Gladys Knight & The Pips - "I've Got To Use My Imagination": "Miss Knight gives it to you rough and the Pips give it to you smooth. The music is taut, using lush strings and horns in what is largely an economic arrangement, all as a perfect stage for Gladys' raw-but-strong lead vocals."
Culture Club - "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me": "I will always love the video for this song, where Boy George:
- emerges out of a pool completely dry!
- wears a shirt with Hebrew on it, but only to be different!
- is thrown into jail after harassing stuffy old rich men for some reason or another!
- is then freed from jail by 'magical' Caribbean women who open his cell by simply holding onto his cell bars and dancing. Boy helps by looking at them and pouting.
Then again, he is hurt.
Of course, it helps that this is a great song, equal parts soul and pop, with a touch of island rhythm."
I Was a King - "Norman Bleik": "This album reminds me of Olivia Tremor Control's retro vibes turned back in a more straight-forward manner, but this song specifically echoes 60s California pop, with its Byrds-y jangling and energetically hushed androgynous vocals."
Messiah - "Temple Of Dreams": Remember when rave culture seemed like the biggest trend ever? This song can't help but make me think of that time, but also listening to KROQ in LA, circa `92. I'm pretty sure the "stomp your feet" sample is the 'Spirit Child' from Prince's Lovesexy album, but the real sample gem is - obviously - Richard Dawson from The Running Man movie. Survey says 'awesome'."
The Human League - "The Lebanon (12" Extended Mix)": "I know that I've already posted about "The Lebanon" before, but this version is even more Lebanon-y than the original - which means a few extra go-arounds of the bass line that I love so well."
Spoon - "Got Nuffin": "A new, lean, mean rocker from Spoon. I got a little worried on the last record when we started getting horns and stuff, but this is a good blend of their older, angular tunes with their newer sound."
No Knife - "Academy Flight Song": "Even though there is a Jimmy Eat World-meets-Jawbreaker quality to songs like this, No Knife keeps up the rock while working in some less obvious instrumental shifts. (I also can't help but wonder if this is a nod to Mission of Burma's "Academy Fight Song", since No Knife does also recall MoB in some ways.)
The album as a whole (Fire In The City of Automatons) is a under-appreciated slice of straight-forward modern rock mixed with subtly adventuresome song structures and instrumentation."
Fischerspooner - "In A Modern World": "I was originally going to post that, despite coming from a somewhat milquetoast record, this track has a subtle charm - but then I noticed, in the spoken word interlude, that the female narrator says "call everyone you know / text everyone you know". Text?? Why not tell folks to get a ringtone? I just hate unecessary cell phone references in songs and I wished they had left it out."
Grand Duchy - "Seeing Stars": "I get a little skeeved out when famous musicians put out records with their significant others, especially when the significant others are not as well known. While I had this trepidation about Grand Duchy, featuring Pixies' Frank Black/Black Francis and Mrs. Black/Francis (Violet Clark), it defies those concerns, even if it's still easier to evaluate this on its own merit when you forget about who the dude is in this band."
Michael Jackson - "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)": "I'm not sure how I'm supposed to be feeling, after his passing. I love songs like this, but it's hard to reconcile that Off The Wall/Thriller magic with his latter works, if not his personal activities since then as well. No matter what you think, it's hard not to agree that something so right went wrong, somewhere along the way."
Swell - "Song Seven": "The elements of this song are rather simple, allowing something subtle like additional electric guitar in the last section of the song to be powerful, despite its otherwise minimalist addition. The drum part during the (wordless) chorus has always been a favorite of mine, even if it too is a simple part."
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - "The Pains of Being Pure at Heart": "From Slumberland, the label that brought you the Aislers Set and Velocity Girl...
This is the song where The Pains of Being Pure At Heart hit that Jesus & Mary Chain, that Vaselines, that twee-pop-but-rockin' sweet spot that all the reviewers anoint them with generally. This is the song where it really all happens - and it's already named after them. (Imagine if they had actually put this self-titled song on their self-titled album...)
I also meant to include them in my SXSW `09 recap. So, better late than never:
It took a while for them to really amp up (no wonder, since they were playing a million shows down there) but once they hit a groove, it was good, sweet-n-buzzy fun, as one would expect from their record."
