For When The World Is Letting You Down

This one is for when nothing seems to be working out, and it's everyone else's fault. The lies of elected government officials, your friends not picking up the phone, another depressingly bad date, I could keep going. At times like this there's only one thing you need and that's a song to sing along to. Did I say sing? I meant scream. What you need is an angry anthem begging for just one fucking person that you can believe in. The Shods wrote this song for you, for this feeling, and it's perfect. But that's what the Shods do. They write songs for you to shake your fist at, to bring a smile to your face, to make your heart swell, to sing along to, and they do it so so well.

The Shods' Give Me One Person

Hella Pops

Hella Pops. Power Pop, Pop, Pop Punk, etc. Hella Pops.

This is the first mix I've made where I couldn't come up with an order, so I just hit random a few times til it worked. This is also the pre-cursor to the power pop mix.

HELLA POPS

Lemonheads- The Great Big No
The Strange Boys- Heard You Wanna Beat Me Up
The Go- You Go Bangin' On
John Cale- Child's Christmas In Wales
Pointed Sticks- Out Of Luck
Elvis Costello & The Attractions- Radio, Radio
Linus Of Hollywood- Thank You For Making Me Feel...Better
Ramones- Chasing The Night
New York Dolls- Stranded In The Jungle
Arlo- Runaround
The Wave Pictures- Just Like A Drummer
The Smiths- Ask
Marshall Crenshaw- There She Goes Again
Lesley Gore- Maybe I Know
The Troggs- Love Is All Around
Harlem- Caroline
Richard X. Heyman- In The Scheme Of Things
Flight Of The Conchords- Carol Brown
The Bananas- Gentrification For Dummies
Belle & Sebastian- Dirty Dream Number Two
Aceyalone- Lonely Ones
Reigning Sound- Debris
Wreckless Eric- Whole Wide World
Van Morrison- (Straight To Your Heart) Like A Cannon Ball
The Muffs- Everywhere I Go

Hella Pops

*Image credit- Harold Edgerton, Bullet Through Balloons, 1959

We Made It Through That Water

I went to New Orleans this past summer to photograph. I got into my rental car upon arriving and started flipping through the radio stations before finding some old school hip hop and settling in for the drive. The next song that came on was this exciting, booty-shaking brass band song about surviving Katrina. Best possible accompaniment for my drive into town. While driving I wrote down a few lyrics to be able to look the song up later. I kept trying to listen to that station the rest of my trip, but it never played anything other than the same Top 20 hits on shuffle after that. Months later I found the song on the Treme soundtrack. This is it. It still sounds important. It's a thoroughly satisfying and cathartic mix of pure joy and years of frustration getting released. And if it doesn't make you wanna dance, I don't know what to say.

Free Agents Brass Band's We Made It Through That Water

*Image credit- "Home of Lionel Williams Who Drowned in the Flood, New Orleans, LA, 2006" by Will Steacy

Power Pop Plus

Here's my power pop mix. Power Pop purists beware. The plus means I've taken liberties. Not to say there isn't plenty of great Power Pop on here, but Harry Belafonte? It just worked. This one's from sometime in the fall, but it's perfect for spring.

POWER POP PLUS

The Raspberries- Tonight
Badfinger- No Matter What
Elton John- Crocodile Rock
The Plimsouls- A Million Miles Away
The dB's- A Spy In The House Of Love
The Modern Lovers- Government Center
The Boys- (Baby) It's You
David Bowie- Here Comes The Night
George Harrison- Apple Scruffs
20/20- Jack's Got A Problem
Raspberries- Oh Tonight
Only Ones- City Of Fun
The Romantics- I Can't Tell You Anything
Demon's Claws- Weird Ways
Shivvers- Teen Line
20/20- The Night I Heard A Scream
The Breakaways- House On A Hill
Bonnie Hayes- Girls Like Me
Harry Nilsson- Me and My Arrow
The Hollies- Jennifer Eccles
Only Ones- Another Girl, Another Planet
Matthew Sweet- I've Been Waiting
The Posies- Ontario
Harry Belafonte- Jump In The Line

Power Pop Plus

*Image credit- Andy Warhol (Power Pop Art!)

Winter 2011 Mix

Here's a mix I threw together from a bunch of stuff I was listening to a few months ago. This is the first LCD Soundsystem song I really fell for. Very late to the game. The Max song is an old mixtape staple from an old split 7" with Matty Luv from Hickey on the A-Side. It's one of my favorite songs and I'm excited that a few new people will get to hear it.

