Outkast - Spottieottiedopaliscious/Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik/Ghetto Musick; Big Boi-Follow Us

It's great to go see a group or performer I've loved for a long time, but a lot of times that also means that the artist isn't currently releasing anything of note. So the concert might be great, but there isn't that added excitement and anticipation of hearing new material, and feeling like I might even hear a new song that hasn't been released yet.

I'm going to see Big Boi Thursday night, and I'm really excited. It's kinda scary when an classic group starts making solo albums, but his "debut" is really great. The fact that Outkast has been releasing amazing music (EVERY one of their albums is great) since I was a junior in high school is kinda mind-boggling. That's sixteen years. SIXTEEN YEARS. God I'm old. I hurt my neck the other day PUTTING ESSAYS IN WRITING FOLDERS. Well, it might have initially occurred on the tennis court, but that's when I started to feel it. I felt like my old English teacher who wore a pacemaker, had a sign on her wall that said "TIME PASSES. WILL YOU?" and said "burp your bottom" when a kid would fart in class.

I'm posting these out of chronological order, cause Spottieottiedopaliscious is the greatest Outkast song ever. In fact, it's simply one of the greatest songs ever. So funky, so smooth, so everything. Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik is the title track from their first album, and has a laid-back vibe and great flow from Andre and Big Boi. Ghetto Musick is from Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, which is when Outkast TOTALLY blew up and won a bunch of Grammy's. The huge singles like Hey Ya and The Way You Move got more attention, but this is my favorite song on the album. I LOVE how the beat is fast throughout the song, then at 1:15 slows down and smooths out with the female vocals and those tink-a-tink percussion sounds. Rhyming Georgia with foyer is one of of the greatest things ever, too.

Finally, we come to Big Boi's solo album, and the song Follow Us. It's got a great beat, and I love that little synthy sound that starts following the beat around at :30. It took a couple of listens to get used to Vonnegut's vocals, but now I dig them. I like that there's so much going on in the song, and the more I hear it the more they all seem to be pulling in the same direction. GREATNESS.

Belle and Sebastian - Stars of Track of Field/Act of the Apostle/Lazy Line Painter Jane/Piazza New York Catcher

There's this really stupid game on my iPhone that I can't stop playing. It's called Bejeweled Blitz, and it involves lining up these jewels in rows or columns of at least three. Four causes a huge explosion, and five (really exciting) creates this whirling dervish that shoots out lightning and eviscerates every jewel of a chosen color. Sounds like a genocide, now that I think about it. Anyway, as incredible as this game may sound, it gets really monotonous after a while. BUT STILL I PLAY.

Yesterday I didn't bring my laptop to the cafe, so that I wouldn't get distracted from grading. The thing is, grading essays gets so mind-crushingly tedious after a short while, I need something to do for a break. And so I turn to Bejeweled. I think I just need to erase the application and move on with my life.

Grading essays. I love so much about teaching, but I sometimes fear they will be the death of me. As I stare down the barrel of more essays on this beautiful Sunday morning, I need music to take me to a happy place. Ok, so this first Belle and Sebastian song isn't really happy, but I worship it. I love how the instruments come in one by one, and Stuart Murdoch is such a great songwriter. At 2:14, when the organ comes in and he sings, "Can I write a requiem for you when you're dead?" So great.

Ok, so that wasn't a happy song at all. Act of the Apostle is slightly happier, and so beautiful. It's from their most recent album, which is really poppy and really good. Finally, there's Lazy Line Painter Jane. Mr. Murdoch often writes from the point of view of women, but he seems to pull it off. All the girls I know who know Belle and Sebastian love them.

Oh, man, I gotta break my rule again and post a fourth Youtube. I forgot to write about another interesting tidbit about this group. This twee band of pasty Scotts is obsessed with the New York Mets, just like I am! Somehow they continue to write happy songs despite following this team. They go to spring training and watch games, and they even wrote a song about the Mets. There was a rumor that Mets catcher Mike Piazza was gay, and for some reason the media became obsessed with it. The song is partially about that, and partially about a baseball game in San Francisco. It even mentions Chinatown, where I used to live. Creepy! I think I'm being stalked by Belle and Sebastian. Hmmm. That's kinda cool, now that I think about it. (NOTE: I didn't even post one song from Tigermilk, which is an amazing album, but this band has about a million great songs, so ya know).

