To begin by beating a dead horse: Modern Radio sucks! We’re lucky in the Tampa Bay area with WMNF, but even this leftist station leans toward mainstream boomer culture rather than underground or avant garde sounds. And who can blame them? Fiscal feasability dictates the output of modern media (d’uh).

In a pinch, I tend to listen to right wing radio for a good, healthy gut laugh, because it’s better than being depressed by cheesy mediocrity! Bottom line: Radio is for the masses. Lowest common denominator pandering pervades every aspect of post-modern living. From the huge conglomerates to the indies, companies and not-for-profits don’t have faith in our ability to think, contemplate and make our own decisions. This is not special knowledge that I’ve tapped into / I do not have any extra intelligence not available to the rest of you. You are all well aware of the hoodwink that modern media attempts to pull over on us every day. It/s like that “Everybody Knows” song by Leonard Cohen (he supercedes boomer culture, right?).

Not that one lowly podcast does anything to change all that, but I started one, nonetheless. Check out music released and getting ready to be released by my record label, No Clear Records on No Clear Radio (http://sonicnadeau.podomatic.com) for a fun romp through genres like punk, no wave, folk, experimental, noise, garage and maybe even some sub-denominations I’m not willing to type at this point in my life…

There are two episodes completed so far, and I’m going to keep doing them because they are easy and really fun. Currently, all the music pounding out of anyone’s speakers who cares to press play is from Florida, except for one band from Nova Scotia I’m releasing a CD for very soon, Mess Folk (garage punk noisey electric eels awesome).

P.S. This post serves as an open invitation for anyone who does not like my podcast, or any of the other radio around them, to take the time and start their own. Anyone can start a podcast just like anyone can start a band, anyone can paint a picture and talent is a loaded word that doesn’t mean anything.

New from No Clear Records: a schizophrenic compilation colliding different genres of the underground and crapping them together in one easy to swallow CD-R. No Clear, No Eyes Volume 2 spirals around themes of frustration, loneliness and salvation through the lenses of punk, no wave, garage, folk, experimental, noise, comedy, avant garde, rock ‘n’ roll and more without batting an eye. All thought up, recorded and executed right here in Florida (mostly Tampa Bay, though other acts hail from Gainesville and Melbourne), this compilation accurately depicts the underbelly of Florida culture that more and more people are seeking out as mainstream alternatives to their cultural intake.

Tonight, Friday, May 22, 2009, Cafe Bohemia hosts a compilation release show for this seminal Florida mix featuring live music from some of Tampa Bay’s most exciting weirdos. 937 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, 6 or 7 p.m. start time (it’ll go all night). (Follow the jump for track listing.)

Track list:
Waterdigger (feat. Jesi Langdale)-The Slowest Song Ever
Ghost Hospital- Head is Gone
Blast and the Detergents- Not Disposable
The Bay Mayfields- Doesn’t Matter
Hal McGee- small font lower cased cracked improvisation
Skare Taktiks- Skare Taktiks
Flexxehawk- CB Buckner
Insecticide Labotomy- Counterfeit Vagina
Modern TV- Stuck on the Moon
Paper Cranes- Death and Time
Co-ed Cokehead- Zoo Screw
Otolathe- Ignore the Mimes
The Uh…- The Uh…
Co-ed Cokehead- Failure to Appear
Flexxehawk- Whicker Thrown
Insect Joy- Iris Bay 2177
John Allen- Hollow Body
Skare Taktiks- Super Spew
Crow’s Foot- Mallard
Blast and the Detergents- Paranoid Future
Hunker Down Roy- Windowless Soul
Trousers- Mine Field
Waterdigger- She’s My Favorite Thing
Thereminist to Society- Cannibal

Sunday night rock ‘n’ roll shows: difficult to book, annoying to promote and hard to get people to leave their comfortable homes and come out for bands they may not have heard about. My band Blast and the Detergents last played a Sunday night show a couple months ago at Crowbar opening for amazing touring band, Pontiak, and “gets more Tampa shows than I do” Orlando band Kingsbury.

