Your Older Brother's Music Blog

State of the state of music (MOG repost)

2012-11-21T12:57:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm probably in the minority, but I couldn't stand the Testosterone Rock of the mid-late 90's-early 00's - your Limp Bizkits (sans Wes Borland - he's a pretty good player), your Creeds, Nickelbacks, Stainds - that growly vocal thing. 3 Doors Down, Fuel, that sort of thing. I couldn't listen to rock radio for years. Not even Live 105 in the Bay Area, which went from "alternative" to all testosterone rock, all the time.

So, now we're in punky emo land, which, you know, is more my speed. The screamo stuff is a little (okay, a LOT) over the top for me, but hey, I'm almost an old man. I'm allowed to have my "kids these days" moments. There's a lot of the emo-y, punky bands around, plenty of them on the radio, too. In fact, there's enough of them to make Daughtry sound sorta novel (you know, that band featuring the guy from AmIdol last year?).

So, there's one thing in particular that I've especially never loved about Cock Rock, and that's the "hoodley". The "hoodley" is what the singer for a band I was in called the solos that you find from, say, Steve Vai, Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen. They're okay. I don't mind a little tappy guitar solo now and again. I like my share of metal, really. I do. I tend more toward Industrial, though. Skinny Puppy, Ministry, that sort of stuff. The grindy, not the flashy. Or the indie. Futureheads, Bloc Party. Or to reference some good ol' rock 'n' roll, Superdrag, Dillon Fence, Replacements. Bendy, not flashy.

So...imagine my surprise, I'm watching Taking Back Sunday on the David Letterman show: the singer's prancing around, doing his yelling vocals thing, they're rockin' allright, and about 2:40 in, the guitar player busts out a hoodley:

Ok. Someone got their chocolate in my peanut butter and we are NOT amused.

Album Covers Battle

2012-11-21T12:36:00.001-07:00

CollegeHumor's Favorite Funny Videos

The Cure - "Foxy Lady"

2012-11-21T12:19:00.001-07:00

I just got word that the old MOG.com site is being mothballed. I have some music posts there that I'd like to save, so, lucky reader - here's new old content for you! This was originally posted 10/4/06.

This song should *really* suck, but I find myself groovin' to it. Their cover of it, I mean. the song is good anyway, but jeez...some spazzy, proto-new-wave kooky cover. It totally works for me.

Anyone out there have covers that they like but for some reason just *shouldn't* work?

In my view, there are two types of good covers - what I call "straight" covers, which are faithful to the original. Otherwise known as "playing it safe". The other kind is when the band "makes it their own". This is more difficult, and what the Cure did here. You will not confuse their version with Jimi's. :) Another good example of someone making the songs their own is Mark Kozelek (from Red House Painters & Sun Kil Moon, for those familiar with those bands) and his album of AC/DC covers, "What's Next To The Moon". You gotta hear his version of "Love at First Feel" next to their original. Where AC/DC comes across as sleazy, Mark transmogrifies into a tender plea.

Now, if we're gonna talk about the Cure's version of "Purple Haze"...well, I'd rather not. It's more along the lines of "straight", but it sucks. See: their version of "Hello, I love you", wherein they try to straddle the lines of "straight" and "making it their own" and end up in "suck".

Who do you think are the hardest bands to cover? Where all attempts typically just fail, because the originals are so strong and ingrained? I'll say the Beatles for starters. Other people doing their songs, for the most part, just sounds wrong.

Songs That Got In My Head At Work

2012-11-20T22:00:00.000-07:00

Stocking stuff at SuperBullseyeMadeInChinaLand, your mind tends to wander. When you're a music nut like I am, it wanders toward music. Some of these songs recur because of products that I stock, some are totally random. So, now that I have a Blackberry, I type down the songs as they pop in. I don't get them all, but it's kind of fun to see what I've been singing to myself.

Depeche Mode - "Love in itself"
Elvin Bishop - "Fooled around and fell in love"
Fall Out Boy - "Of All The Gin Joints In All The World"
Elton John - "Can You Feel the Love Tonight"
Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince - "Parents Just Don't Understand" (See, there's this Yoplait "yogurt" product called Whips. They're a total rip-off, they're fluffed up and flavored but since they're fluffed, you don't get much. But that's not the important thing here. When I'm stocking them, I keep singing "I asked her for adidas and she bought me whips!" Instead of Zips. Get it? It bugs me, but I always sing it.)
Neil Sedaka - "Calendar Girl"
Cookie Monster - "C is for Cookie"
Sweet - "Teenage Rampage" and "Blockbuster"
Arlo Guthrie - "City of New Orleans"
The Blue Hearts - "Paper Balloon Bomb"
Digital Underground - "Humpty Dance"
Gary Numan - "Down in the Park"
Pink Panther theme
Michael Jackson - "Bad"
Steve Forbert - "Romeo's Tune" ("Meet me in the middle of the day/lemme hear you say everything's ok...")
Jay Z - "Dirt Off Your Shoulder"

Ramblin' 'bout musics

2012-11-20T21:56:00.000-07:00

I just got word that the old MOG.com site is being mothballed. I have some music posts there that I'd like to save, so, lucky reader - here's new old content for you! This was originally posted 9/22/06.

Either "man", like the Almond Brothers (heh...joke) or like Steve Martin.

I was just thinking, seeing that Louis Armstrong has a "Definitive" out, that he's kind of like a "gateway" jazz artist for me. I really like Louis Armstrong, but seeing that collection just out, I was about to click and see what was on it. I don't have a lot of Satchmo, a couple of collections. But I then thought "you know what, I don't really want any more. I wanna be challenged." Meaning about Jazz. Like Miles or Coltrane or something. After years of liking the most accessible jazz (Armstrong, Dixieland, Louis Prima, etc), I feel the need to expand my listening.Dovetailing off of that, as an early fan of rap (Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, Sugarhill Gang, Run-DMC, and especially Public Enemy), I was thrilled to see an interview with Hank Shocklee in the latest issue of TapeOp (Thanks, blinder!). It's a good, long article, talking about how PE got started and the recording of some of the earlier albums. I need to go back and take some more listens, but it's great to see a broader scope of music in that magazine. I always wondered how they did some of that early stuff, and I love hearing from everyone in a group, not just the leaders & mouthpieces, although Chuck D is kind of a hero of mine.Also saw that Pansy Division has a greatest hits out. Very cool. Another great, fun band. Check out the "clean" version of their song He Whipped My Ass In Tennis, Then I Fucked His Ass In Bed. :D Bonnie Prince Billy might be a good artist, but I can't get past the name.

Most fun Halloween costume ever

2012-11-01T21:35:00.000-06:00

For me, anyway. Not every day you get to look like Robert Smith from the Cure. And I think I did look a lot like him!

I've long been a huge Cure fan (just check out my other Cure post for evidence), but this is the first time I really got to do the hair & makeup.

Now if I could just sing & write songs like him….

Westword Music Showcase 2012

2012-07-08T11:05:00.002-06:00

Two weeks ago I won a pair of passes to attend the Westword Music Showcase, courtesy of the fine folks at Ultra5280. Westword advertised that there were over 150 local bands and I saw the tiniest fraction of them, but I had a friend pointing me in the right direction to start the day.

My day started with The Don'ts and Be Carefuls at Club Vinyl at the recommendation of my new friend Nigel. He tells me that he's friends with the band, but I don't think he'd recommend them if they were crap.

They had a ton of energy and a great 4-piece loud pop sound - guitar, bass, synth & drums. I might have missed a song or two, but I'm already hoping to catch them during the Underground Music Showcase next weekend (July 19-22). I'm listening to their song "The Still Favorites" as I write this and wish I had a stand-up desk so I could dance and write at the same time.

It was one of the hottest days of the summer in Denver, and everyone was walking around in shorts, t-shirts and sandals, trying to beat the heat in any way possible. I took off my shirt and twirled it around when walking between venues to try & dry it out. We were smart, though, and parked in the $5 structure near the Denver Art Museum and packed a cooler with our own food & a few bottles of water.

After seeing the Dont's and Be Carefuls we beat feet over to the Curious Theatre to see Ian Cooke. He plays cello and sings but has a full band with him. I used to work with the guitarist Ian O a few years back and he constantly invites me to his shows on Facebook and I haven't made it out to see him until now, and I'm so glad I did.

They played a couple of covers (Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" and ABBA's "I'm A Marionette") and I just really enjoyed the music. You can imagine that it's not really loud with the cello, but the guitar, bass & drums get things rocking pretty well. Great songs and great presentation with all of the band members interacting with each other. Talked with my friend Ian O after the show & was reminded how great of a guy he is. He highly recommended Battles on the main stage later that day, so we made sure to catch that show.

Here we are at the Public Shaming poriton of this post. Close to the end of the Ian Cooke show some crashing bores came and stood near us & in front of us - I had to tell one guy to step aside as he had rudely set up directly in front of me in the aisle to where I couldn't see. But the capper was this girl who was standing talking to someone and waving her sweaty body odor right at me:

Don't be like her, kids. Be aware of your surroundings.

After seeing Ian Cooke, I wanted to catch Joy Subtraction at Bar Standard, but they were the only venue all day to deny access to my 11-year-old. Undaunted, we walked over to Rooster & Moon to watch A Mouthful of Thunder, again at Nigel's suggestion.

There were a couple of microphone feedback issues and a lot of warm people packed into a small place, but the music was really good, lush, catchy, rootsy pop, and I'd like to see them in a bigger venue that could fit the band & it's music.