Cocteau Twins-Lorelei/Guided By Voices-Game of Pricks

I don't really feel like I have anything to write this week. In fact, I've already posted about these two bands. That's ok, though, because I love these bands so much that I would do this for them. This post is a symbol of my undying affection. LOVE YOU GUYS.

I feel like pulling a John Lennon and copying this post from a circus poster or a corn flakes commercial. Though I suppose I'd have to write about thirty classic songs before I could get away with that.

Lorelei is amazing the whole way through, but 2:50 is the knockout punch. Cocteau Twins is musical heroin. I've never done heroin, but I've seen people do it on TV, and they totally look like they're listening to the Cocteau Twins. Until they die miserable deaths, which is the listening-to-Creed part of doing heroin, I suppose.

Game of Pricks shows that GBV could have been absolutely huge, but they decided to take a chainsaw to all their recording equipment in order to prevent that from happening. Still, they are an incredible group, and they make me very, very happy. Try depositing that in your bank account, Robert Pollard!

Wendy's Classic Promo Videos, Served with Extra Cheese!

What do you do when you're the last cut from The Gang in the Kool & the Gang auditions? Or when Paula Abdul steals your backing track and becomes a megastar? Well, either you plunge yourself off the nearest high rise, or you buck up and offer your significant musical talents for a Wendy's promotional video!

These videos, like the Chris Dane Owens classic I previously posted, put me in a tough position. Sure, I should be making fun of these. BUT THEY'RE SO GOOD. Whoever wrote these somehow integrated the instructions of a Wendy's new employee manual into lyrics that rhyme and go with various 80s-sounding backing tracks. I have posted a few below for your viewing enjoyment.

I'm trying to figure out how the workers viewed these. Nowadays they would all be slouched down in their seats, snickering or possibly cracking up. But back then, when irony wasn't so firmly imbedded in our collective consciousness, I could see them all getting into it, picking up brooms and trays and doing an interpretive dance a la the hospital scene in Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. Either way, "Hot Drinks" is incredibly catchy, and kinda makes me want to quit my job and work at Wendy's. He's got quite a voice, which I'm sure would be an incredible asset to the corporate office.

"Cold Drinks" is a straight up "Straight Up" rip off, and frankly, I'm not really comfortable with the way that lady is looking at me. I'm not sure Dave Thomas would be OK with little Wendy watching this borderline sleazelectro video. Things get really weird around the :55 mark. The worker raps a great couplet ("Then hand the drink to the coordinator, and tell the guest you'll see them later."), but then she starts groaning like disco-era Donna Summers while this creepy-ass voice gives directions from on-high. WOAH. Bit too much.

"Chili Can be Served with Cheese" is a funky soul jam. If this doesn't move your hips like Wendy's chili with cheese moves your bowels, then I just don't know what to tell you. I have no idea how this guy gets so meticulous with his directions (bowls versus cups, figure eight stirring motion, eight ounce ladels, etc.) and still keeps his groove, but he pulls it off! The CHEESE font at 1:05 just puts this over the top. Absolutely genius. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go to Wendy's, turn in an application, and get a large Frosty at the drive through while blaring this song.

Wu-Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M./Gza - Liquid Swords/Raekwon - Knuckleheadz/Ghostface Killah - One

I went to Rock the Bells last weekend. The format was different this year, as they had most acts play their biggest album front to back. For Tribe, it was Midnight Marauders, for Snoop, it was Doggystyle, and for Wu-Tang Clan, it was Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). I missed almost all of Slick Rick, and Rakim and Tribe weren't as good as they were last year. Lauryn Hill was better than I expected her to be, considering how much of a hot mess she's become lately. I came primarily to see Wu, and I was also pretty excited to hear Doggystyle. Snoop was predictably great - funny and smooth like he always is. But the highlight, of course, was Wu-Tang.

