I've been listening to mostly newer stuff recently, but this weekend I decided to listen to some stuff that my wife can actually stand and went back to the 90's and listened to some Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam.

It was wonderful. Later that day, I decided to revisit some favorites, like Pavement's Slanted/Enchanted, Modest Mouse's The Lonesome Crowded West, and Weezer's Blue Album.

This got me thinking about what I've been missing in much of the stuff I've been listening to recently. For lack of a better word (and couth), I believe the answer is balls. Some roaring guitar and some screaming vocals without being metal.

What do you think? I know we have The White Stripes, The Thermals, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (probably the best example of what I am thinking of) and the like. Bah, it's probably just me but I'll post anyway because I got this far.

go with Mclusky and Future of the Left! Also, i suggest you Brainiac, Polvo and Shellac.

I'd say the following have 'balls.'

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Dinosaur Jr.
The Black Lips
Elbow
The Raconteurs
Man Man
Black Mountain
The Hold Steady
My Morning Jacket

This message has been edited. Last edited by: St. Mike,

Future of the Left - Curses gets nowhere near as much love as it should. Falco is the king of the non-sequitur.

Small bones, small bodies. MY FINEST EXOSKELETON.

Biffy Clyro

Get into some Queens of the Stone Age. And I second mclusky, they are excellent.

quote:

Originally posted by eggtweedyegg:
Brainiac, Polvo and Shellac.

All genius, but he wanted recent stuff. Shellac qualifies I guess, although their latest was a bit patchy.

Thanks for the recs. I originally started this as a topic for discussion, but recs work great too. The bands that I can say I'm not very familiar with are Biffy Clyro, Elbow, Man Man, Braniac, Polvo, and Shellac; though I have heard a little Man Man and Braniac. From what I have heard of Man Man, I'm not sure they're what I'm looking for.

Future of the Left and Mclusky are exactly what I am thinking of, though the topic was originally meant to be a discussion of real recent music (like last couple of years recent, so Mclusky would be out). Though I love them both, I don't think The Hold Steady and My Morning Jacket meet the "roaring guitars" and "screaming vocals" part of the initial post. I've heard some QotSA, but not a lot. The only songs I can remember are "Sick, Sick, Sick" and "Little Sister" and I wrote them off as a better version of a nu-metal band. Big mistake?

harvey milk and the hold steady

hmm...

I'm not sure I've got a whole lot to add discussion-wise, except to say yeah I like my music with balls too. yup I like me some Pavement, LCW, Thermals, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, what have you. (I can't stand Pearl Jam for some reason though.)

And Polvo is an amazing band. Exploded Drawing and Todays Active Lifestyles are both great examples of this stuff, only say circa 1993-96. Say, like Slanted and Enchanted minus the goofiness/sloppiness plus a dash more of Sonic Youth and plus an extra pair of balls.

Plenty of people have talked up these guys on the forum before but I haven't seen them on this thread yet...

the Veils - Nux Vomica
Imagine Nick Cave stuck in a Faulkner novel with a goofy farmer hat and a face like a 24 yr old Macauley Culkin, and you've got an idea of the front man Finn Andrews' image is like. He sings like a maniac stuck in some godforsaken place, and the guitars moan and squeal in response.
btw, they're guys are from New Zealand (hence the Nick Cave reference).

the Drones - Gala Mill/Wait Long By the River
Ok so these guys are a bit similar to the Veils, although they were making that kind of record way before Nux Vomica, only waaaay darker and with longer songs stretching into epic depression. Wait no so maybe these guys are more into Faulkner...but without the pop hooks or the funny hat.

Thee Oh Sees - The Master's Bedroom is Worth Spending a Night In has balls to spare - great psycho-billy garage rock with subtle but potent hooks and off kilter vocals and arrangements.

And if you're in a Fugazi kind of mood I would highly recommend a Kill Rock Stars band called Unwound. Fake Train is a fantastic record, but I have yet to hear anything disappointing from their first 5-6 years of record making. Definitely got the screaming vocals and raging guitars, but not so recent ( Fake Train was released in '93).

We have discussions for this kind of stuff all over the place:

Grunge/Nirvana
Pixies/Pavement/Weezer
Pavement
Nirvana vs. Pixies

The aforementioned cover the music you outlined in your first post. And also, these are older threads with great contributions and discussions by dearly missed members who made terrific contributions. I suggest you check them out.

