St. Vincent - Black Rainbow

In an attempt to fully utilize my endless driving time on this vacation, I burned some CDs that I've been meaning to check out. My natural instinct on road trips is to listen to music I'm familiar with, but I really wanted to hear something new and interesting. Out of the seven or so CDs I've listened to thus far, the only one that's really stuck is this St. Vincent album.

I've long been enamored with eccentric female artists (Kate Bush [see a few posts below], Bjork, PJ Harvey, etc.). St. Vincent doesn't seem to be quite as "out there" as those three, but she's definitely got something interesting going on. I've only fully absorbed the first half or so of the album "Actor," and I haven't even listened to "Marry Me," her previous album that received a ton of praise, so there is much more to explore!

My determination to stick to new music has already shown cracks. I got so desperate that I stopped off at Atlantic Sounds in Daytona and bought used copies of Liz Phair and Devo albums for the drive up to Jacksonville. First time I'd been in a music store in a long time! It felt good, I must say. I should be able to make it up to Savannah with these CDs. Sometimes getting into new music can be a challenge when the old reliables are over there just staring at you, but inevitably an album like this comes out of the fog and makes it all worthwhile.

Grizzly Bear - Cheerleader

This is one of my favorite times of the year. School's out for two weeks, and along with all the usual holiday goodness of reacquainting myself with half the airports in the country, spending ridiculous amounts of time in rental cars, and trying to cram a year's worth of qt with family and friends into three day chunks, it's also fun to look at all the year-end music lists. As much as I try to keep up with new music, it is completely impossible to hear it all. Now that I have a little time off, I can check out a few of the albums I missed.

I couldn't really get into this band's first album. Granted I didn't try that hard, but it just seemed so sparse that at times it didn't even seem to be there at all. This album, however, is really good. This song is groovy from the get-go, and the languorous vocals add to the dreamy vibe. The vocal melody that kicks in at 1:25 is so great.

2 NOTES: I'm not happy with the fact that the first two seconds of this song are cut off in this Youtube! It might not seem like a big deal, but it's a damn good two seconds! Also, I know this is a music blog, but I'm so excited to (hopefully) read two books for pleasure over break! I'm reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil to get pumped for my Savannah excursion, and then I want to try to squeeze in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Somehow I also have to read 140 portfolio letters, a few portfolio pieces, and re-read MacBeth in that time too. Anything is possible! Happy Holidays and enjoy your loved ones. They're good people.

B-52s: Dance This Mess Around

The B-52s are so freaking cool. Cool is an inherently silly term, but in this case it totally applies. They had something going on in the late 70s and early 80s that nobody else did. Totally unique style, attitude, and sound. And while a lot of people, myself included, associate them with cornier songs like Love Shack, this first album is so dark, with Spy Hunter guitar and such bad-ass rhythms and vocals. It's a perfect album.

There really aren't any studio versions of tracks from their first album on youtube (just get the whole thing!!), but maybe that's for the best. Their live performances were so great, and I'll just point out a few chunks of awesomeness that stand out to me on this one. At 1:21 , when Cindy Wilson sings "When you held my hand" and extends her hand directly to the camera, and then a few seconds later she screams "Why don't you dance with me?!?! I'm not no Limberger!" Her vocals are borderline tortured-sounding, but the mood of the song changes fairly quickly.

The song absolutely blows up at 3:03. Fred Schneider yells, "DANCE THIS MESS AROUND!" and they all start doing psychotic 50s dances, the guitarist and drummer totally rock out, and Kate Pierson just stands there, the foil to the two tweakers with her strident, steady vocals. The call and response vocals are also hysterical. "WHAT'D YOU SAY?!??!" "I'M JUST ASKIN!" But maybe the best thing about the B-52s is the stuttering starts and stops. "Shake!" dur, dur,dur, "Woah oh oh oh oh oh." All the stops and starts and angles to their songs make them feel more like dance music than rock.

If you want a fun, smart, accessible, danceable album at a price you and your family can afford, run, don't walk to your nearest retail outlet or electronic device and grab yourself a copy of the B-52s self-titled debut. It rules.

Guided by Voices - Smothered in Hugs

Robert Pollard, the lead singer/songwriter of Guided by Voices, writes tons of songs. TONS. A lot of them are great, but some of them are crap. Nature of the game, I suppose. I recommended Bee Thousand to one of my music-crazed students the other day, and instead of listening to the album he just checked out a random Pollard/GBV song on Pandora or some other site. He wasn't crazy about it, and considering the sheer number of songs Pollard has released, I wasn't overly surprised. Most people in "the internet generation" (I'm talking ages 18 and below, wi-fi in the womb here) don't listen to an album to initially check out a band, but I think in this case they really should.

Bee Thousand has purposefully sh*tty production, abbreviated tracks, and is absolutely crammed with amazing song after amazing song. "Smothered in Hugs" might as well be called "Vocals Smothered in Guitars," but that amazing vocal hook at 1:26 can't be submerged. "But I believed you. No need for further questioning. I'm gonna leave with you. You can teach me all you know. Which way will we go now on our trip to taller windows. I really don't know now. I really don't know." So great!

This album is like Double Nickels on the Dime by the Minutemen. You can kind of get an idea of how great a band this is by one song, but you should really start at the beginning of the album and just hit play. By the time I got to the 7th or 8th song it started to seem like this guy could just sh*t out a great song. And I was only halfway through the album. :)

Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights/Hounds of Love/The Big Sky

I would take out Kate Bush's garbage. I would sweep her floors. I would walk her Hounds of Love and tend to their droppings. In fact, I'm not quite sure why there aren't monuments erected in her honor spanning the four corners of the globe. She is a goddess in every sense of the word. She's an amazing singer, dancer (the Wuthering Heights dance is a bit out there, but check out the "Running up that Hill" video for some incredible dancing), performance artist, and of course she's head-explodingly beautiful. (I love being really annoying with useless adverbs on this blog. It's fun!)

