kit.

With a band of such high-caliber at his side and the best material of the excellent "The Best Day" providing the backbone of the show, it is no wonder that Thurston Moore has given us a top quality performance, combining admirably his experimental tendencies with his more straight-forward, song-oriented side (the foundation of some of the finest Sonic Youth compositions).

The nearly two-hour set kicked-off with the epic "Forevermore" and included also "Speak to the Wild", "Germs Burn", "Detonation", "The Best Day", "Grace Lake" as well as an instrumental, work-in-progress. For the encore, Moore took us back twenty years with "Pretty Bad" and an extended version of "Ono Soul", two love songs off his 1995 solo debut "Psychic Hearts".

You can watch below "Germs Burn" and "The Best Day" from the Thurston Moore Band's Athens show which opened with another fine performance by The Callas, a local indie quartet whose recent album "Am I Vertical?" was produced by ex-Sonic Youth sticksman (among many other things of course) Jim Sclavunos.

Thurston Moore Band - Germs Burn (live in Athens)

Thurston Moore Band - The Best Day (live in Athens)

The Callas, live @ Fuzz Club (April 25, 2015)

Thurston Moore, live @ Fuzz Club (Athens 25, 2015)

Hits, Cult Classics & Obscurities: 1995

For the third installment of Hits, Cult Classics & Obscurities we are going back 20 years to 1995.

You can find all previous posts in this series here, so let's not waste time with introductions and go straight to the music with The Smashing Pumpkins' "Bullet with Butterfly Wings". Released on October 24, 1995, it was the lead single off the band's third album "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" and became their first Top 40 hit in the US, while also reaching the Top 20 in the UK:

San Diego's Rocket From The Crypt have given us several excellent albums and singles throughout the '90s and "Born in '69", the lead single off their major-label debut "Scream, Dracula, Scream!", is certainly among their best. Enjoy John Reis and company in top screaming form in our selection for the cult classic of 1995:

Scarce, the power trio featuring Anastasia Screamed singer/guitarist Chick Graning and bassist Joyce Raskin, could have easily found success on the strength of their astonishing debut album "Deadsexy", but a near fatal brain aneurysm stopped them in their tracks. Thankfully Graning was able to pull through, but the momentum for the band was lost and they eventually split up two years later without any more releases until their reformation in 2008. As luck would have it, without any promotion their excellent 1995 single "Glamourizing Cigarettes" as well as the album did not reach many ears, but those of us who own a copy of "Deadsexy" will always cherish it.

New Releases: March 2015

Round-up of the most interesting albums, singles and EPs released in March 2015:

Albums

COURTNEY BARNETT - Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
LOWER DENS - Escape From Evil
LONELADY - Hinterland
PURITY RING - Another Eternity
THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION - Freedom Tower: No Wave Dance Party 2015
MODEST MOUSE - Strangers To Ourselves
DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE - Kintsugi
MOON DUO - Shadow of the Sun
THE SOFT MOON - Deeper
LAURA MARLING - Short Movie
SUFJAN STEVENS - Carrie & Lowell
MATTHEW E WHITE - Fresh Blood
KENDRICK LAMAR - To Pimp a Butterfly
CANNIBAL OX - Blade of the Ronin
DEATH GRIPS - The Powers That B
THE GO! TEAM - The Scene Between
CHASTITY BELT - Time to Go Home
THE CRIBS - For All My Sisters
SWERVEDRIVER - I Wasn't Born To Lose You
LIGHTNING BOLT - Fantasy Empire
GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR - Asunder, Sweet And Other Distress
OF MONTREAL - Aureate Gloom
JANE WEAVER - The Silver Globe
WILL BUTLER - Policy
COLD WAR KIDS - Hold My Home
TWIN SHADOW - Eclipse
THE MONOCHROME SET - Spaces Everywhere
MINI MANSIONS - The Great Pretenders
PILE - You're Better Than This
EULA - Wool Sucking
PEOPLE OF THE NORTH - Era of Manifestations
CHILDREN OF LEIR - Children of Leir
FOLLAKZOID - III
GANG OF FOUR - What Happens Next
NOEL GALLAGHER'S HIGH FLYING BIRDS - Chasing Yesterday
JLIN - Dark Energy

Singles & EPs

MODEST MOUSE - The Ground Walks, With Time In A Box / The Best Room
CROCODILES - Crybaby Demon
JACK WHITE - That Black Bat Licorice / Blue Light, Red light (Someone's There)
JACCO GARDNER - Find Yourself
PETER DOHERTY - Flags of the Old Regime
BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY - New Black Rich (Tusks)
GIRLPOOL - Chinatown
THE VACANT LOTS - Remixes
JANE WEAVER / TENDER PREY - Don't Take My Soul / Undisputed Heavyweight Champion Of My Heart
MINI MANSIONS - Freakout!
LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT - Insecurity / Water and Wine 
CLARK - Flame Rave EP
LOTIC - Heterocetera EP
MOONLANDINGZ - Moonlandingz EP
CHARLOTTE&MAGON - Egg Dance EP

Jack White - That Black Bat Licorice