It was just great to see them all on the same stage! ODB's son was there, but thankfully he was mostly just lip-synching. If there's one time I'm ok with lip-synching, it's when the son of a dead rapper is up on stage with the potential to wreck a performance by spewing garbage over some of the greatest MCs that ever lived.

C.R.E.A.M. is quite obviously one of the greatest rap songs ever. Perfect sample, perfect everything. The never-ending debate deals with the best Wu solo album. Liquid Swords and Only Built For Cuban Linx are 1a and 1b in my opinion, but if I had to choose I'd say Liquid Swords. Gza is the smoothest rapper, and the best lyricist. Listen to the beginning of verse 2. Game over.

I'm on a mission that niggaz say is impossible
But when I swing my swords they all choppable
I be the body dropper, the heartbeat stopper
Child educator, plus head amputator
Cause niggaz styles are old like Mark 5 sneakers
Lyrics are weak, like clock radio speakers

But daaaaaaaaaaaaaamn, Cuban Linx is amazing. Love the bass on Knuckleheadz, and Raekwon's flow goes so perfectly with this beat. Supreme Clientele isn't quite on the level of LS and OBFCL, but it's still a solid album. The chorus on "One" is borderline ridiculous, but the beat is great, and I love the "ONE" sample in the background.

Janelle Monae - Wondaland/Cold War

Last weekend was the last gasp before the school year started, so on Sunday I went to the Outside Lands Music Festival. I had already seen Phoenix (who rules), so I was perhaps most excited about seeing Janelle Monae. I'd seen her perform on Letterman, and she can get down like James Brown. She came on a little late, so she only had time to play four songs, but she was amazing. In contrast to M.I.A.'s abortion of a performance last year, she showed that she can REALLY sing. All the dancing and showmanship in the world can't cover up a sh*tty voice, right? Oops, I forgot. M.I.A. can't dance either!

So I finally got around to downloading Monae's album, and it's huge! The two songs I posted are both upbeat, but there are a whole range of songs on the album, and almost all of them work! Her big single, Tightrope, isn't even close to my favorite song, but if you youtube the video or Letterman performance, you'll see examples of her awesome stage show.

Great first week of school! Going to Rock the Bells the weekend, and the lineup is just ridiculous. Wu Tang, Tribe, Snoop, Rakim, Slick Rick, Lauryn Hill (could be a trainwreck at this point, but we'll see), DJ Premier, KRS-One. Out of control.

Bananarama - I Heard a Rumour/Mary Jane Girls - My House/Vanity 6 - Nasty Girl

I think I'm gonna be in charge of the music for an 80s-themed party next weekend. Now this is not a responsibility I take lightly. It's a fun job, to be sure, but one that must be approached with a well-thought-out strategy. I've been thinking, and as I see it 80s music basically falls into three categories. The first category contains bands or songs that transcend all the cliches and restraints that we associate with 80s music. Artists that fall into this category include Talking Heads, Prince, REM, etc. The second category are bands or songs that aren't that good, but are corny enough in that endearing way so as to touch off both nostalgia and deep chortles when heard by the 80s nostalgia-demographic. Think Mr. Mister and Laura Branigan. Then there's a special third category, which includes artists that are still corny or dated in that special 80s way, but also write good, catchy songs. These songs are great because you can really enjoy the songs, but at the same time you can simultaneously reminisce about Solid Gold, Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, or whatever other 80s curiosity the song brings to mind.

Three songs/videos that definitely fall into the third category are the ones posted below. I actually think that the Bananarama song is so good that it might merit first category placement, but in the end no one probably cares! I just remember how freaking in love with these chicks I was as a ten year old. Ooooo weee! I think I officially came of age during the Venus video. This song has great harmonies and semi-awkward repeated circular hand motions that I suppose pass for dance moves.

