The Soundtrack of Our Lives – “Heading for a Breakdown”
Incubus – “Beware! Criminal!”
My wise comrade SG made a comment about Incubus while we were sitting in downtown Austin traffic listening to S.C.I.E.N.C.E. at SXSW 2008. He pointed out that Incubus got popular because they were a “movement” band that happened to be somewhat talented. Then they just turned into a really damn good band – period. They ditched the dreadlocks and got serious.
Ah, what a coincidence. The SG man himself just called me up. Here’s what he has to say about Incubus as of 9:55 p.m tonight: “I think those have been the most successful bands in history: The ones who come up with an original sound who push it as a movement more than a mainstream style, and then do whatever they want as far as songwriting and developing into songwriters for the rest of their careers…Once you have their attention, it’s all about how smart you are as a songwriter.” This song is a good example of that. Well said, Goldschmithey.
Wilco – “Reservations”
Of all the brilliant lines Tweedy has churned out over the years, this song has an opening verse that’s among the most honest and memorable any artist has ever written: “How can I convince you it’s me I don’t like / And not be so indifferent to the look in your eyes / When I’ve always been distant / and I’ve always told lies for love.”
Wilco – “Can’t Stand It”
LCD Soundsystem – “tired”
Eels – “World of Shit”
R.E.M. – “Exhuming McCarthy”
Guided By Voices – “Peep-Hole”
The Beta Band – “She’s The One”
Head Automatica – “Beating Hearts Baby”
Refused – “Protest Song ‘68″
Uncle Tupelo – “Grindstone”
Against Me! – “Mutiny on the Electronic Bay”
Spoon – “Jonathon Fisk”
Kula Shaker – “Shower Your Love”
This song should’ve been hugh. HUGH, I say! But it was too good. George Harrison must’ve loved it, either way.
Wilco – “Jesus, Etc.”
Merle Haggard – “Hungry Eyes”
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – “Need Some Air”
Ryan Adams – “1974″
Hum – “Why I Like The Robins”
Candlebox – “Simple Lessons”
I liked Candlebox’s second and third records a lot more than their debut – the one with all the singles you still hear on “alternative” radio. The bummer is my Lucy disc is so scratched that iTunes will only import this song. Oh well. At least iTunes managed to swallow Happy Pills, the band’s best and most under-appreciated album. If you like good songs of any kind, you’ll like that record – regardless of what you think of Candlebox.
Willie Nelson – “On The Road Again”
BEST BAND YOU’VE PROBABLY NEVER HEARD: The Tom Collins – “Cycles”
Ben Kweller – “Make It Up”
Breakdown:27 songs, 4 places
My old pal David Cook has been bringing as much integrity to American Idol as that show’s ever seen for about three months now, but it’s just starting to sink in that the guy might actually win the thing. Crazy thought for those of us who’ve known David for years. He’ll be playing Tulsa’s new BOK Center this summer for the Idol tour and my gut tells me it’ll be a little bigger than than this Tulsa bar gig we put him on almost a year ago today when his solo record came out:
What a difference a year makes: Upside is broken up, Malan Darras is playing with a band called Born A Number and David’s hamming it up with Neil Diamond on FOX.
I finally gave in and voted for him this week. It was the first time I voted for a contestant on that blasted show, but I didn’t feel guilty about it at all. David’s the real deal, and he makes a mean whiskey-diet when he’s behind the bar! I think it’s safe to say he won’t be bartending again anytime soon. My liver is thankful for this, and my ears are pleased that a real singer is finally getting love at some place besides a smokey bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA.
Tweedy first thing for second day in a row. Early-morning life is good.
Elvis Costello – “Cheap Reward”
Travis – “Last Train”
Guided By Voices – “Her Psychology Today”
RAWK SAWNG OF THE DAY: Killswitch Engage – “World Ablaze”
Didn’t make The Sword show at Conservatory tonight, but the after-the-fact realization that I got to rock Killswitch at the office while writing a story about a military base made me feel a little better.
Clearlake – “Far Away”
The Beatles – “Getting Better”
At the office today, we were in the middle of one of our daily doom and gloom e-mail chains about the future of journalism and our paper when “Getting Better” started playing through my headphones. I thought it was curious timing, so I told my colleagues about it. Posted these lyrics in the e-mail for what I thought would be a thought-provoking dose of irony:
It’s getting better all the time
I used to get mad at my school
The teacher’s that taught me weren’t cool
You’re holding me down
Filling me up with your rules
I’ve got to admit it’s getting better
A little better all the time
I have to admit it’s getting better
It’s getting better since you’ve been mine
Me used to be angry young man
Me hiding me head in the sand
You gave me the word
I finally heard
I’m doing the best that I can
I’ve got to admit it’s getting better
I used to be cruel to my woman I beat herand kept apart from the things that she loved
Man I was mean but I’m changing my scene
And I’m doing the best that I can
I admit it’s getting better
A little better all the time
Yes I admit it’s getting better
It’s getting better since you’ve been mine…
Instead, within seconds I was accused of being a woman-beater. While on deadline. Right – because when I think about The Beatles, I think about domestic abuse.