I have been meaning to listen to Mclusky and Future of the Left for some time, but I haven't found any good copies of their stuff. The search will go on.

The #1 band I think of when I want some serious hard rock from this decade is Death From Above 1979. They're awesome and I rock out so hard to them, but unfortunately they broke up after that one brilliant album.

quote:

Originally posted by Chamberk:

The #1 band I think of when I want some serious hard rock from this decade is Death From Above 1979. They're awesome and I rock out so hard to them, but unfortunately they broke up after that one brilliant album.

That's a great shout Chamberk. I love that album, and it does rock exceedingly hard. If you're going to release one album then implode, might as well make it a stormer!

I thought this topic had been locked down...

quote:

Originally posted by Mr Borachon Esq:

quote:

Originally posted by Chamberk:

The #1 band I think of when I want some serious hard rock from this decade is Death From Above 1979. They're awesome and I rock out so hard to them, but unfortunately they broke up after that one brilliant album.

That's a great shout Chamberk. I love that album, and it does rock exceedingly hard. If you're going to release one album then implode, might as well make it a stormer!

I thought this topic had been locked down...

Weird. I checked the topic a couple of days ago and it was locked. It's back in business now, baby!

Quite mysterious, no?

Another hard-rocker that came out recently is Titus Andronicus's "The Airing of Grievances" - my only issue with it being that the singer sounds like Conor Oberst, but something I'm willing to look past for some rock. As much as I love me some Portishead, Bon Iver, Okkervil River - there haven't been too many heavy rock albums that I can really rock out to. (And I can't really say I enjoy metal, either...) So it's a quest of trying to find hard-rocking music with great hooks for me.

quote:

Originally posted by Mr Borachon Esq:

quote:

Originally posted by Chamberk:

The #1 band I think of when I want some serious hard rock from this decade is Death From Above 1979. They're awesome and I rock out so hard to them, but unfortunately they broke up after that one brilliant album.

That's a great shout Chamberk. I love that album, and it does rock exceedingly hard. If you're going to release one album then implode, might as well make it a stormer!

Yeah - DFA1979 is/was great. It's kinda funny how they came to public/P4K attention about the same time as Lightning Bolt. Yeah they're both bass/drum duos, but if you listen a bit below the surface it's not hard to hear that they're going for completely different things!

quote:

I thought this topic had been locked down...

Yeah, it was. I whined about it cos I thought it had some potential outside of previous threads. I think some other people felt the same way, so Hurrah!

This is a good thread, but it really doesn't need the grunge connection. Even the Smiths had more balls than the current trends!

A lot of older music has more balls in general.

I'm not saying all current stuff is limp wristed, but an awful lot of these bands look and sound like you could knock them over with a feather.

When I think of emo and generic indie, it's easy to imagine Henry Rollins gleefully destroying the lot of them single-handed in a Rambo stylee.

I'm actually enjoying that thought.

quote:

Originally posted by youandwhosearmy:

quote:

Originally posted by eggtweedyegg:
Brainiac, Polvo and Shellac.

All genius, but he wanted recent stuff. Shellac qualifies I guess, although their latest was a bit patchy.

Well, they don't really qualify in my opinion because their debut full-length was 1993, with singles reaching even further back. I do believe that makes them older than Brainiac (okay, they both formed in 1992... By no means are either "new"), but Polvo is the oldest of the bunch, so kudos.

What about some Constantines? They've got some testicles.
And the following bands:
Giddy Motors
Crystal Antlers (won't stop repping these guys)
Health
Pissed Jeans
Clockcleaner
Harvey Milk... Uh, so they aren't new either, but whatever
Boris (pretty old also, i retract my correction above)
Jay Reatard
Magik Markers
Dead Meadow
Blood on the Wall
King Khan & His Shrines
Black Lips
A Place to Bury Strangers
Les Savy Fav (somewhat old)
Death From Above 1979
Mclusky and Future of the Left (though everyone should have heard these by now... Mclusky at least)

And don't forget Vampire Weekend, they're the most balls-to-the-walls rock n'rollers that every shreaded away on their axes. They make people's ears bleed and really stick it to the man with their biting commentary on punctuation marks. Bravo Vampire Weekend, you've made rock music threatening again... to 85 year old ladies.

Don't forget The Pipettes.
For God's sake, hide the children when their cannabalistic snarls of rape and mutilation overtake your ears.

The Constantines. Specifically, their first album