You're Never Gonna Believe Who This Is

Seriously. Listen to this cover of Radiohead's "Optimistic" and see if you can tell who it is. I happen to think it's a great cover, and was totally shocked when I found out who it was.

Optimistic.mp3

By the way, I heard this on Brian Ibbott's excellent Coverville podcast. So, if you listen to Coverville and heard it there too (or if by some unbelievable coincidence you own this album), no fair guessing. And if you didn't, well, you should be listening to Coverville.

24-Hour Turnaround

Yesterday's funk has passed...

1. I've got a bunch a houses to look at tomorrow.
2. Nothing to be done about this, but at least I'll get back to The HBG in a few weeks.
3. The pageantry is over, now the real battle begins.
4. "It's merely a flesh wound!"
5. Times of clouds and sun, high 71 degrees.

Plus the draft of the report is almost done, I've got good new music to listen to, and the office closes early today. I am, to quote Dan Wilson, feeling strangely fine.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Memetics: The EW Music List

Like the movie list, the music list ends up almost entirely bold-faced. More than movies or books, I love music, and there is very little of importance or "quality" (however defined) that I don't have -- at least when it comes to the rock spectrum that Entertainment Weekly chronicles.

Much of what I don't have, I used to have but lost in the fire and never managed/bothered to reacquire.

1. Purple Rain Prince and the Revolution (1984)
2. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill Lauryn Hill (1998)
3. Achtung Baby U2 (1991)
4. The College Dropout Kanye West (2004)
5. Madonna Madonna (1983)
6. American Idiot Green Day (2004)
7. The Blueprint Jay-Z (2001)
8. Graceland Paul Simon (1986)
9. Back to Black Amy Winehouse (2007)
10. In Rainbows Radiohead (2007)
11. MTV Unplugged in New York Nirvana (1994)
12. Stankonia OutKast (2000)
13. You Are Free Cat Power (2003)
14. Disintegration The Cure (1989)
15. The Marshall Mathers LP Eminem (2000)
16. Rain Dogs Tom Waits (1985)
17. Odelay Beck (1996)
18. People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm A Tribe Called Quest (1990)
19. Dangerously in Love Beyoncé (2003)
20. Tidal Fiona Apple (1996)
21. The Emancipation of Mimi Mariah Carey (2005)
22. 3 Feet High and Rising De La Soul (1989)
23. The Soft Bulletin The Flaming Lips (1999)
24. Come On Over Shania Twain (1997)
25. Turn On the Bright Lights Interpol (2002)
26. Time Out of Mind Bob Dylan (1997)
27. Funeral Arcade Fire (2004)
28. Illmatic Nas (1994)
29. Breakaway Kelly Clarkson (2004)
30. Appetite for Destruction Guns N' Roses (1987)
31. FutureSex/LoveSounds Justin Timberlake (2006)
32. Life's Rich Pageant R.E.M. (1985)
33. As I Am Alicia Keys (2007)
34. Is This It The Strokes (2001)
35. Jagged Little Pill Alanis Morissette (1995)
36. CrazySexyCool TLC (1994)
37. The Moon & Antarctica Modest Mouse (2000)
38. Raising Hell Run-DMC (1986)
39. Sheryl Crow Sheryl Crow (1996)
40. Ready to Die The Notorious B.I.G. (1994)
41. Legend Bob Marley and the Wailers (1984)
42. Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) Wu-Tang Clan (1993)
43. Paul's Boutique Beastie Boys (1989)
44. Car Wheels on a Gravel Road Lucinda Williams (1998)
45. If You're Feeling Sinister Belle and Sebastian (1996)
46. Homogenic Björk (1997)
47. Exile in Guyville Liz Phair (1993)
48. American IV: The Man Comes Around Johnny Cash (2002)
49. A Rush of Blood to the Head Coldplay (2002)
50. Sounds of Silver LCD Soundsystem (2007)
51. The Score Fugees (1996)
52. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Spoon (2007)
53. King of America Elvis Costello (1986)
54. Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 Janet Jackson (1989)
55. It Takes a Nation of Millions... Public Enemy (1988)
56. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Wilco (2002)
57. Harvest Moon Neil Young (1992)
58. Surfer Rosa The Pixies (1988)
59. Ray of Light Madonna (1998)
60. Crooked Rain Crooked Rain Pavement (1994)
61. Paid in Full Eric B. & Rakim (1987)
62. OK Computer Radiohead (1997)
63. The Joshua Tree U2 (1987)
64. Mama's Gun Erykah Badu (2000)
65. Elephant The White Stripes (2003)
66. The Chronic Dr. Dre (1992)
67. Metallica Metallica (1991)
68. Wrecking Ball Emmylou Harris (1995)
69. Give Up The Postal Service (2003)
70. My Life Mary J. Blige (1994)
71. Rock Steady No Doubt (2001)
72. 1984 Van Halen (1984)
73. The Queen is Dead Smiths (1986)
74. Play Moby (1999)
75. Born in the U.S.A. Bruce Springsteen (1984)
76. Heartbreaker Ryan Adams (2000)
77. Dummy Portishead (1994)
78. Vs. Pearl Jam (1991)
79. Let It Be The Replacements (1984)
80. Back to Basics Christina Aguilera (2006)
81. The Downward Spiral Nine Inch Nails (1994)
82. Grace Jeff Buckley (1994)
83. Learning to Crawl The Pretenders (1984)
84. Low-Life New Order (1985)
85. Home Dixie Chicks (2002)
86. Loveless My Bloody Valentine (1991)
87. All Eyez on Me 2Pac (1996)
88. So Peter Gabriel (1986)
89. Bachelor No. 2 Aimee Mann (2000)
90. Toxicity System of a Down (2001)
91. Siamese Dream Smashing Pumpkins (1993)
92. The Writing's on the Wall Destiny’s Child (1999)
93. Either/Or Elliott Smith (1997)
94. Synchronicity The Police (1983)
95. Trap Muzik T.I. (2003)
96. Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea PJ Harvey (2000)
97. Britney Britney Spears (2001)
98. Transatlanticism Death Cab for Cutie (2003)
99. Live Through This Hole (1994)
100. Faith George Michael (1987)

After doing the book list I am not at all surprised that of the 28 albums I don't have, 19 are by female artists or bands fronted by women.

Music Friday: Crazy Cambodian Garage Rock

Yes It Does

Wanna hear something really cool? Check this out:

Cambodian Rocks

My pal JoeyX mentioned this album on The Well the other day. It's a compilation of Cambodian psychedelic and garage rock from the late 60s and early 70s that was "compiled by an American tourist named Paul Wheeler from some cassettes he bought in Phnom Penh."

WFMU originally posted the tracks without any attribution (that's the way they are on the album) but thanks to the power of the Internet the song & artist information has been filled in. It's great stuff, full of fuzzy guitars and Farfisa licks that sound like they were lifted straight off the Nuggets record. Play it at your next party and I guarantee you'll have people asking about it once they stop dancing to it.

Random Thoughts After Listening to 10 Minutes of the Light Classic Rock Station

1. As much as I hate the country station that's usually on in the shop, I would gladly listen to that "stick a boot in your ass" song a hundred times instead of being subjected to "All Out Of Love" even once.

2. The line "she blew my nose, and then she blew my mind" confused the hell out of me when I was a little kid.

3. When you open a dictionary to the page that has the word "funky" on it, there ought to be a little microchip that plays the opening bars of "Superstition."

4. If I was walking down the street one day, and I asked a man what the time was that was on his watch, and he said "does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?" I would punch him in the throat.

An Email to Mike Doughty: The Harrisburg Show and "Super Bon Bon"

Mike,

I was at your free show at the Abbey at Appalachian Brewing Company in Harrisburg over the weekend. I've been a fan since the Soul Coughing days -- I doubt there's been a record over the last year that I anticipated more than Golden Delicious -- and have been lucky to see you twice in central PA over the last few months (thanks for that -- it seems like no one ever comes to the mid-state at all, and here you are twice).

I really enjoyed the set at ABC (and was very psyched you and Scrap played "Madeline and Nine" since you didn't in Lancaster), but I have to say I was bummed by some of the in-between song comments you made. Since you didn't seem to be playing off a playlist, lots of people shouted song suggestions in between songs, and you'd respond by saying "yes," "no," "maybe," etc. From the live recordings I've heard of your shows, and from the show in Lancaster, I'd say you're one of the best musicians around when it comes to interacting with the crowd. You respond to fans' comments, joke around, etc. It's so much more fun than watching a guy who just stands on stage, plays his songs, and then leaves, and it really makes people in the crowd feel more connected to you and to the show.

At least two different times on Saturday, though, you responded to people shouting out requests for Soul Coughing songs by slagging the songs. And not just by saying something like "naah, I'm not gonna play that," or "man am I sick of that one." I believe you referred to "Super Bon Bon" as the worst song you ever wrote, said you were embarrassed by it, apologized to America for writing it, and would never play it again. Or words to that effect.

Obviously I don't know anything about the inner workings of Soul Coughing, so I have no idea of the particulars surrounding that (or any other) song. Obviously it wasn't a positive experience for you, and judging from your most recent blog entry this is far from the first time that you've gotten upset at the crowd for requesting that particular song.

From my standpoint as a fan, though, I love that song. "Super Bon Bon" has long been one of my all-time favorites of yours; it's got a great beat and you can dance to it, and it's taken on a whole new meaning for me recently now that my three year old daughter loves it too. She starts dancing and singing along whenever it comes on. It's awesome and it puts you on par with Gustafer Yellowgold and Ramones in her eyes -- heady company indeed.

