CMU Playlists

Playlist: OFF!

By | Published on Thursday 24 May 2012

OFF!

Formed in 2009, punk supergroup OFF! was founded by Black Flag and Circle Jerks frontman Keith Morris and Burning Brides’ Dimitri Coats as an outlet for songs they’d written for an ill-fated Circle Jerks reunion album (which Coats had been hired to produce). Enlisting Redd Kross bassist Steven Shane McDonald, and Rocket From The Crypt drummer Mario Rubalcaba, they made their live debut at SxSW in 2010.

The band’s debut album was released earlier this month through Vice Records, preceded by the Richard Kern-directed video for album track ‘Wiped Out’, and the band will be on tour in the UK next month, including a show at London’s Garage venue on 20 Jun.

Ahead of the tour dates, Keith Morris put together a playlist for us, of which he said: “Usually compiling these lists becomes a royal pain in the heiny as there are so many directions to go. Because I listen to so much music I sometimes forget what I’ve listened to and then I start thinking ‘do I wanna just pull out songs at random or put together a list of pop songs, sludgy metal, 1, 2, 3, 4 punk rawk glop, ass shakin soul slop, garage mind melt gunk, or a party mish mash mix of whatever comes to mind?’ On this list I’m thinking of throwing songs out there from a few recent vinyl purchases and records in stacks on my dining room floor, so here goes…”

KEITH MORRIS’ TEN
Click here to listen to Keith’s playlist in Spotify
, and then read on to find out more about his choices.

01 Black Sabbath – Tomorrow’s Dream
The second song on side one of ‘Vol 4’ and one of my favourite Tony Iommi guitar riffs, as I remember him breaking out with this riff at the Hollywood Bowl back in 1972. Does this make me come off as an old man? Oh well, at least I’m fortunate to have seen BS on the ‘Vol 4’ and ‘Master Of Reality’ tours when they set the template for High On Fire, Sunn o))), Kyuss, Nebula, Fu Manchu, Rush, Goatsnake, Queens Of The Stone Age and several hundred dozen other ‘stoner’ or ‘heavy’ rock groups.

02 The Mind Spiders – Wait For Us
These guys from Fort Worth Texas come across as an energetic punky new wave dance band fronted by a character who is channelling Jay Reatard! So go break out yer best tuchus bumpin moves and work up a sweat. Win the dance contest, collect yer first place trophy, hit the swimming pool with yer date, do sum skinny dippin and get laid!

03 Earthless – Cherry Red
Where one of my favourite drum playing guys and his two other compadres in organised noise making, Isaiah and The Egg, proceed to do a totally smash up job of a song by The Groundhogs. The song’s recorded live with the real deal feel! HOORAY FOR SAN DIEGO!

04 Mark Lanegan – Phantasmagoria Blues
This is my fave track off his new ‘Blues Funeral’ album, but I won’t get into any details as to why. I had a friend bug me on Facebook about the ‘dance’ beats included on this record. My response was: “It’s fucking Mark Lanegan and he can record whatever he wants!” The beats just add some extra special flavour to his dark mix.

05 Darker My Love – Eighteenth Street Shuffle
A bass driven guitar/keyboard thumper. Look up and see the girls in their go-go cages dancing to this modern take on The Byrds and The Grateful Dead (not a bad word used in small dosages). Tim Presley and Rob Barbato are a couple of my modern music heroes.

06 Sonic’s Rendezvous Band – City Slang
Where Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith, who was one half of the MC5’s guitar army and Patti Smith’s husband, sets out to prove that being from Detroit, Michigan still matters! This song is a rock n roll scorcher and would be a great party starter. Mr Smith wrote the majority of the MC5’s last album ‘High Time’ and this tune would’ve been the opening track on their fourth album had they not broken up. Instead ‘City Slang’ is the track that gets ‘Too Much Crank’ blasting off. YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!

07 The Raunch Hands – Did You No Wrong
A rawkin scuzzed out pile of musical garbage as these kooks from NYC do their mangled garage take on the B-side of the Sex Pistols’ ‘God Save The Queen’ single. ‘Did You No Wrong’ is the SP tune that I hold in highest regard as it’s basically a great attempt at The Rolling Stones, and who better to cover it than these whackball mofos? YEEEEEEEHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

08 Wire – Three Girl Rhumba directly into Ex Lion Tamer
Three minutes and 40 seconds of ‘Art Damaged’ minimalistic bliss! Wire’s ‘Pink Flag’ album was one of the really great ones in a crop of really great records that were released in 1977 – a big influence on REM, The Minutemen, Gang Of Four and too many more to list.

My last two musical selections are the double whammy tag team champions from California’s Bay Area and the ‘newer’ participants of the new psychedelic movement that would make Bill Graham proud.

09 Thee Oh Sees – Meat Step Lively
This appears three songs in on their ‘Help’ album on In The Red Records, and they’re led by the insanely talented John Dwyer who was also responsible for the full frontal, no rules attached zaniness of Pink And Brown and The Coachwhips. His newer musical stylings lean towards a garage-y wall of guitars and swirling young teenage cult group underground sounds. Thee Oh Sees would fit perfectly on a bill consisting of The Cramps and Gun Club or The Seeds and Standells.

10 Ty Segall – Girlfriend
This top notch tuneage would please fans of psyche, grunge and has a nice bit of pop lineage. Ty Segall bolted from the OC (that’s Orange County in Southern California) when he felt there wasn’t any real teen music scene, and he and his bandmates became one of the prime examples of what’s goin on our central coast. Because TS has more ‘pop’ tendencies they’re not as out there as Wooden Shjips, Comets On Fire, Greg Ashley, Citay or Sleepy Sun. They have some Nirvana-like stylings but their songs are shorter and friendlier. RIGHT ON.



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