In the Weekly's recent profile of local filmmaker Alex Italics, we reported that he was working on a second music video for They Might Be Giants. It recently made its debut in all its K-Tel glory. Tune in—operators are standing by!

Last weekend local quartet Otherly Love released their third album in a four-year span. Stripping away some of the twangy country intros and crooning doo-wop vocal gimmicks from 2012's "5+5=X," the band has carved out a place for their latest release "Hardly Groaner" that looks much more like '70s rock sensibilities than their previous '50s and '60s nostalgia. 

Kicking off the ten-song list, "Sleep" offers a bright falsetto similar to Danielson's vocal style but backed by instrumentation that can be classified no more succinctly than classic rock. It's much more straightforward than the Otherly Love of the past and transitions into "Driver"'s jazzy intro that seems intentionally stumbly and clumsy. It is, indeed, the kind of song you want to put on in the car and hit the gas pedal, headbanging a little along the way to the swelling drum hits.

From there, the cassette's first side doesn't stay put stylistically and that's okay. Each song has about three distinct sections at least, transitioning from swayable slower paces to more frantic and straightforward punk moments.

"Master" has the first moments of the distinguishable prog rock style the band seems to have picked up, but it becomes all too unavoidable on the tape's B side, which kicks off with "Don't Look Bad." The sixth song has hints of King Crimson but with a much tighter and more pop viable composition. When the title's namesake is sung, you can almost hear where a horn section would fit in perfectly behind it all. Here, the vocals go from the breathy, high pitched sing-a-long wail of the rest of the album to a more intent and honest sound.

Interestingly, the band isn't just successfully reviving '70s art rock or prog in a not too obtrusive way. "Swivel Man" is a heap of feedback and fuzz and mumbling lyrics that somehow finds its place amidst the other aural motifs. And consider the guitar solo on that first song "Sleep," which is somewhere between squealing '80s hair metal and more modern Eagles of Death Metal. "Heart Attach" ends the album switching back and forth between pretty overt punk that might do what the name suggests if you've had too much coffee before listening to it, but, at the drop of a hat, mellows back out.

As a whole, "Hardly Groaner" seems to beg listeners to dance with up-tempo beats and an endless stream of noodling guitar riffs that the band seems at least acutely aware of stylistically, as they've named a song "Noodle." It's a fun album but not in a pandering, dance pop way. It's funny and goofy but it should still be taken seriously, as the group clearly has the chops to back up taking on a stripped down redux of prog with a good dose of punk blended in. 

You can pick up your cassette copy of Otherly Love's "Hardly Groaner" now at Old Paint Records, located at 201 N. Court Ave. If you've misplaced your Walkman, you can also download the new album via the band's Bandcamp page.

Track List:
"Sleep"
"Driver"
"From Me to You"
"Master"
"Fire Alarm"
"Don't Look Bad"
"Secret"
"Swivle Man"
"Noodle"
"Heart Attach"

Or, as Gawker eloquently put it "Turning Good Song Into Shitty Mess Will Cost Pharrell, Thicke $7 Million." Sounds like a fair tax to me. 

A jury in California ruled "Blurred Lines" was just too much of a Marvin Gaye ripoff to go unpunished, so now Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams owe $7.3 million to the Gaye family. 

Also, shoutout to Gawker for reminding me about the time Thicke tried to stop the world from blaming him for the misogynistic mess that is Blurred lines:

Thicke: To be honest, that's the only part where — I was high on vicodin and alcohol when I showed up at the studio. So my recollection is when we made the song, I thought I wanted — I — I wanted to be more involved than I actually was by the time, nine months later, it became a huge hit and I wanted credit. So I started kind of convincing myself that I was a little more part of it than I was and I — because I didn't want him — I wanted some credit for this big hit. But the reality is, is that Pharrell had the beat and he wrote almost every single part of the song."

Vicodin won't won't get you out of this one, bud. 

In the meantime, I'll just be over here listening to these parodies, pretending the bullshit not-so-original never happened: 


Way better, right?

What are you doing on Friday? Well, it better not involve paying cover at a club or you're gonna feel like a real schmuck for missing what will likely be a totally rad show at Club Congress that's also totally free. 

Kim House might seem like another in the long list of lo-fi trippy weirdo surf rock musicians that are coming out of SoCal lately, but the singer/songwriter is known for live performances that are as fun as they are odd as they are engaging. Her raw energy, badass costumes and thrashing dance moves alone make for a good show, but her music, which is backed by a full band live, is the perfect blend of dark, buzzy psych with sometimes spooky, sometimes gravel-y vocals. 

Locals Katterwaul and Daycones will open the free (yes, free!) show on Friday, March 6 starting at 9 p.m.

You should check out Kim & The Created's "Dead to Me" if you need further convincing that this will be a wise use of your precious Friday night. The song has basically been the Lay's chips of music for me today in that I can't listen to it just once and I bet you can't either. I dare you to try.

Last year, Tucson favorite ChamberLab set a live orchestra to Buster Keaton's classic Civil War silent film "The General." This weekend, the show is getting a rare second run.

Chris Black, who got ChamberLab started, says this was the show everyone was devastated to have missed.

