Today is Saturday, February 19th and there was no music in the mail.
No Fed Ex on the weekend.
Nothing.
Sigh.
Ah, but it was a fairly good week before that.
How do I love getting new CDs? Let me count the ways...
Friday, February 18:
1. LITTLE BARRIE - We Are Little Barrie (Artemis)
Generic CD case advance, follow-up to a previously-sent sampler. Aha! There is one track on the 7-song sampler- "Mud Sticks" - that does not appear on the 13-track full-length, unless its title was changed. This demands investigation, Watson.
(out May 17)
2. KATHLEEN EDWARDS - Back to Me (Zoe/Rounder)
Official version of an album I've gotten previously as both a sampler and a generically packaged advance.
This is the sign of a publicity push.
(out March 1)
also in Friday's mail:
a check from the Village Voice, for my blurb quote in the Pazz & Jop Poll.
I got $10.
That's why I don't feel guilty getting all the free CDs.
What I make writing about music is not gonna put the kids through college.
Thursday, February 17:
3. AMOS LEE - S/T (EMI/Blue Note)
One of those happy little surprises that I might never have asked for, but liked muchly upon hearing. Still getting over a bout of strep throat (can I get the sympathy vote, please?), I was looking for a mellow CD for the mid-afternoon recuperation lie-down, and this one fit the bill beautifully. Lee cites Bill Withers, Neil Young, James Taylor and John Prine as influences, and the songs here make a nice blend of those voices. He's best when he's crooning in a gentle, soulful way; on the one attempt to get louder and funkier, "Love in the Lies," his voice is overwhelmed by the arrangement which, elsewhere are dead-on lovely. And speaking of lovely, Norah Jones guests on couple of tracks.
Wednesday, February 16:
4. BREAKING BENJAMIN - We Are Not Alone (Hollywood)
Not my type of music, but I'll always say a kind word for this band since two members of same, hanging out at Reston Town Center the day of the HFS Nutcraker concert, were nice to my daughter and a friend when they asked for autographs. As compared to Benji and Joel of Good Charlotte, who blew off a group of about 10 girls who spied them in a nearby restuarant. That night, when Joel gave his usual speech on stage about how much the band's fans mean to them, it rang very hollow.
5. THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS - Here Come the ABC's (Disney/DVD)
I have always been a fan of the two Johns, even before they came as uninvited (but most welcome) guests to a 20-something birthday party of mine in Brooklyn (back before they were stars) and brought me a cigar-box hat with a tiny camera attached to it. I doubt they remember me now, and I hardly remember them at the party (still have the hat, tho) and have enjoyed numerous concerts and countless CDs since.
Tuesday, February 15:
6. KINGS OF LEON - Aha Shake Heartbreak (RCA)
I thought the debut CD was downright catchy, Terry got hooked on the "Holy Roller Novacaine" EP, and now we're totally psyched to see the band for the first time next weekend at the 930 Club. I asked a publicist for an advance of the CD (out Feb. 22) so I could get familiar with the new songs before the show. On first, admittedly superficial, listen, I still think they're damn catchy but Terry, who's been paying much greater attention, thinks that I'm going to sour on them once I really tune into the lyrics. "They're redneck alpha males," he keeps warning me. "Yeah," I answer with rock-critic pomposity, "but there's a post-modern irony to that stance."
Monday, February 14:
Purchased:
7. FRANZ FERDINAND - S/T (Domino)
I bought it again. It was on sale, it was the expanded edition (two discs, with four new tracks) and Gracie loves them. So do I. The band's performance at the HFS Nutcracker concert was a highlight of the event, maybe of the year. Besides, the advance copy I got long ago had no liner notes. I voted this album in my Top Ten for the VV poll and I vote with my consumer dollar!
8. ROD STEWART - Stardust: The Great American Songbook Volume III (J Records)
My mom requested this one, so I bought it to share with her, on sale, with bonus DVD: "AOL Music presents Rod Stewart In Concert." Not bad for $9.00.
Sent:
9. THE GRASCALS - S/T (Rounder)
I requested a copy of this CD last fall, when the band was opening for Dolly Parton, and I wrote about the show. Wish they had told me then that the CD wasn't due out until February 2005. I wouldn't have felt dissed when it didn't come. (Adding to the dis, I couldn't get tix to the show, even tho' I wrote Dolly a glowing preview.)
And others:
10. BARENAKED LADIES - Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits 1991-2001 (Reprise)
Belated Christmas gift to Emma from her uncle. I didn't come up to speed with BNL until four albums into their career. Silly me. Delighfully silly them. Witty songwriters, good musicians and great live, they also have some soul underneath the smirk. "Pinch Me" is a Desert Island single, one of my all-time favorite songs, a wonderful evocation of ruminative summer days.
11. UNWRITTEN LAW - Here's to the Mourning (Lava)
Not an album I would think twice about, but when I was driving with Gracie and listening to Carson Daily's countdown on the radio (something else I wouldn't do without her influence), this band was Catch of the Week, "Save Me (Wake Up Call)" was this week's free iTunes download, and Grace said "I love this song." I was expecting something harsh, but it wasn't half bad. I - meaning she - will no doubt hear more from this band in future and we'll pass it on.
12. LUNASA - The Kinnitty Sessions (Compass)
Celtic music makes me feel good. Not that treacly "Danny Boy" stuff, mind you; but the ballsy, spit-at-the-devil pub music that defies everything that may go wrong in a good, god-fearing person's life. Dance your sorrows away music. Like this.
13. STEPHEN KELLOGG & THE SIXERS - (Universal)
Duplicate copy of advance sent previously in simple plastic sleeve. Didn't impress on first listen, but the band is coming to town next week at my favorite local joint, Jammin' Java, and the live rep is so good, I may just check 'em out.
Tower Records online purchase:
14. MANDY MOORE - Coverage (Epic)
A teen pop star with taste! Appears in the movie "Saved," keeps her clothes on and acknowledges the songwriting craft of XTC, Todd Rundrgen, Mike Scott, and John Hiatt. Bet she doesn't lip-synch, either!
15. RAZORLIGHT - Up All Night (Universal)
Tower online sometimes offers cool extras with its purchases - free T-shirts, posters, buttons, even autographed copies of new stuff. Saw this band on Letterman and was impressed. CD came with a bonus 7" vinyl single.
Traded in some books at the used book store and got:
16. JON STEWART and THE CAST OF THE DAILY SHOW - America: The Audiobook (Time Warner AudioBooks)
I'm happily married, but if Jon Stewart crooked his finger, I'd be there. And Steve Colbert has shown up in my dreams. Smart men with a sense of humor; it doesn't get better than that!
And, finally, another desperate attempt to play catch-up:
17. THE BLUE VAN - The Art of Rolling (TVT Records)
18. ALANA DAVIS - Surrender Dorothy (Tigress Records)
19. SNOW MACHINE - S/T (Daemon)
20. PARCHMAN FARM - S/T (Jackpine)
21. JACK LOGAN and the MONDAY NIGHT RECORDERS - Nature's Assembly Line (Orangetwin Records)
22. FOXYMORONS - Hesitation Eyes (Heatstroke Records)
23. VARIOUS ARTISTS - Raise the Roof: A Retrospective Live from the Barns of Wolf Trap (Wolf Trap Foundation)
24. MAN ON EARTH - Disposable Sounds for the Fickle Mind (Forward Thinking Music)
25 GRAHAM COXON - Happiness in Magazines (Astralwerks)
26. DEANA CARTER - The Story of My Life (Vanguard)
(out March 8th)
27. SAGE FRANCIS - A Healthy Distrust (Epitaph)
28. RAT CAT HOGAN - We're Bicoastal (Skyrocki Records)
29. RHONDA VINCENT and THE RAGE - Ragin' Live (Rounder)
30. LILY HOLBROOK - Everything was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt (EMI)
words and pictures about music
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Friday, February 04, 2005
Not Complaining, Honest!
at least not about the free music.
As the second month of my commitment to chronicle Every New CD That Comes Into The House takes root, it seems I'm already (hopelessly?) behind. And, as my mother used to scold her whining child, "may that be the worst thing you ever have to complain about."
So, I'm not complaining, but explaining - I'm going to revert to simply listing some CDs. While I really do intend to check out every album, at least four or five songs, at least once, not every one elicits a cogent reponse on first listen. Unless something really grabs me or really ticks me off, the blog could become a string of "it's nice....maybe it'll grow on me..." Blah. Though some music can be decoded quickly and filed away for better or worse, the real keepers need to grow on you.
Therefore, for now, we'll move to a simple, chronolocial, day-by-day listing.
If I have something to say, I'll add it on.
Eventually, I'll get the hang of this - and maybe even figure out why I'm doing it.
Honest.
Thursday, Feb. 10
purchased:
Thrift stores are so much fun, especially for the obsessive music collector. It's all I can do to stop myself from buying up dozens of LPs. My local thrift store - where I dump all the outdated clothes, toys and CD samples that no one else wants - usually has a great selection - obscure titles in good shape, perhaps with ebay resale-ability. But I held back, giving in only for:
1. PRINCE - Batman soundtrack (1989, Warner Bros.)
On vinyl! Sure, I have the CD, and a special "Batman in a Can" version, too. But the music is so good, the cover graphic is one of the best logos ever, and I can tell myself that one day someone on ebay will quintuple my 50 cent investment.
2. IT BITES - Eat Me in Saint Louis (1987, Geffen Records)
On cassette! I still have a working cassette player (and a working turntable. There's even an 8-track player I could use if I hooked up all the wires). And this cassette has a great song, "Calling All the Heroes" that I don't have in any other form. 50 cents for a song - cheaper than iTunes! Terrible band name, though. Also terrible album title.
3. DAVID SEDARIS - Live at Carnegie Hall (Time Warner Audio Books)
One day I'd like to write some memoir-ish essays, and I'd like to think I would have a small touch of that sly, Sedarisian style - without the homosexual references (not that there's anything wrong with that!). But as good as reading him is, hearing him is even better - sweeter still at $1.50.
Sent:
4. JOHN DOE - Forever Hasn't Happened Yet (Yep Roc)
The man demands respect. And he's coming to town. I don't have to interview people to write the Post previews, but I'll try to talk to John Doe, 'cause he's a hero.
5. THE IGUANAS - Plastic Silver 9 Volt Heart (Yep Roc)
A duplicate, sent in the same package as Doe. probably because the publicist is so happy with the preview I wrote of the band's appearance at the Barns of Wolf Trap. (photos and links to come)
6. SHURMAN JUBILEE - S/T (Vanguard)
"With musical influences that range from Tom Petty to the Clash to Willie Nelson, REM and on to AC/DC..." If they had lived up to that introduction, I'd be a happy clam indeed. Instead, I hear them as more of a twangy Counting Crows and, while I like Adam Duritz and Co, just fine, I don't need a southern rock variation on the theme. (Out April 12)
7. SUEDE - Live at Scullers Jazz Club (DVD)
Not the fey British smoothies, but a chanteuse based in the Mid-Atlantic region who successfully won a lawsuit against the guys across the pond, who had to tour America as the "U.K. Suede" to avoid confusion. Pitching a show at the Birchmere on March 5th.
Wednesday. Feb. 9
Sent:
8. DES ARK - Loose Lips Sink Ships (Bifocal Media)
A man and a woman and a loosey-goosey collection of material that sounds less like songs than linked sketches of songs. No, this duo is not the Fiery Furnaces, but a little more raw. After all, they were produced by Dinosaur Jr.'s J. Mascis. Not sure I would count this 8-track release as a "full-length" as the bio says, nor do I get the comparisons to PJ Harvey.
Tuesday, Feb.8
iTunes purchase:
9. POSTAL SERVICE - We Will Become Silhouettes
If I could walk down to a local music store and buy this 4-track EP in "hard copy" version, I would. I still like the look and feel of actual jewel cases (prefer digi-packs, actually) and will read the liner notes and credits an all that arcane info. Call me old school. Emma (the 19-year-old college freshman) and I argue over who told who first about Postal Service. It's a nice thing to debate. But I got to Wilco and Magnetic Fields first, so there!