The Mary Jane Girls are awesome. Rick James was their producer, so I'm sure they suffered for their art at one point or another. :o Seems like the blonde is already decked out in a quasi-bondage outfit. Wonder if she was bummed out that she didn't get to wear the wedding dress.

So as we reach what could be the apex of 80s sleezelectro (I just coined a genre name! It's better than chillwave or nightbus, at least), we come to Vanity. Vanity got so hopped up on coke and Prince in the 80s she became born-again. Thankfully for us, she left us this little pearl of greatness. When you get past the fact that she has a stripper name, and her stage act seems to be training for a career somewhere along those lines, this song's pretty great. Solid beat, synths, and chorus. And damn that dude on Soul Train was smooth.

The Knife - Heartbeats/Silent Shout

I think I've finally turned a corner in the grieving process for my lost music. Think that scene in Top Gun when, with the theme song dramatically swelling in the background, Tom Cruise finally flings Goose's little military ID keychain thingies into the ocean. Don't try to tell me that scene, even on the 78th viewing, still doesn't move you! Anyway, I've figured out a twisted sort of logic to try to turn this horrifying negative into something of a positive. I feel like I was losing contact with some of my music, that as the albums piled up, I wasn't even really seeing many of them as I scrolled through my Ipod. It was just this huge blob of artists, albums, and songs, and the only ones that really stood out at any one time were the five to seven albums I was currently obsessing on.

So now, as I'm adding most of them back in, I'm forced to really reflect on my current relationship with the albums. Is the romance still burning as brightly as it used to? Will a little quality time bring the spark back, or is a divorce the best thing for both parties? Do I really need complete discographies of certain artists, or should I simply accept that there are some steaming turds in their catalogues, purge those, and move on? I've already started doing this, and rekindled some beautiful love affairs that had long been neglected.

Before my recent tragedy, I hadn't listened to the Knife in at least six to eight months. I liked Silent Shout when it came out, but now that I'm revisiting it and their other albums I'm realizing just how flipping amazing they are. Heartbeats (actually from their Deep Cuts album) and Silent Shout are such different-sounding songs, but both are amazing. Karin Dreijer's vocals are great on Heartbeats, but the smothered, creepy vocals on Silent Shout also work with the darker sound.

NOTE: If anybody knows of a Superfluous Movie Referenceaholics Anonymous chapter in the Bay Area, please let me know.

Joe Jackson - Steppin' Out

There's a melody that haunted me for about fifteen years. I would get it in my head, but I couldn't for the life of me place it. I knew it was played on the piano, and the basic progression, but that's it. In 2000 I was at ad school, and a bunch of us were hanging out at this pub. I think it was the only pub on South Beach, so it was a pretty great place to go to get away from the velvet rope scene. All of a sudden "Steppin' Out" came on the jukebox, and I almost fainted. Maybe it's hyperbolic, and maybe I'm as dorky as Joe Jackson, but I seriously think this is one of the most beautiful pop songs ever.

I must have first heard this song with my sister in the 80s, sitting around the radio listening to Casey Casem. The piano melody combined with the lyrics is just so sad and nostalgic and perfect. I guess on the surface it's just a song about going out, but the lines about being "so tired of all the darkness in our lives," being "young but getting old before our time," and "dress(ing) in pink and blue just like a child" imbue it with something more for me. Then there's the video. I lived in Manhattan for about a year when I was a little kid, and I still go back there all the time. The music combined with the 80s shots of New York City just destroy me. It's like the feeling I get listening to Pet Sounds. Slightly emo, but also happy. Every emotion rolled into one giant Joe Jackson bald spot. Those days will never come back, but I'll always have this song.