(Another band played and I can’t remember their name — kind of Hootie and the Blowfish-sounding singer songwritery stuff… not my bag).  Anyway, the show turned out great because the DJ played some really great classic punk and rock ‘n’ roll junk, Pontiak owned and I got to play, which I always enjoy regardless of crowd size or reception.

However, I always feel bad when I fail to deliver the promise of beer drinkers for these dive bars that put up with my crazy sound. Sundays, this memorable Crowbar night included, challenge the notion of profit for these beer holes.

On the other hand, touring band always need a place to play on Sundays, and with the notorious Atlanta tour cutoff we usually cry about down here, I am satisfied when a band I like plays any night of the week down this way in our chatty little twin cities.

Chapel Hill underground rockers Americans in France destroyed the Emerald last year (I think it was a Thursday) with one-man garage-rock  band Pinche Gringo (he covered The Gories, for Christ’s sake) and now they are returning to our fair sprawl. I am bringing them into bombed-out downtown Tampa’s little bar/venue Kelly’s Pub this Sunday, May 17 around 8 or 9 p.m.  (you know how these things go).

Americans in France play an ADD version of rock ‘n’ roll difficult to pigeonhole into a specific genre (especially as genres like indie rock and shoegaze continue to be dropped daily by hipsters who like the sound of their own voice) with lots of tempo changes, empathetic but still biting lyrics, neato simple beats, crisp bass and sparse but effective lead guitar.  I really like this band (d’uh) and they are especially good live, so do not miss their show!

Also playing are the unpredictable Melbourne, Fla. band Co-ed Cokehead, which should be playing fun 2-piece minimalist skronky post-punk or whatever genre you want to throw onto it. My band Modern TV (guitar/violin/drums velvet underground/raincoats rip-off) will be performing as well.

here’s a flyer for the show:

After eight years, I’m still trying to find my identity in the Tampa Bay area. I’ve got the “you’ve got to drive everywhere all the time if you want to have any fun and be a part of anything” vibe down, but there’s something missing in my overall music-making and living experiences in St. Petersburg. The latest rash of confused feelings came to me Saturday night, when I found a review of my band Blast & the Detergents CD in the April issue of MAXIMUMROCKNROLL.

A great, short and earnest review, I was as giddy as a little 12-year-old whose parents finally let him get a cotton candy. This nationally distributed, punk-as-fuck, San Francisco-based ‘zine spent the time listening to and reviewing my CD. They even chose my hand-drawn album art to be displayed for eternity in the review section of their April 2009.

But wait, there’s more!

Comparing that to not getting a local review of this album in any paper, my local identity seems incomplete or tainted. Having a track played on the Avant Garbage show on KUGS in Washington state a day later made for weird synchronicity issues that I’m still dealing with a few days later. (You know, when it rains it pours kind of crap).

As I amp up the online presence of my record label No Clear Records, I can’t help but notice the overwhelming amount of support from geographical locations as disparate as Canada, San Francisco, New Jersey, Miami, Indiana, Macedonia (I know!) etc., and besides my personal friends, not a peep out of Tampa Bay.

I have lived here for over eight years now, and I moved down from small-town Maine, so I don’t have much to compare. However, the emphasis here on national acts instead of local seems to be overwhelming to a degree I hope is a regional problem and not a national one.

For example, I attended the Black Lips show last Thursday at the Orpheum. If you haven’t heard, let me be the one to tell ya: That band owned the Orpheum that night. They put on an amazing show with full garage-rock craziness (including a cover of a song from 1968 called, “You Must be a Witch” written by my hero Fred Cole) and wow they were worth the hype and all that. On the other hand, my friends Flexxehawk were slated to open the show as per the Black Lips, but they were chopped off the bill by No Clubs Promotions, saying they did not want any local acts to play.

