Take them bowling.

In the spirit of keeping things heavy, deep, and gravely serious, here's a profound earworm from Camper Van Beethoven, who I listened to a lot back in college, in my what-else-is-there-to-do days. Once it's in there, there's no getting rid of it.

Camper Van Beethoven - Take The Skinheads Bowling (mp3)

Taken from Popular Songs of Great Enduring Strength and Beauty

TV On The Radio - Heroes (Bowie)

Posted at Stereogum just a few hours ago.

And here's Arcade Fire playing it in Cleveland, last March.

Tuatara & The Minus 5 Live on KEXP 10 Dec 2008

Scott McCaughey, Peter Buck, Barrett Martin, and Dave Carter in the KEXP studio to perform 4 songs: The Old Carving Knife, Missionary Death Song, Rage On Regardless, Ambulance Dance Hall

Download here.

Andrew Bird - Fitz & Dizzyspells

I spent this weekend with Andrew Bird's Noble Beast , lost in its lyrical and harmonic density, carried over the craggy cliffs in wild euphoric bursts of violin, whistles, and other surprises hidden around and between troubling verses. Grounded, groundless, dizzying.

Andrew Bird - Fitz & Dizzyspells (mp3)

Andrew Bird widget by 6L & Daxii

Also, check out this article on Andrew Bird from the NY Times Magazine. Excerpt:

Andrew Bird hates rehearsing. He counts on the sense of peril that he gets onstage — that feeling that everything can unravel in an instant — to keep him inside his music and prevent him from succumbing to self-doubt. So last month, when Bird was preparing to go on tour with his new backing band, he decided that instead of practicing the songs from his new album, “Noble Beast,” they would play two surprise shows at the Hideout, a working-class-bar-cum-indie-rock-haven in a deserted industrial neighborhood in his hometown, Chicago.

It was a ridiculously small venue for Bird. In September, he drew some 13,000 people to the open-air auditorium in Chicago’s Millennium Park. The Hideout’s official seating capacity is listed at 73, though a few hours before the doors opened one of the bar’s owners told me, only half-jokingly, that the actual number depends on who’s onstage. “When Andrew plays,” she said, “we can squeeze in a lot more because so many of them are skinny girls with glasses.”
...

M. Ward - To Save Me

On Hold Time,M. Ward explores individual spirituality, philosophy, mortality, love, forgiveness, and the sweep of time.

That's all.

The usual. But in addition to the usual universal themes, and the familiar techniques in his unique songwriting style, there's a new swagger in his songs, a new danceability to them. Maybe his collaboration with Zooey Deschanel sparked something in his creative center. I know it's early to start naming best-of's for 2009, but of all of this year's releases so far, and there have been some good ones already, I'm stuck on this one.

Here's a song that I imagine the great Daniel Johnston would appreciate.

M. Ward - To Save Me (mp3)

I'll be seeing him at the Trocadero Theater in Philadelphia on Feb 20th (one of the few U.S. shows that is not sold out), with the Vivian Girls opening. How good is that going to be. If you'll be there too, let me know.

Tone Loc's Loc'ed After Dark Gets Deluxe Treatment

That's right, on January 27th, Delicious Vinyl (thanks guys) will release the Deluxe Digital Edition of Tone Loc's classic, Loc-ed After Dark, with "Wild Thing," "Funky Cold Medina," and six rare bonus tracks...who saw this coming?? Not me. I'm thinking, though, that it would be even more delicious in vinyl.

Tone Loc - Wild Thing (Moguai Remix)(mp3)
***NOTE: Link removed after receiving a takedown notice. This track was noted as approved for posting in the promotional e-mail, with an "approved" link. Gotta love it.***

Also:

MYSPACE MUSIC EXCLUSIVELY PREMIERES NEW FRANZ FERDINAND ALBUM

From press release:

MySpace Music, the world's premiere online music portal, is proud to announce the world exclusive of Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, the 3rd album from the band Franz Ferdinand. Starting today, January 22nd, MySpace users across the world will be able to stream the highly-anticipated album for free, giving fans a chance to preview it before the official release on January 27.

For more on Franz Ferdinand and to stream Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, visit their MySpace Music profile at http://www.myspace.com/franzferdinand.

Lizzy Strikes Again

The skull mirror. Nice touch.

REM Live at Tyrone's, Athens, Georgia, 4-10-1981

A little context here: 11 Days before this show, President Reagan was shot by 25-year-old John Hinckley, the son of a wealthy oil exec, to impress Jodie Foster.

This live performance of Rockville has none of the drunken twang of the album version. Or should we say that the album version is nowhere near as much fun as this one?

