Ranh Ranh!

another guest post from Mac Star

2008-02-12T15:08:00.000-05:00

It's All About The Songs, Silly!

Here's some songs, new and old, that are all about the songs. Pretty stripped down, singers and their songs. Some are covers, most are originals, all have personality and something special happening.


Song Name		Artist



Mockingbirds		Grant Lee Buffalo


You're a Wolf		Sea Wolf


Just a Little Lovin'		Shelby Lynne


Too Long		Yael Naïm


Alaska		Dr. Dog


Human		Civil Twilight


Twice		Little Dragon


Couldn't Sleep		Milosh


You Don't Have to Believe Me		Eric Hutchinson


The Way I Am		Ingrid Michaelson


Metal Heart (2008 Version)		Cat Power


This Will Be Our Year		Ok Go


Second Chance		Liam Finn


Falling Slowly		Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova with Marja Tuhkanen and Bertrand Galen


Winter Killing		Stina Nordenstam

guest post from Mac Star

2008-01-07T13:24:00.001-05:00

Macstar's Notable 50 of 2007

Here's some tracks that i've come across in this year of '07. The is not meant to be a "best singles" list or even an artist's "best tracks", but they are definitely songs and bands you should know about, get to know, and listen to.

Song Name, Artist

Lullaby (Mountain), The Acorn

Rehab Amy, Winehouse

Intervention, Arcade Fire

Fluorescent Adolescent, Arctic Monkeys

What's a Girl to Do?, Bat for Lashes

Atlas, Battles

Devastation, The Besnard Lakes

Again & Again, The Bird And The Bee

Archangel, Burial

Volver a Comenzar, Café Tacuba

Melody Day, Caribou

Mr Blue (New Version), Catherine Feeny

The Pills Won't Help You Now, The Chemical Brothers

Fancy Footwork, Chromeo

Bubbly, Colbie Caillat

The People, Common

What a Job (featuring Snoop Dogg & Andre 3000), Devin The Dude

All My Life, DJ Harry

Ok, It's Alright With Me, Eric Hutchinson

1234, Feist

Business Time, Flight of the Conchords

Whistle for the Choir, The Fratellis

Sad Sad City, Ghostland Observatory

Grip Like a Vice, The Go! Team

Beautiful Life Gui Boratto

Boy With a Coin, Iron & Wine

I'm Your Man, Jacob Golden

The Opposite of Hallelujah, Jens Lekman

Teardrop, Jose Gonzalez

D.A.N.C.E., Justice

We All Want the Same Thing (feat. Lupe Fiasco), Kevin Michael

All My Friends, LCD Soundsystem

Twice, Little Dragon

Add Your Light to Mine, Baby, Lucky Soul

Boyz, M.I.A.

Just, Mark Ronson featuring Phantom Planet

Grace Kelly, MIKA

Gunpowder & Lead Miranda, Lambert

Dashboard, Modest Mouse

Start a War, The National

Bro's, Panda Bear

The Magic Position, Patrick Wolf

Young Folks, Peter Bjorn and John

Two, Ryan Adams

Love Song, Sara Bareilles

The Underdog, Spoon

Take Me to the Riot, Stars

The Con, Tegan and Sara

You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told), The White Stripes

See You At the Lights, 1990s

quick guest post from Marion

2008-01-03T20:07:00.000-05:00

I have enjoyed State Radio's "Year of the Crow" (admittedly I enjoy
anything even remotely related to Dispatch) and Stephen Kellogg's "Glassjaw
Boxer". I also have liked the tunes I've heard so far from Pete Francis's
upcoming (2/08?) record "Iron Sea and the Calvary".

gues post from Avram

2008-01-02T17:51:00.000-05:00

Since it's Friday and I'm wired on espresso and chocolate:

My tops for 07ish:

Current heavy rotation:

1) Black Kids - (they only have a myspace page)

2) Girl Talk - Night Ripper

3) Barr - Summary

4) The Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam

5) Jim Becker and Coleen Burke - Sountrack to Interkosmos

Those are the newish ones. Here are some old ones I'm heavy into:

1) Gil Scott-Heron - Pieces of a Man

2) Sparklehorse - Vivadixiesubmarinetransmission

plot

3) Leonard Cohen - Death of a Ladies' Man and New Skin/Old Ceremony
(I know there are two albums there, but deal with it.)

4) Everything by Joe Frank

5) The Ex with Tom Cora - Scrabbling at the Lock

6) All Sonic Youth from the 1980s

The "gonna get big" picks for 08:

1) The Black Kids

2) Two Gallants

3) Bjork/Panda Bear (well, it's an idea)

4) The Frames

5) Iron and Wine

6) Architecture in Helsinki

7) The Klaxons

8) The Animal Collective

Shows to look out for:

1) Wilco doing their entire catalog in order of release (a la cheap
trick)

2) The Boredoms with 88 drummers on August 8th

guest post from Elliott

2007-12-28T15:07:00.000-05:00

I don't think any of these bands were technically new this year, but
I'm pretty sure I first heard them in 2007...

Deerhunter
http://myspace.com/deerhunter

The Besnard Lakes
http://myspace.com/thebesnardlakes

Pharaoh Overlord

The Twilight Sad
http://www.myspace.com/TheTwilightSad

bonus:
my little brother's band, javelin
http://myspace.com/hotjamzofjavelin

guest post from Chris

2007-12-27T20:40:00.000-05:00

I'm not really an "... of the year!" kind of guy, but Rachel Unthank and The
Winterset came to my attention recently. Would probably be destined for big
things if they weren't annexed in the Folk section.

http://www.myspace.com/rachelunthank
www.*rachel**unthank*.com/

guest post from Martin

2007-12-26T18:41:00.001-05:00

From Sweden the most magnificent singer since Jeff Buckley saw the
light of day:

Moto boy - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flaGOFYZ9i8

The US band I'm looking forward to buy plane tickets for and place on
a Swedish stage in 2008 is Chromatics

http://www.myspace.com/chromaticsmusics

guest post from Julian

2007-12-26T18:40:00.001-05:00

if there's one artist that blew me away: Julia Kent with her debut Album
"Delay"
http://www.myspace.com/Julia_Kent that is.

Apart from that i'd like to mention the following albums:

M.I.A - Kala (XL Recordings)
Burial - Untrue (Hyperdub)
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (DFA)

Panda Bear - Person Pitch (Paw Tracks)

Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam (Domino)
CocoRosie - The Adventures of Ghosthorse & Stillborn (Touch & Go)
Boxcutter - Glyphic (Neuton Med)
Mira Calix - Eyes Set Against The Sun (Warp)
Whitehouse - Racket (Susan Lawly)
Throbbing Gristle - Part 2: The Endless Not (Mute)
Alvin Lucier - Ever Present (Mode)
Rechenzentrum - Director's Cut (Mille Plateaux)
Stereo Total - Paris <-> Berlin (Disko B)

My concert of the year was by the way Fennesz & Rechenzentrum @
Volksbühne Berlin.
Music website discoveries of the year:
http://awesometapesfromafrica.blogspot.com and http://www.toneshared.com

Most tragic moments in music this year: To hear about the deaths of
Alice Coltrane and Lady Jaye Breyer P.Orridge

guest post from Thomas

2007-12-26T18:39:00.002-05:00

Without being too redundant, i present my top 10 (in no particular order of
course):

1. Various Artists - After Dark
2. Justice - + (cross, not plus)
3. Peter Bjorn and John - Writer's Block
4. Robert Plant and Allison Krauss - Raising Sand
5. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
6. Jay - Z - American Gangster
7. Josh Ritter - The Historical Conquest of Josh Ritter
8. Various Artists - Coming Home: Fats Domino Tribute
9. Lyle Lovett - It's Not Big It's Large
10. Lil' Wayne - Da Drought 3

guest post from Bryan

2007-12-26T18:39:00.001-05:00

I'm not a "music critic" anymore -- this list simply represents my favorite
albums of the year, for anyone who cares. Happy Holiday, from Bryan:

1 Wilco - Sky Blue Sky (Nonesuch)
2 Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand (Rounder)
3 Lewis Taylor - The Lost Album (Hacktone)
4 The Valerie Project - The Valerie Project (Drag City)
5 Leslie & The Badgers - Leslie & The Badgers (Self-Released)
6 Neil Young - Live at Massey Hall 1971 (Warner Bros./Reprise)
7 Panda Bear - Person Pitch (Paw Tracks)
8 Band of Horses - Cease To Begin (SubPop)
9 The Clientele - God Save the Clientele (Merge)
10 Lucinda Williams - West (Lost Highway)
11 Future Clouds And Radar - Future Clouds & Radar (Star Apple Kingdom)
12 Iron + Wine - The Shepherd's Dog (SubPop)
13 Jim Ford - Sounds of Our Time: The Harlan County Album + bonus tracks (Bear Family)
14 Elliott Smith - New Moon (Kill Rock Stars)**
15 Gram Parsons & The Flying Burrito Brothers - Live At The Avalon Ballroom 1969 (Amoeba)
16 Nick Drake - Family Tree (Island)
17 Dungen - Tio Bitar (Kemado)
18 The Broken West - I Can't Go On, I'll Go On (Merge)
19 Steve Earle - Washington Square Serenade (New West)
20 Kevin Ayers - The Unfairground (Lo-Max)

guest post from Joseph

2007-12-26T18:38:00.001-05:00

My top 10s (warning: I'm a corny pop guy at heart) :

ALBUMS:
1. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights
[Every single person I know who has heard this album has raved about it
to others; I wish that word of mouth had really done something.]
2. Josh Rouse - Country Mouse, City House
3. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
4. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
5. Bruce Springsteen - Magic
6. Polyphonic Spree - The Fragile Army
7. VA - Binky Griptite's Ghetto Funk Power Hour
8. Travis - The Boy With No Name
9. Ryan Shaw - This Is Ryan Shaw
10. Annie Lennox - Songs of Mass Destruction

SINGLES:
1. Jens Lekman, "The Opposite of Hallelujah"
2. Hellogoodbye, "Baby, It's Fact"
3. Josh Rouse, "Sweetie"
4. Orson, "Ain't No Party"
5. MIA, "Jimmy"
6. Marilyn Manson, "Heart Shaped Glasses"
7. The Gossip, "Careless Whisper"
8. James Blunt, "1973"
9. Musiq Soulchild, "Buddy"
10. Maroon 5, "Makes Me Wonder"

If remixes are allowed, then toss in there Frankie Valli & the Four
Seasons' "Beggin' (Pilooski edit)."

guest post from Nick

2007-12-26T18:37:00.002-05:00

*60 Watt Kid* - local bayarea boys did some amazing sheet on their
Absolutley Kosher debut - it's a folky-ADD version of the beach boys, in the
vein of Fiery Furnaces & Animal Collective - superbad.

http://www.myspace.com/60wattkid

guest post from my friend Will

2007-12-26T18:37:00.001-05:00

http://www.myspace.com/creaturecreature

Creature are one of many Montreal acts which tore it up at SXSW this year. Believe - that French-Canadian city is punching well above its weight! Pigeon hole it under Disco slash Punk slash Pop, Creature come with a healthy dose of sarcasm (the female singer is called "Cowbella") and some of the best pop production I've heard in over a decade.

guest post from my friend Scott

2007-12-26T18:34:00.000-05:00

I think the best album of the year is Tillbaka Till Samtiden by Kent. Here are some
links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k2RdYza8OQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RhDR-ks6vI

Best email tips of the month

2007-12-06T19:30:00.000-05:00

"The song is the single and the single sucks" from BARR

somewhere described as cubist pop, which seems about right...

also

A cool Josh Ritter song performed at Los Angeles' Natural Museum of History.

Even plants enjoy music

2007-12-06T13:07:00.001-05:00

Read the article here.

2007-09-10T11:02:00.000-04:00

Indeed, the lad needs tunes...and we're coming to discover that he's a jazz baby. Luckily for us, I've discovered Jazz Pour Tous's long list twin brother, Jazzna, our notre nuestro unser Jazz!

Remember, "Jazz doesn't belong to anyone! Jazz is like birds all free!". I'll let you contemplate that while you dither over which albums to download. Not all the links work, but it wouldn't be fair if it were any easier....

For Mama

2007-09-09T22:38:00.000-04:00

This cover comes courtesy of Michael

Petra Haden-Thriller

For Linus

2007-09-07T18:20:00.000-04:00

The lad needs tunes!

I Feel For You

What a day!

2007-09-06T20:54:00.000-04:00

First the good news:
Linusblog

then the bad

A te, o cara from I, Purtani
featuring Arleen Auger

and

Che gelida from La Boheme

Update

Che Gelida on You Tube

I love expressive eyebrows

Welcome To The Andy Summers Show

2007-08-06T11:20:00.000-04:00

I saw the Police last week at Madison Square Garden.
There is so much to say about it that I don't know where to begin.
This review in The Times get's it mostly right.
Sting's voice was ragged out. He sprayed some prescription concoction in his mouth between every song. He seemed most comfortable when the audience was singing every word, er, vowel sound with him. Such as in this:
Reggatta De Blanc
On The Bed's Too Big Without You K-Rock and I walked behind the stage to get a closer look at Stewart.
To me, it was more obvious that Sting and Stewart just don't have the same sense of time. Sting's shoulder sullenly pounds out the beat while Stewart just plays what he feels.
By far the biggest surprise of the evening was 10 long guitar solos by Andy Summers. Who would have thunk it? In this old version of Driven To Tears (which $250 Police fans seem to love more than any Synchronicity track) you get a feel for Andy's solo style-- Long sustained notes with whammy bar, a little too reminiscent of Alex Lifeson, trippy Jazz licks that may or not be intentional, and a sense of architecture that builds and builds. This is what made the show so enjoyable. Sting's voice was hurting, ergo, Andy played long solos. LONGButmusicalandspontaneoussoundingones, unlikemostarenarock/popsolos!
And the crowd cheered.
And EEE-OOH-ed.

If you don't click on any of the links, click on this one and watch the brawling!
Vintage Police

[choose title from lyrics below]

2007-07-21T11:09:00.001-04:00

Okay, I didn't know this, but maybe man-about-town Jeff did: David Byrne is dating Cindy Sherman. That's almost as cool as Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson. In honor of these guys, here are four songs. The Cindy Sherman song was difficult--I turn my camera on? Hey-ya? Mexican Radio? Something by the Oxford Camerata?

mp3: Talking Heads, Artists Only "I'm cleaning, cleaning my brain"

mp3: R.E.M., Camera "Will you be remembered? Will she be remembered?"

mp3: Lou Reed, Romeo Had Juliette "Something flickered for a minute, and then it vanished and was gone"

mp3: Laurie Anderson, O Superman "And when force is gone, there's always Mom"

So then I got thinking not just about cool couples, but about couples performing together.

I know Alex has been dying to do a Fleetwood Mac post, so I won’t touch that one. I’m tempted to post an Indigo Girls track just to point out how that one girl trails off every line with Neil Diamond’s vocal phrasing, but I won’t. Besides, I’m not sure if they were ever a couple.

For some reason, the next couple performing together I thought of was Richard and Linda Thompson. Years ago, I saw Richard Thompson play with bass monster Danny Thompson (no relation[!]) and Michael Jerome on drums (my third-favorite Texas African-American alternative-rock drummer [behind Earl Harvin and Michael Hale]). The set had a perfect pace and variety. Each musician did jaw-dropping solos (the sort of show where there are, like, 2 girls in the crowd). I actually forgave RT for wearing a brooch…on his beret. Then he came back two years later, fedora instead of beret, charged $40 for a solo show, talked too much and played “Oops, I Did It Again” as if lame hipster bands hadn’t been covering that song for, like, eighteen months. Fuck you, Richard Thompson, sort of. No, he’s not starring in a Pete Seeger biopic. Nice backing oohs though.

Mp3: I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight “I need to spend some money, and I just can’t wait”

As this is a music blog, though, I’m required by law to say something about Sonic Youth, esp. whilst on the subject of couples making music. One summer, my roommate listened to nothing but Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa’s Thingfish, and some Sonic Youth song that sounded like a vacuum cleaner with a nickel stuck in it. I apologize if that describes several Sonic Youth songs. Here’s one that I have grown to love, mostly because of the bass.

Mp3: Theresa’s Sound World "I know I'd love her to stay"

Then there’s Yo La Tengo. I hadn't heard of them until they opened for The Sundays at Liberty Lunch in 1990 (Luna opened for The Sundays two years later [!]). Now, I've only thought about this for a split-second (this is the internet, after all), but I think YLT can kick Sonic Youth’s ass. TWO TIMES. Especially because YLT’s bassist weighs, like, two-fitty easily and can take out Thurston Moore with a high kick to his shins. In my head, YLT titled their most recent ab-lum with Sonic Youth in mind. I won’t post “Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind” because every blog in the world posted that a year ago. But I really want to.