We left a little before the set ended to go get out of the sun and have some food & water and enjoy the air conditioning inside my car. We then made our way over to Stoney's to see Bop Skizzum, but got there early enough to catch the end of Rob Drabkin's set of jam-band-ish tunes. Rob has done some shows recently where he has covered Paul Simon's Graceland album. I love that record and it looks like a performance of it is up on Spotify that I'll probably check out soon & may try to see if he's going to do that live again as well.

Bop is a band I saw for the first time a couple of months ago and really enjoyed meeting Andy, the lead singer/guitar player. I first heard of them about 10 years ago from a co-worker and haven't really seen or heard much from them in the meantime, but they seem to be everywhere lately (probably thanks in part to the efforts of my friend Aimee at Giese Media).

Bop puts on a hell of a show, even a short set like they were at the WMS, and my kid loved that they have a female singer. We went up and talked to the band afterward - everyone in the place was sweating like devils afterward - and they're so nice & gracious.

After Bop we went over to the main stage to catch Battles. What Ian briefly told me about them was that they make dance-type music but using live instruments. Very difficult to describe but enjoyable. Not like sampling, but playing with precision, controlling the sounds the instruments make, probably some looping. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures. Oh well.

At this point we went back to the car for more air conditioning, water, song trading & singalongs with Terry. Sufficiently cooled, we went back to the main stage area to watch Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.

Pretty fun stuff, not brain surgery, you know? Something good to listen to while we waited for Girl Talk. Both my kid and I were there mainly to see Girl Talk. I had seen him last year just a few months after All Day was released, and it was easily the most insane concert experience I've ever had. I was there alone and everyone was packed together, dancing, sweating, moving almost completely as one. I left that show thirsty, wet, and somehow completely worn out and energized at the same time.

The crowd at the WMS started gathering and I told the people I was with that "shit's about to get crazy," and I don't think anyone believed me, but the joke was on them. More people kept packing into the city block parking lot where the show was being held. All of the people around us were vitalized and we were feeding off that as well. It wasn't quite dark yet when the show started and everyone started dancing, but the crowd seemed to be holding something back.

(this photo was featured in Westword's WMS Instagram recap!)

The darker it got, however, the more everyone let loose and just danced like nobody was watching. Maybe that was just me, but it felt like the atmosphere became more charged and the crowd shook off their inhibitions and everyone was having a great time. That's what a Girl Talk show does to people, and it's great.

The long, hot day ended with a bunch of tired people, energy spent, us included. My kid told me how great that was, though, and that was worth it for me. I'm completely grateful to Ultra5280 for the tickets and to my friends for sharing the day with us. I hope to have more days & nights like that, and soon.

Band Links:

The Don'ts and Be Carefuls
Ian Cooke
Mouthful of Thunder
Rob Drabkin
Bop Skizzum
Battles
Macklemore
Girl Talk

Post-Violator Depeche Mode Discography Suggestions - Part Two

2012-07-04T09:32:00.001-06:00

Where was I...oh yeah. Depeche Mode had released Ultra, a slow, sensual album in the wake of Alan Wilder leaving the band & Dave Gahan almost dying. Or actually dying and being revived. Either way, it's a great album, and one of my favorite DM records, post-Violator or not.

The biggest challenge when writing posts like these, however, is not to frame what the band does *after* a classic album in the same light as the classic album, or "classic period." I will never be caught up in the excitement of discovering Depeche Mode again, I will never have another concert experience like seeing the Black Celebration tour at Red Rocks, I will never be falling in love with my future wife to Violator. As previously mentioned, Songs of Faith and Devotion was the soundtrack to a pretty heavy time in my life. Ultra, well, I just remember half-drunk late nights with the record on and sinking into the corporeal music and lyrics.

With 2001's Exciter, I don't have those types of memories or experiences (except with one song), so I'm left to simply give my take on the songs as I hear them now. 2001-02 were very busy years for me. I wouldn't be surprised if I bought Exciter in 2003 or later.

As far as the music itself goes, "Dream On" is a peppy two-step, definitely quicker than anything on Ultra, and it's an ok single. "I Feel Loved" was the next single, and while it definitely shares that quick two-step DNA with "Dream On," for some reason I like it better. There's a lot of effects and riffs winding around the beats, and it keeps my interest pretty well. There's not much lyrically to the song, though, and that holds for most of Exciter, in my opinion. There's a depth that feel like I'm used to from Martin Gore and I don't feel like I'm getting it here.

"When the Body Speaks" is good, but my favorite song on Exciter is by far "Freelove." Listening to this record, I know the singles ok, but not the album tracks ("The Sweetest Condition," "The Dead Of Night"), although I must have listened to them to have heard "Freelove." I don't really know "Goodnight Lovers" that well, but the melody reminds me of an old tune from the 40's. Listening to it, this is clearly the start of my "Oh, Depeche Mode has a new album?" phase, meaning I wasn't paying attention as closely as I had for the previous decade. Which isn't to say that there aren't great tunes on these recent 3 records, and "Freelove" is a catalog fave.

Continuing with the 4-year release cycle, Playing the Angel was released in 2005. The only single I remember from this albm is "John the Revelator," and I remember that more for the title than the music. I read now that "Precious" was the first single and that's definitely one of the songs I picked off this album on first listen, which was pretty much a couple of months ago.

This process has been interesting for me, listening for songs to recommend when I dont really know them. I've been trying to figure out if I'm listening for songs that remind me of the "old" Depeche Mode or if I'm just listening for good hooks and good lyrics. I have a future post coming about when one of your favorite groups released an album you didn't care for, I suppose I'll explore that feeling more when I write that post.

The songs I really like on this record are the other singles - the aforementioned "Precious" and "Suffer Well," the latter of which is one of Dave Gahan's first lyrical contributions to be featured on a Depeche Mode album (along with "I Want It All" and "Nothing's Impossible"). "Precious" reminds me musically somewhat of one of the slower Nitzer Ebb songs from the As Is EP, "Come Alive"and has a really catchy chorus. "Suffer Well" has a good guitar hook - something that started with Personal Jesus and has become another recent DM signature - not what most people used to think of when they thought of a synth band.

I certainly don't mind "John the Revelator" or "A Pain That I'm Used To," and I guess they're someone's idea of what new Depeche Mode singles should be. "Nothing's Impossible" and "Lilian" are decent tracks as well, and "The Darkest Star" was all right. The rest of PtA I wasn't crazy about.

Sounds of the Universe was released in - you guessed it - 2009 (I think that means we're due for some new Depeche in 2013) and was the first Depeche album I recall paying attention to in a while. Which strikes me as a bit odd now, because I didn't listen to the album until recently, either. Thinking about it now, I think I remember reading that it was a more "Depeche" album than the last couple had been.

The album is pretty strong, as far as I'm concerned. From "In Chains" through the first single "Wrong" to "Fragile Tension" and "In Sympathy," (my two favorite songs on the record), and on through the choirlike sound of the refrain on "Peace" and the most relaxed I've ever heard Martin Gore sing, I think, on "Jezebel", it's just a really good record. If you listen with headphones, there are a lot of nice synth touches - "In Chains" opens with square analog waveforms joining one at a time and then being tuned to a chord that drops out before Dave Gahan's voice appears clear & strong. The rich bass tones & trill treble riff that starts "Fragile Tension" are Devo-esque; there's a bitcrushed 8-bit rhythm tone that runs through "In Sympathy"; "Peace" could musically be set in the middle of Some Great Reward without anyone noticing.

All of this is not to say that it's a retro record - the central musical feature of "In Chains" is a distorted wah-wah guitar riff, and most songs have at least a little guitar in them, usually supporting the chorus. But Sounds of the Universe to me sounds like a Depeche Mode that is comfortable with its past and secure in its future. This may end up being one of my favorite DM records ever. I definitely slept on this album when it was released. Don't count on that happening again.

These albums all have their high points, but my favorite post-Violator single wasn't an album track, it was a single that appeared only on The Best Of - Volume 1 collection. "Martyr" was recorded during the Playing the Angel sessions but could easily be a Violator track. There's something in the strong pulsating backbeat and signature guitar riff that immediately set it off from the other PtA songs and, for me, it would be enough to purchase the whole Volume 1 collection - if there wasn't a "Martyr" single available.

So, there you go. I didn't go over the Dave Gahan or Martin L. Gore solo records, perhaps that will be an exercise for another time. I'll link to my absolute favorite tracks below, and please feel free to argue or support my choices in the comments!

---------------

Links

Post-Violator Depeche Mode Discography Suggestions - Part One

DepecheMode.com

Affiliate Links (buy here and support Your Older Brother a little):

Depeche Mode

Exciter (Remastered) - Depeche Mode
Playing the Angel - Depeche Mode
Sounds of the Universe - Depeche Mode

I Feel Loved - Exciter (Remastered)
Freelove - Exciter (Remastered)
When the Body Speaks - Exciter (Remastered)
Goodnight Lovers - Exciter (Remastered)

Precious - Playing the Angel
Suffer Well - Playing the Angel
John the Revelator - Playing the Angel

In Chains - Sounds of the Universe
Wrong - Sounds of the Universe
Fragile Tension - Sounds of the Universe
In Sympathy - Sounds of the Universe
Peace - Sounds of the Universe
Jezebel - Sounds of the Universe

Martyr - Single - Depeche Mode

And one more because I'm cheeky: The Dead Milkmen Instant Club Hit (You'll Dance to Anything) - Bucky Fellini

Where URGH! They Now - Steve Bartek from Oingo Boingo Speaks!