Monday, Feb. 7
10. JESSE MALIN - The Heat (Artemis)
I wrote up a brief interview/preview with Jesse about a year ago. I enjoyed talking with/listening to him then and the same goes now, with this new album (actually, from last year, but he's on tour and the publicist is "reservicing," as they say). A pal of Ryan Adams' and possessor of a similar rock-with-country-accents style, Jesse has none of the ex-Whiskeytown man's diva baggage. He makes music, he makes it well, and he's coming to town this weekend, so maybe I can finally see him live.
11. THE EXIES - Head for the Door (Virgin)
Here's the full version of an album I received in simple cardboard sleeve edition last year. I liked the band's first album fine, but the second left me cold. And the tiebreaker goes to....I'll let you know when I finally listen. In the meantime, this press mailing came with actual swag! - a one-inch wide "exies" button. That's what passes for press bribery these days. But I'll take it - I've a corkboard packed with rock buttons, and the more the merrier!
12. BLACKFIELD - eponymous (Koch)
Coming to town - IOTA.
13. LIANNA - From Here (Sweet Petunia Music)
14.THE ARTS AND SCIENCES - Hopeful Monsters (Daemon)
Cute cover, good first impression. More later.
15. THE RARE BACHARACH: 53 Elusive Songs and Versions, 1956-1978 (Raven)
At first, I thought this was a bootleg, but there's a credit in the comprehensive liner notes to EMI Music, Australia. This 2-disc set was sent to me by an associate, GA, who trades me imported CDs for press kits I don't want. It's recycling at its best and, after I send him my want lists (usually compiled from the weekly emailings of Collectors Shop import specialists and/or scannings of the British music mags), I never know what's in a GA puffy bag when it arrives. But it's always something cool that I asked for. This one isn't quite what I imagined from its Collectors Shop summary - most of these song titles are alien to me, but the artist list - Little Peggy March, Richard Chamberlain (!!), Gene Pitney, Maxine Brown, the Hollies with Peter Sellers (doing the theme from "After the Fox"!!) and Mavis Staples - promises a few fun discoveries.
One gripe, though - as a person who loves words, and thus lyrics, I'm tired of Hal David getting the short end of the tribute stick. His words literally make the music sing, but he rarely gets above-title credit in the seeminlgy endless stream of Bacharach hosannas. Same - and even more so - for Bernie Taupin. I've long been of the belief that Elton John has two songs - his slow one and his fast one - and it's Taupin's lyrics that give the songs their real hooks.
Saturday, Feb. 5:
16. DOWNTOWN - S/T (Coup De Grace)
As much as I love the word "eponymous," it looks popmous when repeated frequently, so we'll move to the simpler appellation (another good word!) "S/T," as in self-titled.
Friday, Feb. 4:
17. VANILLA FUDGE - Then and Now (Fuel 2000)
I sent a note to the publicist (she handles a band I previewed recently) and said I'd like to hear it. Yes, I requested Vanilla Fudge! The band hit its peak (rather rapidly and fell just as quickly) as I was coming of age on Long Island (I still get the accent when I'm excited) and that big, dumb, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" wicked-style version of "You Keep Me Hanging On" was all over the FM radio of my impressionable youth. Alas, these are re-recordings of the original "classics," which is a bummer ("Take Me For a Little While" was a personal favorite unrequited love song). There's a pretty funny version of an 'N Sync tune ("Tearin' Up My Heart") and a really funny version of one from the Backstreet Boys ("I Want It That Way"). Which proves that you can drench just about anything in Fudge and, though it'll be fun for a moment, you'll feel VERY guilty afterwards.
18. SOUL REBELS - Rebelution (Barn Burner Music)
As with the Fudge, I asked a PR person to send this, based on a description in an emailed press release.
19. DERVISH - Spirit (Compass Records)
Thursday, Feb. 3:
19. CHELY WRIGHT - The Metopolitan Hotel (Dualtone Music)
While I loved the premise of the song, "Back of the Bottom Drawer" - the place where she keeps her mementos of previous loves gone awry (custom-made sentiment for a pack-rat like me), I'm not a fan of country drawlin' like Chely's, and the lines about losing her virginity ("so I gave in/Yeah, we went too far/in his daddy's car") had me giggling. Then followed "I Got Him Ready for You," in which our lady takes credit for taming the beast ("I fell like I did all the fixin' him up/But you moved into our house of love"). The capper was "The Bumper of My S.U.V., " a Blue State-baiter of a song in which some liberal bitch gives Chely the finger 'cause of her Marine sticker and she goes all Red State righteous. Anger begats anger and nobody wins and I need to find my Zen self again.
20. 3 DOORS DOWN - Seventeen Days (Republic/Universal)
21. BEENIE MAN - King of the Dancehall (Virgin)
That's eight days in my music week.
And the hits just keep on coming...I hope.
As the second month of my commitment to chronicle Every New CD That Comes Into The House takes root, it seems I'm already (hopelessly?) behind. And, as my mother used to scold her whining child, "may that be the worst thing you ever have to complain about."
So, I'm not complaining, but explaining - I'm going to revert to simply listing some CDs. While I really do intend to check out every album, at least four or five songs, at least once, not every one elicits a cogent reponse on first listen. Unless something really grabs me or really ticks me off, the blog could become a string of "it's nice....maybe it'll grow on me..." Blah. Though some music can be decoded quickly and filed away for better or worse, the real keepers need to grow on you.
Therefore, for now, we'll move to a simple, chronolocial, day-by-day listing.
If I have something to say, I'll add it on.
Eventually, I'll get the hang of this - and maybe even figure out why I'm doing it.
Honest.
Thursday, Feb. 10
purchased:
Thrift stores are so much fun, especially for the obsessive music collector. It's all I can do to stop myself from buying up dozens of LPs. My local thrift store - where I dump all the outdated clothes, toys and CD samples that no one else wants - usually has a great selection - obscure titles in good shape, perhaps with ebay resale-ability. But I held back, giving in only for:
1. PRINCE - Batman soundtrack (1989, Warner Bros.)
On vinyl! Sure, I have the CD, and a special "Batman in a Can" version, too. But the music is so good, the cover graphic is one of the best logos ever, and I can tell myself that one day someone on ebay will quintuple my 50 cent investment.
2. IT BITES - Eat Me in Saint Louis (1987, Geffen Records)
On cassette! I still have a working cassette player (and a working turntable. There's even an 8-track player I could use if I hooked up all the wires). And this cassette has a great song, "Calling All the Heroes" that I don't have in any other form. 50 cents for a song - cheaper than iTunes! Terrible band name, though. Also terrible album title.
3. DAVID SEDARIS - Live at Carnegie Hall (Time Warner Audio Books)
One day I'd like to write some memoir-ish essays, and I'd like to think I would have a small touch of that sly, Sedarisian style - without the homosexual references (not that there's anything wrong with that!). But as good as reading him is, hearing him is even better - sweeter still at $1.50.
Sent:
4. JOHN DOE - Forever Hasn't Happened Yet (Yep Roc)
The man demands respect. And he's coming to town. I don't have to interview people to write the Post previews, but I'll try to talk to John Doe, 'cause he's a hero.
5. THE IGUANAS - Plastic Silver 9 Volt Heart (Yep Roc)
A duplicate, sent in the same package as Doe. probably because the publicist is so happy with the preview I wrote of the band's appearance at the Barns of Wolf Trap. (photos and links to come)
6. SHURMAN JUBILEE - S/T (Vanguard)
"With musical influences that range from Tom Petty to the Clash to Willie Nelson, REM and on to AC/DC..." If they had lived up to that introduction, I'd be a happy clam indeed. Instead, I hear them as more of a twangy Counting Crows and, while I like Adam Duritz and Co, just fine, I don't need a southern rock variation on the theme. (Out April 12)
7. SUEDE - Live at Scullers Jazz Club (DVD)
Not the fey British smoothies, but a chanteuse based in the Mid-Atlantic region who successfully won a lawsuit against the guys across the pond, who had to tour America as the "U.K. Suede" to avoid confusion. Pitching a show at the Birchmere on March 5th.
Wednesday. Feb. 9
Sent:
8. DES ARK - Loose Lips Sink Ships (Bifocal Media)
A man and a woman and a loosey-goosey collection of material that sounds less like songs than linked sketches of songs. No, this duo is not the Fiery Furnaces, but a little more raw. After all, they were produced by Dinosaur Jr.'s J. Mascis. Not sure I would count this 8-track release as a "full-length" as the bio says, nor do I get the comparisons to PJ Harvey.
Tuesday, Feb.8
iTunes purchase:
9. POSTAL SERVICE - We Will Become Silhouettes
If I could walk down to a local music store and buy this 4-track EP in "hard copy" version, I would. I still like the look and feel of actual jewel cases (prefer digi-packs, actually) and will read the liner notes and credits an all that arcane info. Call me old school. Emma (the 19-year-old college freshman) and I argue over who told who first about Postal Service. It's a nice thing to debate. But I got to Wilco and Magnetic Fields first, so there!
Monday, Feb. 7
10. JESSE MALIN - The Heat (Artemis)
I wrote up a brief interview/preview with Jesse about a year ago. I enjoyed talking with/listening to him then and the same goes now, with this new album (actually, from last year, but he's on tour and the publicist is "reservicing," as they say). A pal of Ryan Adams' and possessor of a similar rock-with-country-accents style, Jesse has none of the ex-Whiskeytown man's diva baggage. He makes music, he makes it well, and he's coming to town this weekend, so maybe I can finally see him live.
11. THE EXIES - Head for the Door (Virgin)
Here's the full version of an album I received in simple cardboard sleeve edition last year. I liked the band's first album fine, but the second left me cold. And the tiebreaker goes to....I'll let you know when I finally listen. In the meantime, this press mailing came with actual swag! - a one-inch wide "exies" button. That's what passes for press bribery these days. But I'll take it - I've a corkboard packed with rock buttons, and the more the merrier!
12. BLACKFIELD - eponymous (Koch)
Coming to town - IOTA.
13. LIANNA - From Here (Sweet Petunia Music)
14.THE ARTS AND SCIENCES - Hopeful Monsters (Daemon)
Cute cover, good first impression. More later.
15. THE RARE BACHARACH: 53 Elusive Songs and Versions, 1956-1978 (Raven)
At first, I thought this was a bootleg, but there's a credit in the comprehensive liner notes to EMI Music, Australia. This 2-disc set was sent to me by an associate, GA, who trades me imported CDs for press kits I don't want. It's recycling at its best and, after I send him my want lists (usually compiled from the weekly emailings of Collectors Shop import specialists and/or scannings of the British music mags), I never know what's in a GA puffy bag when it arrives. But it's always something cool that I asked for. This one isn't quite what I imagined from its Collectors Shop summary - most of these song titles are alien to me, but the artist list - Little Peggy March, Richard Chamberlain (!!), Gene Pitney, Maxine Brown, the Hollies with Peter Sellers (doing the theme from "After the Fox"!!) and Mavis Staples - promises a few fun discoveries.
One gripe, though - as a person who loves words, and thus lyrics, I'm tired of Hal David getting the short end of the tribute stick. His words literally make the music sing, but he rarely gets above-title credit in the seeminlgy endless stream of Bacharach hosannas. Same - and even more so - for Bernie Taupin. I've long been of the belief that Elton John has two songs - his slow one and his fast one - and it's Taupin's lyrics that give the songs their real hooks.
Saturday, Feb. 5:
16. DOWNTOWN - S/T (Coup De Grace)
As much as I love the word "eponymous," it looks popmous when repeated frequently, so we'll move to the simpler appellation (another good word!) "S/T," as in self-titled.
Friday, Feb. 4:
17. VANILLA FUDGE - Then and Now (Fuel 2000)
I sent a note to the publicist (she handles a band I previewed recently) and said I'd like to hear it. Yes, I requested Vanilla Fudge! The band hit its peak (rather rapidly and fell just as quickly) as I was coming of age on Long Island (I still get the accent when I'm excited) and that big, dumb, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" wicked-style version of "You Keep Me Hanging On" was all over the FM radio of my impressionable youth. Alas, these are re-recordings of the original "classics," which is a bummer ("Take Me For a Little While" was a personal favorite unrequited love song). There's a pretty funny version of an 'N Sync tune ("Tearin' Up My Heart") and a really funny version of one from the Backstreet Boys ("I Want It That Way"). Which proves that you can drench just about anything in Fudge and, though it'll be fun for a moment, you'll feel VERY guilty afterwards.
