Country Club of the '07

Big Love 2011

2011-12-29T08:38:00.000-08:00

Personally 2011 sucked pretty big, but musically it was a pretty great outing. Some perennial favorites made some great releases: The retooled, renamed, Corin Tucker-less Sleater-Kinney offshoot, Wild Flag. Wilco finally releasing a disc that comes close to their landmark Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album, and Jeff Tweedy coming one step closer to showing you musically what a migraine sounds like, The Flaming Lips releasing a split EP with Lighting Bolt as well as the 24 hour long track “7 Skies H3”.

On a down note, 2011 saw the end of what is probably the second most influential and important American bands of the past 30 years, Sonic Youth. Love them or hate them, their reach and circle of influence is only eclipsed by The Velvet, and depending on how important you think knowing how to actually play your instruments is, they might even be stronger.
Another downer, the ever growing toilet clog that has become country music… For every Hayes Carll out there, we end up with five Lady Antebellums or The Band Perrys which lower the curve so dramatically you would think country radio is a GED night school. Seriously, Jerry Sandusky’s locker room conversations have to be more entertaining and listenable than anything by Jason Aldean or Thompson Square. And while “alt-country” has seemed to flourish on satellite and the web, 2011 was not the brightest year for the genre. There were some bright lights like the latest from Those Darlin’s, Blitzen Trapper and the Old 97’s, unfortunately the Old 97’s disc was offset by the abysmal release of Rhett Miller’s cover collection.
Anyway, without further ado here are my picks for Best of 2011, the write-ups were thrown together in a hurry as I somehow just realized that the year actually ends in a couple of days. Oops...

Enjoy!

1. EMA – Past Life Martyred Saints When I first tried to tell someone about EMA, the first thing that came to mind was a more self-assured, less pretentious version of In Utero, performed by a giant, cocksure female. Saints is above all things raw; stripped down, full of angst, hurt and baggage but with an underlying element of coiled venom. Standout tracks like the ominous, near nightmarish “The Grey Ship”, and a cutter’s dream anthem “Marked”, show a pained vulnerability where one like “California” offers the perfect amount of piss and vinegar to balance the pH with Erika Anderson snarling “Fuck California, you made me boring” over a droning guitar.

EMA – Marked

EMA - California

2. Wild Flag – s/t If you were to do a search for Riot Grrrl, the first three results you get back should be Kathleen Hannah, Carrie Brownstein and Allison Janney’s pussy. Inarguably the best rock and roll album of 2011; essentially Sleater-Kinney with keyboards, Wild Flag chugs along like Pac-Man gobbling Adderall and chasing spiders instead of ghosts. Added bonus, the mom from Home Improvement can totally tear up a set of drums.

Wild Flag – Romance

Wild Flag – Endless Talk

3. Hayes Carll – KMAG YOYO It was probably a disservice that this disc was released so early in the year and I had plenty of time to wear it the fuck out. But those first two months Mr. Carll and I had some beautiful times together, kind of like the musical equivalent of priapism: great fun for the first hour or two, and then hour three rolls in and you better make some urgent changes or your dick will fall off. There was no better country cd released in 2011. Granted the bar was set pretty low, but tracks like “Bye Bye Baby” and “It’s Hard out Here” are destined to be classics and strong enough to make you forget that he was involved in the Country Strong abortion.

Hayes Carll – It’s Hard Out Here

Hayes Carll – Bye Bye Baby

4. Peaking Lights – 936 At first I was going to describe this disc as the perfect soundtrack to cool down to if you were to find yourself standing in a field in a cold sweat watching a taco truck melt before your eyes while being chased by angry unicorns, but then this morning my daughter told me while she was half awake that she wanted me to bake her a pink bunny full of grape jelly for breakfast. I think that might be more appropriate for the sugary, dubbed out brain melt that is Peaking Lights. Definitely the standout, but not the only excellent release from the Not Not Fun label in 2011. If you can’t get lost in a field of dandelions while grooving out to “All the Sun That Shines”, you are deader on the inside than the dressing room at The Trophy Club.

Peaking Lights – All the Sun That Shines

Peaking Lights – Marshmellow Yellow

5. The Weeknd – Thursday Imagine if Luther Vandross had an ounce of swagger in his 400 or 150 pound frame (you pick the era). Granted his songs might have all been geared around cocks or chocolate or meatloaf, or meatloaf cocks full of chocolate but his tunes would have been legendary panty droppers, the likes of which would put Barry White to shame. So 2011’s entry into Babymaking 101 is The Weeknd. Within the last eight months the elusive producer has dropped two classic discs (this the second, “House of Balloons” being the first) of lo-fi bedroom production soul, raised the bar on Drake’s “Take Care” disc, and made this year’s equivalent to Massive Attack, mirrored ceilings and cocaine. Plus he was able to make, “Baby, I can fuck you right” the “You complete me” of 2011.

The Weeknd – Lonely Star

The Weeknd – Rolling Stone

6. Beyonce – 4 For most artists it only takes the release of an album by their alter ego to put the brakes on an entire career (see Chris Gaines), but Beyonce’s foray into the world of Sasha Fierce had nothing on the schizophrenic turn she takes on 4, easily her best album to date. I remember telling a friend the first time I heard the album that it was pop music in a vacuum, like she decided to take everything that was hot right now and do the exact opposite, with mind bending results. Granted, the disc is a little bloated and could have shed a couple of tracks but lesser artists spend an entire career looking for just one stunner like “1+1” or the claustrophobic, bi-polar freak-out of “Countdown”.

Beyonce - 1+1

Beyonce – Countdown

7 & 8 .Yuck – s/t, Los Campesinos – Hello Sadness If you were able to wipe the shit stained gloss off of what passes for pseudo indie pop at the top of the charts this year, instead of getting date raped to songs about “pumped up kicks’ and “party rock anthems”, you would find something like these two discs of raw blissful energy that could get any event jumping without all of the unnecessary sheen and Axe Body Spray. Yuck’s faithful homage to all things 1994, and Los Campesino’s welcome regroup bubble with more legitimate joy than a redwood forest full of MTV Woodies.

Yuck – Get Away

Yuck – The Wall

Los Campesinos – By Your Hand

Los Campesinos – Songs About Your Girlfriend

9. Jessica Lea Mayfield – Tell Me The fact that Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys signed Mayfield because he thought she reminded him of a female Nick Cave should be ringing endorsement enough, but her sophomore release, Tell Me, should have people asking questions like “Grace Potter who?”, “what’s a Jolie Holland?”. Tracks like “Run Myself into the Ground” and “I’ll Be the One You Want Someday” show a knowledge of despair, longing and failure well beyond what any 22 year should be aware of. And even if every other song on the album stunk like Patrick Carney’s leather jacket, it contains “Our Hearts are Wrong” which is absolutely the best track of 2011.

Jessica Lea Mayfield – Our Hearts Are Wrong

Jessica Lea Mayfield – Grown Man

10. Danny Brown & Black Milk – Black and Brown True story. When I was a kid, we were in Savannah one time and I saw a guy tagging a wall with the phrase “Pan-Africanism leads to Black Unity” (I think I have a pic that I snagged with my top of the line S&H Green Stamp camera. Thanks Winn Dixie). I can still remember the look on my mom’s face as she tried to answer this pressing question. Her expression of what I can only describe as “white confused panic” is the same face I must have made the first time I heard this drop.

Danny Brown and Black Milk – WTF

Danny Brown and Black Milk - Zap

In Defense of The Civil Wars

2011-09-11T07:10:00.000-07:00

I didn't think it would be possible for me to stumble across anything more unpleasant to listen to than the music of Lady Antebellum (see previous post where I compare them to "what cancer sounds like"). Perhaps I was underestimating the power of commercial country radio when I made that statement.

Congratulations, The Band Perry, you have met the challenge and succeeded wildly! The Massengil family should consider filing libel litigation against these guys for the bad name their watery stool blend of music is giving to douches. Seriously, even Darryl Worley seems pH balanced compared to the vinegar soaked death knell that TBP adds to the genre.

Get the picture? Not a fan.

So if these guys are so bad, why I am giving them a plug? Ironically, I am using the retch inducing tunes of TBP to promote a band that I am quickly becoming a lukewarm fan of, The Civil Wars.

When I first saw promos for The Civil Wars, I immediately wrote them off as another Lady Antebellum, The Band Perry clone (or any other band with a stylist and a J.Crew catalog instead of actual songs - also see Mumford and Sons). Their sepia toned glossies, vintage Col. Sanders wear, and pretentious name smacked of every terrible cliche that the feculent new wave of mainstream country music has ushered in. I stand corrected.

Where I thought that TCW was just another factory produced migraine gunning for the crown once prestigiously held by such luminary giants as Rascall Flatts and Lady A, The Civl Wars would have a hard time getting any mainstream airplay were it not for a polished, marketing approved image that presents them as a sensitive Jack White and a doe eyed muse (keep in mind, I said I like their tunes; the videos are another story).

Ok, long ramble for something that I am (again) only partially sold on. However, I haven't written in a while, and I am wound tight on a triple espresso and Adderall this morning which translates into a flurry of parenthesis, run on sentences and vitriol.

When I first heard the track "Barton Hollow" pop up on shuffle the other day, I first thought it might be a track from the highly underrated Kasey Chambers/Shane Nicholson disc. After going back to check it out, I was surprised to find out that it was The Civil Wars. Even the single from the disc, "Poison & Wine" is extremely pleasant if not a little touch heavy on the drama. Their midtempo tracks feature the slide and swagger of something near Chambers meets Sara Watkins. On the ballads, they kind of remind me of Swell Season, with a banjo and a jug of Yellow Tail Merlot instead of a piano and a few pints of Guiness.

Most of the disc does land somewhere over in the minor key, but not so much that it becomes overwhelming. Kudos for them being able to pull this off on a debut disc with a fairly substantial runtime. Few artists can pull off this much of this type of material without all of the songs turning into a blurry tearstained mess, and the lyrics having to reach into the grab bag of country misery Mad Libs (cancer, veterans, Obama...).

So until they end up on tour opening up for Sugarland or Michelle Bachman, feel free to enjoy the elegant melancholy of The Civil Wars.

Barton Hollow.mp3

Poison & Wine.mp3

Purple Elvis in the 07!!!

2011-03-22T20:09:00.000-07:00

Get ready to Rock Hard in a Funky Place!

With Prince coming to town next week, I thought I would post a brief playlist of some of my favorite Purple Elvis tracks (this is probably foolish, as he and his people are notorious for being able to sniff and shut these kinds of playlists out - hence the reference to Purlple Elvis.).

This setlist includes some favorite extended versions from the past couple of decades. Unlike today’s remixes, where any aftermarket douchelord can come in and take your track apart and rebuild it any way they see fit, PE has always been the master of his own extended 12” takes. Most of these sound like the track stops where the radio and/or album version end, but the band just kept on playing. I get shit for playing some of these, because K often just wants to hear the radio version, and doesn’t like so much the masturbatory effect of the band continuing to crank it out well past the 8 minute mark.

On top of some of these 12” cuts, it would not be a fair collection if I didn’t include at least a couple of my favorite PE side projects. Somewhere I still have my copy of The Family on cassette, and their original version of “Nothing Compares 2 U” still can bend nails. I have thrown in a couple of faves from them, Sheila E, The Time and the Jesse Johnson Revue. No appearance from the dreadful Carmen Electra disc that Prince was responsible for circa 1990.
To wrap this up on a nostalgic note, I remember hitting Skate-a-long USA in 7th grade and hearing the version of “Little Red Corvette” included here. I looked everywhere to find it, and being 13 with no money and in 1983 with no internet was never able to track this 12” down. The sound quality is not perfect, and this song has been played to death, but the extra verse where he keeps talking about being draped in a “velvet sweat” is still confusing and amazing.