2012-06-05T13:36:00.002-06:00

So excited to have Steve Bartek - legendary Oingo Boingo, guitarist, film composer, orchestrator and conductor - as the first official respondent to Your Older Brother's questions about URGH! A Music War. I asked these questions of Steve on his official website SteveBartek.com in the forum area and he replied at 5am one late/early May morning. My questions & Steve's replies below, with minor edits for punctuation:

Your Older Brother: What led to the decision to be in the film, how it was presented to you & the band? Did you have any specific hopes for how the film might expose Oingo Boingo to a wider audience (wider exposure)?

Steve Bartek: AH - URGH was put together by our then record company IRS record and then manager Miles Colpeland - so - we were in it - no choice to be made really - wider exposure for a beginning band

YOB: Did you get to choose what song was used in the film?

SB: the song choices i think were Danny's but i can't be sure - we were on the whiskey stage with with the Surf Punks and the Alley Cats and the Go Go's i think, i remember Darby Crash upstairs in the dressing room hanging out a bit stoned.

YOB: Who did you feel were your contemporaries at that time? Or was Oingo Boingo as out on your own as it seemed?

SB: We never felt like we quite fit into the scene, personality wise and music

YOB: Is there a single moment from a live show that stands out?

SB: My most important moment on live stage is a blur in my memory except how great i felt. I was in a band - Buffington Roads - and we opened for Love at the Kaleidoscope in Holllywood when i was in High School - and i got to play flute with the headliner for an extended jam on one of their tunes.

YOB: Did you have an older sibling who turned you on to music?

SB: Yes i have an older brother who took guitar lessons, so i would sneak into his room and play his guitar when he wasn't around - finally he encouraged my Dad to buy me my own guitar -so yes he was source of encouragement.

YOB: Who was your metaphorical "older brother"? Who inspired you & supported you?

SB: i think we all have different heros at different times in our development - when started on flute i wanted to be Herbie Mann. then on guitar George Harrison, Jeff Beck, Charlie Christian, Django Reinhardt, and at school it was Stravinsky and Messiaen and Harry Partch.

I was very lucky to have met so many musicians in LA that were also a network of inspiration and source of support for just making making music one's life - and even my parents who kept me from going on the road when i was 15 with the Strawberry Alarm Clock - supported me changing my major from pre-med to music the first year of college.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Thanks again to Steve Bartek for braving the pre-dawn hours to answer my questions. I love his story about sneaking in to play his older brother's guitar - classic! I know that Steve has been a musical influence on me personally - in my view, many of Danny's songs came alive thanks to Steve's deft and frenetic guitar.

The helpful webmaster at Steve's forum also provided the full setlist from the night of the filming:

Forbidden Zone
Controller
Ain't This the Life
Only A Lad
Imposter
You Really Got Me
Teenage Monster
California Girls
Nasty Habits

And now there's been a bit of discussion about what might have been filmed in addition to "Ain't This The Life" and "Imposter" - there's a vid of the "Imposter" performance floating around YouTube - but it's thought that while audio was captured for the above songs, only "Life" and "Imposter" were filmed. (I found multiple YouTube videos of "Forbidden Zone", "I Was A Teenage Monster" and "California Girls" as well. Search & enjoy!)

Links!

ThURGHsday! #7 - Oingo Boingo - "Ain't This The Life"
SteveBartek.com

Non-Affiliate:
URGH! DVD at WBShop.com

Affiliate (buy here & support YourOlderBrother.com!):

Oingo Boingo
Surf Punks
The Alley Cats
The Go Go's
Love
Herbie Mann
George Harrison
Jeff Beck
Charlie Christian
Django Reinhardt
Igor Stravinsky
Olivier Messiaen
Harry Partch
Strawberry Alarm Clock

Ain't This the Life (10" EP) - Ain't This the Life - Single
Controller - Only a Lad (Reissue)
Only a Lad - Only a Lad (Reissue)
Imposter - Only a Lad (Reissue)
You Really Got Me - Only a Lad (Reissue)
Nasty Habits - Only a Lad (Reissue)

First new Stone Roses gig!

2012-05-28T16:36:00.002-06:00

As reported on Slicing Up Eyeballs and elsewhere, the Stone Roses took the stage for their first public gig since reforming a few nights ago in Warrington in the U.K. (a bit southeast of Manchester). The videos I watched & listened to were big crowd singalongs and you could barely hear Ian. (I hope he's improved singing live over the years, but if not, hearing more crowd & less him would be a good thing :) The guitar on "Love Spreads" sounded great, and the other snippets were pretty good as well.

I did find one video that's labeled as a new song, but to my ears (and many others) it's just Ian riffing different words over "Sally Cinnamon". Either way, it's still fun to listen to. Check it out:

Affiliate music links (if you buy from here, I get a tiny cut - support Your Older Brother! :)

Sally Cinnamon (Single Mix) - Sally Cinnamon - EP
Love Spreads - Second Coming

Post-Violator Depeche Mode Discography Suggestions - Part One

2012-05-23T19:53:00.002-06:00

A couple of months ago, I wrote about my friend Adam and his mega-music list that myself and a few friends are discussion over in a private message on Facebook. Dan mentioned that the Cure were kind of a one-trick pony by Wish, but he hadn't heard much by them after that. So I wrote a post I hoped would educate him on what I felt were the Cure's strong moments after Wish.

Flash forward to a recent conversation, where our friend Jim in naming his favorite Depeche Mode songs from the list wrote:

Best: shake the disease
Worst: I feel you, and all the other stuff post violator that I never listened to.

So, I felt compelled to write a post to Jim listing what I felt were Depeche Mode's post-Violator high points, because I think there are plenty.

Like I did with The Cure post-Wish suggestions, I'll work my way through chronologically. Of all the the albums that came after Violator in the Depeche Mode discography, I want to say that my least favorite is Songs of Faith and Devotion, but that's probably because I was going through a really difficult emotional time in my life.

It was released in March of 1993 around the time I had just broken up with a girl that I had broken up with my long-time girlfriend to start dating. (Did you follow that?) I had realized I still loved my long-time girlfriend and the new girl ... while I cared for her...I don't know. I had a feeling it wouldn't work out. Or I was scared. Or something.

So I ran back to my long-time girlfriend - who (understandably) wasn't too receptive about taking me back. So the lyrics to "Walking in My Shoes" -

Now I'm not looking for absolution

Forgiveness for the things I do

But before you come to any conclusions

Try walking in my shoes

had kind of a deeper meaning for me. Likewise the lyrics to "Judas" -

Man will survive

The harshest conditions

And stay alive

Through difficult decisions

So make up your mind for me

Walk the line for me

If you want my love

and "One Caress" -

Well I'm down on my knees again

And I pray to the only one

Who has the strength

To bear the pain

To forgive all the things that I've done.

It was a really painful time in my life emotionally, and this album was on heavy rotation - literally, because I worked in a record store at the time. Even the title seemed to be mocking me.

However, I do really like the aforementioned songs, along with "Get Right With Me," "Condemnation," and I've warmed to "Rush" over the years as well. The album opener "I Feel You" has a bit of a "Personal Jesus" feel to it, and kicks things off with authority. This album has a great gospel feel to it in many places, and just feels big in general. Aiming for arena rock and largely hitting the mark, in my opinion.

So, it seems that overall I do like Songs of Faith and Devotion, I just have negative associations with the songs. Which I should probably let go of, because the "long-time girlfriend" mentioned above is now my wife.

If I wanted to say that Songs of Faith and Devotion was my least favorite post-Violator, I want to say that Ultra is my favorite.

The entire album is a slow burn, the ebb and flow never quite reaching a crest. I'm thinking here of songs like "Everything Counts," "Strangelove," and "Master and Servant," where I see a definite high point to the record, both tempo- & songwriting-wise. Ultra has some great songs, but it's more like stringing together a bunch of "Somebody"s and "Little 15"s.

For instance, I would consider "Useless" to be one of the hardest, fastest songs on the record - but it's not that hard, and it's not that fast - BPM database says 95 - and the fastest is "It's No Good" at 100. Not exactly barn-burners. But Ultra isn't about the flashy dancefloor hits. It's a very musically sensual album by any measure, and the lyrics are delivered in a similar, languid fashion. Check the slide notes on "Freestate" or the opening verse of "Sister of Night"

Sister of night

When the hunger descends

And your body's a fire

An inferno that never ends

An eternal flame

That burns in desire's name

There's not a bad song on the album, in my opinion, and that includes the 3 instrumental interludes. My favorite Depeche Mode tracks off Ultra are "It's No Good," "The Bottom Line," and "Useless." I put "Useless" on a mixtape for a friend many years ago. He didn't much care for electronic music and the song was so different from what I had come to expect from Depeche Mode - the solid 4/4 (real!) drum beat, the fuzzed-out riff - that I thought it would appeal to anyone who liked music in general. I don't know if he liked the song too, but I wanted to take that chance. It's one of my favorite DM songs ever.

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Ok, there's more, but this ran long, so I'm making this a 2-part post. Also, I'm going to do something different. Most of my previous posts were link-riddled to the iTunes store. Yes, they were affiliate links, which means if you click & buy, I get a tiny bit of money for the referral. How tiny? I don't know, but I haven't reached the threshold for a payout yet. Anyway, I've decided to break out the affiliate links to the bottom of my posts. I'll post to the songs and albums on the iTunes store with the note that if you buy, I'll get some small amount of affiliate money. The links in the body of the post will only be to informational or entertainment sites, like DepecheMode.com or my friend's blog. Let me know in the comments if you prefer having the links at the bottom of the post.

And one more thing:

All lyrics © Grabbing Hands Music/EMI Music Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Affiliate links:

R.I.P. MCA

2012-05-09T22:48:00.000-06:00

On the afternoon of Friday the 4th, I logged in to a social website I belong to and saw that headline on someone's post: RIP MCA.