The mist across the window hides the lines
But nothing hides the colour
Of the lights that shine
Electricity so fine
Look and dry your eyes

We
So tired of all the darkness in our lives
With no more angry words to say
Can come alive
Get into a car and drive
To the other side

Me babe - steppin out
Into the night
Into the light
You babe - steppin out
Into the night
Into the light

We
Are young but getting old before our time
We'll leave the t.v. and the radio behind
Don't you wonder what we'll find
Steppin out tonight

You
Can dress in pink and blue
Just like a child
And in a yellow taxi turn to me and smile
We'll be there in just a while
If you follow me

Me babe - steppin out
Into the night
Into the light
You babe - steppin out
Into the night
Into the light

Slint - Good Morning, Captain/Nosferatu Man

I just saw Winter's Bone, an amazing film about a girl living in the Ozarks who, in order to stop her dirt poor family from being kicked out of their house, has to search through the local network of meth heads and criminals to find her likely dead father. The lead actress, Jennifer Lawrence, is incredible, but another thing that struck me is the relentlessly bleak mood the filmmaker creates. It was filmed on location, and the cinematography accentuates the bleakness and post-apocalyptic feel. The way she films the scenes in burnt-out buildings, dilapidated houses, and bullpens (hopefully you can call backstage at a rodeo where they keep the bulls the bullpen, cause I think it works!) all add to the feeling of darkness and dread. Thankfully for some, Lawrence is so incredible and inspiring that this really isn't a "depressing" film.

Slint does such an amazing job of creating mood in their music. Supposedly during the recording of Spiderland the band was kind of coming apart at the seams, and in a way it shows. Their playing is incredible, almost scarily precise, but it's all so heavy and dark. "Good Morning Captain" is just the greatest. I love how at 2:05 it switches instantly from the heavy guitars to the angular guitars and punchy drums. Absolutely classic, with that menacing bassline creeping in the background. Then the hoarse vocals at the end, as the shipwreck story reaches the climax. So good. I wanted to play this when I taught "Wreck of the Hesperus."

Nosferaru Man is straight evil. It sounds submerged in a layer of dark clouds, but with the Gang of Four guitar-as-chainsaws shooting through the fog. The guitars start chugging along at the end of the song, but before they get monotonous they start flipping around, running into walls, and finally are massacred and dissolve in a pile. Listening to these songs can be exhausting, I can only imagine what went into creating them.

Rusko ft. Amber Coffman - Hold On (Sub Focus Remix)/Lenzman - Masquerade/Chase & Status - Judgement

Recently, within the span of a week, all 10,000 songs somehow vanished from my ipod, and my hard drive on my laptop crashed. Being the doofus that I am, I had only backed up N-Z, and that was about a year and a half ago. Needless to say, I was and still am crushed. How crushed, you ask? Imagine if your goofy little puppy Bobo with the floppy ears suddenly spontaneously combusted. Or if your 300 page thesis fell down a drainage ditch and some homeless guy stole it. Oh wait, Joe Pesci actually did that.

I sent my hard drive to data recovery, but it's not really working out. I feel like Sally Field when she's doing calisthenics with a hopelessly comatose Julia Roberts in Steel Magnolias. I KNOW YOU'RE BUCKING FOR AN OSCAR HERE, BUT PULL THE FREAKING PLUG ALREADY (I'm mining the movie references a little hard here, my apologies). Part of me tries to put a positive spin on it. You'll be forced to revitalize your collection! Get some remastered versions of old albums! Sure, that all sounds good. I just wish someone could convince my heart!

There was one fortuitous confluence of events that occurred. At pretty much the exact time that I was losing all this music, I downloaded a bunch of drum & bass and dubstep. I've been listening to it somewhat obsessively lately. Back in the day I almost listened exclusively to breaks, save the occasional Roni Size or Goldie CD, but now I'm almost a complete convert.

The first track is more dubstep than drum & bass, and it's so freaking good. 1:07-2:13 is out of control. Only small complaint is that it sort of repeats the same section twice, but it's not that hard to forgive considering how great it sounds. The second track is a great drum and bass track, with surprisingly soulful vocals. It's usually annoying when a DJ talks over the record, but it's alright cause it's from a podcast, and DJ Friction's accent kinda rules. 1:26 = yessssssss. Massive choon! I dig the third track cause the atmospherics are so freaking dark. When the beat drops at 1:08. Filthy.