WINTER 2011 MIX

LCD Soundsystem / Dance Yrself Clean
Built To Spill / The Plan
New Order / The Village
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros / Home
The Dø / The Calendar
The Everly Brothers / Cathy's Clown
The Human Hearts / Pilot Light
Little Scream / Heron and the Fox
The Good Ones / Sara
Gerry Nobody and Erwin Leirs / Drowning Alone
Max / 80 East
Title Tracks / Tougher Than The Rest
Sonny & The Sunsets / Lovin' On An Older Gal
Girls / Oh My Love
Cary Ann Hearst / The Thread
The Action / Brain
The Resonars / The Golden Age
The Parting Gifts / My Mind's Made Up
Range Rats / The Two Of Us
V-3 / Another Exterminator (Eaten By Bugs)

Winter Mix 2011

*Image credit- Allan Macintyre

Looking For A Reason

Here's a quiet one based around three versions of I Found A Reason. This is a mix I made or year or so ago, whenever Love More and Excuses first appeared on the internet, and it remains one of my favorites.

LOOKING FOR A REASON

Cat Power- I Found A Reason
The Velvet Underground- I Found A Reason
Beach House- Zebra
The Dutchess & The Duke- The River
Dirty Three- Everything's Fucked
Low- When I Go Deaf
Sharon Van Etten- Love More
The Morning Benders- Excuses
Daniel, Fred & Julie- The Gambler And His Bride
Ida- Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
The Velvet Underground- I Found A Reason (Demo)
Dirty Three- I Offered It Up To The Stars & The Night Sky
Lajkó Félix- Vigadó / Ballroom
Nick- Rewind

Looking For A Reason

*Image credit- Whitney Hubbs from the series Day For Night

Her Pain, Our Gain

This time, just the ladies.

HER PAIN, OUR GAIN

Candi Staton- I'm Just A Prisoner (Of Your Good Lovin')
Doris Troy- Whatcha Gonna Do About It
Aretha Franklin- I Never Loved A Man (The Way That I Love You)
Sharon Jones- How Long Do I Have To Wait For You?
Etta James- Pushover
Betty Wright- Clean Up Woman
Rose Batiste- Hit and Run
Diana Ross & The Supremes- Where Did Our Love Go
Sweet Inspirations- Sweet Inspiration
Baby Washington- That's How Heartaches Are Made
Linda Jones- For Your Precious Love
Barbara Lynn- You'll Lose A Good Thing
Penny & The Quarters- You and Me
Rozetta Johnson- That Hurts
Freda Gray & The Rocketeers- Stay Away From My Johnny
The Sweet Things- I'm In A World Of Trouble
Fontella Bass- Rescue Me
Martha Reeves & The Vandellas- (Love Is Like) A Heatwave
Wendy Rene- Bar-B-Q
Ike & Tina Turner- A Fool In Love
Mary Wells- My Guy
The Marvelettes- Please Mr. Postman
The Ronettes- (The Best Part Of) Breakin' Up
The Shirelles- Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow
Bettye Lavette- My Man, He's A Lovin' Man
Helene Smith- You Got To Do Your Share
Bettye Swann- Make Me Yours

Her Pain, Our Gain

*Image credit- Young Aretha Franklin in studio

Hard Times

For some reason this is the Mirah song that is most deeply embedded in my brain. I'd already been a fan for awhile when this came out and I don't really like most of this album, but there it is, stuck. It's slow and stately, gorgeous and sad. I guess I'm a sucker for the bare voice of sorrow. Watch out, though, it's sticky. (Yes, I know it's a cover.)

Mirah and the Black Cat Orchestra's Hard Times

Ocean Songs.

I love the ocean. I grew up in the Bay Area next to it, I love driving along it, I photograph it a lot, and I've missed it terribly while in Arizona. I made a mix about it. While in Arizona. Yes, it made me feel better. (And yes, I stole the title from Dirty Three.)

OCEAN SONGS.
Nina Nastasia- Ocean
Dirty Three- Restless Waves
Low- Over The Ocean
Dirty Projectors & Bjork- On And Ever Onward
Dennis Wilson- Pacific Ocean Blue
Modest Mouse- Grey Ice Water
Sun Kil Moon- Ocean Breathes Salty
Sandy Denny & the Strawbs- Sail Away To The Sea
Beachwood Sparks- The Calming Seas
Billy Bragg & Wilco- Secrets Of The Sea
So Cow- International Waters
Saturday Looks Good To Me- (Even If You Die On The) Ocean
Love Is All- Sea Sick
The Jesus Lizard- Seasick
The Thermals- At The Bottom Of The Sea
The Velvet Underground- Ocean (Outtake)
Patrick Watson- Man Under The Sea
A.A. Bondy- Of The Sea
Alela Diane- The Ocean

Ocean Songs.