My co-workers because are quite possibly bigger smartasses than I am. This is why I enjoy them.
Creeper Lagoon – “Dead Man Saloon”
Golden Smog – “Another Fine Day”
TRB – “Part II (Radio Edit)”
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – “Blossom”
Cold War Kids – “Red Wine, Success!”
I’m dying to see what these guys come up with for their next record. And I’m dying to see them live. Here’s why:
Creedence Clearwater Revival - ”Long As I Can See The Light”
Creeper Lagoon – “Black Hole”
Jesse Malin – “Scars of Love”
The Soundtrack of Our Lives – “Believe I’ve Found”
Radiohead – “Planet Telex”
Doves – “Words”
BEST BAND YOU’VE PROBABLY NEVER HEARD: Varnaline – “Still Dream”
Spaced out alt-country. For fans of Wilco. Of course. From up north some place.
Everclear – “Heartspark Dollar Sign”
Red House Painters – “Smokey”
The Magpies – “Pick Up I’m Calling”
Wore my Magpies shirt for the first time today. To Wal-Mart. Classy.
Blue October – “Schizophrenia”
The Stills – “Fevered”
John Coltrane – “Equinox”
I was headed north on Classen a few minutes ago with the sunroof down and the sax came in. Coltrane, a breeze, and a bright moon is harmony. I pulled up in my driveway and kept the sunroof open for the rest of the song. Felt too good to stop without seeing it the whole way through, you know?
Fifteen years after its release, Vs. remains one of the purest and most sonically pleasing albums I’ve ever heard. The engineering is just superb. That kick drum feel is so deep and heavy, but not too boomy. The snare drum cracks like a lightning bolt. Most engineers will tell you kick and snare sounds are two of the hardest things to master, and most good engineers will tell you Brendan O’Brien and Nick DiDia hit perfection on all cylinders with Vs. and most of the other records they’ve done. On Vs., they top the rhythm section with this jangly, open-ended guitar tone that’s as meticulous as it is loud and a purposefully raw, up-front vocal sound that makes it feel like Eddie’s sitting in the room with you. I find myself listening to this album more for the sonic value than the songs sometimes, and that’s a damn shame since most of the songs on Vs. are my favorite in the Pearl Jam catalog.
Bloc Party – “On”
The Minus 5 – “Desperate for Someone”
Eels – “Jungle Telegraph”
The Jayhawks – “Will I See You in Heaven?”
The Beatles – “A Day in the Life”
The Stills – “Helicopters”
Metallica – “Sanitarium”
Ol’ Dirty Bastard – “Shimmy Shimmy Ya”
This the only song I can play on piano. I’m cool with that because I think ODB would be coo’ wit dat, 2.
Breakdown:13 songs in three locations
Ate all the meat I could at the barbecue at Kody’s place in honor of Cooper’s birthday tonight. Didn’t keep track of every song that belted out of the monstrous mono speaker in the living room, but I feel totally comfortable and damn proud to report it was nothing but AC/DC, Airbourne and Lucero. At least until the whiskey and tequila took hold of Cooper and Co. That’s when I heard grown men getting down to Kelly Clarkson and realized I didn’t have enough booze in me to get down like that. Not on a Monday. So I left, being the occasionally responsible professional I am. What a shame!
For once, I’m thrilled to report that the music writers at the Dallas Observer are complete twats. Hats off to them for this brutal piece:
Poetry about the acts on Edgefest 17’s bill? It’s music to our ears.
By Jesse Hughey
Published: April 24, 2008
This weekend, Pizza Hut Park in Frisco will host Edgefest 17, an all-day, three-stage concert featuring some of the biggest names in alt-rock.
If you like the bands that KDGE-102.1 FM plays ad nauseam, you’ll absolutely love this lineup. Your only problem will be convincing your parents to shell out $49.50 per ticket and drive you there.
Because this is the 17th year of Edgefest, we figured we’d preview the show by describing each act on the first and second stages in haiku form. Why haiku? Well, a haiku’s 5-7-5 scheme adds up to 17 syllables. And that sounded like as good a reason as any.
Ears were ringing for days after I first saw these guys. I didn’t mind a bit. I’m sure the other 20 people there felt the same way and would gladly brave the sonic assault once again. As badass as the show was, I kept wondering and cursing how a band can open for The Who at Ford Center and be named one of Rolling Stone’s top bands to watch in 2007 only to play for 20 people at Conservatory. Especially when they’re as good as Rose Hill Drive. I blame these clowns, who clearly represent all that is wrong with the universe.
LCD Soundsystem – “give it up”
Hey Mercedes – “A-List Actress”
The Feds – “Juliet”
Wilco – “Misunderstood”
One of the most underrated – and “misunderstood” – choices Wilco ever made was selecting this song as the opening track to Being There. It was a proverbial middle finger to everything everyone ever thought they were, and it pissed off a lot of folks. I’ve always thought the sign of a great artist is the willingness to risk their reputation for art, even if it alienates people. Many of my favorite records have that quality to them, and Being There is a perfect example.
Guided By Voices – “Gold Star for Robot Boy”
The Flaming Lips – “Goin’ On”
Guster – “Fa Fa”
Foo Fighters – “New Way Home”
Eels – “Teenage Witch”
RAWK SAWNG OF THE DAY: AC/DC – “Back in Black”
Could there logically be any other choice? Absolutely not. Anyone who disagrees gets ten minutes alone in a room with no windows with the maniacs below:
The Land Down Under brings us the RAWK SAWNG OF THE DAY from AC/DC and today’s BEST BAND YOU’VE PROBABLY NEVER HEARD: Skybombers. These guys don’t have a record deal in the U.S. yet, but they’re lighting fires in Australia. I bought their five-song EP a few minutes ago after hearing one verse and one chorus online. Anyone who knows me knows I don’t make up my mind that easily 99 percent of the time. That’s how good these Aussie rockers are. The song that grabbed me isn’t on the EP, but it’s called “Always Complaining” and has more hooks than a tacklebox. After a first listen, the best track on the EP is this ferocious freakout called “Russian Roulette” that’s the RAWK SAWNG I’ve been waiting to hear all year.
Plenty of bands like to brand themselves as Clash / Kinks / Stooges hyrbids, but more often than not those bands are putrid embarrassments. Not Skybombers. They can actually claim those three as peers without sounding like pompous hipster knobs. The songs on this EP swagger and swing with that confident recklessness the aforementioned bands had, only the hooks are bigger. That’s a dangerous cocktail and I love it. Hell of a find for a Monday night.
Point of the gushing is: Don’t be surprised if Skybombers blow up like Hiroshima.
Bizarre way to start off the day. There’s a lot of doom and gloom talk in the newsroom I work in about “the future.” Cost-cutting. New missions. Solutions. Transformations. These are all corporate psycho-babble terms for layoffs and putting the veterans out to pasture and such. I shivered a little when this song about a guy getting fired from a paper started playing. I’ll just let some lyrics talk:
Fred sits alone at his desk in the dark
There’s an awkward young shadow that waits in the hall
He’s cleared all his things and he’s put them in boxes
Things that remind him: ‘Life has been good’
Twenty-five years
He’s worked at the paper
A man’s here to take him downstairs
And I’m sorry, Mr. Jones
It’s time
There was no party, there were no songs
‘Cause today’s just a day like the day that he started
No one is left here that knows his first name
Lucero -”What Else Would You Have Me Be?”
First Lucero song I ever heard. Played a 30-second clip of it on iTunes and was hooked. Still my favorite song they’ve done.
The Fags – “Rockstar”
Big Star – “Thirteen”
Valve – “Part of the Catch Phrase”
What the hell happened to Casey Diiorio, anyway? I heard he was helping Zac Maloy engineer records, but that’s all I’ve heard. Ah, Google says he has a studio in Fort Worth. Cool. His old band (Valve, for those who don’t know) is one of my favorite DFW bands of all time. This song and “Upper West Coast” are legendary to a few dozen of us, I’m sure.
The Jayhawks – “The Eyes of SarahJane”
Head Automatica – “Lying Through Your Teeth”
Shuggie Otis – “Not Available”
Pete Yorn – “Committed”
RAWK SAWNG OF THE DAY / BEST BAND YOU’VE PROBABLY NEVER HEARD: J Roddy Walston and The Business – “Rock and Roll the Second”
The night before SXSW 2008 kicked off, this band knocked us on our asses at Andy’s in Denton. I was drowning Amstels with caffeine king Matt Holmes downstairs when we decided to labor up the staircase to see who was making all the noise. We were met with what sounded and looked like Angus Young rocking great balls of fire with Jerry Lee Lewis. Two dozen faces were melted that night. Band name is hot, too.
Travis – “Safe”
Bush – “Letting the Cables Sleep”
Don’t hate.
Jeff Buckley – “New Year’s Prayer”
So good it’s scary. I don’t like listening to this song in the dark. Not one bit.
