Q and Not U - "Line In The Sand"

Q and Not U - "Line In The Sand": "More Dischord happiness! This herky-jerky song starts out almost emo-y (but more jagged), but unexpectedly shifts into a swinging guitar groove - with handclaps! As you should all know by now, I'm cuckoo for handclaps, so of course I love this. The two parts of the song should be at total odds with each other, but they wind up more like two different flavors that taste great together."

Siouxsie and the Banshees - "Love Out Me"

Siouxsie and the Banshees - "Love Out Me": "I know that The Rapture isn't the best Siouxsie record, but this song (from that album) is still a winner. It has a great intensity and her vocals sound amazing...and it's soooo goth ("I place the dagger twixt my breasts..."), but that's the way it should be."

Jawbox - "Static"

Jawbox - "Static": "Yes! The Dischord Records catalog is now live in Rhapsody! Now I can listen to some classic Amerindie Punk Rock, as some call it. Here's a classic Jawbox cut to celebrate with...something my best friend introduced me to in high school!"

Marilyn Manson - "Heart-Shaped Glasses (When The Heart Guides The Hand)"

Marilyn Manson - "Heart-Shaped Glasses (When The Heart Guides The Hand)": "A weird little song and not what I would have expected as a first single from the resurrected (wocka wocka) Marilyn Manson. A little post-punky, a little new-wave-y...it's all crisp drums and prominent bass. It almost sounds like a dark Killers tune, if it weren't for the spooky/achey trademark Manson vocals. The line 'we won't cover up what we do with a dress' does give him some bonus weird points."

Land of Talk - "Speak To Me Bones"

Land of Talk - "Speak To Me Bones": "Agressive indie rock that's sparse but never empty, led by unstyled female vocals, like a fuller band version of Giant Drag or the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. They're also Canadian, so they're part of the New New York Hotness.* Thanks to Tim for pointing this band out to me.

* - from two years ago when Canada was the new New York hotness. Sweden is now the new Canada. Just in case you're keeping track."

Karl Hendricks Trio - "Like John Travolta"

Karl Hendricks Trio - "Like John Travolta": "More delicious-sounding rock with bile-splattered lyrics from Mr. Hendricks. He does not sound like a nice guy to hang out with, but he is clever and his Dinosaur Jr-esque guitar brings the noise, in a good way."

Bjork - "Earth Intruders"

Bjork - "Earth Intruders": "Well, it's closer to a traditional song than she's done in a while and with more energy too, but it still doesn't capture the magic she had as recently as 2002's 'It's In Our Hands'. I don't mean to be so critical of her - I still love what she does - but there was a magic that her songs used to conjure up in me that hasn't been stirred by any of her recent works."

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) - "If You Leave"

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) - "If You Leave": "Pretty In Pink has been on cable a lot lately. Every time I see it, I always think about how, during the prom sequence, this song goes on for about twelve minutes. It's like the ultra-looped club version. I can't be the only one who's noticed this.
It's also probably one of the best commercials a song can have and pretty much secures OMD's continued visibility into the future."

Schoolly D - "ATHF Theme (remix)"

Schoolly D - "ATHF Theme (remix)": "This is a cool little remix of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force theme, from the soundtrack for their new movie. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I am planning on it. I'm sure it'll have massive amounts of just plain stupid in it, but I'm sure I'll still laugh at it."

Missing Persons - "Color In Your Life"

Missing Persons - "Color In Your Life": "I think I like this song for some of the same reasons I like tracks off Psychedelic Furs' Midnight To Midnight. Both bands, at that point in their careers, have already worn down the edge of their earlier works, replacing it with an over-produced gloss and a smattering of cheese, but the songs still wind up stuck in your head. They're fun, in a guilty pleasure kind of way. (But at least the Furs rebounded from this phase!)"

The Cranberries - "Linger"

The Cranberries - "Linger": "Last night, I was watching a VHS tape I had of old MTV, actually trying to find an episode of Liquid Television*, and stumbled onto the video for this song. It was insanely over-played at the time, but now I appreciate its lilting tones and late-night vibe, after all this time. It's also nice to think about how a shy-sounding shuffle of a song became a radio hit.

* - For Winter Steele. I miss that show. 'CROOOOOOW!!!!'"

Pavement - "Perfume-V"

Pavement - "Perfume-V": "'She's got the radio active and it makes me feel ok' - I love this lyric and when, later in the song, it's overlapped with a different vocal track, it becomes almost a subliminal come-on. This song is so short (130 seconds!), I wish there was a longer version of it. Classic Pavement."

The Spinanes - "Manos"

The Spinanes - "Manos": "Scott Plouf provides the drum muscle and Rebecca Gates provides the driving riff, but it's her smokey-sounding vocals that bring all the magic together for this simple two-piece number. Commanding yet sultry, this is classic Gates...and I just wish she was making music again! (She's been quiet on the music front, sadly, since 2001.) Smoldering!"

Ken Andrews - "Up or Down"

Ken Andrews - "Up or Down": "Last night, Ken Andrews of Failure/On/Year of The Rabbit fame) rocked Cafe du Nord in SF with a 'Ken Andrews - Hits Live!' approach. It was nice getting to hear 'Stuck On You' live after so long. As a thank you, here's a good song from Ken's new solo record.

Also, here's links to my previous Ken-related posts:
Failure - "Undone"
Year Of The Rabbit - "Rabbit Hole"

Wesley Willis - "Girls On Film"

Wesley Willis - "Girls On Film": "I know it's dumb to have a song blog and then make posts that say 'words cannot suffice' about the tracks, but I swear, you just need to hear this. If you really need to know more, yes, it's a Duran Duran cover, but as performed by a metal band with a mentally impaired frontman... and they TOTALLY take it to the next level."