NOTE: These songs (especially the last one) are soooo much better when mixed, and not listened to in a vacuum. If you enjoy the tracks, this is a great DJ Friction mix: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IUMNWI9W

Sparks - This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us/Thank God It's Not Christmas

The Minutemen, the Smiths, and the Sparks probably write the best song titles. The Minutemen have Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing, Do You Want New Wave or Do You Want the Truth?, and The Roar of the Masses Could be Farts, among others. The Smiths have That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore, Girlfriend in a Coma, and Shoplifters of the World Unite, to name a few. The Sparks have the two featured in this post along with Falling In Love With Myself Again, Angst in My Pants, and Rock and Roll People in a Disco World. Stellar. But what about the songs themselves?!?!

Sometimes the Sparks can be a little patchy, but Kimono My House is great throughout. Funny lyrics, solid guitars, and great vocals. I love the lyrics and insane grandeur of the singing in this part of Thank God It's Not Christmas.

"If this were the Seine
We'd be very suave
But it's just the rain
Washing down the boulevard

Thank God it's not Christmas
When there is only you
And nothing else to do
Thank God it's not Christmas
Where there's just you to do
The rest is closed to public view"

Visually, the band is also intriguing. There's the initial shock of finding out that the singer is actually a guy, along with the unnerving stare of the Hitler look-alike keyboard player. Their songs are so over-the-top that this album could practically be a Broadway play. I know I'd go see it.

Ariel Pink - Round and Round

Admittedly, I don't really know anything about Ariel Pink. He might as well be Ariel from The Little Mermaid for all I know. I've always been partial to Jessica Rabbit, myself.

This song just sounds like a mish-mash of a bunch of different samples, but it works! I especially love the chorus at 1:59. This song doesn't necessarily inspire that much confidence that the rest of the album maintains this quality, but we'll see. It got some pretty positive reviews. Until then, I'll just go out on a limb and say this is the best song named "Round and Round" since Ratt's classic 80s track. Remember that video with Milton Berle?! You know you do!

Prince - Mountains/X - Your Phone's Off the Hook/English Beat - Save it for Later/Lisa Lisa - Lost in Emotion

I went and saw Paul McCartney last night. We had truly awful seats, but we got the seats for $60 at the last minute, so we were just happy to be there. But all of a sudden, out of nowhere, a miracle occurred. Apparently there was more room down on the floor than they had expected, so we got moved down to the 12th row! Joy! It was an amazing show.

Paul is such a positive guy, he got me to thinking about pick-me-up songs. There are some songs I can listen to, and no matter how foul my mood is, they will bring a smile to my face. The Talking Heads do this for me often, but there isn't a high quality version of "The Good Thing," and that's my ultimate TH's candidate for this topic.

So let's start with Prince's Mountains. Oh Ford, do I love this song. Parade is a criminally underrated album, and this is the best song on it. The chorus is transcendent, and Prince is God. Still the best concert I've ever seen. Sorry, Paul!

Then there's X's "You're Phone's Off the Hook, But You're Not." X mixes punk with rockabilly and a bunch of other catchy genres, so they can be singing about vomit and various forms of abuse, and I'll just be bopping my head and singing along. Plus, this song was featured on an episode of "Freaks and Geeks." "Freaks and Geeks" rules. Watch it.

English Beat's "Save it for Later" is just a perfect song. I love the video, with the band slowly getting the snobby patrons of the cafe to dance along with their song. The violin and sax that comes in are such a great touch.

And then there's Lisa Lisa. What can you even say say about about Lisa Lisa? The backing vocals are so great. Listen at 2:08. Sounds like sundaes and Slip n Slides.

Dj Friction & Dynamite MC live at EDC 2010

I've gone to three raves in about the last ten years. I'm always pretty conflicted about it. The crowd can be so ridiculous, but when I go, it's because I really like a few of the djs on the bill. So I pretend I'm in a Terry Gilliam movie and just look forward to the music. I went to the second night of the Electric Daisy Carnival in LA this year. It was completely out of control. 185,000 people went in two nights. They used the LA Memorial Coliseum for one stage, and had four other adjacent stages. Each stage had crazy lighting and massive sound, but only one of the five stages, the Drum and Bass stage, had music that I was excited about hearing.