Hope to see everyone out at the show next week. If you have not seen the Purple Elvis before, keep in mind that he really does read the crowd, and if they are into it he will bring the funk all night, if they are not into it he will drop it faster than a high top fade in the hot sun.

playlist -> http://countryclubofthezeroseven.blogspot.com

Get Some, 2011

2011-02-23T13:24:00.001-08:00

First a little housekeeping; If you pick up the new Adele, 21 disc from Target it comes with a bonus track featuring her nail bending performance of the Grammy juggernaut, “Need You Now”, which proves two important points: 1.) Even the worst song can be salvaged with the right voice giving it juice 2.) Lady Antebellum is what cancer would sound like if it cancer had a sound. So, it’s probably a little early to put up a warm weather mix, but fuck it; to quote the Silver Jews “it’s sunny and seventy-five, feels so good to be alive”. If it snows next month, you can direct blame to my comment section. Plus, I thought a nice up tempo mix would be a nice change from the Debbie Downer playlist that has burrowed itself into my iPod over the past couple of months. This mix is mostly new music that has been released over the first couple of months of 2011. There are a couple of nuggets in here, and a couple that probably make no sense at all (they will probably be glaringly obvious), but they seemed to fit when I was putting this together. Enjoy! http://www.countryclubofthezeroseven.blogspot.com/

Best of 2010

2010-12-27T07:12:00.000-08:00

Admittedly, I have had a downer of a year in a lot of respects. Even so, when I read my Best of list for 2010 I was completely disappointed. I have been doing these things for as long as I can remember whether they were going to print or not (obviously this one is not). Rereading this thing was about as stimulating as reading reviews from Paste magazine edited by The Economist. So with that being said, I decided to try and redo the list and have a little bit more fun. Here goes, with massive apologies to Neill Cumpston… Also, since my wife claims that she never hears me listen to “anything other than that country shit”, I have included a short wrap up of the best “country” discs that were not Jamey Johnson at the end of the list. In my defense, there is a blurry line between a love of country music and a drinking problem. http://countryclubofthezeroseven.blogspot.com

1. Robyn – Body Talk If you are like me, most dance music conjures up images of shirtless dudes thumping around town in a Mini Cooper while huffing tape cleaner and Axe body spray. Robyn’s Body Talk goes the opposite direction. It actually reminds me of a rave I was at somewhere around 1994 where these two twins that could have worked as Jessica Alba’s body doubles were taking turns dry humping the shit out of me while visions of Moby being cornholed by the “firestarter” danced through most of the collective’s subconscious. Did I mention that I also had a pacifier, a glow stick and enough ecstasy to make my spinal column dryer than Irene Ryan after a full day on the set of The Beverly Hillbillies? Oh yeah, none of this actually happened, but if you can’t get off on Robyn’s “automated booty applications”, you deserve to be locked in a closet with a wild boar, Aphex Twin’s “Windowlicker” and a case of Wallaby organic yogurt.

2. LCD Soundsystem – This is Happening Unfortunately punk doesn’t look very much like Alan Vega anymore. In 2010 punk rockers look like the chick from Bend it Like Beckham that sings songs about riots and paper planes. And even if James Murphy couldn’t get any of his chins through the neckholes in Stiv Bator’s dog’s bondage gear, the newest LCD Soundsystem disc is still the punkest shit going in 2010. Tell me “Dance Yrself Clean” doesn’t make you want to throw a Molotov cocktail through the window of a bank, and I will show you my Tea Party voter registration card.

3. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Listening to a Kanye West disc is a lot like eating Christmas dinner with that uncle that has touched all of your relatives inappropriately. You squarely hate the motherfucker, but he does give really good back rubs and toys, so you have to tolerate him. I am guessing there are a wide and increasing array of medical procedures that would be more pleasant than hanging out with Yeezy, but goddammit you hear a track like “Power” or “Runaway” and all is forgiven. To be fair though, Nicki Minaj comes close to stealing the whole disc with her drop at the end of “Monster”.

4. The Black Keys – Brothers If I were an old black man, and I was going to chain a girl to my radiator in only her panties until I could work “the devil” out of her, The Black Keys would definitely score that soundtrack. Wait a minute that has already been done… Fuck it, I say we remake Black Snake Moan with Brothers as the soundtrack and find a way to work the ghost of Col. Sanders, Tara Reid and Koko B. Ware into the mix. “Everlasting Light” alone has more soul than Jonestown circa 1978.

5. Junip – Fields My blissful and inaccurate vision of the seventies involvies copious amounts of Panama Red being offered up by nude hitchhikers with bushes looking like they might have ?uestlove in a leglock. Add to this the fact that it is happening while lounging in a hammock by a stream, knee deep in the woods, and Fields would definitely be playing in the background. To keep with continuity somewhere we would have to find a place for gnomes and wood fairies, but for the time being they can stay behind the harvest gold refrigerator. Pass the bong and bring me my beaver pillow.

6. Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs – Medicine County If one of your presents on Christmas Morning involves a restraining order, nude pictures of your cousin and a bottle of whiskey, you might need a copy of Medicine County.

7. The Arcade Fire – The Suburbs Recently I woke up from a dream wherein a seven foot giant was raping my earholes. You can imagine my horror, but even more shocking was the fact that I let it continue. It turns out that the behemoth with an ear fetish was Win Butler of The Arcade Fire. I guess once the press dropped the lazy Springsteen comparisons, Butler became much more interesting and listenable. If you would have asked me a year ago the odds of me including The Arcade Fire in a “best of” list, I would say that there would be a better chance of finding Katy Perry literate.

8. Oneohtrix Point Never – Returnal First things first… No this disc is not an outtake reel of Tron queefs. Sometimes when a band is trying to break the tethers of your mind and send you out past the edges of perception it just sounds like hot air channeled through a robot. Kind of like watching Altered States with the vertical hold on your television set to homeless shelter.

9. Das Racist – Sit Down, Man Seriously, who would have thought that an Indian/Hispanic trio would make not only one of the best rap albums of the year, but the hottest interracial action since Mr. Horton tried to break Dudley off on Diff’rent Strokes.

10. Xiu Xiu – Dear God I Hate Myself If there is any lesson to be learned from Xiu Xiu’s 2010 release it is clearly the fact that Jamie Stewart hates himself but loves “cute pee-pees”. Quite possibly the gayest album to feature prominent banjos.

Best “Country” discs of 2010 – that were not Jamey Johnson’s great, but ridiculously overrated “The Guitar Song”. I guess country music has set the bar so low for so long, that a bloated double disc set might seem like the second coming of Kris Kristofferson.

Ray Wylie Hubbard - A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment (Hint: There is no C) The perfect placeholder until the new Hayes Carll disc KMAG YOYO comes out in February.

Reckless Kelly – Somewhere In Time Nothing out of the ordinary here, just straight ahead heartbreakers and chug-a-longs from the long underrated Austin journeymen.

Leroy Powell & the Messengers – Atlantis If they were to refilm that movie Fantastic Voyage, but in this version the crew is shrunken and spend a week inside of Johnny Paycheck’s liver, this could be the soundtrack.

Gary Allan – Get Off On the Pain Easily the best commercial country disc of the year.

Whitey Morgan & the ‘78s – Self Titled The disc that Jamey Johnson’s “The Guitar Song” could have been if it were shorter and aged in a whiskey barrel.

Christmas Mix - 2010

2010-12-03T12:59:00.000-08:00

Chrimmastime again. Time for another holiday mix.

I was hoping to give a good breakdown of these tracks, but have been more than consumed with about a million other items over the past couple of months, so will simply just offer a Happy Holidays and Enjoy!

Comments and Feedback are always welcome.

http://countryclubofthezeroseven.blogspot.com

Drunk With the Only Saints I Know - mix

2010-08-04T08:04:00.000-07:00

So after claiming I wasn’t doing mixes anymore, I have done two in very short order. At least I am consistent.

This mix is a little heavy on the mellow compared to some of my more recent posts, but still has some strong tracks and some real winners in the cover department. Starting things off is the leadoff track from the new Ariel Pink disc, Before Today, which I highly recommend. Also, if this track turns your crank you should check out his new tour EP called Ariel Pink with Added Pizzazz which features an extended jam version of this song with the avant-garde jazz Added Pizzaz (hence the name). Following AP is the first of two unreleased, newish Wilco tracks from their Sky Blue Sky tour disc.

Next is the first of a handful of covers, starting with the most faithful which is a version of Old 97’s taking on R.E.M.’s “Driver 8”. Pretty much a note for note representation. Rhett Miller is no Michael Stipe, but the rest of the crew cranks out a solid take. Also on the cover front is Katy Perry’s version of the Sam Sparro hit “Black and Gold”. I think I included this for two reasons. One, I actually really like this version of the song and two, I felt like I needed a reason to justify my fascination with her other than the fact that I find her jawdropping hot. You take the auto-tune and high gloss production away, and this chick actually has some decent pipes. Ok, I am probably just appeasing myself, but it is still a nice song.

Following that, the other covers are Richard Hawley taking on Gordon Lightfoot (awesome), Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses taking on George Harrison (well done, if a little heavy on sap), Justin Townes Earle covering John Prine from the excellent new Prine cover disc “Broken Hearts and Dirty Windows” and a semi-succesful take on Nick Cave by Mates of State. I only included this one because it is one of my favorite Cave songs, and the source material is untouchable. That being said, the vocals and production come off a little weak and do not come anywhere close to having the stones to carry a Nick Cave song but it is listenable nonetheless.

There are a couple of funk workouts care of a new Of Montreal track and one from The Dream, both channeling their inner Prince. “Hydra Fancies” owing more to the late 80’s early 90’s version of the purple dwarf and “Yamaha” going back to the glory days of “Lady Cab Driver” and “All The Critics Love You in New York”.

Rounding out the mix and of note is a great remix/deconstruction of the Lindsay Lohan track “Bossy” by the electronic group Autre Ne Veut. They manage to take the original and turn Lohan’s voice into a disjointed and disconnected spectre hanging over some nice glitchy beats and making something otherwise unlistenable into something pretty nice. Consider it a reverse aural abortion. Also here is a track from the recent compilation of Carissa’s Weird, the precursor to Band of Horses and a track from the new Tom Jones disc of stark and sparse traditional gospel nuggets.

The Norma Jean (ripped from vinyl and a little scratchy at the :30 second mark) and Alice Cooper track are here just because I like them and think you should too.

Enjoy!

Conway Twitty - I've Already Loved You in My Mind

2010-07-20T04:57:00.001-07:00

Two things occurred to me this morning as I was listening to a Conway Twitty compliation I dug out of my cd pile: 1.) You really have to give it to a man that was obsessed with singing about laying the wood to silver haired ladies in an age prior to Viagra and 2.) This guy was kind of a sociopath.

Don’t get me wrong I love some Conway, but the more you delve into his catalog the more you realize that this guy was fighting with demons that would make Tiger Woods look like Andrea Dworkin.