*Image credit- Lisa M. Robinson from her show Oceana opening April 28th at Klompching Gallery.

Versions: Baby Blue

Back with another Versions, this time one of about 50 I could do from Bobby D songs. It would be tempting to have done Don't Think Twice, It's Alright and posted the Four Seasons' version, which is in the running for the worst song ever recorded. I actually had a twinge of regret about not choosing It Ain't Me, Babe, as there are two phenomenal covers of it, but I'm sticking with my current favorites. Here are two ridiculously good covers by two 60s garage gods.

It's embarrassing to admit, but I'd never paid much attention to It's All Over Now, Baby Blue before finding these songs in practically the same week. Bob Dylan has so many songs and albums that I'd just never gotten around to listening to Bringing It All Back Home. My mistake. Both these bands make the song their own. Not much else to say. Enjoy.

Them's It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

13th Floor Elevators' Baby Blue

HE from OAKLAND?!

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Their Pain, Our Gain 2

The soul mix of my life, the sequel.

THEIR PAIN, OUR GAIN 2
Ernesto Djedje- Zadie Bobo
Showmen- 39-21-46
Brenton Wood- Oogum Boogum
Bill Moss- Sock It To ‘Em Soul Brother
Ronnie Whitehead- Out Of Breath
Solomon Burke- Home In Your Heart
Lon Rogers & the Soul Blenders- Too Good To Be True
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings- I Learned The Hard Way
O.V. Wright- Nickel And A Nail
Charles Bradley- Why Is It So Hard?
Willie Hightower- Walk A Mile In My Shoes
Ronnie Taylor- Without Love
Archie Bell & the Drells- Go For What You Know
Aretha Franklin- Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody
Cymande- Bra
Toussaint McCall- Nothing Takes The Place Of You
James Carr- The Dark End Of The Street
Them Two- Am I A Good Man
Bobby “Blue” Bland- I’m Not Ashamed
Curtis Mayfield- Power To The People (Demo)
Parliament- Oh Lord Why Lord/Prayer
Sam & Dave- When Something Is Wrong With My Baby (Live)
The Combinations- While You Were Gone
Ray Charles- Tell The Truth (Live)

Their Pain, Our Gain 2

*Image credit- still from Sam & Dave Live in Europe

Hunxa Hunxa Burning Love

Shiiiit. Seth's fucking KILLING IT these days. Listen to that swagger. I can't wait to get back to the Bay and catch these songs live. (On a Johnny-related note, one of Seth's earliest bands, The Knock Ups, covered Johnny, Are You Queer? and there's a Johnny song on this album, too.) Just go buy it.

Hunx And His Punx's The Curse of Being Young

Johnny, Johnny, Johnny?! (or Hella Johnny)

What is it with Johnny? Why does every band write a song about him? Is there some implicit agreement amongst bands that Johnny will be the generic rock n roll stand in name? Is it just that everybody knows a Johnny? Is it Chuck Berry's fault? Is there another name that's been the title of more songs? Anyways, here's a buncha Johnny songs from a longer list of Johnny songs I turned into a mix.

Josie Cotton's Johnny, Are You Queer?

Suicide's Johnny

Boris Vian et Juliette Greco's Fais-Moi Mal Johnny

Stiff Little Fingers' Johnny Was

Freda Gray & the Rocketeers' Stay Away From My Johnny

Violent Femmes' Johnny

The Bouncing Souls' The Ballad of Johnny X

The Replacements' Johnny Fast

Even Julie Brown gets in on the action at the end of The Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun

No More Bullshit

'Cuz sometimes you've gotta scream it from the rafters.

Camper Van Beethoven's No More Bullshit

*Image credit: Jörg Brüggemann's Metalheadz

Versions: Sickles and Hammers

Most people have it all wrong. The line on Sebadoh is: personal, singer-songwriter, lo-fi, proto-emo. Wrooooong. Sebadoh were (and still are when they reune), a fearsome rock band. Most people just know Brand New Love and Skulls and On Fire and songs like that. Here, I present exhibit A of Sebadoh as rock gods. They outdo the Minutemen on their own song. Sickles and Hammers is an early Minutemen song that's a 48 second blast of anger and energy. It's wild and unhinged and over before you've even really realized it started. It's dizzying in its attack and fulfills last post's requirement for instant playback. It's one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands. Sebadoh's cover is every bit as wild and unhinged, but it's heavier. It hits harder. It does what the original does, only better. I dare you to take the challenge and play these side by side. Minutemen, one of the all time great punk bands and Sebadoh, the wussy, lo-fi whiners. See who wins.

