Big Love 2011

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

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!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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