Well played. Well played, indeed.

from www.dieselsweeties.com

Steelers vs. Cardinals - CATCH IT!!!

For the most part I could really care fuck all about who wins the Super Bowl this year, but want to at least give big ups to a couple of Georgia Bulldogs that will be making an appearance in the game. Hines Ward already has one ring and an MVP award from Super Bowl XL with the Steelers and this year he will be up against the 6'8, 260 lb monster TE Leonard Pope with the Cardinals.

Here is a small mix for the game. Pretty random assortment, but I pulled whatever I could think of that either name dropped players or cities (and also a shout out to the "Angry Samoan", Troy Polamalu. Not because I like him, but because I have never dropped Boo Yaa Tribe on a mix before and thought it was about time). I have also included two of my favorite Springsteen songs, that I am sure he will not be playing at the halftime show. Instead, I will settle for a Clarence Clemons nipple slip.

SuperBowl Shuffle Mix

Tracklist:

Pope - Prince

Messiah Ward - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Angry Samoans - Boo Yaa Tribe

Arizona - Kings of Leon
Hotel Arizona - Wilco
By The Time I Get to Arizona - Public Enemy
Pittsburgh Stealers - The Kendalls
I'm Not Dead (I'm In Pittsburgh) - Frank Black
Pittsburgh - The Lemonheads
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out - Bruce Springsteen
Badlands - Bruce Springsteen

Tobacco - F*cked Up Friends

If Dandelion Gum, 2007's excellent Black Moth Super Rainbow release, was a lysergic dream of hugs, kisses, popsicles, rainbows and marshmallows, Tom Fec's newest project, Tobacco, is like being slipped an angel dust mickey and waking up next to the dumpster behind the skating rink. On F**ked Up Friends, the BMSR frontman trades in his dreamy, soft focus electronic melodies for a dirtier, more ominous mix of analog trickery chock full of vocoders (suck your AutoTune, T-Pain), mellotrons, tape machines and analog synths.

Plenty of reviews are pimping this as an Air wannabe, but this is definitely not bachelor pad get your freak on music, unless you are planning on getting it on with the lady you picked up underneath the overpass with a shopping cart full of sudafed, grape soda and VHS tapes. Imagine Einsturzende Nebauten growing up in Chatsworth, CA instead of off the Autobahn and being influenced by Roger and Zapp instead of pneumatic drills and you are on the right track.

Enjoy!!

Tracks:

Pink Goo

Hairy Candy

Tape Eater

Truck Sweat

Grease Wizard

AMT for your case of the Mondays

Just in case you are having trouble getting it going on a shitty, gray Monday morning, here is a little slice of heaven from Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO. I have only seen these cats once, but I still talk about it to this day as one of the most amazing live shows I have ever seen. They are playing at the Earl on Wed, April 22. Sadly, it looks like they are skipping the Grey Eagle on this round.

This is a track called Phantom Utopia Or Suicidal Star Wars of of their 2008 Glorify Astrological Martyrdom disc. It doesn't quite reach the out of body level of some of their previous works, but it is hard to expect Nirvana every time from a band that releases about 3 discs a year.

Track:

Phantom Utopia Or Suicidal Star Wars

Friday Afternoon Fish Fry pt.1

I am hoping to start posting a Friday afternoon mix to help ease out of work mode and into the weekend. This is a test run, so comments are welcomed.

If I have ever made a mix for you before, some of these tracks are old standbys. The others are hopefully a little fresher, like a couple of new favorites, Ryan Bingham and Hayes Carll. Again, more thought will go into next week, this is just a test run.

Friday Afternoon Fish Fry pt.1

Track Listing:
1.Rollin' and Tumblin' - Bob Dylan
2.Cabin Down Below - The Gibson Brothers
3.Dollar A Day - Ryan Bingham
4.Drunken Poets Dream - Hayes Carll
5.Honey Bee - Lucinda Williams
6.Buried Treasure - Bonnie Prince Billy
7. Goodnight Rose - Ryan Adams & the Cardinals
8.It's A Shame - Hayes Carll
9.California Stars(live) - Wilco
10.Mykonos - Fleet Foxes
11. (Stay Away From)The Cocaine Train - Johnny Paycheck
12.Let's Kill Saturday Night - Silkworm

Vivian Girls

Although it looks like I am spending most of my blogspace shilling for shows around the area, I thought it might be nice to drop a review in from time to time.

The Vivian Girls self titled disc dropped back in September of '08, so there has probably been enough time lapsed for a backlash to start against them. Everyone knows indie hipsters hate for other people to like what they like. Hopefully this is not the case with the Vivian Girls.