There She Goes Again (Velvet Underground)
Little Girl (Syndicate of Sound)
Don't Go Back To Rockville

Also, here's Syndicate of Sound's version of Little Girl:

SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS TOUR WITH FUJIYA & MIYAGI, RELEASE "IAMUNDERNODISGUISE" SINGLE AND ALPINISMS ON VINYL

SVIIB

Sign me up! School of Seven Bells press release:

If School of Seven Bells (Benjamin Curtis from the Secret Machines and the twin Deheza sisters from On! Air! Library!)' full-length debut, Alpinisms, is divided between two stylistic imprints - one consisting of heavenly drones and soaring melodies, the other built upon tribal beats and hypnotic, incantatory vocals - then "Iamundernodisguise," the album's second single, is most definitely the latter. Ghostly International will release School of Seven Bells' "Iamundernodisguise" on 7" vinyl and digital download on February 17th.

A sinister electronic calypso marked by ping-ponging percussion and one of the Deheza sisters' slinkier melodies, "Iamundernodisguise" teases out School of Seven Bells' darker side within the parameters of a concise, catchy pop song. Repetition is the key here, as the Dehezas sing breathy, cryptic promises ("I am neither walker nor sleeper / I am neither sister, brother, son, nor daughter") over and over as the beat goes on. B-side "Trance Figure (Nobody Remix)" takes the Dehezas' already-detached vocals into even more foreign territory with the help of West Coast producer Nobody.

In the wake of a recent cross-country tour with M83, School of Seven Bells will be joining Fujiya & Miyagi for a set of US dates in February before heading to Europe for the next few months. Alpinisms will also be available February 24th on 180-gram limited edition vinyl.

School of Seven Bells Tour Dates:
1/16 New York, NY - Le Poisson Rouge (self-titled Magazine party w/Free Blood, The Juan MacLean)
2/06 Wellesley, MA - Wellesely College
2/07 Princeton, NJ - Terrace F. Club
2/11 Minneapolis, MN - 7th St Entry w/Fujiya & Miyagi
2/12 Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge w/Fujiya & Miyagi
2/13 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick w/Fujiya & Miyagi
2/14 Alfred, NY - Alfred University Knight Club w/Fujiya & Miyagi
2/15 Boston, MA - The Paradise w/Fujiya & Miyagi
2/18 Philadelphia, PA - The Trocadero w/Fujiya & Miyagi
2/19 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club w/Fujiya & Miyagi
2/23 Dublin, Ireland - Whelans
2/24 Glasgow, Scotland - Captain's Rest
2/25 Leeds, UK - Cockpit
2/26 London, UK - Cargo
2/27 Manchester, UK - Night & Day
2/28 Bristol, UK - Start the Bus
3/01 Brighton, UK - Audio
3/04 Brussels, Belgium - AB Club
3/05 Paris, Ile-de-France - Le Point Ephemere
3/07 Munster, Germany - Gleis 22
3/08 Berlin, Germany - Bang Bang Club
3/09 Hamburg, Germany - Molotow
3/10 Cologne, Germany - Studio 672
3/12 Vienna, Austria - Flex
3/13 Munich, Germany - Atomic Cafe
3/14 Milan, Italy - La Casa
***SXSW***

The Walkmen on KCRW.

Video up now.

Neko Case - Blog for Charity

Neko Case - People Got A Lotta Nerve (mp3)

Yes, I know that this song, the first single from Neko Case's forthcoming Middle Cyclone, has been out there for a week, which is like an mp3 blog year. Still, I'm getting in on it too, because for every blog that posts the song and/or iLike user who adds it to their profile, Neko Case and ANTI- will make a cash donation to Best Friends Animal Society.


The promotion runs up to February 3, 2009. Five dollars will be donated for every blog post and one dollar for every user of iLike that adds the song to his/her profile. More details here.

Today's Spam: Kiti S., who needs loving and true.

Subject: Looking for a nice guy, not a hearbreaker
Saturday, January 17, 2009 3:36 PM
From: "Kat S"
To: canowine@yahoo.com

My dear friend

I may not get to see you as often as I like. I may not get to hold you in
my arms all through the night. But deep in my heart I truly know, you're
the one that I love, and I can't let you go http://[url deleted]
I have not been dating for some time and though I am looking into it, I will be
somewhat particular. My first love is traveling and I love boating and water
activity. I've lost my life to bad circumstance, and I am learning to live all
over again possibly as a much more appreciative and better person. Family values,
morally correct, trustworthy, meaningful, loving and true are what I need.

Looking forward to hear from you
Kiti S

Ida Maria on KCRW

The rising Norwegian rock star was on Morning Becomes Eclectic last Monday. This young lady has some serious passion, and you'll see it come through below. Her album is called Fortress Around My Heart.



Also, the first song:
Ida Maria - Morning Light (mp3)

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa reflects on the social and political dimensions of skin color

In the Washington Post Magazine Obamanauguration issue.

excerpts:

Daddy Red's left eye was blue. His right eye was gray. They said in his youth that his hair had been blondish. It was still straight. His real name was Wesley Pittman, and he was my step-grandfather, a white-looking black man married to my black paternal grandmother, Elsie. People walked big circles around him because he was known to have killed a man when he was 20. The story went something like this: Both men were on horseback, circling each other with drawn knives, dusk falling on Red's pale skin and the other man's black skin. By the time the sun set, only Red was sitting upright in the saddle.

...

"Look a man in the eyes. Especially a white man. Always look him in the eyes."