18. SOUL REBELS - Rebelution (Barn Burner Music)
As with the Fudge, I asked a PR person to send this, based on a description in an emailed press release.
19. DERVISH - Spirit (Compass Records)
Thursday, Feb. 3:
19. CHELY WRIGHT - The Metopolitan Hotel (Dualtone Music)
While I loved the premise of the song, "Back of the Bottom Drawer" - the place where she keeps her mementos of previous loves gone awry (custom-made sentiment for a pack-rat like me), I'm not a fan of country drawlin' like Chely's, and the lines about losing her virginity ("so I gave in/Yeah, we went too far/in his daddy's car") had me giggling. Then followed "I Got Him Ready for You," in which our lady takes credit for taming the beast ("I fell like I did all the fixin' him up/But you moved into our house of love"). The capper was "The Bumper of My S.U.V., " a Blue State-baiter of a song in which some liberal bitch gives Chely the finger 'cause of her Marine sticker and she goes all Red State righteous. Anger begats anger and nobody wins and I need to find my Zen self again.
20. 3 DOORS DOWN - Seventeen Days (Republic/Universal)
21. BEENIE MAN - King of the Dancehall (Virgin)
That's eight days in my music week.
And the hits just keep on coming...I hope.
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
The Proverbial Pig in Poo...
...that’s me, surrounded by new music.
Today (2/2)
Purchased:
1. BOSSA NOVA LOUNGE (Madacy Special Markets)
This one may not even count. It was included in a men’s grooming gift set I picked up from the clearance table at Borders. Twelve tracks, 48 minutes of generic lounge music. Total Teflon. In one ear, out the other, and into the bye-bye box.
2. MOJO magzine with free CD, BLUE CHRISTMAS
Why Borders was selling this January issue a week after I bought February’s is beyond me, but the CD, “15 tracks of Faith, Hope and Seasonal Misery,” featuring unusual seasonal tunes by Flaming Lips. Rufus Wainwright, Marvin Gaye (“Purple Snowflakes”??), the Staple Singers and others, will be a boon to next year’s annual “Cool Yule” compilation, in which yours truly attempts to provide every CPF household with a unique 80-minute mix of merrixmasment.
Sent:
3. SOUND TRIBE SECTOR NINE (STS9) – Artifact (1320 Records)
Why did I have this group lumped in with the jam bands? The sound here is much more laid-back, experimental, vaguely electronic chill, but none of that dreaded new age aftertaste. STS9 also gets big props for a simple, but stylish press kit and a lovely CD package – letterpress digi-pack and a booklet of engaging illustrations and photography. Sweet!
4. FAIRMONT – Hell is Other People (Reinforcement/Renfield Records)
New Jersey-based band coming to DC later this month (DC9, Feb. 22). The group has an interesting track record, including dates (in a prior incarnation called Percey Prep) with the Strokes, Nada Surf and Ted Leo. The band’s third independently-released CD is a concept album, loosely based on Sartre’s “No Exit.” Not as gloomy as you might fear, thanks to strumming guitars and harmony vocals in the self-described “dark indie pop.”
Tuesday, 2/1:
Purchased:
5. CONNECT WITH MEDITATION (Genius Entertainment)
Oh, Target! Now you’ve installed those few bins of impulse shopaholic enabling known as the $1 Spot, and I’ll buy all sorts of crap I wouldn’t dream of purchasing otherwise. And this week you put CDs in there! You know my deepest secrets, dear Target. And what’s worse, this 30-minute disc of quiet sounds is not bad at all. I can only do about a half-hour of yoga before I get restless anyway (so far to go before I achieve enlightment…) I’ve heard worse (much worse) ethereal meanderings from Yanni, so Namaste to you. There’s maybe a half-dozen albums in this series, but I can resist. I think.
Sent:
6. THE GOLDEN REPUBLIC – eponymous (Astralwerks)
Good driving music, as I discovered in the car to and from the movies (“Finding Neverland” – tearful charm and hot Mr. Depp). A solid guitar rock base with flecks of danceable new wave. Best first impression: “Robots,” with Cake-like spoken verses and the Gary Numan chorus: “They make robots to do what you do.”
7. AMY RAY – Prom (Daemon)
One half of the Indigo Girls (the one I would have a thing for if I were gay), Amy’s got her own label and, far from being a vanity project, she releases worthwhile albums from other cool chicks in her estrogenically punky southern sphere. I bet she’s good and angry these days, what with Dubya back in charge. And I bet that means some righteously good rock. Will get back to you on this one. (out April 12)
8. HITCH soundtrack (Sony Music Soundtraxx)
Am I the only person getting tired of Will Smith? No denying the guy’s got talent, but he can’t make up his mind if he’s a Kickass Action Playa or Mr. Nice Family Comedy Man. This soundtrack, from the latter school, sounds like what I bet the movie is: a safe collection of the Tried and True (“Love Train,” “I Can’t Get Next to You,” “You Can Get It If You really Want”), some pleasant but not radical reworkings of the T&T (“Now That We’ve Found Love,” “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing”), and just a few “new” elements that will amuse the date night crowd, but spark no lasting emotion for the next day.
9. EL PUS – Hoodlum Rock (Vol. 1: The Bogard) (Virgin)
Actually, a second copy of this CD arrived today (I don’t know why), which tipped my hand to listen. And from the title to the Parental Advisory, and the back cover shot of tough-looking hip-hoppers, I would never have imagined that this would appeal to me. But the beats are instantly infectious and the tone is clever and playful, not boastful and aggressive. “Thing Thing” is downright uplifting, albeit with attitude. Is this really “crunk music – with amps and guitars,” as the bio says? Never thought of myself as the crunkin’ type.
And from the Still-Full Box of Music Obtained in the Recent Past:
10. JOHNNY MADDOX & HIS DIXIE BOYS – Dixieland Blues (Crazy Otto, reissue from Dot Records)
The kind of thing I don’t get called on to review but value nonetheless (thanks, Josh!). First off, you’ve gotta love a company called Crazy Otto Records, esp. when it’s “committed to the preservation and recirculation of nostalgic, ragtime and early American jazz and blues music. ” This particular title is being reissued for the first time on CD come April, but it dates back to when I was still crawling. According to his bio, Maddox’s all-piano record, "The Crazy Otto Medley,” became the first ragtime record to sell more than a million copies and, as the first artist of Dot Records, his success helped launch the label that launched some major 50’s artists. Includes some nifty computer enhancements - audio commentary from Maddox, who’s obviously a font of info about the Good Old Days, and a video that shows his amazing piano fingers flying. You also get to read about cool cats with great names, like Matty Matlock (clarinet), Mannie Klien (trumpet), Moe Schneider (trombone), Nappy LaMare (banjo), and Nick Fatool (drums).
11. LACKAWANNA BLUES soundtrack (Vanguard)
Half-way between Maddox and Hitch, this disc features new recordings (Mos Def, Blind Boys of Alabama, Macy Gray et al) and catalog tracks. For me, the action is in the oldies, like Little Jimmy Scott, Big Joe Turner, J.J. Jackson, and Etta Baker. But the new stuff ain’t half bad and has direct relevance to the film (unlike the product-pushing rosters on most film collections). In the HBO movie, set in Lackawanna, New York, during the 50’s and 60’s, Mos Def plays a bandleader at a local club, so his songs and those of Robert Bradley, playing a blind blues singer, actually mean something to the story.
Thanks for listening in with me...
Today (2/2)
Purchased:
1. BOSSA NOVA LOUNGE (Madacy Special Markets)
This one may not even count. It was included in a men’s grooming gift set I picked up from the clearance table at Borders. Twelve tracks, 48 minutes of generic lounge music. Total Teflon. In one ear, out the other, and into the bye-bye box.
2. MOJO magzine with free CD, BLUE CHRISTMAS
Why Borders was selling this January issue a week after I bought February’s is beyond me, but the CD, “15 tracks of Faith, Hope and Seasonal Misery,” featuring unusual seasonal tunes by Flaming Lips. Rufus Wainwright, Marvin Gaye (“Purple Snowflakes”??), the Staple Singers and others, will be a boon to next year’s annual “Cool Yule” compilation, in which yours truly attempts to provide every CPF household with a unique 80-minute mix of merrixmasment.
Sent:
3. SOUND TRIBE SECTOR NINE (STS9) – Artifact (1320 Records)
Why did I have this group lumped in with the jam bands? The sound here is much more laid-back, experimental, vaguely electronic chill, but none of that dreaded new age aftertaste. STS9 also gets big props for a simple, but stylish press kit and a lovely CD package – letterpress digi-pack and a booklet of engaging illustrations and photography. Sweet!
4. FAIRMONT – Hell is Other People (Reinforcement/Renfield Records)
New Jersey-based band coming to DC later this month (DC9, Feb. 22). The group has an interesting track record, including dates (in a prior incarnation called Percey Prep) with the Strokes, Nada Surf and Ted Leo. The band’s third independently-released CD is a concept album, loosely based on Sartre’s “No Exit.” Not as gloomy as you might fear, thanks to strumming guitars and harmony vocals in the self-described “dark indie pop.”
Tuesday, 2/1:
Purchased:
5. CONNECT WITH MEDITATION (Genius Entertainment)
Oh, Target! Now you’ve installed those few bins of impulse shopaholic enabling known as the $1 Spot, and I’ll buy all sorts of crap I wouldn’t dream of purchasing otherwise. And this week you put CDs in there! You know my deepest secrets, dear Target. And what’s worse, this 30-minute disc of quiet sounds is not bad at all. I can only do about a half-hour of yoga before I get restless anyway (so far to go before I achieve enlightment…) I’ve heard worse (much worse) ethereal meanderings from Yanni, so Namaste to you. There’s maybe a half-dozen albums in this series, but I can resist. I think.
Sent:
6. THE GOLDEN REPUBLIC – eponymous (Astralwerks)
Good driving music, as I discovered in the car to and from the movies (“Finding Neverland” – tearful charm and hot Mr. Depp). A solid guitar rock base with flecks of danceable new wave. Best first impression: “Robots,” with Cake-like spoken verses and the Gary Numan chorus: “They make robots to do what you do.”
7. AMY RAY – Prom (Daemon)
One half of the Indigo Girls (the one I would have a thing for if I were gay), Amy’s got her own label and, far from being a vanity project, she releases worthwhile albums from other cool chicks in her estrogenically punky southern sphere. I bet she’s good and angry these days, what with Dubya back in charge. And I bet that means some righteously good rock. Will get back to you on this one. (out April 12)
8. HITCH soundtrack (Sony Music Soundtraxx)
Am I the only person getting tired of Will Smith? No denying the guy’s got talent, but he can’t make up his mind if he’s a Kickass Action Playa or Mr. Nice Family Comedy Man. This soundtrack, from the latter school, sounds like what I bet the movie is: a safe collection of the Tried and True (“Love Train,” “I Can’t Get Next to You,” “You Can Get It If You really Want”), some pleasant but not radical reworkings of the T&T (“Now That We’ve Found Love,” “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing”), and just a few “new” elements that will amuse the date night crowd, but spark no lasting emotion for the next day.
9. EL PUS – Hoodlum Rock (Vol. 1: The Bogard) (Virgin)
Actually, a second copy of this CD arrived today (I don’t know why), which tipped my hand to listen. And from the title to the Parental Advisory, and the back cover shot of tough-looking hip-hoppers, I would never have imagined that this would appeal to me. But the beats are instantly infectious and the tone is clever and playful, not boastful and aggressive. “Thing Thing” is downright uplifting, albeit with attitude. Is this really “crunk music – with amps and guitars,” as the bio says? Never thought of myself as the crunkin’ type.