Mp3: Tried So Hard "It seemed that everything was going fine"

Mp3: Deeper Into Movies "I've been getting messages from outer space...By your window in the sky"

Mp3: Little Eyes "Don't you know you're sleeping much too long?"

So which couples did I forget?

K-Rock on Letterman!

2007-07-16T08:45:00.000-04:00

Good friend Konrad Meissner will be on David Letterman on Wednesday. He is playing with Teddy Thompson, who by now is probably really sick of being referred to as Richard Thompson's son, or as Rufus Wainwright's sidekick.

Check Out all of the shows Konrad is playing this month. Pretty Amazing.

Birdy Nam Nam, that's good.

2007-07-13T13:03:00.000-04:00

You know, I always made a distinction between musicians and DJs, until today.

Check it out.

birds and batteries

2007-06-13T16:03:00.000-04:00

check them out

or check them out here

but please, check them out

the kid can jam for a 2-year-old

2007-05-07T15:37:00.000-04:00

check him out in action.

Amazing

2007-05-05T10:09:00.000-04:00

Grizzly Bear - Little Brother

1985, 1984

2007-03-14T00:27:00.000-04:00

I’ve never paid much attention to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, except, of course, for that performance Alex posted once with Prince shredding While My Guitar Gently Weeps. This year, though, a couple of my favorite 80s bands were inducted.

I discovered R.E.M. in 1983 watching them perform Boxcars on Nickelodeon’s Livewire and first saw them live two years later at Dallas’ Bronco Bowl. Before the show, David and I interrupted Bill Berry bowling to get his autograph. Halfway through the set Michael Stipe rubbed mustard in his hair. I remember them closing the show with a cute little song that went “If you close the door, you’ll never have to see me again”…or maybe that was how they closed the show in College Station in 1987. Either way, it was years before I remembered to track that song down (pre-google, by singing it to somebody at Waterloo). My favorite R.E.M. song, Wendell Gee, is from Fables of the Reconstruction, the album they were touring at Bronco Bowl that night—nostalgic without being sappy, subtly southern, tastefully arranged, beautifully rounded out by Mike Mills’ descending countermelody. And before discovering Dylan, Michael Stipe’s lyrics were the only ones for me that could rival David Byrne’s. Listen especially to the second verse’s dream vision about healing nature and metamorphosis/death.

But I spent much more time in those years listening to Van Halen (and if you’re being honest, so did you). They were the first arena rock show I saw, on their 1984 tour. After the opening band and a trip to the t-shirt stand with my paper route money, I climbed back to my seat, on the aisle of the second highest row of Reunion Arena’s upper balcony. The lights cut out and despite the crowd you had no problems hearing the opening riff to Fair Warning's Unchained. The lights came up with the drums and bass, and the first thing you saw was David Lee Roth flying eight feet high between the two bass drums—of course—and the front of the stage, doing his patented toe-touching splits, shirtless but wearing furry white chaps and one of those state-fair-prize twenty-gallon yellow foam cowboy hats. During Michael Anthony’s bass solo, the guy in the seat behind me bought me a beer (two years later David and I started a cover band with his brother, who also rocked two bass drums). Easily the best show I ever saw.

I’m still not cool enough to own any Patti Smith.

mp3: R.E.M. Wendell Gee

mp3: Van Halen Unchained

Pam MP3s

2007-02-26T22:12:00.000-05:00

Here are my 2 favorites from Saturday's Pam show:

Where'd You Go Last Night?

Cherry Red

and for Michy

Moonbeam Ladies

Pam Miller Show In Austin!!!

2007-02-15T23:23:00.000-05:00

Pamela Miller Plays the Blue Theatre for One Night Only.

Saturday, February 24th singer/song writer Pamela Miller returns to the Austin stage for a one night only set at the Blue Theater. Pamela will be backed by an Austin super-group, including Seela Misra, and Twang-Twang Shock-a-Boom (David Garza, Jeff Haley, and Chris Searles). Music starts at 11pm at the Blue Theater (916 Springdale Road). Tickets, available at the door, are $5 each.

Pamela Miller writes and sings songs that resonate – songs that evoke whiskey/understatement/intimacy/lullaby/Lisa Germano/cinema/standup bass/dissonance/warmth/Regina Spektor/velvet/echo/piano/regret/bravery/atmosphere/grace/intensity.

Billboard Magazine said, “Miller has an apparent gift for crafting sticky hooks and memorable melodies, while keeping the lyrics remarkably literate. The final key element is her vocal delivery, which soars from a subtle whisper to a glass-shattering caterwaul.”

Click To Hear
Right-Click To Borrow

Moonbeam Ladies

All The Good Things

When The World Breaks

High In The Sky

Reckoning

For Amigo Jo

2007-02-03T11:22:00.000-05:00

One of the great debates in Jazz is whether Ella Fitzgerald can bring the goods for The Blues.

MP3: Ella "How Long Blues"

at 2:09 is an ascending arppegio of striking power and architectural sublimity
(that sentence is my weak tribute to Whitney Balliett)

For Sir Alex of West Ham

2007-02-03T11:19:00.000-05:00

hilarious essay on the face of the lead singer of The Shins:

blog: James Mercer's Face Irritates Me

For Gly

2007-02-03T11:04:00.000-05:00

A cover of "My Love" by Justin Timberlake.

MP3: The Klaxons "My Love"

(2 other Justin covers at I Guess I'm Floating)

It's A Mystery

2007-02-01T12:47:00.000-05:00

#1

#2

#3

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

guest Post from Private Label Radio VP, Andy F.

2007-01-09T15:26:00.000-05:00

Hello friends:

My clients and I exchange a lot of top 10 lists this time of year. Usually record label folks try to "out cool" each other with obscure tracks by fashionable artists, but this year I'm limiting myself to charting songs and no more than 2 from any genre.

Here are 10 songs that got under my skin in 2006:

Alternative
The Adventure - Angels & Airwaves
Starlight - Muse

Country
Not Ready to Make Nice - Dixie Chicks

Electronic
Hide and Seek - Imogen Heap
Red Flags and Long Nights - She Wants Revenge

Pop
Put Your Records On - Corinne Bailey Rae
For You I Will (Confidence) - Teddy Geiger

R&B/Soul
Be Without You - Mary J. Blige

Rock
Woman - Wolfmother

Soundtrack
And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going - Jennifer Hudson (from Dreamgirls)

If you feel like sharing, I'd love to hear what rocked your world in 2006! You can make up your own rules!

you've never heard this....

2006-12-18T15:09:00.000-05:00

Okay, dudes. How about a never-before heard Gillian Welch cover?

the mp3: Look At Miss Ohio
can you say "rough mix"? I knew that you could.

Guess who was still learning this program when she recorded it?

Happy Hippo by Cloud Cult

2006-12-14T15:12:00.000-05:00

I love how this song by Cloudcult is so happy, and how he rhymes hippopotamus with matt-er-ess.

The bells are nice, and it stays pretty light until about 1:20 when it starts to sound a little bit like Nine Inch Nails. I'm not complaining, as I LOVES me some NIN. It's just an interesting change. Then, if that wasnt' enough change, he suddenly goes into a semi-cover of Neil Young. It's three songs in one.

Unsatifying? or interesting? Please weigh in.

David can shred like a Mother Fucker!

2006-12-02T11:28:00.000-05:00

This a 2 part Twang Twang Shock A Boom show that happened in California in July 1996.
It was a large outdoor festival called High Sierra and they had all of this fancy rock show equipment there. David played through one of those big Vox amps and I think it inspired him to play louder, faster and rockier than ever before.
His solo on the last song, "Emotional Grind" is my favoritist that I have ever heard him do.
Maybe he will outdo himself next weekend in Austin as Twang plays for the first time in 10 years:
Cactus Cafe - Friday night 12:00 Midnight
& Saturday afternoon at Toney Burger Center Sus-Tain-A-Ball 1:00 P.M.

The Musics (big files!):

High Sierra Part 1

High Sierra Part 2

music made randomly

2006-11-13T17:44:00.000-05:00

courtesy of RealmDekor.com...

"Only a Japanese designer would think to make a cd with only sound; that randomly makes songs by itself! Pop this cd in and hit the "random play" button. The cd will make up music and songs as it plays. 99 tracks of random scales. The cd will automatically select random tones, making new melodies.

If you like a song the cd has composed, simply hit random and return functions simultaneously and the tune will play endlessly. Unexpected and quirky and very Japanese!

**Please make sure your cd player has a random function. The cd will not play otherwise."

give the monkey less choice?