My stomach sank, my jaw dropped, and my mind raced. I remembered that he had cancer. I remembered that he had not shown up to the Beastie Boys' induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. "I should have known he was this close," I thought. Another friend of mine is a hospice nurse, and when Steve Jobs stepped down as Apple CEO last summer, he told us all "He's getting his life in order. It won't be long now," or something to that effect.

But that's not all I remember about MCA, or Adam Yauch.

My first memory of the Beastie Boys was hearing that awful song on the radio, "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)." I was in high school, and it still seemed lunkheaded and incredibly lowbrow. I would change the station whenever that dumb song came on. To me, this wasn't rap. Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five & the Sugarhill Gang were rap.

I think I saw the video on MTV shortly after that, and realized that this was a little *too* lunkheaded. Very over-the-top. This was parody, but it wasn't poking fun at rap culture, it was poking fun at lunkhead culture.

That's when I first saw MCA - whacking a shoe against his head, a move I hadn't seen since Spicoli in Fast Times. Then the door burst down, he strode in wearing his black leather jacket, grabbed a can from a guy, swigged, threw the can at the guy's head, spun another guy around and spit the liquid in that guy's face. Definitely not the kind of behaviour my parents or any other adult I knew would condone.

Naturally, my opinion of the Beastie Boys changed right then and there.

They were part of the soundtrack to my junior year of high school. Our school had a "talent show" where I'm sure some other acts showed real talent, but Pete, Ted and I lip-synched to "The New Style." I took the role of MCA because I had dark hair, could grow stubble, and my dad had a leather jacket I could wear. We later bum-rushed the stage while the emcee was introducing another act. We jumped around, screamed "BEASTIE BOYS!" and then ran off the stage. I was previously kind of a shy kid, but the Beastie Boys brought out my prankster side, a little bravado, and a sense of fun. I wasn't terribly shy after that.

I feel pretty lucky that I got to see the Beastie Boys tour in 1987 with Fishbone & Murphy's Law, but as time passed, my friends and I left the Beasties behind, found 2 Live Crew, graduated high school and went to San Diego to attend my first year of college. The summer before my third freshman semester, Paul's Boutique came out.

I read in Yauch's obits that Paul's Boutique was considered a commercial flop, but I never got that impression - it was immensely popular with my friends, especially the pot smokers. The dense samples and drug references made it easy to burn out and take it all in. These Beasties were more earnest and committed to their craft - still having an incredible amount of fun, but not the lunkheads of Licensed to Ill.

I started working at my college radio station in January of 1990, and while trying to figure out an on-air name, one of the guys in the booth suggested "Sam The Butcher." I liked it because it sounded hard, and I was getting into industrial music at the time. I later realized that he had gotten the Brady Bunch reference from "Shake Your Rump." I'm still Sam The Butcher around the 'net, so the Beasties have remained with me since then.

Check Your Head came and saw the Beasties playing their own instruments once again, which I respected, having taken up guitar myself. However my next big memory of MCA was his signature rhyme from 1994's "Sure Shot" off Ill Communication - "I wanna say a little somethin' that's long overdue/The disrespectin' women has got to be through/To all the mothers and the sisters and the wives and friends/I wanna offer my love and respect 'til the end." This affected me because it was plain spoken respect for women, not something that was common in rock or rap. I grew up very close to my mom and sister, so hearing this made me feel good about listening to their music, and it was a straight up rebuke to the group's earlier misogynistic antics.

Lastly, Yauch has contributed in small ways to my progressive emergence as a Buddhist. From the track "Bodhisattva Vow" to establishing the Milarepa Fund for Tibetan Freedom, he did his thing without getting all preachy. Sure, his efforts for Milarepa & Tibet were large and publicised, but it never seemed in your face. At least not in mine. So, as I got more into Buddhism, I could feel the presence of Yauch supporting me, along with other friends. It sounds weird, or maybe kind of hippie/New Age, but it was one of those things like "yeah…Yauch's a Buddhist. Cool. So it's not just me that understands life in this way." Hard to describe, but I'm sure you know what I mean.

Thanks, MCA. Namasté, Yauch. In little ways, you helped me become who I am.

ThURGHsday! #7 - Oingo Boingo

2012-05-03T06:45:00.001-06:00

URGH! A Music War was probably my introduction to Oingo Boingo:

"Ain't This The Life"

But I would hear their music here & there in early 80's movies like Fast Times At Ridgemont High, Surf II, and the "Squeezit the Moocher" segment from Forbidden Zone. (Trivia Nugget: I had a college radio show named "The Forbidden Zone" that I hosted with a friend of mine. Not as schizophrenic as the movie...but close.)

So Oingo Boingo's music was familiar to me by the time I started getting into them, which was probably mid-80's. I recall buying the cassettes for Good for Your Soul and Nothing to Fear, and I'm pretty sure I didn't know songs off either album when I bought them.

If anything, I knew the songs from Only a Lad better, but probably didn't know song titles. In fact, I'm pretty sure I bought those cassettes looking for "Ain't This The Life" or "Violent Love," a song I heard on 91X in San Diego while there on vacation.

Formed in Los Angeles as The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, Danny Elfman decided to focus the band and they cultivated a very different brand of southern California rock that wasn't quite New Wave, but they get lumped in with that early 80's genre. Personally, I think more of synths when I think New Wave (New Order, OMD), not so much the kinetic guitars & horns of Oingo Boingo - but the band did have their share of great keyboard hooks.

But Oingo Boingo always stood out for me in my musical landscape. They weren't a ska band, even though they had a horn section. They weren't New Wave, but they weren't metal or straight-ahead rock, either. They wrote thoughtful lyrics (quite often with an existentialist bent) although few up to "Stay" on Dead Man's Party would be considered actual love-type songs, and even "Stay" is a love song in chorus only. I think.

And that's the tough thing about Oingo Boingo, they're very difficult to pin down, musically - not that every band has to fit neatly in a genre, and I like & respect bands like Boingo precisely because they aren't easily categorized.

I think the first album was mostly Elfman writing the lyrics from the points of view of a lot of characters. The character in "Little Girls" by Oingo Boingo is pretty deplorable, but he's certainly not the same person who sings "Capitalism" later on that same album. After that, though, I think Elfman is more explicit in what he's trying to tell us - listen to "Grey Matter," "Wake Up (It's 1984)," or "Little Guns." Dead Man's Party has its share of fanciful tales - "Dead Man's Party" & "Weird Science." Definitely my favorite cover art of their records - I have a thing for Día de los Muertos.

I readily admit that I haven't listened much to Dark at the End of the Tunnel or Boingo (their final album, not to be confused with Boi-Ngo). Dark End is still Oingo Boingo-like, but "Insanity" - the first track off Boingo - is very much like Eflman's film score work, and the other songs I briefly previewed were more "normal" songs that you'd hear from a regular rock band. And their cover of The Beatles' "I Am the Walrus" is, in my opinion, horrible. (The Oasis cover wasn't much better, but it was better.)

And then Oingo Boingo were no more.

Where URGH! They Now?

Most people know that Danny Elfman has cultivated a very successful career as a composer of movie & TV scores, including The Simpsons opening theme, Forbidden Zone, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Good Will Hunting, Spider-Man and Meet the Robinsons among many, many others.

I don't think many people know that Steve Bartek has also worked on a good number of film & television scores (Desperate Housewives, Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, An Extremely Goofy Movie, Cabin Boy) and has handled orchestration duties for many of Elfman's scores as well as an extensive list of other movies, TV shows & video games.

While Elfman has declined to perform live since the end of the group citing concerns about his hearing, the drummer, Johnny Vatos, has organized "Boingo Dance Party," including members of Oingo Boingo.

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Last ThURGHsday! - Chelsea, "I'm On Fire"

Next ThURGHsday! - Echo & the Bunnymen, "The Puppet"

Post-Wish Cure Discography Suggestions

2012-03-24T18:33:00.001-06:00

My friend Adam has an epic message thread on facebook - he's revealing a music list to a few of his friends. You have to know Adam to understand about the lists. Seriously, when I read High Fidelity, it was like I was reading about Adam, with the lists. Anyway, I was about to start writing a comment on facebook to our friend Dan who had said that there are certain people in music who, in their later years now, he just pretends they are different people than their younger selves, because it's easier to do that than reconcile the brilliance of their youth to what they put out now. He mentioned Sinead O'Connor, Michael Stipe, and Robert Smith, and I can sort of understand why. I asked what his particular beef was with Smith and he told me:

Sure, stuff like "Why Can't I Be You?" was fun but it felt like by the time they got to "Friday I'm In Love" it's all they were doing. To be fair, I was paying less attention but I even listened to that recent album called "the Cure" and it just sounded static and underwhelming. That said, give me a few songs to really listen to and I'll seek em out and try again. I owe them that. And live, they still deliver. I'll give them that.

So, Dan, here's what I recommend as far as The Cure's discography post-Wish.

First off, you stopped too soon. I know, we all were there. Wish had some great songs, but it was no Disintegration. You heard songs like "Friday I'm In Love" and "High" and thought "Bob's too happy." Even a song like "A Letter to Elise," as sad as the words are, it's still a pop song, right? There was a lot of excess on Wish.

Which reminds me, I love the toy piano action on the "Unplugged" version of "Letter":

After Wish, there was a 4-year break. Bob ends Wish with "End," containing lyrics like "I think I've reached that point/where giving in and going on/are both the same dead end to me...Please stop loving me/I am none of these things." Who does this guy think he is, Eddie Vedder?