And from the Still-Full Box of Music Obtained in the Recent Past:
10. JOHNNY MADDOX & HIS DIXIE BOYS – Dixieland Blues (Crazy Otto, reissue from Dot Records)
The kind of thing I don’t get called on to review but value nonetheless (thanks, Josh!). First off, you’ve gotta love a company called Crazy Otto Records, esp. when it’s “committed to the preservation and recirculation of nostalgic, ragtime and early American jazz and blues music. ” This particular title is being reissued for the first time on CD come April, but it dates back to when I was still crawling. According to his bio, Maddox’s all-piano record, "The Crazy Otto Medley,” became the first ragtime record to sell more than a million copies and, as the first artist of Dot Records, his success helped launch the label that launched some major 50’s artists. Includes some nifty computer enhancements - audio commentary from Maddox, who’s obviously a font of info about the Good Old Days, and a video that shows his amazing piano fingers flying. You also get to read about cool cats with great names, like Matty Matlock (clarinet), Mannie Klien (trumpet), Moe Schneider (trombone), Nappy LaMare (banjo), and Nick Fatool (drums).
11. LACKAWANNA BLUES soundtrack (Vanguard)
Half-way between Maddox and Hitch, this disc features new recordings (Mos Def, Blind Boys of Alabama, Macy Gray et al) and catalog tracks. For me, the action is in the oldies, like Little Jimmy Scott, Big Joe Turner, J.J. Jackson, and Etta Baker. But the new stuff ain’t half bad and has direct relevance to the film (unlike the product-pushing rosters on most film collections). In the HBO movie, set in Lackawanna, New York, during the 50’s and 60’s, Mos Def plays a bandleader at a local club, so his songs and those of Robert Bradley, playing a blind blues singer, actually mean something to the story.
Thanks for listening in with me...
Sunday, January 30, 2005
More (and More) New Sounds...
January 29, 2005
Purchased:
1. MOJO magazine with “Roots of the Sex Pistols” free CD
An especially worthwhile example of the freebie CD as educational disc. Good selection of songs – “I’m Not Your Stepping Stone,” “Cherry Bomb,” “Roadrunner”- that illustrated the theme and fill some fearsome gaps in my collection. Good show, MOJO!
Sent:
2. Pepper’s Ghost – Shake the Hand that Shook the World (Hybrid Recordings)
Philly-based band that I wrote about ages ago when they were playing a restaurant/bar in Arlington. It’s good news, bad news for these guys.
Good: They’ve scored an opening slot on a major American tour.
Bad: the tour is Ashlee Simpson’s!
Here’s a group that earned their deal the hard way, with night after night of playing funky bars for tough audiences, they’re releasing a new CD produced by a rock legend, Andy Johns (he’s worked with the Stones, Television and Led Zeppelin, for gawd’s sake) and they’re opening for Ashlee freakin; Simpson? Feels like career suicide to me. The group’s pretty pop sound – a mix of Beatlesque melodies, Hollies-style harmonies and Bowie-style vocal affectations – could sit well with the teen girl crowd,and the parents who accompany them, but these guys deserve more than the boy-band type-casting they’re setting themselves up, opening for the Lip Synch Princess.
Hey, the press release quotes the Washington Post: “The group’s straight-ahead hard pop style echoes that era (60’s/70’s) of solid song craft and tasty harmonies.” I wrote that!
Among other discs from the past two weeks that I’m still catching up with:
3. Matt Wertz – Twenty Three Places (label NA)
Wetz is coming to town later this month, opening on two nights fro Steve Kellogg, so I’m checking them both out.
Point One in the guy’s favor – he’s got a song called “Marianne” (spelled the right way!), so I’m with him so far. And the girl in the song isn’t a bitch, so that’s good, too.
Point Two in the guy’s favor: he’s got a John Mayer kinda voice (and he isn’t singing a song as lame as “Daughters.” Seriously, John, such vaguely sexist sentimentality is beneath you). On first listen, no single tune jumps out to grab me, but I’ll be happy to revisit, which is itself a compliment.
4. The Loved Ones – eponymous (I love that word!) (Jade Tree)
Jade Tree is a very cool almost-local (Wilmington, DE) label that releases music by truly alternative heroes like Pedro the Lion. But this one, a Philly band led by vocalist Dave Hause, former tour manager for Sick Of it All and Bouncing Souls (can you tell I’m cribbing from the bio sheet?), doesn’t offer any variation on the fast-rhythm, churning guitar, distressed vocal style that marks boatloads of releases from the contemporary punk scene. (The drummer’s name – Michael Sneeringer – is the most interesting thing here.) “Heartfelt hometown singalongs don’t get any better than this,” the bio says. But heartfelt hometown singalongs don’t offer much to the people who don’t live there, either.
5. L’altra – Different Days (Hefty Records)
For a small, newish band, L’altra has a fairly thick press kit, including blurbs from Time Out New York and Entertainment Weekly. The Chicago-based duo just released its third CD, but this my introduction to them. “Perfect soundtrack for a late Sunday night,” says URB and, since it’s 10:30 pm as I finish off this round of rounding up, I’ll vouch for that. Also good for yoga practice, which was the first time I played this CD. The electronica beds and light female vocals put me in mind of Low and Portishead. The bio says that this male/female team was together as a couple for 7 years and broke up during the recording of the first CD, That makes subsequent releases, including this one, testament to a melancholy acceptance of love’s twisted paths. Just in time for Valentine’s Day!
6. The Merediths – A Closed Universe (Debauchery Records)
Five guys from Louisville, courtesy of the kind folks at Team Clermont, a small but dedicated publicity team in Georgia that hooks me up with a constant array of quirky little bands (including those dear boys in Troubled Hubble) that I love to write about when I can, since they all seem to be working so hard. The Merediths create just the kind of sweet, light pop rock that I enjoy – I hear traces of ELO and the Cure, too. While I can’t yet tell if it’s gonna stick to my ribs, I wish them the best.
7. Johnny Mathis – Isn’t It Romantic: The Standards Album (Columbia)
Sure it’s corny and old-fashioned, and Johnny couldn’t emo from nu-metal at gunpoint, but I’ve always liked his voice and taking my mom to his Radio City Music Hall show many moons ago was a bonding experience (my third row seats showed her that this music writing job had its benefits). And I love the old classics, too, tho’ I’d be hard-pressed to make a case for “There’s a Kind of Hush” (yes, the Hermits hit) as a classic, and “The Rainbow Connection” (it will be played at my funeral, but not this version) has way too many strings. Mathis rarely had an arranger who didn’t try to bury him in syrup, but if you can find the “Rhythms and Ballads of Broadway” CD from back when the man was in his prime, you’d be surprised and delighted at how randily he could swing when allowed to. But this one’s strictly for the moms and – at a meager 10 tracks, one of which was already released on the Ray Charles duets album – Columbia’s probably hoping the older folk don’t realize they’re being played.
Purchased:
1. MOJO magazine with “Roots of the Sex Pistols” free CD
An especially worthwhile example of the freebie CD as educational disc. Good selection of songs – “I’m Not Your Stepping Stone,” “Cherry Bomb,” “Roadrunner”- that illustrated the theme and fill some fearsome gaps in my collection. Good show, MOJO!
Sent:
2. Pepper’s Ghost – Shake the Hand that Shook the World (Hybrid Recordings)
Philly-based band that I wrote about ages ago when they were playing a restaurant/bar in Arlington. It’s good news, bad news for these guys.
Good: They’ve scored an opening slot on a major American tour.
Bad: the tour is Ashlee Simpson’s!
Here’s a group that earned their deal the hard way, with night after night of playing funky bars for tough audiences, they’re releasing a new CD produced by a rock legend, Andy Johns (he’s worked with the Stones, Television and Led Zeppelin, for gawd’s sake) and they’re opening for Ashlee freakin; Simpson? Feels like career suicide to me. The group’s pretty pop sound – a mix of Beatlesque melodies, Hollies-style harmonies and Bowie-style vocal affectations – could sit well with the teen girl crowd,and the parents who accompany them, but these guys deserve more than the boy-band type-casting they’re setting themselves up, opening for the Lip Synch Princess.
Hey, the press release quotes the Washington Post: “The group’s straight-ahead hard pop style echoes that era (60’s/70’s) of solid song craft and tasty harmonies.” I wrote that!
Among other discs from the past two weeks that I’m still catching up with:
3. Matt Wertz – Twenty Three Places (label NA)
Wetz is coming to town later this month, opening on two nights fro Steve Kellogg, so I’m checking them both out.
Point One in the guy’s favor – he’s got a song called “Marianne” (spelled the right way!), so I’m with him so far. And the girl in the song isn’t a bitch, so that’s good, too.
Point Two in the guy’s favor: he’s got a John Mayer kinda voice (and he isn’t singing a song as lame as “Daughters.” Seriously, John, such vaguely sexist sentimentality is beneath you). On first listen, no single tune jumps out to grab me, but I’ll be happy to revisit, which is itself a compliment.
4. The Loved Ones – eponymous (I love that word!) (Jade Tree)
Jade Tree is a very cool almost-local (Wilmington, DE) label that releases music by truly alternative heroes like Pedro the Lion. But this one, a Philly band led by vocalist Dave Hause, former tour manager for Sick Of it All and Bouncing Souls (can you tell I’m cribbing from the bio sheet?), doesn’t offer any variation on the fast-rhythm, churning guitar, distressed vocal style that marks boatloads of releases from the contemporary punk scene. (The drummer’s name – Michael Sneeringer – is the most interesting thing here.) “Heartfelt hometown singalongs don’t get any better than this,” the bio says. But heartfelt hometown singalongs don’t offer much to the people who don’t live there, either.
5. L’altra – Different Days (Hefty Records)
For a small, newish band, L’altra has a fairly thick press kit, including blurbs from Time Out New York and Entertainment Weekly. The Chicago-based duo just released its third CD, but this my introduction to them. “Perfect soundtrack for a late Sunday night,” says URB and, since it’s 10:30 pm as I finish off this round of rounding up, I’ll vouch for that. Also good for yoga practice, which was the first time I played this CD. The electronica beds and light female vocals put me in mind of Low and Portishead. The bio says that this male/female team was together as a couple for 7 years and broke up during the recording of the first CD, That makes subsequent releases, including this one, testament to a melancholy acceptance of love’s twisted paths. Just in time for Valentine’s Day!
6. The Merediths – A Closed Universe (Debauchery Records)
Five guys from Louisville, courtesy of the kind folks at Team Clermont, a small but dedicated publicity team in Georgia that hooks me up with a constant array of quirky little bands (including those dear boys in Troubled Hubble) that I love to write about when I can, since they all seem to be working so hard. The Merediths create just the kind of sweet, light pop rock that I enjoy – I hear traces of ELO and the Cure, too. While I can’t yet tell if it’s gonna stick to my ribs, I wish them the best.
7. Johnny Mathis – Isn’t It Romantic: The Standards Album (Columbia)
Sure it’s corny and old-fashioned, and Johnny couldn’t emo from nu-metal at gunpoint, but I’ve always liked his voice and taking my mom to his Radio City Music Hall show many moons ago was a bonding experience (my third row seats showed her that this music writing job had its benefits). And I love the old classics, too, tho’ I’d be hard-pressed to make a case for “There’s a Kind of Hush” (yes, the Hermits hit) as a classic, and “The Rainbow Connection” (it will be played at my funeral, but not this version) has way too many strings. Mathis rarely had an arranger who didn’t try to bury him in syrup, but if you can find the “Rhythms and Ballads of Broadway” CD from back when the man was in his prime, you’d be surprised and delighted at how randily he could swing when allowed to. But this one’s strictly for the moms and – at a meager 10 tracks, one of which was already released on the Ray Charles duets album – Columbia’s probably hoping the older folk don’t realize they’re being played.
Friday, January 28, 2005
Good News, Bad News
Good: After a slow start at the beginning of the month, I’ve acquired about three dozen new CDs since the last posting.
Bad: Having set myself up with the task of cataloging the music that comes into my home each day, I now feel compelled to resume the job, and feel guilty for neglecting it over the course of the last few weeks.