Sebadoh's Sickles and Hammers

Minutemen's Sickles and Hammers

Heroin Sucks!!!

The best songs are the ones that, as soon as they end, you quickly reach over to move the needle, click back, or rewind to hear again. Short ones are the best, like a minute and a half long perfect pop song by Guided By Voices or The Smiths' Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want. The songs are only long enough to whet your appetite, but have a pop hook good enough to make you want (nay, need) more.

The best punk and hardcore songs function this same way: short, fast blasts of energy with a simple hook. Today's example is the Charm City Suicides' song Heroin Sucks. Its heavy stomp hits you right out of the gate, barely giving you time to register the way its making you feel before the broken, chanted/screamed vocals come in. The song is pure anger and excitement, and the source of that hatred? Heroin! Who can't get behind hating heroin? (Aside from junkies, of course.) The chorus is an epic, screamed sing-along during breaks after heavy double drum and bass/guitar hits. Boom boom, HEROIN, boom boom, SUCKS, boom boom, HEROIN, boom boom, SUCKS, boom boom HEROIN SUUUCKS!! It's the feel-good scream-along of the decade, it's incredibly addictive, and it'll make you hit rewind.

(On a side note, the guitarist, Brian Dubin, is a 6'2 or 3" redhead with thick-rim, black glasses that he's constantly shoving back up with his palm while playing, and the lead singer is a very earnest straight edge guy who goes nuts on stage. Quite a live show. They broke up and they are missed.)

Charm City Suicides' Heroin Sucks

More Songs NOT For Girls You Want To Date

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Sooo Bitter, Sooo Good

What's the most bitter, vengeful song you can think of? I know what mine is, Hats Off To Larry by Del Shannon. Odd to think it comes in a happy sounding early 1960s pop song, but the fact that it sounds so happy is what makes the song so fucked up.

The reason Del's so happy is that Larry broke up with a girl. The girl Larry broke up with is Del's ex, who broke his heart. When she left him for Larry. You'd think he'd hate Larry, but no. He hates the girl who left him. Normally people write sad or angry songs about the girl who broke their heart and the asshole who stole her away from them. Not Del. He bitterly bides his time, waiting for her life to take a down turn and then applauds the source, even though it happens to be the guy who caused his own misery. Now that's an impressive grudge.

"Once I had a pretty girl/Her name it doesn't matter/She went away with another guy/Now he won't even look at her.

Hats off to Larry/He broke your heart/Just like you broke mine when you/Said we must part.

He told you lies/Now it's/Your turn to cry, cry, cry/Now that Larry said goodbye to you."

The craziest thing? "I know this may sound strange/I want you back/I think you'll change/But there's one more thing I gotta say/ Hats off to Larry..." He still loves her. Even while writing a song that so publicly, bitterly, and joyously celebrates her dumping, he still wants her back.

So twisted. So good.

Del Shannon's Hats Off To Larry

Birthday songs!

Guess who's 30 today?! I'm not ashamed to say that I've been waking up on this day and playing Atom & His Package's Happy Birthday General every year since I was 16 or 17. Today, I don't just get to play it for myself, I get to sing it from the mountaintops! Assuming I can call this little blog a metaphoric mountaintop. In addition to Happy Birthday General, I'm also sharing a bunch of other birthday related songs.

Songs included in the package:
Atom & His Package- Happy Birthday General
The Beatles- Birthday
Groovie Ghoulies- Happy Birthday Song
Happy Birthday- Subliminal Message
Mirah- Birthday Present
Ween- Birthday Boy
J Church- Birthday
Stevie Wonder- Happy Birthday
The Birthday Party- Big-Jesus-Trash-Can

Happy Birthday!

Older

I turn 30 in two days. I'm completely fine with it, but this song still seemed appropriate.

They Might Be Giants' Older

*Image Credit: Kathryn Maxwell, Famous Facial Hair Series, graphite screenprint, 42x30"

Screams of Delight

There are some people out there who don't like female singers. This is something I've never been able to understand. To say nothing of the ignorance of blunt, nuanceless blanket statements, those people are missing out on some of the best screams in music. I don't mean high pitched horror movie screams, I mean rock n' roll screams. We're talking the opening of Immigrant Song and Welcome To The Jungle here. Screams of rebellion. Kim Shattuck of the Muffs can scream along with the best of the them and my personal favorite has always been Oh Nina, a song that I'm sure was built solely for the purpose of allowing Kim to scream as often as possible.