Sloan – “Step on it, Jean”
Paul McCartney – “Feet in the Clouds”
Breakdown:
14 songs
all during commute (dropped someone off at airport during rush hour. Idiotfest on the highway)
So I bought The Magpies CD at their gig Tuesday. Today I put it in the Powerbook, imported the songs and put the disc back in its sleeve. Then I stared at the sleeve for a few seconds, picked it up, stared at it some more and put it back down. Then I stared some more. I sighed and dropped a depressed F-bomb when it hit me that I’ll probably never pick that disc up again. After years of resistance, I’ve been dominated by the digital revolution. The hundreds of CDs on the rack in the living room just collect dust. No use for them anymore. I really don’t know what to think about it. I mean, I once managed a damn CD store. I’ve had thousands of CDs manufactured for bands I’ve worked with. Sold them all across the country. Now it’s all obsolete. I’m reminded of the wise words of a hillbilly philosopher: “Tough titty, said the kitty, but the milk is still good!”
Bob Marley and the Wailers – “Roots, Rock, Reggae”
Starsailor – “Four to the Floor”
British, even though this song was produced by America’s favorite afro-maniacal murderer / producer: Phil Spector.
Minus The Bear – “Michio’s Death Drive”
The Used – “The Taste of Ink”
Dirty singer Bert got dirty with Ozzy’s Brit daughter.
Against Me! – “Rice And Bread”
Van Halen – “I’m The One”
Starsailor – “Talk Her Down”
Still British.
Radiohead – “Nude”
British.
Upside – “Something More”
The Beatles – “For No One”
Rumored to be British.
Built to Spill – “Don’t Try”
Clearlake – “Keep Smiling”
Bri-ish.
Billy Bragg and Wilco – “Stetson Kennedy”
Bragg is one the craggiest British wankers of all time. That’s why I like him so much. The guy’s got an album called England, Half English with a song called “Take Down the Union Jack,” fercrissake! Strangely, one of America’s best songwriters, Woody Guthrie, and the best American band of my generation, Wilco, are the meat on this song. Bragg’s just the sauce.
Lucero – “Coming Home”
Josh Rouse – “Sad Eyes”
Bernard Butler – “Smile”
British badass.
Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers – “Loco to Stay Sane”
Coldplay – “Everything’s Not Lost”
Best song these British bastards have ever done.
Jet – “Rip it Up”
Flickerstick – “All We Are is Gone”
Texans that wannabe British.
Built to Spill – “Broken Chairs”
Creedence Clearwater Revival – “Commotion”
Big Star – “Back of a Car”
Jet – “Shiny Magazine”
Breakdown:
23 songs
all during commute (assignments on opposite ends of city)
Not that it has anything to do with, well, anything, but Boddingtons is perhaps the tastiest beer on the planet. Boddingtons is British.
Bill O’Reilly might see this playlist and call me a treasonous ex-patriot. I’d pour Boddingtons on him and call him a bloody treasonous ex-patriot motherwanker.
The Thrills – “You Can’t Fool Old Friends With Limousines”
RAWK SAWNG OF THE DAY: Refused – “Refused Are Fuckin’ Dead”
Breakdown:
9 songs
3 during commute to work
6 at work
0 during commute home (cell phones are Satan)
We’ll save today’s BEST BAND YOU’VE PROBABLY NEVER HEARD for a band that didn’t make the iPod playlist, but kept my feet tappin’ all night at Belle Isle Brewery. Don’t take my word for it – come hear The Magpies with your own two ears next Tuesday, suckas! The Clevelandites will be in Oak Shitty again, this time at Speakeasy (Yes, it has a stage. Yes, it sounds better than Conservatory). If we’ve gotten around to actually “launching” this little blog experiment by then, you trendiest-of-trendy readers should invite all your friends and enemies for a night of some of the finest American songwriting, accordion playing and twangy rock and roll around. Goes good with Whiskeytown, Jerry Lee Lewis, beer, The Boss, Cash and the roots rock side of Rolling Stones. Try this opening line on for size: ”Here comes the night and I’m feeling like a pistol-whipped criminal.” Righteous! I told some folks in the bar that I’d die a happy man if I could listen to bands like The Magpies every night, and that wasn’t just the Belle Isle booze talking – I really meant it. Guess I could be in for an early death if they keep playing here so much. So it goes.
The ACL lineup is out. Check it out. www.aclfestival.com It was the inspiration for my jams on imeem.com today.
“Bag Lady” — Erykah Badu — Timeless jam. The guitar riff in this song is probably a sample, bum-pa-ba, has been put every where and everytime I’m listening to the hot jams station it’s always playing in the background when the DJ is talking. It’s disappointing when they go straight to the Lil’ John songs.
Tyrone (Live) — Erykah Badu
“You better call Tyrone and tell him to help you come get yo’ shit.” This is a slow sexy jam about a woman kicking her old man to the curb. Say Badu…it’s makes you feel like a hot bad-ass.
“Back in the Day” — Erykah Badu
I’m sort of a poseur Badu fan. I like Mama’s Gun. I know it, the other stuff I like and need to get to know. This little disco-esque song is good. Badu could sing about cleaning litter boxes and I’d still be bobbing my head in approval. “Soul flower take me flying with you.” Yeah.