At present, this blog reminds me of the days, ages ago, when I was a DJ on my college radio station, at SUNY Stony Brook on Long Island. It was a carrier current station, meaning that only students in the dorms could even attempt to listen to it, and the chances that any bothered to do so were slim to none. But the competition to get some airtime was fierce and when I was finally awarded a half hour (!!) on Monday nights, I scrupulously prepared for each show as if it were a Clear Channel flagship outlet.
So here I am again, speaking into a void and somehow convincing myself that there’s a point to this enterprise, if only to entertain myself…
A rough summation of the flurry of new music, both sought-out and unsolicited:
On a visit to Borders…
1. Uncut magazine with compilation CD, Tracks Inspired by Bob Dylan
Another snarky two CD option, and you have to buy the same magazine twice to get both, The other CD, “Tracks that Inspired Bob Dylan,” features some great blues and folk artists, but I was enticed to get this one because I knew more of the songs and artists (cool cats like Josh Ritter, Warren Zevon, Steve Goodman, Robyn Hitchcock, etc). The completist/obsessive in me, however, will keep an eye open for the missing disc at the used CD store.
2. Mario Frangoulis – Follow Your Heart – free 2-track sampler
“Greek heartthrob superstar” sings “beautiful and romantic ballads with a classical influence.” Just noticed that one of the tunes (“Come What May”) was written by D. Baerwald and K. Gilbert, who made some cool music as solo artists, in bands like Toy Matinee, David + David and helped out Sheryl Crow, I do believe, on her “Tuesday Nigh Music Club” sessions. Even so, and even free, it’s not worth it. Into the giveaway pile, Mario!
Friday, Jan. 14
3. The Decemberists – Picaresque
An advance copy of the new CD, due in March, sent in conjunction with the preview I wrote for the Washington Post about Colin Meloy’s solo gig last week.
This band is quickly become a fave rave, and Meloy was wonderful in concert. Writing the story was an illustration of all the things that can go wrong in pulling together a rock-based article (the band’s line-up changes were announced the day we went to press, and the opening act cancelled, so I looked like a real bonehead in the printed piece) but I’m eternally grateful that my Post gig keeps turning me on great new music.
4. Colin Meloy Sings Morrissey
At the show, Colin was selling an independent CD he made of covers of Morrissey songs. Housed in a simple cardboard sleeve, it cost $10. I just saw one sell on ebay for over $125!
5. XYZ – Letter to God
A comeback album by an ‘80s era big-hair hard rock band. I wrote about them, and Every Mother’s Nightmare, in a recent Post preview, but it was one of those articles that don’t require an intimate knowledge of the music being discussed. I’ll listen out of a sense of duty, but don’t much care for the style myself. The publicist, however, was thrilled to get her band mentioned in the Washington Post, even if it’s just the regional edition.
Saturday, Jan. 15
Would a trip to NYC be complete without a visit to the Virgin megastore? I love Tower, but we have no Virgins here in DC (‘cept those abstinence types in the GOP). So, on Friday night, while Terry slipped back to the hotel, Grace and I went to the Unions Square store, where Friday night music/video shopping is as much a social event as bar hopping or hitting a movie. We came home with the following:
Grace bought:
6. Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway
I don’t watch “American Idol.” I don’t care. Clarkson may be the only person even remotely associated with the sad, sorry affair that doesn’t make me retch. And “Since You Been Gone” is downright catchy. So sue me.
7. Interpol – Antics
I missed this CD during 2004 and, after just one listen, I regret I hadn’t heard it sooner. Might well have made it to the year’s best (and for that matter, so would Decemberists…)
There are few things that bring out the crazy music collector faster than a rack of 99 cent CDs. Virgin had a short wall full of them. Cheaper than a cup of good coffee and you can always use the jewel case or recycle them at the used store if you don’t like ‘em,
Cheap CDs are a treasure hunter’s dream. I found:
8. Greg Kihn – Mutiny (Clean Cuts, 1994)
Where has Kihn been? Back in The Day, he was a San Francisco power pop hero, and he had the good taste to cover Springsteen’s “Rendezvous,” scoring a minor hit. This CD has some interesting covers (songs by Richard Farina, Elliot Murphy, Buddy Holly, Lou Reed) and Kihn’s own stuff, but I can’t tell if it’s some kind of compilation or an attempt at some kind of comeback that I’m catching 10 years late.
9. Odds – Nest (Elektra, 1996)
Sometimes I find an artist I really like in the cheapy section and it’s like finding an orphan child. I’ll buy the CD even if I may already have a copy, so I can pass it on to a good home. I was a big fan of the Odds first CD, “Neapolitan” and praised it in the very first print edition of Close Personal Friend, over 15 years ago. Somehow, the band caught wind of that and I came home one night to find a message on my phone machine in which they thanked me! Of course, that endeared the Odds to me even more (I don’t get that much feedback). Though I lost track of the band after the first few albums, I couldn’t leave this one stranded in a lonely discount rack. Maybe it’ll be the rekindling of a dormant romance!
10. Lester Lewitt EP (1998)
A total grab-bag wild-card why-not? purchase. I didn’t even know the title and artist until I got it home and stared at the fine print with a magnifying glass. But the cover, a simple fold-over in a plastic sleeve, is a pic of a public bus from a city I don’t know, and the song titles were intriguing, so what the hey…On first listen (now, as I type), there’s a beat-heavy farting synthesizer sound on “Mushy Pea,” a deranged carousel vibe to “South Pacifik” (sic). The last track of the seven, which appears to be titled “- - - -,” goes into clichéd rhythm frenzy before settling into an epilogue of strange crackling that sounds like Lester set his sampler on fire (to the 13-minute mark), followed by a brief manic riff in TV cop show theme mode. Such weirdness has its appeal, especially for 99cents.
And bonus! God bless Virgin; you never know what you’ll get at the checkout counter. Last time I was at the store, the cashier handed me a compilation of recommended new music (it included the Killers before they broke, among other nice freebies) and, when Grace and I said that was neat, the guy threw a handful of extras into the bag. We’re still handing them out to friends as birthday present extras (and the Killers track makes us look good!). This time, as the cashier totaled the bill, she said I could have my pick of a pile of samplers, since I’d spent over $50. Since I’d spent just over $100 – and I was a greedy girl who couldn’t make up my mind I asked if I could have two, and she said fine.
So I got:
11. Virgin MegaMusic – Los Angeles
A dozen tracks with a California there, including “Ca Dreaming,” “CA Girls,” “It Never Rains in So. CA” and – worth the price of admission all by themselves – Nat King Cole’s “Route 66” and the out-of-left-field “San Fernando Valley” by Johnny Mercer.
Plus
12. Virgin MegaMusic – Wham Glam Thank You Ma’am (a collection that makes men want to wear make-up)
Besides the fab sub-title, this disc offers a nifty collection of tracks I have scattered through individual artist CDs (“Bang a Gong,” “All the Young Dudes,” “School’s Out”) and even the odd vinyl single (“Hot Child in the City”). How nice of Virgin to put it all together for me.
Friday, Jan. 21
13. Jesse McCartney – Beautiful Soul
“This doesn’t leave the car, but I’m in love with Jesse McCartney.” So says Gracie, who also adores Johnny Depp, Billie Joe Armstrong (of Green Day) and Orlando Bloom. Grace coined a phrase – “spaghetti punk” - for her particular taste in music, which is, she admits, way softer than hardcore. Though she’s currently most happy to hear the Killers, Franz Ferdinand or the aforementioned Green Day pop up on the radio, she has allowed herself the guilty pleasure of young Mr. McCartney, former member of the highly forgettable boy band Dreamstreet, and current WB series heartthrob for the seasonal show, “Summerland.”
Though my Ashlee Simpson acid reflux reflex is at a new, more extreme level of intolerance (the Cosmo cover put me over the edge) for the pretty pop tarts of the world, I confess, too, that Jesse has his appeal, with a smooth R&B pop style. Like a lot of other singers these days, he’s working the Michael Jackson dance groove thing and quite competently. And, while I don’t for a moment believe the looks-are-only-skin-deep assertions of the song (so why is the girl in the video hot? And why the hell aren’t those kids wearing seat belts?), it is damn catchy.
So Grace can have her pin-up boy. And, since it looks like I may get the chance to interview him – which is why the CD was sent to me in the first place – maybe she can get a little extra thrill – an autograph, a personal hello – that will make mom’s job more fun.
Heck, this is taking a LOOOOOONG time.
Short and sweet, then.
Sent by Publicists:
14. Tommy Castro – Soul Shaker
He’s coming to town and, if I hadn’t already made a case for another show, I could see doing a write-up. He’s got that Bob Seger heartland blues-rock thing down solid. But for me personally, one Bob Seger album, a greatest hits with “Hollywood Nights,” is the only artifact of this style I need.
Heck squared. I’ll resume tomorrow. (I feel you tremble with an…TI…cipation!)
Bad: Having set myself up with the task of cataloging the music that comes into my home each day, I now feel compelled to resume the job, and feel guilty for neglecting it over the course of the last few weeks.
At present, this blog reminds me of the days, ages ago, when I was a DJ on my college radio station, at SUNY Stony Brook on Long Island. It was a carrier current station, meaning that only students in the dorms could even attempt to listen to it, and the chances that any bothered to do so were slim to none. But the competition to get some airtime was fierce and when I was finally awarded a half hour (!!) on Monday nights, I scrupulously prepared for each show as if it were a Clear Channel flagship outlet.
So here I am again, speaking into a void and somehow convincing myself that there’s a point to this enterprise, if only to entertain myself…
A rough summation of the flurry of new music, both sought-out and unsolicited:
On a visit to Borders…
1. Uncut magazine with compilation CD, Tracks Inspired by Bob Dylan
Another snarky two CD option, and you have to buy the same magazine twice to get both, The other CD, “Tracks that Inspired Bob Dylan,” features some great blues and folk artists, but I was enticed to get this one because I knew more of the songs and artists (cool cats like Josh Ritter, Warren Zevon, Steve Goodman, Robyn Hitchcock, etc). The completist/obsessive in me, however, will keep an eye open for the missing disc at the used CD store.
2. Mario Frangoulis – Follow Your Heart – free 2-track sampler
“Greek heartthrob superstar” sings “beautiful and romantic ballads with a classical influence.” Just noticed that one of the tunes (“Come What May”) was written by D. Baerwald and K. Gilbert, who made some cool music as solo artists, in bands like Toy Matinee, David + David and helped out Sheryl Crow, I do believe, on her “Tuesday Nigh Music Club” sessions. Even so, and even free, it’s not worth it. Into the giveaway pile, Mario!
Friday, Jan. 14
3. The Decemberists – Picaresque
An advance copy of the new CD, due in March, sent in conjunction with the preview I wrote for the Washington Post about Colin Meloy’s solo gig last week.
This band is quickly become a fave rave, and Meloy was wonderful in concert. Writing the story was an illustration of all the things that can go wrong in pulling together a rock-based article (the band’s line-up changes were announced the day we went to press, and the opening act cancelled, so I looked like a real bonehead in the printed piece) but I’m eternally grateful that my Post gig keeps turning me on great new music.
4. Colin Meloy Sings Morrissey
At the show, Colin was selling an independent CD he made of covers of Morrissey songs. Housed in a simple cardboard sleeve, it cost $10. I just saw one sell on ebay for over $125!
5. XYZ – Letter to God
A comeback album by an ‘80s era big-hair hard rock band. I wrote about them, and Every Mother’s Nightmare, in a recent Post preview, but it was one of those articles that don’t require an intimate knowledge of the music being discussed. I’ll listen out of a sense of duty, but don’t much care for the style myself. The publicist, however, was thrilled to get her band mentioned in the Washington Post, even if it’s just the regional edition.
Saturday, Jan. 15
Would a trip to NYC be complete without a visit to the Virgin megastore? I love Tower, but we have no Virgins here in DC (‘cept those abstinence types in the GOP). So, on Friday night, while Terry slipped back to the hotel, Grace and I went to the Unions Square store, where Friday night music/video shopping is as much a social event as bar hopping or hitting a movie. We came home with the following:
Grace bought:
6. Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway
I don’t watch “American Idol.” I don’t care. Clarkson may be the only person even remotely associated with the sad, sorry affair that doesn’t make me retch. And “Since You Been Gone” is downright catchy. So sue me.