I wasn’t sure which song could best sum up the Twitty experience; there were plenty in the running. It could have been “How Much More Can She Stand” where he talks about the devil that runs his body and renders him unable to stray from his woman, and hopes that she can understand. Also in the running, “Happy Birthday, Darlin’”, a sort of update on his classic “Hello, Darlin’”, but this one highlights all the things he would like to take away instead of giving to his lady on her birthday this year.

Also choice, “You’ve Never Been This Far Before” where that gosh darn devil now has his hands “exploring forbidden places”, or “Don’t Take It Away” which follows suit, but features one of the best Casio rhythm sections $200 could buy at the time. And trust me, if you ever check out his version of “Slow Hand”, you might never listen to the original the same way again.

However, I decided to settle on “I’ve Already Loved You In My Mind.” This sweet and touching tale of what I can only decipher as an ode cranking one out in the crapper at the club definitely wins the Ron Burgundy award. Grab a hankie, this one definitely will pull at your heartstrings.

Ladie's and Gentlemen... Conway Twitty.

The B-52's - Private Idaho

2010-07-16T06:25:00.000-07:00

Few bands scream summer and Friday as perfect as The B-52's. This clip offers some great early footage of one of my all time favorite bands/songs.

Enjoy!!

The Isley Brothers - Between the Sheets

2010-07-12T07:26:00.000-07:00

R.I.P. Marvin Isley (August 18, 1953 – June 6, 2010)

I let this slip through the cracks with the format change and some other things that have been going on over the past month. It would be real easy to make a joke about him being to busy "fighting the power" to fight the diabetes, but that would just be cheap, seeing how he had already lost both of his legs during his struggle with the disease...

Trying to pick a favorite song by the Isley's is tough work. I love "It's Your Thing",the aforementioned "Fight the Power", "Footsteps in the Dark" and "That Lady"; Actually my favorite might be their cover of Seals and Croft's "Summer Breeze". However at the end of the day, it is hard to top "Between the Sheets". Plus I have had "Big Poppa" as my ringtone from my wife for so many years now that I would just feel guilty slighting this track.

Link: The Isley Brothers - Between the Sheets

Joni Mitchell - Just Like This Train

2010-07-08T05:29:00.001-07:00

I was thinking this morning how it only took a week for the new format train to jump the tracks (as in I have not been able to post everyday as planned), and then I started trying to think of some great train songs. There are only a million of them to choose from.

With that in mind I decided to skip the hobo motif, and Blackfoot and have picked Joni Mitchell. I am sure Boxcar Willie and Rickey Medlocke won't mind (although for the record Medlocke's insane guitar break to open "Train, Train" is pretty unfucking believable).

So with that intro, here is the first female vocalist post with the new format.

Link: Joni Mitchell - Just Like This Train

Sonny Sharrock - Soon

2010-07-07T06:10:00.000-07:00

Even though amazing jazz guitarist/shaman Sonny Sharrock recorded with Peter Brotzmann, Bill Laswell and Pharoah Sanders this vocal collaboration with his wife Linda is probably one of my favorite tracks from him.

"Soon" is taken from a compliation of other brain smelting cuts from the heavyweight free jazz label Jazzactuel. Some sites claim this comp is out of print, but it is still readily available if you are willing to dig.

If there is any interest in any of the other tracks here, let me know and I might be willing to post the whole comp.

Morphine - Buena

2010-07-01T13:58:00.000-07:00

Three day weekend?

Buena, Buena, Buena, Buena, Good, Good Good!

Big Boi - Tangerine (w/ T.I. & Khujo)

2010-07-01T05:10:00.000-07:00

Ok, so now I know the difference. Andre likes to shake it like a polaroid, while Big Boi likes to shake it like a tambourine.

Mystery solved.

Link: Big Boi - Tangerine (w/ T.I &Khujo)

The Bar-Kays - Holy Ghost

2010-06-30T06:17:00.000-07:00

This morning as I was getting ready to not go for a run, I was looking forward to jamming out at turtle speed to the latest Holy Ghost disc (released in May 2010 on DFA, and is highly recommended). Instead I stumbled across this jam on a Memphis Soul playlist I have stored on my iPod. All I can say is that sometimes the gods shine on you.

In addition to not running, I was hoping the DFA beats would get me motivated for work and whatever fresh hell awaited the day. Nothing James Murphy's crew of euro centric house beat stealing acolytes were spinning could have made the ass drop and heart soar like this band of funk brothers did.

Originally the Bar-Kays were a session band for Stax, playing with Otis Redding and Isaac Hayes. They were able to score a couple of hits in the late '60s (Soul Finger) and 70's (Son of Shaft), but this 8 minute workout is probably their crowning acheivement.

On a side note, original bass player James Alexander is the father of Jazze Pha who in addition to being famous for dropping "Ladies and Gentlemen" on numerous tracks, has also produced for 2Pac, Ciara, Bun-B, Usher and many others.

Link: The Bar-Kays - Holy Ghost

Robbie Robertson - Somewhere Down the Crazy River

2010-06-29T05:58:00.001-07:00

I was pleasantly surprised when this track recently popped up on my iPod while letting it shuffle. The track is solid all the way around and immediately brings to mind other Daniel Lanois produced tracks of that era (1987), especially his work with Dylan and U2.

On a more nostalgic note, I remember buying this cassette and having no idea who Robbie Robertson was. Even more ironic, I bought this cassette at the same time as a cassette of Dylan & The Band's live "Before the Flood" album. Specifically I purchased the Dylan tape after having just seen Guns N' Roses live where they closed with "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", and I was desperate to find a live version of that track. Little did I know at the time that Robertson was playing on that tape.

Levon Helm excluded, I still maintain that The Band is the best Canadian band ever. Period. Sorry Triumph and Loverboy fans.

Return of the Mack - Mark Morrison

2010-06-28T07:49:00.001-07:00

I am sure "Mama Said Knock You Out" would have been a nice leadoff into the new CC07 format, but since it isn't really a comeback I am going with some different flavor.

That being said, during 1996, this UK banger was hotter than Manchester United, yet Mark Morrison's career ended up going the route of the Bolton Wanderers within the same year. Prison tends to do that to a bloke.

In the words of Morrison I am just, "Letting all the people know That I'm back to run the show."

And here it is, post #1 on the new CC07.

Country Club of the Zero Seven v 2.0

2010-06-28T05:59:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I have posted here, and the delay has helped me come up with a new plan of attack for the site. Instead of posting random one off reviews or cramming the site once every other month with extended playlists, I am going to post shorter blasts on a daily basis (we can start wagers now on how long that will last).

The easiest way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time, so with that in mind I am going to start posting a "Track of the Day" if you will. One song, a little bit of detail and the link.

Hopefully this will help pick up a little added interest, and make the posts easier for readers to digest. Although I will admit I am already seeing problems. I knew what I wanted post #1 to be, but have 4 others that I am contemplating, so discipline will have to be used on my end.

That being said, welcome to CCO7 v 2.0!

Enjoy!!!

Ronnie James Dio - RIP

2010-05-17T06:24:00.000-07:00

RIP – Ronnie James Dio

I am sure there will be plenty of wizard and dragon jokes (trust me, I would probably make one if I had one at the ready), but in all seriousness Dio’s passing is truly a sad loss for music.

Be it in the boogie woogie blues of Elf, climbing the Silver Mountain with Rainbow, raising the bar for vocalists replacing already mega-successful vocalists in Black Sabbath or just plain scaring the bejeesus out of Baptist parents raising teen boys in the 80’s, Dio was/is f*cking legend.

I am pretty sure I still have “Holy Diver” on vinyl (from Columbia House no less ) in my closet at my parents.

Slay a dragon for me little man.

Here is a small Dio playlist I put together on the fly this morning.

link: http://countryclubofthezeroseven.blogspot.com/

What's the Deal? Sugar Hill!!!

2010-05-11T08:17:00.000-07:00

I was digging around through some old cd's and stumbled across this mix that I put together for a friend's birthday party a few years back, and thought it was worth posting.

I made a couple of tweaks here and there, but it is largely the previous mix in it's entirety plus some extra tracks, including my favorite disco era track "I Get Lifted", the KC and the Sunshine Band version. Outside of a couple disco tracks, and maybe one or two roller boogie classics, this is all standard issue classic Soul Train era funk, jazz and hip-hop.

If some of these songs sound familiar, it is probably because minus one or two, they have all been sampled extensively over the years. At least 2 or 3 have been picked up by the Beastie Boys, and a couple by Dr. Dre. In the meantime, feel free to shake yo' ass while you are trying to figure out where you might have heard these songs before.

Enjoy!

Lucky Charms 2010

2010-03-16T06:13:00.000-07:00

And the award for editing goes to… not me. I tried to cut this playlist down to about 20 tracks, but just couldn’t do it. I figured that I have been able to crank these things out so few and far between lately that if I could squeeze a couple extras in there, go ahead. Needless to say this thing might not flow the best…

So with this mix I was hoping to highlight some of my favorite new tracks and sprinkle in a few Irish tracks to celebrate St. Patty’s Day. This final draft is significantly different that my original, which featured enough Irish pissers to make me consider going and setting my own car on fire. I decided to scale back with a couple of Sinead O’Connor tracks, one a cheesy but awesome duet with the dentally challenged Shane MacGowan the other her incendiary live cover of Bob Marley’s “War” from SNL that pretty much got the ball rolling against her here in the states thanks to her shredding a poster of the Pope while crediting him as the root of all evil. Elsewhere have a tipple of Guinness while enjoying the Spanish/Celtic acoustic cover of Metallica’s “Orion” by Rodrigo y Gabriela.

On the new music front, 2010 has been off to a killer start. After about 5 years of sparse greatness so far 2010 is on pace to top 2009, which was pretty amazing. Here is a quick roundup:

I cannot say enough good things about the new Xiu Xiu disc. It comes pretty close to topping Fabulous Muscles, and when the smoke clears it might be their best release to date. I never thought I would see Xiu Xiu do bluegrass, but they give it a game try. I have included the title track here which would feel equally at home on a Morrissey disc if it didn’t have so many bells and buzzes. Also on here is my favorite track about giving birth to a cub, or abortion or childbirth or all of the above by The Antlers. I have also thrown in new tracks by Gonjasufi, Ariel Pink, Neon Indian and the stellar leadoff track from Broken Bells (which has been mostly a disappointment).

There a couple additional covers here including Sonnymoon’s hazy take on Drake’s “Houstatlantavegas” and Zooey Deschanel’s take on Nancy Sinatra’s “Sugar Town” (one of my all time favorite songs). Don’t get me wrong, She & Him are a little on the cheesy side, but there is much worse cheese out there (check out the Butch Walker b-side also on here). The ironic thing about Zooey Deschanel is that I love her voice, love to see her in videos, but as an actress I can’t help but want to drop a falcon punch on her. Especially in the movie that this track is from; 500 Days of Summer. I know, I know; everyone loved it. I just found it painfully pretentious. But I digress…

Anyway, the mix is a little long and maybe disjointed but enjoy. A little of the green may make it more palatable (green beer that is).

Btw, this mix sponsored by parentheses.

Enjoy!!

http://countryclubofthezeroseven.blogspot.com

Ryan Bingham & Dead Horses

2010-03-08T07:36:00.001-08:00

On first glance winning an award that Eminem, Celine Dion, Jon Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, Survivor, Kenny Loggins and Peter Cetera have been up for might seem like a backhanded compliement. But on second thought, being in the same company as Bob Dylan, Johnny Mercer, Cole Porter, Shel Silverstein, Elliot Smith and Isaac Hayes is nothing to sneeze at.