Then comes Wild Mood Swings, a record whose first single starts with...a trumpet? "The 13th" was an odd jaunt into latin rhythms, and not in a "good Cure" way, like the power flamenco of "The Blood" from The Head On the Door. It was just strange, and then that BIG "It feels GOOD!/Do it to me" chorus. Honestly, I like "The 13th" but I never cared much for the other "hit" off this record, "Mint Car."

The album was released, though, and you find there's much more to the record. The impassioned leadoff song "Want" finds our hero in a reflective mood, speaking plainly to overconsumption, not obliquely about relationships as it seems he was doing for a while.

I'm always wanting more
Anything I haven't got/
Everything/I want it all
I just can't stop
...
Drink more dreams more bed more drugs
More lust more lies more head more love
More fear more fun more pain more flesh
More stars more smiles more fame more sex
But however hard I want
I know deep down inside
I'll never really get more hope
Or any more time

So, instead of blaming the fans like he did at the end of Wish, he's now seeing the perils of the road of excess. But songs like "Return," there's a return to said excess: "Candlelight/Coconut ice...Stolichnaya/Banco de Gaia", and it's very specific about him being tied up at 3am in PVC.

The *great* songs on this record for me, though, are:

"Want," as mentioned above.
"Strange Attraction" - a straighforward story about him going to meet a girl who has sent him a flipbook of butterflies. Great story, GREAT ending.
"Jupiter Crash" - about two lovers watching comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collide with Jupiter on a beach and how differently they view it. Heartbreaking song, feelings all too familiar to many.
"Treasure" - This song is the de facto album-ender for me. Oblique, but so, so sad. It's akin to "Asleep" by The Smiths as one of the saddest songs I've ever heard.

So give Wild Mood Swings a listen. The whole thing. It's a pretty solid record, in my opinion, and one of their most overlooked.

Next up for them was another 4-year break and Bloodflowers arrived in 2000, later to be marked as the third album in the "Dark Trilogy" of Pornography, Disintegration, and Bloodflowers. These three records were played in their entirety in Berlin in 2002, documented on the Trilogy DVD. My favorite songs off Bloodflowers are "Out Of This World," "Maybe Someday" (the poppiest song on the record, which isn't saying a lot), and "Bloodflowers," an epic song that's more a companion to "The Kiss" than anything on Disintegration or Pornography. Once again in the last two songs, you get the feeling that he's burnt out and just doesn't want to go on anymore with the band.

But he does, and makes an album that, I agree with you, is probably the weakest Cure record for me: The Cure.

In between, though, they release Greatest Hits which includes a 2nd CD of "ehhh...ok" acoustic versions of every song on the CD.

There are two new songs included here, and "Cut Here" is one of my favorites, actually, similar (to me) to "2 Late," the b-side to "Love Song." "Cut Here" a bright song about...a friend of his who commits suicide.

Back to The Cure. It starts promisingly enough with "Lost - The Cure," a song that starts with the smoldering refrain of "I...can't find myself" and builds to a pounding, shouting climax. Again, another song more like "The Kiss," a blistering album-opener. The rest of the album, for me, falls flat. "Never" is ok, but not anything special.

4:13 Dream was released after four singles, "The Only One," "Freakshow," "Sleep When I'm Dead," and "The Perfect Boy" were released on the 13th day of May, June, July & August in 2008. "The Only One" is Robert enumerating the ways he loves his lover in plain-spoken hyper-sexual language: "Oh I love oh I love oh I love/What you do to my hips/When you blow me outside/And then suck me like this" Quite frank, but the song leaves something to be desired (pun not intended). It just makes me uncomfortable.

However, I did buy tickets to see them at Red Rocks, which I figured would be a perfect venue, and I was right. On a cool May evening, they opened with the languid "Underneath the Stars," which has also become a favorite Cure song. You really get that feeling of wanting that song playing out on a lanai in Hawai'i or somewhere as you finish a bottle of wine with your significant other.

Moving on, "The Reasons Why" isn't too bad. "Freakshow", however, is. "Sirensong" is pretty good, a nice little piano refrain like you find in some Cure songs. "The Real Snow White" has a decent chorus, but there's a lot to slog through to get there.

I really like "The Hungry Ghost" because it comes from a Buddhist idea of insatiable desire for more. It's similar to "Want" in its dismissal of consumerism.

A home plugged into every phone
Kimono coral floral print
Exclusive tint and cut reclusive
No it doesn't come for free
But it's the price
We pay for happiness

The Hungry Ghosts scroll at Kyoto Museum, Kyoto, Japan.

The tune is good, and it's just pleasantly surprising to hear a concept like this addressed in western culture.

As for the rest of the songs on the record, I like "This. Here and Now. With You" and the ender "It's Over," another barn-burner. Amazing live. Check some of the videos of it on YouTube. It started out being called "Baby Rag Dog Book". I wish they had kept that title.

Which seems like a good way to end this entry on post-Wish Cure songs. With a wish.

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For up-to-date Cure news and general fandom, check out Craig Parker's Chain Of Flowers - one of my favorite Cure sites for years.

Lust Music Play List

2012-02-17T21:22:00.001-07:00

Earlier this week, in honor of Valentine's Day, I published a "love" playlist on 8Tracks.com. Now that it's the weekend, I figured I'd publish a "lust" music play list. Fairly innocuous, though, just songs with the word "lust" in the title. Go listen. You'll see.

ThURGHsday! #6 - Chelsea

2012-02-16T18:37:00.003-07:00

I did not know that Chelsea was a band at the root of the punk movement (well, according to Wikipedia, they were). Their song "I'm On Fire" is fast, but it's tuneful. They come across as energetic, but not what I might have once thought of as punk.

Singer Gene October sounds more like Paul Weller than Johnny Rotten, and the music isn't as sloppy as the Pistols from that era, but it's definitely repetitive, relying more on brute force than flash to deliver their message.

The video is great, watching the kids pogoing in the nascent mosh pit. Who knows if the crowd shots are from the Chelsea portion of the show, but it's still a fun crowd.

Where URGH! They Now?

Well, I'm not really sure. I tried contacting their management on their website, but now I cant' even find that link. The site hasn't been updated since 2010, however, they do have Facebook and MySpace page. Former member Jeff Piccinini (Geoff Myles) is in a band called The Revenant, which seems to be based out of San Francisco.

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Last ThURGHsday! - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, "Enola Gay"

Next ThURGHsday! - Oingo Boingo, "Ain't This The Life"

Love Playlist

2012-02-14T13:29:00.001-07:00

I made a love playlist over on 8Tracks.com today. Just some songs that have meant love to me at different parts in my life. And one kind of silly song, but that's Art Brut for you. :)

I hope you love my love playlist.

ThURGHsday! #5 - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

2012-02-09T22:10:00.000-07:00

(We now return you to ThURGHsday!, already in progress…)

Orchestral Manoeuvres In the Dark ended up becoming one of my favorite bands of all time. The song they played on URGH was "Enola Gay", a song about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan at the end of World War II. It wasn't anything that 12-year-old me was too concerned with, but it became an historical reference point for me later, as I learned more about the war. It was probably one of my first experiences with political commentary in song, at least one of the first that registered with me. But, again, it didn't register with me until later.

What did register with me was that stack of keyboards that Paul Humphreys plays. I don't know why I ended up being such an electronic music fan, but keyboards have always been a big draw for me. It was because of bands like OMD and New Order and Depeche Mode that I started taking piano lessons in high school. I wanted to learn the songs that I liked so much. I probably needed a sequencer just as much as a keyboard in order to play all of those songs, but I didn't know that at the time. I think my subscription to Keyboard magazine taught me the details. (Just going to the site and clicking on some keyboard reviews brought a smile to my face.)

One of my favorite parts of the video now is Andy McCluskey's rockin' 80's dance, that little hips-wiggle to the beat. My friend Geoff did a fun 80's dance that inspired me to steal Andy's moves. I bust out the McCluskey at parties from time to time. It's a big hit.

Where URGH! They Now?

Much to my surprise and joy, Orchestral Manoeuvres re-formed back in 2006 to play their album Architecture & Morality (link is to the live performance from 2007 on iTunes). Who ever knows why groups break up, and why they get back together. I somehow had it in my mind that OMD would *never* get back together, ever. I just didn't expect it.

The shows they played went well enough that they played more over the next few years, and in time they started working on new material, which resulted in History of Modern, released on 100% Records in September of 2010. I absolutely loved the video for the first single "If You Want It".

In 2011 they released Live In Berlin , and I listened to it on Spotify one night while cooking. For some reason, the new songs grabbed me more directly that night, and set alongside their older songs, I felt like I appreciated the new songs more. It was as if they were always there.

OMD recently completed two US tours in 2011 and, according to their website, have started recording for a new album, entitled English Electric. I think they're in a good place now, and I'm glad they're making music again. I've seen OMD live three times:

Crush tour - Nov. 1985 in a big snowstorm - supporting Thompson Twins in Boulder, CO. I know I still have a program from that show, I just don't know where.
The Pacific Age tour - Dec. 1986 at the Paramount in Denver.
Best Of OMD tour - May 1988 at the old McNichols arena in Denver supporting Depeche Mode - that was a dream concert for me at the time. I was really jealous of everyone (like my friend Dale!) who was at the Rose Bowl show on June 18, 1988. That show featured Wire, Thomas Dolby, OMD & Depeche Mode. I listened to live updates about the show on 91X in San Diego, where I was attending freshman orientation for SDSU. So bummed I couldn't be at that show with 99,999 of my closest musical friends.

I hope OMD comes through Denver again. I'd love to see the new show.

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Last ThURGHsday - John Cooper Clarke, "Health Fanatic"

Next ThURGHsday! - Chelsea, "I'm On Fire"

1985 - Best year for music, ever?