There were less candy ravers at this stage than the other ones, but there were still a few. Ignore them, and listen to the beats!!! The beat that kicks in at :54, then just destroys at 1:05. Are you kidding me? Ridiculous. Dynamite MC, who used to be Roni Size's MC, is great as well. I was just gonna post some mp3s, but nothing really replicates the energy of this live set. Dirtyphonics, LTJ Bukem, DJ Friction, Andy C. Stage went off all night.

Rolling Stones - Under My Thumb/Sister Morphine/Rocks Off/Torn and Frayed

It's easy to imagine why the Beatles might have felt like squares next to the Stones. Don't get me wrong, the Beatles were incredible, but some of the Stones' songs were just so... evil. I try to avoid using the word evil, because it feels so one-dimensional and flat, but the Stones just give me that feeling at times. Take a song like "Under My Thumb." It is definitely the coolest sounding song ever, but the lyrics are the most brutally misogynistic I've ever heard. They make gangster rap sound like "Lady in Red."

The Stones never sounded like they were posing, and if they were it didn't matter, because the music was just so g*ddamn great. "Sister Morphine" is a charming little hallucinatory tale about overdosing, but the mood of the song is so dank and desperate that it never descends into parody. The combination of the acoustic guitar, Mick's weary vocals, the sinister tone of Mick Taylor's guitar, the piano, and the drums that kick in at 2:42 just gives me chills everywhere. The Exorcist on vinyl.

Exile is my favorite Stones album, cause it just feels the most cohesive. And it's loaded with classics, including the great opener "Rocks Off" and the amazing "Torn and Frayed." If I had a gun to my head, I might pick "Torn and Frayed" as my favorite Stones track. But with a gun to my head I might be really nervous and totally choke and pick a song off that really lame 80s Stones album where they're dressed in pastels on the cover.

Bat For Lashes - Glass

I like my music to have a little drama to it. It's why I love Bowie, Roxy Music, Kate Bush, etc. They're great musicians, but there's also a lot of theater thrown in there.

I'm certainly not comparing Bat for Lashes to these groups, but some of her music has a similar flair to it. As the drums and bass come in on "Glass," things seem to be getting really serious. And then when she belts out the chorus, I see her standing next to her liger on the edge of a cliff, wearing an ornate headpiece as she belts out lyrics about crystal towers and heavenly spirits.

The rest of the album is solid. She seems to channel a few of her favorite artists at times (Tori Amos, Bjork), but she does it well enough and adds twists like disco beats and Scott Walker (!), so it never sounds too derivative.

In other news, I'm back from NYC and happy to be in San Francisco. Humidity is the devil's work!

Ultramagnetic MCs - Ease Back/Dr. Octagon - Halfsharkalligatorhalfman/Bear Witness/98 Year Old Refrigerator

Kool Keith is weird. At one point there were rumors that he was a schizophrenic, though those were later shot down. From the beginning his lyrics were a little out there, and by the time he got to his "Dr. Octagonecologyst" album, his lyrics were borderline asinine. But! While he has since tried to distance himself from the album, I still happen to think it rules. Sure, it's filled with crass and borderline offensive lyrics, and the album's concept of a twisted alien gynecologist doesn't really pack any emotional resonance. But it doesn't change the fact that the production is ridiculously amazing, and Kool Keith/Dr. Octagon's flow is stellar.

Ultramagnetic MCs was Kool Keith's earlier group, and Critical Beatdown is a classic album. A lot of the beats are sort of samey, but better to all be samey and great than samey and shite, I suppose. Dr. Octagonecologyst, on the other hand, has creative and varied production on all the tracks, sick scratching, and is great from start to finish. The instrumental "Bear Witness" showcases Q-Bert's scratching, and the phrasing of "IS HE WEIRD?!" at 1:06 in "Halfsharkalligatorhalfman" is just perfect.