Long story short, thanks to his work as songwriter for the Jeff Bridges flick, Crazy Heart, Bingham is now the owner of a Best Original song Oscar. I have yet to see the movie, but can testify that Bingham is the real deal. I have been preaching about this Topanga Canyon via Austin, TX cowpoke for a couple of years now, and highly recommend anything he has recorded.

He is currently on tour with Jamey Johnson, The Lost Trailers, Jack Ingram and a handful of others, stopping of in Charlotte, NC on 5/27/10.

Here is a small sampling of some of my faves, including the one that earned him the gold statue.

http://countryclubofthezeroseven.blogspot.com

Citay - Dream Get Together

2010-02-17T08:00:00.001-08:00

Although it is still too gray, murky, cold and wet to start thinking about spring, the new disc from San Francisco psych rock freakout band Citay helps set the tone for chasing wood gnomes around the forest and helping the May Queen with her spring cleaning.

As a rule I prefer my tripping balls music to be more dark and sludgy (Bardo Pond), and less wondrous and flighty, however "Dream Get Together" works amazingly well.

"Dream Get Together" might best be described as a soundtrack for an evening of Anton Newcombe being seduced, roofied and raped by Pan, at a Terrastock festival, with only a magic flute and Courtney Taylor-Taylor's phone number scratched on a mushroom cap remaining as the sun rises on the dense, sticky moss.

Or it is just a better than average Led Zeppelin ripoff. You can decide.

Enjoy!!

Everyone Wants VD!!!

2010-02-11T12:20:00.000-08:00

It has been over a month since I have posted anything, so I am taking a minute to throw up a Valentine's Day mix. Feel free to claim it as your own and score some hot VD nookie. A mix might not be the most original idea, but it is a hell of a lot less expensive than roses dipped in gold and more internet friendly than that video you were thinking about making (I am talking to you John Edwards).

Nothing to sappy on here just a few nice eighties nuggets, some well executed covers and a hodgepodge of others. I fought the urge to drop Young Money's tender ode to puppy love, "Bedrock", but couldn't resist adding some Dr. Octagon.

Link to mix: VD 2010 Mix

Best of 2009

2009-12-29T12:47:00.001-08:00

I had all of these great plans for a big year end best of as well as a decade best of wrap up, which just has not come to fruition yet. The holidays proved to be much more taxing than I had predicted. However, it would be a shame to have been keeping these lists piled up all year/decade and not at least drop them some where.

So without much fanfare, here are my picks for the best of 2009 followed soon by my best of the 2000’s.

Instead of giving a lot of verbiage to these discs, I will just include some tracks and you can decide for yourself what you think:

1.) Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle

Too Many Birds

Rococo Zephyr

2.) The Postmarks – Memoirs at the End of the World

No One Said It Would Be Easy

Thorn In Your Side

3.) Tortoise – Beacons of Ancestorship

Charteroak Foundation
Monument Six One Thousand

4.) The Avett Brothers – I and Love and You

Slight Figure of Speech
Incomplete and Insecure

5.) The xx - XX

VCR

Crystalised

6.) Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport

Surf Solar

Space Mountain

7.) Justin Townes Earle – Midnight at the Movies

Midnight at the Movies

Mama's Eyes

8.) BLK JKS - After Robots

Molalatladi

Cusror

9.) The Duke and The King - Nothing Gold Can Stay

If You Ever Get Famous

The Morning That I Get to Hell

10.) Pink Mountaintops - Outside Love

Axis: Thrones of Love

Vampire

11.) Atlas Sound - Logos

Walkabout

Sheila

12.) Lucero - 1372 Overton Park

Can't Feel a Thing
Darken My Door

13.) Pelican - What We All Come to Need

Glimmer
Strung Up From the Sky

14.) Yoko Ono & Plastic Band - Between My Head & the Sky

Waitin' On the D Train
Watching the Rain

Tie:

15.) Discovery - LP

Orange Shirt
So Insane

15.) Passion Pit - Manners

Sleepyhead
Little Secrets

Happy Holidays!!

2009-12-09T05:51:00.000-08:00

Is there anything that the world needs more right now than a holiday mixtape? Sure world peace, a cure for cancer and a muzzle for Lane Kiffin would be nice, but what about some holiday love from The Raveonettes, Yoko and Animal Collective? Either way, here is my littering of the interwebs with some choice tunes for the holiday season.

One thing to note as you dig into the mix: as a rule I hate Christmas music. That being said (nice Curb reference), I feel pretty good about the tunes here. They are not all actual Christmas tunes, some are just winter themed - and by winter themed I mean that they could easily end up on Alexa Ray Joel's iPod (too soon? - probably).

A couple of highlights to make sure you catch: Both of the Dylan tracks from his new Christmas disc are great. If you have ever wondered what the holidays would sound like channeled through tinsel, phlegm and a child's cowboy hat you are in luck. The unreleased Bob Marley take on White Christmas is also a nice touch, and asks the age old question,"can I make a bong from a snow globe?". I will have to put on my engineering hat and check that out for next year. Lastly, I included a track by The Duke and The Gent that is not festive in the least, but probably my favorite song of 2009. Consider that my present to you.

Enjoy!!

link to mix:
http://countryclubofthezeroseven.blogspot.com/

Waiting for the D Train

2009-11-10T04:33:00.001-08:00

First let me start by saying that I am shocked by how much I have been enjoying the Jimmy Fallon show. He was always the weakest link on SNL, the movies I have seen him in (thanks airlines)are mostly unwatchable, and the first few airings of his show were painful. However he seems to have turned the corner and the show has gotten much better. His skits are still lame, but his uneasiness interviewing his guests is entertaining and he is top notch on bringing in great musical guests.

Before we get carried away and think this was a post to praise Fallon, I better get to the point. On the 11/5, he hosted Yoko Ono and in the process aired one of the musical highlights of what has already served to be a pretty great year for music.

I started writing a review of her new disc "Between My Head and the Sky" when it first came out, but had to stop after I could not fully wrap my head around how amazing the disc is. Plus it came out at the same time as the Beatles remasters, and I knew that anything that I wrote about her would draw some form of backlash from Beatles purists.

Whatever the case, here is a clip of her performance last week and simply put, it was fucking amazing!! At 76, Ono still remains one of the most important voices in avant garde new music.

Enjoy!!

link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VR6P3mBlkHY

Kicked It in the Sun

2009-10-16T09:01:00.001-07:00

Apologies for the delay in getting a new mix up, but it seems like lately finding time to post has been a bigger struggle than douchebag Congressman Joe Wilson trying to get into Mensa. Anyway, here is the mix in a nutshell. I think it is pretty solid, and flows well considering the fact it has everything from Italian disco, to French ambient to Porter Wagoner and an Eagles cover in the mix. I will say you might have to give it a few minutes to get going, it starts out slow and builds to a nice clip in the middle before winding back down and wrapping up with a Smiths cover from Zooey Deschanel (how can you go wrong with that combo?) and then one of my easy top 5 best tracks of the year by the Raveonettes ("Last Dance"), and then a haunting acapella auto-tune max out from Bon Iver. Also in the mix are stellar new tracks from Juilan Casablancas, Girls, jj and the must hear electro sleaze freak out "Rollerskate".

Artwork from an Emek poster for a Melvins in Israel show.

Enjoy, and as always comments are welcomed!!

http://countryclubfothezeroseven.blogspot.com/

Eternal Summers

2009-10-01T07:48:00.000-07:00

With Summer winding down and fall around the corner, I thought I would put together a little mix to help ease the transition. From the chilly, cogs slowly winding down sounds of Kim Hiorthøy to the warm campfire vocals of the appropriately named Eternal Summers and ultimately down to the throes of Antony burning out and Yoko fading away, this whole set should help ease the inflamed melanomas of summer with the soft cashmere sweaters of fall.

Enjoy!

http://countryclubofthezeroseven.blogspot.com/

Vishnu and the Magic Elixir

2009-08-10T10:20:00.000-07:00

Since everything I have posted lately seeems to have been a mashup of more recent stuff, and a fair amount of it has skirted towards electronic music, I thought I would use this mix to get back to some of my old favorites.

With Harvest Records presenting Brightblack Morning Light, Espers and Bonnie "Prince" Billy at the Diana Wortham Theatre this Friday, and Dungen and Woods playing at The Grey Eagle next week, this seemed like the perfect time to scrape the bong resin out of the old cranium and fire up a psychedelic stew.

This mix does feature a handful of tracks from Dungen and Woods, both old and new, but also some all time favorites like Bardo Pond, Acid Mothers Temple, a vintage classic by Silver Apples and a newly remastered track by 60's Irish psych-folk band Andwellas Dream There are a couple of newish tracks like the ones from The Dutchess and the Duke, Floorian and Flight and some very new tracks by the not so psychedelic (but mind bending nonetheless) Destroyer and Yo La Tengo.

And of course no psychedelic mix would be comlete with out at least one track by the Lemmy helmed, pre-Motorhead, brain melting amalgam that was Hawkwind.

Note: this site not responsible if the colors do not taste like you think they should.

Enjoy!

http://www.countryclubofthezeroseven.blogspot.com

Party out of Bouds - The B-52's Live (1978)

2009-08-03T05:13:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I posted, and I recently stumbled across this B-52's live set from 1978, and was pretty blown away by it, so figured I might as well share.

Back before they became a campy parody of themselves (before they thought it was a good idea to appear on the CMA awards, before "Love Shack"), the B-52's were a solid standout from the post new wave crash. Any of their first handful of discs are still solid (especially the David Byrne produced Mesopotamia) all the way up through Whammy. With the death of original guitarsit Ricky Wilson, the band largely took a lengthy hiatus before returning bigger than ever with Cosmic Thing (I am not a huge Cosmic Thing fan. I do love "Follow Your Bliss" and "Deadbeat Club", but rarely on the disc do you hear the leaner, meaner bouffainted B-52's featured on this bootleg).

I would have to say I put Whammy in my list of most formative albums of young Scott's taste. I remember lying in my bed in 7th grade watching videos on a tiny black and white TV (Channel 46 for anyone that remembers that grainy UHF station from Atlanta) and seeing the "Legal Tender" video and immediately heading out to Record Bar to pick that album up the next day. I can also credit that album for turning me on to Yoko Ono as well as it features a great duet with her ("Don't Worry"), which was for some reason removed after the first couple of pressings.

Anyway, if all you know of the B-52's is hearing "Love Shack" or "Rock Lobster" from weddings, sorority crush parties or VH1 specials this live show might blow your mind.

Recorded at a club in Athens in 1978 (months before their first album release), this short set shows the band at the height of their frenetic, post-punk, Patsy Cline meets Dick Dale and Stiv Bators on the far side of the moon best.

Enjoy!!

http://countryclubofthezeroseven.blogspot.com

From South Africa to South Carolina

2009-07-17T12:22:00.000-07:00

First up, this mixes' title is sort of false advertising as I don't think any of these artists are from South Africa. There is a remote chance that Malcom McLaren used some backup singers from Soweto on Buffalo Gals, but I am not vouching for it. It gets difficult to title these things sometimes, and there is at least a track by Gil Scott-Heron from an album of the same name, so in my book that counts.

This mix came from me having to head to Detroit this week for work, and wanting something to listen to on the plane and in the rental car. My experience with the local radio stations up there has not been very favorable so far, minus a feed from a public radio station in Toronto that you can sometimes pick up.