Still, as much as I love Kim and Oh Nina, and even Immigrant Song, my all time favorite screams are June Carter's during Jackson, live at Folsom Prison with Johnny Cash. He brings her up on stage, she says the single most embarrassing thing I've ever heard on record (more on that in a second), then takes the first verse himself. Which is fine. Johnny Cash is one of the greats. But the song hits another level when June starts her first verse. She attacks it, growling into the first line, turning her gravelly voice into a weapon. By the time she gets her second verse, she just lets loose, letting each new line grow in the back of her throat. The effect is visceral as the words are more felt than heard.

The fact that this performance comes immediately on the heels of her initial comments makes it even more striking. A transcription of the exchange: Johnny: "I like to watch you talk." June: "I'm talkin' with mah mouth!" and she starts to say something else, but Johnny (seemingly out of embarrassment) quickly cuts her off saying to the band: "Alright, let's do a song." She went from "I'm talking with my mouth!" to one of the most cutting vocal performances I've ever heard. Wow.

The Muffs' Oh Nina

Johnny Cash and June Carter's Jackson

Cowpunk

The Range Rats and The Parting Gifts. I've been trying to write about these two songs for a few days. It's been surprisingly difficult, so I'll just stick with the facts.
1. Fred Cole and Greg Cartwright are two of the most hallowed names of garage punk.
2. They both have had many bands, each as good as the next.
3. They both formed two piece side projects with ladies (in Fred's case with his wife and long-time collaborator Toody, in Greg's case with Coco Hames from The Ettes).
4. Both these projects are country-ish, The Range Rats being intentionally country and The Parting Gifts wandering in and out of the genre.
5. They really remind me of each other.
6. I love them both a LOT.

Range Rats' The Two of Us

The Parting Gifts' My Mind's Made Up

*Image credit: taken from this guy's flickr account after google searching Ferdinand.

All Things Alejandro

I was listening to this band Cheap Girls yesterday and they were sounding incredibly familiar, but I couldn't quite place it, so I googled the album to see what reviewers had compared it to. Smoking Popes was an obvious one, but that wasn't really it. They mentioned The Lemonheads and a bunch of '90s power pop bands that just seemed like lazy comparisons, but then it hit me: Alejandro Escovedo! Dead ringers. "Kind Of On Purpose," the first song on the Cheap Girls' album, even opens with the line, "Gravity, it doesn't like me." Alejandro Escovedo's first album? "Gravity." And the song is called "Kind Of On Purpose." And they sound just like him. Hmmm...

Alejandro Escovedo is one of those people who I've never understood why they aren't huge. He's been around forever, tons of musicians list him as a major influence, famous family (Sheila E? That's E for Escovedo), a voice that's deep and knowing with a touch of a rasp, and most importantly, oodles of fantastic songs. Angry rockers and heart-rending ballads, all tinged with country and wisdom. He was even on Bloodshot Records with Old 97's and Ryan Adams before they blew up, so it's not like he was hanging out in oblivion. Huge or just hugely influential though not widely known, the songs remain the same. Same old reliable amazing.

So here you are, the aforementioned Cheap Girls song that I will never be convinced isn't their tribute to Alejandro, three of my favorite AE songs, and a cover by Jon Langford & Sally Timms from Por Vida, a 2 disc tribute featuring an impressive collection of musicians made to raise money to help him fight Hepatitis C (now healed).


Cheap Girls' Kind Of On Purpose


Alejandro Escovedo's Crooked Frame


Alejandro Escovedo's I Was Drunk


Alejandro Escovedo's Follow You Down


Jon Langford & Sally Timms' Broken Bottle

Their Pain, Our Gain

The soul mix of my life.

THEIR PAIN, OUR GAIN
Sam Cooke- Soul
Bobby Womack- Baby! You Oughta Think It Over
Jackie Wilson with the Count Basie Orchestra- Chain Gang
The Valentinos- Looking For A Love
Al Green- I Want To Hold Your Hand
Marvin Gaye with Tammi Terrell- Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing
The Simms Twins- Soothe me
Doris Troy- But I Love Him
Brenton Wood- Gimme A Little Sign
Sharon Cash- Fever
Wilson Pickett- Sunny
Sam Cooke- A Change Is Gonna Come
Cymande- Brothers On The Slide
Labi Siffre- I Got The
Curtis Mayfield- Get Down
Stevie Wonder- I Was Made To Love Her
Clarence Carter- I'm Just A Prisoner (Of Your Good Lovin')
Otis Redding- Down In The Valley
Four Tops- 7 Rooms of Gloom
Mary Wells- Bye Bye Baby
Gladys Knight & the Pips- Midnight Train To Georgia
Baby Washington- Leave Me Alone
The Parliaments- Testify
Shirley Ellis- The Nitty Gritty
King Floyd- Groove Me

