Sorry it's late. I wrote most of this back in October but, of COURSE, forgot to post it.
This is the tenth volume of Trevor's Poor-Ass Christmas. As such, i went all out this year and included full-color artwork and a bonus DVD. I'm pretty proud of it; as with every year, i'm pretty sure this is the best one yet. But of course, if i ever don't feel like it's better than all of its predecessors, then what was the point, right? I think i fussed over this one way harder than any other year. I burned three separate beta tests before i was happy with the fourth. Nerd, i know.
So what does the DVD contain? Well, it follows the track listing from the CD. As often as possible, it's got the music video for the featured song, but where that was unavailable, i've substituted alternate videos (in some cases, even
Wisconscene sessions), or videos for other songs by the same artist in as close to the same era as possible, or in two cases where no decent video for the artist in question existed, something completely different. Notes for the DVD alongside the CD notes below.
For those just joining us, writing out liner notes for the PAC is an ancillary tradition that i started in 2010. So if you'd like to check those out, you can follow these links right here:
2010,
2011,
2012.
Onward!
Sleigh Bells – Bitter Rivals
bitterrivals.us
I think Christina is the only person who's ever gotten a really good handle on what music i like. As she's fond of pointing out, we're probably the same person. She introduced me to Sleigh Bells this summer, i don't remember exactly which track, but i was pretty into it. Looked them up on Spotify, listened through all their albums, and thoroughly enjoyed their discography, though no tracks specifically jumped out at me. Not long after, Amanda (you know, the one that married me this year) was drafted to one of our home roller derby teams, the Reservoir Dolls, and part of her welcoming package included a mix CD featuring one track contributed by each member of the existing roster. She immediately fell in love with the song Safe and Sound by Capital Cities, which i was already sick of hearing on the radio (she had no idea it was on the radio; she never listens to the radio), but i was absolutely taken with the track immediately following it. This one. So thanks, Lips Macker, for finding me the perfect opening track for this year's PAC!
DVD: Sleigh Bells - Bitter Rivals music video
Screaming Females – Something Ugly
screamingfemales.com
I've probably been talking about Screaming Females too much, and listening to them even more, over the last year and a half. Last summer i found them on a free compilation from No Idea Records. That comp's song, Buried in the Nude, made it onto my comp last year. I bought all of their albums, naturally, based solely on that song and on seeing them live, and it took listening to them a lot before i started to pick out which tracks i like. This is off of their latest album, last year's Ugly, and i think it's great. And interesting, because one of the main bass riffs is identical to an old damidol song that we haven't played since parting ways with Natalie. Her band Venus in Furs plays it now. I'm sure Screaming Females have never heard of either of us.
If you ever get the chance, see this band live. Do it!
DVD: Screaming Females and Garbage – Because the Night
My god, this is one of the best cover songs i've ever heard. They recorded it exclusively for a Record Store Day vinyl 45 this year, which i was unable to obtain. If i'd heard this before finalizing the PAC, it may have been on there instead.
My God, The Heat – Our City, Our Shithole
mygodtheheat.com
If you remember The Pimps, sometimes called The Goodyear Pimps, this is two of the same guys from that band. They're from Rockford, they were pretty big regionally, and at the peak of their fame got a song on the Mission: Impossible 2 soundtrack. We took Gardener down to Dubuque, Iowa to see them for his bachelor party, and got to hang out with them a bit after the show (when we were completely fucking smashed). They gave me a free CD since i had bought them a round of Goldschlager shots, and i casually asked if they'd like to play in Madison for my birthday party, to which they said yes. So hold on to your ass – this is going to be amazing.
DVD: The Hussy – Woodland Creature
In the absence of any non-cell phone video of My God, The Heat, i've selected this ball-tripping music video for one of Madison's internationally best-known bands, The Hussy, whom i've been friends with for something like a decade. The video was directed by my friend Eric, and actually we recorded The Hussy's Wisconscene session the same night as this video was shot, in the same studio.
Sky Road Fly – Sirens of the City (Wisconscene session)
skyroadfly.com
These guys are huge in Madison. damidol played with them up in Baraboo for Bash in the Bluffs 2, and shortly after that i had them on my TV show. They just craft an amazing rock song, you know? They don't belong in this time. They'd have done really well back in the 70s, when people cared about full albums and not just catchy singles. I've chosen to include the Wisconscene session rather than the album track because, frankly, i like Bill's mix way better. I'm not saying it is better; i've included their official music video on the DVD, so judge for yourself.