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Wire - "Map Ref 41 Degrees N 93 Degrees W": ""I'm not sure if they're singing about map-as-metaphor or map as, well, map. It's Wire, so it could be either. Here (on 154), they're only two albums out from their debut, yet they've already morphed their angular rock away from visceral punk and towards a more detached artiness, but without abandoning their stumbled-into melodies."
The Walkmen - "In The New Year": "I'm a little surprised that it took me so long to come around to this song. It's got a off-kilter retro-garage vibe much like that of the Rock*A*Teens (as well as the similar, if more centered, sound of Cut Off Your Hands), but it didn't really take with me until more recently. Then again, it always seems to take me a while to get into Walkmen and Rock*A*Teens songs because I have to get over the rough edges, which often become the parts I love the most."
Adam Franklin - "Surge": "Swervedriver frontman Adam Franklin rolls out some tasty solo work on his record Spent Bullets, which kicks off with this track. Despite being relatively mellow with acoustic guitar fairly prominent in the mix, there's still some classic Swerv-y elements, like the energetic-yet-melancholy melodies, without being derivative of that past work."
Pitbull - "Hotel Room Service": "This song is obnoxiously catchy. I'd quote you some of my favorite lyrics, but I try to keep this a family blog."
The Horrors - "Scarlet Fields": "Last time around, The Horrors were a goth-punk band that didn't really float my boat. Now they've apparently moved on to a more nuanced sound with elements of shoegaze and British new wave. Needless to say, I like them much better now, but particularly the keyboard lead in this song."
New Order - "Love Vigilantes": "I recently heard this song when I was going through airport security, which was kind of cool, but a little disconcerting too. Hearing songs that are arguably about death when you're going through metal detectors is kind of odd."
Casiokids - "Fot I hose": "Short and wordless, this song is pretension-free dance rock that somehow simultaneously sounds both exactly like you would expect from that description and yet constantly surprising."
Gary Numan - "Bombers": "Icy faux-punk-style new wave from Mr. Gary Numan. (That's right, kids- it's more than just "Cars"!)"
New Pornographers - "Don't Destroy This Night": "I think I'm just excited to hear a Rock*A*Teens cover - especially since it's probably the only one out there. It takes the retro-garage of the original and makes it over as a mellow 60s pop tune, but still very much with the classic New Pornographer's vibe.
(In case you were wondering, it's a complete coincidence that I'm posting about this after having noted R*A*T in another post the other day.)"
Phoenix - "1901": "I'm sure you've read this a hundred times over in blogs and magazine reviews, but this really is as catchy and clever as you've heard."
Cut Off Your Hands - "Heartbreak": "I like the chorus because it recalls the Rock*A*Teens (think "I Could've Just Died" - still filled with longing in an echo-y early rock style, just a bit more polished and less garage-y."
The Who - "I'm A Boy": "Only Pete Townshend could write "I'm A Boy" like an act of defiance...but he does succeed in making it sound rebellious. (Daltry helped too, of course.)"
Hagfish - "Envy": "I only know one other person in the world who both knows and likes these guys, which is both too bad and something I still don't understand. Sure, they're not sophisticated or anything, but they make great, snotty sing-along American punk-style rock. I'm convinced that they never got exposed to the right audience - or perhaps had bad timing - because there's a bunch of kids who based their careers on doing crappy versions of music like this and got pretty famous doing it. Life is so rarely fair..."
Jason Lytle - "Ghost Of My Old Dog": "Classic Grandaddy. Ladies and gentlemen, Jason Lytle is back!"
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Soft Shock": "The pulsing synths are from more 80s songs I love than I can count and the lead melody drives me crazy because I can't place where it comes from, but it certainly recalls some other classic new wave tunage that's escaping me. I guess I'm endorsing the new keyboard direction the YYYs have taken after all."
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - "Get Yo Sh*t": "Now that I've heard this, I really regret not seeing them at SXSW. This is some great rock'n'soul and Joe really shines - both with the impassioned choruses and his storytelling verses, filled with wry humor."
Primal Scream - "Kill All Hippies": "I always thought I understood the introduction dialog in this song - but I just saw the lyrics for the first time and boy was I wrong!
Doesn't matter, really, because the meat of the song is Bobbie Gillespie's falsetto proclamation of "you got the money / I got the soul" over dirty, apocalyptic electrorock. More than one of my friends has proclaimed that this record (XTRMNTR) is so agressive that it makes them want to kill people, but I think it's one of Primal Scream's finest."
Superchunk - "Learned to Surf": "Man, I just realized how behind I am - I never finished all my SXSW `09 recaps and I haven't even started on Coachella `09. Jeez. Better late than never:
Superchunk's Coachella set made me pogo like I was back at the Whisky in L.A. in `95. While mostly doing crowd-pleasing classics ("Precision Auto" rocks as hard as ever), Superchunk also did this new song, bringing back the sing-along choruses that were always their strong suit. Mac pogo'd just as hard as I did through all of it. I was as happy as a little girl!"
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Peaches - "Trick Or Treat": "On her new jam (yeah, that's the right word), Peaches tells you to lick her crow's feet and keep a hole in the sheet. Whoa. This girl's gonna take Prince's old "insatiable" pin away from him and pin it to her bustier.
This track feels like a Teaches of Peaches track layered with the production styles of the new record, which is fine by me."
The Juan Maclean - "The Simple Life": "Moroder meets The Human League, but not in the "Together In Electric Dreams" kind of way - more like "The Chase" meets "The Things That Dreams Are Made Of" - but just a touch more modern."
Helium - "Ocean of Wine": "This has been stuck in my head all day, mainly because of Mary Timony's sweet "oooo"s, over the different keyboard parts (retro lead melody, fake strings, etc.) It's a strange blend of modern and 70s retro elements that are hard to describe, but extremely enjoyable."
NOFX - "Creeping Out Sara": "I would love to hear what Tegan & Sara think of this song...but I have a feeling they don't think it's that funny...but hey, I could be wrong."
Portishead - "Strangers": "The nearly a cappella part near the beginning is nice, but I really like it for the counterpart it provides to what it leads into - a echoing beep, followed a nasty fuzz guitar and a deep bass beat. (Actually, this song does kind of make me want a lowrider that bounces.) When you add all that to the powerfully pained Beth Gibbons vocals, not to mention the 'snag' at 02:11 in the song, it's almost too much for me. I am totally feeling this right now."
Cave In - "Inspire": "I just stumbled back onto this record yesterday. I know their non-major-label titles (all but this one, I believe) are heavier sounding, therefore more fan faves, but I still really like this record. As with many tracks on the record, this song recalls both Failure (think "Undone", in particular) and No Knife with its blend of thick-sounding rock that comes out swinging and clear melody."
Tears for Fears - "Change": "I guess 'change / you can change' could be a positive message, but it feels more like 'change' in a bad way. Either way, it's a great, dark pop song, especially with the chiming percussion tones. As far as the video's concerned, I'll never forget how something as pedestrian as a metal statue getting up and walking seemed so revolutionary at the time. Of course, videos were pretty fresh and new at the time..."
Electrik Red - "So Good" (edited): "Doesn't this sound like a 'women of Prince' (Vanity, Apollonia, etc.) song from the 80s, with the crisp drum machine and funk bass poking out at points? I picked the 'edited' version for this post because I (surprisingly) find the profanity in the original really unnecessary. The women of Prince said some really dirty stuff, but usually without the actual expletives..."
Verbena - "White Girls": "From Verbena's sadly-overlooked final album, La Musica Negra. While I do miss the sweet-but-pained harmony vocals from former bassist/singer Anne-Marie, this album loses the overly-crazy aggression of the previous album (Into The Pink), while regaining some of the pop melody of their debut EP (Pilot Park) without being anywhere near as saccharine. This track is a great example of that."
Fine Young Cannibals - "Don't Look Back": "I know everyone is sick-to-death of 'She Drives Me Crazy', understandably, but The Raw and The Cooked is a solidly enjoyable pop record that jumps through different genres (from 60s soul to dance) without sounding schizophrenic. Too bad they didn't do anything else after this!"
The Lightning Seeds - "Change": "Even though it's not fluffy or mindless in the slightest, it's hard for me not to think of this song (as well as many other songs by The Lightening Seeds) as a feel-good song. (Is there something wrong with me that I equate "feel-good" and "mindless"?) I love the vocals and the keys in the 'oh you fool / you got me started' outro in particular."
Beastie Boys - "Shadrach": "I think think Paul's Boutique is my favorite Beasties record because it sounds like music from different years and styles being put into a freaked-out blender, then served up with sharp-yet-silly rhymes. The blink-and-you'll-miss-it sampling helps to take some pretty big musical pieces and somehow still turn them into a sum greater than its parts, becoming one of the best arguments for sampling in the modern era."
Bee Gees - "You Stepped Into My Life": "Less disco dance than groovy shuffle, it's a subtle number that says 70s sultry, while also making one wonder how a grown man can sing in that key, let alone three."
Harry Nilsson - "Me and My Arrow":
"My friend Bob just reminded me of this tune. From possibly the best 'children's' record filled with pristine pop tunes (The Point!), this song can't help but cheer you up. And, yes, 'Arrow' is a great name for a dog."
Yelle - "Dans Ta Vraie Vie": "Her set started late, so I could only stay for two songs, and I don't know what she's singing about (it's all French), but her music sure is fun. She played with only a drummer and a DJ, but she made sure to bounce around the stage like she was having a bigger party than you would have expected from 230p on a Wednesday afternoon."
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I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness - "Lights": "I hadn't seen these guys in a while, so I was glad to find they still sound great. Songs like this still melt my panties and they did them in style. The new songs sounded good too and I can't wait to hear them on record. Don't take too much longer, guys, it's been long enough!
(Their show was also a bit of SXSW nostalgia - I first heard them at SXSW in `04 (or was it even earlier?) with my friend Julie - so this felt a bit like coming full circle.)"
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Cut Off Your Hands - "Happy As Can Be": "I'm wondering if I was just cranky when I saw these guys play at Emo's last week, since I didn't really dig their set - but when I go back to songs like this, I really like them. I wish I had given them a second chance during SXSW, but at least I can still appreciate the album. Points to Michael Bertin for committing the 'Cut Off Your Hands (Say Yeah)' joke to print in the Austin Chronicle."
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School Of Seven Bells - "Half Asleep": "I know I'm biased, but our Rhapsody Rocks Austin party at SXSW (more here) was off the hook. I was particularly psyched with School of Seven Bells, whose set took the dreamy electropop of their album (as heard here) and amped it up with more volume and intensity, blending a powerful shoegaze element with the pretty melodies. I'm sorry I only got to see them once!"
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The Homosexuals - "You're Not Moving The Way You're Supposed To": "A band I had heard about for a long time, but had never actually seen or heard - making SXSW a perfect time to check out and I wasn't disappointed. The singer has a on-stage charisma missing from most front-men and the music occupies the same great space in British post-punk between Wire and Gang of Four - sloppy in concept, but executed tightly. Their set climaxed with an extended version of this tune that was far more aggressive than you'd expect from this version, but that worked to their advantage."
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We Were Promised Jetpacks - "Ships With Holes Will Sink": "Saw these kids at the IODA Day party today - my SXSW/Wednesday tradition. The vocals are so heavily Scottish that they approach the "If It's Not Scottish, It's Crap!" sketch from SNL (not unlike The Twilight Sad, also on the same label). Once you get past that, it's just a rocking tune any indie rock fans will love. Bonus points to the band on their live set today - they looked like intimidated 18 year-olds (which they might well be) in front of the large crowd, but rocked it as hard as they could anyway. Good for them!"
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Michael Penn - "I Can Tell": "Today, I attended a SXSW panel with Michael Penn. It was largely an interview with him about his film soundtrack work (as part of the SXSW Film Festival), but they had a Q&A at the end and I got to ask a question. I inquired about his re-occurring references to Los Angeles in his work - the L.A. of yesteryear, in particular. It turns out his affection for the less stereotypical Los Angeles and its history is not unlike my own, which is what I had always expected.
Here, in "I Can Tell", the narrator crosses Pico (a street in L.A.) as part of a relationship song that feels like it's a part of a larger cinematic story. The dramatic crescendo in Michael's vocals, after the narrated interlude, is one of my favorite moments in his work."
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American Analog Set - "Hard To Find": "SXSW coverage starts now! Technically, SXSW Music hasn't even started yet, but since bands are starting to play in Austin, I might as well start too. I just saw Andrew of American Analog Set's new band, the Wooden Birds, at the Onion A.V. Club party at the Mohawk. Their sound was mellow (not unlike AmAnSet), but more twangy than dreamy, but still very solid. Wooden Birds don't have any music out yet, so I'm instead tipping my hat to one of my favorite AmAnSet songs, which is propelled by a mellow, shaker-driven groove, not unlike the Spinanes' "Azure"."
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Ex-Boyfriends - "Breathe Without Breaking": "These guys did a great set at the Eagle last night. They're just a three-piece, but their sound is so much bigger and fuller than that. They did a new song last night and I'm looking forward to hearing more from them!"
Longwave - "Satellites": "The searing guitar squall that kicks off the song is a great, modern example of the shoegazer-style rock that I can't help myself but love. The chorus comes off a little soft, given the rest of the song, but the choruses are solid and the aforementioned guitar parts are aces."
Tiger Trap - "Words and Smiles": "Since I referenced them yesterday, I figured I should give them a post too - especially since this song is, in many ways, in the same vein as "Oh No" from yesterday's post. Maybe a little sweeter sounding here, than AGSFB, but off-set by the lo-fi jangle."
All-Girl Summer Fun Band - "Oh No": "My new favorite song! It's almost too sweet to take, with its sugary all-girl vocals, but the song rocks, not unlike classic Tiger Trap. They're totally crushed out and so am I!"
Akinyele - "Put It In Your Mouth": "For the James Lo.
Oh yeah - not for the easily offended."
Swervedriver - "The Hitcher": "I know I recently blogged about another bonus track from Swervedriver's Mezcal Head re-issue, but that was a track I had already been familiar with prior to the re-issue. This track, however, is new to me and it quickly possessed me with its gauzy rock, simultaneously upbeat and dreamy, so I had to give `em another post."
The Avalanches - "Since I Left You": "To steal a phrase from Deee-lite, this is sampladelic, except squared...or probably even cubed, yet still eminently listenable. I hear that after going M.I.A. for a few years, these guys may even come out with a new record soon, which would be swell."
Spinal Tap - "Sex Farm": "Two different things just reminded me of this track, so I figured it was worth a blog post. Besides, how could this song not put a smile on your face?"
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Zero": "While the YYY dance makeover initially got an eyebrow raise from me, it's already started to grow on me, popping in and out of my head all week. Am I the only one who hears a little Chrissy Hynde in the vocals, at least in some parts?"
Peaches - "Search And Destroy": "One more from the new War Child compilation -
The Peaches/Iggy Pop mutual admiration club continues with this Peaches take on the Pop classic. Peaches could have easily screamed her way through this (a la "Rock Show"), but she challenges expectations by delivering a fairly cool and calm rendition instead. She gets points for mixing it up, but I still would have liked to hear how she would have turned the punk into rough electro. I also still want to hear more of her and Iggy together after the "Kick It" face-off."
Lily Allen - "Straight To Hell":
"Isn't that intro already melded into my brain enough from last year already? And isn't it only a matter of time before someone does a mash-up of this version, throwing M.I.A. into the mix?"
Morrissey - "Bengali In Platforms":
"Am I the only one who thinks Danny Boyle has started to look like present-day Morrissey, just with a frightening smile? Granted, I can see why the man was happy at the Oscars last night, but every time they showed him, I just kept thinking "Scary Morrissey!"
I figured I might as well heighten the irony by using this particular song as I pointed this casual similarity out..."
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - "Inspiration Information": "I still prefer the Shuggie Otis original, but it's hard not to give the lovely Ms. Sharon Jones some love for taking it on for herself. It's just a great song. (As an aside, this is from the new Red Hot compilation, Dark Was The Night.)"
The Breeders - "Lord of the Thighs": "I know this should make more sense in the hands of Steven Tyler, but it's so much more awesome in the hands of Josephine Wiggs, here taking on lead vocals on this "Cannonball" b-side. Steven makes this song sound like a crass boast, but Josephine is calmer and more commanding, like your thighs already know who's boss. But, really, don't they?"
Yo Gabba Gabba! - "Party In My Tummy": "Dear goodness, this show is freaking great. I know it's a kids show, but it's surreal, charming, pro-indie rock and, so help me, the whole thing makes me think of Deee-lite. I'd be hard-pressed to think of any other time I've wanted to DVR a show for six year-olds. (Except for this one creepy episode where Elijah Wood did 'the puppetmaster'. That scared me. Badly.)"
Spent - "Good Luck Line": "A totally underappreciated band. I can see why they didn't have legions of fans - having three different vocalists (two male, one female) doesn't breed the most consistency - but catchy songs like this should have made up for it. It's a sugary rush (although not in any kind of fake pop way) that builds up to a rockin' ending, but with zero pretention - which is largely because it's tempered with a bit of bitterness: 'last in your good luck line / first to get fed up'."
The Cramps - "All Women Are Bad": "R.I.P. Lux Interior. The world is a much sadder place without The Cramps in it."
Paul Burch - "Isolda": "This is such a great song, I cannot believe I haven't blogged about it yet. A bittersweet song of longing - of wanting, but not needing - polished with sweet pedal steel, but naked in the delivery. It's too sad to be a love song - especially since he isn't in love, anyway - but it feels like a broken heart anyway. Understated, but amazing."
Pavement - "Grounded": "'...please! plea! boys are dying on these streets...'"
Swervedriver - "Planes Over The Skyline": "An excellent Swervedriver non-album track finally surfaces on the new re-issue of Mezcal Head. Not sure why this didn't come out when they did their reunited tour last year, but glad to have it now."
Guv'ner - "Wounded Birds And Vampires Own The Edge": "Creative anarchy! This song is one of the most infuriating and most amazing songs I know. It sounds like someone took four (or more!) catchy indie rock tunes and threw them into a blender - once you start getting into one hook or other element, it completely switches gears, every couple of seconds at that. It frustrated me terribly in the beginning, much like a repeatedly interrupted conversation, but over time it grew on me. I began to love the different elements on their own, fractured though they were, adding up to a greater sum, largely because the love had to be earned. It also helps that most of the chaos is held together with handclaps, always musical magic to me."
The Ting Tings - "That's Not My Name (L.A. Riots Remix)": "The Ting Tings' playful tune takes on a tougher edge in this remix. Plus, I know I'm a easy mark, but I do like how things get more electroclashy in some parts."
Rocket From The Crypt - "Born in '69": "The long-overdue RFTC album missing from digital finally comes through - awesome! This song is a particularly rockin' cut...as if any of their songs weren't, really."
Q-Tip - "Breathe And Stop": "It's been so long, I kind of forgot how much fun the first Q-Tip solo record is - and how sad it took almost a decade for the follow-up! (Not counting all the records he recorded that somehow never saw the light of day.)"
Blondie - "Youth Nabbed As Sniper": "Between the party tracks like 'Rapture' and 'Heart of Glass', it's tempting to think of Blondie as all fun and games - but that's forgetting this odd dark undercurrent that appears in many songs across all their records. From the second Blondie release (Plastic Letters), we get this paranoid tale of what sounds like teen espionage and romance - but no matter what it really is about, this song is not your standard pop fare."
The Breeders - "Do You Love Me Now Jr?": "Sorry, another Breeders song for you - I couldn't help myself. This is the third version of this track that the Breeders released, but for good reason. Originally appearing on the Safari EP, the band re-recorded an equally solid version for the Last Splash LP - which, in turn, got remixed by Dinosaur Jr.'s J Mascis and released on the Divine Hammer single. Here, J takes the studio version of the track and adds his own vocals to it, creating a somewhat awkward and touching indie rock duet out of Kim Deal's yearning original."
Beck - "Chemtrails": "Initially, this song didn't do much for me - it seemed too restrained, too muted. Now, after time, its eerie quality is oddly catchy, plus the quiet sections remind me of some Aislers Set songs, which is usually the last thing I'd associate with Beck."
Vanessa Daou - "Near the Black Forest": "I remember how semi-daring this was intended to be in `95, when it came out. The video was all pan-sexual writhing bodies and the album's lyrics were all based on the 'erotic works' of Erica Jong (or perhaps it was 'erotic poetry', I forget). All that aside, this is still a sultry little down-tempo number that captured the sexy vibe that holds up better than the rest of this project."
Tragedy - "Shadow Dancing": "I just have to point out that Tragedy is an "all-metal tribute to the Bee Gees" (ignoring, obviously, that this is an Andy Gibb song) and the name of their album is "We Rock Sweet Balls and Can Do No Wrong". Seriously. At least they fulfill expectations by putting cowbell in the chorus."