In an essay published after Kurt Cobain's death, New Yorker music writer Alex Ross wrote this:

"Music is robbed of its intentions and associations as it goes out into the great wide open; like a rumor passed through a crowd, it emerges utterly changed. Pop songs become the property of their fans and are marked with the circumstances of their consumption, not their creation."

My brother, who is a musician, disagrees with Ross, and I imagine you might too. But as someone who hasn't created any art which has made it out into "the great wide open" but has consumed his share, I think there's a lot of truth in that statement. I get that you aren't happy with some of the songs you wrote -- I doubt any artist is happy with everything he's created -- and if you don't want to play them, that's cool. But even the songs you dislike have lots of meaning, and positive associations, to me and other fans. The act of listening to a song is only a small part of the experience that surrounds the song, an experience that changes with every interaction with the song, whether it's listening to the original CD, or hearing it live, or done by someone else, or used to market a TV show or a video game or a drug-addled blowhard on the radio.

The next time I put on Irresistible Bliss will I be thinking, "which other songs on this record does Mike hate"? Maybe. Ross might say that's just another circumstance that influences my consumption, and he'd be right, but it'll still be a bummer.

Don't get me wrong -- I had a great time at the show. I hope you guys enjoyed playing the Hbg and the next time you're on tour you'll consider the ABC again. If you do, I'll be there digging whatever you play, and if you don't, I'll go to whatever venue in a two-hour radius you do end up at. And I feel weird writing an email to you in which I'm basically whining about what was a really small part of show that was awesome overall. I just wish you hadn't felt compelled to share those particular comments with us on Saturday night -- it was the only downer moment (for me) of a great evening.

Best,

Christian Ruzich

Music Friday: Music Intelligence Quiz

Here's a fun little music quiz created by eMusic. It's a mix of pretty easy questions and "who the hell knows that?" stuff.

Music Intelligence Quiz

I scored a 141, just below the "musical magician" level. Not sure how the scoring works, since I got 24 right out of 30. I'm guessing some questions are weighted differently than others. If you care, the ones I got wrong were #5, #9, #12, #16, #20, and #27. I'm embarrassed about two of those.

On another musical note, don't forget: Mike Doughty's free show at ABC is this Saturday. It's part of their 11th anniversary festival -- there's live music outside starting at 4:00, and then Doughty and Scrap Livingston play inside at around 9:30, followed by a DJ set by Doughty into the wee hours. Should be a blast!

Music Friday: R. Kelly, the Peeing-est Serial Statutory Rapist In R&B

(Sorry, allegedserial stautory rapist.)

Josh Levin of Slate covers the R. Kelly child pornography trial, and manages to find humor in the trial of a guy accused of (in this instance) of filming himself having sex with (and peeing on) an underage girl -- not the only time he's been accused of this, by a long shot.

Josh Levin's coverage of the R. Kelly trial in Slate

You'll want to bookmark this one; we're only two days in and we've already heard about The Money Store, The 'Little Man' defense, and the vengeance of Sparkle.

How Can a Radio Station...

...play a bumper advertising itself as "rock and roll without the hard edge," and then follow that up by playing "Walk on the Wild Side"? In fact, "Wild Side" ("but she never lost her head/even when she was giving head") was the last of a three-song set that also contained "Hurts So Good" (sink your teeth right through my bones, baby/let's see what we can do"), and "Ohio" ("what if you knew her and/found her dead on the ground").

I guess the hard edge they're avoiding is musical, not lyrical.

By the way, in case anyone wonders about the effect 'American Idol' has on American commercial radio, they just played "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" and "Sharp Dressed Man," both of which were sung this week on AI. I expect to hear "Teach Your Children" and that One Republic song before the day is out.

Music Friday: Mike Doughty, Chameleon Lancaster, 4/3/08

I went to see Mike Doughty at the Chameleon in Lancaster last night. Despite the poor sound (I've never seen a show there before so I don't know if it's like that all the time or if it was just bad last night), Doughty and his band put on a fine show, heavy on stuff from the new album but with a few Soul Coughing faves and one excellent cover.

Because there is no Doughtybase of shows and set lists (is there?), here's what he played:

Tremendous Brunettes
I Wrote a Song About Your Car
Navigating By the Stars at Night
Circles
St. Louise Is Listening
American Car
Grey Ghost
I Hear the Bells
Wednesday (No Se Apoye)
More Bacon Than the Pan Can Handle (with Mike playing the sampler)
I Just Want the Girl in the Blue Dress to Keep On Dancing
Fort Hood
Ossining (thanks, Candice)
The Gambler (the Kenny Rogers classic)
Put It Down
27 Jennifers
Looking at the World From the Bottom of a Well

I would loved to hear some other old stuff, like "Only Answer" or "Thank You Lord For Sending Me the F Train," but the only thing I'm really bummed he didn't play was "Madeline and Nine":

All my life I’ve been slow and senseless
Not struck dumb, I’m just dumb that’s all
But I can give you the constellations
Lay down here and we’ll count them all

But who knows, maybe I'll get to hear him play it when he plays for free at ABC Brewery in May as Jersey Mike comes through with another fantastic live show. You know I'll be there!

I Have April 26th in the "When Muxtape Gets Shut Down" Pool

There is no possible way in hell that Muxtape is legal. A site that lets you upload any song you want to a 12-song "mixtape" which anyone can then stream online? Nuh uh. Not even if you include this:

"By uploading a song you agree that you have permission to let Muxtape use it."

Yeah, like that's going to assuage an industry known to sue children over downloading music.

Buy hey, it'll be fun while it lasts. Here's mine, a Muxtape version of my "imaginary set list" from a few weeks back:

Part One: We Dig For The Bones Of An Idol
Part Two: It's All A Sweet Fleeting Feeling

Quiz Answers

Here are the answers to Friday's lyrics quiz:

1. The Cure, "In Between Days"
2. Human League, "Don't You Want Me"
3. a-ha, "Take On Me"
4. John Cougar Mellencamp, "Pink Houses"
5. Bad Brains, "Pay to Cum"
6. Violent Femmes, "Kiss Off"
7. The Smiths, "How Soon Is Now?"
8. R.E.M., "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)"
9. Talking Heads, "Life During Wartime"
10. Police, "Every Breath You Take"

Hope you enjoyed this, I'll try to remember to post another one later.

Music Friday: Lyrics Quiz

A friend on The Well posted a link to this fun lyrics quiz, which asks you to identify the song by a list of all the words in the song, listed alphabetically. So for a little fun today I thought I'd do the same thing, with a twist. These aren't just lyrics lists, they're tag clouds (made at tagcrowd.com) generated from the lyrics, so they show the frequency of each word's use.

Let's kick it early 80s style, shall we?

1.

a and away back be between can't child choice come could couldn't cry deep die disappear don't felt from froze go got her here i in inside is it just know like made me old on said scared see shivered so that to today true walk want was when why without wrong yesterday you your

created at TagCrowd.com

2.

a and are around as baby back bar be been believe better both but can can't change changed cocktail do don't down either even feet find five for forget good got has have hear i i'd in into is it knew know late later life live love me met mind much must my need new now oh on or out own place put say see so someone sorry still success such that the then think time times to too true turned up waitress want we were what when where who will with won't working world years you you'd you've your

created at TagCrowd.com

3.

a after all and another anyway away be better but coming day don't ends find for gone got i i'll i'm i've in is it just know learning life live love me my needless no odds ok on or play remember safe say shying slowly so sorry stumbling take talking than that the things to today two what worries you you're

created at TagCrowd.com

4.

'cause a ain't america an and at baby be bills black boy but came can cat cause could crazy destination do down else everything for free front gonna good got greasy gulf hair he her hey home houses i in interstate it just kill kinda kitchen know like little livin looks lord losers man me more must my neighborhood no of oh old ooh pays people pink president remember rise says see simple slop smile so some station that the there they thinks this those thrills to told vacation went what when winners with woman work yeah you you're younger

created at TagCrowd.com

5.

a ago all and apart be behind bloody by came chance choose collision cum dance decision dismay don't end fantasy fear fight filled find for from got hear hearts i in inside is it just know left listen long lost make manned minds must my near no not now of our ours pay peace perfectly piece play precision right see sing slow so soon stick take that the they things this time to together up want we we'll were what when will wisdom with world write

created at TagCrowd.com

6.

a all and back bad be behind but can care cause could darling did distressed do don't down eight enough everything family five for forget four get gets god habit happen headaches heartache hey hope hurt i i'm impressed into is it just kid kiss know left lonely lost love me mention mind my need nine no not off oh on one permanent person record rough see seven sick situation six so someone sorrow stare start take talk ten that the them then they they'll this three time to tomorrow two well what who'd will won't yeah you you're your

created at TagCrowd.com

7.

a about all already am and be can club could criminally cry die do does else everybody exactly go gone gonna happen heir home hope how human i i've if in is it just leave like long loved loves mean meet mouth my need nothing now of on own particular really say see shut shyness so somebody son stand that the there things to too vulgar waited want way well when who wrong you you'd your

created at TagCrowd.com

8.

a another are away bend bound build built but call choice cities city conversation did dimmed down dream driving eastern follow for girl go his home i i'm is isn't lines man me mine mountain never not ocean of on party river rivers rocks sang sorry suggestion suit the there these third this to trees upon waited wash will wise without words you your yourself

created at TagCrowd.com

9.

a about aching address ain't alive all and are around be better burned but by can't careful cbgb college couple dancing day disco don't dress driving exhausted follow fooling for get go good got grave heard hope housewives i i'd i've in is it know last letter like lived make many maybe me might my name next night no nobody not notebooks now of off or over party pittsburgh ready receiver see shiver sleep so some somebody sound stay that the think this time to transit try up used want watch we weapons what where why with write you your

created at TagCrowd.com

10.

a aches and around at baby be been belong bond break breath but can can't claim cold crying day dream embrace every face fake feel for game gone heart i i'll it keep long look lost make me move my night o only play please poor replace say see since single smile so stake stay step take to trace vow watching with without word you you've your

created at TagCrowd.com

----------

Good luck! Results on Monday.