2012-02-06T18:20:00.000-07:00

The other day, I found myself wanting to hear some Psychedelic Furs, so I put on Mirror Moves (1984) and I tweeted about it. That led somehow to me listening to The Smiths' Meat Is Murder (1985), which in turn led me to listen to OMD's Crush (1985). Naturally, Listen Like Thieves (1985) by INXS and The Cure's The Head On the Door (1985) followed. And New Order's Low-Life (1985). And then I got curious. What other records were released in 1985? So I consulted Wikipedia and here's the list of really great albums I singled out:

Psychocandy
Cupid & Psyche 85
Big Lizard In My Back Yard
The Dream of the Blue Turtles
Feargal Sharkey
Hunting High and Low
Voices Carry
This Is Big Audio Dynamite
Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven
Radio
Fishbone - EP
Dream Into Action
Hounds of Love
Dead Man's Party
Around the World In a Day
Brothers In Arms
Clan of Xymox
Easy Pieces
Flip Your Wig
I Don't Want to Grow Up
King of Rock
Little Creatures
Love
Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper
No Jacket Required
Oil & Gold
Play Deep
A Secret Wish
Songs from the Big Chair
Stella
Telephone Free Landslide Victory
White City
Youthquake

Amazing records. I believe the first quarter of those are debut albums, no less! (Someone on another forum commented on how they would have liked to have seen the band names along with the album titles. I listed them this way because this is how I saw it in Wikipedia, just the album titles, and I was surprised at how many records I knew - and loved! - just from the titles.)

As a way to somehow impossibly quantify this hypothesis, let's take a look at year that an album was released that changed the path of popular music: 1991, the year Nirvana's Nevermind came out.

We also got: Apocalypse 91...the Enemy Strikes Black, Achtung Baby, Badmotorfinger, Blood, Chorus, De La Soul is Dead, Don't Try This At Home, Electric Bird Digest, Electric Landlady, Flyin' the Flannel, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, Girlfriend, The Globe, Our Frank, The Low End Theory, Mama Said, Metallica, Mr. Bad Example, Native Son, Naughty By Nature, Niggaz4Life, Never Loved Elvis, No Pocky For Kitty, Positively Phranc, The Reality of My Surroundings, Ropin' the Wind, Rumor and Sigh, Sailing the Seas of Cheese, Screamadelica, The Soul Cages, Trompe le Monde, Use Your Illusion I & II, Why Do Birds Sing?

Pretty good. Don't know if I'd call it great, though.

And now, let's look at another watershed year in music. Initially, I was going to go with 1967, the year The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released, but 1966 was the year that Revolver was released, as was the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. More records included Aftermath, Face to Face, Fifth Dimension, It's a Man's Man's Man's World, Otis Blue, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. Lots of jazz released in 66, though. I don't know enough jazz to be able to recognize album titles and suggest that '67 was a good year for jazz. I presume it might be.

I should have gone with '67: Sgt. Pepper, Alice's Restaurant, Gentle on My Mind, Disraeli Gears, Magical Mystery Tour, King and Queen, John Wesley Harding, Their Satanic Majesties Request, Sounds of Silence, Strange Days, Surrealistic Pillow, The Who Sell Out, United, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.

So...for me, I think 1985 was possibly the best year for music, ever. (Let's hear it for subjective opinions!) Let me know if you have a different year you'd nominate. Or better still, let me know that you agree with me.

(Most all links on the page are to the album on the iTunes music store)

(More) Bands That Followed Me On Twitter, too

2012-01-20T19:41:00.001-07:00

Today's checkout starts with Disgu!se - Pretty varied electronic music sound - at times reminding me of the simple lyrics of early Depeche Mode ("Listen to Me"), vocal stylings of Heaven 17 ("Storylines") and Joy Division or Interpol ("Heirloom"), and still sounding kind of fresh. "Inside Out Of Love" has blues licks in the middle of electronic beats & strings & piano - that's the fresh I'm talking about. "Camera" starts of like Nitzer Ebb lite and then swings into a funk shuffle for the chorus. Decent stuff here. I'd check 'em out if I were ever down Londontown in Old Blighty.

Aw, man! I had a whole post of this written up and linked and everything and it's gone poof. Oh well, that's ok. I get to revisit these artists again and give an opinion based on a couple of different listens.

Next up - Ryan O'Leary. This is decent hard pop. There's vocoder on some tracks, which I find a little unnecessary. It makes me think of Owl City - not that Owl City is bad, but with Ryan's hard guitars, the vocoder is out of place. To me. Anyway, his album The College Graduate (a cheeky nod to Kanye's records) is up on Spotify, the link goes to iTunes - check it out. Any track.

Tai Chi Swayze is the next band I have here to listen to. I see on their Facebook page that they'll be at SXSW in March if you're so inclined to see them live, which I would be. This reminds me of Placebo - maybe it's just the vocals a little bit. The music makes me think of Kaiser Chiefs and other solid UK pop/rock bands. They just have the single "Stumble Home" on iTunes right now, but you can hear more of their songs on Facebook.

The last band in this segment of bands that followed me on Twitter is Clarence Buffalo. The singer is somewhat reminiscent of Eddie Vedder, circa Bad Radio. Oh! Listening to "3 Shot", he drifted into the lyrics to Blondie's "Call Me". That was kind of cool. "Change" is kind of a jammy shuffle song. The chorus is catchy, almost reminding me of Peter Gabriel now. The songs are loose, very fitting for a bar band, which is what I'm assuming these guys are at this point. I don't see any show info on their website, but they're from Arlington, VA. So, if you're around there, keep an eye out.

All right, I'm gonna save this now and quit while I'm ahead. Join me next time for Bands That Followed Me On Twitter.

SOPA Strike

2012-01-18T09:00:00.001-07:00

I'm very anti-censorship, and always have been. So it's no surprise that I'd like to call your attention to the Stop Online Piracy Act, and why it should be stopped. I'll link to the Tucows website, as they have a good breakdown of what's not good about it. I mean, besides the censorship.

So, I'm all for the SOPA strike today, and I'll say (and link) to what we used to say back in the day:

Tell your congressmen - Fuck censorship. This is America.

3 Perfect Albums?

2012-01-11T21:39:00.000-07:00

Poking around on Facebook today, my friend Casey asked "I want to know your 3 perfect albums. Not your personal favorite albums, but 3 albums you think are excellent front to back... Song track order, theme, build..."

I hastily composed my list - perhaps too hastily? - and this is what I came up with:

Big Country - The Crossing
The Beatles - The White Album
Superdrag - Head Trip In Every Key

A decent sampling across decades, I thought. She mentioned that she likes good production & sequencing, and I'm wondering now if I made the right choices. But these are, to me, "all killer, no filler," a statement that will cause many people to disagree with me just over The White Album. I love that record specifically because it is all over the place - it encompassed the past, present, and future of pop music, all on two discs.

The Big Country record I've loved since it was released. I first heard the chiming bagpipe guitars of "In a Big Country" and had to hear more - I may still have the cassette somewhere. I listened to it constantly on my Walkman (along with Rush's Exit...Stage Left and the Police's Ghost In the Machine). When I was working at a small company back in 2003-2004, one of my co-workers happened to be a Big Country fan as well and got me back into their other records. I hadn't given those records much of a listen - I liked the singles "Wonderland" and "Look Away" but for some reason didn't connect with the album tracks until 2003. For the record, I think Stuart Adamson was one of the best rock guitarists, ever. I think I may have already mentioned that in this blog before, but he was.

The Superdrag album I declared the best album of 1998, and I still think so. If you think there's a better album from that year, go listen to Head Trip in Every Key, listen to your album, come back and tell me if you still think your album is better. You might still, but hopefully you'll agree that HTiEK is a great record, too.

So - what would your 3 perfect albums be?

2011 Year End Music Wrap Up

2012-01-02T21:00:00.000-07:00

Here it is the 2nd of January 2012 and I'm just now posting my year-end music list. It's because I'm super persnickety about not posting a year-end list until the year is over. How do I know I'm not going to find something in the last few weeks that's going to captivate me? So don't expect these until December 31st at the earliest.

And now - my favorite parts of the musical year 2011:

Favorite album cover: Sound Kapital by Handsome Furs. And not from some dopey "heh, check it out, naked chick" leer, either. It's the best album cover because it's challenging, but, when you look at the photo and think about it, it's actually not all that challenging. It's an attractive nude woman juxtaposed with the angular industrial background of what looks like street overpasses.

The photo is by Scott Coffey. He and one half of Handsome Furs, Alexi Perry, discuss the photo & the video for "What About Us"in an article on LPWTF? I first learned about the photo from a Handsome Furs retweet about an article in The L Magazine taking indie music publications to taks for their prudish reactions to the photo.

Matthew Neiderhauser is the photographer behind the images of Chinese men in the insert booklet.

The whole CD package is beautifully thought out and assembled. I highly encourage owning this art.

The music? Well, I've loved Handsome Furs for years, and this album forgoes the guitar aspect of their music that I love for a pure synth record. In anyone else's hands I'd be unsure, but from the opening track, you can tell this isn't some retro record. It feels more like a more experimental record than most, but it does sound kind of like some old Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Well, it actually reminds me of the new OMD record as well. Just check it out.