The "98 Year Old Refrigerator" youtube is just an example of how amazing Kool Keith is. Really out there, but out there in a way that makes me stop and wonder if he is in fact the second coming of the messiah.

Pere Ubu - Street Waves/Waiting for Mary

I'm almost halfway through my NYC trip. So far I've gone to a Mets game, seen a David Mamet play, done some shopping and seen a bunch of family and friends. These are the highest priorities, but after them comes an attraction that, while not highly publicized, is one of the greatest things this city has to offer: people watching.

Now I'm not talking about sitting on a bench in the mall, watching an exasperated mother drag her cranky three-year-old into Macy's. I'm talking about seeing a 6" 3', emaciated man with premature jowls and a green velvet suit walking down Columbus Avenue. Or sitting on the subway watching an infuriated twenty-something-year-old girl trying to smack her friend out of a vegetative state so she won't have to frantically drag her dead weight body off at the next stop. Or walking by a late-eighties socialite (still dressed to the nines) trying to keep up with with her two Yorkies scurrying down Madison Avenue.

If the entire country is words typed on a page, then someone definitely highlighted all of New York City and clicked bold. Everything is more sharply defined, for better and worse. It's definitely a magical place.

Pere Ubu reminds me of New York City, cause I can easily picture Dave Thomas (the lead singer, not that dude in the Wendy's commercials) walking down Broadway having an impassioned conversation with himself. Cause that's pretty much what he does on stage, as evidenced in the second Youtube I posted. But first things first. Street Waves, the first song posted, just rocks. The breakdown at :30 is perfection. The bass is amazing throughout, but is especially highlighted during the section from 1:41-2:30. Then Thomas barks and it goes back to kicking all sorts of *ss. The Modern Dance album is just a phantasmagorical heap of amazaliciousness.

In my scramble to find a live performance to illustrate Dave Thomas' otherwordliness, I stumbled upon Waiting for Mary. Fun performance, and hey! That's Debbie Harry! And Phillip Glass! And a superfluous saxophone! Yay 80s!

Scott Walker - The Old Man's Back Again/Marvin Gaye - Inner City Blues/Beach Boys - Sloop John B./ Joy Divison - Transmission

I like chunky bass. Bass can be great when it's the glue that holds a song together, but sometimes I love when it reaches out its chubby fingers and grabs me by the throat.

The bass playing in Scott Walker's "The Old Man's Back Again (Dedicated To The Neo-Stalinist Regime)" (how's that for a title! whatever happened to "My Boyfriend's Back"?) is of the second variety. To me it sounds like the bass is strung very loosely, but I'm not gonna speculate cause I don't really know what I'm talking about! It sounds great, and Walker's vocals are haunting. I'm not sure who plays the bass on this track, but my congratulations go out to him or her for a job well done.

James Jameson is one of the best bass players there ever was, and he really shines on "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" by Marvin Gaye. You could say his playing is more glue and less "intrusive," but damn does it sound good. One of my favorite vocal moments on any song ever is at 2:49 when Marvin sings, "Oooh, make me wanna holler, throw up both my hands." The way he sings "hands" is so perfect.

Carol Kaye was one of Brian Wilson's favorite session musicians, and just a badass bass player. I love how the bass seems, to my non-musician ears, to be moving in the opposite direction of the rest of the song when it comes in at :11. I always turn up the bass in my car when this song comes on. It sounds so amazing. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that Wilson was 23 when he wrote this album. I love how in the Pet Sounds box set you can hear Wilson talking between takes with Kaye, drummer Hal Blaine, and about thirty other musicians playing trumpets, xylophones, and Cheerios boxes. So cool.

What can you even say about Joy Division and bassist Peter Hook? One thing you can definitely say is that Peter Hook is about the greatest name you could ever have in a rock band. Joy Division were one of the tightest bands ever, and Hook was the driving force behind them. Flawless.