“Love of my Life (ode to Hip Hop) — More Miss Badu. Not sure who she’s meeting in this song. ‘Dre 3000? Is Common picking up sloppy seconds? Maybe she’s talking about God? Or is Hip Hop the love of her life? Catchy chorus gets me each time. Common’s voice slow and deep….uh I digress.
“Cleva” — More Badu. “This is how I look without makeup….but I’m cleva, win it by surprise.” Empower me and all that stuff. The marimba in the song also rocks. And I like that Badu calls her breasts ninnies. Classy. Her dress ain’t cost nothing but $7, but she made it fly, because she clever. Makes me want to dance around the house and drink a vodka tonic with a lime twist.
“Learn to Fly” — Foo Fighters. Good radio friendly tune. Catchy. Who knew a drummer had such great guitar skills. Was Kurt Cobain even in Nirvana…or was it just Dave? All Dave? This song sort of bores me into thinking these sort of thoughts.
RAWK SAWNG OF THE DAY: Big Wreck – “The Pleasure and the Greed”
Kenna – “Out of Control (State of Emotion)”
The Used – “Sound Effects and Overdramatics”
The Coral – “Spanish Main”
U2 – “Trip Through Your Wires”
BEST BAND YOU’VE PROBABLY NEVER HEARD: Elbow – “Not a Job”
Best song on this band’s second record, A Cast of Thousands. Patient, moody Brit-rock. Anyone who can make a harmony out of dreary lines like this gets my respek: “The dream again nobody understands / Walking through the long grass on your hands / It’s not a job to do today / Sleep it off.”
Kill Radio – “Do You Know (Knife in Your Back)”
See below.
Kenna – “Hell Bent”
Strange pairing of Kenna and Kill Radio. A couple years back, some major label types convinced the band I once worked with to drive out to Los Angeles for a showcase at The Viper Room. Being the naive little bastards we were, we accepted and blew all the money we had to get out there. The band Upside played with at Viper Room was Kill Radio. The other act Upside’s manager at the time managed was Kenna. Both went largely unnoticed, but are two of my favorites to this day. Another strange connection: the guy who signed Kill Radio to Columbia Records was former MTV VJ Matt Pinfield, who seriously considered signing Upside to Columbia after the band once again blew all their money to make a trip to New York to showcase for more label types at Knitting Factory. A good line from the Kill Radio song in today’s playlist: “In the night they stole it, left you skin and bones and a knife in your back.”
Bernard Butler – “Smile”
The Stills – “Changes are No Good”
Sloan – “Back Stabbin’”
Queens of the Stone Age – “Do it Again”
Queens of the Stone Age – “Go With the Flow”
Spoon – “This Book is a Movie”
The Arcade Fire – “Crown of Love”
Bloc Party – “Banquet”
Islands – “If”
The Thrills – “Whatever Happened to Corey Haim?”
Ben Kweller – “Family Tree”
Built to Spill – “The Weather”
Ryan Adams – “Magnolia Mountain”
First time I saw Ryan Adams at Gypsy Tea Room in Dallas, this was the only song he played that could’ve passed for an actual performance. The man was a complete and utter disaster. I couldn’t listen to him for months. Luckily, Daily Tuneage comrade Redbee and her man convinced me to see him again at Cain’s a few months ago. Like night and day. I can’t even remember if he played this song. I just remember everything was perfect.
The first stop on this random music train must begin at Pier 1. Yes. I work at Pier 1 on the weekends. No satellite radio for us. Piped in cds, that repeat. Over and Over. The good news is that whoever is making these little mixes likes music, albeit a little too much Mariah Carey. The author of these mixes can’t help that the cds are played for days on end.
And there I’m introduced to Fink. Blueberry Pancakes was the first song. Layered and lonely and awesome. “Sitting at the table where it all began for us…”
Turns out the rest of the Fink collection is rad too. I couldn’t figure out why Imeem’s random play kept sending me to random techno after the Fink playlist. Come to find out the dude is a DJ from Brighton (love that town) and has just recently discovered guitars and his own voice.
Tracks from the 2007 Distance and Time are supa. Add a little angst that comes with being British and not seeing a lot of sun…and you’ve got melodic, beat driven, radiohead inspired. Check it out.
Another band on my list for today: The Kills.
I checked out the playlist on imeem today. Really good. This band is simple and dirty and I like it. They don’t mess around with studio stuff. I saw them live back in the day. A girl on a stool with a guitar, a man with a drum machine and a bass. Nothing else needed.
The new album is called Midnight Boom. Driving, dark and melodic all at the same time. The band wants the concept of an album to catch on…as if it ever left me. (Still have a tape deck in the car.) But there’s is artwork that goes with it and a 20-page booklet. Too bad I’ll have to go to Best Buy to find it.