Favorite record: Maritime's - Human Hearts I didn't even find out about this record until I downloaded it from eMusic on the last day of July. Not sure what I was paying attention to between April and then, but what it amounts to is four months I needlessly lived without this album. Does it have heart-wrenching ballads like "Here Comes a Regular"? No. Does it have life-changing skronk-jazz set to rock beats like "The National Anthem"? No. So what makes it special? Just about nothing except for solid songcraft, deft wordplay, catchy tunes, and, best of all, Davey Von Bohlen's sweet, sweet voice. They wrote the poppiest Cure song of the past 10 years ("Paraphernalia"), the theme song for the A.V. Club's 2011 Undercover ("It's Casual"), and the hookiest song with the corniest pun for a title ("Apple of My Irony"), and that's just three of the ten songs on this amazing record. Now, I've got one of the sweetest sugary pop sweet tooths around, and so when I hear an album like this, I know I'm getting cavities from dipping into the candy bowl again and again and again. And I love it.

Best show attended: tie - Girl Talk - Ogden Theater & Death Cab for Cutie/Frightened Rabbit at Red Rocks. Ok, fine, so I only went to 3 shows this year, but these were amazing shows. Girl Talk was a present to myself for finishing my master's degree and I couldn't find anyone to go with me. The show was sold out, but a good friend got me a ticket and I got there early enough to see the openers Junk Culture and Max Tundra who were odd but fun. Once Girl Talk started, it was packed, hot, sweaty - exactly the show I wanted it to be. I considered leaving at the encore break because I was so dehydrated and tired from standing & dancing. Amazing. I'm looking forward to my next Girl Talk show, whenever that will be.

I usually try to see one show a year at Red Rocks and, in my estimation, the best show happening this past summer was DCFC & Frightened Rabbit. It was great weather, no rain - just a great night in one of the most picturesque venues in the world. I left before the DCFC encore (tired, work, etc) and on my way out, a girl smacked my ass. Not sure what that was about. But while in the parking lot, I heard the start to "Title and Registration" and realized I shouldn't have left. The next day I saw that the last song was "Transatlanticism" and *knew* I shouldn't have left. Oh well. The 20 songs I did see & hear were amazing. I highly recommend seeing them.

Best blog: Mine! Oh, and Super Deluxe Edition. They way they care about the music really comes across in the pictures and text. I've found a few Super Deluxe Edition releases on their website that I didn't know about and am currently saving my pennies to buy, such as Madness & The Art of Noise.

Biggest kerfuffle: Lulu by Lou Reed & Metallica. It seems to me that people are getting down on them for being who they are. Lou Reed writing oddball poetry and delivering in a slack junkie's tone. Metallica delivering plodding, thunderous metal, which is who they are now more than the speed metal Metallica of the 80's. I've heard worse, much worse. The album might not be what *you* wanted to hear from either of them, but that doesn't make it bad. For some perspective from where they sit, check out the interview with Lou & Lars on the GQ website.

Favorite Podcast: WTF with Marc Maron. Ok, it's not music, but it's still a great listen. Turned on to this by my friend Tom, I spent more time listening to this in the 2nd half of the year than most anything else. I've been a humor nerd for a while, but like the mid-late 90's with music, I kind of fell out of it for a while. Now that my kids are old enough to appreciate great humor, I'm getting back into it. Maron's podcasts with comedians & actors talking about the craft is inspiring.

Favorite Videos: LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" - The twist on the zombie theme is great, and the dancing is insanely good. It's a fun song that ended up being my feel-good song of the summer. I really liked The Pains of Being Pure At Heart's "Heart In Your Heartbreak" a lot as well. "Lotus Flower" by Radiohead gets a mention, for sure. Thom just looks so free. Destroyer - "Kaputt" is fantastically bizarre. And "Aberdeen" by Cage the Elephant breaks my heart.

Favorite Post-Rock: Sky Flying By - What's The Farthest You Can See? I've been listening to a lot of post rock - slow, atmospheric rock typically without singing - while working on all the writing I've been doing lately. I do like the genre, and this is an excellent representation. I've met the guy who makes this music (that's right, just one guy), and he's quiet & unassuming but makes wonderful sounds.

Favorite Band Name with the chops to back it up: Ringo Deathstarr. Their record Colour Trip starts with something that sounds like distorted Atari 2600 sound effects and then whooshes into a song that could have been My Bloody Valentine, had they kept making music. The rest sounds like a wonderful combination of Lush, Darling Buds, with a bit of Jesus and Mary Chain thrown in. What Sleigh Bells would sound like if they had a thing for Shoegaze instead of a fetish for beats.

Band I was going to write about but they appeared on every other year end list: Cut Copy. Zonoscope was released this year and I really like the record. It's not as straight-up dancey as In Ghost Colours, but it's still some of the best dance pop with vocals of the past 10 years. Take everyone's word for it.

Favorite Big Rawk Riff Record: Foo Fighters - Wasting Light. You know, I was all set to wrtite about how I wasn't real big on this album. I remembered downloading it when it came out and knowing it had big riffs. And then I listened to it again before writing this and realized that it's a big, musclebound record. Probably the best straight-up rock record of the year.

Favorite Morrissey-esque Singer whose record came out in 2010: Philip Benson from Magic Bullets. I come at some stuff late, and I hadn't heard of these guys until I saw them in Surfing Magazine. The description sounded interesting, and I finally got around to listening to them this year. I got into a lot of guitar pop recently - These guys, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Surfer Blood. All different, but so fun to listen to. The standout track on this record for me is "They Wrote a Song About You"

Favorite Rap: Theophilus London. Ok, I don't listen to a lot of rap. I'm sure the Kanye/Hova album was great. I haven't heard it. But it's my blog, and it's my best of, and this is the kind of rap that I like. It might be telling to explain that I first heard of Theophilus London from a mini-interview in GQ magazine, showing his style and talking about being a Morrissey fan. Well, that hooked me right there. I listened to his new songs on the Lovers Holiday EP this past summer and really liked the tunefulness of the songs. Listening to "Why Even Try," I was reminded of older songs like Malcom McLaren's "Madam Butterfly," P.M. Dawn's "Set Adrift On Memory Bliss," and, by extension, Spandau Ballet's "True." I made a playlist of those 4 songs, and they all fit great together, and made for great, chilled-out summer listening.

Favorite Band You've Never Heard Of: Boy + Kite - Go Fly. The music really reminds me of good 90's boy/girl indie, like Pixies or Sonic Youth, but also stuff like Seam and early Breeders, with engaging guitar interplay. Try "Neighbors" or "Isometrics", but the whole album is really good.

Just Another Good Record: The War On Drugs - Slave Ambient. Reminds me of Mazzy Star in its heroin haziness. Definitely descended from the The Velvet Underground, some of the songs have that unchanging beat with no fills, but they mix it up with higher tempo tunes ("Your Love Is Calling My Name" and "Baby Missiles" have a little bit of that fast train-shuffle). There are the "ambient" pieces as well, wordless jams and drifting sonic meanderings that are dotted amongst the "proper" songs. But none of the "proper" songs have choruses as such, they're more like poems or stories set to guitar and drums. His voice at times reminds me of Ian McCulloch, at times a intelligible Dylan. Check "I Was There" to see where I got that comparison.

Favorite "We're gettin' the band back together": The Stone Roses - Runner up: The Promise Ring. Are you kidding me? The Stone Roses? This was like the holy grail, the ark of the covenant, the...other stuff that's considered a lost artifact. Is Ian Brown's voice great? Not really - well, not live, anyway (but it's better than John's). But to have John Squire playing guitar again…a dream come true for me. And the vocals on a song like "Fools Gold" aren't really the point, although the lyrics are a great part of that song. I really liked both albums of the Roses, but obviously their first album is their calling card. I don't know if their new music will be as good, but I'm excited to hear it. As for The Promise Ring, I'm just hopeful that they'll play more than just the two shows they have right now.

Best Band Breakup: R.E.M. Classy. Who knows if they stayed around too long - I actually liked their most recent record - but this seems to be a case where they had said what they had to say, and stopped. I wonder if other, older bands will follow suit.

Favorite Last-Minute Addition: The Head and the Heart. I literally just heard their album on December 29th or 30th and really liked it. Rock with a somewhat folk feel, akin to The Avett Brothers or Okkervil River (damn, that's another band that I meant to write about for this year). Definitely looking forward to hearing more from TH&TH.

So, I think that's probably about it. Happy New (Gregorian calendar) Year, everyone. I'm looking forward to our year in music.

Five-star holiday songs

2011-12-24T14:40:00.000-07:00

Ok! So, Your Older Brother must be too cool for Christmas music, right? That's just kid stuff. Right?

Wrong! I have a long list of favorite Christmas/holiday/winter songs that's much longer than this, but this is pretty close to my essential list. Most of the links point to the iTunes Music Store for easy purchasing.

I present to you Your Older Brother's Five-Star Christmas music list:

Do They Know It's Christmas? - Band Aid - Sure it's a full-on 80's nostalgia tune, but it still gets to me.
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear - BeauSoleil - A wonderful Cajun swing that gives this song a fresh feel.
Happy Holiday (Beef Wellington Remix) - Bing Crosby - I love these remixes.
White Christmas - Bing Crosby- It's not Christmas without Der Bingle.
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town - Bing Crosby
Jingle Bells - Bing Crosby Little Drummer Boy / Peace On Earth - Bing Crosby & David Bowie - Bing & Bowie. Come on.