Music Friday: Imaginary Set List

It's not imminent or anything, but I've been thinking about learning to play the guitar or some other stringed instrument.

Actually, let me back up -- I haven't been thinking about learning to play as much as I've been thinking about playing. The difference between the two is subtle but large. In the former case, I put in a bunch of time learning chords and fingering techniques, spend weeks learning how to pick out "Camptown Races," and eventually work my way up to "This Land Is Your Land" or something; in the latter, I pick up a guitar, tune it to Open C, and rock out severely. You can guess which is more appealing to me.

Every so often I come across a song that I love, and I think, "geez, I wish I could play that." The second thing I think is, "geez, I wish I had a place where I could write down all these songs, since my brain leaks like a sieve and I can't remember any of them 5 minutes after I thought of them."

It only took me a year to realize that there really is no better use for one's own blog than as a repository of lists of importance only to oneself. As an example let me point you to the list of every movie I've seen in the last four years.

So, herewith, the set list for the concert I'm totally going to give once I learn how to play the guitar:

Billy Bragg, "Greetings to the New Brunette"
Mike Doughty, "Madeline and Nine"
Everclear, "Santa Monica"
The Knitters, "Cryin' But My Tears Are Far Away"
Bob Dylan, "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry"
Bottle Rockets, "Welfare Music"
The Shins, "Young Pilgrims"
Old 97's, "Big Brown Eyes"
Steve Earle, "Guitar Town"
Bruce Springsteen, "Open All Night"
Whiskeytown, "Dancing With the Women at the Bar"
Warren Zevon, "Carmelita"
Flying Burrito Brothers, "Hot Burrito #1" ("I'm Your Toy")
Gear Daddies, "Color of Her Eyes"
Kleenex Girl Wonder, "Tendency Right Foot Forward"
The Beatles, "I've Just Seen A Face"
White Stripes, "Fell in Love With a Girl"

And for my encore:

Bon Jovi, "Wanted Dead or Alive"
The Fountains of Wayne arrangement of "...Baby One More Time"
The Replacements, "Here Comes a Regular"
Wilco, "Passenger Side"/"California Stars"

I figure I'll have these songs ready in about 2015 or so, so check back then!

Music Friday: Old 97's

I'm taking a break from listening to nothing but Wilco (thanks to Hidden Track, where I DL'ed all five Riviera shows) to check out the brand-new Old 97's song, "Dance With Me":

Click here to play

After four years without any new studio stuff, I was very excited to hear something new from Rhett and the boys, and while I won't say it was worth the wait (it's only one song, after all), it's pretty good. It's got a great tango beat and the 97's Texas bar-band vibe. After the disappointing 'Drag It Up' I'm happy to hear they're going back to what they did so well on 'Fight Songs' and 'Satellite Rides.'

Of course things haven't been totally quiet on the 97's front -- 2005's 'Alive & Wired' was a nice treat, especially for those of us who live in a place where we're unlikely to get a chance to see these guys live, and Rhett's 2006 solo album 'The Believer' had some great stuff, including reworkings of "Singular Girl" and "Question." But none of it is quite the same as a full-blown, full-band studio album.

Old 97's make up 1/3 of the triumvirate of great Americana bands in my mind, alongside Wilco and Whiskeytown, and 1996-97 was their golden age. The Old 97s released 'Wreck Your Life' in the spring of '96, and Wilco's epic 'Being There' came out that fall. The next summer saw the 97's 'Too Far To Care' and Whiskeytown's 'Stranger's Almanac.' Since then all three bands have moved away from the sound of those albums: Wilco toward more experimental stuff, the 97's toward poppier sounds, and once Whiskeytown broke up we were subjected to whatever Ryan Adams happened to decide to record and release.

Other than a brief moment in the spring of 2004 ('A Ghost Is Born,' 'Drag It Up,' and 'Love Is Hell') we haven't seen that sort of synchronicity again, but now with Wilco touring behind 'Sky Blue Sky,' the 97's releasing 'Blame It On Gravity' and hitting the road, and new albums from Adams, both with and without the Cardinals (plus persistent rumors of a Whiskeytown reunion), it's looking like 2008 is going to be a good year.

Wilco On SNL

If, like me, you were dumb and forgot to set the DVR to record Wilco's appearance on SNL over the weekend, then thank God for the Internet:



They sound great, and the horns are a nice addition. They look like they're having a blast, too.

Live Music: Wilco

We ventured into the wilds of Philadelphia this weekend to see Wilco at the Tower Theater. This was my birthday present to DJo -- Wilco is the only band she's interested in seeing live, and this is the fourth or fifth time we've seen them (plus one Jeff Tweedy solo show). Since we had to bail on her birthday dinner last weekend thanks to a sick kid, we went out beforehand as well (to Valanni, home of Medi-Latin tapas. No energy for a full review, but it was excellent).

The kids? Oh, we left them somewhere in New Jersey, in the capable hands of DJo's aunt, uncle, and three tween/teen girls. I don't think Vivi's feet hit the ground for the entire weekend.

We were able to take public transit to both the restaurant and the concert, which was very nice. Philly doesn't have the most complete subway system, but the restaurant was block from one stop and the the theater was right near a terminal, so, easy-peasy. We took the PATCO speed line home and were snug in our beds by 12:30 (more on that later).

This was the first time we'd seen Wilco in a theater. After several shows at the Fillmore, and one awesome (though sparsely-attended) show at 4th & B in San Diego, it was strange to have a seat to sit in. We ended up standing for the whole show anyway, but it was much more constrained than usual. Unfortunately that didn't totally prevent a small contingent of shroom-dropping yahoos from invading other people's personal space in the name of "the show, man." I swear, once Phish broke up, the crowds at Wilco shows have been getting more and more annoying (more on that later, too).

Jeff and the boys

The band was, as usual, extremely tight. The addition of Nels Cline (and Pat Sansone) a few years back has really changed their sound. The changes started on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and continued on A Ghost Is Born, but bringing Cline on for the subsequent tour and the recording of Sky Blue Sky made the transformation complete. I saw these guys referred to as "the American Radiohead" not long ago. I think that's overstating things (and I say that as a huge Wilco fan) but I understand where the sentiment comes from. I can't think of another band which has evolved so completely, and successfully, as these guys. In that respect I think they do compare favorably with a band like Radiohead.

Anyway, back to the show. We sat down in time to hear opener John Doe do his last three songs, and I have to say I was disappointed. Apparently he did some X songs during the set, and I would have loved to hear that. What I heard instead was a guy sort of playing out the string, playing uninspired roots-rock. And, to top it off, he has a woman singing with him with a faded copy of Exene's voice. I mean, I guess it's good that he realizes that he needs someone like that to act as a counterpoint, but it just made me sad I never got a chance to see X.

Wilco opened their set with one song from Being There ("Sunken Treasure") and three of the Woody Guthrie Songs that they recorded with Billy Bragg ("Remember the Mountain Bed," "Airline to Heaven," and "Hesitating Beauty"), and then everything else they played was from the last four albums until the encore, which was the new single ("I Hate It Here"), a classic two-fer from Being There ("Red Eyed & Blue" and "I Got You (At the End of the Century)," which used to open shows) and one last Woody song ("Hoodoo Voodoo"). It was a little disappointing to hear nothing from AM (no "Passenger Side," for God's sake!) and so little from Being There, but it was a pleasure to watch Cline and Sansone play. It's really a completely different band than I started seeing in the late 90s -- it is often hard to believe that this is the same band that did "I Must Be High" and "Box Full of Letters" -- and I think it's a testament to Jeff Tweedy that he's been able to explore new musical styles, and bring new fans to the band, without completely alienating long-time fans.

I had only two small complaints about the evening. The first was the length of the show. Wilco went on promptly at 9:00 (yay!) and the house lights came up at 11:05 (boo!). It's a little strange to be complaining about a two-hour show but I'm used to some real marathons from these guys, and Jeff even told the crowd "we have a long program for you this evening." They ended up only playing one encore instead of the normal two (or three), and it made me wonder if maybe the Tower Theater has an 11:00 curfew?

The other complaint I had was about the guy standing behind us. It was obvious from the beginning of the show that he was a huge fan -- he was excitedly talking to his girlfriend/wife about the band before the show started, and he managed to ID the first few songs from the very first notes -- so I was predisposed to like him. The problem was, he liked to sing. Really loudly. And he knew all (and I do mean all) the lyrics. Now I know most Wilco lyrics, and I enjoy singing along in sing-alongy parts of the show, and for most of the rest of the show I'm singing to myself, so I understand that singing along is part of the enjoyment of the show for lots of people. But this guy was so fucking loud that by about the fourth song he was really getting on our nerves, to the point where I considered asking if he wanted to trade seats with me so he'd be in front of me instead of singing in my ear.

The singing came with two other problems -- a need to yell "WOOOOOO" as loud as possible during just about any quiet part of any song, and a complete disregard for lyrical content when singing along, which is weird for someone who seemed like such a big fan (and who obviously knew all the words). This reached a ridiculous nadir when, at the end of "She's A Jar," he sang along thusly:

She's a jar, with a heavy lid
My pop quiz kid, a sleepy kisser
A pretty war with feelings hid
You know she begs me not to hit her
WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Unfortunately, I am not kidding.

Fortunately, the dates delivered unto me one of those perfect moments that you (or at least I) often think about but never get to act on. At one point DJo went to the bathroom, and I slid over into her spot, which just happened to be directly in front of this guy. I could tell he had moved over a little bit more to be able to see past me (I could tell because, thanks to his voice, I knew exactly where he was standing) so I moved over a bit too. This went on for most of a song, until he finally leaned forward and said, "excuse me, do you think you could move over a bit so I could see?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, am I ruining the show for you?" I asked him. A bit taken aback, he responded that I was. "Well, maybe if you weren't singing so loudly you wouldn't be ruining the show for me."

The look on his face was priceless. After a few beats, he snottily replied, "do you feel better now?" To which I replied, "if you stopped singing so loudly I would feel better," at which point I turned back around to face the stage (and moved over so I wasn't in his way).

I guess it was sort of a dick move on my part. But you know what? He didn't sing nearly as loudly for the rest of the show and I had a much better time because of it.

The Saddest Music in the World

It's been obvious that, over the past few weeks, our visit to the Baltimore Museum of Art has stuck in Zosia's mind. Not to a worrying degree or anything, but this episodes illustrates that she's been spending time thinking about what she saw.

A few days after the museum trip she asked to hear some sad music while we were driving in the car. She's been getting into the music she hears on the radio more & more lately (the other day I taught her to sing along to "Roxanne") but this was the first time she expressed a preference to hear a specific type of music. I scanned around the stations and couldn't find anything that satisfied her criteria for sad music -- I did find Soundgarden's "Burden In My Hand" but I don't think Zosia was listening for lyrical content -- so I told her I'd play her some sad songs when we got home.

While she was in the bath I got the iPod and portable speakers and set them up for her. She was playing with some toys, including an Elmo doll, and I asked if she still

Poor dead Elliott

wanted to hear some sad music and she said she did. So I cued up Elliott Smith's 'XO' record, which would make the Dalai Lama cry, and as Sweet Adeline played I watched for her reaction.

She seemed to be listening as she played, and after a few seconds she said, "this boy is very sad." I was taken aback -- I mean yeah the song is in a minor key and very sad-sounding, but I wasn't expecting her to key in on Smith's state of mind so quickly -- so I asked her what she meant.

"This boy is sad because his brother isn't coming to swim with him," she said. It was at that point I looked at her and saw that she was pointing at her Elmo doll. So, not so much instant empathy with poor Elliott, but who knows, maybe she got her singer songwriters mixed up and was feeling sad about Jeff Buckley?

I’ve Told Them A Hundred Times: Put 'The Duo' First And 'Puppet Show' Last!

So I'm heading over to ABC tonight to see the Benevento/Russo Duo, who are apparently known simply as "the Duo." They're an alternative jazz/rock duo consisting of a keyboard player and a drummer. I have to admit that alternative jazz/rock isn't my usual type of music -- the first time I heard them described that way I was worried I might be in for this:



Or maybe this:



But I grabbed a live recording off of eMusic and was suitably impressed. Jazz/rock, yes, but they stay pretty close to the beat most of the time and rarely find themselves wandering off into places that might have me looking for the exit. There are a ton of clips of them available over on YouTube, but I'm partial to their cover of "Paranoid Android," which I hope they play tonight:



Even if they don't, I'm looking forward to seeing some live music. I used to go to concerts all the time, but even before the kids I had pretty much stopped going. I had just spent too much time in crappy venue paying too much money to see bands who weren't good at playing live. Fortunately since I moved to the Hbg the only place I've seen any live music is the Abbey Bar at the ABC, where the tickets are cheap and the room is awesome. So even if the band sucks (which it rarely does because Jersey Mike wouldn't stand for it), you're guaranteed to have a good time.

Hope to see you there!

Best Music of the Year

Hey, my little last.fm widget is working again! To celebrate, I'll (finally) post my list of the best albums of 2007. This may end up being the last year where I'm exposed to this much new music -- the demise of Oink means it's harder (and more expensive) to seek out everything I want to hear. I'll have to depend on the largesse of my friends, as well as shelling out actual cash money at eMusic and Amazon, to keep up.

I have little reviewlets for the top five, but only sentences for the next ten and the last fifteen only get single words. Post in the comments if you want my take on any of the rest of the albums. Here's the list:

1. Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

Spoon's last album, 'Gimme Fiction,' topped my best-of list for 2005. I haven't gone back and retroactively done top ten lists for previous years (which sounds like something Scraps has probably already done) but if I did I imagine Spoon would join only a handful of other artists (The Replacements, Elvis Costello, Wilco) with multiple top albums. I'm not ready to enshrine Spoon in that pantheon yet, but two great albums is two more than most artists manage, and that doesn't even take into account the earlier albums, which I like though not to the level of these last two.

This album has three great songs ("Don't Make Me a Target," "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb," "The Underdog") and a handful of near-greats. There isn't a weak song on here and this album rewards multiple listens. Also (and I know I'm not the first person to point this out), this album is Exhibit A in the counter-argument to Sasha Frere-Jones' "indy rock has no soul" article from October. For him to namecheck Arcade Fire, Fiery Furnaces, Decembrists, Shins (and worse yet, refer to them as "flagship Indie bands") and not mention Spoon is an omission which is sloppy at best and willful at worst. One listen to "Cherry Bomb," with its Spector-esque tambourine intro and Stax/Volt horn charts, and Frere-Jones' argument crumbles. For that alone this album deserves high praise; the fact that it is solid from top to bottom, and occasionally transcendent makes it worthy of best-of-the-year placement.

2. Radiohead, In Rainbows

Leave aside the whole subverting the dominant paradigm thing for a second and listen to the music. Apparently Radiohead has been playing, and playing with, many of these songs for years. I say "apparently" because I've never seen them live, but before the album dropped people were combing YouTube for performances of the songs which were rumoured to be on the album.

When the album finally did come out, it sounded self-assured, as if it was the result of a group of guys who'd been playing these, and other, songs together for a long time and were totally comfortable with their skills and their sound. It didn't break any new ground the way 'OK Computer' or 'Kid A' did; what it did do was present the Radiohead sound in the best, most entertaining way possible. Oh, yeah, and it totally subverted the dominant paradigm.

(Note: Radiohead is officially docked three points for ripping off Rob Crow so completely on "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" but gets four points back because "House of Cards" can act as Exhibit B in The People vs. Sasha Frere-Jones)

3. Nick Lowe, At My Age

This one came out of left field. I love Nick Lowe, but to me his high-water mark was in the early 80s, when he and Dave Edmunds were doing Rockpile albums, both official and de facto. Since then he's done some interesting stuff, first dabbling in country after marrying Carlene Carter and settling more comfortably into that genre, albeit in singer-songwriter mode, in the 90s.

I enjoyed the last two albums ('Dig My Mood' and 'The Convincer') but nothing he's done over the last few decades measures up to 'At My Age,' a relaxed paean to, well, acting one's age. It distills everything great about Lowe's career -- witty songwriting, quality musicianship, and perfect production -- into just over a half-hour of worderfulness.

4. White Stripes, Icky Thump

The first time I listened to this record I almost couldn't make it all the way through. It seemed to me that Jack White had fallen in love with a particular guitar sound that sounded screechily off-key to me, and it marred just about every song on the album. On the strength of my love for the Stripes, however -- a CD with De Stijl and White Blood Cells got me through some tough months back in 2002, and I've eagerly anticipated every album since -- I gave it several more listens and came around. There's some filler on here ("Rag and Bone," "Conquest") and I could do without "St. Andrew" but the high points are among the Stripes' highest, especially "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do What You're Told)." And is it just me, or has Meg's drumming improved? It's gotten to the point where I don't even notice it anymore.

5. Arctic Monkeys, Favourite Worst Nightmare

I had this whole theory about how Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, and Maximo Park are the Oasis, Blur and Pulp of the 00s, but I couldn't figure out which one was which. 'Favourite' is a tasty chunk of Britpop, doled out in three-minute slices of jerky, angular goodness. It's certainly gratifying when a band succeeds in the face of such monumental hype; they've done a fine job of assembling their obvious influences (Oasis, The Clash, The Strokes, The Jam) into something at once familiar and interesting.

6. The Broken West, I Can't Go On, I'll Go On

Big Starry goodness filtered through the southern California haze.

7. New Pornographers, Challengers

It took me a while to come around on this one but I'll put it up against anything they've done, collectively or on their own.

8. Rilo Kiley, Under the Blacklight

Fleetwood Mac-esque, in the best way possible.

9. Modest Mouse, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank

The first Modest Mouse album I've loved unreservedly, and not just because my three-year-old loves to dance to "Dashboard."

10. They Might Be Giants, The Else

Surprisingly un-gimmicky and mature, except for "The Mesopotamians" which is the TBMG we've known for the last two decades (!)

11. Maximo Park, Our Earthly Pleasures

Best song: "By the Monument."

12. Amy Winehouse, Back to Black

A great argument in favor of heavy drug use and stinkitude.

13. Kaiser Chiefs, Yours Truly Angry Mob

The third of my Britpop trilogy; not quite as accomplished as the other two, but just as catchy.

14. Wilco, Sky Blue Sky

A victim of impossibly high expectations.

15. The Avett Brothers, Emotionalism

Like Old Crow Medicine Show, but better.

16. The Mooney Suzuki, Have Mercy

Loud.

17. Jason Isbell, Sirens of the Ditch

Choogly.

18. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, Living With the Living

Angry.

19. Feist, The Reminder

Pleasant.

20. Band of Horses, Cease to Begin

Martschish (Martschian?).

21. Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, 100 Days, 100 Nights

Groovy.

22. Okkervil River, The Stage Names

Interesting.

23. Bright Eyes, Cassadaga

Wunderkindy.

24. Imperial Teen, The Hair the TV the Baby and the Band

Shimmering.

25. Detroit Cobras, Tied & True

Dirrrty.

Bleeding From the Ears

OK, not literally bleeding from the ears, but it's starting to feel that way.

I think I've mentioned before that the guys in the shop like to listen to the local country music station. Up until a few months ago we used to alternate between that and the "rock that won't embarrass you at work" station, but eventually I think Rich just got sick of hearing Kenny bitch about the radio and now it's all Brad Paisley, all the time.

Although honestly I think an all Brad Paisley station would be better than what we actually get -- at least then I'd hear "Ticks" occasionally. This station has an unbelievably narrow playlist -- I gather from my research that this isn't a country-only phenomenon; what used to be Top 40 back in the day is now more like Top 20. The problem is, when a station only plays a few dozen songs you end up at the mercy of the quality of those songs. Sometimes that's good, but at the moment, when it comes to country music, that SUCKS.

Let me say right off the bat that, in general, I don't like country music. At least, I tend to dislike the kind of country that ends up on the radio; I'm a big fan of alt-country, insurgent country, bluegrass, the Bakersfield sound, and some neotraditional country, none of which gets played these days. But, at the same time I'm a sucker for a good pop song and, no matter how many twangy guitars you pile on top of the current strain of country, that's what a lot of it is. I'm reminded of that every time I hear one of the "throwback" songs they often play: "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy," or "Friends in Low Places" (but not all of them -- I still get angry every time I hear "Have You Forgotten," but probably not for the reason Darryl Worley intended).

So I'm not a country fan, but I am a pop fan. Plus, my relationship with music is such that, after I hear a song a number of times, I'm more disposed to find something good about it. Maybe this is a defense mechanism, or maybe it's just normal behavior; either way the other day I found myself welling up over the emotion in the dad-daughter tearjerker "I Loved Her First," though in my defense I was having a really bad day. But what it means is that usually, when objectionable music is playing in the background, I can sort of tune it out and it doesn't insinuate itself into my brain too much.

But apparently I've been dealing with second-hand country music for too long; last night I was awakened in the middle of the night by the song "Livin' Our Love Song" playing in my head. Have you ever had the song in your head wake you up? It's a bummer. It would be a bummer even if it was "I'm So Bored With the U.S.A." that did it; to have it be this obnoxious Jason Michael Carroll song is pure agony. I have my music collection on my computer and I almost always have something playing (despite what that broken last.fm widget says), but I have to mute it when the phone rings, someone comes into my office, etc., and I often forget to put it back on. No more.

My New Year's resolution is to never have to hear any of these songs again, and I'll write the titles here as a way to (hopefully) purge them from my brain forever. So long to the schmaltz of "Watching Airplanes" and "Stay"; bye bye to the neo-Nashville "How 'Bout Them Cowgirls," "More Than a Memory," and "Time Marches On"; see ya to the unclever topicality of "So Much Cooler Online"; adios to the kneejerk conservatism of "I Miss Mayberry" and "What Do You Think About That." And especially, good riddance to my current least favorite song of all time Kenny Chesney's ode to the wisdom of really old people, "Don't Blink." I will miss the honky-tonk goodness of Josh Tuner's "Firecracker," but every war has its collateral damage.

OK, that's all for now. I'm off to play The Jesus Lizard for the fifth time today to try to get my cranium fully scrubbed out.

Sound Check

So that big black box in at the top of the right-hand column is supposed to list the last ten songs I've listened to. You know, to prove my musical bona fides and, possibly, to inspire you to check out something you might not otherwise have heard.

But for the last month or more, all it's shown is a message saying "cruzich hasn't played any tracks recently," which is just a lie. I've been a music-playing fool, as I explore eMusic, read Idolator's round up of best-of-the-year lists, and hit up my friends and family for new music in the wake of the loss of Oink.

While I try to figure out why I can no longer Scrobble, here are some videos of what I've picked up, and been playing, recently:

The Manchester Orchestra, "Wolves at Night"



Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, "100 Days, 100 Nights"



Ray LaMontagne & Damien Rice, "To Love Somebody" (a long-time favorite)



Looker, "Master's Gone Away"



Benevento/Russo Duo, "Paranoid Android" (cover of the Radiohead song)



Imperial Teen, "Fallen Idol"

Who Is This "They" You're Referring To?

I know the song is four years old, but it still makes me mad every time I hear this lyrics (which is too often, unfortunately, since the shop guys usually have the country station on):

"And they say we shouldn't worry about Bin Laden/Have you forgotten?"

I guess when singer Darryl Worley posed for Playgirl this summer he didn't list "straw men" among his turn-offs.

Clean Up Clean Up, Everybody Do Their Share, Pt. 4

This is the last installment of the fall cleaning of my music collection.

Part 1 (A-F)
Part 2 (G-L)
Part 3 (M-S)

This time, we're going from T to Z, although there was actually nothing in the T-Z section worth ditching. Let's take a spin through the Various Artists section:

2006 & 2007 Pitchfork Music Samplers -- These two discs gave me a grand total of one great song I hadn't heard before: Devendra Banhart, "Long Haired Child." Other than that the only thing I remember about them is that the Futureheads' "Skip to the End" comes up on Audioscrobbler more than any other song in my library, and that I really don't like Voxtrot, Destroyer, or Deerhunter.

Andrew Denton's Musical Challenge #2 -- From Australian TV comes Denton, who challenges his musical guest to come up with surprising covers. A few work, like Paul Kelly (who I love) doing "Little Red Corvette," Neil Finn doing "Sexual Healing," or a surprisingly straightforward version of "When Doves Cry" by Barenaked Ladies. Mostly, though, this is Australian artists I've never heard of -- Spiderbait, Lash, Bodyjar, John Joplin -- doing faux-ironic crappy takes on songs like "Eye of the Tiger" and "Sometimes When We Touch."

It's almost worth keeping this around to hear The Wiggles sing "Walk on the Wild Side." You heard me:

Dorothy came from Miami F-L-A
She did the romp-bomp-a-jomp across the USA
Plucked some roses on the way
Started to dance and we heard her say
"Hey Wags! Take a walk on the windy side!"

Future Soundtrack For America -- This Moveon.org-sponsored collection of radio-friendly alternarock for change lost some of its luster for me after the '04 election. I really didn't want to be reminded any more by OK Go that "this will be our year." Because, you know, it wasn't. Other than the killer cover of "Game of Pricks" by Jimmy Eat World, this was a pretty empty collection.

Golden Apples of the Sun -- Devendra Banhart's "Long Haired Child" (on one of the Pitchfork samplers) put me into a short-lived freak folk binge. Time to put an end to that.

Grease Soundtrack -- The Lovely Wife needs to start downloading her own music.

Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur -- Ooh, man, was this a stinker. On its face, it looked like a can't-lose proposition: some of the biggest names from all strains of mainstream music (Lenny Kravitz, Black Eyed Peas, Aerosmith, Avril Lavigne, Green Day) getting together to cover the songs of one of rock's greatest lyricists, with all proceeds going to Amnesty International.

Why, then, is it so bloodless, so emotionless? Maybe it's because of the bizarre singer/song pairings. Christina Aguilera singing Lennon's primal scream-inspired paean to his lost parents, "Mother"? Lenny Kravitz applying his pastiche-soul to "Cold Turkey"? Matisyahu replacing the melancholy of "Watching the Wheels" with his brand of reggaeized up-with-peopleness? Feh, feh, feh.

To my ears, there is one bright spot -- Ben Harper's tender take on "Beautiful Boy." Beyond that, the only thing I have positive to say about this album is that is got me to donate money to Amnesty International so I wouldn't go to hell for DLing this for free.

Oh, one last thing -- should we discuss the sad irony of naming the album 'Instant Karma,' seeing as it was released four years after the conflict in Darfur began?

Rough Trade Shops: Best of 2003 -- Not even sure I got through this one once. Hey, look, there's Devendra Banhart again!

Oink

I was a member, and I'm very bummed that it's gone. I loved Oink. I loved the ability to read about some new music, or hear about it from a friend, and hop over there to give it a listen.

I was sort of surprised that Idolator ripped on Oink as harshly as they did -- obviously Maura didn't enjoy it but, given the poll results, lots of other people did. She wrote that "the site's catalog was only 'everything you'd ever want' if you were a twentysomething white dude whose music taste began at 'indie' and ended at 'rock,'" which is extremely wrong. I'd say over the year I was a member there were maybe 4 or 5 things I looked for that I couldn't find, and in almost every case someone uploaded it within a week of my making a request. Now, I wasn't looking for the weirdest, most out-there stuff imaginable, but my tastes run pretty far afield from the indie-rock that they suggested was their only stock in trade.

She also said that the only bad thing about not being a member was that now she would "have to wait an hour or two before finding out that the new Bjork record had leaked." Not all of us are quite as plugged in to the advance-copy scene as Idolator's editors; without Oink, I'm sure I'll still find out that some specific album has leaked (probably by reading about it here), but I won't have any way of actually getting my hands on a copy until it's available legitimately.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of the people crying about how the demise of Oink is the WORST THING EVAR. Everyone there was stealing music. People can justify it any way they want -- I certainly have -- and while some might argue that the rise of sites like Oink are not the cause, but rather a symptom, of the problems with the music industry, the bottom line is that we were getting access to music without paying for it. (By the way, in his well-written defense of Oink, DJ Rupture talks about a "library metaphor," which really gets me thinking. If libraries didn't exist, would it be possible to start them now, or would publishing houses prevent them?)

Anyway, back to Oink. I am super-bummed -- thanks to the site, I was able to listen to way more music, especially new music, than I'd been able to listen to in years. It's like I was back in college, amassing new and interesting stuff on a daily basis, and since it was all in one place I didn't have to spend time bugging my brother and my in-the-know friends for copies of cool stuff. Now I guess I'll just go back to being the out-of-touch 37-year-old I was pre-Oink, and hope that the local AAA station occasionally plays something new & cool so I can go DL it at iTunes.

Music For a Friday Afternoon

(Gym on Wednesday, plus volleyball last night. Ask me about my bruises!)

It's a beautiful day in The Hbg. Time to mix myself a Midtown, sit on the steps, and crank the stereo.

Join me, won't you?

Clean Up Clean Up, Everybody Do Their Share, Pt. 3

It's a regular fall-cleaning; I'm just about halfway through my music collection, getting rid of things I haven't listened to in a while and probably won't ever again.

Part 1 (A-F)
Part 2 (G-L)

Maroon Five, Songs About Jane -- This is another in the line of AAA-style songs that get stuck in my head. "This Love" is one of the best pop songs of the decade, but I don't need the album cluttering up my hard drive when I know I can turn on the radio and still, five years later, hear the song within the next hour or two.

Matmos, The Civil War -- Matmos is one of those artists that sounds very interesting, what with the unusual instruments and the working with Bjork and whatnot. But, you know, electronica. So out it goes.

By the way, I just spent close to an hour searching the web because I was sure that Matmos had done an album in the '90s where he commissioned songs at $1,000 a piece for inclusion on an album. But I couldn't find anything abut it! Then later I was idly surfing and happened upon a blog with a bunch of entries about The Replacements, and it turns out to have been written by someone I went to high school with! So I'm reading a bit more and he mentions Momus, who turns out to be the artist I was confusing with Matmos.

It's a strange and beautiful world.

Menomena, I Am the Fun Blame Monster -- Interesting experimental loop-based stuff that deserves a wider audience. Maybe someone will Google these guys someday and this page will come up, in which case I say if you're into this type of music, these guys may be among the best purveyors of it. Enjoy.

Mercury Rev, Yerself Is Steam -- As much as I appreciate The Flaming Lips, I rarely choose their albums when I'm looking for something to listen to. However, when their stuff comes up on shuffle (which it does more than I might expect, I listen and enjoy it. Still, I have little patience for bands influenced by them, since as a rule they don't have that certain something that the Lips have.

Ms. John Soda, While Talking -- A brief note to whoever it was who gave me all this electronica and electropop (I think it was Terri): I appreciate it, I really do. The fact that I'm getting rid of it should be no reflection on you or your musical tastes. I gave it all a nice, long time to see if I liked it, and I just don't.

Nouvelle Vague, Nouvelle Vague -- They're a gimmick band, though an interesting one. After you listen to "Too Drunk to Fuck" done bossa nova style, though, and say "that's interesting," do you really need to listen to it again? I don't.

The Pipettes, We Are the Pipettes -- I wanted to like this one, but as I said earlier I like my music as irony-free as possible. When I have the urge to listen to new retro 60s style music, I'll put on The Dap Kings.

Probot, Probot -- I only have this because it's a Dave Grohl project. I'm sure he had a blast recording with all his heavy metal heroes, but I'm not a big metal guy.

Propellerheads, Decksandrumsandrockandroll -- Maybe I just need to put together a mix of all the track ones of these electronic albums. "Take California" is a lot of fun, but I lose interest in the album about a minute into "Velvet Pants."

The Pussycat Dolls, PCD -- "Don't Cha" was written by Cee-Lo, based on a Sir Mix-A-Lot song, and features a verse by Busta Rhymes. As a result, it is awesome. The rest of the album has way too much pre-packaged girl group, and not enough Cee-Lo, Mix, or Busta. As a result, it sucks.

Shellac, Excellent Italian Greyhound -- Not nearly as interesting in 2007 as it was 1994.

Skye Sweetnam, Noise From the Basement -- This was supposed to be some sort of like-a-teen-idol-but-good record; apparently she wrote all the songs herself, you see, so she was so much more than your typical Avril Lavigne or Mandy Moore. Thing is, it's not very good, especially when put up against, for example, Nellie McKay's records.

Starflyer 59, Old -- No idea.

Clean Up Clean Up, Everybody Do Their Share, Pt. 2

About a month ago I started the process of getting rid of some of the cruft in my music collection -- the stuff I listened to a few times and decided I'd probably never listen to again.

Like I said then, things are a bit different now than they used to be. Back in the day, I'd gather up all these CDs and take them to Amoeba, where I'd trade them in for a couple of new things. Now, I guess I just delete them.

We'll go from G to L today:

Garmarna, God's Musicians -- I got this in early 2004. After my house burned down in November of 2003, the folks in The Well's Newmusic conference got together and sent me literally hundreds of CDs to help replace all the music I lost in the fire. It was an amazing outpouring of support, from people I knew as well as from people I barely knew at all, and it was a perfect example of everything that is good about community, online or otherwise.

I got back probably 2/3 of what I had lost, plus I got albums from dozens of artists I had never heard nor heard of; everyone took the opportunity to send me the type of music they liked as well as the stuff they knew I liked. As a result, I discovered some bands which have become favorites, like Low, New Pornographers, and Nada Surf. I also got a bunch of things that I listened to a few times and decided were not for me, and this is one of them. Still, I'm incredibly thankful that I got the opportunity, through the largesse of persons now forgotten, to check them out.

Gjallarhorn, Sjofn -- Another one, probably from the same person.

Grandaddy, Under the Western Freeway -- Is it possible that these guys had whatever success they had based on their proximity (physically, though musically a bit as well) to Pavement? It's only a half-hour from Modesto to Stockton, but somewhere along Highway 99 they picked up the bleeps and blips that turned me off to this record.

Gwen Stefani, Love.Angel.Music.Baby -- Other than providing the inspiration for this blog's sub-hed, this album hasn't done much for me. I still like to look at Stefani, I just don't feel the need to listen to her solo music,

Hedingarna, Tra -- More Scandanavian rock.

J.C. Chasez, Schizophrenic -- "Some Girls Dance With Women" is an awesome dance-pop track, and the bonus track featuring a verse by the inestimable Dirt McGirl is pretty great, too. When this came out I was squarely in the "Chasez is doing better than Timberlake" camp when it came to post-'N Sync output, until Timberlake released Futuresex/Lovesounds, making him the undisputed champ.

The Jeff Healey Band, Hell to Pay -- I only have this because I burned it for my dad. It's decent Texas blues, but there are so many others I'd rather listen to before I even thought about putting this on.

Jens Lekman, Oh You're So Silent Jens -- Why do I have so much Swedish music?

Joey Ramone, Don't Worry About Me -- I love the Ramones. Or, to be more specific, I love the first three Ramones albums and parts of Too Tough to Die and Animal Boy. Beyond that, not so much. That extends to Joey's solo album; his paean to Maria Bartiromo notwithstanding, this album left me cold.

Jonny Greenwood, Bodysong -- A instrumental solo record from Radiohead's guitarist, a perfect example of something I listened to once, thought "huh," and immediately forgot about.

Joss Stone, The Soul Sessions -- Just doesn't do it for me. I appreciate that she was only 16 when she recorded it, and she gets points for covering Aretha and Carla Thomas and not embarrassing herself, but once you get past the novelty of her youth you're left with a lukewarm soul record. Give me Bettye Lavette, and have Stone get back to me in about fifty years.

Kings of Convenience, Riot on an Empty Street -- Quiet is the new loud indeed. It seems like in just about every micro-genre, I can find one or two artists that I enjoy. When it comes to Scandinavian folk, I'll stick with Jose Gonzalez.

The Kleptones, A Night at the Hip-Hopera -- I picked this up after briefly getting into mashups in the wake of Danger Mouse's Grey Album. That remains the pinnacle of the genre for me, and is the only one I still listen to. Well, OK, I'll listen to American Edit occasionally, but that's it.

LCD Soundsystem, LCD Soundsystem -- "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House": great song. The rest of this album: eh. Away it goes.

Lemon Jelly, Lost Horizons -- One thing this project is doing is allowing me to come to terms with the fact that I just don't like electronica.

Les Savy Fav, Inches -- Or art rock.

Live, Awake: The Best of Live -- I'm pretty sure the only reason I have this on my hard drive is that I needed a certain number of rips in order to join the old Chris Myden Ubernet. They had to be rips from retail discs, ripped in a very specific fashion, and most of the discs I got post-fire were CD-Rs and therefore wouldn't qualify. For some reason I had an actual copy of this, so it got ripped, and I got in. I don't think I've listened to it since; even moving to Live's old stomping grounds in central PA hasn't made me any more interested in listening to them.

Los Lonely Boys, Los Lonely Boys -- Every so often I become enamored of a song that I hear on the local AAA station. You know, "Drops of Jupiter," "Feels Like Forever," that sort of thing. This album has the sublime "Heaven" on it, but the rest of it doesn't measure up.

Lyle Lovett, Live in Texas -- See the Live record above. The difference is that I actually like some of Lovett's stuff, especially the early records (Pontiac, Joshua Judges Ruth). This live album doesn't measure up, though.