This inherent lack of faith in local acts to deliver stems from an insurmountable lack of local identity in this traffic-clogged area. Yeah, nobody’s from here and whatever other excuses we have, but there is some great music happening around here right now. Have you heard of Florida’s Dying Records in Orlando? A true, bona fide garage-rock label right in your backyard!

All in all, I’ve been too whiny and ranty lately, which is why I haven’t had the gumption to sit and write anything to you good people. So now here lies the fruit of my frustration: a jumbled mess of schizo scribblings from beneath the underground. I think I need a priest at this point.

Little Fyodor returns to Tampa Bay Friday night to downtown St. Petersburg’s Cafe Bohemia. After blowing the roof off of Transitions Art Gallery and then the whole town of Gainesville one year ago with his cohort Babushka, Fyodor returned to his home in Colorado, kept in touch with some Floridians, and played some Florida music on his radio show, “Under the Floorboards.”

Locals in attendance at Transitions for Fyodor’s performance have been waiting with bated breath and salty skin for the return of an underground legend. A combination of weird, angular and hilarious, the music of Little Fyodor represents an underground barely covered in any medium.  His 80s band Walls of Genius got one line of text in the Richie Unterberger classic book, Unknown Legends of Rock n Roll.

Extremely entertaining, spastic and poignant in combating our current boredom/mediocrity based culture, Little Fyodor promises to put on a great show this Friday, January 16.

Pictured: Little Fyodor strangles a guitar (courtesy www.littlefyodor.com).

Locals Otolathe (experimental/electronica/ambient/noise), Thee Heidlecrumbs (experimental, improv, guitar) and my band, Blast and the Detergents, will play as supporting cast to Little Fyodor’s triumphant return to Florida.

We will be spinning records, playing music and hanging out from 6pm-ish on, so come on down to Cafe Bohemia and hang out!

P.S. I do not usually promote my own shows on this blog. Little Fyodor coming to town is reason enough for me to break my rule. Here’s some video to make up for my sin:

Little Fyodor and Babushka in G-Ville 1 year ago

The Cigar City Tattoo Convention took over Ybor City’s Cuban Club this past weekend and brought much more than tattoos, including some special musical guests. Friday night’s lineup included Drag The River, Joey Cape, Whiskey & Co, Tim Version and Nessie. Murphy’s Law meant there was also a great show at New World Brewery featuring Life of Pi, Military Junior and Blast and The Detergents. I bounced back and forth between the venues and captured some fun moments. Links to complete photo sets are at the bottom of the post.

Nessie at The Cuban Club

Nessie is Joey Neill (bass/vocals), Joe Going (drums) & Scott Harrell (vocals/guitar)

Tim Version at The Cuban Club

Tim Version has extremely enthusiastic fans!

Tim Version is Mike – (Bass, Voice of Concern), Scott – (Guitar, Voice of Reason), Shawn – (Drums, Blaargh), Russ – (Guitar, Vocals, Compulsive Neil Young Benders)

Blast and The Detergents at New World Brewery

Blast and The Detergents catch air!

Blast and The Detergents is nadeau-guitar and singing, nadeau-guitar, ben-drums, & gabe-thud staff

Whiskey & Co at The Cuban Club

Whiskey & Co is Kim Helm-Vocals, Brian Johnson-Vocals and Guitar, Ronnie Holmes-Guitar, Jon Reinertsen-Drums, & Troy Perlman-Bass

Military Junior at New World Brewery

Military Junior is Jason Schultz: Guitar, Keyboards, and Vocals, Eric Glinsboeckel: Bass & Bryce Munger: Drums.

Joey Cape at The Cuban Club

Joey Cape (formerly of Lagwagon and now on the delightful solo bandwagon)

Jon Snodgrass & Joey Cape collaborating?

Drag The River at The Cuban Club

Jon Snodgrass on fire

Drag the River

Chad Price

Photo Links: