I’ve Got To Give Myself One More Chance To Be The Man That I Know I Am

I just don’t know what to do with this blog these days. The standard of writing here has been on a steady downhill slide for at least the past two months, and I’m starting to feel that this blog is in danger of turning into an MP3-of-the-week site and little else. I’ve got no one to blame but myself – I’ve just been too lazy to write anything worthwhile for this blog. I’m finding it harder and harder to write outside of the context of a discussion; I have no problem writing thousands of words a day over on Barbelith, but when I sit down and try to type something to the blogger template, I’m at a loss.

I’m starting to get the impression that my writing is a lot more entertaining when I’m angry about something, but the last thing I want this to be is just another blog full of stupid rants. My primary objective since the beginning has always been for this blog to be about advocacy, to enthusiastically endorse things that I enjoy. I don’t want that to change, but I would like to find a way to make this a little less repetitive – it’s getting awfully boring finding new ways to say that I really enjoy something.

Also, I seem to be unintentionally making the range of topics written about here more and more narrow, and I don’t know why I’ve been doing that. Reading back on this blog, I realize that I’ve not mentioned at least 80% of all of the media that I’ve been immersed in for months now. I’ve barely touched on the films I’ve seen lately, though I did at least acknowledge that I saw Chicago and Adaptation, even if I more or less glossed over the both of them. I almost never mention any of the comics that I read, I never talk about television, and I only sometimes write about my obsession with The Best Show On WFMU or This American Life. I obsess over comedy quite a bit lately, but you’d never really know that by reading this blog. I think part of this is because I have outlets for discussing these things in my regular life, but I feel like I really ought to be working them into this blog.

So, by posting this, I suppose I am trying to make it clear to the people who read this blog that a) I know this place has been sucking a lot lately, and b) I’m going to try to do better, even though I’m going to have a lot less free time pretty soon.

Actually, you know what? I think the abundance of free time might be the problem itself.

I Want You To Know There Ain’t Nothing Too Good For You

I’ve very sorry about my laziness with this blog lately – I didn’t even get around to writing about the songs from the last set, which I think I’ll just take a pass on now. I’ve been meaning to write about Max Tundra in particular, but it occured to me yesterday that maybe it is a better idea that I don’t, since I can pretty much sum up my feelings about the Mastered By Guy At The Exchange album in one, terrible and inarticulate sentence: It’s really wacky, original, weirdo pop stuff and it RULES! I’m keeping the two Max Tundra songs, “Labial” and “Lysine”, up for a little while longer, just to make sure as many people get to try them out as possible.

Anyway, the new MP3s are all soul favorites of mine. You can hear Spanky Wilson and Otis Redding blow Cream and The Rolling Stones out of the water, and have yourself a little dance party with the lot of them. Enjoy.

Spanky Wilson “Sunshine Of Your Love”

Otis Redding “Satisfaction”

Lee Rogers “I Want You To Have Everything”

Syl Johnson “Dresses Too Short”

Big Ella “Too Hot To Hold”

Bobby Byrd “I Know You Got Soul”

Genius + Love

Matador has an MP3 of a song from Yo La Tengo’s next album Summer Sun available in their MP3 section. It’s called “Don’t Have To Be So Sad” and it sounds really great; quite a lot like the music on last year’s instrumental The Sounds Of The Sounds Of Science but with Ira Kaplan mumbling pleasantly over the top. I’m very excited to hear the rest of this album if this song is any indicator of what to expect.

Take A Cue From Crazy USA

Check out this rather interesting interview with David Rees from last week’s issue of the New York Press. I had meant to post this yesterday, but it slipped my mind. It’s not much of a surprise that Rees is as articulate and clever in interview as he is in his Get Yur War On strips, but I did raise my eyebrow when I read that his dayjob is at Maxim. The print version of the article includes a photo of Rees, who turns out to be a pretty handsome guy. The illustration at the top of the article as linked really doesn’t do him justice.

Oh, and there’s a (relatively) new page of Get Yur War On up now, as of January 19th.

I Only Sing About Things That Happen To Me

More new songs for you all. I’ll write about the last four later on. “Roxie”, “Laura”, “Oyster”, and “Water And A Seat” from previous entries will stay up a little while longer.

David Byrne “Everyone’s In Love With You” – This is taken from Byrne’s most recent solo album, Look Into The Eyeball, which I think is the finest record of his career, even better than Remain In Light. No, seriously. I’m not kidding around. “Everyone’s In Love With You” may not be the best song on the album, but it is a very sweet little tune; it’s sort of like a modest indie romantic comedy compressed into a melodic two-and-a-half minute long pop song.

Ween “(Extra) Cheese” – I made this extended mix of the two 30 second Ween Pizza Hut jingles with Acoustica, so it can be enjoyed as a full length song, or more easily used as song in MP3 DJing. Pass it around.

Metro Area “Miura”

Max Tundra “Labial”

Max Tundra “Lysine”

Human League “Mirror Man”

Who Says That Murder’s Not An Art?

I saw Chicago yesterday, and I’ve got to say that it blew away every expectation that I could’ve had for the film. It’s fantastic, it’s one of the most inspired and well crafted pieces of cinema I’ve ever seen. Rob Marshall’s direction is nearly flawless, and the cinematography and set design is top notch. Even Richard Gere, who I otherwise dislike, was great in this film. Catherine Zeta-Jones was obviously made for her role, and Renée Zellweger is a revelation as the leading lady of this production. My favorite scene in the film is her performance of “Roxie”, just as much for the song as for the stunning visual design of this setpiece in the film. I strongly recommend seeing the film, even if you are not a fan of musicals.

Well then. The preceding paragraph could very well be one of the least critical reviews ever penned. The thing of it is, I really have nothing bad to say about Chicago, and nothing particularly analytical to say about it either. It’s just a big, fun, pretty, sexy spectacle. It’s great, and made with real passion and intelligence. Take my word for it.

Here’s a few more MP3s, which will remain up til Thursday morning. I’m keeping the two Malkmus songs from Pig Lib up a little while longer too.

Scissor Sisters “Laura (Simone)”

Max Tundra “Lights”

Broadcast “Echo’s Answer (live at All Tomorrow’s Parties 2001)”

Sonic Youth “Skip Tracer (live in Tilburg, Holland 1996)”

First Moog Quartet “Hey, Hey” – Taken from the Best Of Moog: Electronic Pop Hits From The 60’s and 70’s compilation.

Tangerine Roof “Back In My Arms” – Taken from the Sixties Rebellion #4: The Go Go compilation.

And for the folks at Barbelith who missed it the first time around, I offer Eminem Vs. Scott Joplin, aka “Marshall’s Been Snookered” by the Freelance Hairdresser.

The Beginning Stages

Supplemental to Deviated Septum’s ongoing ‘Sellout Watch’: This morning I saw a tv ad for HP featuring the instrumental intro to the Polyphonic Spree’s “Section 9 (Reach For The Sun)”.

The Son And The Heir

I *heart* Dan Emerson. Dan wrote this about Tatu on Friday, and I think he’s got them exactly right.

Their cover of “How Soon Is Now”, though, is actually interesting on its own terms. What first catches my attention is when they sing “of a shyness that is criminally vulgar”, possibly the most glaring and incomprehensible incongruity between band and lyric that there has ever been….The point of the song is completely missed; the most notable thing about Tatu’s music is that they don’t seem to have any clue what they’re singing, there’s no connection whatsoever to the lyrics, and this is terrifyingly true here…The problem is this: if the girls themselves have no discernable personality and are basically automatons, if there’s no sense that they’re even pretending to believe or even understand what they’re singing, what’s the point?

Did You See The Drummer’s Hair?

There’s nice bit of juicy Pavement news that has surfaced in an interview with Spiral Stairs on the Toronto magazine NOW’s website. Spiral, talking about the S+E reissue, mentions that he wants to reissue all five Pavement albums with the same treatment S+E was given. Yeah, yeah…we all saw that coming. But check this out:

“There’s tons of stuff for the other records that I’d like to get out,” he says. “We tried to record Crooked Rain with our old drummer, Gary, and there’s a bunch of songs from that session that no one’s ever heard before, plus lots more outtakes and Peel Sessions. I want it all to be out there.”

Ah! Now that’s something I’ve got to hear. I wonder which songs they tried him out on – I can’t imagine a lot of those songs performed with Gary’s rather distinctive drumming style, much less imagine that they would be nearly as good. Hopefully Matador will get this project moving sooner than later, and that one of the songs included will be Gary butchering “Stop Breathin'”.

Tying You Is Fine, And Whipping You Is Grand

Here’s another batch of songs. These will stay up til Tuesday, I suppose.

Steely Dan “Through With Buzz” – Seriously, don’t be scared off by Steely Dan’s reputation; give this song a shot. I’m not a very big fan of Steely Dan, and yeah, a lot of their music is awful; but “Through With Buzz” is a great concise piece of pop music that you shouldn’t pass over. Many thanks to Jody Beth for introducing me to this song over the summer. She gave me a homemade Steely Dan best-of compilation, and though I only really liked about three songs on it, they were all fabulous tunes.

United States Of America “I Won’t Leave My Wooden Wife For You, Sugar” – Here’s a great psychedelic gem from songwriter Joseph Byrd, who produced this song as part of a one-off record with the band United States of America at UCLA in 1967. For more about the United States Of America, I’d recommend checking out this site, which was written by a professed ‘fanatic’ about the band.

Harper’s Bizzare “If We Ever Needed The Lord Before” – This is taken from the expanded cd reissue of Harper Bizarre’s IV, and is simply a beautiful, earnest rendition of the gospel standard, with some really gorgeous vocal harmonies.

Guided By Voices “Beg For A Wheelbarrow” – In my experience with Guided By Voices, it seems that Bob Pollard makes sure that there’s at least one excellent song on every record he puts out, meaning that even the most tossed-off GBV side project releases have at least one bona fide GBV classic for the faithful and obsessive. This song is the keeper off of the recent compilation of Universal Truths And Cycles outtakes, The Pipedreams Of Instant Prince Whippit, and is currently a staple in the band’s live show.

Shudder To Think “Hop On One Foot” – I’ve decided to offer another selection from Shudder To Think, this time the closing number from their final non-soundtrack album, 50,000 BC. Like I said earlier in the week, Shudder To Think were very underrated, and suffered commercially for what made them so special. They were too prog for the punks, too pop to be fully prog, and entirely too weird for radio and MTV. Singer Craig Wedren is now involved in a new project called Baby, and guitarist Nathan Larson is now scoring films.

Latyrx “Lady Don’t Tek No”

Sensational “Sewin’ Up Avenues”

If Madness Comes, So Much The Better

Pig Lib’s up on Soulseek now. Here’s a preview of my two favorite songs from the album. Be prepared to be completely floored by how brilliant these songs are. More about Pig Lib later, for sure.

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks “Water And A Seat”

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks “(Do Not Feed The) Oyster”

If you go visit Tim O Thompson’s blog, you can download an mp3 of “Sheets”, which he is now offering.

My Beautiful, Rock Hard Job

There’s a relentlessly hilarious group interview with the Daily Show’s Rob Corrdry, Stephen Colbert, Ed Helms, and Mo Rocca up on the Onion AV Club this week. Highly recommended.

Bitch, Where’s The Motherfucking Cheese At?

This is a must download, trust me – Ween’s official site has two versions of one of the six jingles that Pizza Hut commissioned them to write and record, but were rejected. This “Cheese” song, especially the dirty version, is probably the best thing Ween’s ever done, as far as I’m concerned. They really ought to expand this song and release it as a single for danceclubs.

(found via Deviated Septum)

Spit Out Your Gum And Sing Along

If there’s a theme to this batch, it is something like ‘unpopular pop songs of the 90s and early 00s’. You know the drill by now – these all should have been big hits, but the world is cruel, blah blah blah. Enjoy. These will stay up til late Wednesday night.

Lynnfield Pioneers “Time To Get Dumb”

Papas Fritas “Sing About Me”

Just try to resist these two songs – I just don’t think you’ll be able to do it. And while you’re dancing awkwardly to “Time To Get Dumb”, feel a little pity for the Lynnfield Pioneers, who are one of the worst-selling artists in Matador Records’ history in spite of writing great pop like this.