2006-10-30T13:19:00.000-05:00

Was emailed an interesting Peter Gabriel interview about the new music software called the Filter and came upon this quote:

"...he was saying that everyone thinks that what the revolution in computers has provided us with is of freedom of choice. But maybe what people want often is freedom from choice. If you look at a lot of religions, all the spiritual seekers like a monk in a cell are removing choices from themselves voluntarily. What I would like to end up with is less angst from choice and too much research, but still being able to dig deep whenever I want."

After a little hesitation, I realized he's totally right. When you go from a passive TV-watching society to an active user-driven internet world, you kinda miss someone giving you the good stuff, um, like this blog.

Low End Theory

2006-10-07T17:03:00.000-04:00

As I said, Jeff, your list of the top three from the previous post is pretty durned tight. I’m struck by a couple of things, though. First, you ignore Geddy Lee—are you afraid of what Alex would do? Also, two of the three you mentioned, and the sample you've provided, demonstrate what I think might be an anomaly in rock bass playing. What Is And What Should Never Be features a way-out-in-front fluid melodic line…sorta like McCartney’s work on Something. I’m not convinced that bassists get that sorta line, that sorta prominence often. What’s pretty nice about Aston Barrett is his rock(-steady)-solid holding down of the band, selfless musicianship so tasty you don’t even notice it most of the time. You don’t listen to the bass playing with the Family Man…you groove to the song—like the band is one big instrument. That’s the quality I like in a lot of bassists—Cachao, countless anonymous township jive players, among others. So I’m posting a song that bridges those two possibilities in bass playing—the selfless anchor and the surprising flash usually reserved for guitarists.

Mike Mills…oh, how should I begin singing your praises? For the harmonies, for the Nudie suits, for not quitting the band to run a farm (NOT rock-n-roll), for never confusing yourself with Bono, for holding your liquor on transatlantic flights, for writing (Don’t Go Back to) Rockville but not taking credit…for rocking that muthafunkin’ Rickenbacker! For all of these things, I’d have to place Mike Mills—and bass players of his ethos—among the top.

Can't Get There From Here

Bassists that I resisted talking about in my snarky way:
That guy from Trout Fishing In America
That guy on “Duke of Earl”
Bernie Worrell’s left hand
Stevie Wonder’s left hand
Britta Phillips (HOT)
Sid Vicious
Keith Richards (see, cuz Bill Wyman was, y'know, like, [ahem] still in the band...and that’s funny…[insert nervous tugging at shirt collar])

Bassists so annoying that they are beyond snark:
Tony Levin
Sting
Ray Manzarek’s left hand (you're welcome, Alex)
Jack Casady (for Jefferson Airplane)
Jack Casady (for Jefferson Starship)
Jack Casady (for Starship)
Bruce Thomas (for slamming Mr. Macmanus in a book)

Joel Loves A List! (just like me)

2006-10-04T21:23:00.000-04:00

An open letter to Joel,
Obviously Alex and Glycerin don't like to make out, at least not with us.
But I know that you would love to make some lists, so let's start with Bass Playing.
What is your all time favorite Bass performance?
Basically my top 3 favorite bass players are McCartney, John Paul Jones and
Aston Barrett. All the other greats fall into lower ties for me. Those 3 really cover all the basses!!
If I had to pick one performance above all others it would be Jones on The Lemon Song from Zeppelin II.
Unfortunately, I only have that on LP and don't feel like hooking up a bunch of wires to transfer it to the www.
Here is another great song from the same time frame...

MP3: What Is And Should Never Be

Does anyone know why Plant and Page hate him now?

My Blog (Our Blog!), The Sequel

2006-09-27T19:12:00.000-04:00

During high school, my answer would have been U2's "Bad"; the Wide Awake in America version has just the right subtlety (i.e., none), just the right urgency and crescendo for a fumbling teenager. During college, though, I definitely would have answered Van Morrison's Moondance, side one, of course, for its ups-and-downs, from the slow build of "And It Stoned Me" to the whispered "Crazy Love" to the just effin' transcendent of "Into the Mystic".

As an adult, I will amend the challenge, with respect, from make-out music to straight-up panty-dropping music. On that tip, Jimmy Smith's sweet organ just can't be beat. Now, I tend to skip Jimmy Smith's more Sanford-and-Son-sounding stuff in favor of the Kenny Burrell accompanied after-dark action. Back to Mr. Smith, the brutha's going after it with his hands and his feet... a full body, doin'-it-to-you-in-your-earhole experience. Plus, look at the photo, people. He's making love RIGHT THERE. And, by the way, Jeff has a great Jimmy Smith story.

MP3: Memories of You - Jimmy Smith

My Blog (Our Blog!)

2006-09-26T16:29:00.000-04:00

I hereby challenge Glycerin, Alex and Joel to a Blog-Off!

The subject...
Make Out Music!!!
As in
Pick some.
My choice is the second Adagio from the Elgar Cello Concerto by Jacqueline du Pre.
My reasons:
(The reasons why we're here)
1. The Cello is pretty heated.
I know my make out partner prefers it to all other instruments and it is pretty hard to argue about the sultryness of a stinged instrument that is right in between a baritone and an alto. It is part Kathleen Turner and part Dimitri Hvorotovsky.
2. As far as the cello goes, I don't think there has been anyone who plays more passionately than Jacqueline du Pre. She attacked that thing with Anglo Saxon fire.
3. Speaking of Britain, they don't get enough cred for their Timberlake style ways. Supposedly Elgar wrote this piece about World War I.

It doesn't sound that way to me.

MP3: Elgar Adagio - du Pre

no, this picture is not of the singer, just what I imagine he looks like

2006-09-21T16:43:00.000-04:00

This is one of those things that gets emailed around, but it struck me as pretty good. His vocals are nice, and his sentiments, strong.

workplace song

a big, big boat!

2006-09-18T16:36:00.000-04:00

And this I know Leonardo DiCaprio
what a gas it was to see him
upon the silver screen in another starring role
with her lips she said, Rose said

"Hey Jack, Hey Jack, I'm going to jump off the back
Hey Jack, Hey Jack, I'm going to jump off the back
of the Titanic, Titanic, Titanic...
a big big boat!"

Okay, so it's originally a Pixies song - called Gigantic...

Happy Diez y Seis, everybody

2006-09-16T16:22:00.000-04:00

Meet Agustin Lara, Mexico’s best singer/songwriter (photo left). From the romantic (yet somehow never sappy) lyrics to his tastefully frilly piano-playing to his impassioned vocals to the natty clothes, this brutha was clean. We move then from Mexico’s finest songwriter to Mexico’s finest vocalist, Jose Alfredo Jimenez. Let the listener beware: This muhfuh can emote.

And what’s a Mexican mix without accordions?

So we cross the border (insert joke here) to Texas’ Steve Jordan’s duet with then-wife Virginia Martinez. Over to LA for two from Los Lobos…some fine gritos on the live Volver Volver. Finally, invoking the ghost of Dan Del Santo (KUT, represent, represent), my brother’s tale of crashin’ quinceaneras at the KC Hall and an instrumental inspired by border crossings, partly recorded near a bus station in Ciudad Juarez.

Enjoy.

Agustin Lara: Solamente Una Vez
Agustin Lara: Farolito
Jose Alfredo Jimenez: El Rey
Jose Alfredo Jimenez: No Me Amenaces
Steve Jordan: Siempre Hace Frio
Los Lobos: Maricela
Los Lobos: Volver Volver
David Garza: Conmigo
David Garza: Asylum

I won’t trouble you with translations to all of the lyrics, but you oughta know at least what Jose Alfredo Jimenez is singing. Thanks to Mama Garza for these.

No Me Amenaces
Don’t threaten me, don’t threaten me,
When you make up your mind to seek a new life
Select your course and leave.
But don’t threaten me.
You are big enough, you understand life, you know what you are doing.
Because you claim that you will leave, will leave
That you will leave and will leave,
That you will leave, and you haven’t left.
and I am awaiting your love,
awaiting your love
awaiting your love, or awaiting your oblivion.

Don’t threaten me, don’t threaten me,
If it is your destiny to forget my path,
Select your course and leave

But don’t threaten me, don’t threaten me
Go ahead and try your luck – you’ve got the deck
But I’ve got the aces.

Because you claim that you will leave, will leave
That you will leave and will leave,
That you will leave, and you haven’t left.
and I am awaiting your love,
awaiting your love
awaiting your love, or awaiting your oblivion.

El Rey
I know that I am on the “outside”
But the day that I die
I know that you will cry
Cry and cry, cry and cry.