Clean Up Clean Up, Everybody Do Their Share, Pt. 1

I've been accumulating music quite quickly over the past few months, grabbing just anything I hear about from a friend, or read about in a magazine, or hear on XM or elsewhere. Since I store it all on a hard drive, I don't have space restrictions, so I haven't done much culling. If I don't like something, it just sort of sits there, unlistened-to.

It still comes up when I play music on shuffle, though, and since I downloaded this really cool plug-in for MediaMonkey called ScrobblerDJ, I end up in the middle of these long strings of music that I don't care for. So I thought I'd go through the collection and actually delete some of the stuff I've listened to and been unimpressed by. So the following albums are going by the wayside (and if you're the person who gave me a particular album: no offense, and thanks!).

This week we'll cover A-F:

Annie, Anniemal -- Why did I get this in the first place? I guess because "Chewing Gum" was mildly catchy. Three years later, it seems as dated as Britney Spears' "Toxic," and not nearly as good.

Art Brut, Bang Bang Rock & Roll -- I think that, in general, I don't like irony in my music. I like cleverness, but for the most part I want bands that are bands, not bands that are bands about bands. Musically, It's OK, but I can't shake the archness.

Basement Jaxx, Remedy -- My like of, and tolerance for, electronic music is limited. I freely plead ignorance in this genre and honestly am not too interested in giving the time & effort necessary to learn. So I'll stick with my Massive Attack and DJ Shadow records.

Be Your Own Pet, Be Your Own Pet -- Sleater-Kinney > Yeah Yeah Yeahs > Be Your Own Pet.

Beulah, When Your Heartstrings Break/The Coast Is Never Clear -- My friend Scraps has turned me on to untold amounts of great music I might never have otherwise heard. Among the bands that he sent my way are Ted Leo & the Pharmacists and my beloved Spoon. Unfortunately, not every band can be a winner, and after multiple attempts these Beulah records continue to fail to click.

Black Eyed Peas, Monkey Business -- I'm not crazy, right? Black Eyed Peas started out as a sort of socially-conscious hip-hop group? Not sure what happened but multiple listens have failed to suss out the social implications of "Don't Phunk With My Heart." "Pump It" is still insanely catchy, but any time I want to hear that song I can just go to a sporting event.

Bloc Party, Silent Alarm/A Weekend In the City -- Note to self: stop buying records by bands described as "art rock." You don't like it.

Cafe Tacuba, Re/Cuatro Caminos -- Sorry, Jaime. No me gusta.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah/Some Loud Thunder -- It's not because of the hype; it's because it just really never grabbed me.

Cyann & Ben, Spring -- I like some French music (Charlotte Gainsbourg), and I like some post-rock (Tortoise, Low), but I apparently like no French post-rock.

Dar Williams, Another Green World -- Adequate folky rock. Haven't listened to it in years and can't tell you anything about it.

Dungen, Ta Det Lugnt -- Swedish folk rock? Did I really think this was a good idea at some point?

Editors, The Back Room/The End Has a Start -- In the category "bands who sound like Interpol," they're no Interpol. And I'nm not even that big of an Interpol fan.

Enon, Hocus Pocus -- One advantage of my current situation is that I'm able, and therefore willing, to sample just about anything. If something gets a rave somewhere, I'll check it out, even if it isn't my type of music. There are plenty of albums I enjoy because they are what I consider to be the pinnacle of a specific genre or style. But anything that ends up short of that high mark in that genre doesn't hold my attention, and this is one of those albums.

Pure Pop For Now People

I've been listening to a ton of new music recently, for the first time in a while. It's been cool to be able to get back into new stuff, and to be able to find and hear just about anything that I read about or that a friend mentions. I haven't been absorbing new music at this rate since college, and honestly I don't know how much longer I can do it, for a number of reasons.

But, while it lasts, it's great. I've discovered bands that I can't believe I hadn't heard, rediscovered old favorites, and sought out obscure stuff that has blown me away. Through it all I re-affirmed something that I've known for a long time: I love power pop. Sure, it's a simple structure: verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, fade -- but so is a haiku. When it's done right, there's nothing better.

To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, here is my Rob Gordon Top Five Power Pop Albums of the last few decades (listed alphabetically):

1970s:

Big Star, #1 Record The
Boomtown Rats, The Fine Art of Surfacing
Elvis Costello & the Attractions, This Year's Model
Paul McCartney & Wings, Band on the Run
Graham Parker, Squeezing Out Sparks

1980s:

Aztec Camera, High Land Hard Rain
Minutemen, Double Nickels on the Dime
Michael Penn, March
The Replacements, Pleased to Meet Me
Rockpile, Seconds of Pleasure

To my ear, the 90s were the zenith of power pop. Now, I might think that because I was in my 20s in the 90s, and studies have shown that you tend to lionize the music you hear in your early 20s. Whatever the reason, when I go through my collection, the vast majority of great pop albums come from that decade. So the 90s get a Top Ten:

Cake, Fashion Nugget
Fastball, All the Pain Money Can Buy
Green Day, Nimrod
Guided By Voices, Bee Thousand
Kleenex Girl Wonder, Ponyoak
The Loud Family, Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things
Owsley, Owsley
The Posies, Amazing Disgrace
Matthew Sweet, Girlfriend
Sloan, Navy Blues

The current decade (Actually the first seven years, because it's too soon to put any '07 releases on this list) gets a top ten as well:

Mike Doughty, Haughty Melodic
Fountains of Wayne, Welcome Interstate Managers
The Hold Steady, Separation Sunday
The New Pornographers, Electric Version
Old 97's, Satellite Rides
The Shins, Chutes Too Narrow
Spoon, Gimme Fiction
Weezer, Weezer (The Green Album)
The White Stripes, White Blood Cells
XTC, Wasp Star

Careful readers (and just about everyone else) will notice that I have a pretty wide definition of pop. There's punk-pop in there (Minutemen, Green Day), and some alt-country-tinged stuff (New Pornographers, Old 97's), and straightforward rock (The Hold Steady, White Stripes), among other genres.

I don't care. And I'm not that interested in a discussion of what is, or isn't, "pop." My pop music is a big tent; for the most part I subscribe to my friend Scraps' definition of pop, as least as it compares to rock:

Pop:
* Jangly guitar, played in discrete notes
* Clean sound
* Emphasis on harmony in vocal
* Heart of song is the hook, a catchy extended musical phrase repeated two to six or so times in a song, usually the chorus
* Structures usually emphasize the relationship of the parts of the song to each other

Rock:
* Howling guitar, played in extended notes
* Noisy sound
* Emphasis on emoting in vocal
* Heart of song is the riff, a punchy short phrase repeated dozens of times in a song, often one in the verse and a different one in the chorus
* Structures usually emphasise complications within the parts themselves

Pop takes place closer to the surface; emotions involved are usually small happinesses and sadnesses. Upside is bouncy excitement, downside is melancholy.

Rock is deeper, more primal; upside is intense shaking excitement, downside is despair in the face of the void.

I think all 30 of the albums I listed fit this definition; so do literally hundreds of songs from erstwhile rock, punk, blues, country, hip-hop, and even jazz artists, which is why I think of pop less as a genre and more as a style -- "Feel Good, Inc." by Gorillaz, or Norah Jones' "Don't Know Why" (to name two off the top of my head) are pop songs, just as surely as "Can't Hardly Wait" or "Stacey's Mom" are.

This post was supposed to be about the best music I've heard in the first six months of 2007; I guess that will have to wait for next week. For now, I'd love to hear your thoughts on The Pop. I've also created an iTunes mix called Pure Pop For Now People
which contains one iSong off of each of the 30 iAlbums listed (except the ones which weren't iVailable, and avoiding the songs included on their Power Pop Essentials collection, which is pretty good) -- open the windows, crank it up, and enjoy the first weekend of summer with the music that summer was made for.

Rodrigo y Gabriela: Tamacun

I first heard these guys a few months ago. They're a virtuoso Mexican guitar duo and they play a sort of metal/flamenco hybrid that is really fantastic -- energetic and extremely talented. Their album received lots of good press (though not from everyone for their self-titled debut album.

Their album contains two cover songs, of "Stairway to Heaven" and Metallica's "Orion." Both are great, as are the originals on the record, especially "Diablo Rojo" and "Juan Loco." Here's the thing that interests me, though. My favorite song on the album is the lead-off track, "Tamacun." Take a look and listen, and pay special attention to what I guess you could call the chorus, the part that Rodrigo picks:



Sound familiar? To me, it sounds an awful lot like the melody line to Britney Spears' "Oops, I Did It Again," just sped-up and flamenco-ized:



A listen to a performance of the song by Richard Thompson might make it a little easier to hear it, as he does it on acoustic guitar without the layers of production.

What's odd to me is that I've never read this mentioned anywhere. Ever. Here's a album that got quite a bit of alternative press, and even some mainstream notice (Rodrigo Y Gabriela performed on the Letterman show). Much of the press talked about the two covers on the album, but never once have I seen a reference to what appears to be a third, uncredited cover, and a cover of a mega-hit from less than a decade ago. Strange. Am I the only one who hears it?

Ian And Amy Rock Scranton, The Dilettante Attends

The Evens, Northeast Theatre, Scranton PA 6/10

I drove up to Scranton with a buddy of mine last night to see The Evens, the current project from guitarist/punk rock demigod Ian MacKaye. As is MacKaye's wont, tickets were only five bucks, and the band went on at 8:30, which made the two-hour drive worth it since I was only out $5 and I was home by midnight. That last thing is especially important for an aging rocker like myself.

They were playing at the Northeast Theatre, which is on the second floor of the old Hotel Jermyn in downtown Scranton. What was once the ballroom is now a black box theatre, with an open floor and seats on three sides.