DVD: Sky Road Fly – Sirens of the City
Filter Free Rodeo – Big Book of Tell Me Why
facebook.com/filterfreerodeo
I always knew there were a lot of bands in Madison, but since starting Wisconscene i've discovered that there are probably between 3 and 10 times as many as i thought. As my show started making the rounds and getting discovered by people that i didn't know personally, bands started contacting me to be on. And that reach started extending beyond Madison – Filter Free Rodeo here heard of the show way out in Milwaukee and got ahold of me about filming an episode. They ended up being the last band we'd ever have in the WYOU studio, before we made the move to KSUN. And they turned out to be fucking awesome. They gave me a CD and a t-shirt, too, just because i'm pretty cool. This is one of my favorite songs of the year. For the story behind it, check out Wisconscene episode #209!
DVD: Filter Free Rodeo – Big Book of Tell Me Why (Wisconscene session)
Biffy Clyro – A Girl and His Cat
biffyclyro.com
I probably don't need to say anything about Biffy Clryo at this point. We discovered them in 2008 on our New Zealand trip, and they've become our favorite band. They're not my favorite band, they're not Amanda's favorite band, but they're our favorite. We've now seen them live five times. This year, they released a new album (first one in four years), a double album, but for some reason they only released a single disc in America. Alyssa jumped on it, but i held off, and when we got to Liverpool, England in June, i dove into the first record store i saw and grabbed the full package, with both CDs and a DVD. This is my favorite song from the album, and it happens to be one that got left off of the American release. Sadly, when we saw them in October, they didn't play it, or anything that's unreleased in the US.
DVD: Biffy Clyro – Opposite
The music video for the title track of the aforementioned album. I really like the imagery and the visual effects. When Alyssa saw it, she got really upset at the ending, which of course makes it all the better for me.
Tilly & The Wall – Pot Kettle Black
officialtillyandthewall.tumblr.com
Last year, when Amanda first got interested in roller derby, she did a lot of research on it and, wanting to get more into shape before attempting such a physical sport, found the Roller Derby Workout Challenge. It's a daily workout and diet regimen designed for weight loss and strength building. After completing the eight-week program, i had lost 20 pounds and gained a liking for this song. You see, the challenge includes a workout video, and this song plays in the background for one of the segments. I was fortunate enough to stumble across four Tilly & The Wall albums when Madison's east side Frugal Muse closed this summer. Interesting fact about Tilly & The Wall: they have no drummer, just a tap dancer.
DVD: Tilly & The Wall – Pot Kettle Black
Battershell – Prick
(good luck!)
There was this compilation i picked up from the library several years ago titled She's A Rebel, which, as you may be able to guess from the title, features a number of all-female punk bands. I included the track Give It to the Dog by Bandit Queen on the PAC that year, and have since found albums by several of the bands on it at the good old Half-Price Books, including Bandit Queen and Battershell. While the Bandit Queen album became a staple of my listening habits over the last few years, i don't think i listened to Battershell more than once or twice until i got it into the Digital Mobyfort this year, which is what i'm calling the iTunes library that i'm diligently working on copying every last fucking CD i own into, because of course i am. I chose to listen to this EP more or less randomly a few times over those first couple months, when there was (comparatively) less variety available, but this song grew on me pretty fast. Not so much the rest of it.
DVD: Battershell – Lost in the Supermarket
At first, this looks like an official music video, but the way it ends seems like the editor got bored and didn't feel like finishing the last 30 seconds, so i think it's a fan-made thing. It's the closest thing i could find to a real Battershell video, though, other than a few crappy VHS-transfer single-camera bootlegs. Finding stuff for bands that existed more than 10 years ago is hard.
Voodoo Glow Skulls – Down for Life
voodooglowskulls.com
Amanda tends to put a CD in her car and listen to it endlessly for weeks or months at a time (right now, it's that Res Dolls comp i mentioned on track 1 there, ensuring that i'll be done with Bitter Rivals by the time you read this). Early on this year, it was the Vans Warped Tour 2009 compilation. I got the main guitar riff to this song – dooka dooka dooka dooka, dun dun dun, dun dun dun – stuck in my head really bad, to the point where i was mumbling it under my breath every time we went out shopping, and it sounded exactly like i've spelled it out there.
DVD: Voodoo Glow Skulls – The Ballad of Froggy McNasty
Crazy claymation about an alcoholic pirate frog. How can you go wrong?