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Cajun Gold - The accordion really makes these Cajun songs for me.
Ave Maria - Chris Cornell & Eleven - I don't remember ever hearing this song before hearing this version, and it's the standard by which I measure all other versions. There are actually two different music variants, but this is the one I prefer. Chris' soaring vocals & the bombast are amazing together.
White Christmas - Corporal Blossom - Another fun remix, using many different versions of "White Christmas," but probably my favorite part of the song is the sample of the bass & snare from Paul Simon's "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover". Follow the link to hear the track for free!
Same Old Lang Syne - Dan Fogelberg - A gorgeous tune with sad, wistful lyrics. Makes me cry just about every time.
Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow - Dean Martin - Dean's boozy versions of winter songs are the reason for the season.
I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm - Dean Martin
Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley - My parents are from Memphis, so Elvis is naturally in my blood. This album played over and over and over when I was a kid.
White Christmas - Elvis Presley - I just watched the movie "White Christmas" for the first time this year, and I'd imagine that this song was heresy when it came out.
If Every Day Was Like Christmas - Elvis Presley
Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me) - Elvis Presley
She Won't Be Home - Erasure - Like the Prince song on this list, this song is kind of parenthetically related to Christmas, and isn't all that happy, but that doesn't mean it's not a good song.
Winter Wonderland - Eurythmics - The first Very Special Christmas record was a collection of popular 80's artists. Some tracks were better than others, and this is one of the better ones.
Feliz Navidad - José Feliciano - I remember this from the 70's. Just a happy song.
Iration - Fishbone - Fishbone was one of my favorite bands of the 80's, and when the It's A Wonderful Life EP came out, I bought it immediately and it's been a Christmas staple for me ever since. This is the serious song on the record, and one of their best.
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Frank Sinatra - Frank sang a few good Christmas songs, too.
When Santa Claus Gets Your Letter - Gene Autry - One of my favorite Christmas records when I was a kid was "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and other Christmas Classics" by Gene Autry. His simple delivery and emotive singing really connects me to the songs. They make me feel like a kid. That's why so many are included here. It doesn't hurt that he also was the owner of the California Angels.
I Wish My Mom Would Marry Santa Claus - Gene Autry
He's a Chubby Little Fellow - Gene Autry
Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane) - Gene Autry
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - Gene Autry
If It Doesn't Snow On Christmas Day - Gene Autry
The Night Before Christmas Song - Gene Autry
Frosty the Snowman - Gene Autry
Santa, Santa, Santa - Gene Autry
Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town - Gene Autry
Everyone's a Child At Christmas - Gene Autry
A Snowflake Fell (And It Felt Like a Kiss) - Glasvegas - Great new Scottish band with a tale that turns hopeful.
Winter Wonderland - Harry Connick Jr.- Not on a Christmas record, but a terrific no-vocals version.
When My Heart Finds Christmas - Harry Connick Jr.- I love Harry. Harry has three Christmas albums out. For some reason, the first one is the only one worth a damn.
(It Must've Been Ol') Santa Claus - Harry Connick Jr.
Ave Maria - Harry Connick Jr. - The other definitive version of this song for me.
I Pray On Christmas - Harry Connick Jr.
What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? - Harry Connick Jr. - Again, I think this is the first version of this song that I recall hearing, and it's fabulous.
The Christmas Song - Hootie & the Blowfish - Hootie's not a popular band to like amongst the musical tastemakers. This is a pretty good version off the third Very Special Christmas album. I like hearing it.
Last Christmas - Jimmy Eat World - I never heard the Wham! version until after I heard this. I love this version most.
Twelve Days of Christmas - John Denver & the Muppets - I was a huge Muppets fan as a child as well. And still am. This record got a lot of play as soon as I got it, sometime soon after it was released in 1979.
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - John Denver & the Muppets - Just a simple version, John & Rowlf on piano.
Christmas Is Coming - John Denver & the Muppets
Little Saint Nick - John Denver & the Muppets - Janice starts with California cool on this Beach Boys tune.
Happy Xmas (War Is Over) - John Lennon & Yoko Ono- Glad we have this song.
It's Christmas In Louisiana - Johnnie Allan - More Cajun Christmas. Just happy music.
Frosty the Snowman - Leon Redbone & Dr. John
There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays - Leon Redbone - Leon is always so laid back. This is one of my favorite versions of this song, but this whole record is a classic.
Christmas Island - Leon Redbone
Christmas Ball Blues - Leon Redbone - One of the great Christmas song lyrics: "Christmas comes but once a year/And to me it brings good cheer/And to everyone who likes wine and beer."
Christmas Morning - Loudon Wainwright III - LWIII breaks it down like only he can do.
Just Like Christmas - Low - Another almost anti-Christmas song, couched in all the trappings of a Christmas song. It's tough for me to figure out, but it's a pleasure to listen.
The Christmas Song - Mel Tormé - Gotta dig the Velvet Fog's version, yeah?
O Tannenbaum - Nat "King" Cole- I love hearing Nat rock the German.
The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You) - Nat "King" Cole - For as great as Torme is, Nat owns this song.
Merry Christmas, Baby - Otis Redding - Otis. 'Nuff said.
Wonderful Christmastime - Paul McCartney - A lot of people write this song off as schlock. And it probably is. But it's happy synthy almost-80's tune, so it gets a pass from me.
Another Lonely Christmas - Prince - "Baby, U promised me U'd never leave/Then U died on the 25th day of December" Way to bring the party down, Prince. Down and funky.
Christmas In Hollis - Run-D.M.C. - I remember a commercial that used to use this for background music. Maybe it was an MTV bumper. But it's a classic rap Christmas tune. Which begs the question - how many rap Christmas songs are there?
Christmastime - Smashing Pumpkins - I've fallen out of love with the Pumpkins the past few years, but this song always delivers.
Gabriel's Message - A Sting - Kind of a spooky version, but typical iconoclast choice for Stingy.
I Saw Three Ships - Sting - As spooky as his previous song was, this one is bouncy and joyful.
Up On The Housetop - The Jambalaya Cajun Band - Fiddle, accordion & Creole. Can't go wrong.
2000 Miles - The Pretenders - This just sounds like a Pretenders song. Which is fine with me.
Sleigh Ride - The Ronettes - You can hear Phil Spector's hands all over this. Ring-a ling-a ling-a ding dong ding, indeed.
Sleigh Ride - The Ventures - Reverb drips from almost every note. Fantastic guitar playing.
Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses - Such a great story delivered with such great music. And that bassline? Fugeddaboudit.
I'll Be Home for Christmas - Tony Bennett - In the same league as Bing, Frank, Mel & Nat. But you knew that.
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - U2 - This is the first version of this song I heard, and it remains the definitive version for me. I'm sure I'll catch heat from Darlene Love fans.

Christmastime Is Here - Vince Guaraldi - No words needed.
Skating - Vince Guaraldi - I hear this song and think of winter.
Thanks For Christmas - XTC - Another simple Christmas song by a more contemporary band.

Big Rawk Christmas:
I Won't Be Home for Christmas - Blink-182
It's a Wonderful Life (Gonna Have a Good Time) - Fishbone- Listen to the words - he goes over the whole movie. One of my favorite lyrics: "Then I went blind in-a one ear" - talking about George Bailey losing his hearing after saving his brother.
Oi to the World - No Doubt
Father Christmas - the Kinks

Humor:
Deck the Stills - Barenaked Ladies - This is the kind of funny stuff that made me love BNL to start with.
The Twelve Days of Christmas - Bob & Doug McKenzie - More Canadian Christmas humor.
Slick Nick, You Devil You (Vinyl Only) - Fishbone - "You put Mad Dog in my sock/I wanted candy. I wanted candy! I WANTED CANDY!!"
Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy - Garth Brooks - Pretty faithful cover of the Buck Owens tune.

New Classics:
Christmas - Blues Traveler - Heartfelt lyrics that aren't necessarily religious.
Merry Christmas Eve - Better Than Ezra - I usually cry when I hear this song around Christmas time. Seriously.
Christmas Just Does This to Me - Matt Wertz - Matt is one of my favorite discoveries from the past few years. Good songs, great voice, and he sets a wonderful scene here.

Just For Me:
Straight to Hell - The Clash - I got Combat Rock for Christmas one year, and while the whole record kind of reminds me of Christmas, this song does most of all. I mean, nothing says Christmas like tales of suffering.
(Just Like) Starting Over - John Lennon - I vividly remember hearing the news, live on the radio on December 8th, 1980, that John Lennon had been shot and killed. I had colored lights up in my room and I heard the news and even at 10 years old, knew the world had lost a very important person. The DJ broke the news and then played this song off John's new record, released not even a month prior. It starts with chimes - it sounds Christmas-like, but they also remind me of his death.

Beatles Christmas singles - My friend Adam is a huge Beatles fan and first introduced me to these Christmas messages from the Fab Four. They start out just sort of goofing around, and then they get weird. This YouTube video has them all strung together for maximum effect, 1963-1969.

And last but not least - one last remix, mixing LMFAO with Brenda Lee - "Party Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree". I listened to LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" so much this year with my kids that this is a natural must-have. :) The other songs on the Santastic Six mashup are of varying quality, but this one stands out.

So that's my list. I hope you enjoy Christmas music as much as I do. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, May your holiday be blessed, Happy Kwanzaa, festive Festivus, Cool Yule, Spectacular Saturnalia, Joyous Solstice, Happy Bodhi Day...and so forth.

This is not a dead blog, thisis nota dead blog!

2011-12-20T11:39:00.001-07:00

(Apologies to John Lydon, who wouldn't care anyway…)

So, yeah. NaNoWriMo took my time and then I got sick and then…it's the holidays. I'm writing this so that next year I remember how much work it is around this time of year to keep a blog going. I have all sorts of posts in the works but (insert excuse here). The main one I want to get posted is one on my favorite holiday songs - and it will be almost outdated when I post it. But! I don't care, I'll post it anyway.

I also found out that the person I was trying to contact about my next URGH segment has left that company, so I'll hopefully have some resolution soon on that front and I'll get back to my weekly posts.

All of this to say like it did on the old Carson Tonight Show: More To Come!