About 150 people attended the show, with the band (just Ian and drummer Amy Farina) set up in the corner of the room, a bunch of people sitting on the floor in front, and the rest of us whose knees cannot handle the floor sitting in chairs:



Ian seems very much interested in doing live music his way instead ofthe way everyone else does it. As I mentioned, the shows cost only $5 to get in. This entire tour is being booked into alternative spaces (art galleries, theatres, etc.), and I'm pretty sure shows must be all-ages too. Ian was very engaged (and engaging) with the crowd, talking directly to many of the people and mentioning how he had asked for the lights to be evenly distributed between the band and the audience so everyone could see everyone and share in the musical experience:



The music was very good -- Ian plays baritone guitar and though it is nowhere near as loud & fast as Fugazi, it is still just as angry. It was interesting to me that he wasn't necessarily angry about the current regime (though he did refer to the Iraq war a couple of times), but more angry at the concept of the Federal government in general, and specifically what it does to his hometown of Washington, DC. He did the whole show sitting down, but still managed to rock out throughout the show:



It was the first show of the tour and I think they were a little sloppy as a result. Having people sitting on the floor created a nice vibe but it brought down the energy in the room and that seemed to frustrate Ian a bit -- there were people lying down by the end of the show, and I'm sure they were comfy, but I don't think it was the best setup for Ian's message. There were only maybe 4 or 5 of us who were even bobbing our heads to the music and Ian commented at one point about the number of people he saw sitting with their arms crossed.

Overall the band sounded a lot like they do on the records. Ian and Amy's voices work very well together. Amy's voice reminds me an awful lot of Corin Tucker's -- piercing, not particularly melodic, but perfectly suited for these types of songs. They may be coming to your town (if your town is in Eastern Canada, northern New England, or upstate New York) and if they are, go see them. You'll get 90 minutes of excellent rock and you'll be subverting the dominant paradigm. What's more punk rock than that?

Fast, And With A Multitude Of Casualties

I'll be back later with my thoughts about Saturday night's free (!) Hold Steady show at the Appalachian Brewing Company, but in the meantime here are my photos.

Big, big thanks to Jersey Mike, the man who made it all happen.

A Post About Covers

This post started off as another in the "I Heartily Concur" series, highlighting what Daniel Radosh wrote a while ago about Alanis Morrissette's cover of the Black Eyed Peas' song "My Humps." In the addendum to his post he articulated something about music in general, and songwriting specifically, that I've been thinking about for a long time:

One thing worth noting about the Gordon and Gourds covers, and the Ben Folds one mentioned in the comments, is that they're songs you might actually listen to and enjoy entirely on their own terms. The same goes for Richard Thompson's Oops I Did It Again, Fountains of Wayne or Travis doing Baby One More Time, the entire oeuvre of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes and [add your favorites here]. That's because the original songs are all genuinely good. By switching up genre, the cover artists reveal the quality songwriting that often gets hidden behind the production trappings, for better or worse (depending on whether you're a fan of the original genre).

On the other hand, no one will ever listen to Alanis doing My Humps more than once or twice. Because once you get past the humor of Alanis goofing on Fergie, what you're stuck with is a lousy song."

I love cover versions, and I especially love covers that do a song in a completely different style from the original. And while I was writing up this post, my mp3 player offered up The Gear Daddies' cover of the Johnny Wakelin obscurity "Black Superman," which currently occupies a place of honor on my quickly-growing covers playlist (entitled "David Coverversion").

Rather than a quick-hit, content-free post, I decided to spend a little time and dig up a dozen great covers to share with you all. Some, but not, take their subject song into a different genre; even those that don't, I believe, rise to the level of the original, and in some cases exceed it.

At any given time I could pull up a dozen other worthy covers, so let's call this the Covers Playlist v1.0. For some reason it's heavy on the countrified stuff:

Tarnation, "Little Black Egg" -- I know nothing about this band. In fact, I'm not even sure how I came into possession of their album 'Mirador.' I assume someone gave it to me when a bunch of my friends pitched in to help me rebuild my music collection after the Cedar Fire. Anyway, this cover of The Nightcrawlers' off-kilter 1965 garage rocker immediately caught my ear. It sounded like something that might end up in a Quentin Tarantino movie. Shake Your Fist charted the history of the song in a blog post last spring.

Otis Redding, "Satisfaction" -- Some are partial to Devo's cover, which is great, but Otis gives this Stones song the classic Stax/Volt treatment. Another amazing cover out of the Memphis scene is Wilson Pickett's version of The Archies' "Sugar Sugar" -- I've never heard such a trivial song given such unexpected depth & soul.

The Goo Goo Dolls, "Bitch" -- Long a staple of their live shows, this version of the Rolling Stones' romp appears on the 1993 Red Hot compilation No Alternative, and features Buffalo, NY legend-in-his-own-mind Lance Diamond on vocals.

Uncle Tupelo, "Now I Wanna Be Your Dog" -- Originally recorded, I think, during the 'April 16-20, 1992' sessions and long unavailable until the 2003 re-releases. In addition to this Stooges classic, Tupelo recorded a number of covers, including The Louvin Brothers' "Atomic Power" and, of course, The Carter Family's "No Depression."

The Gipsy Kings, "Hotel California" -- I first heard this Spanish-language version of the Eagles' biggest hit on the severely underrated 'Rubaiyat' album, a collection of covers of Elektra artists by other Elecktra artists. It also includes Billy Bragg doing Love's "Seven & Seven Is," Metallica's cover of Queen's "Stone Cold Crazy," and a wild glam-trash cover of Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" by Faster Pussycat.

Elvis Costello, "I'm Your Toy" -- One of the songs on 'Almost Blue,' Elvis' 1981 album of country covers which includes excellent takes on Hank Williams' "Why Don't You Love Me Like You Used To Do," Merle Haggard's "Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down," and George Jones' "Brown To Blue," among others. "Toy" was written by Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman and released as "Hot Burrito #2" on The Flying Burrito Brothers' fantastic 'Gilded Palace Of Sin.' Raul Malo of the Mavericks has done a great, aching version of this song as well.

Johnny Cash, "Rusty Cage" -- Johnny did a bunch of excellent covers on his American Recordings albums, including Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" and Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus," but his take on this Soundgarden tune is my favorite.

U2, "Dancing Barefoot" -- U2 has tossed off a handful of fantastic covers throughout their history, including a great version of the Darlene Love/Phil Spector Christmas classic "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," but none as fine as this Patty Smith cover, which originally appeared as the b-side of "When Love Comes To Town."

The Waco Brothers, "The Harder They Come" -- One of two great covers on the Bloodshot Records comp 'Making Singles, Drinking Doubles' (the other is Neko Case doing Loretta Lynn's "Rated X."), this surprised the hell out of me the first time I heard it. I knew very little about Jon Langford, but this song opened my eyes to his universe of music, for which I am eternally thankful every time I crank The Mekons' "Memphis, Egypt."

Jeff Buckley, "Hallelujah" -- Two other version of this classic (John Cale's on the Cohen tribute album 'I'm Your Fan' and Rufus Wainwright's from 'Shrek') are better known, but I think Buckley's version (from 'Grace') captures all the wistfulness of Leonard Cohen's original while still putting his vocal stamp on it. A sad reminder of what a great loss his death was.

R.E.M., "Wall Of Death" -- This is on the Richard Thompson tribute album Beat The Retreat, which includes a brilliantly tragic John Doe & Exene duet on "Shoot Out the Lights."

Mike Watt, "Maggot Brain" -- This Funkadelic cover appears near the end of Watt's all-my-friends-in-the-studio record 'Ball-Hog Or Tugboat?' and features J. Mascis channelling Eddie Hazel and keyboards by P-Funk's very own Bernie Worrell.

I'd love to hear what your favorite covers are -- post 'em in the comments.

The Next OK Go?

I have a feeling you'll be getting a link to this clip in your email, if you haven't already. It's the video for the song "Typical" by Mute Math, and it's pretty cool. Apparently the lead singer learned to lip-sync the lyrics backward, then the video was shot, and then reversed:



It's already gotten over 100,000 views on YouTube in the last week, putting it well on its way to OK Go-type numbers, and it works as a nice tie-in to yesterday's American Idol recap post, too, since this is the song that just-voted-off Chris Sligh sang during Top 24 week.

If I may slip on my music-critic hat (which is a trucker cap that says "Your Band Sucks"), though, I'm not that impressed with these guys outside of the video. There isn't much musically that sets them apart from the pack -- they're a pretty straightforward (one might even say "typical") rock band. But, they might be able to ride this gimmicky video to some significant airplay, and if so, good on them.

For your added viewing pleasure, here's the video played backwards (i.e., the way it was filmed):

Rethinking Rock Classics

I always assumed that the Beatles song "Hello, Goodbye" was about two lovers breaking up because they couldn't see eye to eye about things. After all, Paul wrote it after he had met Linda, but while he was still involved with Jane Asher:

You say yes, I say no
You say stop and I say go go go
You say goodbye and I say hello
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello

I say high, you say low
You say why and I say I don't know, oh no
You say goodbye and I say hello
Hello hello
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello

But now that I have a two-and-a-half-year-old, I know what it's really about: trying to get your kid to do something. Anything.

(Which is not to be confused with the Todd Rundgren album "Something/Anything?," which includes every kid's least-favorite song, "The Night The Carousel Burnt Down.")

It's not the only song that means something different than it used to; for example, I know now that "Another Brick In The Wall" isn't allegorical, but pretty much literal ("if you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding"). What other songs have changed meaning for you now that you've had kids?