It's impossible for me to choose a song to post here, so I put three that I think highlight some of her most appealing attributes. Some people get a little scared off by "Wuthering Heights." These people are deranged, for it is fabulous. She wrote the song when she was 18 (!), and it's just magical. My favorite part is the second verse when the strings come in in the background. Added to her vocals and the Bronte-inspired lyrics, it makes the song so melodramatic and perfect. This video also showcases her half-dancing, half-performance art skillz.

"Hounds of Love" shows how innovative her music was from a production standpoint. I love the off-kilter drums and the choppy violins. And of course her exquisite, melodramatic voice rising and falling with the "Doo doo doo doo doo!" vocals in the background. I'm sure Bjork was taking notes in her little pixie palace in Iceland.

"The Big Sky" is just a really fun song and video. Ms. Bush (I don't feel particularly worthy of referring to her as anything else) comes off a bit serious at times, but I get the feeling it's just due to the roles she's playing at the time. In this video she's just, ummm... taking the piss? I think that's what they refer to it as over there. It's also a great corny 80's video!



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MF Doom - Red and Gold

This doesn't even sound like a rap song. It starts all smooth-like, and you expect Patti LaBelle or Gladys Knight to start singing. All of a sudden Doom starts rapping, but his delivery is so smooth that it doesn't even sound out of place.

My favorite part is when that "dee dee dee dee dee dee dun dun dun dun dun" comes in and the female vocals sing "And the lights went down and hey!" Then the beat slows back down, and yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah.

MF Doom also has a great album as Madvillain, the creatively titled Madvillainy. Listen to "Curls" or "Money Folder" if you want a taste.

I wonder who Doom really is behind the mask. Maybe it's Eric Stoltz from that movie with Cher and Sam Elliott! Love that movie.

Kraftwerk - The Model

Note: Please disregard the Victoria's Secret fashion show in the beginning of this video (if it offends your sensibilities). This video has by far the best sound quality of the ones I found, so I had to use it. It also says "alternate version" because there's a version where the lyrics are in German.

If you've heard of this group, you know that they're pioneers of electro-pop, forefathers of electro-funk, trailblazers of electro-tweak, whatever. But what really matters are these freaking harmonies. Their music is just so beautiful, not many people have been able to replicate that side of the equation.

My Dad had their Tour de France album on cassette when I was a kid. I didn't hear it again from about the age of ten to twenty-two. When I first randomly heard it again, I almost fell over. The bullet beats that ended up in half the hip hop and techno songs out there were cool, but the synthesizer harmonies are what blew my mind.

"The Model" is just perfect. The beat is a little more basic than a lot of Kraftwerk songs, but the synths are just insane. There are a lot of vocalists and groups who can harmonize beautifully. The Mamas and the Papas, the Beach Boys, etc. Kraftwerk is up there with all of them.

Note: Killing me with the Frankenstein scene at the end. People need to be a little less artsy with some of these Youtube videos.

The xx - Islands

The first thing I noticed about this band is that they're really really young. They look somewhere between sixteen and nineteen. I watched a video of one of their performances, and it's painfully evident that at this point they have the stage presence of oak trees. But who cares! I'M SURE IT'S JUST A PHASE.

This album is a really great debut. There's a lot of white space in their sound, like Spoon with an added female vocalist. The songs are short, catchy, and have yet to get old despite repeated listens. The lyrics are a bit corny at times, but that's understandable. Go back and read your high school diary. Cringe city, amirite?

Thanks Dave for pointing this band out. Finding fun new bands can be challenging, like sifting through brackish water for nuggets of gold 150 years after the Gold Rush ended. The bands are out there. We must never give up hope. *sniffle*

Godspeed you Black Emperor! - Storm

I teach high school, and we're considering moving to block schedule. This essentially means that instead of having 50 minutes with a class, I'd have around an hour and a half. Some people say "How can you possibly keep a high school kid's attention for an hour and a half?!" The same way that Godspeed you Black Emperor keeps my attention for a 22 minute long song: by switching it up!

Since it's the day after Halloween, I figured I'd write about a scary song. Well, a song with a scary section. There are also some soft and luminous parts in this song. Godspeed you Black Emperor is an instrumental group from Montreal. The instruments consist of three guitars, two basses, French horn, violin, viola, cello, and percussion. Some of their songs have found-sound pieces inserted into them, including monologues by some very interesting characters. It all adds to the atmosphere of the music.

This whole song is great, but where it gets spine-tinglingly incredible is at 6:12 into the first youtube. It's after the first extended loud section, and everything gets very quiet and atmospheric. All of the instruments slowly come in, and the pulsing groundswell builds up to this insanely beautiful crescendo. Note: The youtube is sacrilegiously broken up in the middle of this crescendo, but just click on part two of the video, it's the top video that immediately shows up on the black screen.

THEN IT GETS FREAKY. 2:34 into the second video, the song suddenly gets trapped in this psychotic wind tunnel. It's like the part in the sci-fi movie where a hole gets blasted in the spaceship, everybody's getting sucked out, and the hero is desperately clinging to the edge of a wall. Inevitably some little kid presses a button to close the door and Connor Spacestrutter gets saved. But not in this song! At 4:22 Spacestrutter gets his comeuppance. Sounds to me like the stampede of a ghost army, but it's sounded like approximately twenty different things at various times I've listened to it. The rest of the song is basically the denouement, but it's interesting as well, with an intriguing found-sound recording and a plaintive piano outro.

What a song.

George Harrison "The Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)

I listen to different music at different times for different reasons. When I'm driving to school at 6:30 in the morning and I want to wake up, instead of drinking coffee I'll blast Sonic Youth or Souls of Mischief (I would never subject anyone else to my early morning loud music, I'd be liable to get a tire iron to the side of the head). When I'm in a hyper, happy mood I'll blare the Slits or the Talking Heads and get exponentially more hyper, sometimes to the detriment of my driving record. Then there are times when I need music that calms me down, wraps its arms around me and makes me feel reassured in some way. This song does that for me.