"Yes, sir."

"Something else."

We held each other's gaze. He drew the words out of himself.

"Never work -- for no man -- who can't treat you with respect."

His words hung in the air. They felt like a rule or law that I had to obey. Now, words from an overheard story began to make sense. I could hear Mama Elsie saying, "My daddy don't work for no white man."

Today's Spam Message is from Sabina Love, a quiet and sincer girl who loves honesty and truth..

I just got this in my Yahoo inbox:

Hi
I am sabina by name a quiet and sincer girl. I love
honesty and truth. I trust people very much. I like
nature quiet walks in the parks holding hands
listening to the whispering breeze and the songs of
the birds; admiring the smiling eyes of my lover, I
hope to meet my true love, I will give him all
myself completely.i wait to hear from you.i whish
you will know me well and sew me on picture.i hope
to meet you soon,
sabina
sabinababy207@yahoo.com

David Byrne sounds like the future.

Where is David Byrne NOT these days? All the better for us.

David Byrne & Dirty Projectors - Knotty Pine (mp3)

From the Red Hot album Dark Was The Night, which ALSO includes, among others, Sufjan Stevens, Feist with Grizzly Bear, Feist with Ben Gibbard, the Decemberists, Grizzly Bear, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, The National, Bright Eyes, Spoon, The New Pornographers, Antony, The Books with Jose Gonzalez, Blonde Redhead, Bon Iver, Andrew Bird, My Brightest Diamond, Dave Sitek of TV On The Radio and Riceboy Sleeps (Jonsi from Sigur Ros).

Kyle Andrews Feels So Real, But.

I don't know, something about digital music that begs questions of an existential nature. & then, the whole business of digipop, a double illusion. It's so bright, but the undercurrents are so unintentionally unsettling. Maybe it's just me, or maybe I'm an illusion, too. And couple this with thoughts of the Hudson River crash today, with people coming out of the plane on the water - you half expect Jack, Hurley, Kate, and the rest of the Oceanic Six to show up on a TV interview next.

Kyle Andrews - Naked In New York (mp3)
Kyle Andrews - Sushi (mp3)

The Daily Flashback: Darkwing Duck. Let's Get Dangerous.

Remember DD?

Alexandra Hope

You really can't argue with that, now can you. No, but the real turn-on is her music, in which bare, agressive, and raw arrangements both contrast and blend with her Spector-popgirl delivery. It's a sexy push-pull effect, the masculine/feminine duality, like PJ Harvey but with more sweetness, and each song leaves you wanting more.

Alexandra Hope - Invisible Sunday (mp3)

Download the feminine, raw Whatever You Want here.

Jolie Holland - Live on WXPN 1-13-2008

On some days, everything sounds the same: eh. Like today. Until now, that is - I'm listening, right now, to Jolie Holland playing some songs for WXPN, and it's gorgeous, different without trying.

Listen here.

Viva Voce to Unveil New Record Soon

Viva Voce returns as a 4-piece (Anita & Kevin Robinson, plus Evan Railton and Corinna Repp)with a new album due out in the coming months.

A few details from vivavoce.com:

1) Viva Voce has a new record on the way in 2009. It's a doozie! We're putting the final bits on it now and are excited to let it be heard. Its definitely a heavy mover and a bit more angular than "Get Yr Blood Sucked Out". I dunno, you be the judge. Will post release info when we get it.


2) Viva Voce has a tour in March! We've spent the better part of last year writing and recording, and we've been busting to hit the road again. So we shall do so with a vengeance! We're heading down to SXSW with our friend Rafter en tow, then make our way back to Portland.

The Daily Flashback Returns: Pepsi Commercial with Michael Jackson and Alfonso Ribeiro, 1984

Alfonso Ribeiro went on to become Carlton Banks in "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air."



Before he was Carlton, though, he let aspiring breakers and poppers in suburbs everywhere behind his curtain:

Thelonious sounds like an adjective.

But we all know that he's either a verb or a noun, and sometimes, both.

Thelonious Monk Quartet - Rhythm-A-Ning/Epistrophy (Tivolis Koncertsal, Copenhagen, 17 April '66)(mp3)

Insound Free Digital Mixtape

Sign up for Insound's newsletters, which are indispensable anyway, and get a free digital mixtape with songs from:

A.C. Newman
Faunts
Matt & Kim
Volcano Suns
Golden Triangle
J. Tillman
Of Montreal
Pidgeon
Owen
Cotton Jones
Funeral Party
Cut Off Your Hands
Goblin Cock
Lisa Hannigan
Fiction Family
Blue Giant
Loney Dear

This promo is available for one week only, so sign up now if you want it.

Okkervil River - Pop Lie (Live on Letterman 1-7-2008)

Since everything has already been said about this great band, here's a little bit of Okkervil River trivia that you might not know, and you probably won't find anywhere else. The letters of the band name, rearranged, spell "I love Rikerkrv." Eerie but true.

Okkervil River - Pop Lie (Live on Letterman 1-7-2008)(mp3)

And the performance on YouTube (Via Catfish Vegas):


From The Stand Ins

New Eleni Mandell, "Artificial Fire," out Feb 17th

Smudge fave Eleni Mandell collaborated with another Smudge fave, Inara George (of The Bird and The Bee), on her forthcoming album, Artificial Fire. Clearly, it's going to be marvelous.

Eleni Mandell - Artificial Fire (mp3)

The Rosebuds, Live on KEXP (2009)

The Rosebuds played KEXP a few days ago - the live in-studio set is available as a podcast. Get it here (mp3).

Rewind!

Botticellis.

BuffetLibre's Rewind Tour 2009 is up for download now, and woe to the deprived mp3 downloader that misses out on this. A big surprise for me: Cherielynn Westrich, formerly of The Rentals, is in a Canadians cover of Moroder's "Neverending Story." Also - Starfucker covers Cyndi Lauper, Headlights dress up XTC in casiotone, Botticellis tame Whitesnake (yes, Whitesnake) into dream folk, and the cover that got me there in the first place - Au Revoir Simone's contemplative treatment of ELO's "Here Is The News." If you get where I'm going with all this, yeah, it's like a big 86-song compilation of sexy, a recession compilation if there ever was one, and bonus - it sounds way better than free.

Au Revoir Simone - Here Is The News (mp3)
Starfucker - Girls Just Want To Have Fun (mp3)
Canadians feat. Cherielynn Westrich - Neverending Story (mp3)
The Botticellis - Here I Go Again (mp3)
Headlights - Making Plans For Nigel (mp3)

Get the other 80.

The People's Choice.

Frank Brunson & The People's Choice want to break in whatever new media player you received for the holidays, with funk style. The funk is truly classic - in 1971, "I Likes To Do It" peaked at #38 on the "U.S. Pop Singles" chart, and #9 on the "U.S. Black Singles" chart. "Big Ladies' Man" made neither, but still charmed the hell out of me. Both of these were taken from the first Philadelphia Roots compilation (Soul Jazz), which is scarce on both CD and vinyl. Happy hunting.

The People's Choice - I Likes To Do It (mp3)
The People's Choice - Big Ladies' Man (mp3)

2009: Post #1 - On Change.

The official buzzword of 2008 was "change." "Hope" was just as commonplace early in the year, the first word's inseparable partner, but before summer gave way to fall, it started to fade, as the new global economic crisis started to set in the collective consciousness, transforming from story lines into everyday realities, as housing values plummeted, credit card rates rose, people were laid off, jobs disintegrated, and businesses locked their doors for good. And so, in 2009, the change that we may desire most is a few extra quarters jingling in our pockets.

What will all of this mean for the arts, and for music? Will people visit fewer exhibits, buy fewer CDs, and hang with friends at the local bar rather than pay 15 bucks to see a live band? The last recession, for better or worse, spawned a flannel revolution, with Kurt Cobain in his dingy striped sweater and a tattooed cheerleader as catalysts for the ascent of grunge, and an indie movement that spawned thrift store chic as a fashion trend. Both of these movements were, at their essence, middle fingers held up to 80's greed, materialism, and flashing neon lies.

Maybe this year will yield a deconstruction, and creative reconstruction, of the arts, music, and mass media. The forecast for mass consumption of media can't be good, and in the absence of monetary support, things fall apart quickly. Maybe this year will see an audience rejection of pointless reality TV shows, and magazines with instant celebrities-for-no-reason-than-their-zip-codes will sit on shelves collecting dust. Maybe we'll see actual music videos on MTV again. Maybe people will listen to the radio more. Better yet, maybe the kids, whose parents have just cancelled their cable and killed their high-speed internet connection and thus their online gaming portals and myspaces, will pick up cheap guitars, start bands, and become the new middle finger. All one can do is hope.

In the meantime, here's a farewell song from the neon 80's.

Cyndi Lauper - Money Changes Everything (Live, 1984 FM Broadcast)(mp3)

Also, here's a Tom Gray (The Brains, the songwriter) performance of the song:

The Daily Flashback: Run DMC - Christmas In Hollis

The Raveonettes - Come On Santa

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays, everyone.

The Raveonettes - Come On Santa (mp3)
Bell X1 - How Your Heart Is Wired (mp3)

via Filter.

Love Makes the World Go Round

...instead of just making the big rock in space go round.

Johny Osbourne with Bunny Brown - Love Makes The World Go Round (mp3)

Buy at iTunes Music Store

About Us

This is about that time of year where we start to draw a collective blank. Distractions are flung at us from everywhere: do we have everything that we need for the holidays what do we need to finish at work they already have too much maybe we've been eating too much lately we hope she likes what we give her the economy sucks and we're so close to our limit and our jobs are not as secure as they were... ... ... ...stop.

And so, something random.

But still, something good.

And keep in mind, as the late David Foster Wallace might say: It's not about us.

Throwing Muses - Juno (mp3)

Boss Hog - Live on WFMU 12-20-2008

It seems like ages since those racy (Cristina Martinez, hello!!) Boss Hog videos were played on late-night MTV. And here's the band now, sounding as racy and unfiltered as ever, live in studio for Terre T's Cherry Blossom Clinic on WFMU.

Before you listen, a bit of history, from their web page:

Cristina Martinez and Jon Spencer met on the feast of Immaculate Conception in 1985 at a Jesus & Mary Chain show at the original 9:30 club in Washington, D.C...Boss Hog started in 1989 as a last minute fill in for a cancelled group at New York’s famed CBGB’s. Cristina assembled a group of rag-tag players to form the original all-star line up of Boss Hog. It included members of Pussy Galore, the Honeymoon Killers and Unsane. A constantly rotating cast of misunderstood misfits. Very angry, very volatile. The perfect medium to express their rage, their confusion, their sense of humor, their love of music...

Boss Hog - Trouble (Live, Cherry Blossom Clinic, 12-20-2008)(mp3)
Listen to the rest here.

And a racy vid:

Top 10 of 2008.

1. Beck - Modern Guilt

As bleak and penetrating as it is groove-suffused, Modern Guilt is at its surface beat-heavy danceable psych pop, but at its heart, it's an exploration of spiritual emptiness set in a labyrinth of illusion and routine. It is an album of good music and hard questions.


2. TV On The Radio - Dear Science

Some of this year's most arousing rock and soul/funk sounds are herein, from this 'post-racial' college favorite.


3. Okkervil River - The Stand-Ins

A line in any of Will Sheff's songs says and implies more than most entire albums by ordinary songwriters. The Wrens' Charles Bissel allows for an added dimension and extra punch to their songs. The Stand-Ins proves that poetic rock isn't necessarily an oxymoron.


4. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!

Raw, Reader, Raw!!!


5. The Kills - Midnight Boom

Listen to Midnight Boom.
Get a room.


6. The Raveonettes - Lust, Lust, Lust

Hands down the year's best road album. Too bad I have the wrong car for listening to this album - something like this would be more appropriate:



7. The Submarines - Honeysuckle Weeks

Suspiciously sunny, and at first listen, maybe too bright to be taken seriously. Confirmation: You, Me, & The Bourgeoisie was in an Apple commercial. But taken in the context of their marital reunion, it becomes just the substance that we need.


8. Vivian Girls

...which has more balls than the boys have.


9. The Raconteurs - Consolers Of The Lonely

Worth the price of the album just for the Zep-like vocal break in the title track. The rest of the album is a riot of riffs, licks, and hard luck drama. And though I didn't see them live, I heard them on the internet radio live, and I could swear that my computer started sweating.


10. R.E.M. - Murmur (Deluxe Editon) - Disc 2

I would have placed this at #1 if I weren't already cheating. I'm not blaspheming when I say that I'd rather listen to the live bonus disc than the remastered studio album, which many critics regard as both R.E.M.'s best album AND the best album, period, of the 1980's. This is a reminder that yes, they were that good.

The Daily Flashback: Sonic Youth - Drunken Butterfly (Live on Jools Holland, 1992)

Band of Susans - Too Late (Wire)(1989 Peel Session)

From 1989. Band of Susans, who do not exist on iTunes, were a noise guitar band with a tendency toward the epic. Here, though, is a live, tight Peel Session version of Too Late.

Band of Susans - Too Long (Wire)(1989 Peel Session)(mp3)

The Daily Flashback: Q and Not U - Last show at Ft. Reno, Washington, DC

Okay, this didn't exactly happen ages ago, but it was sooo good, it's blogworthy, and I was there. I think I see myself up there near the front.

Kokolo - Girls on Film (Duran Duran)

Yes, it's the Duran Duran song. And yet, it's not.

Kokolo - Girls On Film (Duran Duran)(mp3)

Here's a golden little Wiki nugget:

Girls on Film was originally written by Andy Wickett, Duran Duran's previous singer before Simon Le Bon. The original demo of the song has a very peculiar sound that differs somewhat from the final album version recorded in 1981. When Wickett left the band, Duran Duran bought the song from him for £600 and made him sign a waiver removing his rights to the song.

From the Soul Shaker, Vol 5 compilation that I posted from yesterday.

The Daily Flashback: Radio Shack cellular phones that you can take with you! Liberating!

Deeper Funk.

Heavens, me.


The Diplomettes

Diplomats of Solid Sound - Trouble Me (mp3)
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - Keep On Looking (Kenny Dope Remix)(mp3)

From Soulshaker, Vol. 5, a recently released new deep funk compilation.

..."to meet him at the pier by way of the Green Line bus. As always, she was late."

For Tom.

The Kills - Live in Tokyo 12-8-2008

The Kills - U.R.A. Fever (mp3)
The Kills - Pull A U (mp3)

Download the entire concert as a torrent here.

Also:


Midnight Boom
is one of the year's best albums.

Lizzy Grant - Kill Kill video

Lizzy Grant, you got it. I'm transported.