Their Pain, Our Gain

*Image credit: Malick Sidibe, "Christmas Eve," 1963

Versions: The Outdoor Type

I'm ashamed to admit that as big of a music geek as I am, and as big of a Lemonheads fan as I am, it was only in the last few months that I became aware that some of my favorite Lemonheads songs (post Ben Deily) weren't written by Evan Dando. It turns out Mr Dando had the equivalent of a song writing factory down Down Under. Tom Morgan of Smudge co-wrote many of the songs on It's A Shame About Ray and Come On Feel The Lemonheads. Alison's Starting To Happen was written about Smudge's drummer. Down About It was originally a Smudge song as was Tenderfoot. The biggest surprise (letdown?) was that The Outdoor Type, a song that over the years has become my favorite Lemonheads song, was a Tom Morgan/Smudge original. How did I not know about this?! This seems like a huge thing to be kept secret, kind of like how people still sometimes think that The White Stripes are siblings or that Sean Tillman and Har Mar are brothers (I haven't checked in awhile, but I hope writers still aren't in the dark on this second one).

I know the rule. The original's always better. And Smudge's version is still a good song, but Evan Dando kills it. Maybe I'm just a sucker for those blonde locks and those Tigerbeat covers of my youth or maybe I'm still under the influence of a teen Juliana Hatfield crush. What I do know is that being stuck in a town where all anyone wants to do on their weekends is go camping, hiking, or mountain biking, this song has become my anthem. I even stumbled across a guy covering Lemonheads covers at a local cafe who played it for me.

The Lemonheads' The Outdoor Type

Smudge's The Outdoor Type

God Bless Rick Rubin

Rick Rubin has done many great things during his career, but reviving the careers of Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond has to be as high a peak as any other. The albums he did with the two of them are revelations at the tail end of important (dare I say epic?), but declining careers. As if in an effort to top himself, during the process of recording those albums, he gave us two duets that could only be dreamed about.

At some point during the American recording sessions, Joe Strummer dropped by to record a cover of Bob Marley's Redemption Song with Johnny Cash. Now, anyone who's ever met a hippie with a guitar just rolled their eyes. To say the song is overplayed is an understatement. Somehow it works, though. Johnny Cash's slow, wise reading is beautiful, but when Joe Strummer takes over for the second verse, with his flawed, and still somehow edgy voice, the song really starts to hit home. For the third verse, they trade lines, the two familiar voices contrasting beautifully before coming together at the end to break your heart. They do the unthinkable, giving new life to the song. What sounds too good to be true (a Johnny Cash and Joe Strummer duet?!) is better than I ever could have imagined and I'm a hopeless optimist for dream pairings like this. (Count Basie and Jackie Wilson? searched for it for years before finally finding a copy. Minutemen and Black Flag? Oh yeah.) Knowing that they both died not too long after recording this and that it so easily could have never happened adds a layer of depth and relevance that few songs can reach.

So how does Rick Rubin follow this up? He takes Delirious Love, the most upbeat song on Neil Diamond's American debut, a joyous pop song minimally orchestrated with Neil's voice unaccompanied that echoes with the oohs and ahs of absent harmony, and brings Brian Wilson in to sing along! Neil Diamond and Brian Wilson?! Are you kidding me?! And you know what? It's perfect. The song is completely Neil Diamond and completely Brian Wilson all at once.

I was almost afraid to write about these two songs as I'm so in awe of the fact that they exist and are as good as they are. How does one write about perfection? Dream duets are often a practice inverted math. Add two amazing things and it comes out flat. That both of these manage to escape that common end leaves me with just one thing to say. Thank you, Rick Rubin.

Johnny Cash and Joe Strummer's Redemption Song

Neil Diamond and Brian Wilson's Delirious Love

The Stabs

The Stabs play deeply dark and angry music. It's more difficult than you might imagine to make songs this full of hate. You can't play too quickly or get too excited. You need to steer away from pop hooks. You can't be too in tune or sing too nicely. Keep it slow. Keep it heavy. Scream, but make it a long, hoarse moan that fades into the crashing drums and piercing guitars. Make sure the song is longer than it ought to be with plenty of noise and distortion at the end. If you can succeed at all these things, what you end up with is Black Widow.