It seems like George had it kinda rough in the Beatles. He had all these great songs, but couldn't get many of them on albums cause John and Paul were such songwriting machines. This double album shows just how many amazing ideas he had. It's such a warm, spiritual sounding album, it's does my soul good to listen to it every once in a while. Phil Spector went a little over the top with the production (and killing that blonde B-movie actress), but it works for most of the songs.

Liz Phair - Help Me Mary

Liz Phair is pretty bad right now. Has been for a while. She made a conscious decision to make more mainstream, top 40-sounding music, and some fans who considered her the "indie queen" freaked out. People need to get a life. I'm just happy to have this great album. Plenty of musicians (Stone Roses) only make one great album.

It's hard to pick a favorite track on here. 6" 1', Dance of the Seven Veils, Soap Star Joe, Explain it to Me, the Divorce Song, and Stratford-on-Guy are all solid. I probably listen to Help Me Mary the most. This song is about awful roommates, and the lyrics are pretty clever:

Help me, Mary, please
I've lost my home to your thieves
They bully the stereo and drink
They leave suspicious stains in the sink

They make rude remarks about me
They wonder just how wild I would be
As they egg me on and keep me mad
They play me like a pit bull in a basement, and for that...

Most of her other lyrics deal with relationships, and because she uses the "c word", and mentions hourly rental and sex, some reviewers say that guys listen to this album because they find these taboo topics exciting! Well, I can listen to Peaches if I want to hear someone spout off about sex. These lyrics are actually insightful and interesting. Even when they're clunkers, at least she seems to have some thought and genuine feeling behind them. Some favorite sections of mine are:

Johnny my love, get out of the business
It makes me want to rough you up so badly
Makes me want to roll you up in plastic
Toss you up and pump you full of lead.
-------------------------------
He's just a hero
In a long line of heroes
Looking for some lonely billboard to grace
They say he sprung from the skull of Athena
Think about your own head
And the headache he gave.
--------------------------------
But if I'd known how that would sound to you
I would have stayed in your bed
For the rest of my life just to prove I was right
That it's harder to be friends than lovers
And you shouldn't try to mix the two
Cause if you do it and you're still unhappy
Then you know that the problem is you.
---------------------------------

This is one of the albums I most consistently come back to through the years. It's very accessible, and while she doesn't have the greatest singing voice in the world, it totally works for this album. So go Liz! You keep making that sh*tty music!

Radiohead - Exit Music/Let Down

Warning: this song might seem boring for a while, but the end is so epic that it completely warrants sitting through the beginning (which is fine, in my humble opinion).

I went through a huge, pathetic Radiohead obsession phase. Seriously bad. Like reading books about the band, keeping up with their every move, joining message boards, etc. It's kinda good, though, cause Radiohead is the marijuana of bands. They're a gateway band. I got into tons of interesting music by becoming obsessed with them. Almost all the bands they've worshipped and emulated have been amazing, so that's gotten me into a lot of other great music. Pixies, Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin, Can, etc.

If you're ever maniacally obsessed with a song or band, never play them for a friend and expect the same reaction. It never works out well. I used to drive around and listen to this song, just waiting for the 3:00 mark when that fuzz bass kicks in and absolutely EATS the entire song. If there was ever a menacing portion of a song, this is it. It was written for the new version of Romeo & Juliet, and these lyrics reference the suffocating pressure the Ms and Cs put on R & J, driving them to suicide. (it's good that this video uses clips from the Zeffirelli version, cause let's be real, it's better. Basel Expedition plays Tybalt, for one thing.)

You can laugh
A spineless laugh
We hope your rules and wisdom choke you
Now we are one (Backing vocals!!!!!!!!!!)
In everlasting peace

We hope that you choke.. that you choke
We hope that you choke.. that you choke
We hope that you choke.. that you choke

I played this for my friend, and he told me it sounded like Phil Collins. OH MY GOD YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW AMAZING THIS SONG IS HOW COULD YOU SAY SUCH A THING?!?!?!?!?!? Very traumatic experience for me. Then my cousin told me that Joanna Newsom sang like she was deaf. WHAT?!?! IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE WHO UNDERSTANDS?!?!?!

I've grown a bit the last ten years or so, I've got a job and all now, so I don't get quite so worked up. I still love Radiohead, but they don't quite have the vise grip on me they used to. Some of their new stuff is actually slightly boring. But this album, Ok Computer, is still one of the best ever. The transition between this song and the next is so sublime. So I'm posting both Youtubes! If you want slightly less "mopey" (blargh) songs, try Lucky, (2nd verse, omg) Airbag (the guitar sounds and drum loops are amazing) There There, (the end of that freaking song, oh boy) or Just (it rocks). I need to slow down on the parentheses, huh?

David Bowie - Always Crashing in the Same Car

David Bowie is the best thing ever. And of his seemingly endless supply of amazing songs, this might be my favorite. Might, dammit. Five Years, Queen Bitch, V-2 Schnieder, Station to Station, Heroes, they just never end. What a champ.

So I've been reading all sorts of unintended meanings into this song for years now. My favorite interpretation was that he kept making the same mistake twice, or kept making the same types of mistakes. Turns out he wasn't speaking in metaphors, he was just totally hopped up on drugs, had just gone through a bad break-up, and was trying to off himself by racing his car round and round a parking garage. Like McNulty in that Wire episode (I've been waiting for so long to work a Wire reference in!).

The songs on Low and Heroes sound so super-charged, like the musicians' instruments are being electrocuted while they play them. And his enunciation in the second verse is so great! Especially when he sings, "Must have been touching close to 94". So amazing.

Boards of Canada - Roygbiv

It's hard for me to write this post without mentioning Kraftwerk. So I will mention Kraftwerk. Kraftwerk! Anyways, Boards of Canada is one of the one best electronic acts out there today. But Boards of Canada is actually the name of a Scottish show. Tricky! That''s the name of another electronic artist. Autechre! Uggh... that doesn't work.