Lizzy Grant – Kill Kill @ Yahoo! Video

Motown Gifting

The Complete Motown Singles, Volume 11A: 1971, is out now, the perfect gift for the classic soul addict. Level up the gift with the Classic Motown Block Tee:



mp3s from The Complete Motown Singles, Vol. 11A: 1971:

Stevie Wonder - We Can Work It Out
Letta - I Won't Weep No More
Smokey Robinson - Crazy About The La La La

Sara Lov - My Body Is A Cage (Arcade Fire)

Sara Lov, formerly of Devics, is doing her own thing nowadays, like this cover of Arcade Fire's My Body Is A Cage.



Download (.mov)
Listen to more on her myspace.

Long Winters concert film

The Long Winters have a limited edition concert film out, called Live at the Showbox, recorded in 2007, in support of their excellent album, Putting The Days To Bed.

Here are a few tracks from the DVD:

Scared Straight
Clouds
Cinnamon

Get the DVD here.

The Daily Flashback: Have you played Atari today?

How do you get the entire family together for an afternoon of interactive fun??!!!

Y La Bamba

A young lady keeping herself company, shooing the pain away with a song, a lone guitar, and a voice recorder.

Y La Bamba - Alida St. (mp3)

From Alida Street

The Daily Flashback: GH - Frisco sings "Lady of My Heart" to Felicia at their wedding

Here are some of the YouTube comments on this clip:

Why don't they have this on I Tunes?

I used to sing this song to my ex wife, just like this, and she had the same look in her eyes that Felicia did. I miss that look so much it hurts...even after a couple of years without her, I can't stop thinking about her...I'll always love her!

does any one have a clip when frisco sang to felicia while she was with colton back eposide 89?

Felicia is an Aztec Princess. That's why she is dressed that way.

Frisco & Felicia were the all time BEST supercouple ever!...

Aren't they all dead now?

So sweet. I'm gonna cry now. I loved Frisco and Felicia.

Depeche Mode - Live, FM, Amsterdam, 1983

Depeche Mode - Live in Amsterdam, 1983 (FM Broadcast)(mp3s):

Everything Counts
Just Can't Get Enough

The Daily Flashback: Earth, Wind & Fire - Come on Children, Live in CA, 1974

School Disco

Wasn't that last video fun?

Here's the mp3. Reminisce. Clear some space. This is music for action.

Bis - This is Fake D.I.Y. (mp3)
Bis - School Disco (mp3)

From This Is Teen-C Power!

The Daily Flashback: bis - This is Fake D.I.Y.

A classic that you might have forgotten about.

I am such a bore. I can't take it any more.

It's not easy knowing when to let go
When you want to hang on, when you write a bad song
So simple saying the things you believe
But no one knows what I mean. No one knows what I mean.

I am such a bore
I can't take it any more
But school's out forever
And I'm never gonna let it go. I'm never gonna let it go.

Dear Nora's songs are fleeting numbers, with unadorned electric guitar baring simple chords and melodies beside the heartbroken harmonies of bared adolescent pain. Cheers to that.

These three songs combined add up to just over five and a half minutes.

Dear Nora mp3s from Three States: Dear Nora Rarities 1997-2007:

Up On The Roof
When You Write A Bad Song
Second Hand

The Daily Flashback Extra: Devo - "Whip It" & "Uncontrollable Urge" (Live on "Fridays," 1980)

Perfection.

The Daily Flashback: The Stray Cats - Rock This Town (Live on "Fridays," 1981)

This performance is all muscle and grit, tough as gristle. It must have been so out of place in '81.

From the TV show Fridays.

The Manhattan Love Suicides Sing of Jonny & Suzy

Today I'm thankful for The Manhattan Love Suicides.

Jonny Boy (mp3)
Suzy Jones (mp3)

Calexico, Live on MPR's The Current, 11-25-2008

The Daily Flashback: Elliott Smith - Jealous Guy (Live)

This is the perfect companion to the earlier mp3 post.

Okkervil River - Jealous Guy (Lennon) (Live, München, Germany)

Best thing I've heard this month.

Okkervil River - Jealous Guy (John Lennon)(Live, Die Registratur, München, Germany, 11-18-2008) (mp3)

Also, from the same performance:

Unless It's Kicks (mp3)

Torrent on Dimeadozen.

Order Okkervil River's latest album on the sidebar.

The Daily Flashback: Rick Springfield - The Human Touch

Before Neo made choices in The Matrix, there was...Rick Springfield, who was "The One" in 2016, back in 1983.

Deerhoof - Live on KEXP, 11-21-2008

"San Francisco noise-pop experimentalists Deerhoof play an exclusive set for KEXP at CMJ live from Gibson Studios in New York. Recorded on 10/20/08 - 4 songs: Blue Cash, The Tears and Music of Love, Fresh Born, Basket Ball Get Your Groove Back" - KEXP Live Performances

Download the performance as mp3 here.

Bob & Bill

Bob & Bill explore improvisational possibilities in electronic music. It's a sort of chaos within boundaries - coloring inside the lines, but with wild, free strokes of the crayon.

