36 Songs, 36 Days (2012 Edition), Day Twenty Nine: NYCUFOs by NYCUFOs

..because Omaha UFO's doesn't have the same ring to it...

I want to say up front that I know absolutely nothing--and I mean nothing--about this band, save that their album, Newer Stations, was available (and still is available) for free on bandcamp and that they're a quartet. The picture to the left is the only one I could find of them. I have to assume they're from my hometown, but I guess even that supposition is based on potentially spurious assumptions (i.e. if they were from Green Bay, they'd be Green Bay UFOs).

Given the lack of information, I have to go on the song itself. And the song itself is a strange Frankenstein's monster of influences. I can get snatches of The Jesus and Mary Chain, a variety of early 80's pop bands, some Velvet Underground, and The Replacements in there.

...actually, I get a lot of The Replacements, especially in the vocals and the guitar riffs. Someone must have really listened closely to Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson in their youth, because Joe Haller and Chris Auger are obviously striving to imitate (or 'hommage') the band. What separates them from their heroes is the hazy distortion that they obviously borrowed from the J&M Chain. This doesn't separate them completely from the 'Mats influence, however, as what ultimately results sounds like a Replacements cover band playing their songs through seriously blown speakers.

The song itself is in the tradition of the 'band theme song. Oddly enough, when I sussed this out I got a whiff of another possible influence--They Might Be Giants, who wrote a theme song for The Replacements that remains one of my favorite songs of theirs early in their career. Half advertising (the chorus' last line exhorts us to 'Go and See The NYC UFOs') and half tv show jingle, the song does have a strange charm to it. And it also makes me wonder, given that they haven't produced anything new since the release of this album in 2010, what happened to them. After all, there is some promise amidst this influence soup, and there is always the possibility these four would slough off the obvious imitations and find their true nature down the line.

Here is a link to get Newer Stations.

 

....and since this song has no video, here's a live performance of 'Hi, We're The Replacements,' the They Might Be Giants song I was talking about, at a Barnes and Nobles..

36 Songs, 36 Days (2012 Edition), Day Twenty Eight: Cloud Nine by Pairs

They may like to refer to themselves as a bitch and a dickhead...
but man, these cats can play!

And today...Chinese Punk Rock!

No, really. I first became aware of this band when I downloaded a collection of rock bands from Shanghai from bandcamp. On the bandcamp page was a link to Summer Sweat, a full album by the group and hey, it was free, so I downloaded it as well.

This is the first track on that album, and...yeah, it's pretty much a Mission Statement. I have to be honest; while Pairs does sing in English, I can't understand half of what is going on here. Guitatist 'f's' highly distorted guitar rifts burst through the speakers as if she's actively and gleefully trying to blow them while drummer/vocalist xiao zhong alternates between screaming and growling his lyrics. This creates an undeniable energy--while I can't figure out the lyrics entirely (words seem to pop up to the surface from this bed of noise, and the phrase beginning with 'I'll be the best Johnny Rotten in the ground' seems to be the chorus), there is a definitive propulsion to it. You keep listening, even when xiao takes a few moments to start moaning as if in pain.

I'm not 100% sure if this is the kinda of thing I'd want to hear all the time, and I'm not sure if it's this track is the best entry point to this band; there are other tracks on this album that are less distorted and more melodic that might serve to ease a newcomer into their exuberant style. But it sure is fun in its anarchistic, crazy way. If you want to try them out for yourself, check out their discography on bandcamp.

 

Here is the band performing the song live.