Whenever I hear this song I think of Darth Vader's family on a summer vacation. Mechanical and angular, but beautiful and joyful at the same time. You can just see little Darth Junior splashing in the waves!

This is one of the bands that directly influenced Radiohead when they moved into their "electronic" phase. I love Radiohead, but if it wasn't for Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin, and the like, Johnny Greenwood wouldn't be twisting near as many knobs.

Joy Division - Wilderness

There's so much mythology attached to Joy Division, and absolutely none of it matters. It's a cliche, but the only thing that matters is this music. Every instrument in this song absolutely blasts its way into the track. The bass enters like a monster poking its head around my closet door at three in the morning. The drums land like steel-gloved jabs, jarring at first, then keeping the nervous energy up throughout the song. The guitar comes in like a buzzsaw, scalping the song like a Nazi in Inglorious Basterds. Finally, Ian Curtis' voice booms down more malevolent and assured than ever before: "I travelled far and wide through many different times, What did you see there?"

It always seems like the focus with this band is on Ian Curtis' suicide, or the Manchester mythology, or poring over some hidden meaning in the dark lyrics. All of this is just window dressing for a band that needs none. Their playing on the entire album is so ridiculously tight, and that's what really stands out. You don't need to be sitting huddled in a darkened room, having an adolescent existential crisis and cursing the heavens, to worship this record. Nestle it in between your copy of Abba's Greatest Hits and Madonna's Immaculate Collection.

Dirty Projectors - Useful Chamber

Contrary to complaints from countless musical curmudgeons, there are many bands attempting to make interesting music nowadays. Some of them fall under the category of "indie bands that sound like extremely precocious twelve year olds putting on a school play." Think Rushmore on mp3. One example that springs to mind is Sufjan Stevens. I once fell in love with his song "The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders." It was so jubilant! So different sounding! Yay Sufjan! Then I listened to it in my car two weeks later and it sounded like really over the top circus music. I couldn't even relate to the person who had once blared this song in his car, rising and falling with every bassoon flare and kazoo splort. (I don't know if those instruments are in the song or if splort is a word, but I'm sticking with it. I decree that splort is now a word!)

Fortunately, I don't think I'll ever hate myself for loving this song, or this album. Sure the lead singer's voice is a bit out there, but it's GOOD, and the trills and quivers fit perfectly with the music. The female backing vocals are really great, especially when they come in at 3:10 after he yells "Bitte Orca, Orca Bitte!" (these lyrics toe the line of willful indie obtuseness, but he's forgiven because he picked the words cause he liked how they sound [how Eno-ish], and they actually kinda sound great).

This band is so interesting musically! I love how each instrument (including voices) comes in separately, each element adding something new and beautiful to the song. The soft-loud alternations make the loud guitar parts sound more badass, and the vocals and soft acoustic sound prettier. Love this song, love this album, can't wait to explore more music by this band!

Missy Elliott feat 702 & Magoo - Beep Me 911

Missy and Timbaland are definitely the greatest thing to happen to hip hop since the Wu Tang Clan. Timbaland's beats are ridiculous. Off-kilter, urgent-sounding, totally creative and unique. 99% of all other producers must be embarrassed at themselves when a Timbaland song comes out.

Missy's songs have gotten even more complex and crazy since this album, but I still hold a special place in my heart for "Supa Dupa Fly". My friends and I always loved making strange noises and speaking nonsensically, so when Missy busted out with the "I'll hit you with the BRRRRRRRRRRRRR!", and the "vroooooooooooooom," and the "reeeeeeeeer," I connected with it on a very deep level.

The beats in this song stutter, sputter, and slide like a madman, with that awesome little whinny whinny whinny whinny whistle sound in the background. Missy can rap, sing, write great songs (she was a songwriter before she was a solo artist), and she has more charisma and personality than basically anyone. And then there's the videos! Totally twisted and visually arresting. I love how glossy, exaggerated, and tweeked out they all look. Like Alice in Wonderland with two 10s in the back.

On a completely unrelated note, I hope she's losing all this weight for the right reasons. She's the perfect example of TALENT trumping music industry superficiality and BS. Who cares what she looks like. She owns the industry.

Ween - Flutes of Chi & Outside Lands Concert Review

My thoughts on the Friday and Sunday Outside Lands music festival in San Francisco:

Ween: AMAZING. I've liked them for a while now, but this was the first time I truly realized how great they are. Every time I'd say, "It'd be great if they played _______________," they immediately played "__________________"! They even played the So-So Def Jermaine Dupris "_________________" remix! Their set included Bananas and Blow, Mutilated Lips, Exactly Where I'm At, Johnny on the Spot, Take Me Away, and my favorite song of theirs, Flutes of Chi. They had great energy and musicianship, and the humor on their records translated perfectly onto the stage. The horrendous mistake we made was leaving their set early because we were intrigued to see the next artist...

MIA: AWFUL. Ugggh. I've read the articles where everyone gives Diplo and her other producers all the credit for her success, and she freaks out and screams about sexism, racism, supply-side economics, and the poor quality of the new Happy Meal. I was on her side before I was actually subjected to her live show. Of course the beats were good, they have computers for that. But her vocals were so bad. At first I didn't understand why she was passing out all these silly plastic horns to people in the audience. Then as the show went on I realized she was probably hoping that they would make enough noise to drown out her alley-cat-being-strangled vocals.

Tom Jones: Somehow inertia kept us at this stage when he performed. To me he sounds like a drunken child molester. He totally freaks me out. I needed a cold shower after this. Very traumatic.

Built to Spill: I love this band, but they kinda seemed to be going through the motions. I heard that their lead singer Doug Martsch said they were basically a nostalgia act at this point, and that lack of excitement and expectations came through. Worth seeing, but not inspired.

Band of Horses: Not spectacular, but really good! Unfortunately the lead singer kept yelling, "Woooooo!" between songs. Sounded like a frat boy after a particularly exhilarating keg stand.