Anyway, there are a few tracks on here that I cannot offer much commentary on other than I dig them. I don't know much about Beatfanatic who opens and closes this set. Of what I have heard, his discs drag in the middle (as do most electronic and rap discs), but definitely has nailed entrances and exits. There are a handful of tracks from Stones Throw artists, like the one from the late Jaylib, who might rival 2pac for posthumous releases, the Miles Davis cover from Otis Jackson Jr, is off of a Yesterdays New Quintet compilation, as is the Madlib track and the just released new single from Dudley Perkins.

Erykah Badu is easily one of my favorite female vocalists, rivaled only by Gillian Welch. There probably couldn't be a wider contrast of artists, but the heart wants what the heart wants... I know Bady has performed a few times with My Morning Jacket, so maybe a meeting with Welch and Rawlings is in her future someday, right after a duet with Falco and Brigitte Nielsen (oh wait, that actually happened - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xH8Wqdb4U0 ). I put a couple of tracks off of her very underrated Worldwide Underground disc.

Also in the mix are a couple of old school hip-hop tracks. Nothing too obscure, but nothing too obvious either.

The only really new tracks would be the above mentioned Dudley Perkins track, and the track "Ecstasy" by the Swedish band jj. Without a doubt this song is the best of 2009 in the category of "Songs about drugs, that sample Lil' Wayne and hail from Sweden".

The artwork is a photo of funk queen and oft rumored subject of the Stone's "Brown Sugar", Marsha Hunt.

Outside of that, I got nothin'.

Enjoy!

http://countryclubofthezeroseven.blogspot.com

Stuck in Greenville with the chemo blues '09

2009-06-30T05:46:00.001-07:00

With the 4th just around the corner, I thought it might be a good idea to put a mix together for any cookouts or parties that might pop up. Also, I thought it might make sense to put together a mix that is insanely fun and full of energy in an effort to make sure everyone around the Hall house is in party mode for the weekend. The irony is that even though I stand by this mix as an absolute uplifter, Katherine hates anything with beats in it, so this will likely get shelved in favor of the new Wilco disc (not a bad substitute but still).

That being said, what's on the plate in the mix? We start off with a track I left off of my funk playlist from a couple weeks back, a smoking cover of Bill WIthers', "Who Is He?" by Me'Shell N'Degeocello. Yeah, I get it, it's a gender fuck mashup, but once you hear that greasy bassline, you can take all of your politics and hangups and toss them in a pot of fatback. This track rawks. Next we have a track from DJ Kaos that is turning out to be one of my favorite tracks of the summer "Love the Night Away". Usually a summer track filled with kettle drums, bongos and xylophones would slide toward the Jimmy Buffet vomitorium, but thanks to some slinky beats and keyboards this thing brings visions of Haircut 100 bouncing around the jungle to mind as opposed to frat boys playing pee pee touch games behind the urinals during "A Pirate Looks at Forty".

In addition to the DJ Kaos track being one of my favorite tracks of the summer, also in that line up is a track by Free Energy called "Dream City". I am not sure where this DFA track came from but it absolutely scorches, and when teamed in a mix with the new Modest Mouse track "Satellite Skin", you have my top three picks of Summer 09. Did you ever think Modest Mouse would be the feel good band of any season, other than that of the witch?

There are two tracks in here from the band Discovery, that I would easily cast as a favorite for any best of 2009 list. The first track jumps all over the place with Art of Noise backbeats, swirling synths and Hot Chip vocals, and the second track features a freaked out Auto Tune take on the Jackson 5 (timely, huh?).

The two blacksheep of the lot are a duet with Scarlett Johannson and Pete Yorn that brings to mind the best duets of Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra, and makes you think about reconsidering Johannson's unfairly maligned disc of Tom Waits covers. The second is The Lemonheads covering GG Allin's "Layin' with Linda". Sure the song is about murdering your lover, but Evan Dando makes it sound much more sweet and playful than the turd covered suicidal burnouts original.

In the middle we have a little bit of a soul breakdown with a throwaway classic from Maurice & Mac, a sticky sweet nugget from Allen Toussaint that apparently has been co-opted by Axe body spray, and a keyboard shredding beaut from Booker T & the MG's.

Lastly, there is a track by Brakes on here that I swear reminds me of the Pixies, yet I still like it.

Outside of that, just enjoy!!!

http://countryclubofthezeroseven.blogspot.com/2009/06/stuck-in-greenville-with-chemo-blues-09.html

Furious Fists of Funk!!

2009-06-17T13:33:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I have had the motivation, energy or time to put together a mix, so I am hoping that this one is received with hungry ears. Over the past month I have had a couple of sleepless nights where I do nothing but lie in bed scrolling through my iPod and adding songs to playlists. The one thing I noticed is that in all of the playlists or mixes I have made, none of them are geared toward helping me unwind. Plenty of them are for entertaining, driving or flat out all night drinking. I decided to put something together that would come in handy for just hitting the relax button, taking some deep breaths and slipping outside of my mind. With that said, after scrolling through 14,000 songs, here is what I have come up with. Trust me, this was not an easy task. I wanted to find the perfect seamless balance and keep it at under 2 hours.
Commentary on the tracks will be slim, as a lot of them come from some of the recent Lagos, Nigeria and Jamaica compilations from various labels but here goes...

Leading off is one of my favorite Funkadelic tracks. I never got into the party vibe of Parliament that much, but when it comes to down and dirty, red-eyed funk there is none better. I had a hard time choosing between this or Maggot Brain, but there is a Cymande disc later in the mix that is similar enough in structure to the Eddie Hazel masterpiece to skip it. Along the way is a great Talking Heads track that definitely sets up the groundwork for all of David Byrne's Luaka Bop work; a version of "Whole Lotta Love" by Ike & Tina Turner that makes Adam Lambert's version look like a Lucky Pierre between Clay Aiken and Scott Stapp. Probably the oddest addition is the krautrock "Vitamin C" by the German band Can. Maybe it is just me but I think their improv merges right in. Also there is a second great track by Ike and Tina Turner called "Young and Dumb", that smokes on its own, but is included because I really like to hear Tina growl about being "young, dumb & full of cum". Call me juvenile. I can't help it.

Just about every mix I have made seems to have a Clash track on it somewhere. Usually, they lead off; but in this case I love the tribal drum pattern of "Car Jamming" and like to think as the music fades that somewhere that drum line keeps playing forever in the background.

As always, enjoy and if I can remark without sounding desperate please leave comments. I track my hits, and know that I get a fair amount of listeners, but it makes putting mixes together a lot more fun and interesting when I know what people are thinking about the tunes I am dropping.

AI recap and Seis de Mayo Mix

2009-05-06T06:17:00.000-07:00

Last night while watching AI, my daughter tugged at my pantleg, looked up with puppy dog eyes and asked ever so sweetly, "If John Lennon was murdered already, why did that sad little boy just try to kill him again?". Ok, that didn't happen at all, but Kris did take a dump all over "Come Together". All in all, I thought everyone blew last night, especially Adam's take on Zep (despite everyone else on the shows opinon). Yeah, yeah, yeah he can hit the high notes just like Robert Plant, but if you are going to drop the Hammer of the Gods you need to come out rocking a shirtless vest and Plant's frightening, skin tight, veins and all jeans from "The Schlong Remains the Same", not mascara and hair jizz. This guy does have the pipes, but in 25 years you are much more likely to find him in a Rum Tum Tugger costume than in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Also, I really respect Slash for coming on and lending a hand to these rookie rock stars by saying, "I will hang out with you for 10 minutes, but will not license any of my songs for you to sing".

My guess is that Kris goes home tonight, Allison next week and thus setting up the showdown between Adam and Danny, in which Danny wins. No, he is not as gifted a singer as Adam, and to be fair he comes off a little bland at times, but he is extremely likeable. I could be wrong, but it just seems like even though Adam's performances never falter, he really comes off quite smug. Plus if voting comes down to what I would consider the Ohio of American Idol, voters my mom's age - yes she actively hits the phone, they are going for the nice guy with glasses over the "weird guy". Plus Danny's wife died.

So here is this week's mix. A fair amount of new tracks, coupled with a few nuggets from bygone days. And by bygone days I mean the glory years of 2004 and 05. There is no overarching theme here, but when I listened to it in its entirety this morning while running ahem...walking, I couldn't help but notice that most of the tracks have a My Bloody Valentine/Kevin Shields sound. So if you were ever into shoegaze music, this might be your lucky day.

Standout tracks: The opener is from the previously mentioned heyday and is an excellent cover of Magnetic Fields done by !!!, quickly followed by The Langley School Project's take on Space Oddity. If you ever need something to restore your faith in music, google The Langley School Project and check out their entire cd. Where I once found this to be more of a novelty, as I daily force feed my daughter her harmonica and maracas, now I find it inspirational. Ok, enough with the sappy shit...

There are two tracks from the San Diego band Crocodiles, and both seem to recall the early work of Jesus Mary Chain and Suicide. Suicide is also included deep down in the mix. On a local note (semi-local, I guess Atlanta would be considered more regional...) there is a great lo-fi track from The Black Lips featuring a guest rap from GZA, and a track from the latest Fischerspooner disc. I highly recommend anyone that is a fan of techno, electroclash, performance art, wigs, 4am in Ibiza and Christ Church of Greenville check out any of their works. Always total fucking brilliance from Greenville, SC to NY ex-pat Casey Spooner and his partner Warren Fischer.

Two last notes, make sure to stick it out to the end for the 9 minute reggae/soul/folk/wtf blast of Devendra Banhart's "White Reggae Troll". Hearing him start chanting at the midway point "that he believes in Africa" gives hope that he is finally back to where he was going with Cripple Crow, before his disappointing turn on Smokey.

And in closing, I have a remix of Adele's "My Hometown" by High Concept. I don't care if she might be struck with the Grammy curse, or is now all over the place in the media, 19 is one of my favorite albums of the past decade or so and could probably include a track from it every week. But likely I won't.

Artwork this week by Kelly Haigh.

Enjoy and comments are welcomed!

Don't Call It a Comeback...

2009-05-01T07:12:00.000-07:00

It has been a couple weeks since I have had a chance to post anything, so I am trying to come out swinging. With Sonic Youth tickets going on sale this morning (which I managed to score 4th row center for WOOHOO!!) for their upcoming small venue tour, I thought I would get things started off with a track from their new disc Eternal. Listening to the disc in its entirety, it sounds like they have dropped some of the hardest, darkest material since the Sister or Evol era, which is a very welcome back to form. On that same note, way down in the mix is a track off of the new Dinosaur Jr disc, and like SY this sounds like a very welcome return to the sound of some of their great early work.

Also in the mix are a handful of covers. I keep promising I am going to put together an awesome covers/originals comp, but always get sidetracked. Here I have a couple of standouts from the Torotoise/Bonnie Prince Billy collaboration, including their takes on Springsteen and Elton John. When you think about covers, you can either do a faithful, risk free rendition (like the Justin Townes Earle, take alson included here,on The Replacements included here - very true to the original plus a little twangy flavor), or you can just completely deconstruct the original and make it your own. Sometimes it works, I think the two BPB tracks here are amazing, and sometimes it sort of works but you just can't be sure; like the Lips cover of Madonna included here. Make sure to also check out the stripped down, what the fuck Of Montreal cover of M.I.A.'s "Jimmy". And especially thanks to Mario for turning me on to the Fight Like Apes cover of the mclusky classic, "Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues". It is amazing how having a female take the lead on this faithful cover changes the entire dynamic of the song. It's a nice!!!