You will say that you didn’t love me
But you will be very sad
And that is how you will remain.

With money or without money
I always do what I please
And my word is law
I have neither throne nor queen
Nor anyone who understands me
But I am still king

2006-09-15T16:27:00.000-04:00

Cat Power - The Greatest

Do You Like This?

Two Good Things

2006-09-09T12:15:00.000-04:00

1. Britney Spears cover by Nickel Creek

Toxic

2. A new band that I love: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin

I Am Warm And Powerful

Tu Es Bueno!

2006-09-07T18:10:00.000-04:00

This is a Diet Dr. Pepper fueled entry...

So following the advice of many intelligent people, including my wife, I have made a feel-good kind of playlist. A "come on and buck up little camper" kind of thing that I based on B's "You Are Great" playlist title.
It is called "Tu Es Bueno", which is probably grammatically incorrect, but since when has that stopped me from mangling another culture's language (and maybe even our own)? There are 29 genres and 315 songs representin'. One song that just got added is Christina Aguliera's "Beautiful".
What an interesting phenomenon this song is!
I think it is more popular now than it was a year or two ago. Maybe it is our generation's Wind Beneath My Wings. It is definitely an inspirational song in the style of that Easy Listening hit. And easy listening is prejorative, so, how can I give in to this pablum, you ask, highly sophisticated reader. At first I was impressed by what a savvy move it was to follow up "Dirrty" with "Beautiful". The video was so brilliantly designed to reach an audience that isn't existing in the conventional stereotype of glamorous American youth (The OC, Paris Hilton, Christina). And, it did seem like a message that needed to be said at that time. It was just smart. And I'm sure it was the main reason that album sold so many copies.
Plus the songwriting is just bulletproof. Check out the second verse:

To all your friends, you're delirious
So consumed, in all your doom
Trying hard, to fill the emptiness
The piece is gone, left the puzzle undone,
Ain't that the way it is

It builds and then settles. She does do all that crazy up and down stuff, but not too much. It uses a Beatles-ish descending chord progression. It's good.
"Beautiful" has gotten a lot of attention too, especially with her new album coming out. Check out what Sasha Frere Jones just wrote in the New Yorker about it:

Aguileras second album, Stripped contained several tracks written with Linda Perry, originally of the dull nineties rock band 4 Non Blondes and now one of pop musics reliable hired guns. (She is responsible for some of this decades best radio hits, including Pink's Get the Party Started) Aguileras irrepressible voice brings out the schmaltz in Perry. On Stripped Perrys most significant contribution was Beautiful, a barn burner for everyone who has ever felt less than cute on a Friday night. I am beautiful, no matter what they saywords cant bring me down, goes the chorus. The way Aguilera hits the last five wordswhich Perry wrote as a descending line, momentarily slowing the rhythm, in a motion that pulls against the lyrics prideful claimproduced her Rocky moment. You know shes going to raise her fists and jump when she reaches the top of the steps, but you get goose bumps anyway.

Well Said Sasha.
Anyway, I put on my list and listened to it on my way to work on Tuesday.
The main reason I created the playlist was to help me deal with my evil, evil boss. Sure enough, that afternoon, when my boss started asking me if I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, I calmly said to her, "Maybe."

Thank you Linda, Thank You Christina.
We Did It!
We kicked her ass!
I am Beautiful in every single way!

MP3: Beautiful - Christina Aguilera

Special Bonus!

MP3: Beautiful - Clem Snide

Mp3: Beware Of Darkness - George Harrison

September Songs

2006-08-31T20:11:00.000-04:00

School - Nirvana

School Spirit - Kanye

Teach Me Tonight - Joe Williams

Teach (How I Love My Teacher) - Louis Jordan

Hot For Teacher - Van Halen

Verb, That's What's Happening - Zachary Saunders

Stay In School - Sam and Dave

How Do You Get To Llama School? - Sifl and Olly

Teacher's Pet - Doris Day

The end of love

2006-08-29T21:01:00.000-04:00

Leonard Cohen's song "Dance Me To The End Of Love" is a stunning piece of work. While I enjoy LC's version, I've been affected lately by Madeleine Peyroux's version...I think she does a bang-up job making you feel each lyric. If I were to do it over today, I might want her version of this song as the first dance at my wedding.

To me, it's a paean to all the best things about marriage and it's filled with little images and phrases that capture entire dimensions of being in a committed relationship. "Dance me through the panic" is nicely self-deprecating; "when the witnesses are gone" is funny; "like they do in Babylon" is sexy, as is the whole damn verse, albeit in an Old Testament kind of way (digression: perhaps all the Biblical references reinforce the timeless/poetic quality of the lyric); the beautiful, perfect word "asking" in the third verse; the acknowledgment of the torn threads in the last. And then the idea of "the end of love" itself...and what it means to dance towards it.

Madeleine's version of Dance Me To The End Of Love is here; Leonard intones it here.

Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic 'til I'm gathered safely in
Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
Oh let me see your beauty when the witnesses are gone
Let me feel you moving like they do in Babylon
Show me slowly what I only know the limits of
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the wedding now, dance me on and on
Dance me very tenderly and dance me very long
We're both of us beneath our love, we're both of us above
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the children who are asking to be born
Dance me through the curtains that our kisses have outworn
Raise a tent of shelter now, though every thread is torn
Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic till I'm gathered safely in
Touch me with your naked hand or touch me with your glove
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Le Jazz Hot

2006-08-29T20:55:00.000-04:00

A possible successor to the much-missed Jazz Pour Tous: ShareJazzMusic. Too bad the Chris Connor download has expired...that's one of my favorite jazz vocal albums.

the random email from a co-worker

2006-08-29T14:23:00.001-04:00

So, I just got emailed this track from a coworker, and the email simply said:

"Hey, what do you think of this track?"

so I will put the question to you, dear readers...

Shiny Toy Guns - Le Disko

I've got news for you

2006-08-28T22:21:00.000-04:00

I found what sounds like a companion piece to "Chelsea Hotel No. 2"... with the keyboards it might have fit nicely on "Dear Heather". Enjoy.

MP3: Between Us

OK GO - On MP3

2006-08-28T18:09:00.000-04:00

MP3: Here It Goes Again

And For Alex-

MP3: This Will Be Our Year (covered by OK GO)

OK Go - On Treadmills

2006-08-28T13:02:00.000-04:00

Sorry, have to beat Jeff to the punch, but someone sent me the link to this great video by OK Go.

4,469,004 views on YouTube. and ten of those were me, thinking

"it's all of my best ideas while at the gym, realized by someone else."

Now someone please post the MP3. Thank you!

Interview: Gerd Leonhard of Sonific

2006-08-28T12:21:00.000-04:00

"...Sonific is based on a fairly simple premise: to allows Web users to make music available directly from their own personal Web sites. At the heart of Sonific are 'SongSpots' - embedded Flash objects that can be inserted into any Web page users can then click on the graphic which will stream the track directly..."

full interview

That's the name of your song, dude?

2006-08-24T13:05:00.000-04:00

There’s something funny and fucked up about actually liking a song called Ursula Major Ursula Minor. Seriously, if someone told me (like in songwriting class is college) that I had to write a song called Ursula Major Ursula Minor, I would have thought they were 1. Smoking the crack 2. Trying to make me fail or 3. Successfully making me feel extremely stupid. Yet, this song works somehow as a pop/rock song, does it not?

Ursula Major Ursula Minor by bleu, from their album "redhead"

I never would have posted this song, were it not for the name. It’s just so fricken’ odd, and very un-rock-n-roll.

The Invisible Hand Of Alex...

2006-08-23T11:26:00.000-04:00

Is guiding me to post this.
New M. Ward everyone.
He's on tour.
Go see him.

MP3: Requiem

More Nostalgia

2006-08-23T10:59:00.000-04:00

Live Records, 1977...
They were real big.
In fact "Frampton Comes Alive" was the biggest selling album of all time at that time. Bigger than the Beatles.
When I listen to Baby I Love Your Way I hear all the things that I love about 70's music- Fender Rhodes, major 7 chords, unironic mushy lyrics.

MP3: Baby I Love Your Way

A cooler record that I was very aware of but did not personally own a copy was Cheap Trick Live At Budakon. This was probably my introduction to the notion that there is a country called Japan. And they really liked Cheap Trick there. Obviously, Robin Zander really likes Fats Domino.

MP3: Ain't That A Shame

When I was about 10 my dad took my sister and me to a double bill of The Last Waltz and Rust Never Sleeps at the Dobie. That's about 6 grueling hours! But even though Neil came on second, I think both my sister and I liked Rust Never Sleeps a lot better. Maybe It was the Jawas as Stagehands.