Bob & Bill - Mr. Rember (mp3)

Bob & Bill - Night (mp3)

Bob & Bill - Maria's Bone (mp3)

The Daily Flashback: Al Green, live on Soul Train, 1974

With Don Cornelius introduction.

Big Bangs, Black Holes and Meteorites

It's all going up in flames somehow, some day, and the dark possibilities keep Love Is All awake at night. Their apocalyptic energy on A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night will help it all go down a bit easier.

Love Is All - Big Bangs, Black Holes, Meteorites (mp3)

The Daily Flashback: Ultraman vs. Verokron

Whew. This was a close one.

The Daily Flashback: Jeff Buckley - Grace (Live on 120 Minutes, 1994)

Frank Black - Wave of Mutilation (Live, solo, 1992)

The metamorphosis of post-Pixies Black Francis into Frank Black.

Frank Black - Wave of Mutilation (Live, solo, 1992)(mp3)
Frank Black - Monkey Gone To Heaven (Live, solo, 1992)(mp3)

From The Dream Is Over bootleg.

The Daily Flashback: Beck - Pay No Mind (Alternate Lyrics)(Live, 120 Minutes, 1994)

Remember when they used to play stuff like this on MTV, late on Sunday nights, and we taped it and watched it on Monday afternoons? *sigh*

Yelle, Live on KEXP, 10-27-2008; Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Live on KEXP, 9-24-2008

Here are two excellent live sets, one from Yelle and the other from Nick Cave, recorded for KEXP, and posted just this past Friday.

Yelle - Live on KEXP, 10-27-2008 (mp3)

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Live on KEXP, 9-24-2008 (mp3)

The Daily Flashback: Michael Stipe - The Last Day Of Our Acquaintance (Sinead O'Connor)(Live on VH1, 1996)

This cuts off at the end, which is too bad, because the end was fantastic. This is another performance that I had on VHS, but lost it.

Conor Oberst, Live on KCRW (Video)

He's everywhere lately, isn't he?

Blue Giant (Viva Voce + Decemberist + Sleater Kinney) EP available now.

Blue Giant's Target Heart EP just became available yesterday, and it's already an eMusic pick. I've been listening to their songs on their myspace for several months now. Really, I return for this song, a beautiful southern strum, with melancholy chord changes complemented with slow, steady pedal steel and patiently paced electric arpeggios, and Anita Robinson singing sadly, convincingly, with her husband at her side:

She's a lonely girl
needles and pins
the weight of the world
oh
she's thinking about
that lucky break
that's all it takes
i'll leave in the morning.

talk
talk of the town
always in love
but it's never enough
oh
she keeps thinking about
what they might say
and leaving anyway
in the morning.

Whatever country music is, was, or is supposed to be, this is what I would love to hear more of - songs that target the heart, not with oversentiment, but with simple declarations of regret or yearning.

Blue Giant - Lonely Girl (mp3)

The Daily Flashback: Doublemint Gum Commercial (1985)

For no particular reason. Just because.

Conor Oberst, Live at the 9:30 Club, 11-10-2008 (NPR podcast)

Conor Oberst played the 9:30 Club this weekend, and NPR was there to broadcast and record the show. Listen to it here (mp3).

The Daily Flashback: Heart - Barracuda (Live on Solid Gold, 1984)

Heart performed "Barracuda" live on everyone's favorite network countdown show with scantily clad dancers, Solid Gold. Seeing is believing.

The Raconteurs - Live on KCRW 11-10-2008

Recorded a few weeks ago, broadcast on Morning Becomes Eclectic on Monday.

Watch:


Listen:
Salute Your Solution (Live KCRW 11-10-2008)(mp3)

Buy Consolers Of The Lonely

Blitzen Trapper, Live on The Current, 11-8-2008

Jessica Lea Mayfield

Pitchfork gave Jessica Lea Mayfield's With Blasphemy So Heartfelt a solid 8.2 rating, meaning that a lot of people are going to be looking into her. A good place to look is WOXY.com, where she played a live in-studio set a couple of weeks ago. Download here (mp3).

The Daily Flashback - 21 Jump Street: Brad Pitt & Johnny Depp

Yes, Brad Pitt guest starred on 21 Jump Street, as a high school kid in a letterman jacket.

Laura Marling - The Captain and the Hourglass

Behind every tree is a cutting machine and a kite fallen from grace
Inside every man is a heart of sand; you can see it in his face.
He’ll tick tick tick tick tick tick tick away.
Another second lost with every fallen grain.

Laura Marling - The Captain And The Hourglass (mp3)

From Alas I Cannot Swim

Conor Oberst, Live at Other Music, Summer '08

For you Conor Oberst fans, you know who you are, this is an amazing performance from summer 2008. Josh Modell from OtherMusic says:

The band rolled into the shop during a short promo tour when the album came out this summer. We raffled off 100 tickets, and hundreds more fans showed up on the off chance that they could sneak in, or even just sneak a peak at their hero. For a shop like Other Music, where fans and artists tend to casually mingle on a daily basis, it was more than a little overwhelming, as Oberst was mobbed at every turn.