7. Interpol – Antics
I missed this CD during 2004 and, after just one listen, I regret I hadn’t heard it sooner. Might well have made it to the year’s best (and for that matter, so would Decemberists…)
There are few things that bring out the crazy music collector faster than a rack of 99 cent CDs. Virgin had a short wall full of them. Cheaper than a cup of good coffee and you can always use the jewel case or recycle them at the used store if you don’t like ‘em,
Cheap CDs are a treasure hunter’s dream. I found:
8. Greg Kihn – Mutiny (Clean Cuts, 1994)
Where has Kihn been? Back in The Day, he was a San Francisco power pop hero, and he had the good taste to cover Springsteen’s “Rendezvous,” scoring a minor hit. This CD has some interesting covers (songs by Richard Farina, Elliot Murphy, Buddy Holly, Lou Reed) and Kihn’s own stuff, but I can’t tell if it’s some kind of compilation or an attempt at some kind of comeback that I’m catching 10 years late.
9. Odds – Nest (Elektra, 1996)
Sometimes I find an artist I really like in the cheapy section and it’s like finding an orphan child. I’ll buy the CD even if I may already have a copy, so I can pass it on to a good home. I was a big fan of the Odds first CD, “Neapolitan” and praised it in the very first print edition of Close Personal Friend, over 15 years ago. Somehow, the band caught wind of that and I came home one night to find a message on my phone machine in which they thanked me! Of course, that endeared the Odds to me even more (I don’t get that much feedback). Though I lost track of the band after the first few albums, I couldn’t leave this one stranded in a lonely discount rack. Maybe it’ll be the rekindling of a dormant romance!
10. Lester Lewitt EP (1998)
A total grab-bag wild-card why-not? purchase. I didn’t even know the title and artist until I got it home and stared at the fine print with a magnifying glass. But the cover, a simple fold-over in a plastic sleeve, is a pic of a public bus from a city I don’t know, and the song titles were intriguing, so what the hey…On first listen (now, as I type), there’s a beat-heavy farting synthesizer sound on “Mushy Pea,” a deranged carousel vibe to “South Pacifik” (sic). The last track of the seven, which appears to be titled “- - - -,” goes into clichéd rhythm frenzy before settling into an epilogue of strange crackling that sounds like Lester set his sampler on fire (to the 13-minute mark), followed by a brief manic riff in TV cop show theme mode. Such weirdness has its appeal, especially for 99cents.
And bonus! God bless Virgin; you never know what you’ll get at the checkout counter. Last time I was at the store, the cashier handed me a compilation of recommended new music (it included the Killers before they broke, among other nice freebies) and, when Grace and I said that was neat, the guy threw a handful of extras into the bag. We’re still handing them out to friends as birthday present extras (and the Killers track makes us look good!). This time, as the cashier totaled the bill, she said I could have my pick of a pile of samplers, since I’d spent over $50. Since I’d spent just over $100 – and I was a greedy girl who couldn’t make up my mind I asked if I could have two, and she said fine.
So I got:
11. Virgin MegaMusic – Los Angeles
A dozen tracks with a California there, including “Ca Dreaming,” “CA Girls,” “It Never Rains in So. CA” and – worth the price of admission all by themselves – Nat King Cole’s “Route 66” and the out-of-left-field “San Fernando Valley” by Johnny Mercer.
Plus
12. Virgin MegaMusic – Wham Glam Thank You Ma’am (a collection that makes men want to wear make-up)
Besides the fab sub-title, this disc offers a nifty collection of tracks I have scattered through individual artist CDs (“Bang a Gong,” “All the Young Dudes,” “School’s Out”) and even the odd vinyl single (“Hot Child in the City”). How nice of Virgin to put it all together for me.
Friday, Jan. 21
13. Jesse McCartney – Beautiful Soul
“This doesn’t leave the car, but I’m in love with Jesse McCartney.” So says Gracie, who also adores Johnny Depp, Billie Joe Armstrong (of Green Day) and Orlando Bloom. Grace coined a phrase – “spaghetti punk” - for her particular taste in music, which is, she admits, way softer than hardcore. Though she’s currently most happy to hear the Killers, Franz Ferdinand or the aforementioned Green Day pop up on the radio, she has allowed herself the guilty pleasure of young Mr. McCartney, former member of the highly forgettable boy band Dreamstreet, and current WB series heartthrob for the seasonal show, “Summerland.”
Though my Ashlee Simpson acid reflux reflex is at a new, more extreme level of intolerance (the Cosmo cover put me over the edge) for the pretty pop tarts of the world, I confess, too, that Jesse has his appeal, with a smooth R&B pop style. Like a lot of other singers these days, he’s working the Michael Jackson dance groove thing and quite competently. And, while I don’t for a moment believe the looks-are-only-skin-deep assertions of the song (so why is the girl in the video hot? And why the hell aren’t those kids wearing seat belts?), it is damn catchy.
So Grace can have her pin-up boy. And, since it looks like I may get the chance to interview him – which is why the CD was sent to me in the first place – maybe she can get a little extra thrill – an autograph, a personal hello – that will make mom’s job more fun.
Heck, this is taking a LOOOOOONG time.
Short and sweet, then.
Sent by Publicists:
14. Tommy Castro – Soul Shaker
He’s coming to town and, if I hadn’t already made a case for another show, I could see doing a write-up. He’s got that Bob Seger heartland blues-rock thing down solid. But for me personally, one Bob Seger album, a greatest hits with “Hollywood Nights,” is the only artifact of this style I need.
Heck squared. I’ll resume tomorrow. (I feel you tremble with an…TI…cipation!)
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
WHFS, R.I.P.
Another one down.
This afternoon, after 20 years of playing alternative rock to the DC area, WHFS, 99.1-FM, played Jeff Buckley’s “Last Goodbye” and, with no further warning, switched over to a Spanish pop format. Pretty shocking.
I hadn’t listened to the station in ages. The morning show was dominated by sports talk, the drivetime playlist was tilted toward angry white boy rock, and on any evening in recent memory when I thought to call up 99.1, I got “Loveline” and/or musicians talking about their sex lives.
But when I first moved to the DC area 12 years ago, WHFS-FM was a kick-ass radio station. The DJs knew their stuff and played my type of classic rock – Costello, Talking Heads, the Clash. There was respect for the artists of the punk and grunge era, and an interest in a wide range of artists, all the way from Sarah McLachlan to Pearl Jam, before they became go-to tracks in the play-it-safe lists. The live sessions and Sunday night local music explorations never failed to offer intriguing new sounds.
And those concerts! The HFStival disintegrated in recent years to a “show us your tits” mentality, and I outgrew the 60,000 crowd scene just about the same time I stopped being offered press access. Bur when it was good, it was great – Pavement, Afghan Whigs, the Ramones, Green Day, Beck, the young and hungry Good Charlotte (not the MTV shills they’ve sadly become), Fountains of Wayne, No Doubt, even Tony Bennett!….the list of artists that played that communal summertime lovefest was pretty amazing.
This past December, I took Grace and her pal to the HFS Nutcracker and, even from the nosebleed seats, it was a gas. Franz Ferdinand and the Killers showed that guitar rock was alive and well, Jimmy Eat World showed that you could jump from indie emo darlings to the big time without losing your soul. Hell, even Velvet Revolver was fun in their ridiculously over-the-top cock-rock way (but the Darkness are better, ‘cause they’re in on the joke).
So, while I wasn’t a recent listener, I raise a toast to the WHFS I have preserved in hundreds of concert photos (thanks for the pit passes, guys!) and a dozen or so cassette tapes I made during the vintage years. (Gonna pull them out for the wake). Namaste WHFS. It’s all dead air now.
This afternoon, after 20 years of playing alternative rock to the DC area, WHFS, 99.1-FM, played Jeff Buckley’s “Last Goodbye” and, with no further warning, switched over to a Spanish pop format. Pretty shocking.
I hadn’t listened to the station in ages. The morning show was dominated by sports talk, the drivetime playlist was tilted toward angry white boy rock, and on any evening in recent memory when I thought to call up 99.1, I got “Loveline” and/or musicians talking about their sex lives.
But when I first moved to the DC area 12 years ago, WHFS-FM was a kick-ass radio station. The DJs knew their stuff and played my type of classic rock – Costello, Talking Heads, the Clash. There was respect for the artists of the punk and grunge era, and an interest in a wide range of artists, all the way from Sarah McLachlan to Pearl Jam, before they became go-to tracks in the play-it-safe lists. The live sessions and Sunday night local music explorations never failed to offer intriguing new sounds.
And those concerts! The HFStival disintegrated in recent years to a “show us your tits” mentality, and I outgrew the 60,000 crowd scene just about the same time I stopped being offered press access. Bur when it was good, it was great – Pavement, Afghan Whigs, the Ramones, Green Day, Beck, the young and hungry Good Charlotte (not the MTV shills they’ve sadly become), Fountains of Wayne, No Doubt, even Tony Bennett!….the list of artists that played that communal summertime lovefest was pretty amazing.
This past December, I took Grace and her pal to the HFS Nutcracker and, even from the nosebleed seats, it was a gas. Franz Ferdinand and the Killers showed that guitar rock was alive and well, Jimmy Eat World showed that you could jump from indie emo darlings to the big time without losing your soul. Hell, even Velvet Revolver was fun in their ridiculously over-the-top cock-rock way (but the Darkness are better, ‘cause they’re in on the joke).
So, while I wasn’t a recent listener, I raise a toast to the WHFS I have preserved in hundreds of concert photos (thanks for the pit passes, guys!) and a dozen or so cassette tapes I made during the vintage years. (Gonna pull them out for the wake). Namaste WHFS. It’s all dead air now.
Sunday, January 09, 2005
And then I bought...
Slowly getting the hang of this. Found the way to change the time setting to my own EST. Pictures soon come, and links, too.
But for now, it's back to the sounds. Recent acquistions, for the OCD Year in Music list.
The kids (teenage girls, age 14 and 18) were asked by their uncle for a list of new CDs they would like for Christmas. And so, on Friday, the following came into the house:
1. Ryan Adams - Love is Hell
Immediately made a copy for my own use. Worth it if only for the cover of Oasis' "Wonderwall." Looking forward to hearing the rest.
2. Ashlee Simpson - Autobiography
It's too easy to mock the girl. If she hadn't blamed that SNL debacle on her band, I might have let the thing slide. It's been clear for a long while that SNL doesn't require Pop Tarts to sing live; she was just the poor kid who got caught. The booing incident almost made me feel sorry for her, but then the "La La" video is constantly being broadcast behind my back (I work in the same room where the younger watches MTV) and I want her Taken Down to Chinatown. I tell my sweet Grace that if she likes the CD, that's fine. I just want her to realize that her Ashlee is like my Monkees - a face on a sound that someone else deserves credit for. (And the Monkees were genuinely funny.) If only Ashlee's parents had let her pursue her dancing (supposedly she was good enough for a prestigious scholarship, which they rejected so they could concentrate on -gag- Jessica's career), we would all be spared this nonsense.
3. The Diary of Alicia Keyes
Gracie's other choice. Luckily, she has wider taste than just the latest TRL favorites. And five years from now, she may still be listening to this one.
Saturday brought one promotional delivery:
4. Aztec Two-Step - Days of Horses
I know them. In fact, saw them in concert ages ago, at a college show which, if I were to date myself (and I don't need to, I have a husband) was over 25 years back. I was quite fond of them then - "Faster Gun" remains a favorite love song (I haven't heard it in years, but I could sing the first verse and chorus for you now). Dimly remember a musician friend who played with them recently telling a story about one of them being a jerk, but I'd have to check the details and get back to you on that. I don't hold out high hopes for the album - folk-hippies don't age well - but the publicist is a sweetheart, and I'll give it a listen.
[Intermission. I go upstairs to make a cup of tea, and my husband is having trouble getting the Bose to play a Benny Goodman CD. I make it go (didn't fix it; it just worked) and we dance to the opening track. I said I was a lucky woman.]