MP3: Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)

Post-Ironic Prince

2006-08-21T10:44:00.000-04:00

MP3: Take Me With U

The song begins with a strange arena-rock Tom Tom fill layered with tubular bell keyboard arpeggios...

I can't disguise the pounding of my heart
It beats so strong
It's in your eyes what can I say
They turn me on

Great strummy acoustic guitar part.
It almost sounds like coffee house music.
So sincere!

I don't care where we go
I don't care what we do
I don't care pretty baby
Just take me with u

Can you remember a time before Prince?
A time when eveyone spelled out "you"and "to"?

Come on and touch the place in me
That's calling out your name
We want each other oh so much
Why must we play this game?

Prince and Apollonia had a kind of caveman relationship. Yet there is a tenderness there...

Don't care where we go
I don't care what we do
I don't care pretty baby
Just take me with u

I think what makes me love this song so much is that it is a duet.
And Prince's voice is clearly submarined to Apollonia's in this melodramatic bridge:

I don't care if we spend the night at your mansion
I don't care if we spend the night on the town
All I want is 2 spend the night together
All I want is 2 spend the night in your arms

The most unique thing about Prince, lyrically speaking, is his ability, no, insistence on saying the most ludicrous things in an earnest, "Isn't this the way everybody converses?" manner.
I only wanted 2 see U underneath the Purple Rain
U musta took a whole hour just 2 make up your face, baby
I said now, overcast days never turned me on

To be around u is so-oh right
you're sheer perfection (thank u)
Drive me crazy, drive me all night
Just don't break up the connection

The "thank u" call and response is completely with out irony.

I don't care where we go
I don't care what we do
I don't care pretty baby
Just take me with u

Apollonia rocks (and purrs) this final chorus!
Does anyone have any Apollonia 6 MP3s?
And wouldn't it be weird if it was really his voice, just electronically altered like he did with IF I Was Your Girlfriend?
Does he really need anyone else? His stubborn isolation (he has claimed to only listen to his own music) is what gives him his unironic edge.

Just take me with u
Oh wont u take me with u
Honey take me with u

This just happened

2006-08-11T19:08:00.000-04:00

First off, I'd like to welcome Joel to our quartet of merriment. I'm inspired and somewhat threated by your first post. I feel, as the only female in this four-man band, that the extra pressure is on me.... musician, chick, writer, man about town. I'm suppossed to be all things to all Rahn Rahn! Can I hang? Can I begin to use vulgarity? Please? If only when expressing joy, or how hard something fucking rocks?

Secondly, You Send It is my new best friend. Dot mac, you can go to hell.

Third-est, I am really rocking it hard to the new Raconteurs record, especially this song:

The Level

during the guitar solo, between counts 2 and 3 check out what almost sounds like a bass clarinet on the first phrase.....

also, coming out of the solo, Jack White echos the main melody sung by the lead singer (who is nowhere near as exciting as Jack) and each vocalist is panned opposite the other. Done before you say? Doesn't matter, says me.

but for pure hard rocking hotness, you really can't beat this little sweet piece of action

Intimate Secretary

I won't begin to say I've listened to and adequately analyzed the lyrics - I, like Jeff, don't care as much for lyrics the way, um, others do. However, I do enjoy the simplicity of "I've got a rabbit who likes to shop" and "I've got a red Japanese tea pot." I also enjoy the coining of the word Khakistocracy.

my favorite moment in the song (and please, dear reader, turn it UP) occurs at 1:34 into the song. Then it happens again, with a new sound added at 2:15. listen closely and enjoy.

delish.

Watch me work

2006-08-09T14:42:00.000-04:00

Hello everybody. I'm Joel, old friend of Jeff, brother-in-law of Alex, and crafter of pretentious comments on others' blogs. Thanks very much to the Ranh Ranh gatekeepers for allowing me in. A guest ought not greet his hosts empty handed, so accept this triple-helping of funk.

One Day features the uniting of some profound wonder powers--The Angelic Gospel Singers with the Dixie Hummingbirds. Yummy piano. Plus, make sure you listen through to the final chorus.

The Good Thing is my favorite song from my favorite band--tight rhythm section, distortion-less guitars, stoner fortune cookie lyrics, shamelessly white funkiness. And yes, Jeff, you can name your next band Stoner Fortune Cookie.

Bra (try explaining THAT google search to the wife) is from Cymande (pictured above), a group I discovered recently at Waterloo, although we've heard this song sampled, like, a gajillion times (Alex and I counted). These bruthas have some creative headgear and SERIOUS flares.

We Missed You Dearly RH!

2006-08-07T15:27:00.000-04:00

Michael, Lisa, K-Rock, Alex, Sonnet, Jonny, Troy plus two half pints were here on Saturday.
Who was missing?
You and your Coconut, that's who!

This will have to do in the mean time:
MP3 Raymond Scott-Powerhouse

The name of the game is "Lightworks!"

2006-08-07T12:49:00.000-04:00

1. click on this here link
2. scroll to the bottom of the page
3. click to listen to track four, called Lightworks
4. Freak Out.

My husband and I were driving through Santa Monica when this really trippy song came one. We couldn't figure out if it was a joke, an older song remixed, or what.

Then thankfully, my husband figured it out.

"...Most recently, Dee released his own solo album titled Donuts -- which he wrote and recorded while in and out of the hospital. The album, released to the public only three days before his passing, features a fantastic cover/remix of Raymond Scott's classic electronic tune, "Lightworks."

Turns out that Raymond Scott was an electronic music pioneer who worked closely with Robert Moog (of the synthesizer fame). And light works was a jingle for some kind of electronic board game in the 50s.

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf

2006-08-04T09:12:00.000-04:00

R.I.P.

MP3: Morgen

MP3: Fruehling

Favorite New Song:

2006-08-04T08:54:00.000-04:00

Mp3: I'll Believe In Anything

...by a very busy person named Spencer Krug --how you say-- "Sunset Rubdown". He is also in Wolf Parade and another super group project called Swan Lake.

"the 50 albums that changed music"

2006-07-28T15:04:00.000-04:00

I'm curious as to everyone's opinion of this article from the Guardian.

iPod War

2006-07-27T20:22:00.000-04:00

iPod War. Now this is a game I can get behind.

It would be more fun in person, but perhaps it can be played over the Interweb too?

2006-07-24T11:25:00.000-04:00

Groucho Sinatra: Bitter Nerd

He says he's a fan of Costello, but I don't think so.

Sufjan Sunday

2006-07-23T10:18:00.000-04:00

I bought the new Sufjan Stevens record on itunes yesterday.
21 songs for $9.99

The thing that most impresses me about him today, and it changes all the time, is that he is so comfortable in his song writing sound, his harmonic palatte, if you will.
I admire artists (Charlie Haden, Paul Klee, Puccini, e.e. cummings) that are so comfortable in their own skin.

To paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld: Sufjan's seen the electric guitar, he's sticking with the oboe.

MP3: Adlai Stevenson

Poetry Friday

2006-07-21T11:24:00.000-04:00

This is inspired by Ralph Fiennes' performance in Faith Healer. (read spot-on review, by Ben Brantley)

anyone lived in a pretty how town - e.e. cummings

This video is totally worthy of Audio!

2006-07-19T16:51:00.000-04:00

Or Gly,
Or Rocks,
You know what I mean!

Video

This blog explains it:

Blog

i almost forgot... life. chicks. hooks. life.

2006-07-18T11:57:00.000-04:00

It is the 250th Anniversary of Mozart's Birth (I looked it up!). There is a lot to say about Mozart, but you can get some bad-ass opinions here if you like.
I would like to say the my conception of what Mozart's music is is very tied into my experinces watching the movie Amadeus. Furthermore,
My conception of what it means to both produce and consume art of all kinds has been seriously influenced by the film.

Independent of all of that stuff, Mozart's music is, of course, very important and good. Bekkah and I even feel that, as Jeff Buckley would say, there are a lot of hooks in Wolfie's music.
Here are six that we picked:

Symphony #40 - 1st Movement

Rondo alla Turca

Clarinet Concerto - Adagio

Queen Of The Night Aria

Voi Che Sapete - from Marriage Of Figaro

Romanza from the D minor Piano Concerto

A lot of that is in Amadeus, so maybe that has influenced my choices. But some tunes are more hummable than others!
I've left off the 'Little Night Musik' Dah.. Dah Dah.. Dah Dah Dah Dah Dahhhhh .....
Some hooks can just become unbearable!