Black Light Burns – The Colour Escapes
facebook.com/blacklightburnsofficial
This was the first track i put on this year's PAC. In fact i almost stuck it onto last year's, but decided it was too late. Black Light Burns is one of very few bands that i monitor closely and buy their albums as soon as they hit the stores, but somehow last year's album The Moment You Realize You're Going to Fall had completely missed my notice until it had been out for a few months. I discovered and corrected my error after i had already finalized the track listing, but before actually burning any copies or printing the packages, but there was really nothing that i was willing to let go.
DVD: Black Light Burns – The Girl in Black
Holy shit, they allow boobs on YouTube now?!
Ellie Goulding – Lights
elliegoulding.com
After the third time i had tagged this song on Shazam, i figured i should probably track it down and listen to it on purpose for once. And then for twice. And then for like the thousandth time. Ellie Goulding is my new musical obsession. It's no secret that despite my metal past and my punk rock now, i am a sucker for a well-crafted pop song, and that is all that Ellie Goulding does: beautifully crafted pop perfection. And her voice is a unique, beautiful thing. This song hits me in all the right ways. It wasn't easy to track down the full version, though; the radio edit appears on the American releases of both of her albums, for some reason, but the whole track is only on her debut EP which never came out on this side of the pond. I managed to score the last available copy off of Amazon, but they've probably restocked by now if you want to, you know, buy it or something.
DVD: Ellie Goulding - Lights
The (International) Noise Conspiracy – Smash It Up
internationalnoise.com (may be out of service)
I think that New Zealand trip has echoed across every Poor-Ass Christmas Collection since we took it. I discovered so much music over there, although very little of it was Kiwi in origin. The (International) Noise Conspiracy's song A New Morning, Changing Weather appeared on the Punk-O-Rama compilation that i bought out of desperation in our second week, and i've since obtained a couple of their albums, although i didn't listen to them much until this year, and suddenly they're in heavy rotation. I've got no real explanation, but i think it's great. This is one of my favorite tracks by them.
DVD: The (International) Noise Conspiracy – Smash It Up
I apologize for the low quality of this, at 360p, it was the best version i could find, and i had to replace the shitty audio with the album track.
The Distillers – Drain the Blood
myspace.com/thedistillersband (yeah...sorry about that)
Speaking of the Punk-O-Rama i picked up in New Zealand, here are The Distillers. After hearing I Am a Revenant a few hundred times in that van, i came back to America and delved deep into The Distillers. This year, i was pleasantly shocked to find Drain the Blood available as DLC for Rock Band and bought it without a second thought. I've played it a couple dozen times in the various Rock Band games, and i always end up with the chorus repeating in my head for at least a few hours afterward. Because all my friends are murderers.
DVD: The Distillers – Drain the Blood
Another low-quality video, but again the best i could find. I wish i had replaced the audio on this one, too, but somehow i failed to notice how bad it was until after i had mass produced the discs.
Wild Flag – Romance
facebook.com/wildflag
I don't know how the hell i went two whole years without picking up Wild Flag's debut album. This is 2/3 of my favorite band of all time, Sleater-Kinney, along with a couple of their friends. I should have bought it the second it came out. Hell, i should have pre-ordered! Maybe i didn't because i had been a little disappointed with Corin Tucker's solo debut, which beat Wild Flag to market by a year. This album is (almost) everything i wanted it to be, and this song in particular has everything i love about Sleater-Kinney in it. The rest of the album is less Sleater-Kinney and more its own animal, but i can't ignore how much this song in particular captures the spirit of that band that i miss.
DVD: Wild Flag – Romance
Because nothing says “Romance” like putting on masks and fucking up record stores.
Elastica – Smile
I vaguely remember Robert that i used to work with mentioning Elastica a while back, me not recognizing the name, and him being surprised, since they were well in line with my musical tastes. Female fronted punky alternative from the 90s? That's like, every keyword that sparks my interest. I acquired their album at some point, but didn't listen to it much; now that all of my CDs are finally out in the open, though, it's been spinning regularly in my kitchen. I had kind of wanted to use the song Stutter, one of three singles from the album that i remember fondly from my childhood (now that i know what they are), but had to cut it. I'll be honest – this particular track made the cut because it's short, and filled the exact amount of space i had left after i was otherwise done compiling. But i view that less as detrimental and more as a happy coincidence.
DVD: Elastica – Stutter
Because of course.
Dead Apples – Mighty Myrtle (Wisconscene session)
facebook.com/deadapples1
This fucking song, Larry, has been stuck in my head all year. All of it! The whole year! Well, since March anyway, when i first heard it. And, as it happens, this is the only existing recording of it. The Dead Apples are (maybe) broken up now, so i don't know what hope there is of ever obtaining a studio recording, but i'm pretty happy with what we have here.
DVD: Dead Apples – Mighty Myrtle (Wisconscene session)
Churchill – Change
churchilltheband.com
If there's one good thing that comes from listening to the radio more than is honestly tolerable, it's that occasionally there will be a great song in all that muck. I don't really know what it is about this song that i like so much, so i haven't really got a lot of words for it. I don't think it actually stayed on the radio for very long. I was going to buy their CD straight out, based solely on this song, but literally no store i walked into was carrying it, so i resorted to piracy. I suppose Amazon's probably a viable option. For a long while, i had this song marked to be first on the CD, but then Sleigh Bells came along. Still, i love this song.
DVD: Churchill – Change
There are two official music videos for this song. One of them looks like it was made for regular MTV rotation, the other one looks like it's what the band wanted to make. I chose the one that is three solid minutes of an elderly man on rollerskates.
PJ Harvey – Good Fortune
pjharvey.net
I've got a long-standing love for Polly Jean Harvey. I listen to her a lot, in general, but exactly what of her vast library i'm into comes in waves. When i first got into PJ, i listened to Rid of Me over and over. In 2010, it was To Bring You My Love (two tracks from that album made the PAC that year; there was a third, but i changed my mind and cut it after burning the first copy). This year it's been Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea, the 2001 album that made her the first woman to ever win a Mercury Prize (England's equivalent to the Grammy for Album of the Year)(side note: in 2011, she became the first artist ever to win it twice, with the album Let England Shake [Bitter Branches is featured on 2011's PAC]). I just can't stop listening to it! This song's been running around my head off and on all year, too, although my stupid brain always makes up its own lyrics, or for reasons unknown inserts those from Walk Like An Egyptian (in PJ's voice).
DVD: PJ Harvey – A Place Called Home
There is an official video for Good Fortune, but i hated it. This Is Love, from the same album, also has a video i disliked. A Place Called Home, the only other video from that album, has a video i didn't think was great, but was the best of them. So that's what you get. It's still a great song, so i don't feel bad about including it.
damidol – All Hail
facebook.com/damidol
We were invited to participate in the Local Love Fest this year, by contributing a song to their compilation. The Local Love Fest is a thing that's been going on in Madison since 2011, run by Brad Van of Droids Attack fame, where they get Madison bands to cover other Madison bands. The CD is then released at two shows on the same weekend, and everyone who comes to the show gets a free copy. So, here we are, performing our cover of All Hail by Cats Not Dogs, the band that took me under their wing and mentored me through the tough early days of damidol when i didn't know what the fuck i was doing. Or, had less of an idea what i was doing, anyway. All Hail is the closing track to their first EP from 2003, which was something they recorded on the cheap and released a very limited number of. They re-recorded it at a fancier studio for their only full-length album, but Jason was unhappy with the way it turned out and it was left off the record. I never got to hear that version until after the Local Love Fest CD was released, when one of their former bass players, Ben, contacted me to let me know how much better he thought our version was than theirs. I asked him if he had a copy of it, and he got it to me. I could see why they left it off their album.
DVD: damidol – Stalker (Wisconscene session)
The Drain – Gotta Tell U
facebook.com/drain.madison
Another Madison band we've played a few shows with. I have the dubious distinction of being the first person to buy their album when they released it in January (at the first show that we played All Hail at, incidentally, which i just realized right now). They were on an episode of Wisconscene this year, also, where they described this song as “full-on knife fight action” with “Sharks and Jets and stuff.” Man, i love knife fight action! I'm a little less into West Side Story but whatever.
DVD: The Drain – Gun in Your Grave (Wisconscene session)
They did play Gotta Tell U on their Wisconscene session, but the video for Gun in Your Grave turned out better, and i love that disco-beated song equally.
L7 – Bitter Wine
l7official.com
The best thing about finally having the Mobyfort all put together and working on this Digital Mobyfort project has been pulling out stuff i've been really into in the past, but haven't heard in forever. Getting my L7 albums back out where i can reach them has been great!
DVD: L7 – Bitter Wine
This is a fan-made video, and really well-made one. If i didn't know that there was no official video for this song, i would think that was it. Skip it if you're epileptic, though.