Bis “Starbright Boy” – Time to get even dumber. This is from back when Bis were still a good pop band, when they could still toss off giddy little songs about 80s teen movies like this. Nowadays…let’s just say that I don’t think Bis are playing to their strengths lately.

The Long Goodbye “Dawn Of Understanding” – This one is a great garage pop number from Kill Rock Stars’ Fields And Streams compilation from this past summer. I know next to nothing about this band, but this song is wonderful. (A reader named Mark wrote in to tell me that the Long Goodbye is the new project from Tuscadero’s Melissa Farrris. Now that I know that, it seems amazing to me that I didn’t recognize her voice from the start.)

Shudder To Think “Survival” – One of my favorite songs by a band who were undoubtedly one of the most underrated rock bands of the 90s, this song is about singer Craig Wedren’s triumph over cancer, in its own peculiar cryptic way.

Marble Valley “FCC Party” – This song is from Pavement’s Steve West’s band Marble Valley’s first album. It’s pretty weird indie pop, but remarkably danceable and will likely get stuck in your head for days as it always does in my experience.

Gene Defcon “Liz” – I remember saying to my friend Isaac, who first played this song for me, “well, I really hope Liz went out with him after hearing this song”; but as it turns out, Gene Defcon is gay and all of his songs are ironically heterosexual, so um, probably not.

Harvey Danger “Meetings With Remarkable Men” – This song has the unfortunate distinction of being a really great, smart song from the d.o.a. follow up album of a one-hit-wonder band that no one really respects, or probably even remembers. For the Google impaired, the hit in question was called “Flagpole Sitta”, and that was a pretty decent song too, actually.

St. Johnny “Scuba Diving”

The Caulfields “Devil’s Diary”

April March “Sugar” (Dust Brothers Remix)

Valerie Lamercier “95C”

I discovered these four songs as a teenager, back when CMJ New Music Monthly still had worthwhile free compilation cds packed in with the magazine. There are just so many great songs that I found through those cds, so many lost indie gems of the 90s. The St. Johnny song is an ace Malkmus/Beck hybrid, but unfortunately the rest of that band’s songs aren’t very good at all. I’ve never checked up on what other Caulfields songs sound like, but this song is very charming power pop with the memorable lyric “it’s never good to be understood by a girl in acid wash”. The April March song is the best song from her album Chrominance Decoder, but there are a couple other worthy songs, and the original version of this song is rather good too. The Valerie Lamercier song is exactly the kind of kitschy French pop that April March tries so hard to ape on her album.

and special for Johnny:

Sonic Youth “I Know There’s An Answer”

A Wolverine Toy Is Not Actually A Human Being

This is just crazy – I’m going to post some excerpts from an article from today’s Wall Street Journal because I can’t post a link to it online, their site is for paying customers only.

Is Wolverine Human? A Judge Answers No; Fans Howl In Protest

To Brian Wilkenson, editor of the online site X-Fan, Marvel’s argument is appalling. The X-Men – mere creatures? “This is almost unthinkable,” he says. “Marvel’s superheroes are supposed to be as human as you or I. They live in New York. They have families and go to work. And now they’re no longer human?”

Hold on for a moment while I jump in, and say that, with my fanboy hat firmly in place, that the entire premise of the X-Men is that mutants aren’t human. They’re mutants, they’re “homo-superior.” Back to the story…

Chuck Austen, current author of Marvel’s ‘Uncanny X-Men’ comic book series, is also incredulous. He has worked hard for a year, he says, to emphasize the X-Men’s humanity, to show “that they’re just another strand in the evolutionary chain”.

Marvel issued this statement: “Don’t fret, Marvel fans, our heroes are living, breathing human beings – but humans who have extraordinary abilities…A decision that the X-Men figures indeed do have “non-human” characteristics further proves our characters have special, out-of-this-world powers”.

Doesn’t that sound a bit like a parent trying to assure to their child that Santa Claus really does exist in spite of seeing different guys dressed up as Santa at two different malls in the same day? And really, come on – Marvel’s characters, just like all fictional characters are NOT HUMAN BEINGS. They are not real. Wolverine does not breathe, but Hugh Jackman does. There’s a big difference!