The Stabs' Black Widow

*Black Widow can be found on The Stabs' album Dirt.
*Image credit: Damien Hirst, "Cancer Chronicles, 2003

Black Francis and The Golem? Score!

There are things in life that excite me way more than they should. One of those is hearing that a band or solo artist is doing music for a silent film or ballet. There always a chance it'll be horrible as the ability to write a great song is not necessarily the same skill that goes into scoring a film, and even if it works live, there's no guarantee it will stand up as a listenable album, but I still get giddy at the thought of the possibility. I almost always miss the actual performances. Some memorable ones are Yo La Tengo scoring Jean Painlevé's undersea short films called The Sounds of the Sounds of Silence, Rachel's' Music For Egon Schiele, the Mountain Goats' recent scoring of the 1919 silent film Sir Arne's Treasure, Dean and Britta scoring Andy Warhol's Screen Tests (which I was lucky enough to see), and Black Francis scoring the 1920 silent film The Golem: How He Came into the World. Given my Pixies worship and love of the Golem tale I was particularly excited about the last one. I was also doubtful the resulting album would be interesting enough to listen to on its own. Turns out my worry was for naught. The album's shockingly good. The songs are complete. Heartfelt and often full of sorrow, I find myself moved each time I listen to it. I don't know how well it will hold up with repeated listens, but for now, I'm in heaven.

Black Francis' The Maharal

The Pixies' In Heaven (Lady In The Radiator Song)

High School

There's something odd about listening to songs about high school as an adult. Reigning Sound's "Time Bomb High School" is a fantastic song that feels like it accurately represents the rebellious feelings of being in high school, and it gets me worked up and singing along, but what does high school really have to do with my life anymore? Relevance? Low, at best. Still, I love it. It's interesting thinking back on my changing feelings about high school over the years.

The first high school song I fell for was Sentridoh's (Lou Barlow's) "High School". This was back when I was in middle school. The song's full of nostalgia and it's odd to feel nostalgia for something you've yet to experience. Lou Barlow does an excellent job of capturing that rebellious tension through little more than an acoustic guitar and vocals. "Rotting back in high school/fucking pictures pages/ fingers up and down/rockin' through the ages." These things felt like truisms of high school even before I'd experienced them.

While in high school, I fell in love with my second high school song, Atom and His Package's "Punk Rock Academy". From truism to escapism. Once in high school, I wanted the song about a dream of the non-existent. You don't need realism when you're living through it. What is high school other than a time of dreaming about bigger and better things? My shitty high school punk band even covered the song.

This brings us back to Reigning Sound's "Time Bomb High School", a song that wasn't released until I was nearing the end of college. A mix of the nostalgia of "High School" and the escapism of "Punk Rock Academy", "Time Bomb High School" is an adult singing about the stereotypical cliques of a fictional high school. Naming it Time Bomb High School is both exciting, as it brings to mind the explosive nature of the emotions of the time, and relevant, given the school shootings that had become unfortunately regular. The mixture of these emotions and ideas make the song exactly what I want from a song about high school and have kept it in my regular rotation even when I'm not just feeling nostalgic about my younger days.

Sentridoh's High School

Atom and His Package's Punk Rock Academy

Reigning Sound's Time Bomb High School

The songs come from the albums: Sentridoh- Winning Losers released by Smells Like Records, Atom and His Package- A Society of People Named Elihu released by Mountain Records, and Reigning Sound- Time Bomb High School released by In The Red Records, respectively.
*Image credit: Jona Frank, "John Henry, Santa Monica"

Versions: Mathilde

Speaking of triumphant horns, are there any as uplifting as those in Scott Walker's "Mathilde"? And have horns this triumphant ever been used to celebrate such assured imminent destruction? The same crazed, contrary feelings that have assured that John Darnielle will have his audiences begging for "No Children" at every show he plays for the rest of his life run rampant throughout this song. "My heart, stop being overjoyed/ Remember you were once destroyed/ By Mathilde who's come back to me." If you don't pay attention to the lyrics, it sounds like the happiest love song ever written. Crazed is the only word I can think of to describe the emotions being conveyed, knowing that Mathilde's horrible for you and will ruin your life, but unable to say no to her due to love.