This trio of Brooklyn chicks have a sound that harkens back to the heyday of K Records; back when they were fostering upstarts like The Beat Happening, Modest Mouse and Chicks on Speed, not folky navel gazers like Mirah. And as tired as it is to say, the main influences that jump out at you listening to them are The Velvet Underground and The Pixies, with maybe a touch of some of more primitive Yeah Yeah Yeah tracks.

But don't let my lack of creative reference discount the sheer awesomeness of this disc. These girls make a clatter akin to beating your dick on an aluminum trash can lid while building up a wall of sound taller than Phil Spector's jewfro. If anyone can fill the void left by the dissolution of Sleater Kinney, Vivan Girls are as capable as anyone else. More fun than Fannypack, hotter than The Donnas and louder than Bratmobile.

Tracks:
Tell The World
Where Do You Run To
Damaged

Clem Snide - Grey Eagle - 3/13/2009

I am not sure why Clem Snide never took off and found the mass audience that they deserved. Anyone that likes the music of Andrew Bird and M. Ward should feel right at home curling up next to the wistful whine of Eef Barzelay and his bandmates.

Long story short, they are playing at the Grey Eagle on Friday March 13th. Tix are $8. No word on a discount for ironic t-shirts.

Bonus points, I lobbied long and hard for Clem Snide's version of "I'll Be Your Mirror" to be me and my wife's first dance song at our wedding. I lost, and Bob Dylan prevailed. I think we can call that a wash.

Tracks:

Joan Jett of Arc

The Dairy Queen

I'll Be Your Mirror

Too Soon?

I never imagined that Shepard Fairey would be the Leni Riefenstahl of the new millenium, but we could do much worse. Much worse. Imagine Obama posters as crafted by Thomas Kincade. In the "painter of lights" hands, tomorrow we would be staring down the grim reality of a McCain/Palin slide toward our deserved Darwinian end.

See you later, W. I am sure history will treat you kind. Good riddance.

Tracks:

Reckless Kelly - American Blood

Lambchop - Grey Eagle - 2/14/2009

If you are looking for the perfect Valentine's Day gift this year, look no further than Lambchop at the Grey Eagle in Asheville.

Although Kurt Wagner's ever evolving 12 piece collective is most often given the "alt-country" tag, with each successive release they further defy classification. Early works like Thriller and Nixon do show the band's Nashville roots, but later releases have found them making lush, atmospheric music that sounds more like an Appalachian form of ambient, albeit chillout music with soul-crushing lyrics.

I have posted two of my favorite Lambchop tracks. The first from 2000's masterwork, Nixon. The second from 2006's somber Damaged.

The last time me and crew saw Lambchop at the Eagle, the entire audience ended up on stage running around like it was an old school hootenanny, while the band churned through "Your Fucking Sunny Day". I am sure this time around you should expect no less.

Tickets for the show are $10 in advance. hope and anchor open.

Tracks:

Your Fucking Sunny Day

Paperback Bible

Mayyors - Megan's LOLZ

From the WTF department...

I cannot remember how I came across this EP from the Sacramento band, Mayyors; there is very little to be found about them on the interwebs. That being said, this 3 song EP sums up pretty well my last week without a work laptop.

If you have ever wondered what a fire in a poultry plant might sound like, this might be it - minus the screaming Mexicans.

Also including the two tracks from The Mayyors, Marines Dot Com EP

Megan's LOLZ

Intro

Airplanes

White Jeep

Marines Dot Com

Metro

Fatigure

Patton Oswalt - 40 Watt - 2/6/2008

Sweeter than a pussy soaked in apple juice!!!

Just a heads up that if you don't already have tickets for this show, you should definitely jump all over it...NOW!!! Hard to beat the best working comedian in the business at a small club on a Friday night in one of the greatest towns on the map and all for the low, low price of $20.

According to Chunklet, Patton is doing this Athens show, and one in the ATL at The Earl as warm ups for his new album, so there should be plenty of new material.

And don't forget to hit up JB for some comeback sauce on the way out.

For the uninitiated, here is a clip from a Chunklet produced split ep featuring Patton and the Melvins:

The Two Dumbest C*nts in the World

R.I.P. Ron Asheton 1948-2009

Try as hard as they might, the craptastic collective of Kid Rock, the Lions and the automotive bailout will never be able to crush the soul of Detroit. At least not as long as the legendary, raw, take no bullshit guitar work of Ron Asheton lives on.

Playing guitar and bass on the the first three Stooges albums, Asheton's crunchy, blue collar axework lent as much to the mystique of Iggy Pop as a hundred stages littered in broken glass ever could.

After the Stooges, Asheton played in a variety of different settings and bands most notably in Destroy All Monsters with sex kitten, Detroit artist Niagara.

This is my favorite Stooges song, "Penetration" from Raw Power, and while the song is largely dominated by the spooky keyboard riff, Asheton's bass work provides necessary balance.