Why do these people need to embarass themselves and confirm everyone’s worst notions of what an adult superhero fan is like? Can’t Brian Wilkenson, for example, see that a legal decision about the classification of action figures being made in the interests of the company that owns and produces the X-Men comics has just about nothing to do with the intentions of the creators or content of the comics themselves? Why do these people feel under attack by something like this, or that it somehow undermines the stories that they enjoy? It’s just Marvel trying to use the legal system to its advantage to save some money. It’s really no big deal.

They go on to give some background about Marvel and the X-Men, and the process of determining whether or not the characters qualified as human, but all the relevant bits are here.

Update:

X-Fan has the full article, and Brian Wilkenson clarifies his comments, which he says are a bit out of context.

Baby, I’m The Greatest Thing You’ve Got!

A few weeks ago, I was wondering about just what was the difference between The Smashing Pumpkins and Zwan after hearing Zwan’s first single, “Honestly”. After having spent a chunk of my weekend listening to Zwan’s first album, Mary Star Of The Sea, I think I understand what the difference is. With Zwan, Billy Corgan hasn’t stopped being himself at all, but has stopped being what people have come to think he is. He’s dropped the exaggerated teen angst, he’s let go of the grand pretensions and ambitions. From the sound of Mary Star Of The Sea, it sounds like he’s just having fun and playing to his strengths. There’s nothing on the album that is drastically different from anything he’s ever done before; but the change in spirit, more mature tone, and the renewed enthusiasm works wonders for the man’s music, and we get the most consistent record the he has produced since 1995.

My favorite song on the record is “Baby, Let’s Rock!”, which is one of the sunniest, happiest tunes Corgan’s ever penned. It is basically the perkier cousin of Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness’ very underrated glam rock tune “Here Is No Why”; but with charmingly arrogant lyrics (“baby, I’m the greatest thing you’ve got!”), dreamy female backing vocals, and a really cute harpsichord-like effect on one of the guitars. The way in that many of the Pumpkins songs were cartoonishly over the top with rat-in-the-cage rage, this song pushes its good vibes to ridiculous extremes, so much that you can practically hear Corgan grinning as he sings. In my perfect imaginary world, this song would be a huge pop hit; but in this imperfect real one, Zwan’s label probably won’t even release it as a single. Either way, enjoy this mp3 of “Baby, Let’s Rock!”, which will be available til Wednesday evening. I’ll post more songs later on tonight, or on Monday morning.

The Ultimate Argument Settler:

To borrow a phrase from Ronald Thomas Clontle, I am quite confident that time will vindicate Common’s Electric Circus.

You’re Just Too Obscure For Me

This is the new set, which will stay up til maybe Saturday. I’ll write a bit about these a little later on. The theme for this set is that all of these are songs that Stephen Malkmus has been covering since Pavement broke up. More later…

Stephen Malkmus “Death and the Maiden”

The Verlaines “Death and the Maiden”

The Malkmus version is taken from 2002’s Flying Nun 21st anniversary compilation, Under The Influence, on which artists from Flying Nun’s roster over the years reinterpret each other’s songs. Malkmus was the only non-Flying Nun musician invited to be part of this project, and his contribution is this beautiful cover of The Verlaines’ “Death And The Maiden”, featuring Verlaines songwriter Graeme Downes on bass.

Stephen Malkmus “Fly” (live in Malmo, Sweden)

J.K. & Co. “Fly”

“Fly” is taken from the only album ever recorded by J.K. & Co., 1968’s Suddenly One Summer. J.K. & Co. were led by the 15 year old singer/songwriter Jay Kaye, son of the guitarist Mary Kaye of Las Vegas’ The Mary Kaye Trio and namesake of the Mary Kaye Fender Stratocaster. The album itself is primarily inspired by Jay’s spiritual awakening as a result of taking LSD, and is meant to represent the birth and death of a fictional man. His band’s career was unfortunately cut short due to their record company’s unwise decision to release the 36 second instrumental intro before “Fly” on the album as a single in an attempt to gain publicity for having the shortest single ever released. This obviously didn’t go over well, and led to very poor sales for the album, and the band were financially limited to touring only in California. Making matters worse, Kaye’s age meant that they could not get gigs in most nightclubs, forcing them to play mostly teen rec centers. Apparently, Kaye is now living in Spain and still writing and performing music.