Queens of the Stone Age – “You Got a Killer Scene There, Man…”
Stereophonics – “Caravan Holiday”
Blue October – “James”
Cold War Kids – “Hang Me Up to Dry”
The Who – “Squeeze Box”
RAWK SAWNG OF THE DAY: Priestess – “Blood”
I’m thinking I’ll start a daily feature here on Daily Tuneage. I’m thinking I’ll call it Rawk Sawng of the Day. I’m thinking Priestess is the perfect band to kick it off.
Pull off shameless lyrics like “It all started because / she wants to drain his blood” and “Before you can rip into his veins / you’d better take the reins / ’cause he’s riding into the sun,” and there’s just no way to go wrong! Fawk! Rawk!
I’m a fan of “Blood” because it really sticks out on the Hello Master album. It has a more controlled tempo, layered texture and subdued mood than the fist-to-the-face pace of the rest of the album. Wonder if this is the direction the next Priestess album takes? Wouldn’t mind, but I wouldn’t mind more rock-knuckle sandwiches, either.
BEST BAND YOU’VE PROBABLY NEVER HEARD: Clearlake – “Good Clean Fun”
I’m thinking I’ll start another daily feature here on Daily Tuneage. I’m thinking I’ll call it Best Band You’ve Probably Never Heard. I’m thinking Clearlake is the perfect band to kick it off.
Just go to the Clearlake page and check out everything you can. If Blur was more organic and focused on honest songwriting instead of quirky gimmicks, they’d sound a lot like Clearlake – one of the few bands I can call “charming” without feeling like a giant vag.
This song is one of Clearlake’s best and its off the Amber album. As far as a new album goes, the Clearlake page brings this news: “Your correspondent has been reliably informed that the new stuff sounds fantastic and is not inclined to argue…” Glad to know!
Varnaline – “Indian Summer Takedown”
Ryan Adams – “Do Miss America”
George Harrison – “I’d Have You Anytime”
Bloc Party – “Waiting for the 7:18″
Little League Hero – “I-35″
Might be my favorite LLH song. Fitting, considering what’s in store this weekend. See below.
Albert Hammond Jr. – “Bright Young Thing”
He is Legend – “The Creature Walks”
Ben Folds Five – “Sports and Wine”
I always think of the two years I lived in Ben Folds’ native North Carolina when I hear his music. You know how there’s often that unique attachment to artists from your town or state? I’ve felt that with Folds ever since “Brick” blew up when I was in eighth grade at Alexander Graham Middle School in Charlotte, N.C. I’m a fan of plenty of artists from Carolina, but I don’t feel like a hometown fan to any of them but Folds. Strange. Almost as strange as “Sports and Wine.”
Spoon – “Everything Hits at Once”
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – “Billy the Kid”
Stars – “He Lied About Death”
Refused – “New Noise”
Breakdown:
18 songs
7 during commute to work
9 at work
2 during commute home
Tonight is the first night we say goodbye to Little League Hero, one of the best Oklahoma bands of their time.
About seven years back, I spent some late nights at Tony Romanello and Steve Gooch’s rent house in Tulsa stuffing bubble-wrapped manila envelopes with CDs by Little League Hero and the rest of their little record label’s stellar roster. Those nights wound up being the building blocks of why I feel the way I feel about music today. I never would’ve started my own label or managed bands if it wasn’t for Tony and Gooch and Engine Shed Records. Needless to say, I’d be a very different person today if they hadn’t had me over to stuff envelopes when I was just a kid working at a record store and writing sloppy album reviews for local rags.
(I can’t continue without giving props to Joe Cinocca and Yawn Records for hooking me up with the Engine Shed dudes in the first place. So, props to Joe!)
Stuffing those envelopes was a romantic adventure for me. It was noble and just and ridiculously exciting. I was giving people a chance to hear music I felt simply had to be heard. I was part of something bigger than myself.
I’ve seen how hundreds of labels work in the years since then. There’s no doubt Tony and Steve did it up right for their bands, even without any money, a staff or many connections in the industry. They cared and they loved the music they released. That’s rare.
Cool thing about them was they had some of the best ears around. Just check the Engine Shed catalog – it’s chock full of some of the best albums ever made in this state. Few albums have lived up to Engine Shed releases like Look! by The Pistol Arrows, Start by Little League Hero, Counting Stars by Tony Romanello and Shades of Grey by his band, TRB.
Engine Shed also put out a record by a band called Standing on Zero that never really did much outside Tulsa, but they did manage to write a few of my favorite indie pop songs to this day. The songwriter, Mike Taylor, was a regular customer at the record store where Gooch and I worked. When Standing on Zero’s bass player left after its Engine Shed release came out, I somehow wound up having a hand in helping my buddy Jarrod Major replace the departed bassist. Jarrod and I were 17 or 18 at the time, and these guys were all in their mid-20s. That was kind of a big deal for us, as ridiculous as it sounds.