Best of 2008 Roundup

Old Crow Medicine Show – Tennessee Pusher – With the release of Tennessee Pusher, OCMS has transcended the classification of making a great bluegrass album and moved into the flat out great album period category. Although dominated by gritty tales of meth-labs, moon shiners and other forms of hillbilly depravity, Pusher also finds plenty of heart in tracks like “Caroline” and “The Greatest Hustler of All”. And while it is pretty safe to say that these Shenandoah Valley pickers will never touch the epic greatness of 2004’s “Wagon Wheel”, with Pusher’s “Highway Halo” they come as close as possible and that alone should be enough for any Best of list.


Lil’ Wayne – Tha Carter III – If Jay-Z is supposed to be “rap’s Grateful Dead”, Weezy must be its Ryan Adams in the fact that his massive output has often tested the limits of his talent. That being said, TCIII is the prize at the bottom of the cereal box of excessive Drought and Dedication mixtapes over the past few years. Standout tracks like “Mr. Carter” (easily one of 2008’s best), “A Milli”, and “Dr. Carter” pop with enough head nodding Martian lunacy to make even copyright lawyers bounce.

Adele – 19 – For those of us that like their heartbroken, honeyed British soul wailed through a full set of chompers, Adele’s 19 is the perfect answer to a certain unnamed craggy faced belter possessed of more swagger than sense. On her Mercury Prize nominated debut, the young chanteuse from Tottenham channels Dusty Springfield via Etta James on tracks like “Chasing Pavements” and “Hometown Glory”. 2008 also saw soulstresses Duffy and Estelle jockeying hard to brush the McNuggets and crack off of the Winehouse throne, but at years end, all hail Queen Adele.

Jamey Johnson – That Lonesome Song – After tinkering around as a songwriter for the likes of George Strait and Trace Adkins, Johnson steps out in front of the mike on a sophomore disc that moves him to the head of the line of new country artists. His tales of addiction, whores, and losing it all reach pinnacles of misery that are only about five drinks and one St. Jude’s Hospital infomercial away from Porter Wagoner level tales of woe and despair.


Squarepusher – Just a Souvenir - There are a couple of ways to look at Tom Jenkinson’s latest opus as Squarepusher. The first is to try and deconstruct the concept and backstory of time shifting drums, neon coat hangers and guitar powered kayaks. The other and I think preferable one is to say, “Words! Yay!” Even if Squarepusher’s first vocal presence in several releases does little to help piece the story together, it does offer a nice lighthearted break in the middle of the dense programming. With tracks moving more toward jazz fusion and funk and less toward math rock, Souvenir is the perfect answer key to Jenkinson’s oft time’s headache inducing equations.

Lau Nau – Nukkuu – Translated from it’s original Finnish, Nukkuu means sleep, which is about as perfect a description for the nine tracks on Lau Nau’s second album as one could imagine. That is unless they have a word to describe a cocktail of Robitussin, Ambien and peyote (searching the Hunter S. Thompson catalog reveals no such word). Nukkuu is an album filled with psychedelic folk scenery that can be both hypnotic and at times nightmarish. One tip of your favorite intoxicant and a spin of this disc with headphones can have you making snow angels while fairies nod approvingly on one turn and then participating in a unicorn orgy to the leers of gnomes in the next. Absolutely otherworldly.

Koushik – Out My Window – On first pass it would be easy to think Window is a Light in the Attic release as opposed to one from the beat heavy Stone’s Throw label. The lazy summer afternoon breeziness of track’s like “Be With” and “Coolin” would feel right at home next to any Free Design re-release. But as Window gets deeper so do the grooves until eventually you have moved from the airy goofiness of flying a kite to a session of heavy petting on a blanket with a blunt and some Love Unlimited Orchestra.

Gang Gang Dance – Saint Dymphna – Although Brian Eno and David Byrne released a proper follow up to their 1981 world beat classic My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, the results landed closer to Talking Heads range than a jungle shakedown. Not to worry, Gang Gang Dance was able to step right in and make what could be the perfect sequel to the Eno/Byrne disc. On Saint Dymphna, the Brooklyn trio employs tribal rhythms, elements of trance and patches of electronica to make an album that would sound perfectly at home in your ashram, hut, or disco.

Lykke Li – Youth Novels - Ah, Sweden. Meatballs, holding tanks for drunken skiers, Baby Bjorns, Saabs, Abba… Is there anything they can’t do? Following in the large, lush pop footprints created by Robyn and El Perro del Mar, Lykke Li’s debut album Youth Novels, was every bit as sweet as Swedish fish, but as complicated and intricate as the Scandinavian country’s tie to Nazi war profiteering. Ok, that may be a stretch but every track on this accomplished debut is a stunner including standout tracks “I’m Good, I’m Gone” and “Little Bit”.