Stephen Malkmus “Tale In Hard Time” (live on Oui FM, Paris)

Fairport Convention “Tale In Hard Time”

Stephen Malkmus “Alien Boy” (Lamacq session)

The Wipers “Alien Boy”

Stephen Malkmus “The Poet And The Witch” (live in Malmo, Sweden)

Mellow Candle “The Poet And The Witch”

For Pete:

Avey Tare & Panda Bear “Chocolate Girl”

Avey Tare & Panda Bear “Penny Dreadfuls”

Avey Tare & Panda Bear “La Rapet”

Avey Tare, Panda Bear, and the Geologist “Throwin’ The Round Ball”

For those who may be interested, Jody Beth is rerunning the review of Boom Selection_Issue 01 that I wrote for Southside Callbox over the summer. I’ve never been happy with how that review came out, I sort of cringe when I read it; but Jody must have liked it enough to run it again, I suppose.

Do You Still Need More Proof Of What An Evolved Male I Am?

To be fair, I should clarify something. I don’t love all female artists. I used to own an album by Sleater-Kinney, but I got rid of it. It seemed like they were trying to be like men, and that just turned me off. The Donnas also act all tough like guys, but they’re just doing it as a put-on, so that’s okay. It’s really funny. Sexy, too.

The Onion nails another rarely spoken of stereotype once again…

Sometimes All You Can Do Is Roll Your Eyes

i can only imagine the song was recorded sans microphones and willed onto tape with the force of their own self-satisfaction

…and I can only imagine that this post was typed to their blogger template using a similar method.

It Seems To Be Odd That Bleeding Is Better Than Breathing To God

These will stay up til Wednesday night, EST.

The Secret Machines “What Used To Be French” I discovered this song while raiding the Rodrigo site before it mysteriously disappeared. The Secret Machines are a NYC band by way of Texas, and this song is the highlight of their debut EP. I especially recommend this song for fans of Clouds Taste Metallic-era Flaming Lips.

Avey Tare, Panda Bear, and The Geologist “In The Singing Box” – There’s something sort of creepy about this song, but I’m not quite sure what it is exactly. It’s somehow comfortably uncomfortable, if that makes any sense.

Syd Barrett “Octopus” – My favorite Syd Barrett tune (though there is some very strong competition), from his first post-Pink Floyd record, The Madcap Laughs. Syd wasn’t very good with keeping time (which may have had a lot to do with his massive LSD consumption), and the percussion and accompaniment were recorded after Syd laid down the vocals and rhythm guitar, which explains the awkward, seasick feel of the song. I think the choppiness suits the song really well, and there’s some really interesting and clever drumming and lead guitar parts on this song that make the most of what must have been an awkward situation for the session musicians. I just adore Syd’s voice on this song too, especially at the end when he sings “the squeeking door will always squeek / too up, too down, we’ll never be meet”, and each time he sings “the madcap laughed at the man at the border / hey, ho, huff the talbot”.

Vivien Goldman “Laundrette” b/w “Private Armies” – Both sides of the only single ever produced by rock journalist Vivien Goldman, Dirty Washing. According to this discography, the single was recorded during PiL’s Flowers Of Romance sessions, with PiL’s Keith Levene on guitar. “Laundrette” in particular is a very special song, I’ve never heard anything else quite like it.

The Clean “Whatever I Do It’s…” My favorite song by New Zealand’s The Clean, from their Compilation album. It sort of speaks for itself, just listen to it.

Clinic “Kimberley” (live on WFMU) – This is taken from Clinic’s 2001 session for Scott Williams’ show on WFMU.

Scritti Politti “Messthetics” From a previous blog entry: This song sounds like a bunch of professional players playing a very deliberately messy song, with every bit fully arranged, the players in full control. Green Gartside sings a pretty pop melody over the top with lyrics about just what his band is doing – pretending to be sloppy and free as an aesthetic choice.

The Residents “Burn Baby Burn” – This song is taken from The Residents’ Wormwood album, a concept album in which every song is based on a story from the Bible. This song in particular is sung from the perspective of Jephthah, who is about to be sacrificed to God, who will in turn grant her father, a general, military victory. God digs her daddy, you see.

