If It's Too Loud...

Somehow I've gone decades into music fandom without seeing Mike Watt live. His current musical project is mssv, which stands for Main Steam Stop Valve, and not only includes the legend that is Mike Watt (Minutemen, Firehose, The Stooges) on bass, but also includes Mike Baggetta on guitar and Stephen Hodges (Tom Waits, Wanda Jackson, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me ) on drums. It's obviously a band I need to see live, so when I saw they were playing the magical new-ish venue Myrtle in East Providence, RI, I knew I had to make it. The three members of mssv were setting up their equipment, tuning, and getting ready to play. The audience was milling around, talking, and enjoying their drinks when, with quite literally no warning, this burst of noise and furious playing erupted from the stage. The house music had still been on at that point. And that's how mssv started their set. While noise was definitely a factor, it wasn't all art rock and punk from the Myrtle stage that ni...

More deck clearing, more late-year releases... Artist : Palm Ghosts Album : The Lost Frequency Quick Thoughts : This came out a couple weeks back and I somehow missed it, and I wish I hadn't. It's a solid indie rock album with some good grooves and multiple highlights. It's a great listen in a busy week, but is especially worth your time as you catch up. Songs of Note : "But Under the Tenuous Ether Rest Soundly," "In Monochrome," "The Painful Truth" Artist : The Cutthroat Brothers and Mike Watt Album : Devil in Berlin Quick Thoughts : I can't say that sludgey punk rock is really my thing, but The Cutthroat Brothers have created a nice little exception for me. This is a really great listen - a little heavy, feels like it's got a grimy bar feel to it, and it's kind of the perfect listen right now. Songs of Note : "Bad Candy Girl," "Love, Drugs, Etc.," "Cold Dead Night," "Like a Zombie...

You know we couldn't close out Halloween week without another Halloween themed song, right? Somehow The Cutthroat Brothers and Mike Watt have another collaborative album coming out, and the latest single is "Like a Zombie." This new song is just classic blues based garage punk. It's the kind of song garage rock bands did in the 60's to capitalize on Halloween. It even opens with a howl, which I simply can not resist. Plus, there are more than a few nods to classic horror punk, so "Like a Zombie" is basically a lost classic horror rock song minus it being lost. You're going to want to play the hell out of this one this weekend, or, if you're anything like me, all year round! You can watch the video for "Like a Zombie" below. Devil in Berlin is due out December 3 on Hound Gawd! Records. You can pre-order a copy here . For more on The Cutthroat Brothers, check out their website .

The trio of The Cutthroat Brothers and Mike Watt released their debut album earlier this year on Record Store Day, but somehow they're already back with new music and a second album due out before the end of the year. (This seems to be fairly standard for The Cutthroat Brothers as this will be their fifth album in just three years.) "Devil in Berlin" is a dirty blues based punk stomper. It has far more groove in it than your standard punk song and is heavy on the fuzz. If your ideal punk is more along the lines of The Cramps or The Stooges, chances are this is gonna be the song for you. You can watch the video for "Devil in Berin" below. Devil in Berlin , the album, is due out December 2nd on Hound Gawd! Records. You can pre-order the album here . For more on The Cutthroat Brothers, check out the band's website .

The pairing of The Cutthroat Brothers and Mike Watt have a new single off their upcoming album. "Wrong" is this great blast of dirty blues based proto-punk mixed with Mike Watt's thing. You know what I mean by that. Mike Watt just has this genre-less sound with his playing that is just pure Mike Watt. "Wrong" is a mess of blues and weirdo punk that you're probably going to love. Plus, it just has a certain boogie to it that's purely irresistible. Not much punk based music can be described with "boogie," but that's what makes this song killer. You can listen to "Wrong" below. The King is Dead  will be out on vinyl on June 12 for Record Store Day with a digital released scheduled for July 9 on Hound Gawd! Records. For more on The Cutthroat Brothers, check out their website . Hound Gawd! Records · Wrong

Mike Watt is the kind of punk/indie rock legend that deserves attention on anything he does. His latest project is teaming up with The Cutthroat Brothers on a collaborative album. When the duo appeared on The Watt from Pedro Show, they asked Watt to collaborate with them. He agreed, and the trio began working on music. "The King is Dead" is this dirty, bluesy, proto-punk track that will hit you deep in your soul. It's both blues punk and swamp rock, but amped up like you would expect any song involving Mike Watt would be. It's a slow but intense song that feels like it's stalking you, but it's groove is so mesmerizing that you want it to. You can watch the video for "The King is Dead" below. The album The King is Dead will be out June 12 (Record Store Day) on Hound Gawd! Records. You can pre-order the album here . For more on The Cutthroat Brothers, check out their website .

If you've never seen Todd Haynes's fantastic 1998 film Velvet Goldmine , you truly owe it to yourself to do so. It's basically a David Bowie biopic without licensing. Once you watch the film, you're going to need to check out the soundtrack. In addition to the classic songs of the period, it also included a song by Wyde Ratttz. Wylde Ratttz stood in for The Stooges, and consisted of Ron Asheton (The Stooges), Mark Arm (Mudhoney), Mike Watt (Minutemen), Don Fleming, Jim Dunbar, Sean Ono Lennon, and Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Steve Shelley. They did a cover of The Stooges's classic "T.V. Eye" that made me desperate to hear more. Alas, there was no more. Until yesterday. Apparently the band got together to for a second session that included originals and a cover of The Pretty Things. You shouldn't even be reading this any more. This is pure gold, and I can't believe this has been sat on for over twenty years. This is a supergroup to end ...

This album came out in February and somehow I missed it until this past weekend. I had never heard of Unknown Instructors, either, which is surprising given that the band features J Mascis on guitar, Mike Watt on bass, and fellow Minutemen drummer George Hurley. Vocals are handled by poet Dan McGuire Unwilling to Explain  is a fairly weird album, which is to be expected given that it's a project involving Mascis and Watt. It sounds kind of like The Minutemen dabbling in classic rock, but with Jim Carroll style spoken word and J Mascis cranking out guitar solos. Like I said... pretty weird. What's the weirdest is that it has a fairly standard rock base, but with these weird offshoots going in their own direction.  You can listen to "Hand in Hand" below. Unwilling to Explain  is available now via ORG Music. You can get your copy via Bandcamp . The album also features guest spots from Stephen Perkins (Jane's Addiction) and Joe Baiza (Saccharine Trust). Unwilli...

Lately there seems to be an abundance of supergroups, which I'm perfectly ok with. The latest is Big Walnuts Yonder (which may prove that all the good band names are taken) which features Mike Watt, Nels Cline (Wilco), Greg Saunier (Deerhoof), and Nick Reinhart (Tera Melos). The band started way back in 2008 while Watt and Reinhart were touring together in Japan. They later added the other two members, but didn't record anything together for another six years, and then waited three more to release it. Right now we can hear one of their songs, "Raise the Drawbridges?" It's just as noisy as you'd expect anything from Mike Watt to sound like. And, like anything Watt related, there's this odd pop sensibility even though it's almost 100% noise. It's not a comfortable listen, but it's totally worth struggling through. It's a great, aggressive, noisy little song with what sounds like hundreds of moving parts from some of the best in the experi...