"Mathilde" is such a great song and so different from the rest of Scott's work that I've had a hard time listening to anything else in his catalog. I should have guessed it was a cover. Last year when I was delving deeper into 60s French Pop, I downloaded Jacques Brel's greatest hits, "Quinze Ans d'Amour", and found out that my favorite Scott Walker song wasn't a Scott Walker song at all, but a Jacques Brel song. Rather than being upset, I was ecstatic. Two different versions of this amazing song? Yes! It reminds me of the old Matt Groening comic from Childhood Is Hell in which Bongo is happily playing with his new crayons at school when the bully walks in and breaks his crayons in half. After looking sadly at them for a minute he perks up and happily proclaims, "Now I have twice as many crayons!" That's how I feel about my two Mathildes.

Scott Walker's Mathilde

Jacques Brel's Mathilde

A Note For The Engaged

It's that time of life. Weddings galore. I started putting together a mix for one of my favorite engaged couples and ended up with as many unhappy marriage songs as happy ones. The mix has yet to be sent as I'm afraid of jinxing what will hopefully be years of happy marriage. Instead, I'm posting one of my favorite inappropriate marriage mix songs here, where Billy Bragg reminds his old friends (in true punk fashion) that marriage, like all institutions, was something their youthful selves would never have accepted. The song has triumphantly happy horns and that classic early Billy Bragg jangle that make the twist of the sardonic lyrics that much more poignant.

The repeated hook: "And marriage is when we admit our parents were right."

Billy Bragg's The Marriage can be found on Talking With The Taxman About Poetry.

Versions: A Change Is Gonna Come

You know when you love something so much that you just want to buy it over and over again? I get that way with my favorite songs. I have recently been listening to Sam Cooke's A Change Is Gonna Come on repeat. I even downloaded the opening string section as my current ring tone. Sam Cooke's original version is about as perfect as a song can be, mixing nuance and emotion with politics in a way that is rarely seen.

Many people have covered it and the power of the song is such that it calls forth masterful performances from all who approach it. I checked one day and realized I had about 6 covers of the song, so I did what any normal person would do and promptly downloaded every version of the song I could find. The current tally is 24 and I've put together a mix of my favorites, though I don't know who else would want a mix of the same song being played by 19 different artists. Instead, I present the abridged version with four of my favorite interpretations, each one with its own unique twist.

Brenton Wood's A Change Is Gonna Come

Prince Buster's A Change Is Gonna Come

Ben Sollee's A Change Is Gonna Come

Baby Huey's A Change Is Gonna Come

The Bananas=Led Zeppelin

I still remember the time when I was a kid in the car with my dad and Black Dog by Led Zeppelin came on and my dad got really excited telling me to listen to the breakdown and how the guitars and drums come back in playing off time, then come back together and how impressive it is. Well, I'm pretty sure no one has ever compared the Bananas to Led Zeppelin before, but here it is: The Bananas do the exact same thing in their song 4 A.M. off their first album Forbidden Fruit. Halfway through the song there's a break after which the vocals and guitar come in together seemingly racing as fast as they can paying no mind to beat before coming together again. Now, the Bananas are a sloppy, poppy punk band, so there's no reason to assume it's intentional. The first time I saw them play (every time, really), Mike, the lead singer/guitarist was drunk. Oftentimes he's so drunk it's hard to imagine him being able to play a guitar, and yet, he hits that off-time restart perfectly every time. The effect is of being so frenetically excited to come back in that they can't be bothered to try to play together. It makes my heart race every time I hear it. The fact that this is how the song was written astounds me.

The Bananas' 4 A.M.

(Forbidden Fruit, now included on the compilation The First Ten Years, as well as the Bananas second and third albums [all equally brilliant] are all available from Plan-It-X Records.)

The Difference Between a Boscoe and a Bruno

What are the joys of Tullycraft? Besides the jangly fun of their music, listening to Tullycraft makes you feel like those years of digging deeply into the back catalogs of obscure indie labels was all worth it to understand one of their many insider indie references. My favorite lyric comes from their song Twee: "She said I may not beat my sister at this stupid game of uno/ but at least I know the difference between a Boscoe and a Bruno." Bruno and Boscoe being two Frank's of random indie bands: Franklin Bruno of the previous post and Frank Boscoe of the Vehicle Flips out of Pittsburgh. When else is this knowledge useful? Never! No one cares about the difference between a Boscoe and Bruno except Tullycraft and a few random music geeks. This is the real joy of Tullycraft.

Tullycraft's Twee

Vehicle Flips' Trouble On The Western Survey

And now you all know the difference between a Boscoe and a Bruno as well.

(Both Tullycraft's Beat Surf Fun and Vehicle Flips' For You I Pine are available from Magic Marker Records.)