Tricky “Suffocated Love” (live acoustic version) – This reworked acoustic version is taken from Jools Holland’s tv show, and was released as a b-side for the single “Tricky Kid”.

And special for Joe:

Har Mar Superstar (featuring Dirty Preston) “One Dirty Minute”

Har Mar Superstar “No Chorus”

If you missed out on getting the Yellow Note Vs. Pukka song, Tankboy is now hosting the song.

Surely This Won’t Be A Disappointment For Anyone…

…but it seems unlikely that I will be posting much of anything of substance here for a little while. Lately, I just don’t know what to write here, I don’t have all that much to say. MP3s and links to things will keep on being updated, but until I feel some kind of inspiration, it’s unlikely that I’ll be offering much more than that here.

A Lackadaisical Ride On My Backinthedaycycle

Here’s the bright, shiny pop that I promised – at least in terms of style and spirit, since there’s unfortunately very little chance of any of these songs become real hits. I especially love the Yellow Note Vs Pukka song “Naked, Drunk, And Horny”, which really ought to be a huge hit; I can’t help but think that there’s millions of people out there who would love this tune, but alas, it’s an obscure single most commonly found on the This Is Tech-Pop compilation. The title may give the impression that it would be something sleazey and lurid, like a musical equivalent of a Girls Gone Wild video; but it’s surprisingly sweet, and about half of the lyrics inexplicably refer to carpentry.

These songs will stay up til Sunday.

Yellow Note Vs. Pukka “Naked, Drunk, and Horny”

Avenue D “Do I Look Like A Slut?”

Har Mar Superstar “EZ Pass”

MC Paul Barman “Old Paul”

MC Paul Barman “N.O.W.”

Playgroup “Number One”

Scissor Sisters “Backwood Part II”

Crossover “Phostographt”

W.I.T. (Whatever It Takes) “Inside Out”

Where Is Bob Now?

Here’s a clipping of a brief interview with Bob Nastanovich about life after Pavement from the magazine Blender, available in .pdf format, for Adobe Acrobat,courtesy of Maria Tessa Sciarrino.

My Heart Became One With A Digital Sun

Here’s another batch of mp3s – this time we have six selections from a Pavement concert in St. Louis in 1999. I recently acquired this concert, and it’s become one of my personal favorite Pavement live documents, in part for its excellent setlist, but mostly for the playful spirit of the performance. I chose these six songs for the following reasons – “Shady Lane”‘s guitar parts on the verses is played differently than usual; a substantial chunk of “Father To A Sister Of Thought” is adlibbed; an entire verse of “Billie” is cleverly re-written on the spot; and before playing the song, Stephen Malkmus explains the title of “Grounded”. “Shoot The Singer” and “Stereo” are here mostly because they are huge favorites of mine, and these are excellent performances of both. Also, “Shoot The Singer” was rarely performed live in the latter half of Pavement’s career, and this is the most hi-fi live version that I’ve found to date. Note to those who may already have this show – I edited the tracks and improved the sound quality significantly. These songs will stay up til Wednesday, when I shall put up a handful of bright, shiny, sexy pop songs. Enjoy.

Grounded

Shoot The Singer

Stereo

Billie

Father To A Sister Of Thought

Shady Lane

Rattled By The Rush Added Tuesday

Here Added Tuesday

Debris Slide Added Tuesday

Technical Difficulties…

I was having html problems, so I decided to just go with a new template. I’m currently tinkering, I’ll probably be messing around with it for a few days.

I Wanna Rock On The Lonely Streets In Your Town

Here’s another new batch of MP3s for your enjoyment. These should be up til Monday, though a new batch may be up sooner than that. After all, I did say the previous set would be up til tomorrow.

These selections are all taken from the Hyped 2 Death Homework series of compilations, which collect obscure American D.I.Y. 45s from the late 70’s through the mid-80’s. The Hyped 2 Death compilations are by nature sort of hit or miss, but there are a lot of songs on these compilations that are real gems. This is a small handful of my personal favorites from the volumes that I own.

Stripsearch with Emily XYZ “Hey Kid!”

2x4s “Little Cities”

Chris Tolin “Free Charlie”

Bizarros “Lady Dubonette”

XXOO “How Will I Know?”