But that is just hype, the real story was the performance, which, especially in the confines of our tiny space, was simply stunning. Raw and passionate and hauntingly beautiful, that band ran through much of their new album and added in a few surprises, and I don't think that anyone who saw the show could have been unmoved.

The Daily Flashback: Family Ties - "The Real Thing"

Alex and Ellen/Michael and Tracy. Yes, it was an 80's sitcom, and yes, there was a script, but at the same time, you could tell it was real.

The Dears, Live on KEXP

The Dears went acoustic for yesterday's in-studio on KEXP.

Here it is:

The Dears (Live on KEXP, 11-6-2008)(mp3s):

Crisis 1 & 2
Dream Job
Lights Off
Money Babies

The Kills - Tape Song (Video)

Video for single Tape Song, taken from the album Midnight Boom, which is out now. The video contains footage filmed by the band while on tour in the US with The Raconteurs.

The Daily Flashback: Pete Townshend - Let My Love Open The Door (Live, Solo on VH1)

I watched this as it aired, taped it, and then lost it. This Thanksgiving season, I am thankful for YouTube.

The Dears and The Secret Machines on KEXP today.

The Dears and The Secret Machines are performing live in-studio sets for KEXP today, at 12:00 and 3:00 (3:00 and 6:00 Eastern). Be there.

The Dears - Demons (mp3)

Order their brand-new albums, The Dears' Missiles and Secret Machines

The Daily Flashback: "V: The Final Battle" - The Birthing Scene

Awwww, twins!!

Umalali Live

The Smudge has gone quirky today.

From the KEXP podcast site:

Umalali is a group of musicians from Belize, Honduras and Guatemala that blends the vocal stylings of the Garifuna women with rock, blues, funk, African, Latin and Caribbean music. The Garifuna people are descendants of African slaves who intermarried with the Carib and Arawak Indians of the Caribbean. You’ll be amazed by the unique beauty of this live KEXP performance.

Umalali - Live on KEXP 10-31-2008 (mp3)

Ra Ra Riot Ukelele Session

The mood today is giddy and strange - a full moon mood. The posts will accompany the mood.

The Daily Flashback: Election 1988

With today's election, the negative presidential campaigning will be over. At least until 2012. Check out this CNN exploration of the 1988 campaigns:

The Daily Flashback: Patty Smyth & Scandal - The Warrior

They're on tour now, playing at Ram's Head in Annapolis on Friday.
Yes, seriously.

Electric Owls - These Days (Jackson Browne)

About a year before Hot Fuss was released, The Killers played in front of about two dozen people at the Black Cat in DC. Nobody knew what they were seeing, but most of the people in the crowd were visibly stirred before their show ended. The band opened for Stellastarr, and TV on the Radio played the backstage downstairs. The Killers left the stage with moderate applause from not-yet adoring fans.

Fast-forward to this weekend: on Saturday night, Electric Owls (aka Andy Herod of The Comas) played the Black Cat, almost solo acoustic, opening for Bishop Allen. His accompaniment was his laptop, placed neatly on a comfortable-looking wooden chair on stage. A few people in the audience quipped "He should be called Electric OWL." If you paid close attention, though, and if you used your imagination, you could see and hear a full band behind Andy, who reminded me of a young Lindsay Buckingham playing solo, confidently hitting the chords and singing with the passion of a man singing to a sold-out venue. Nobody even flinched or crinkled a brow as he sang what was likely the most macabre verses any of them heard all Halloween week, from Cannibal Superstar:

Reflected too long on a cannibal's life,
And I found myself obsessed with thoughts of eating my wife
Oh, I am
Not an evil man
She came home and I shot her dead
And I pulled her favorite pillowcases over her head
Oh, then I
Faded and cried
Whoah, what have I done?
Get in the car
I am a cannibal superstar

I suspect that in six months or so, not too long after Electric Owls' debut LP release date, that the people I shared the floor with on November 1st, 2008, will then, and not sooner, realize that they witnessed a very special half-hour of live music, and make a good fuss about it.

Here's a Jackson Browne cover from the show:

Electric Owls - These Days (Jackson Browne)(Black Cat, 11-1-2008)(mp3)

Get the Electric Owls EP from their myspace.

By the way, if you wondered, yes, Bishop Allen was absolutely fantastic.

General Makeup of Techno Songs

The Daily Flashback: You May Come To Me Now

From Buck Rogers In the 25th Century - "Space Vampire" episode.

Electric Owls EP available now.

The Electric Owls EP, which I've had on repeat for two days now, will be released next week. It plays like a tapestry of atmospheres passed through in a dream state, adrift on arpeggiated chords, synth, and an acrobatic, yet intimate vocal delivery from the Comas' lead singer. You can get it now when you order a limited-edition, hand-stamped copy directly from Andy on his Myspace. Electric Owls will be playing at the Black Cat in D.C. this Saturday. I'll see you there.

Electric Owls - Magic Show (mp3)

The Daily Flashback: This Is Spinal Tap - "This Piece Is Called 'Lick My Love Pump'"