That being said the rest of the mix sort of follows the form of the title, Breaking Hearts/Making Babies. Spring fever, and N1H1 are in the air so I was tying to create a healthy mix of booty sweat inducing grooves like the Sebastien Tellier, Chromeo, Franz Ferdinand/Dances with White Girls remix, and the seven minute, haunted house disco breakdown of Bigfoot's "Watch Your Step", and Aaron Neville's jazz funk classic "Hercules". Plus if the one two punch of new British soul heavyweights Adele and Baby Charles can't get the panties dropped you are "f*cking out" (apologies to Kenny Powers), and should proceed directly to the mclusky and Black Lips tracks at the end of the playlist.

Not all tracks fit nicely into the mix, but I have been dying to drop Sister Janet Mead's disco take on "The Lord's Prayer" forever, and since I skipped an Easter mix figured why not now. This is truly one of the best "wait, what?" tracks of all times. The beats are nice if not dated, her voice is ok, and oh yeah it is a nun singing a disco version of The Lord's Prayer. What is not to like? I actually have the 45 for this song at home, and have never fully understood where it came from as my parents are pretty anti-religion, and this disc looks like it has been in my collection since the '70s. I doubt any of my childhood friends were cunning enough to hide Studio 54 indoctrination in my stack o' wax, so it might have been divine intervention.

Lastly, I debated long and hard about whether to wrap up with MGMT's thirteen minute freak out "Metanoia" or Patrick Cowley's ten minute disco opus "Megatron Man". "Megatron Man" sounds like it was crafted by a robot that is equal parts titanium, steel, body glitter and cocaine but ultimately lost out to the Queen meets Phantom of the Park psychedelics of MGMT. I am sure the sex robot will find his place on a mix in the near future.

Enjoy!!

AI Roundup and SIlversun Pickups

2009-04-15T05:49:00.001-07:00

First, a little AI roundup.

Every time Adam opens his mouth, I expect cock dust to come streaming out, but instead am greeted by one of the most feral rock howls going. I am not sure what kind of Faustian deal this guy had to make to get those pipes, but I am sure his colon’s health will pay the price in the end. There is really no way this guy does not make it to the finals. Every week he destroys (I mean seriously butchers the shit out of) a classic, minus his take on Smokey Robinson and Tears for Fears, and it seems to fly. That is what happens when you have enough swagger to go out there and do whatever you want. I would not be shocked to see him drop a reggae version “Smells Like Teen Spririt”, or put a Christian rock spin on “Shout at the Devil”, it would be absolutely awful, but the dude has the balls to make it work. Whether you watch Idol or not, it is worth checking out the way he made a pure mockery of “Born to be Wild”, but ended up killing it because it sounds like he has an army of castrati in his throat.

This season is pretty impressive, because once you weed out Matt, Chris and Lil’, and they should be leaving 1-2-3 over the consecutive weeks, the talent pool is pretty balanced. Anoop is continually amazing, and gets better every week. I just doubt that his frat brothers have enough pull to out vote the millions of teenage girls that will push Adam and Allison to the finals. I guess when you figure all of the above into the equation, I am still voting for Danny Gokey. His wife died, or something.

On a completely different note: if you have seen a movie trailer or tv spot, or commercial over the past year or so, you have no doubt been assaulted ad nauseum by Silversun Pickup’s “Lazy Eye”. It has been pretty much inescapable. If you were thinking that their Smashing Pumpkins impersonation would go the way of Jonathan Melvion, guess what? You were wrong. Their second disc, Swoon, comes out this week and pretty much goes all Siamese Dream over their debut disc.

I emailed some friends earlier and said I can already feel the floor sagging under the weight of bouncing twentysomethings when these kids hit the Peel on their next tour. Check out this leadoff track, and especially note the ridiculous breakdown when the song hits the 2:55 mark.

Enjoy!!

Silversun Pickups - There's No Secrets This Year

Mondays with Merzbow, pt.2

2009-04-06T07:14:00.001-07:00

So last week I posted the first installment of what could be a 50 week series, the entire 50 cd set called Merzbox. Judging from my counter, this was not much of a hit, which is a shame because this is some very exciting if just a wee touch challenging music. Perfect for relaxing or zoning out at your desk.

Unfortunately, week 2 might be even more of a stretch. It contains just one track, the 47 minute opus, " Balance Of Neurosis."

I will give the project a couple more weeks to see if it picks up any steam, but for this week load up and veg out.

Enjoy!

Drunk at the Pulpit, mixtape

2009-04-03T09:24:00.001-07:00

After the two and a half weeks of non-stop rain that has been dumped on the ’07, this week’s mix is tailor made for soaking up the freshly rediscovered sun, loading up the grill and partaking in your favorite recreational beverage of choice (mine would be Makers and ginger, but think tonight is more suited to Stone IPA, which I highly recommend you check out).

There are a couple of artists on here with great new discs worth looking up. First is the smoking hot Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears from Austin, TX. These guys shake and shimmy with all the hot buttered, ferocious soul of a Memphis nightclub circa 1967 without all of the unpleasantness of police dogs and fire hoses. “Bitch, I Love You” sounds like The Woggles fronted by Little Richard. Also on here some new tracks from Page France leader Michael Nau’s alter ego Cotton Jones. Paranoid Cocoon, their new disc of psychedelia lite, should be filed in the corner section where Harpers Bizarre meets Grandaddy, and right behind some sweet bubblegum nuggs.

Random tracks on here include great new music from Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach, Jenny Lewis, Heartless Bastards and M. Ward.

Be sure to stick around long enough to check out the Two Gallants tracks. I had initially written these guys off as a Walkmen wannabe band, but after a good friend of mine convinced me to check them out live at a local in-store performance I was instantly hooked. Granted their newer material hits closer to lighter Saddle Creek fare, tracks like “Steady Rollin’” would be right at home being covered by Johnny Cash on his later American Recordings.

Sorry, no AI comments for this week. It pretty much played out as expected.

Enjoy!

Mondays with Merzbow pt.1

2009-03-30T06:58:00.001-07:00

About three years ago, I was lucky enough to score Merzbow’s ultra-rare 50 disc Merzbox set. The only down side is that they are all CD-R’s, and I am not sure how well they were burned, or what the shelf life of the discs are so am in the process of uploading them all to my hosted Amazon backup. Since I am going to uploading them anyway, I figured I might as well share them with all via this site. Because of the sheer volume of this amount of music, I am going to do one a week (hence “Mondays with Merzbow”).

I will try to include a little more commentary week to week, but for week one just sit back and let the best white noise and experimental mind fucking Japan as to offer wash over you.

Don’t get me wrong, listening to Merzbow can at times be challenging but if you have the stones to stick it out, you will walk away relaxed, refreshed and ready to set the world (if not just your office) on fire.

Yes - Hearts of Sunrise

2009-03-30T06:05:00.001-07:00

Even though I have somewhere around 12,000 tracks on my iPod, sometimes I am shocked to find the one perfect song is not on there. I was walking my dog this morning before work, and for some reason I really needed to hear “Hearts of Sunrise” by Yes. After scrolling frantically for a block or two, I realized it just wasn’t there.

Just in case anyone else out there had the same problem this morning, here ya’ go.

Ramblings on AI and a new mix

2009-03-27T11:37:00.000-07:00

First things first, I gave up my shame about watching American Idol a while back, so even though I am sure to get shit for talking about it, here are my very brief two cents. If I were putting money on who would be the most successful of the crew left this season it is hands down Allison Iraheta. Not really my thing, but she is the closest thing they have had to a Kelly Clarkson since the first season, and Clarkson is arguably the best/most successful winner they have produced. Sure Carrie Underwood is close, but having a hot, skinny blonde chick sell records about Jesus to country music fans is like shooting fish in a barrel. Douche nozzles like Little Big Town and Rascal Flatts have made a career of doing the same thing without the help of Idol, so I don’t consider her that formidable a talent. You could say Chris Daughtry has done alright if you are into music for frat house rape rooms or shopping at Family Dollar, but he didn’t win the show. The rest have all been as bland as dirt sandwiches.

Will Iraheta win? Probably not. I am guessing the largest contingency of voters for that show are teen and pre-teen girls, and I would guess they will throw their support behind bad boy/Nathan Lane impersonator Adam Lambert, and to be honest he probably deserves it. His performance this week of “The Tracks of My Tears” was a nail bending classic; the kind of shit that you should automatically win the show for dropping. Game over. The only time I have come close to being that impressed with an AI performance was when Ruben Studdard turned his sweat glands up to 11 and killed “How Do You Mend a Broken Heart.” Keep in mind, I truly hate this Adam guy, probably my least favorite contestant this season and that is a hard feat to pull off considering that they have had a black chick that sings Motown with all the soul of Josh Groban, an oil rig worker that delivers his karaoke classics with the thumb twiddling fervor of an Amish gang bang and a hot chick that makes me hate my penis for keeping me on the edge of my seat watching her performances.

Long story short; vote for Danny Gokey. I think his wife died or something.

Onto the mix. It has been rainy and grey here for almost a week with the weekend bringing more of the same. This week’s mix reflects that state o’ mind. There is an abundance of tracks from the recently re-released Deluxe Edition of Beth Orton’s Trailer Park. The bonus materials are mostly just her debut EP Best Bit. If you don’t have Best Bit, it is definitely worth picking up if for no other reason, her smoking duets with Terry Callier (one included here), and also her cover of Fred Neil’s “Dolphins” (original included here). Also, I have added a nice opener from the Bethlehem Progressive Ensemble and a great closer from Kings of Convenience. Their track is a cover of Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” that demonstrates how much impact a crowd brought up singing soccer anthems can have on a live track. Very good stuff!!!

I have also added a song from the new Chris Cornell disc called “Get Up.” I am not sure if I like this song or if it is a total Audioslave style shit heap. The fact that I have given it about 15 spins and am still on the fence makes me wonder if I might actually like this song. At one time I would have had Cornell in the number three slot as top male metal vocalist (behind number one Bruce Dickinson and number two Rob Halford), but I think recruiting Timbaland to drop beats for you moves him down the list right behind the kids in School of Rock and Kip Winger.

Lastly, check out the Tim Buckley track. Arguably one of my favorite live tracks of all time.

Enjoy!!

Skinny Bobby Harper March Megamix

2009-03-18T09:38:00.001-07:00

Since I was not able to get to a mix last week, and I have the benefit of pain medicine this afternoon, I am going to get this week’s mix posted a little early.

No real specific theme this week, other than I would say most of these tracks are from the mid to late 70’s with a touch of early 80’s thrown in. Just a general hodgepodge of some songs I dug as a kid (hence the KISS tracks) and have ended up floating around on my iPod, plus a handful of AM radio faves. Feel free to put on your WSB 750 “Skinny” Bobby Harper throwback jerseys. Random tidbit, Harper a DJ at WSB 750 in the seventies was the inspiration for Dr. Johnny Fever on WKRP in Cincinnati.

Anyway, back to the mix. Highlights include: a couple of tracks from Suzi Quatro. When I was in third grade I really loved the song “Stumblin’ In”, but I will always remember her as Leather Tuscadero. Playing Leather on Happy Days ensured that she would never be big in the states, but she was able to put together an impressive run in the UK as a glam artist through out the seventies. Also, a nice track from Geordie, better known as Brian Johnson before he met AC/DC, also included is an interesting boogie track from Elf, featuring Ronnie James Dio before his stings with Rainbow, Black Sabbath and Dio. I have also included a couple tracks from Nick Gilder that are from right after his days in Sweeny Todd but before he had his one hit with “Hot Child in the City”.