The National: See above. Nothing mind-bending, but good songs and a solid performance. Thumbs up.

Modest Mouse: Used to really like this band, saw them live once before, was kinda bored. But the fact that I hadn't listened to them in so long made this a fun performance to watch. Dramamine sounded really great.

Pearl Jam: We meant to go see Thievery Corporation, but once again inertia won out. This was a more exaggerated instance of not having listened to a band's music in eons, and having fun reminiscing with some pretty good songs. One song I still love is Corduroy. Unfortunately, old Eddie's voice is shot to hell. I mean it kinda was to begin with, that's his shtick, but there's gravelly voice, and then there's no voice. He's closer to the latter.

We missed Dead Weather, Jack White's new band. I can't keep up with this dude's side projects. He's an amazing guitar player, but apparently he's developing serious commitment issues. Poor Meg is probably all by her lonesome now, still taking drum lessons from Bamm-Bamm. Anyway, I heard from a bunch of people that Dead Weather was great.

About Flutes of Chi: it isn't really indicative of Ween's sound. Most of their other songs are stranger and less polished-sounding (but equally great). To me this song just shows that this band can do absolutely anything they want to. They can play country, hard rock, prog, calypso, Irish folk songs, easy listening, and in this case they can do a Beatles song just about as good as the Beatles could.

Shangri-Las - Out In The Streets

A couple of years ago I got turned on to this amazing box set called "One Kiss Leads to Another: Girl Group Sounds Lost and Found." It's four discs of girl group songs from the 60s. It doesn't have the obvious songs that most people have heard on the radio, instead it has countless seldom heard gems. The Shangri-Las had a lot of huge hits, including "The Leader of the Pack" and "(Remember) Walking in the Sand." But this song is the killer. I love when it goes into the chorus at 1:23, with the impassioned vocals and swirling orchestration, and how at 1:45 it straightens back out with the firm percussion and extra strings starting the second verse. The little extra "knock!" that comes in at 1:50 is so perfect. Absolutely destroys me.

This song is so soul-crushingly sad, it reminds me of "Caroline, No" by the Beach Boys. These groups could wring so much emotion out of a teenage relationship, making it symbolize every magical thing that can never be recaptured. WHAT A SONG!

Burial - Raver

A lot of people say that electronic music has no soul. Well, let me kindly direct you to Burial. This whole album is amazing, and this is my favorite song. The mood of the whole album is dark, but there are glimmers of light shot throughout it. It's not even worth throwing out a bunch of flowery adjectives, because none of them really live up to the music. This is the best song I've heard in a long, long time.

Exposé - Let Me Be The One

This song's the jam. And I love that 2 of them are kinda fugly. Go fugly pop stars! There aren't enough of them around anymore. 2:12 is where it really blows up. The song has a great hook, and here the video changes to a scene where they are wearing truly amazing outfits. Aqua Net hair, awkward leggings, that tiger mauling scar skirt, the red leather jacket, it somehow all works.

I love how they keep all the session musicians out of the spotlight. They just hop around in the dark. I think one of the most fascinating specimens in music is the 80s session guitarist playing on a dance track. You know they grew up down in their basements playing along to Led Zeppelin, not dreaming of shredding in a song by Expose. So they reluctantly spray their hairspray and don their Members Only jackets. And they get about a 15 second abbreviated solo that is extremely awkwardly placed in the middle of a dance track.

I could do a whole blog on 80s top 40 dance/electro. Lisa Lisa, Expose, Olivia Newton John, Sheila E., Jody Watley, etc. All great stuff. Fun and innocent. Sure they sold sex in these videos, but it was just a tad less blatant and skeezy than it seems to be these days. And all of them are of age! And they could sing, or at least it appears that they could. Unfortunately, one of them got throat cancer! Very sad. Seasons do indeed change. :(

I can't embed the real video, but here's the url. It's worth checking out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6S1VwZi984

The Pixies - No. 13 Baby

This song is No. 1 on my list of best chuggalicious outros. No. 2 is "Found A Job" by the Talking Heads, and No. 3 is "What Goes On" by the Velvet Underground. But first things first! Joey Santiago's guitar just DRENCHES the song at 0:15, with those Fred-Flinstone-driving-drums in the background. I really love the interplay between Kim Deal's simple-but-awesome bass line and Frank Black's acoustic strumming when he's singing, "I'm in a state" at 0:43.

Frank Black's lyrics are always bizarrely awesome ("black tear falling on my lazy queen, gotta tattooed tit say number 13") , and his delivery is just the best. Sometimes screaming, sometimes singing, sometimes halfway in between, but always tweaking out one way or another. SO FUN to sing along to.

So back to the chuggalicious outros. Say you're driving on the highway. It gets to 2:00 in this song. You start bopping your head. You turn your radio up as loud as it goes. Speakers are blowing left and right, but you don't even notice. You're too swept up in the chug. I could drive on a highway for eternity, listening to the last two minutes of this song. So perfect. Thank heaven for the Pixies.

M-Five featuring Brad Raker - Sanctuary (Electroliners Remix)

For about a 2 year period from 1995-1996, I was a raver. There, I said it. Not a glow stick twirling, angel wings wearing, pacifier sucking, Vicks Vapo-rub masking raver, but a raver in the sense that I went to raves and listened to "rave music." In the 13 years that have passed since then I have moved on, and before today I only had about seven breakbeat songs on my iPod. I'd tried to listen to more of them, but I'm kinda hard up for cassette decks and turntables these days.

In the last year or two I'd gotten the itch to hear these old songs again, so I kept bugging a couple of friends to get me a mix of old Florida breaks records. Well today one of them hooked me up with about 25 records on mp3. It happened to be a Friday night, but I immediately cancelled my plans so I could drive around and listen to them on full blast in my car. My impatience to hear them was half from excitement to hear these great old songs, and half from excitement to bug out to all the old memories that would instantly be conjured up by listening to this music.

