Jazz and sunroofs

Wilco – “Far, Far Away”

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 her and 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?

Breakdown: 24 songs, three locations

Meat on a Monday

Uncle Tupelo – “Gun”

Starting the week off right…

Doves – “M62″

Kenna – “Red Man”

Injected – “Dawn”

Pearl Jam – “Dissident”

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!

Weekend starts when?

Hey Mercedes – “Our Weekend Starts on Wednesday”

Jay Farrar – “Damn Shame”

The Clash – “Clampdown”

The Clash – “Lost in the Supermarket”

The Feds – “Tonight Inside”

Jay Farrar – “Vitamins”

Ryan Adams – “29″

The Fags – “Greatest Movie Ending”

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.

Breakdown:

29 songs

3 during commute to work

25 at work

1 during commute home

Short on time. No diatribe today.

An olive sky

The Stills – “Gender Bombs”

Jeff Buckley – “New Year’s Prayer”

Radiohead – “The National Anthem”

The Coral – “I Remember When”

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?”