Term Limit Up for Mayyors

It is my sad duty to report that one of the better bands to emerge the past couple of years, Sacramento's Mayyors, are calling it quits. The band's lack of web presence in the digital age (no website, no MySpace, no Facebook, no Twitter) gave them a certain mystique, which is sure to be enhanced even more by breaking up before releasing a proper full-length or going on a national tour.

I never got to see the Mayyors perform live as they never made a sojourn to the East Coast. If the three records they made during their short lifespan (all already highly collectable) are any indiction, they would have been something behold. Fortunately, a live set they recorded for WFMU at the 2009 SXSW has been preserved for posterity.

Since he actually got a chance to see them, I'll live it to Chunklet's Henry Owings to eulogize the band properly. And I'll leave it to these fan made (I'm pretty sure) videos to show why the Mayyors' handful of records got me as excited as any I'd heard in recent times:

The final Mayyors shows are as follows:

08.13.10 - pdx, or - SMMR BMMR @ Plan B w/Woven Bones, The Lamps, Wounded Lion, Meth Teeth, GGreen, Burning Yellows, Myelin Sheaths, Therapists, Manic Attracts, Fist City, $12, 21+, 6pm

08.14.10 - pdx, or - HOUSE PARTY @ 110 n. failing w/Jonny X & the Groadies, GGreen, Big Black Cloud, all ages, $5, 8pm

09.03.10 - daly city, ca - @ Serra Bowl w/Ty Segall, Culture Kids, Blasted Canyons, all ages, FREE, 8pm

09.05.10 - davis, ca @ d.a.m. house w/Thee Oh Sees, The Lamps, all ages, $5, 7pm

It would be more more or less impossible for me to make the Portland shows (despite a pretty incredible lineup for 8/13), but I may have to hitch it out to NoCal for that first weekend in September. Anybody in the area want to put me up for a few days?

The Unblinking Ear Podcast: Illest Jamz '09

(One of 2009's most intriguing people)

I had hoped to complete this best of 2009 podcast sometime before, you know, 2009 ended. However, I forgot that the time off one gets for the holidays are often just as exhausting as any working week.

Despite an informal year-end round up I posted, I have yet to compile a conveniently enumerated list of my year's top albums. And I don't think I will, for reasons better explained by Ben Tausig at Dusted. However, if you really feel you need a list, I will create and send you one upon request, though I must warn you that after the top spot occupied by Reigning Sound and a silver medal for Grass Widow, the order will be fairly arbitrary.

There are some folks whom I hold in high regard that did make list and contain a bunch of records that escaped my field of vision. (Field of earshot? Auditory range?) Check them out and see how many of these stragglers wander into my next podcast:

Doug Mosurak

Henry Owings

WFMU's Terre T

WFMU's Evan "Funk" Davies

WPRB's Jon Solomon

DJ Rick

Brushback

Matador Records Staff and Artists

Download The Unblinking Ear Podcast Best of 2009
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The Unblinking Ear Podcast: Pump Up The Volume

So my home computer finally died a couple of weeks ago. As much as I'd like to blame this for my less than prolific posting of late, it's not exactly the case. Luckily, my mother was nice enough to lend me her laptop until I can scrape up enough cash to buy a new computer. (Thanks, mom!) After good deal of struggling with various technical difficulties, mainly trying to get the damn mic input to turn off the voice recognition software, I am able to present you with a new podcast. I bet Happy Harry Hard-On never had these problems, even when he was being chased by the FCC. Then again, I never had Samantha Mathis write me an anonymous mash note. Now that would have made it all worth it.


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Enjoy Good Music...

...Without Having to Elbow Your Way Through a Bunch of Music Biz Wastes of Space.


If you're like me and you couldn't make it to South by Southwest (or if you were in Austin and you're just a clueless putz), it would seem you missed a hell of a show. Fortunately, the world's greatest radio station broadcast the event as it happened. It's now available on their archives, so everyone who missed out can now listen to hot live rock action from Mexico's awesome XYX and the new project from former Drive Like Jehu/Hot Snakes frontman Rick Froberg, the Obits. This archived performance also seems to be the only place on the internet you can hear Mayyors, who will soon be the band everyone is going claim they were hyping first, so you should probably get on that. (Chunklet's Henry Owings on Mayyors: "No MySpace. No Facebook. No Twitter. No tour. No interviews. No nothing. In 2009, their marketing tactics are absolutely genius.")

Honestly, if you didn't contribute to WFMU's recent fund raising marathon, you don't deserve to listen to this. Even though it's late, why don't you do that now and ease your guilty conscience?