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About The Mulchmen
The Mulchmen, which features Brian Hogarth, Nick Kizirnis and Gregg Spence, began playing their own brand of KAPOWEE instrumental surf music around Ohio back in 1995. The Mulchmen have opened for Dick Dale, Man or Astroman?, Ronnie Dawson, The Exotics, Los Straitjackets, The Breeders, Deke Dickerson, Bill Kirchen and Frankie Camaro, and have graced television shows like “Real World”, “Road Rules” and even “Sports Jerks.”

The Mulchmen pay tribute to Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet!
A tribute compilation dedicated to one of the ground-breaking instrumental rock outfits of this era of indie rock has finally received it’s own overdue tribute with the release of “Better Than Average Weekend”! This is a great 22-song collection of some of the best tunes by those instro-rockers from Canada, SHADOWY MEN FROM A SHADOWY PLANET. Best known for producing the theme music for the hit comedy show “Kids In The Hall”, they are a popular inspiration to numerous instrumental and surf bands around the world.

Included on the comp are Big Beef’s MULCHMEN with their creepily rippin’ version of “Shake Some Evil”, which is also featured on their cassette-only release “Covered With Mulch”. This acclaimed release also features a number of other versions of Shadowy Songs by the Men of Mulch, as well as some of the best Link Wray covers you will probably ever hear!

Order your own copy via mail or directly on line from Big Beef!

Ed Lacy – keyboards, guitar, vocals
Gregg Spence – Guitar, bass, vocals
Matt Espy – drums
Nick Kizirnis – guitar, bass, vocals

Cage has been described as being everything from “a great concoction of insane rock” to “a unique amalgamation of noisy art-damaged pop.” Formed in 1992, this Dayton, Ohio-based group has made a name for themselves around the country with their unique blend of sounds and song ideas. Cage has toured around the midwest, east coast and southern states, appeared with bands like The Breeders, Fugazi, Shudder to Think and Guided By Voices, and appeared in SPIN, The Splatter Effect, and many other music magazines. The band’s lush cover of the great Pere Ubu track “Goodnight Irene” is a highlight of “Ubu Dance Party”, the tribute record featuring fellow Ohioans such as Brainiac, The Oxymorons, The New Bomb Turks, The Royal Crescent Mob and many more. Their full-length CD, Magnificent Propaganda Opportunity, documents the variety of the group only hinted at on their single releases.

Magnificent Propaganda Opportunity
Magnificent Propaganda Opportunity”The debut CD/LP on Simple Solution Records (Dayton, OH). This album showcases almost every aspect of Cage – blistering guitars, bizzarre noises, rich textures, catchy tunes, strong songwriting and a bunch of broken glass.”

Screed: “Some may want to throw these guys in with their rocketeer neighbors, but I will say that they stand head & shoulders above most of the crap that college radio is mixing big bowls of oatmeal for these days…Alight That Failed cruises in at a comfortable altitude, telling us that “When you are not in charge of reality, navigation is only possible if you let go.” To make things even better Cage enlist the help of ex-Pure Plastic Treeers Annette Meng and Brian Bagdonas to add acoustic strings where needed. I really dig her violin parts during Return To Cold… Nothin’ Doin’ has a keyboard line that will stay with you for sixteen minutes and thirty-seven seconds…”

For More On “Magnificent Propaganda Opportunity”

In Stereo
In Stereo”The debut 7″ on I Wanna Records. Featuring Cage favorites “Plod”, “Household Finance”, “Worst Case Scenario”, and “8 Day Drunk”.

The Splatter Effect:  “Thick slabs of guitar slash careen off a skin tight rhythm section. The vocals range from a clean and melodic to distorted and claustrophobic. Cage rattle off four progressive songs that require repeated listening to soak in all the obvious and sometimes implied insanity…the sound on this 7″ is fantastic for the amount of music they’ve managed to squeeze on it…had Devo started in the ’90′s they may have sounded like this.”

Tailspins Magazine: “A psychotic opera surrounds me.
The Conductor’s wand drips blood as his lips stretch into a sardonic grin. The singer blows his shadow into me, his megaphone cupping my ear. My eyes explode. I feel the tickle of a feather on my nose which makes me laugh and suddenly I remember that I’m alone at home, laying on the floor, listening to Cage…socially and lyrically stimulating, these guys really trapped me. Kind of experimental noise meets The Pixies meets Ministry minus the speed sound. This is one record worth scouting for. Explore Cage, but give your soul the day off first.”

For More On “In Stereo”

Refill
Refill”Split single with The Tigerlillies from Cincinnati, Ohio. This 7″ on Simple Solution Records features a more somber version of the song “Refill”, which appears in a more maniacal style on Cage’s CD.”

Spin: “Cage remains the best hope for the future development of the Dayton music scene…Cage plays a sort of quirky, nervous art pop…”
- Jim Greer

Since I Fell
Since I Fell”Cage picks the bones of frat rock with this “eerie, raw, punked-out Doors-ish kinda thing” (Gajoob Magazine) on this lo-fi split with Chicago’s Foo on Bright Green Records.”

The Fair Shakes return to South Partk Tavern this Saturday, February 12th with Authors & Audio and The Rebel Set Rock Show!

You can RSVP for the event on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=142670095793457

Nick Kizirnis Band at DMF 2010

This Saturday The Nick Kizirnis Band will play their last show of 2010 by making their first appearance at the South Park Tavern in Dayton, Ohio. The show starts at 10pm with the Nick Kizirnis Band, followed by Roley Yuma.

The Nick Kizirnis Band:

• Nick Kizirnis – guitars, theremin
• Dennis Mullins – guitars
• Ed Lacy – keyboards
• Tommy Raygun – keyboardist emeritus
• Liz Landis – violin
• Brian Hogarth – bass
• Jim Macpherson – drums

The Nick Kizirnis Band will feature several recently written tunes, all of which will be on a forthcoming album the band is currently mixing at Bison Studios.