There are some more free MP3's here:
Guardian Unlimited

For whatever reason, summertime is the season (annually I might add) for celebrating Mozart. So download some royalty-free music from a dead composer and celebrate the summer with some hooks.life.etc.

Egocentric B-Day Present For Sonnet

2006-07-14T10:20:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday Sonnet (who was born sometime after 1970)
Here are some of the artists, with MP3, that were born in 1970.
(I can't wait to see Alex's list-Pete Doherty?)

Rivers Quomo of Weezer -
Say It Ain't So

Neko Case -
Star Witness

QTip, Phife and Ali -
Mr. Incognito

Brad Mehldau -
Dear Prudence

Ani Difranco -
When Doves Cry

Maseo of De La Soul -
Bitties in The BK Lounge

Badly Drawn Boy - Epitaph

Warren G - My Momma

Damien Rice -
Cold Water

I have to admit that Durst guy was born in '70, so that is probably worse than Doherty.
We have Jennifer Connelly though!

Guest Post from Los Angeles Film Composer, Adam Cohen

2006-07-13T17:24:00.000-04:00

Hey Everyone - just thought I would send a music update out...

If you're at all interested, the Ray Romano, Kevin James, Burt Reynolds movie I scored for New Line Pictures has finally been released - sadly New Line - for whatever their reasons - sat on it and did nothing with it for over a year and a half. Now it finally has made it to DVD... its actually pretty good...

here is a link to the trailer.

and here is a link to Amazon.

Also - if anyone is interested - I am also scoring music to a new tv show on the USA network called "Psych" - its on fridays at 10 PM on the West Coast - check local listings, of course. Tts a goofy show about a smart slacker who pretends to be a psychic so he can help the cops solve crime.....

break beat

2006-07-11T16:31:00.000-04:00

I had a very similar idea, to track a sample and show all it's uses.

These guys did it first, better and made this great video.

awesome.

2006-07-10T11:22:00.000-04:00

Zidane Head Bussin'

If Alex Won't Blog World Cup Then...

Django Reinhardt

2006-07-07T13:57:00.000-04:00

Django Reinhardt
Originally uploaded by late night movie.

I'm trying out new stuff on this here Internet!

Mp3: Exactly Like You

2006-07-07T13:32:00.000-04:00

Django

In case you did not follow my subtle suggestions a few weeks ago!

Holy nut.

2006-07-05T16:59:00.000-04:00

Flash-based automation on MP3 blog link aggregator

click the "listen" link and see what happens -- more
music than anyone should have time to listen to...

the Hype machine

Another good article from the Times Magazine:

2006-07-03T09:42:00.000-04:00

"Well, for me, listening to music is akin to a religious experience; it's the closest thing to a religion I have." Katell Keineg

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/02/magazine/02keineg.html

PS There are 3 downloadable clips also.
The Times is a MP3 blog now!

I'm Trying To Learn New Uploading Techniques

2006-06-29T18:52:00.000-04:00

And I wonder if Glycerin likes the singer of Feist.

Secret Heart

PS
(I like Jeff Buckley)
(and opened up for him in Austin)
(and had a conversation with him)

I've always loved Jeff Buckley

2006-06-29T18:48:00.000-04:00

Some people just don't understand. But then, seemingly out of nowhere, others do...

31 Jon Brion Demos sitting in a tree

2006-06-27T00:24:00.000-04:00

Fill yer boots

The Final List:

2006-06-26T20:38:00.000-04:00

How cool is Joel anyway?
He has got to be the best Brother-in-Law ever.

I had the excellent fortune of hanging out with him for a while on Friday Night. He and his bride joined me, Sistra and Chewbekkah in a vigorous debate of the Bulletproof list. There were tremendous ideas exchanged. Final Verdict -- There really is a ton of great music from the 80's. But you already knew that.

Things got rally excited when we started talking about Rush and Van Halen. Joel remembers in great detail the Van Halen 1984 tour, which we both saw (The most visceral memory being David Lee Roth wearing a large foam Cowboy hat).

He's the Hair Metal Ying to Michy's Dead Or Alive Yang.

Goody Two Shoes Adam Ant
So Many Key Changes, So Good
This Is Radio Clash The Clash
Bekkah Likes This Police-ish Track
How Soon Is Now? The Smiths
Didn't Like Them Then, Love Them Now
Message Of Love The Pretenders
A Perfect Song In My Opinion
Gigantic Pixies
Sorry Francis, I'm Going With Kim
Pulling Mussels From A Shell
Glenn Tillbrook Is My New Squeeze
Genius Of Love Tom Tom Club
Thanks To Mariah Everyone Knows This Now
Just Like Heaven The Cure
I Would Say Bulletproof
Turn to You The Go-Go's
This One Is Maybe Not Bulletproof, But Belinda Sings Her Best Notes Ever After The Guitar Solo
I Got You Split Enz
This Was The Big Find Of The Night. I Would Love To See Neil Finn, Glenn Tillbrook and Joe Jackson Beat Up Elvis Costello
Dancing in the Street Van Halen
Can Jeff And Joel Be Wrong?
Run's House Run DMC
Rap To Represent The Whole Decade (and Addidas)
Tenderness General Public
Bulletproof (and very John Hughesy)
This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) Talking Heads
A Second Representation Of Tina And Chris

introducing Lily Allen

2006-06-21T19:57:00.000-04:00

Go Ye Now... rush... to http://www.lilyallenmusic.com/ and in the top right corner, IMMEDIATELY go to song #3 called Knock Em Out.

Love the great New Orleans feel, syncopated drum machine and funny lyrics spoken/sung in a fantastic accent. Top accent.

I especially love the way she says the word "nasty" in the first verse.

enjoy!

Ladies and Gentlemen, We are gathered Today

2006-06-18T10:06:00.000-04:00

I just found out that my good friends Amy And Eli had a healthy baby girl named Paris Olivia.

In Paris' honor, with prescience of a future career as a Concert Violinst or Opera Conductor or Bass Player for Branford Marsalis II, I will post 2 tracks.

The first is Anyway, which is my all time Post-Fabu/Faboo Amy Atchley track. The first time I heard the recorded version I thought of Jon Brion which is my highest compliment.

Amy Atchley - Anyway

The second track is from Eli's recently rereleased album Kicks Are For Kids. It has some great playing. I am especially fond of Frederick Sanders' incredibly dynamic piano playing, which evident all over this track.

Eli Haslanger - History Book

When Eli and I aren't talkin' BASE-BALL we talk record production value. As I listen to Eli's 3rd record this morning I am very impressed with the production. I think that the proof is usually in the drum pudding. And the drums sound clear and natural on this record. So I tip my hat to momma Atchley and producer Elias Haslanger this Sunday morning!

In case you didn't have 600 bucks to spare...

2006-06-17T23:38:00.000-04:00

Or weren't in the mood, or in New York, here is a pretty complete roundup of Rufus Wainwright's tribute to Judy Garland this week at Carnegie Hall:

http://rogerbourland.com/redblackwindow/

Here is the best song from the original:
The Man That Got Away

And Rufus Singing Judy:
Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Glycerin's Friend...

2006-06-17T23:09:00.000-04:00

is profiled in the Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/18/magazine/18barkley.html

Chuck Klosterman writes it.

Bulletproof ( I wish I was)

2006-06-17T19:30:00.000-04:00

I am creating a CD for a friend of mine who claims not to like 80's music.
This is a bit like saying that you don't like Italian food. But Bekkah and I have been devising a playlist we call bulletproof because we are trying to pick songs by familiar artists like Madonna and U2 that are so good they are "bulletproof".
We also have Message of Love by The Pretenders, Gigantic by The Pixies, How Soon Is Now by The Smiths and Black Coffee by Squeeze (or maybe Pulling Mussels from a Shell).
Any other ideas?

....even if he has to wrong someone

2006-06-13T21:51:00.000-04:00

You Aint No Picasso has 2 songs from the upcoming M.Ward album -- just when I needed them. One is a new original, the other is a Daniel Johnston cover. Both have me convinced the followup to my #1 album of 2005 will not be a letdown. He is it at the moment as far as I'm concerned.

Album's out August 22nd and features a full band, plus cameos from Neko Case and Jim James (My Morning Jacket).