The songs didn't disappoint, as I recognized almost every one. One of my favorites is the one posted below. The beat is massive, the samples are bizarre, it's got it all. The Electroliners are solid. The Bassbin Twins remix of their Loose Caboose record is also great.

Can - Oh Yeah

This song is long, but for the love of God, please listen to the whole thing. This band is so ridiculously talented, it's almost unfair. This incarnation of Can is made up of four classically trained German musicians and a Japanese guy they pretty much grabbed off the street, who turned out to be absolutely perfect for their sound. This song starts out creepy and intense, with a backwards vocal track, intense drumming, and crazy synthesizer sounds swirling in the background. Then at 3:13 the mood completely changes, the vocals switch back around, and everything gets funky as hell.

This album is split into two parts. The first half consists of brilliant experimental rock songs highlighted by the most insane drumming I've ever heard in my life. Seriously, Jaki Liebezeit makes Keith Moon sound like Meg White. Ok, that was an exaggeration. Keith Moon is awesome. And I like Meg White's Fisher Price drumming on some songs. But this guy seriously sounds like he has eight arms. The drum beat from Mushroom sounds like it should be backing a rapper, except it's in a 1971 rock song. The drumming in Halleluwah is so relentlessly funky and tight, it never gets remotely boring over the course of 20 minutes. The second half of the album is PSYCHOTIC. Seriously, enter at your own risk. :D

Listen to Can!

Note: Unfortunately, this is a low quality Youtube. There is now a remastered version of this album, and it is massive. Do yourself a favor and listen to this great album the way it was meant to be heard.

The Beatles - You Never Give Me Your Money

Choosing a favorite Beatles song. A seemingly impossible task. Lesser (wo)men have tried and failed. But it's never really been much of a contest for me. While there are tons of 1as (including some [relatively] unsung songs like Things We Said Today [!], Rain, and Old Brown Shoe), You Never Give Me Your Money is definitely my favorite.

Lyrically, it's a snapshot of how money, Apple Records, and egos (no explicit mention of Yoko, who was an unfortunate scapegoat for the inevitable dissolution of the band) were tearing the Beatles apart in the late 60s. Musically, it is just ridiculously great. 1:32 is where it just destroys me. "But oh, that magic feeling, nowhere to go, Oh, that magic feeling, nowhere to go, Nowhere to go!" The Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhs that follow, with the chiming guitar in the background, is joy and sadness rolled up in a giant ball of awesome. I must admit that the profundity of this moment was always exacerbated by my misinterpretation of the lyrics as being, "Oh, that magic feeling, oh where'd it go?" Now these chumps on Youtube had to print the lyrics and destroy about 439 over-the-top sentimental moments for me.

This whole album is brilliant. I Want You is the best song ever that just repeats about 10 words sixty times, and if you can't have fun bugging out to Mean Mr. Mustard-Polythene Pam-She Came in Through The Bathroom Window, you are probably not human. You are probably part banana slug. You should totally get that checked out!

It seems like there are so many mini-goodbyes to the Beatles on this album, this being the last one they recorded (though Let it Be was actually released last). "The End" is the obvious one, but this stanza also has an air of finality to it:

One sweet dream
Pick up the bags and get in the limousine
Soon we'll be away from here
Step on the gas and wipe that tear away
One sweet dream came true today
Came true today
Came true today

:( Love the Beatles. What's your favorite Beatles song?

Pet Shop Boys - What Have I Done to Deserve This?

I enjoyed this song on the radio as a kid, but never gave any thought as to who the duet was with. Probably just another 80's background singer with awful hair and a drug problem. On the contrary, this duet was sung with a legendary blue-eyed soul singer with awful hair and a drug problem. Now that I've heard "Son of a Preacher Man" in Pulp Fiction, and own the amazing "Dusty in Memphis" album, I realize how freaking cool it is that Dusty Springfield sings on this record. And she KILLS IT. Every time she sings, "Since you went away, I've been hanging around, I've been wondering why, I'm feeling down," it gives me chills and I get all verklempt.

This is one of those great,"Music sounds happy, lyrics sound utterly cynical" pop songs. "How am I gonna get through?" is a great anchor for the song, and plays off the lyrics so cleverly: "You always wanted me to be something I wasn't, you always wanted too much. Now I can do what I want to forever, how am I gonna get through?" Sums up perfectly that simultaneous feeling of relief and utter panic at the end of some relationships. The music then cleverly skips a beat, adding a feeling of urgency heading into the next lines: "At night the people come and go, they talk too fast and walk too slow. Chasing time from hour to hour, I call the drinks and crush the flowers." Neil Tenant is such a great songwriter!

It's easy to enjoy this song in the context of 80's nostalgia and forget that the Pet Shop Boys are an amazing group with tons of great songs. I haven't even talked about the awesome video, with the requisite completely awkward 80s video moment of the guy doing the slow motion dance jump thing. Mind-twisting deja vu + brilliant song = brain on fire.

My Bloody Valentine - Blown A Wish

I inevitably think about two things when I hear this song. First, I feel like in a slightly different universe this could be a #1 top 40 hit. It's so catchy, and it's really not that obscure or bizarre. Sure, the lyrics are practically impossible to make out, but most top 40 lyrics are better left unheard anyway.

Next, I think of Borderline by Madonna. I'm not a huge Madonna fan, but that's a great song. To me this song is a cross between Borderline and the scene at the end of Robocop where the second-in-line bad guy (the guy who terrorizes the poor dorky college student at the gas station, not the dad from That 70's Show) crashes his van into the toxic waste tub. Truly awesome scene. The guy comes stumbling out of the wreck and he's melting, chunks of his body hanging off at wierd angles, yelling, "UUUUGGGGGGGH!" Then the That 70's Show dude flies around the corner in his car and BOOM! Chunks of the 2nd bad guy fly everywhere. When I was 11 and my Dad inexplicably took me to see that movie, I almost leapt up out of my seat and screamed, "Yes!!!!" after that scene.

