Duck & Cover :: Indie rock music writing from Arcade Fire to the Zygotic Minci

A short list of drummers who don't get enough credit When Ola Brunkert, ABBA's tour drummer, died, I circulated the news around the office like a good music nerd. The overwhelming reaction to my macabre message was, "ABBA had a drummer?" Humorous, yes, but it made me think about the percussion profession. Drummers are that integral, yet often overlooked, member of a band whose position at the back of the stage belies his/her importance. This is most true in rock circles. Drummers for jazz and blues bands tend to receive a little more attention, i.e. the drum solo. But unless you are Rick Allen or Mo Tucker, or Animal, your role as percussionist may never be known past the liner notes. Until now. Continuing the selfless service on which we pride ourselves at Duck & Cover, here is a small list of (relatively) unknown drummers--or, here is a list of bands on whose mention you might say, "No shit. They have a drummer?": Charlie Adams (Yanni) :: Quell your ...

Oh my, oh my, oh my. You know, I never thought that "Wife Swap" allowed people to debase themselves enough. Ditto "The Littlest Groom" "Trading Spouses", and whatever else dreck is passing for American popular culture these days. "Moment Of Truth", courtesy of the Fox network (those arbiters of the moral high ground who brought us the horrifically engrossing and heart breaking "The Swan"), however, stops just short of requiring contestants to offer up their dirty laundry for public inspection. (I would say "underwear", but I don't know that any of the contestants that I've glimpsed would actually wear underwear. And Oh. My. God. Sitting on national tv, smugly confessing to all sorts of things, calling your momma ugly, sticking out your fake boobies in a halter top, and all for a chance at a few hundred grand? While not one to call people whores (at least not in a public forum), this woman is a w-h-o-r-e.

Guest post by Drew Zackary, guitar afficionado "So if I had a dime for every time I should've Stopped playing guitar and put my nose in a book Then my head would be healthy and my guitar would be dusty And that just might save me from a bunch of bad songs So maybe I'm too polite just like good Moses But just like good manners we've had enough of them." --Davey von Bohlen So this pick isn't so much about the guitar playing on Maritime's latest album as it is about Davey von Bohlen's long career as a guitar player. Personally, I have a special affinity for him. While we never met, his various bands' songs have found their way into my cars and living rooms for the past decade. He may also be the coolest, baldest, most left-handed sunburst Fender Telecaster player and father of two in rock today (who also had a fist sized tumor removed from his head AND survived a van crash). Bohlen truly deserves that oh-so-overused moniker of ‘underrated’. Pitchfork ...

Sometimes the internet is a horrible place, like when YouTube comments reveal the true base nature of humanity, or a site can't be navigated to simply change the billing address on a credit card (Bank Of America?!?!?). Other times the internet is a wonderful time machine, a veritable cabinet of curiosities; and today is certainly one of those days. Via a commenter on Gawker , this gem was happened across. Rock Hudson and Bea Arthur singing a catchy little song together lamenting the times "when 'smoke' was Luckies, and 'high' was gin" on "The Beatrice Arthur Special" on CBS, from January of 1980 Easily the gayest thing posted since those Gay Unicorns . And Hey! This is a song too! Just like those unicorns! And it's a catchy one that will be stuck in your head for days! Months even! I think I want this as a ringtone! How do I make one of those! In any event, enjoy a beautiful campy moment from the history of American television, and marvel ...

Okay, only two videos, but "video! video! tour dates!" sounds stupid A few months ago, I reviewed Promises, Promises , the new album from Kiwi indie punkers Die! Die! Die!. Since then I've kept my ear to the net, as it were, concerning the boys from the big smoke. Unfortunately, there isn't much. I blame this on the fact they're touring their asses off right now. So here are a couple of videos (pulled from their myspace page), and tour dates. And if you get a chance to see them at any of the gigs listed below (especially 14 March with the Von Bondies! Rock!), please try to get some footage, and let me know about it. 13 Mar 2008 12:00 p The Dirty Dog w/The Donnas (Redeye Distribution Party) Austin, Texas 13 Mar 2008 6:00 p ...

There are energetic drummers, and then there is Travis Nelson. Truly, he is 'Animal.' Okkervil River albums have so much personality, the songs themselves become characters: players, people in the guise of animals or gods (and who can tell the difference sometimes?). And like watching a melodrama, we are witness to emotions that heave and plummet with frightening force. The songs can be drunken youth: the rotund boots on their feet knocking wildly on every surface. Or they can be villainous and smart, full of smiles and wishing-you-well up to the second they thrust the dagger into your belly. Pitched, lust-crazed, calculated: that is one half of an Okkervil album. The other emotion is equally intense in its thick, slow agony: the eternity it takes to remove the knife, knowing you have it all to do over. And so it goes: soaring, drunk, angry, knife, stab, agony, pull-it-out-and-let's-do-it-again. At the San Fransisco Bathhouse in Wellington, New Zealand, on a crisp early a...

If you haven't seen it yet (and if you haven't, it means you don't read Digg.com), somebody used ModPlug Tracker to create a little tune using only sound files found on Microsoft Windows XP and 98. I've heard others attempt something similar before, but the result was usually the bastard child of Philip Glass's "Glassworks" and anything by Kate Bush. Rather unpleasant, to say the least. But this--this is different. It's catchy. It's melodic. It's even a little bit sad. I caught myself humming the tune while making a cup of Earl Grey later in the morning, which is the same moment I decided I needed to share it with the internet-o-sphere. Enjoy. Oh, and for those who won't go anywhere near anything Windows--even if it's just sound effects--there is a tune made up of Apple Mac sounds put together in Garageband. And while it looks a bit easier than ModPlug, the composition is slightly Nintendo.