New instrumental tunes such as “Lucky Sarah”, “Pixelated” and “Bridge to Nowhere” fit smoothly alongside beefed-up Mulchmen songs like “Frank” and Swivel Hipster Shake”.

No date has been set at this point, but plans are to release it next year.

Have you seen the lineup for the second annual Festiki festival in Dayton, Ohio? It features surf, hawaiian and rockabilly music, and promises to be a blast. Festiki is August 14th at Old River Park in Dayton, with the festivities starting at 12 noon and running late into the evening. A schedule of bands will be posted soon, you can keep up to date on the Festiki site! This year’s show is headlined by the legendary Space Cossacks, reunited for the first time in 10 years!

The Fair Shakes live at Canal Street Tavern

The Fair Shakes, Dayton, Ohio’s electrifying garage punk pop combo, will appear with The Lab Partners and Dan Raridan & the Calientes at South Park Tavern in Dayton, Ohio Saturday, June 12th.

The Fair Shakes – featuring former Obvious members John Dubuc and Nick Kizirnis as well as Deni Wilson (Tooba Blooze) and Steve Phelps (Lost Marble Collection) – have been working on their debut album. No release date is set, but the band will soon release a set of videos online from a live performance at Canal Street Tavern earlier this year.

The Nick Kizirnis Band will debut several new songs this Saturday January 16th at Canal Street Tavern (show starts at 9pm with Ruetschle and TextBook Committee, an amazing Guided By Voices tribute band). The new tunes were recently recorded at Bison Studios in Dayton, Ohio and will be part of a full-length debut CD we hope to release by fall 2010. Don’t miss this great night of Dayton rock’n'roll!

Anyone who likes to practice yoga and Kirtan fans near Dayton, Ohio have a unique opportunity to experience both on Saturday November 21^st at Practice Yoga on 5th in Dayton, Ohio. Mantra troubadour Girish will bring his unique style of Kirtan to an Open Vinyasa class starting at 5pm. The class will be followed by a short set of Kirtan call-and-response songs.

Girish’s has gone from aspiring jazz drummer to Hindu monk to first call tabla guru for the likes of Krishna Das to solo mantra troubadour. His latest CD, Shiva Machine is all radical departure and simultaneous next step evolution. The mesmerizing trance-funk grooves and trip-hop devotional dirges boldly go where Sanskrit has never gone before.

Admission for the class and Kirtan set is $15. Space is limited, so register in advance for the class and Kirtan set at Practice Yoga on 5^th or by calling 937-321-7676.

The Clash, “the only band that mattered”, get the tribute treatment from a great group of Dayton, Ohio rockers tonight (November 7th) at the South Park Tavern. You can read all the details on ActiveDayton.

All this Clash talk has sent me back to my vinyl copies of London Calling and Sandinista!, and remembering what a cool REGGAE band the Clash were. Their take on reggae was very inspiring, turning me on to a lot of older Jamaican rockers that I hadn’t heard of.I can’t decide if my favorite tune is White Man in Hammersmith Palais (great blend of punk and reggae), Guns of Brixton (dark, ominous reggae) or even the brilliant horns and percussion (and vocals) of Revolution Rock.

So what is YOUR favorite Clash song? Leave your thoughts in the comments. Hope to see you at the show!

Wilco: photo by by Joel.Oliphint

If you are a huge fan of Wilco, you have probably already seen them live, so this review won’t be news to you. But as a long-time fan who finally saw them in Columbus, Ohio (on Columbus Day) on a brisk Monday, Oct. 12^th, I can now say that despite the fact that Wilco make fantastic albums (2007’s “Sky Blue Sky” still gets regular rotation in the car), they take that material to a whole new level during their live shows.

Performing over two dozen songs that spanned most of their discography with some emphasis on their new release, “Wilco (The Album)“, Jeff Tweedy and his band played inspired and intense versions of fan favorites like “Handshake Drugs” and “Impossible Germany” with a relaxed air that made it seem like nothing could come more naturally to them.

Tweedy chatted with the crowd, encouraging them to sing in his place on “Jesus, etc.”, and giving them a pat on the back even though he said that the crowd in Austin sang it better, and knew more of the words, even if they were drunker. Tweedy poked fun at a woman with using flash to take pictures, and later mildly scolded someone shooting video. When the perpetrator yelled back “It’s not illegal”, Tweedy simply replied “but we asked you not to”.

Wilco has come a long long way since its alt-country days of well-done albums like “Being There”. Their pop and rock sensibilities kept evolving, finally taking a very experimental turn on “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”. For the next three albums (and two live releases) the band absorbed equal parts Neil Young and Sonic Youth into it eclectic pop mix, finally emerging in the last couple of years with a six piece lineup that can play incredibly moving, memorable songs amidst the arty rock’n’noise chaos. It’s powerful on record, and absolutely stunning live.

Two things to add – Wilco’s Nels Cline continues to be my guitar hero, whether he’s spraying jagged-edge lead guitar all over a tune or just adding texture with his lap steel. He is amazing. Cline has several solo albums, “Draw Breath” is my current favorite.

The other thing – opener Liam Finn and his collaborator Eliza Jane were incredible. Finn, son of the famous Crowded House songwriter Neil Finn, performed intense singer-songwriter tunes with guitar loops, samples and a ferocity on the drums that may make him my new drum hero! His new EP with Eliza Jane, entitled “Champagne in Seashells” is fantastic and well-worth the price of admission.

So I finally saw Wilco, and will definitely do so when the opportunity arises again. How about you? If you’ve seen Wilco, what’s your favorite aspect of their performance?