That was a long-winded way of saying that this song sounds like a beautiful pop song, but it's melting. A few songs on this album actually sound like the front cover of this album looks, and this is one of them. Btw, the sound quality on this youtube is obviously not the greatest, and this entire album benefits from being listened to on a decent sound system. The whole album is incredible, so get it if you don't already have it!

Chris Dane Owens - Shine On

This video was brought to my attention on a music message board that I sometimes visit. At first I'll admit that I scoffed at this man. Everything about this video is absolutely ridiculous. But as I watched the video more and more (and I couldn't stop watching for an extended period of time), I started to question myself. Is this really the most ridiculous thing ever? Or is it SO ridiculous that it goes all the way back around to brilliance?

Let's try to look at this piece of art (and it IS art!) from an objective point of view. Mr. Dane Owens obviously has money, or connections in the biz. The production values in this epic are off the charts. He also has a firm grasp on melody, and sick dance moves. My favorite is the clap, hard spin, and 180 degree swipe of the opened palm. I can do that for you in person if you ask.

There is an intricate Lord of the Rings type story going on here, but I'll skip the details and just tell you the visuals from the clip that really moved me. At 1:51 a pirate swings his sword down with incredible force. So much force, in fact, that it immediately causes a ship to blow up. At 2:10 Owens closes his eyes, rips his shirt open, and a blinding light SHINES out (hence the title!). He is obviously well read, for this video is littered with allusions to the Bible and mythology. Not quite sure what they are, but it sounds good to say. At 2:32, Owens turns and walks into a giant inferno. I picture him saying, "Oh fire, I surrender to thee!" Adds to the drama. A bunch of other stuff happens, then at 2:43 a random alligator angrily rears its head. Go Gators! At 2:56, Owens seems to yell, "I'm gonna evade this bad guy and never take my eyes off the camera!!!" Such dexterity for a large man.

I've said too much, but suffice it to say that this legendary video will be around long after you and I are gone. This entire post might seem like a big joke, but as I alluded to before, there is one very scary fact. I DON'T KNOW IF I'M JOKING OR NOT! At this point the song has wormed its way into my head, and the video is obviously entertainment of the highest order. And I honestly can't even tell how serious he is taking this to begin with. Either he did this ironically and he's more genius than Spinal Tap, or he did it seriously, AND HE'S STILL MORE GENIUS THAN SPINAL TAP. Either way, I can't watch any of the other videos in the trilogy. I feel it would sully the idealized vision I have of him, courageously riding into battle on his faithful steed. Shine on, Mr. Owens. Shine on.

Phoenix - Long Distance Call

It's rare these days that the word fun is used to describe music, and the words trite, overproduced, and disposable don't inevitably follow. The French band Phoenix consistently make fun songs, but they're really good songs, and will probably still be listened to years from now, and not just in "I Love the '00s" VH1 specials. There's not much to this song during the verses, but that just makes the crescendos in the verses stand out that much more. I didn't think a singer yelling, "It's never been like that" eight times in a row could be appealing, but with the ascending guitar in the background it works. The whole album is great, the new album is great, three cheers for Phoenix!

Nas - it Ain't Hard to Tell AND vote now!: What's the Best Beat Ever?!

One day, my friend Tim and I were going through one of our periodical "pull up a thousand old rap videos on Youtube" sessions, but this time we had a purpose. We were trying to think of the best beat ever. A couple of posts down from here I said that "Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun" by the Beastie Boys had the best beat ever - I don't even think I mentioned that song during our little debate - but it's definitely up there for me. I was focused on "It Ain't Hard to Tell" by Nas. I love how the beat jumps right in at the beginning of the song, immediately grabbing you. The bass is punchy, as opposed to flabby or sloppy or whatever the opposite of punchy is. It plays off the Michael Jackson "Human Nature" sample, and of course Nas' flow works perfectly with it. One of my favorite lines ever is in this song: "Drink Moets with Medusa, give her shotguns in hell, from the split that I live in in hell, it ain't hard to tell." Saying he's getting stoned with Medusa, who of course turns anyone who looks at her to stone, is so freaking clever, it kills me.




My official vote still goes to "Looking Down the Barrel of A Gun," though. There's really two beats, one in the foreground and one in the background. It might sound best at 1:24 when the guitar and vocals quickly cut out. IT'S SO FIERCE. Though every time I hear that honking horn I tense up and think it's real. Haha. So what's your favorite? Vote in a comment! I know there are a thousand I'm forgetting.

Brian Eno - The Big Ship

Brian Eno rules for so many different reasons. Roxy Music was an amazing group, made even better in the beginning by his crazy experimental touches. His "rock" solo work is totally fun and twisted, yet still really experimental and ground-breaking (hate using that word, but it's true). But he might have made his biggest impact on music with this album, basically creating ambient music in his bed after being in a car accident. This whole album is absolutely classic, but the two songs that completely blow my mind are Another Green World (so short, but so amazingly beautiful and emotional) and this song. I can't even begin to guess how he creates these sounds, but I love the quick background percussion behind the WEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHH in the beginning. Then the synths come in and it all builds to an incredible crescendo. Robert Fripp is an insanely skilled guitarist, and his restrained playing works perfectly within the flow of the song. There is no Aphex Twin without this album. No Boards of Canada. No microwave popcorn. No Cohen brothers. Think about it, people.

Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazelwood - Some Velvet Morning

I recently went to Argentina, and needless to say, it was amazing. The day we went to the Argentinean side of Iguazu Falls was absolutely surreal. Seemingly hundreds of gigantic waterfalls everywhere, sharply defined rainbows jumping out of the falls and landing in the forest or on unsuspecting tourists below. I literally had to pinch myself a couple of times and make sure that yes, this was really happening. That's kind of what I felt like when I first heard this song. Now I don't know much of Lee Hazelwood's catalogue, and I know even less about Nancy Sinatra's (the "Boots" song is where my knowledge begins and ends), but stick them both in the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame just for this bizarre monstrosity of a tune. The cello (I think) and violins (I think) in the beginning grab my attention, the acoustic guitar creeps in, and then Hazelwood's voice booms down from the heavens like Zeus. I LOVE how the music changes when Sinatra comes in, with the lyrics changing to the vivid imagery of "Flowers growing on a hill, dragonflies and daffodils, learn from us very well, look at us but do not touch, Phaedra is my name." And then the music speeds up, and the song just takes off into the stratosphere. I can't even really wrap my head around how great it is. AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!! The topper is how it switches more quickly between Hazelwood's and Sinatra's sections towards the end of the song. Amazing.