And I never thought about it until now, but SOZ was one of the first bands I was involved with outside of writing about them. That’s pretty monumental considering I spent most of my college years trying to help artists of all types by doing more for them than just writing an honest review of their music. So, for what it’s worth, thanks SOZ.
Anyhow, back to this weekend’s farewell Little League gigs at The Speakeasy.
I’ve thought about Engine Shed at each of the dozens of Little League Hero shows I’ve seen since the label folded. I think they’re the only ones, aside from Tony, who are still playing as the same entity that was part of that special Engine Shed adventure.
I’ll clap for all the Engine Shed bands when LLH walks off the stage for the last time this weekend. All good things end sometime. I’m just glad I had a small hand – even a pinky – in it.
The Coral is one of the rare bands that’s dominated the UK charts in recent years without making that all-too-predictable blogger-driven splash on our side of the pond. Considering the track record Brit bands have had here lately (the over-hyped, one-and-done special) – it’s probably a good thing The Coral never caught on in America. Seems it gave them a chance to blossom into the band most people thought they’d become when they released this self-titled debut six years ago. To me, this album always sounded like some sea-shanty version of The Doors that was bizarre enough to freak you out to the point that it impressed the hell out of you.
The records between now and then haven’t lived up to the promise of the debut, but the band boasts that a new album on the way this year is the one they’ve wanted to make since they formed a decade ago. They say they’re all about the songs now and less about the frantic psycho-rock that had seemed to consume them lately. Sounds fine by me. The new single is damn impressive, and I wouldn’t have sought it out and heard it unless this old gem showed up in the playlist today. Woohoo!
Golden Smog – “Long Time Ago”
The Beatles – “Revolution 1″
U2 – “Red Hill Mining Town”
David Bowie – “Oh! You Pretty Things”
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – “Took Out a Loan”
Not a dull moment on this record. A diamond in what was mostly a rough rock year in 2007.
Breakdown:
9 songs
2 during commute to work
7 at work
0 during commute home
Dust Bowl 2008 hit the OKShitty metro today. I was too freaked out to listen to music on the way home because I couldn’t see the skyline. Guess that’s one reason to be glad I didn’t move to Los Angeles, where kids ask: “Mommy, why is the sky olive?”
To quote a regular customer at the record store where I once worked: “Listening to album tracks by The Beatles is like discovering your woman has another hole to stick it in.”
I’ll never forget that line no matter what degree of Alzheimer’s I suffer from or what type of anvil dents my skull.
Elvis Costello – “Tear Off Your Own Head”
The Clash – “Brand New Cadillac”
Blue October – “Into the Ocean”
Led Zeppelin – “No Quarter”
Jimmy Eat World – “Kill”
Injected – “Misunderstood”
And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – “Homage”
And You WIll Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – “Days of Being Wild”
Starlight Mints – “Pulling Out My Hair”
Flickerstick – “Catholic Scars and Chocolate Bars”
Ryan Adams – “The Drugs Are Not Working”
The Flaming Lips – “Free Radicals”
Radiohead – “Sulk”
This was once my favorite song. I tried to remember why this afternoon and failed. The Bends remains one of the ten best albums ever made, even if I’ve divorced “Sulk.”
Uncle Tupelo – “Grindstone”
Wilco – “Hummingbird (live)”
Didn’t care much for A Ghost is Born the first time I heard it. Or the second. Or third. I pretty much gave up on the album for about six months until I heard some bootlegs of the songs live. This was one of them, and it completely changed everything. Now I worship Ghost just as much as the rest of the Wilco catalog.
Led Zeppelin – “The Songs Remains the Same”
Clearly the best opening songs in the history of rock and roll. If you want to argue about it, I’ll sick the hounds on you.
Shuggie Otis – “Happy House”
Rewake – “Homeless Genius”
Stevie Wonder – “You’ve Got It Bad Girl”
Wilco – “I’m Always in Love”
The Fags – “Rockstar”
Paul McCartney – “Only Mama Knows”
Never cared much for Wings, but this song is what I wish they would’ve sounded like.
Golden Smog – “5-22-02″
Breakdown:
27 songs
8 during commute to work (had a morning assignment)
16 at work
3 during commute home
I spent most of the morning with a city sewer worker for a profile story. Once we got all the sewer chatter out of the way, we wound up talking tunes. It was refreshing to hear such a simple man talk so passionately about the music he’s loved his whole life. There wasn’t a bit of pretense or cynicism coming from this guy. He loves music unconditionally. Wish I knew more like him.
A breezy, booze-stained night at SXSW 2008. Free beers everywhere. Whiskey, too. A sloppy crowd of tattooed cowpunk types was piling into the backyard amphitheater at Red Eyed Fly. Seemed like the perfect storm for my first Lucero live experience. I was pumped.