Sunday. A mix of Click and Brick purchases.
5. The Arcade Fire - Funeral
Friday morning, Terry (the hubby) sends an email from his office: "Do we have the Arcade Fire? It sounds very me." I remember hearing about them after the fact, from the CMJ festival in NYC last fall - a big front page Arts section article in the NY Times about them being the It Band of that week (I hadn't heard them mentioned once while I was there.) Later on Friday, I catch an NPR segment on the band, and I hear what Terry was responding to. Literate material, Bjork-ish vocals, some Talking Heads, some Echo and the Bunnymen, some Jam in their R&B tribute mode. He picks up the album at Borders and immediately calls me on the cell phone to make sure I don't buy it while I'm out.
I'm scouting ideas for next week's preveiw column for the Washington Post and curious about the Decemberists, another CMJ buzz band (this one I've heard of; on my list to check out, but I didn't make it to the show). Terry knows there's a trip to a music store in my immediate future. But he has beaten me to this one.
6. The Decemberists - Her Majesty the Decemberists
Lucikly, before giving in to a Best Buy visit (alas, the closest music retailer in our town), I remember to check my emusic account, the online service at which I get 40 tracks each month for a mere $10. Before iTunes, Rhapsody and the legal version of Napster, there was emusic, which initially offered an insane unlimited grab-and-burn selection from mainly obscure and indie labels. I've kept my membership, but occasionally need to remind myself to get my money's worth before each billing cycle ends (there's no rollover, so Emma often jumps online the last day and clears out the credit). I have room for 9 tracks, so I grab that much of "Her Majesty.." and indulge in a "booster pack" of 50 more tracks for $14.95, to be used at any future time. So I can complete the 'brists CD and others (to follow). I'm glad to finally catch up with this charming band - Modern Victoriana folk/rock? A kinder, gentler, sober-er Pogues?
One unfortunate element of downloading music is the lack of liner notes, so I visit the Decemberists' website and find, along with lovely old-fashioned illustrations, photos of a band that dresses in vintage costumes and handle-bar mustaches, wwith links to McSweeneys, Orangina official drink!), Death Cab for Cutie and Russian Prison Tattoos (alas, that link doesn't work).
I love them already.
[intermission. I make changes, additions, edits, and then a computer glitch - plus some operator error - loses them all. Aargh. As best as I can recall..]
7. The Dears - Protest (EP)
One of the nice elements of emusic is that, at 25 cents per song, you can explore anything you're curious about. I plug into the search engine the name of this band, who've been aired on KCRW's "Morning Becomes Eclectic" (high recommendation) and out pops a 4-track EP, and one song is 12-minutes long. That's value!
8. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Shake the Sheets
Leo (I feel like I can call him Ted) was a star at the CMJ daytime panel on Music and Politics. I have some earlier songs of his, and had him pegged as a bright popster, but now he appears to be concerned with some serious shit. This CD reportedly takes direct aim at Bush and co. The silver lining in the cloud of current political horror is that there's going to be some great art to come from the opposition.
keep your ears open.
thanks to anyone who made it this far with me!
But for now, it's back to the sounds. Recent acquistions, for the OCD Year in Music list.
The kids (teenage girls, age 14 and 18) were asked by their uncle for a list of new CDs they would like for Christmas. And so, on Friday, the following came into the house:
1. Ryan Adams - Love is Hell
Immediately made a copy for my own use. Worth it if only for the cover of Oasis' "Wonderwall." Looking forward to hearing the rest.
2. Ashlee Simpson - Autobiography
It's too easy to mock the girl. If she hadn't blamed that SNL debacle on her band, I might have let the thing slide. It's been clear for a long while that SNL doesn't require Pop Tarts to sing live; she was just the poor kid who got caught. The booing incident almost made me feel sorry for her, but then the "La La" video is constantly being broadcast behind my back (I work in the same room where the younger watches MTV) and I want her Taken Down to Chinatown. I tell my sweet Grace that if she likes the CD, that's fine. I just want her to realize that her Ashlee is like my Monkees - a face on a sound that someone else deserves credit for. (And the Monkees were genuinely funny.) If only Ashlee's parents had let her pursue her dancing (supposedly she was good enough for a prestigious scholarship, which they rejected so they could concentrate on -gag- Jessica's career), we would all be spared this nonsense.
3. The Diary of Alicia Keyes
Gracie's other choice. Luckily, she has wider taste than just the latest TRL favorites. And five years from now, she may still be listening to this one.
Saturday brought one promotional delivery:
4. Aztec Two-Step - Days of Horses
I know them. In fact, saw them in concert ages ago, at a college show which, if I were to date myself (and I don't need to, I have a husband) was over 25 years back. I was quite fond of them then - "Faster Gun" remains a favorite love song (I haven't heard it in years, but I could sing the first verse and chorus for you now). Dimly remember a musician friend who played with them recently telling a story about one of them being a jerk, but I'd have to check the details and get back to you on that. I don't hold out high hopes for the album - folk-hippies don't age well - but the publicist is a sweetheart, and I'll give it a listen.
[Intermission. I go upstairs to make a cup of tea, and my husband is having trouble getting the Bose to play a Benny Goodman CD. I make it go (didn't fix it; it just worked) and we dance to the opening track. I said I was a lucky woman.]
Sunday. A mix of Click and Brick purchases.
5. The Arcade Fire - Funeral
Friday morning, Terry (the hubby) sends an email from his office: "Do we have the Arcade Fire? It sounds very me." I remember hearing about them after the fact, from the CMJ festival in NYC last fall - a big front page Arts section article in the NY Times about them being the It Band of that week (I hadn't heard them mentioned once while I was there.) Later on Friday, I catch an NPR segment on the band, and I hear what Terry was responding to. Literate material, Bjork-ish vocals, some Talking Heads, some Echo and the Bunnymen, some Jam in their R&B tribute mode. He picks up the album at Borders and immediately calls me on the cell phone to make sure I don't buy it while I'm out.
I'm scouting ideas for next week's preveiw column for the Washington Post and curious about the Decemberists, another CMJ buzz band (this one I've heard of; on my list to check out, but I didn't make it to the show). Terry knows there's a trip to a music store in my immediate future. But he has beaten me to this one.
6. The Decemberists - Her Majesty the Decemberists
Lucikly, before giving in to a Best Buy visit (alas, the closest music retailer in our town), I remember to check my emusic account, the online service at which I get 40 tracks each month for a mere $10. Before iTunes, Rhapsody and the legal version of Napster, there was emusic, which initially offered an insane unlimited grab-and-burn selection from mainly obscure and indie labels. I've kept my membership, but occasionally need to remind myself to get my money's worth before each billing cycle ends (there's no rollover, so Emma often jumps online the last day and clears out the credit). I have room for 9 tracks, so I grab that much of "Her Majesty.." and indulge in a "booster pack" of 50 more tracks for $14.95, to be used at any future time. So I can complete the 'brists CD and others (to follow). I'm glad to finally catch up with this charming band - Modern Victoriana folk/rock? A kinder, gentler, sober-er Pogues?
One unfortunate element of downloading music is the lack of liner notes, so I visit the Decemberists' website and find, along with lovely old-fashioned illustrations, photos of a band that dresses in vintage costumes and handle-bar mustaches, wwith links to McSweeneys, Orangina official drink!), Death Cab for Cutie and Russian Prison Tattoos (alas, that link doesn't work).
I love them already.
[intermission. I make changes, additions, edits, and then a computer glitch - plus some operator error - loses them all. Aargh. As best as I can recall..]
7. The Dears - Protest (EP)
One of the nice elements of emusic is that, at 25 cents per song, you can explore anything you're curious about. I plug into the search engine the name of this band, who've been aired on KCRW's "Morning Becomes Eclectic" (high recommendation) and out pops a 4-track EP, and one song is 12-minutes long. That's value!
8. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Shake the Sheets
Leo (I feel like I can call him Ted) was a star at the CMJ daytime panel on Music and Politics. I have some earlier songs of his, and had him pegged as a bright popster, but now he appears to be concerned with some serious shit. This CD reportedly takes direct aim at Bush and co. The silver lining in the cloud of current political horror is that there's going to be some great art to come from the opposition.
keep your ears open.
thanks to anyone who made it this far with me!
Monday, January 03, 2005
Pazz and Jop and Rock and Roll
Here's what I submitted to the Village Voice annual Pazz and Jop Critics Poll.
Neither albums nor singles are in any particular order.
ALBUMS:
Franz Ferdinand (Domino)
Sam Phillips – A Boot and a Shoe (Nonesuch)
David Byrne – Grown Backwards (Nonesuch)
Wilco – A Ghost is Born (Nonesuch)
Green Day - American Idiot (Reprise)
Le Concorde – Universe and Villa (March Records)
Hope of the States – The Lost Riots (Epic)
Various Artists - Garden State soundtrack (Epic)
Magnetic Fields – i (Nonesuch)
Killers – Hot Fuss (Island)
SINGLES:
U2 – Vertigo (Interscope)
Modest Mouse – Float On (Epic)
The Darkness – I Believe in a Thing Called Love (East West Records)
Keane – Somewhere Only We Know (Universal)
Dashboard Confessional – Vindicated (Sony Music Soundtrax)
Troubled Hubble – A Happy Day Went Off the Cliff (Latest Flame EP)
Eminem – Mosh (Aftermath)
Gary Jules - Mad World (Universal)
Black Eyed Peas – Let’s Get It Started (Interscope)
Switchfoot - Meant to Live (Columbia)
and, for the comments area:
I'm a woman, over 40, living in the suburbs of Washington, DC, so I am an endangered species in the field, among the oldest persons at most shows I attend (but not the Pixies reunion!) and definitely not the audience most pop music wants. But then, I don't want most pop music either.
I am not on the Nonesuch payroll; not even on its mailing list! (I paid for all four of the label releases on my list this year), but that label's work is an example of why I still proudly follow contemporary music. There are still so many older artists I admire (shame about that last R.E.M. CD, however) and fine new discoveries to be made.
The radio is useless to me, and I won't pay (yet) for a satellite receiver, but I can hear what I need to know via internet streams from the likes of WFUV, KCRW and WXPN. My teenage daughters keep me informed of what's happing in high school and college. They give me Death Cab for Cutie and the Killers; I give them Magnetic Fields and Wilco. Everybody wins.
It's been a good year personally, and musically, I found a lot to love. But what a terrible year it was for the rest of the world. I live on a small blue island in a big red state, and November 2 would have been the most disasterous day of the year past if it weren't for December 26.
I have a family, a home, a job I love, a roomful of music and high-tech gadgets to play it on. There are people who ask only for clean drinking water and a blanket. If I complain about my life, slap me.
Neither albums nor singles are in any particular order.
ALBUMS:
Franz Ferdinand (Domino)
Sam Phillips – A Boot and a Shoe (Nonesuch)
David Byrne – Grown Backwards (Nonesuch)
Wilco – A Ghost is Born (Nonesuch)
Green Day - American Idiot (Reprise)
Le Concorde – Universe and Villa (March Records)
Hope of the States – The Lost Riots (Epic)
Various Artists - Garden State soundtrack (Epic)
Magnetic Fields – i (Nonesuch)
Killers – Hot Fuss (Island)
SINGLES:
U2 – Vertigo (Interscope)
Modest Mouse – Float On (Epic)
The Darkness – I Believe in a Thing Called Love (East West Records)
Keane – Somewhere Only We Know (Universal)
Dashboard Confessional – Vindicated (Sony Music Soundtrax)
Troubled Hubble – A Happy Day Went Off the Cliff (Latest Flame EP)
Eminem – Mosh (Aftermath)
Gary Jules - Mad World (Universal)
Black Eyed Peas – Let’s Get It Started (Interscope)
Switchfoot - Meant to Live (Columbia)
and, for the comments area:
I'm a woman, over 40, living in the suburbs of Washington, DC, so I am an endangered species in the field, among the oldest persons at most shows I attend (but not the Pixies reunion!) and definitely not the audience most pop music wants. But then, I don't want most pop music either.