Rave “Possession”

A-Moms (The Algebra Mothers) “Strawberry Cheesecake”

Boom “Nancy Packs A Piece”

Whoom Elements “Of Love”

Yours Truly “Walking On Sunset”

I Can Say You Moved Me In Many Rich Directions

Very good news – Acid Casualties has the entire Jicks concert at the Warsaw from December up in mp3. The sound isn’t too great, but it’s not bad either. My opinion of the newest songs is rapidly escalating every time I hear them – especially “Ramp Of Death” and “Sheets”. Pig Lib is going to be amazing, there’s no question now. If anyone makes a record that I will like more in 2003, or releases a song better than “(Do Not Feed The) Oysters”, I will be very surprised.

I Don’t Wanna Come Back Down From This Cloud!

It’s really amazing how much most of the new Folk Implosion album sounds like Bush’s Sixteen Stone, to the point that as a listener, I kept expecting for Lou Barlow to start belting out Bush choruses. Honestly, a song like “Fuse” would actually be a lot better if he did start singing the “Come Down” chorus in the middle, it would at least break up the tedium a bit. I wonder if their label is planning on ‘working’ any of this record for Clearchannel radio, I can definitely imagine the sort of people who dig Tool and System Of A Down getting into songs like “Brand Of Skin” and “Creature Of Salt”. I can’t say that I’m really into this record – it’s as good as this sort of thing gets, I suppose; but it is still pretty dull, second-rate 95-vintage post-grunge.

If The Sky Don’t Have Eyes, Tell Me, Why Does It Cry?

I’ll put some more information about these tracks up a little later on, in the meantime enjoy these new mp3s. I’ll be keeping this batch up til around Friday of this week.

Common (featuring Jill Scott) – “I Am Music” This is taken from Common’s excellent new album Electric Circus. It was very hard to narrow down which song to put up here to just one song – I came very close to picking his collaboration with Laetita Sadier “New Wave”, or the successful attempts at fusing psychedelic rock with hip hop on “Aquarius” or “Electric Wire Hustle Flower”. I ended up choosing “I Am Music”, which rather remarkably integrates Big Band jazz, sci-fi whirrrrrrs, and Common’s rapping; and is probably the catchiest and most accessable number on the LP.

I’m really happy to hear an album like Electric Circus, because normally when hip hop artists make efforts to incorporate rock and roll elements into their music, it seems that even in the best results, rock music is reduced to being little more than loud metal guitars and aggressive drumming. A particularly egregious example would be N.E.R.D.’s “Rock Star”, which is a song that seems to place ironic quotations around every nu-metal guitar crunch and hollered lyric. Now, I don’t have a big problem with irony, and “Rock Star” in particular is a pretty clever piss-take on white corporate rap-metal, but it still seems sort of unfortunate that so many artists seem to think that big dumb metal is the only kind of rock music that mixes well with hip hop MCs.

Electric Circus is a very brave album – many of the songs sound completely unlike any other hip hop that’s gone before it – most certainly there’s nothing else in the world quite like “New Wave”. I only wish that song went so far as to make the music over the verses sound as much like Stereolab as on the Laetitia-sung chorus, but that’s a small complaint considering how gorgeous the layers of keyboards are throughout the song. Electric Circus is a great achievement, but I hope that this is just the beginning, and that more MCs follow Common’s lead and begin to raid indie rock, prog, psych, punk, and krautrock for all they are worth in the future. Because after all, why not?

Wendy Rene – “Bar-B-Q” It may not be barbeque weather in most of the world right now, least of all in New York, where we’re still dealing with all of that Christmas day snow; but it’s always a good time to hear this peppy Stax-Volt gem. Ribs and corn-on-the-cob are optional, of course.

Barbara Acklin – “Just Ain’t No Love” I’ve been listening to this song all the time lately, on repeat for up to 30 minutes at a time. This is pretty much a flawless late 60s r+b tune, about as great as pop music gets as far as I’m concerned.

Soft Cell – “Tainted Dub” As mentioned a few months back, here is the fairly rare dub mix of Soft Cell’s big hit cover of “Tainted Love” and “Where Did Our Love Go?”. Good stuff.