Guano Apes – Open Your Eyes
guanoapes.org
I found the Guano Apes album in the Mobyfort and honestly couldn't remember who the hell they were, so i put it on. This is the first track. It sounded vaguely familiar, but whether i actually knew it or not, it made me stop and go holy shit. Ten years later, when i've disavowed almost all of that nu-metal bullshit i was so into in high school, i've found one of those bands that i actually enjoy for reasons other than the occasional fleeting moment of nostalgia. Very much like when Shayne led me to Jack Off Jill a few years ago.
DVD: Guano Apes – Open Your Eyes
Kittie – Everything That Could Have Been
facebook.com/kittiepage
Kittie is a band that i was really, REALLY into when they first came out. I listened to that first album, Spit, over and over and over. Then their second album, Oracle, came out and i just hated it, probably due to all that deep, gutteral growling and screaming and stuff, but maybe mostly because of the terrible slaughtering of one of my favorite Pink Floyd songs (suddenly featuring growling and screaming). It's practically unrecognizable. I don't think i've listened to Spit since then, either. Well, at some point over the last several years that my CDs were all in disorganized boxes, i apparently obtained Kittie's fourth album, Funeral for Yesterday. Of curiosity, i put it on and was immediately amazed by what's happened to Morgan Lander's voice. Usually all that screaming and growling takes its toll and things just get worse and worse (see: Wayne Static), but suddenly she's got actual singing skills. The band's only gotten better, also (probably by losing a few of those pesky original members; all original members do is hold the band back, you know)(that joke was funnier when Bob told it; i'm sorry). Funeral for Yesterday is a collection of really great metal songs. I pulled up Kittie on Spotify to check out their other albums that i've missed since writing them off in the Oracle era; as it turns out, this one's the anomaly. Everything else before and after Funeral for Yesterday is doomier metal. Although i don't necessarily like it, i've found that i don't hate it like i used to. But i'm probably not going to go out and buy their other albums.
DVD: Kittie – Funeral for Yesterday (acoustic live)
Yes, this is a bootleg video by a fan, probably with a cellphone, but the audio quality is acceptable, and frankly, holy shit, acoustic Kittie! I did find a live acoustic version of Everything That Could Have Been, but the quality was akin to an unsolid poop.
Baristacide – I've Been Waiting for All You Fuckers
baristacide.com
What better way to wrap up this album? I regret that last year i used Baristacide's demo version of Oars in Hands, when their album was out. I had just been too lazy to get to a show and purchase it before putting out the PAC. Their album's great; it certainly delivers on their “pop punk for people who hate pop punk” promise; whenever i listen to the 2012 Poor-Ass Christmas now, i have to skip Oars in Hands just because i've gotten used to it being faster and, well, better. But i'm making up for that now by including this, the best song from the album.
DVD: Lazyboy – Underwear Goes Inside the Pants
Baristacide did appear on the first episode of Wisconscene to be filmed in a studio, but unfortunately, both the video and audio quality on that episode are things i'm unsatisfied with. They even played this song (because i requested it). So, in the absence of any other Baristacide video of a quality i would deem worthy, here is the video for the last song i cut from the CD, the one that was hardest to lose. I love the political messages in this song, especially about the homeless; sure, they're not completely original ideas and maybe they've even been said better before, but that really changes nothing for me. The video's charmingly lo-fi, and when i first found it on YouTube i had trouble believing it was official, but then i found it on Lazyboy's own DVD. It's real.
The DVD also has an unlisted track after Lazyboy, plus an easter egg which can be found in two different ways, if you're clever enough...
Songs that got cut off:
Dio – Rainbow in the Dark (realized it was a bad idea)
Mackelmore & Ryan Lewis – Thrift Shop (seemed out of place; had to cut something.)
Lazyboy – Underwear Goes Inside the Pants (too long, kind of out of place; had to cut something.)
The Distillers – Hall of Mirrors (chose Drain the Blood instead)
The Bin Men – Ice Road Truckers (decided it wasn't quite right)
The Color Red – Sore Throat (something from my past, realized it wasn't all that influential this year)
Elastica – Stutter (something from my past, ended up choosing Smile instead)
My God, The Heat – Dressed Like I Was Asking For It (chose Our City, Our Shithole instead)
Bes Monde – Math Class (another cover from Local Love Fest; decided it wasn't quite right)
Sky Road Fly – Train Magnet (chose Sirens of the City instead)