I am not on the Nonesuch payroll; not even on its mailing list! (I paid for all four of the label releases on my list this year), but that label's work is an example of why I still proudly follow contemporary music. There are still so many older artists I admire (shame about that last R.E.M. CD, however) and fine new discoveries to be made.
The radio is useless to me, and I won't pay (yet) for a satellite receiver, but I can hear what I need to know via internet streams from the likes of WFUV, KCRW and WXPN. My teenage daughters keep me informed of what's happing in high school and college. They give me Death Cab for Cutie and the Killers; I give them Magnetic Fields and Wilco. Everybody wins.
It's been a good year personally, and musically, I found a lot to love. But what a terrible year it was for the rest of the world. I live on a small blue island in a big red state, and November 2 would have been the most disasterous day of the year past if it weren't for December 26.
I have a family, a home, a job I love, a roomful of music and high-tech gadgets to play it on. There are people who ask only for clean drinking water and a blanket. If I complain about my life, slap me.
That's how we do it on the O.C.D.
I have often thought that it would be fun (for me, at least, if not for anyone else) to keep track, day-by-day, of the music that comes into my home. The glorious days of massive mailings from the big record companies are over, alas. There was a time that I could count on dozens of new LPs (way back when..) and later, CDs, arriving each week. Taking a vacation, I would come home to what looked like Christmas - stacks of boxes filled with free sounds.
Those days are gone. Through budget cuts at the labels and my own retreat to less frequent reviews, there isn't the quantity today of that delightful swag era. But now I tend to receive packages that are individually addressed to me, from smaller labels and publicists I know personally, which means I tend to get more music that is aimed directly at my interests and not just blanket mailings of everything being released that week. (Ah, but that was sometimes where the sweet surprises lay...)
And then there's all the music I buy. We'll save the discussions of downloading and borrowed-to-burn CDs for another time, but I still spend a large portion of all my available (and not-so) income on music. Just ask my accountant. Thank god it's deductable.
So, between what I actively choose and what comes, unbidden, over the transom, I've decided to track the CDs I acquire each day as part of this blog. As soon as I get a handle on the system, I'll give this data its own section. But for now...
TODAY's MUSIC. 1-2-05
It's a Sunday, remember, so there's no deliveries. But a visit to Barnes & Noble to indulge in 50% off (and 10% more with Member Card!) calendars brings me to the magazine rack, where I can also indulge my addiction to Magazines That Come With CDs. Uncut is my favorite, a British publication with very smart writing, an exhaustive review section, and a themed CD each month. This December, they pulled the snarky move of releasing two different CD editions - Best of 2004, new releases and Best of 2004, reissues - which requires buying the same magazine twice. Last week, I bought the one with new releases, but I've yet to commit to the other. Sometimes even addictions must bow to practicality. (There's always the possible delight of finding that missing CD in the Various Artists bin at the used CD store; the thrill of the hunt and all that.)
Tonight's purchases:
1. The Wire, with free 40-track double CD
This British publication deals in modern music of the obscure and experimental sort. As much as I try to stay abreast of what's happening in the various fields of music, there are only three artists out of these 40 that I recognize - art/punksters The Fall, indie/y'alternative Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, and Gary Lucas, former Jeff Buckley collaborator. I'm playing the first disc as I type, and it's full of intriguing dance beats and instrumental bleeps. For less than $8, I've got more than 2 hours of intriguing new music and a magazine that might explain some of it to me. That's money well spent.
2. Harp, with 22-track sampler of music from the Bloodshot Records label
I know someone who works at this Maryland-based bi-monthly (that's the every-other-month bi-monthly, not the every-other week one; someone feel free to explain the word to me) and so I always buy it with the intention of checking what's being covered and pitching future stories. Until I actually get around to being that productive, I can listen to my fave boys Old 97s, catch up to an old Ryan Adams track, hear what Graham Parker's doing these days, and otherwise get wise to the label that authoress Sarah Vowell called her favorite when I asked her about her musical tastes at a book reading/signing last year.
The magazine champions the kind of literate singer/songwriters I prefer, too, so its 40 Best CDs of 2004 will make a nice crib sheet as I work on my own list (due tomorrow) for the Village Voice. And all this for under $5!
3. MOJO, with 15-track compilation of early rock hits
Another British publication, MOJO is much like Uncut, but it doesn't do the free CD thing every single month. (What the schedule is and why, I don't know.) Lately, they've been doing conceptual discs of musical styles - roots of hip-hop, reggae, etc. - and this one has a great collection of tracks that relate to the foundations of rock - Carl Perkins' "Honey Don't," Jimmy Reed's "Big Boss Man," "Muddy Waters' "Got My Mojo Working," Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup's "My Baby Left Me" and more. Yes, I have some of them on other CDs, but the selection here, bundled with a well-written magazine again at the $8.oo mark is more time and cost-efficient than a trip to the i-tunes store. And the CD looks so nice, nestled next to its other MOJO kin.
Channel your Obsessive Compulsive Disorder toward harmless habits, I say.
Tomorrow we'll see what the first post delivery of the New Year will bring, and my listing of the Top Ten Albums and Singles of 2004 must be finished. Deadlines make things happen.
cheers
Those days are gone. Through budget cuts at the labels and my own retreat to less frequent reviews, there isn't the quantity today of that delightful swag era. But now I tend to receive packages that are individually addressed to me, from smaller labels and publicists I know personally, which means I tend to get more music that is aimed directly at my interests and not just blanket mailings of everything being released that week. (Ah, but that was sometimes where the sweet surprises lay...)
And then there's all the music I buy. We'll save the discussions of downloading and borrowed-to-burn CDs for another time, but I still spend a large portion of all my available (and not-so) income on music. Just ask my accountant. Thank god it's deductable.
So, between what I actively choose and what comes, unbidden, over the transom, I've decided to track the CDs I acquire each day as part of this blog. As soon as I get a handle on the system, I'll give this data its own section. But for now...
TODAY's MUSIC. 1-2-05
It's a Sunday, remember, so there's no deliveries. But a visit to Barnes & Noble to indulge in 50% off (and 10% more with Member Card!) calendars brings me to the magazine rack, where I can also indulge my addiction to Magazines That Come With CDs. Uncut is my favorite, a British publication with very smart writing, an exhaustive review section, and a themed CD each month. This December, they pulled the snarky move of releasing two different CD editions - Best of 2004, new releases and Best of 2004, reissues - which requires buying the same magazine twice. Last week, I bought the one with new releases, but I've yet to commit to the other. Sometimes even addictions must bow to practicality. (There's always the possible delight of finding that missing CD in the Various Artists bin at the used CD store; the thrill of the hunt and all that.)
Tonight's purchases:
1. The Wire, with free 40-track double CD
This British publication deals in modern music of the obscure and experimental sort. As much as I try to stay abreast of what's happening in the various fields of music, there are only three artists out of these 40 that I recognize - art/punksters The Fall, indie/y'alternative Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, and Gary Lucas, former Jeff Buckley collaborator. I'm playing the first disc as I type, and it's full of intriguing dance beats and instrumental bleeps. For less than $8, I've got more than 2 hours of intriguing new music and a magazine that might explain some of it to me. That's money well spent.
2. Harp, with 22-track sampler of music from the Bloodshot Records label
I know someone who works at this Maryland-based bi-monthly (that's the every-other-month bi-monthly, not the every-other week one; someone feel free to explain the word to me) and so I always buy it with the intention of checking what's being covered and pitching future stories. Until I actually get around to being that productive, I can listen to my fave boys Old 97s, catch up to an old Ryan Adams track, hear what Graham Parker's doing these days, and otherwise get wise to the label that authoress Sarah Vowell called her favorite when I asked her about her musical tastes at a book reading/signing last year.
The magazine champions the kind of literate singer/songwriters I prefer, too, so its 40 Best CDs of 2004 will make a nice crib sheet as I work on my own list (due tomorrow) for the Village Voice. And all this for under $5!
3. MOJO, with 15-track compilation of early rock hits
Another British publication, MOJO is much like Uncut, but it doesn't do the free CD thing every single month. (What the schedule is and why, I don't know.) Lately, they've been doing conceptual discs of musical styles - roots of hip-hop, reggae, etc. - and this one has a great collection of tracks that relate to the foundations of rock - Carl Perkins' "Honey Don't," Jimmy Reed's "Big Boss Man," "Muddy Waters' "Got My Mojo Working," Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup's "My Baby Left Me" and more. Yes, I have some of them on other CDs, but the selection here, bundled with a well-written magazine again at the $8.oo mark is more time and cost-efficient than a trip to the i-tunes store. And the CD looks so nice, nestled next to its other MOJO kin.
Channel your Obsessive Compulsive Disorder toward harmless habits, I say.
Tomorrow we'll see what the first post delivery of the New Year will bring, and my listing of the Top Ten Albums and Singles of 2004 must be finished. Deadlines make things happen.
cheers
Saturday, January 01, 2005
And here we go....
Not unlike many (thousands of?) other people in the word facing a new year, it seemed to me a good time to get going on this New Type of Publishing Adventure (I'll try to avoid lots of cute Winnie-The-Pooh style capitalizations) (But I love paranthetical statements, so you have little hope of avoiding them).
Anyhoo, since I'm too technically inept to regularly update my website (www.closepersonalfriend.com), blogging's the best way to get my news, views and reviews out to the Big World (sorry) ASAP.
What can you expect? Mostly ruminations on the musical world. I write about music for the Washington Post (currently) and have done so in the past for the likes of Rolling Stone, CDnow, e!online and various publications. (Check the CPF archives for samples and a resume.) I've also written for TV and radio - and the shows have actually been aired. Not so yet for my screenplay work. It's a quest.
I'm also opinionated about a lot of other things, especially the politcal morass that America is in. I loathe Bush. I've said it and I stand by it, but I'm not going to engage in pissing matches with the other side, so please refrain from writing to engage in such. Dittohead types, you have plenty of other places to vent your spleen so go there. (Maybe that venting will let some clean air in to open your mind and freshen your heart. One can only hope.) So, besides linking to my reviews and music writing, there will be lots of links to Bush-bashing sites and fellow Blue State thinking.
Soon come....In the next few days I need to submit my year-end Top Ten to the annual Village Voice Pazz and Jop Critics Poll (their capitalizations), so that will appear here, too, and give you an idea of what rocks my socks. I attended the big CMJ music festival in New York City (I was born and raised there and love it dearly still) in October '04 and wrote a summary of same for the British magazine Dazed and Confused, so that will be archived here as well.
Along with anything else that crosses my mind. 'Cause that's the point, eh? (not Canadian, but considered moving there after the election)
okay then. Happy new year and thanks for visiting with your new Close Personal Friend.
Anyhoo, since I'm too technically inept to regularly update my website (www.closepersonalfriend.com), blogging's the best way to get my news, views and reviews out to the Big World (sorry) ASAP.
What can you expect? Mostly ruminations on the musical world. I write about music for the Washington Post (currently) and have done so in the past for the likes of Rolling Stone, CDnow, e!online and various publications. (Check the CPF archives for samples and a resume.) I've also written for TV and radio - and the shows have actually been aired. Not so yet for my screenplay work. It's a quest.
I'm also opinionated about a lot of other things, especially the politcal morass that America is in. I loathe Bush. I've said it and I stand by it, but I'm not going to engage in pissing matches with the other side, so please refrain from writing to engage in such. Dittohead types, you have plenty of other places to vent your spleen so go there. (Maybe that venting will let some clean air in to open your mind and freshen your heart. One can only hope.) So, besides linking to my reviews and music writing, there will be lots of links to Bush-bashing sites and fellow Blue State thinking.
Soon come....In the next few days I need to submit my year-end Top Ten to the annual Village Voice Pazz and Jop Critics Poll (their capitalizations), so that will appear here, too, and give you an idea of what rocks my socks. I attended the big CMJ music festival in New York City (I was born and raised there and love it dearly still) in October '04 and wrote a summary of same for the British magazine Dazed and Confused, so that will be archived here as well.
Along with anything else that crosses my mind. 'Cause that's the point, eh? (not Canadian, but considered moving there after the election)
okay then. Happy new year and thanks for visiting with your new Close Personal Friend.
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