"We did it right on Easter weekend, or around then, so a lot of people were out of town. People didn't know how awesome it was going to be," Black said, adding that this is the show he's been asked to repeat above all the others.

"If you haven't seen Buster Keaton before, he's just incredible. I don't know how he does what he does. This no special effects, no anything, just pure deranged athleticism as he leaps around and takes all kinds of chances with his life," Black explains. "It's about 78 minutes and all but about 15 minutes of it is train chases—so it's action packed."

This time, ChamberLab will be filming the event for DVD and digital download. They're running an IndieGoGo, from which proceeds are being split up between production costs for the filming and paying the musicians. 

"It's just to make sure that we stay healthy and that we pay the musicians for the really ridiculous amount of rehearsal we'll be putting them through for the next week," Black said, noting that while his shows usually just split up the profits from ticket sales, that's just not enough for the amount of work people are putting into this. "Everyone is really amazing that they're giving us their time in the way that they have been I'm trying to get a little bit more into their pockets."

The show takes place this Saturday, Feb. 28 at 7:30 p.m., at the Fox Theater, 17 W. Congress St. You can get tickets and preorder a DVD/digital copy of the screening through their IndieGoGo—which will remain open for a week after the event, just in case you feel like sending a little more money their way after the performance.

"It's an amazing accomplishment. I mean, when you're right in the middle of it with the music playing and the movie's going and you can't stop and say 'Oops, lets take that again,' and theres 11 people just going at it—it's a tremendous feeling," Black said. "I have never surfed, but I imagine kinda like surfing a gigantic wave. I'm not sure how else to describe it, but thats a pretty good feeling."

The times have indeed a-changed. From Peanuts, 1971:


To the current issue of the AARP Magazine:


As Pete Townshend might say, I'm just talkin' 'bout my [aging] generation.

If you're already pining for the weekend, you can consider getting it all started a little early on Thursday when Tap & Bottle offers up the ultimate triple threat: free local music, a ramen food truck and an encyclopedic stock of craft beer.

Starting at 5 p.m., Fat Noodle food truck will be slinging bowls of slurpable noodley goodness and maybe even a ramen burger or two out in front of Tap & Bottle. Then at 8:30 p.m. on the inside of the beer and wine bar, you can catch Tucson's electro indie band with alt country tendencies Golden Boots.


Of course, you'll have your pick of Tap & Bottle brews, including, maybe if you're lucky, a pint of Ten Fifty-Five's re-released Sugar Skull stout or some of the super rare Arizona Wilderness beer that was tapped on Saturday. If those kegs run dry before Thursday, Feb. 26, they'll have something else tasty to sip when you start your (early) weekend off right at 403 N. 6th Ave.

A second single from Calexico's upcoming Edge of the Sun debuted on SoundCloud today. "Falling From the Sky" features Band of Horses' Ben Bridwell. Click play to give it a listen.

Edge of the Sun, recorded at downtown Tucson's WaveLab Studios and featuring a whole bunch of guest stars, drops on April 14.

For all of you Lolipop Records devotees, it's time to set aside your stacks of cassette tapes and head to the Flycatcher on Friday, Feb. 20. Cobalt Cranes are stopping into town and their recent album "Days in the Sun" is dark and moody neo-psych at its finest with a dash of grunge for good measure.

Fronted by aquamarine hair sporting Tim Foley, the band originally started in LA as a duo with Foley and bassist Kate Beutel. Now on tour with a full band, Cobalt Cranes will be joined by local artists Wight Lhite and La Cerca when they play Flycatcher on Friday starting at 9 p.m. Tickets for the show are $5.

Check out Cobalt Cranes' "Flowers on Your Grave," which kind of sounds like a mix of the Black Angels with some Blur a la "There's No Other Way."

"You Don't Own Me" PSA - Upworthy from The Department of Peace on Vimeo.

Lesley Gore, who taught us all that we could cry as long as it was our party, died of lung cancer today at the age of 68. The video above is from an Upwrothy page, encouraging women to vote in November of 2014.

From that project, which Gore endorsed:

In 2013, there were more laws passed to limit women’s reproductive rights than in the entire previous DECADE.
Ten million more women than men voted in the last election. In fact 53% of voters were women. That is not a voting block it's a majority. Women have decided literally every election in our lifetimes, yet, midterm turnout is historically low. LET'S CHANGE THAT!

Beyond women's rights, Gore was a hugely impactful advocate of gay and lesbian rights. She came out* in 2005 while hosting a PBS show called In The Life, which focused on LGBTQ issues. At that time, she had already been with her partner, Lois Sasson, for more than 23 years.

Gore is widely quoted saying:

I think it’s important, not so much to be married to your partner as to be given the civil rights that married couples get, so I’m on that bandwagon...and that may take awhile, but it’s happening, for sure. By the time I shut my eyes for good, I’ll have seen a real difference, I think, and I’m happy about that.

I like to think that came true for her. We'll miss you and your feminist ways, Lesley.


*Which maybe shouldn't have been surprising. I mean, have you heard the song? I know she said she was crying, but Lesley just didn't seem too broken up about Judy wearing Johnny's ring.