Feel free to add comments or questions. I would be curious to hear some feedback on some of these tracks.

Against Me! - The Handlebar - 04/19/2009

2009-03-12T13:11:00.000-07:00

I haven't been running this blog very long, but for all the shows I have pimped it is hard to believe it has taken me three months to getting around to one at The Handlebar, especially since it is just around the corner from my house.

Not too much I can say here except that I cannot imagine a better deal on a Tuesday night than an $11 dollar show within walking distance in, and crawling distance home.

I have read several great interviews with Tom Gabel, singer/guitarist for Against Me!, and all of them would do a better job talking about their inspirational DIY ethic, and the success they have found while never selling out.

The best I can offer is that if you have ever wondered what it would sound like if you could morph Billy Bragg and Mike Ness into a quasi political, aggro rawker with an acoustic guitar in one hand and a molotov cocktail in the other; this show is for you, so start saving those nickels. Other than that, I will let the music do the talking. Included in this list of originals is a nice Replacements cover, and an interesting choice cover of an Old Crow Medicine Show covering Dylan.

Enjoy!

Bonnie "Prince" Billy - The Grey Eagle 5/27/09

2009-03-11T12:45:00.000-07:00

For the most part, I have seen pretty much everyone live that I want to. Not that there aren’t always going to be new bands I want to see, or old favorites that I want to see again. But for the most part I have been able to check out just about everyone I want minus a list of about 3 or 4. Despite who you talk to, this list doesn't vary often and includes Diamanda Galas (will likely never happen), Leonard Cohen (could still happen one day, but I don’t deserve it because I blew a great opportunity in 1993), New Order (even in the hodgepodge lineup they are currently sporting, they are still one of my all time favorite bands that I have never been able to check out), Van Morrison (I feel pretty good this will happen sooner or later, barring an abrupt death) and Bonnie “Prince” Billy (odds are great, as this is the main reason for this post).

Looks like I will be able to pull out the mental Sharpie and cross one more off that list, as Bonnie “Prince” Billy rolls into The Grey Eagle on May 27th.

From his work with Palace Brothers through his solo career, BPB has emerged over the past decade as one of the great living storytellers/songwriters, and will eventually if not now find a home in the same echelon as Cohen if not Dylan.

I am posting a random variety of some of my favorite BPB songs including mostly originals, a rerecording of one of my favorite Palace Brothers songs, and a few covers including Elton John, Kenny Rogers and an amazing cover of the Dead’s “Brokedown Palace” (which regularly challenges “Sweet Jane” as my favorite song of all time). Plus I am including the video for Kanye West’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothin’” which features BPB and Zach Galifinakis as the result of what happens when the FFA meets LSD.

Tickets are on sale now.

Yeah Yeah Yeah's - It's Blitz

2009-03-09T17:30:00.000-07:00

At this stage of the game it is pretty safe to assume that the Yeah Yeah Yeah's are never going to release anything that smokes as hot as their debut EP. Fair enough, that five track beauty contains what might be the best straight up fifteen minutes of rock to be released in the double aughts, with time running out for anyone to snatch that honor away.

Each full length since then has skirted a little closer to the mainstream, while still managing to hang on to just enough edge to get rated favorably on Pitchfork (come on, it doesn't get much more Top 40 than the crushing heartbreak of "Maps").

Their latest disc, It's Blitz will probably find the same fate, and wind up as a soundtrack bullpen for teen dramedies for the rest of the spring. However, that unpleasant nugget aside, Blitz is easily one of the best discs so far of 2009. Dave Sitek's production keeps Blitz loaded with enough dance beats to make even the crustiest indie rock fan discard their Silver Jews disc gently on top of a pile of Coors Light cans and get their wiggle on (no this is not describing anyone I know, present company included). Usually when a disc leads off with its best track ("Zero"), that is a sign of shit to come. Blitz is an exception, and keeps things chugging from start to finish.

Definitely worth checking out.

Morrissey - Pffffffarrrrrt!!!

2009-03-09T11:46:00.000-07:00

Morrissey at The Orange Peel - Cancelled!!

Not that I was going to get to go, I sold my tickets on Saturday, but still nice job on the last minute cancellation asshat!!

All I can say is that there are going to be some pissed off hairdressers in Asheville tonight.

Morrissey - I'm Not Sorry

Chrissy Zebby Tembo & Ngozi Family - My Ancestors

2009-03-06T07:12:00.000-08:00

With the mass influx of Nigerian High Life music over the past couple of years, it is easy to let a handful of releases slip through the cracks here and there. Although most of the releases have been compilations, this gem from Chrissy Zebby Tembo was pressed and released on vinyl in a limited number of copies, 430 to be exact.

I am not sure what kind of mushrooms they grow in Nigeria, but soil soaked from mass bloodshed must make them grow extra psychedelic. This disc has more fuzz on it than that black dude in Hart County that had his eye ripped out.

Here is the full album with all of it’s crackly vinyl goodness, and is it just me or does this guylook like Tracy Morgan?

Enjoy!

Friday Mix - The Wayback Machine - Destination 80's

2009-03-06T05:05:00.000-08:00

This Friday mix is sort of thrown together and probably not sequenced the best, but at least it is something. This is largely culled from a collection of 80’s music that I have that represents some of my favorite early No Wave songs, some nice 12” singles from the era and some random and semi obscure tracks that I found later. One note, I remember hearing a lot of these songs the first time on the Georgia State University station WRAS 88.5 when I was in middle school. It is easy to remember your first album, your first cd etc., but I distinctly remember when I first stumbled across Album 88 and the Pandora’s box of great music that had been opened.

On a side note, if you have the ability to stream music at work or at home I can recommend no better website than the one for 91.1 WREK, the radio station at Georgia Tech. Granted at night they selection can slant toward more acquired tastes, but during the workday there is no better soundtrack. Starting with morning classical (not your boring, run of the mill NPR fare, but a nice and eclectic selection), then running into a couple hours of jazz followed by a freeform afternoon. Opening their stream is the first thing I do every morning after logging into my work ‘puter. You should definitely check them out.

As far as the mix goes, if there is anything you particularly like, especially on some of the lesser known stuff, and want to hear more, leave me a note.

Enjoy!

Neko Case - Middle Cyclone

2009-03-05T09:17:00.001-08:00

First off, there is not much higher praise I can drop on Neko Case other than the fact I named my bulldog after her. I was sold on Neko the first time I heard her belt a note. Her live shows never disappoint, and her albums have always been very listenable. The problem I have had with most of them is that while they have always provided an excellent showcase for her stellar voice, they have often fallen short in the material department; deficiencies she has greatly improved upon recently particularly on Fox Confessor Brings the Flood.

On her latest, Middle Cyclone, she has finally put together an album that is solid from start to finish. From the opener of “This Tornado Loves You” (easily one of her best tracks to date), through the thirty one minute ambient noise closer “Marais la Nuit” there is not a drop of filler to be found. Her recent collaborations with M. Ward, Kelly Hogan as well as her role in The New Pornographers have only helped distill her massive pipes into something that has the sweet, soulful, burning taste of a bucket of blackberries soaked in Grey Goose, or whatever the Canadian vodka equivalent is.

Now if we could only get her to reprise her role on ATHF or do some more pinup shots…

Butch Walker - The Orange Peel 3/24/09

2009-03-04T07:50:00.000-08:00

Of all the music I listen to, I think I probably catch more shit for my love of Butch Walker than anyone else on my favorite’s playlist. Seriously, some of my guilty pleasures (mix coming soon) include Mariah Carey and Sugarland but for some reason BW is the albatross I cannot shake.

So far my biggest defense of BW has been that his live shows are amazing, and I stand by that. By dragging a handful of naysayers I have been able to convince a couple about his live shows, but they still scoff at the man and his music. I will admit that I am not the biggest fan of Butch’s first band to make waves in Atlanta, the metal-lite Floyds Funk Revival, but by the time he reemerged with Marvelous 3 he was starting to fire on all cylinders. Granted the 3 were probably a little ahead of their time, grunge and other fake indie shit rock (hello, Cranberries) of the like were still flooding the airwaves, but the 3’s glammed out simple three chord mockups and soaring choruses were like manna to those of us who grew up loving The Knack, Billy Squier, Sweet and April Wine.

Even after the demise of Marvelous 3, Walker’s work as a solo artist and producer still brought the goods for everyone that loved the sonic crunch of metal, but longed for the pop hooks of Cheap Trick. Maybe I am just a sucker for cheese, or maybe it is because we are from the same place geographically, or maybe it is because we are the same age and were probably influenced by the same bands, but for whatever its worth I think he is the goods (even after his turn on the nightmarish Rock Star: Supernova).

I have included a generous handful of tracks from M3, and some solo work. Also, toward the end I have added a handful of songs Butch produced that all have his signature sound. If there is anyone out there that can make Pink listenable, it has to be this guy.

Butch’s tour to support his latest disc Sycamore Meadows stops by The Orange Peel on 3/24 and tix are $14. As I stated above, his lives shows are awesome, even if you don’t necessarily dig his recorded output.

Mogwai - The Orange Peel 4/23/09

2009-02-22T17:36:00.000-08:00

Looks like time to dig under the sofa cushions and pray for a decent tax return. Immediately after blowing a mint on tickets for two upcoming Wilco shows and one Old Crow Medicine Show, now The Orange Peel adds this show to their lineup. That is usually the way it works, good shows always pop up on the radar when you have just lost a nut on what you thought was already the best thing on the horizon.

At any rate, Mogwai is playing The Orange Peel on 4/23/09 with opening act The Twilight Sad. The only time I have seen Mogwai was opening for The Cure, so catching them as a headliner in a small venue should be sweet.

Tickets go on sale Feb. 27th at noon.

10,000 Feet High and Rising, pt. 2

2009-02-20T12:34:00.000-08:00

As promised, here is Part 2. of the mix. Will be back on soon.

Comments on tracks is appreciated.

10,000 Feet and Rising pt. 1

2009-02-19T13:21:00.000-08:00

Where's my Brawndo?!? I am ready to kick it X Games style as I head to Park City next week. And by X Games style I mean sitting on the sofa in front of a fire, cold beer in one hand, joystick in the other while rocking SSX on the PS2.

Alright in reality both scenarios listed above are bullshit, but nonetheless I will be hitting the slopes in Utah and trying to chase a buzz while drinking 3.2% Mormon beer.

Since I am going to try to make an effort not to touch my computer at all next week, I am going ahead and loading up two long mixes over the next couple of days. Both parts of this mix should provide the perfect soundtrack to six snowblind days in the land of polygamy and magic underpants, but will also work just as well in the '07.

Of the two, pt.1 is a much more mellow affair - think snow angels and dilaudid while pt. 2 is more like what the inside of your brain might taste like after huffing Krylon for a long weekend.

Band of Horses - The Orange Peel 3/16/2007

2009-02-18T18:38:00.000-08:00

I was not able to attend this show, but have a handful of friends that made it and said it was amazing. After doing a little digging around I was able to find a recording of the show that was taped off of the sound board, so the quality is pretty nice.

If anyone out there knows the title of track 7, feel free to post it in the comments. I do not recognize it as either a BOH track or a cover. I hate being stumped, so anyone that can figure it out I owe a couple of shots.