P.S. Check out his killer 'stache!

Beastie Boys - Shake Your Rump

This album is just overflowing with greatness. Best sample ever: The Sounds of Science (from "The End" by the Beatles). Best beat ever: Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun. Best use of cowbell in a rap song ever: Hey Ladies. But Shake Your Rump might be the song I come back to the most often, cause it's so much fun. Every song on the album is packed with clever pop culture references, with this one name-dropping Fred Flinstone, Sam the Butcher, and Patty Duke, among others. It's silly on the surface, but the Beasties flow off each so perfectly that it works. It's like they just soaked up all this media, and are now just spewing out this stream-of-consciousness pop culture encyclopedia. And their screechy half-yelling teenagers voices add to the humor. And of course, that WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRR-ERR-ERR-ERR-ERR-WERR-WERR-WERR-WERR-WERR-WERR sound is classic. The Dust Brothers produced it, and they throw everything in there, speeding the beats up and slowing them down, adding funky little guitar and bass lines, adding sound effects. Genius. And fun! Yay!

Cocteau Twins - Cherry-Coloured Funk

When I first heard this album, I became obsessed. I wanted to live inside it. I was like Liz Lemon in Thirty Rock: "I WANT TO GO TO THERE." This is another song best listened to at a rather high volume in an enclosed space, or on headphones. The beat is great, Liz Fraser's voice is obviously amazing, and I don't even know how this band creates some of these sounds and the warm, swirling atmosphere of the song. The song sounds and feels like what the album cover looks like. I first heard Liz Fraser's vioce on Mezzanine by Massive Attack, and it knocked me on my ass from the start. The lyrics on Heaven or Las Vegas are 95% indecipherable, it's more fun coming up with gibberish possibilities. I think one of their songs is about gallant fondue. Anyway, this whole album is amazing, and very consistent. It came out in 1990, and doesn't sound dated at all. And this is the kind of album that could easily sound dated, with all the synths and slick production. Treasure is an equally great album by them, with a very different sound.

Velvet Underground - Venus in Furs

I chose this, from a list of thousands, as my favorite song about S & M, just edging out an extremely rare Celine Dion b-side. The lyrics are based on a novel by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, which was later to be the inspiration for the popular Superfudge books. John Cale used a viola in this song, which creates the goth-cello sound that adds so much to it. The viola, Lou Reed's strung out sounding vocals, the hypnotizing drumbeat, the lyrics, and just the HEAVY overall atmosphere of the song come together so perfectly at 1:32, when Reed sings, "I am tired, I am weary, I could sleep for a thousand years." So perfect. Massive chills every time. The way Reed sings, "...now pleaaaaaaaad for me," with the little "heh" right after it is also a nice touch. My favorite song on an album packed with completely unique sounding, brilliant songs.

Marissa Nadler - Diamond Heart

So, ole Marissa's voice gets a bit wispy for my taste sometimes, but this song is a killer. I love the chord change at :30, when she sings, "But I look for you, in the diamond trees • And the highway divine, deliver me • Your father died a month ago • And he scattered his ashes in the snow." Dark subject matter, but the mood set by her voice and the acoustic guitar makes it work. The line, "I had a man in every town, but thought of you each time I tore off my gown," just punches you in the face. The emotion she conveys comes across as a bit more nuanced than most "sad songs" I've heard. She's transcended Jewel, if just for this fleeting moment. The mandolin (?) that comes in in the background is a nice touch. Beautiful song.

Al Green - Jesus is Waiting

Is it sacrilegious to say that this is one of the sexiest songs I've ever heard? If so, then I apologize in advance to anyone that I might offend. Cause it basically is. I suppose Al Green could be reading out the numbers at the DMV and panties would come flying from out of nowhere at his little booth. But beyond his amazing voice, the groove in this song is perfect, and when the horns come in it gets even better. Smoothness.

Deerhoof - Spirit Ditties of No Tone

I've never really heard a band like Deerhoof before. I saw them live once, and it was amazing. This tiny Japanese female lead singer, jumping around singing in this little chirpy voice, backed by this completely kick-ass rock band, with all this funky, off-kilter rhythm and general insanity going on. It was so much fun. This isn't my favorite album of theirs (Apple O' is way more consistent), but this is definitely my favorite Deerhoof song. That break at 1:00 with the music box on acid guitar and the THUMP THUMP, THUMP THUMP, THUMP THUMP in the background puts a huge stupid grin on my face every time I hear it. It's pretty impossible to describe anything that goes on this song, it's just so bizarre and fun and perfect.



Note: The only studio version of this song I could find was from this personal video. There's a little background noise, but it's not too bad.

Wire - French Film Blurred

This great song really grabbed me by the throat while I was in my car. It's definitely best listened to at a high volume in a small, enclosed space. The first 1/2 of the song is so tightly wound, if you shut it off at that point you might think there isn't much to it. But at 1:38 there is what is probably my favorite section of any song ever. "A second language..." Drums come in all smooth, with the bass jumping all over the place, with that crazy atmospheric guitar adding this really creepy vibe to it, then the other guitar comes in and the song is swallowing me whole. I love how the song winds up into this really tight ball of tension, then just uncurls in all these different directions that somehow work together. I've noticed in a few Wire songs how the drummer subtly speeds up a beat or so at one point or another, and he does it at 2:10 in this one, just adding to the momentum that feels like it's gonna implode by the end of the song. Leads perfectly into the next song on a great album.

So amazing.