We dropped anchor in front of a pool of 24 oz. Lone Star beers and plowed through a few of those suckers before Lucero hit the stage (later, the bass player would literally hit the stage). I was nice and numb by the time Ben Nichols and Co. stumbled in, but I’d soon witness a staggering debacle of drunken chaos that would make every booze-fueled embarrassment of my short life seem like child’s play.
Nichols made it through about two songs (and took three shots) before his voice gave out. He knew it was gone, so he didn’t bother trying to sing. Just cracked an “I’m guilty, but I don’t care” smile and shook his head at the rest of the band. They found his sorry condition equally hilarious, even as the guitarist swayed back and forth like a seesaw and drooled. Yeah, drooled. What a mess of a man. The bass player knew he was in a worthless state and had propped himself up against the back wall of the stage as a precaution. But he’d still stumble forward from time to time for no apparent reason. Eventually, he fell face down. Twice. The drummer was actually pretty solid and was clearly the only remotely sober one of the group. Nichols couldn’t sing, but he managed to to tell the crowd at least half a dozen times that he’d been “drinking since two in the afternoon.” And then he’d take another shot and light another cigarette. Completely shameless. The trainwreck was twice as entertaining as the few moments they actually hit stride, for better or worse.
Only took about three songs for us to proclaim Lucero the Drunkest Band of All Time. That’s a dubious distinction considering the folks I was with at the show. Until then, the Drunkest Band of All Time title was held by The Feds thanks to a show they put on a few years back that we all attended. It ended with a droning encore that included no actual songs but was highlighted by Matt Wright playing his guitar with the penis of a Bowling For Soup roadie who had wandered onstage.
We stumbled out of the venue midway through the Lucero set (but not until one of my comrades smoked some hash with an attorney in plain view of 500 people – ah, Austin) and saw the Ludo clan on the street. We mobbed them, and I mumbled some hogwash about Wilco to Tim Convy (fellow Wilco obsessive and Ludo Moog man). That’s pretty much the last thing I remember about the Lucero show, aside from hijacking my buddy’s Ford Contour and driving to Jack in the Box to order ten tacos at 4:30 a.m.
Thanks, Lucero. See you in Arkansas on May 1.
Fugazi – “Suggestion”
Smashing Pumpkins – “Luna”
Doves – “A House”
Head Automatica – “Please, Please, Please (Young Hollywood)”
Jesse Malin – “Lucinda”
Tom Waits – “So It Goes”
Glassjaw – “Trailer Park Jesus”
George Harrison – “Thanks for the Pepperoni”
Head Automatica – “Laughing at You”
Lots of Daryl Palumbo in the shuffle today…
Pete Yorn – “Just Another”
It’s 11:12 a.m. and I want metal. I get Pete Yorn instead. I get a Pete Yorn song I hate. Not wise to deprive a man of his metal, you pansy anti-metal iPod. Grow balls.
Josh Rouse – “Carolina”
Damnit to hell! I’m in no mood to listen to a song that begins: “Down in Tennessee / sits a girl alone.” I love this song, just can’t stomach it right now. But I’ll suffer through it; maybe I’ll calm down.
Damnit again: “In the Nashville sky / sits a diamond bright.” Fuck that nonsense. Next.
Jeff Buckley – “Back in N.Y.C.”
Singer-songwriter invasion 2008. Oh well. At least this song has some nuts to it.
The Thrills – “Saturday Night”
Attention all Affliction-shirt-wearing, Jagerbombing dudebros: “Broken beer bottles / thrown like American footballs / Hey, it’s just jocks high on hormones / Is this what they call hate on a Saturday night?” Yes, yes it is.
Social Distortion – “Ring of Fire”
Pearl Jam – “Glorified G”
AC/DC – “You Shook Me All Night Long”
Minus the Bear – “Pig War”
Mastodon – “Bladecatcher”
Finally. 1:40 p.m. is the best moment of the day thus far. Metal makes me happy when I’m stuck at the little gray desk in the big black tower.
AC/DC – “Back in Black”
Blue October – “You Make Me Smile”
Big Star – “In The Street”
The Jayhawks – “Smile”
Danny Grady – “Stay Gold”
Yet another D Grady song that’ll never see the light of day. Depressing. One of the best songs I’ve heard in the past year, and I’m one of a dozen people who has heard it. Not right.
Kill Radio – “Raised on Whip Cream”
Rose Hill Drive – “Off to the Games”
Little League Hero – “The Trick”
LLH’s last show ever is this weekend. I’ve been going to way too many “last shows” lately, it seems.
Starsailor – “At the End of a Show”
Okkervil River – “Missing Children”
Band of Horses – “Is There A Ghost”
Breakdown:
30 songs
2 during commute to work
26 at work
4 during commute home
There are four dead people (that I know of) in this playlist. Two died of cancer, one drowned in a river and the other drowned in booze. On that note, I’m off for a night of second-hand smoking, swimming and heavy drinking. A moron once told me the only way to beat death is at his own game. Apparently, I listened.