The Broken West - "House of Lies":
"At first, I was a little surprised by The Broken West's turn to new wave stylings, following their Byrds-y debut, but when the surprise wore off, I could see the quality songs - like this one - were still there."
The Breeders - "New Year": "Yes! Just in time for New Years! Thanks to Adam from Beggars from getting tired of my nagging and getting this album into the system :)"
Dead Or Alive - "Brand New Lover":
"I WANT SURPRISES!" - Dead or Alive
Tomorrow starts 2009 and I think we're all a little ready for something different, right? What better way to get ready for that with a little Mr. Pete Burns? (He's the frontman for Dead or Alive, for those of you who don't know.)
And speaking of surprises, did you know that this is what Pete looks like today?:
Indeed.
But enough about Pete...here's to the end of `08.
Richard X (with Deborah Evans-Strickland) - "Walk On By": "Isaac Hayes' take on this song was simmering. This version is more...well, apathetically prissy. Deborah Evans-Strickland, who provided the classic vocals for The Flying Lizards' cover of "Money (That's What I Want)", curtly notes "Don't stop." like a bored model - no heat here, but that's intended. It's like they put the song on a catwalk in a bizarro-world London department store."
Chaka Khan - "Caught In The Act": "As you may have noticed from past posts, I love it when people spell words out in their songs OR turn words into acronyms, especially when it's not super-obvious. Here, Ms. Khan makes sure you know the title of this song, in that manner so dear to my heart: "Caught in the act.../C! I! T! A!!!", making the initials a proclamation of their own. You know, like it's an acronym you might already know and use...or not. Coupled with the then-edgy 80s synth production (still better than much similar fare from the same time), I still get a little giddy over this song."
Crowns on 45 - "Undercover": "The verses are filled with swinging handclaps and male-female vocal trade-offs, all in fun, like a great house party. The chorus give the swing a harder edge, with excellent screaming that I've loved ever since I heard this song years ago. (And I don't mean 'screaming' as in a sudden switch to screamo or anything like that - it's still in the same tone as the rest of the song.)"
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It's Friday - Rock It Out
The English Beat - "Too Nice To Talk To": "No sappy holiday music at this blog. Just dance to this, whether today is your holiday or not!"
The Piano Classic Players - "Smells Like Teen Spirit": "I had to post this because these folks have turned Nirvana into a piano recital - and for an album called "The Most Relaxing Piano Classics Ever Made" at that!!! It may sound prettier than you expect, but still..."
Kings Of Leon - "Be Somebody": "It's interesting how this song has such a 'big rock sound' - I guess that's where KoL is these days - but it's the chorus that works the best, despite being somewhat at odds with the rest of the song."
Franz Ferdinand - "Ulysses": "New Franz Ferdinand single. Not my favorite song of theirs, but it's interesting."
Primal Scream - "Detroit": "And speaking of 'dirty and druggy', here's another song that meets the same description, just in a very different way. For example, 'dirty' here is more about the sound and less about the sex, unlike yesterday's post..."
Jack Oblivian - "Vice Party": "What else would you call a song that sounds this dirty and druggy?"
Kanye West - "Flashing Lights": "I seem to keep catching the Nip/Tuck new season ads that feature this song - so every time I get the stuttering keyboard line out of my head, the ad runs again and the song comes back."
Western Keys - "Please Rock": "The details are a little foggy, but I believe I saw Western Keys opening for another band and was intrigued enough by their performance to pick up their EP. Sadly, that was years ago and it seems like the band vanished after this release (and some live shows), but luckily some of their fractured and joyous indie rock, like this track, remain."
Aimee Mann - "Deathly": "'One act of kindness could be...deathly' has the capacity to be super-emo, but with Aimee's nuanced delivery, she makes it just part of a complex portrayal of emotional fragility. Juliana Hatfield's light-and-sweet backing vocals also add to the vibe."
The Crystals - "He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss)": "The first time I heard this song (in a bar, years ago), I thought it was a joke - a novelty song, recorded in girl-group style. Imagine my horror to find out it was real, real, real. I can only imagine Phil Spector got them to record it because he had a gun. It's so messed up that I can't help but be perpetually amused by it."
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