Round and Round and Round and Round...

2009-02-17T13:44:00.000-08:00

I saw The Wrestler over the weekend, and was completely underwhelmed. Make no mistake about it Mickey Rourke gives a nice performance, but honestly he was upstaged by Marisa Tomei's forty four year old rack. Overall I would say it was a good movie, but it felt like there was about an hour missing somewhere along the way - the same way Aronofsky left me feeling after The Fountain.

One of the best scenes in the movie featured The Ram calling Kurt Cobain a pussy and preaching the gospel of hair metal while giving Marisa Tomei a lap dance to Ratt's Round and Round.

After seeing that song, and Ratt for that matter, destroyed a few years back by a version of Ratt that replaced Stephen Pearcy with an assclown named Jizzy Pearl (that's right, Jizzy Pearl) the scene was a nice reminder that when Ratt was firing on all cylinders they could on a very limited scale hang with the big boys.

Here is the original Round and Round video that features a bizarre appearance by Mr. Television, Milton Berle (his nephew was the band's manager). Also included are a couple of decent covers of the song. One a folky cover by Sebadoh and Dinosaur Jr's Lou Barlow, the other a bluegrass version by The Meat Purveyors.

Ashes of American Flags - 4/18/09

2009-02-16T17:43:00.000-08:00

Great news for Wilco fans (as if I know any of those). Even though there have been no solid release dates for Wilco's newest disc (rumored to drop in 2009), they have a release date for their newest DVD, Ashes of American Flags, 4/18.

Also tour dates have been added for this spring, although on sale dates and support acts are still to be announced.

4/18 Knoxville, TN - The Tennessee Theatre
4/20 Athens, GA - The Classic Center
4/21 Asheville, NC - Thomas Wolfe Auditorium

Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You

2009-02-16T07:24:00.001-08:00

What a difference a couple of weeks make. If I would have reviewed this disc when I first picked it up, I would have given it a much more glowing review than it deserves. Now that I have had a chance to let it sink in, I am a little disappointed with the total result. Make no mistake, I am an apologetic Lily Allen fan, and really wanted to love this disc after waiting for it for so long, but the love just isn’t there. I am not sure if the problem is in the fact that about 4 songs in, the sheen of overproduction starts to become overpowering, or if it is the semi-retarded audacity of the lyrics. That sounds like old man talk, but seriously, I think that if you want to sing a scathing indictment about the Bush presidency (“Fuck You”), it probably holds more weight when not following a song about your predilection for giving head and “sleeping in the wet patch” (“It’s Not Fair”). And that is a shame, because both songs are pretty great, just not in context of each other.

The other standout tracks here are “The Fear”, which manages to encapsulate the entire 13 years of doubt Axl Rose toiled with on Chinese Democracy into a three minute piece of sugary goodness, and the bonus track “Fag Hag”. The latter being one of the catchiest, and most embarrassing songs to get stuck in your head in ages, while Allen sings that “she can be your fag hag, and you can be her gay”, while agreeing that they are both “in their element when down on their knees” and sipping coffee or hitting museums. Yeats and PC it ain’t, but Allen nails it like a chick that is just 50lbs and a bad breakup away from hitting up the Castle on Friday nights.

While It’s Not Me, It’s You might not be as strong as I had hoped for, in the interim between her debut and this follow up, Allen has had a great run of covers from The Kaiser Chiefs to The Clash to E.L.O.

I am including a couple of the best tracks from It’s Not Me, and a handful of my favorite Allen covers.

Friday Afternoon Fish Fry pt. 2

2009-02-13T06:04:00.000-08:00

This week’s mix is probably way larger and indulgent than necessary, but it has been 75 degrees all week and I though some back porch music was much needed. Keeping that in mind, the tracks skew toward alt-country, blues and bluegrass: the perfect blend for reaching righteous levels of insobriety and menace.

A quick breakdown of some of the highlights: Great Fleetwood Mac cover by Whiskeytown. The Kathleen Edwards track is my favorite of hers, off of her first album. Grandpa Jones doesn’t really need anything said other than “Hee-Haw”, and he is singing a bluegrass standard. The Gillian Welch track highlights a bass line looser than a truck stop waitress and greasier than her panties. The Dave Dudley track hints of novelty song, but seems to fit pretty well. Anyone that watches Lost will recognize the classic “Shotgun Willie” from an episode early in this season. “Barstool Mountain” is an oft overlooked gem by one of the truly scariest country artists of all time, Johnny Paycheck. The Banjo & Sullivan track is from the Devil’s Rejects soundtrack, and is actually performed by Jesse Dayton. Adrienne Young’s cover of “Brokedown Palace” is my favorite version of that song, next to the original. “Old Enough” features the Dr. Wilbur Larch ether soaked pairing of Ricky Skaggs and Jack White. And finally, if you can hang in til the end “Southside of Heaven” by Ryan Bingham is just about as perfect as a song can come.

Note: I have enabled comments on the site so that you do not have to have to register to leave them. If there are any tracks you really dig, post a note and I can add the tracks for download as opposed to the monster 2 hour mix. Also, if there are any bands you find that you want to hear more of, let me know.

So now to quote Muddy Waters, “bring me champagne when I am thirsty, bring me reefer when I want to get high”.

Enjoy:

Friday Afternoon Fish Fry pt.2 (link) now with streaming goodness

Tracks: Scroll through Box window for access to all 36 tracks

Death is for the Living

2009-02-12T13:45:00.000-08:00

I haven't had time yet to put a proper posting of the new Vetiver disc and their upcoming show at the Grey Eagle with Larkin Grimm, but just in case anyone is pining away waiting for that, here is something to bide the time with. This song by Terrastock festival favorites Spires That in the Sunset Rise starts out warm and cozy like a bedtime story by the fire and then takes a chilling turn with touches of opiate nightmares thrown in to make sure nobody has dozed off.

Also, it's ok if you find yourself huddled behind the sofa in the fetal position, sucking your thumb at songs end.

Spires That in the Sunset Rise - Death is for the Living:

The Whitest Chick in America - Taylor Swift

2009-02-12T13:44:00.000-08:00

I am going to have to go ahead and drop the title of "Whitest Chick in America" on Taylor Swift. That is not necessarily a slam by the way. As much as I do not want my blog card pulled, or my credibility shat on, I have to admit I am a little bit of a fan of the tear stained 19 year old. In a culture where the media is quick to nut all over vapid talent still births like Miley Cyrus, it is a little refreshing to see someone so young knock 'em out of the park while writing their own songs, playing in a genre geared for grandparents and bible thumpers and going platinum on an indie label all at the same time. Plus "Love Story" was one of the best tracks of 2008.

On the CMT series Crossroads, the gimmick is to take a rock act and have them interchange songs with a country artist. Sometimes this is brilliant, like the Ryan Adams & Elton John episode, or the Lucinda Williams and Elvis Costello one. Other times it can backfire uglier than a Pontiac Lemans running on leaded like the shitstorm combo of Keith Urban and John Fogerty or the inexplicable Little Big Town (the country equivalent of Christoper Cross) and Lindsey Buckingham.

But I digress. The reason I am naming her the "Whitest Chick in America" is based on her performance of "Pour Some Sugar on Me" with Def Leppard. Call me crazy, but if you are going to be performing a song that budding strippers cut their teeth on, you might want to come with some moves a little hotter than Bender from Futurama. Seriously, Rick Allen's left arm has more life in it than Swift's hips. Do I have time for one more? It looks like she learned how to dance from Mick Mars. Oh yeah, it also sounds like shit.

Anyway, watch and cringe:

Weezy's World

2009-02-06T09:26:00.000-08:00

Weezy's World. See what I did there? By avoiding the easy Wayne's World joke, I think I am entitled to a cloak of invisibilty for the weekend, or at the very least a DJ Nonnahs "Folio Fiend"mixtape.

Anyway with CBS covering the Grammy's, they have had Lil' Wayne working overtime on promotional stops. If you want to be stupefied this Friday afternoon, check out Katie Coruic giving Weezy the Barbara Walters treatment. And then if you need an underwhelming palate cleanser before you get back to work, check out his watered down presentation of the Top 10 list on Letterman from last night.

Couric Interview: pulled from YouTube. Thanks CBS!!
Top 10 List:

What Have We Learned pt. 1 - weekly mix

2009-02-06T07:17:00.001-08:00

I had hoped to load a nice lengthy mix for the weekend, however my laptop died and in turn so did the mix.

However, I was able to throw a brief little somethin' somethin' together.

Pretty much standard fare here with a couple of highlights. Two new tracks from M. Ward (one featuring Zooey Deschanel), and probably the best single of 2008, "Graveyard Girl" by M83.

M83's previous discs have been dense electronic and droney affairs. This one swings for the fences with touches of New Order and swirling vocals. I can only hope "Graveyard Girl" is supposed to be tongue in cheek, but either way this should be the theme song for every goth prom from hence forth. Enjoy!!

Also note: I have enabled comments so you do not have to have a membership to post. Comments are welcomed and appreciated. Thanks. Now let's go get our shit on and see Patton Oswalt in Athens tonight.

What Have We Learned pt. 1 Mix (link)

Tracks:

In the Club - White Williams

Graveyard Girl - M83

Straight to Hell - Lilly Allen w/ Mick Jones

Never Had Nobody Like You - M. Ward

Mexico City - Jolie Holland

Car Jamming - The Clash

Electric Feel - MGMT

Jailbird - M. Ward

Pick Up the Change - Wilco

Look Around You - Music

2009-02-03T09:02:00.001-08:00

I love me some Drinky Crow, Superjail and especially Tim and Eric, but Look Around You is my current favorite in the Adult Swim lineup. Look Around You originally aired on the BBC in 2002, and was recently picked up by Adult Swim. If you are a fan of Garth Marenghi's Dark Place, you should enjoy this.

Don Caballero - Grey Eagle tonight

2009-02-03T07:08:00.001-08:00

Barring any miraculous snow day tomorrow, there is no way I am going to make it to this show tonight, but if anyone has a chance to get out in Asheville tonight, Don Caballero is going to rip shit up at the Grey Eagle tonight.

Along with The Liars, DC is probably the only holdout from the brief math rock revolution to still be remotely relevant. The only thing their new disc Punkgasm offers in the way of something new is vocals on a handful of tracks. Other than that it is just business as usual for this Pittsburgh trio. That being said with newcomers like Marnie Stern biting DC's finger tapping guitar style, it is still refreshing to hear old school flannel enthusiasts party like it is 1996.

DD/MM/YYYY opens up, and tix are $12.

Tracks:

Bulk Eye
Pour Yourself Into the Rug
Why Is the Couch Always Wet?
The Irrespective Dick Area
Shit Kids Galore
Loudest Shop Vac in the World

Well played. Well played, indeed.

2009-01-30T08:26:00.000-08:00

from www.dieselsweeties.com

Steelers vs. Cardinals - CATCH IT!!!

2009-01-28T13:25:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-26T06:41:00.000-08:00

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:

AMT for your case of the Mondays

2009-01-26T06:34:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-23T11:27:00.001-08:00

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

2009-01-22T07:14:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-20T08:40:00.000-08:00

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?

2009-01-19T18:02:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-15T05:52:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-13T06:16:00.000-08:00

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

Marines Dot Com

Patton Oswalt - 40 Watt - 2/6/2008

2009-01-08T07:06:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-07T09:31:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-05T12:43:00.000-08:00

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”.