100 Greatest Living Songwriters...

2006-06-13T16:52:00.000-04:00

According to Paste Magazine (thanks to i guess i'm floating )

1. Bob Dylan
2. Neil Young
3. Bruce Springsteen
4. Waits/Brennan
5. Paul McCartney
6. Leonard Cohen
7. Brian Wilson
8. Elvis Costello
9. Joni Mitchell
10. Prince
11. Randy Newman
12. Jagger/Richards
13. Paul Simon
14. Stevie Wonder
15. Willie Nelson
16. David Bowie
17. Holland/Dozier/Holland
18. U2
19. Patty Griffin
20. Van Morrison
21. Lou Reed
22. Lucinda Williams
23. John/Taupin
24. Jeff Tweedy
25. Chuck Berry
26. R.E.M.
27. Radiohead
28. Robbie Robertson
29. Tom Petty
30. John Prine
31. Carole King
32. Leiber/Stoller
33. Pete Townshend
34. John Fogerty
35. Steve Earle
36. Beck
37. Smokey Robinson
38. Kris Kristofferson
39. Led Zeppelin
40. Bacharach/David
41. Ray Davies
42. Loretta Lynn
43. Ryan Adams
44. Al Green
45. Jackson Browne
46. David Byrne
47. Sufjan Stevens
48. Welch/Rawlings
49. Cat Stevens
50. Public Enemy
51. Penn/Oldham
52. Paul Westerberg
53. James Taylor
54. Aimee Mann
55. Dolly Parton
56. James Brown
57. Morrissey
58. Sly Stone
59. Jack White
60. Jimmy Webb
61. John Hiatt
62. Sting
63. Richard Thompson
64. Andy Partridge
65. Bill Mallonee
66. Charles Thompson
67. Conor Oberst
68. Allen Toussaint
69. Merle Haggard
70. Alex Chilton
71. Vic Chesnutt
72. Michael Jackson
73. Julie Miller
74. Over the Rhine
75. Ron Sexsmith
76. Will Oldham
77. Bruce Cockburn
78. Robert Pollard
79. Stephen Malkmus
80. Pink Floyd
81. The Flaming Lips
82. John Darnielle
83. Fleetwood Mac
84. They Might Be Giants
85. David Bazan
86. Sam Beam
87. Lyle Lovett
88. Parliament
89. Victoria Williams
90. Nick Cave
91. Drive-By Truckers
92. Alejandro Escovedo
93. Joseph Arthur
94. Sam Phillips
95. Patti Smith
96. Jimmy Cliff
97. Josh Ritter
98. Jay Farrar
99. Outkast
100. T Bone Burnett

If I could change 1 thing it would be to take pastiche artist Beck off of the list (and who is David Bazan?).

Sonnet....

2006-06-08T23:06:00.000-04:00

I have a new motto!

We went to see Mason Jennings tonight. Wow. He is a gifted songwriter and singer and guitar player. It is hard to ask for more from a show of music that you really don't know very well or at all. The only problem was that the crowd was ridiculous. It was full of beautiful women and well educated hipster dudes. And they were DRUNK! And TALL! And deliberately standing in front of us!
And taking too many pictures with their phones!
And we were bumped into several dozen times!!

Ugh!

But somehow they were listening to these sweet poetic song about perfect love and the mysteries of the universe.
And they loved it and knew every word.
So I am reminded that every annoying person probably has something redeeming about them:

Even Hitler loved his dog

Mason Jennings: If You Ain't Got Love

Happy Birthday To Lisa!

2006-06-07T21:49:00.000-04:00

1970 is so fucking cool!

I like this song very much by Austinite Andrea Perry.

Bursting Through The Clouds

Lisa, You Like?

30,801

2006-06-04T12:32:00.000-04:00

I went to the new Apple store on 5th ave. last night. They are open 24 hours a day! How much different would our lives be if all businesses did this (Austin is kinda already like this)? The Paris Subway stops at midnight. How pathetic!

non sequitur

The piano player I mentioned before named Maurizio Pollini is always in heavy rotation in my music world. I have seen him perform over 10 times. I loved him the first time I heard him (Chopin's Preludes). I could say a lot about him, but I think after reading a weird profile of him in the Times a couple of weeks ago I have decided that he, quite simply, is a perfect balance between left and right brain aptitudes. Or to put a it a different way: he has the heart of a gypsy and the discipline of a soldier.

This is what the Times printed:

Such perfectionism is in keeping with the main criticism leveled at Mr. Pollini, that he is distant, perhaps even cold, in his performances.
Jeremy Siepmann, in ''Chopin: The Reluctant Romantic,'' writes of Mr. Pollini: ''His meticulous attention to every detail of the composer's text often results in the nearest thing to an aural photograph of the printed page. His virtuosity is untainted by any sense of ego, indeed there are many musicians who find his playing cold and impersonal.''

I have a feeling that there is no word more horrible to a virtuoso of Pollini's level than "cold".
Have a listen for yourself:

Etude Op. 25 No. 3

Cold?

Pollini is a master of Chopin's music. Very few other pianists living or dead compare in my mind. I did finally hear one that can match up however (playing Chopin). Alfred Cortot is really, really good.

Etude Op. 25 No. 3

I started to get excited about this and was wondering if anybody else had noticed a sort of bond between these two fellows. There were 30,800 articles posted on Google with both of their names. One thing I read that interested me is that Cortot would deliberately rewrite some notes in the pieces he played. You can hear it on the left hand of the first etude.

Etude Op. 10 No. 1

He was born in 1877, so he learned to play the piano before recordings. His only influence was what he heard growing up in his town. Players of his generation had a lot more "ego" as Mr. Siepmann would say and were not afraid to inject more of themselves into the music. Vladimir Horowitz is considered the last player of this type. Anyway here is the "Napoleonic" Pollini playing the same etude.

Etude Op. 10 No. 1

P.S. World: you can just listen without downloading now. I have finally gotten up to around the year 2000 in blogging technology.

from a much better writer than me....

2006-06-01T16:44:00.000-04:00

Highlight of an article in the Age on Gnarls Barkley's new Album, St. Elsewhere,
written by Garry Mulholland, author of This Is Uncool: The 500 Greatest Singles Since Punk and Disco:

"...One of St Elsewhere's charms is its brevity. Another is its
enormous range. Like Demon Days it fizzes with ideas, from
cartoonish horror stomps to singalong '80s pop and a Violent
Femmes cover (Gone Daddy Gone). It sounds fresh, unprecious and
very post-Hey Ya, but taken as a whole - like so much else in the
Danger Mouse portfolio - it's notoriously hard to
categorise. OutKast meets UNKLE with shades of Stevie Wonder? A
Funkadelic salad with NERD croutons and a Massive Attack
vinaigrette?

"I call it industrial euro-soul," says Cee-Lo. "Some of them
beats are dirty, like a factory. They sound like he's on the
laptop with gloves on. The 'euro' is because industrial music is
more European like, you know, Kraftwerk or ... Aphex Twin or some
shit."

Danger Mouse licks his spoon. "I prefer 'psychedelic soul'," he
says. "Psychedelic music is pretty much all I listen to right
now. Really raw experimental stuff from the '60s and '70s, stuff
like the Churchills, the Electric Prunes. They would make music
knowing that they could have made it more sellable, but they
didn't. I love that. That's the spirit I wanted
here. Experimentation and melody."

his view on the single, Crazy:

"...Hailing Crazy as single of the year in May smacks of hyperbole, now doesn't it? Actually ... no. Its chart history and success is made all the more extraordinary by the kind of record it is. It's a soul record. Not R&B, nor hip-hop-soul, nor a Joss Stone-style pastiche, but an organic, modern soul record, relevant to its times and shorn of nostalgia. Add the fact that Gnarls Barkley are almost invisible, and you have one of those wonderful moments when the music-buying public rebels and votes for quality, depth and integrity.

Crazy is an outrageously simple record. A disco beat. A woody, staccato bassline. Discreet gospel harmonies. A few verses and some sampled strings on the chorus. And a voice. But this is a voice straight out of the church, containing all of soul's twinning of strength and vulnerability, and testifying, with a somewhat arty lyric, about a feeling that most of us feel in these alienating, bewildering days - that madness and death may be more comforting than living a life where you have to "think you're in control".

The song kicks straight in without intro fanfare, and ends when it runs out of words, very much like an unfinished demo. It's so simple it's weird."

Go listen for yourself. I'm sold.

Geddy Lee/Not Geddy Lee

2006-05-29T11:13:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking about this for awhile.
Any other examples?
Gly?
I know you can think of one!

Ex. #1

Ex. #2

Ex. #3

Ex. #4

Ex. #5

Surfing the Hype Machine...

2006-05-15T17:54:00.000-04:00

This song struck me in 3 seconds flat:

MP3: Steal The Blueprints - +/-

Thanks to I Guess I'm Floating!
I like your style!