The G-Sphere Sounding Booth

The Blog Has Moved

2011-12-12T14:02:00.001-05:00

This blog has evolved into something new...
60@60 Sounding Booth

See you there.

How Can I Tell You

2010-03-14T17:46:00.011-04:00

Love songs. Break-up songs. So much of rock 'n' roll is about love and I've always been a sucker for a good love song. I called my collection of love song mixes Heartaches. I wanted to be inclusive of all kinds of love songs and people can be so much in love to cause heartache and of course the lack of love or the loss of love certainly causes heartache which has become one of my mix collection categories.

This is another mix where I was looking for that formula for the perfect mix. So it is a mix of different songs from different periods and groupings of small sets that go together.

I'm looking forward to posting this on my Facebook Mix of the Week.

1. Cat Stevens - How Can I Tell You (Teaser And The Firecat, 1970)
2. The Beach Boys - God Only Knows (Pet Sounds, 1966)
3. Colin Bloodstone - Caroline Goodbye (One Year, 1971)
4. The Beatles - Girl (Rubber Soul, 1965)
5. Eric Clapton - Easy Now (Eric Clapton, 1970)
6. Big Star - Thirteen (#1 Record, 1972)
7. Teenage Fanclub - Mellow Doubt (Grand Prix, 1995)
8. The Go-Betweens - Love Goes On (16 Lovers Lane, 1996)
9. The Green Pajamas - She's Still Bewitching Me (Seven Fathoms Down And Falling, 1999)
10. Roy Orbison - She's A Mystery To Me (Mystery Girl, 1989)
11. Crowded House - Fall At Your Feet (Woodface, 1991)
12. Keren Ann - Lay Your Head Down (Keren Ann, 2007)
13. Winterpills - You Don't Love Me Yet (Central Chambers, 2008)
14. Explorers Club - Forever (Freedom Wind, 2008)
15. R.E.M. - At My Most Beautiful (Up, 1998)
16. Jim Noir - The Only Way (Tower Of Love, 2006)
17. Bon Iver - For Emma (For Emma, Forever Ago, 2008)
18. Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova - When Your Mind's Made Up (Once: Soundtrack, 2007)
19. Van Morrison - Crazy Love (Moondance, 1970)
20. Paul McCartney - Every Day (McCartney, 1970)
21. Crosby, Stills & Nash - You Don't Have To Cry (Crosby, Stills & Nash, 1969)
22. So Long, Marianne - Leonard Cohen (Songs Of Leonard Cohen, 1968)
23. Neil Young - Only Love Can Break Your Heart (After The Goldrush, 1970)

You can listen here

or

It's Four in the Morning... again

2010-03-02T19:16:00.020-05:00

This is a mix that I've posted several times in various places and in several configurations. It's an example of looking for that perfect mix. This mix is part of my Late Night series.

It has many of the characteristics that I've strive for in a mix. First of all I like all of the songs because after all I'm making mixes for myself foremost and would not put something on a mix that I personally didn't like. It holds a certain mood or feel and as part of my Late Night series it can be brooding, quiet, hypnotic, reflective, etc.

I don't think I'm going to change this mix again.

1. Leonard Cohen - Famous Blue Raincoat (Songs of Love and Hate, 1971)
2. Nick Drake - Pink Moon (Pink Moon, 1972)
3. Richard Thompson - Waltzing's for Dreamers (Amnesia, 1988)
4. Elliott Smith - Waltz #2 (XO, 1998)
5. Mazzy Star - Five String Serenade (So Tonight That I Might See, 1993)
6. R.E.M. - Nightswimming (Automatic for the People, 1992)
7. The Arcade Fire - Crown of Love (Funeral, 2004)
8. Beck - The Golden Age (Sea Change, 2002)
9. Nada Surf - Blonde On Blonde (Let Go, 2003)
10. The Shins - New Slang (Oh, Inverted World, 2001)
11. Band Of Horses - The Funeral (Everything All The Time, 2006)
12. My Morning Jacket - The Way That He Sings (At Dawn, 2001)
13. Neil Young - Don't Let It Bring You Down (After The Goldrush, 1970)
14. Lou Reed - Perfect Day (Transformer, 1972)
15. Tim Buckley - Song to the Siren (Starsailor, 1970)
16. Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah (Grace, 1994)
17. Jennifer Warnes - Bird on a Wire (Famous Blue Raincoat, 1987)
18. John Cale & Suzanne Vega - So Long, Marianne (Bleecker Street: Greenwich Village in the 60's, 1999)

You can listen here

or

Leonard Cohen is perfect to start this mix. The mix title comes from the opening lines of this opening song... "It's four in the morning". The mood is immediately set in place. The backing vocals are awesome.

Nick Drake is a great followup. It's from the same time period and carries the same feeling. It could have been any Nick Drake song but choosing "Pink Moon" is a popular favorite for many people. The Richard Thompson song continues the quiet self examination going on in the mix.

Often times a mix is really a collection of smaller sets of similar music. A group of songs that work well together connected to other small groups. The transition is always important. I've never liked jarring contrasts that a mixer puts there just to shake up the listener.

The next three songs are from popular albums from the 90's and not only maintain the general mood of the mix but add a slightly classical music feel... the waltz, the string serenade and the piano along with the yearning vocals.

The Arcade Fire comes in with some pomp and emotion with a tempo changing interlude. This was a late addition to the mix when I was looking for something to transition different groups of songs. It also comes from what I think was probably my favorite album of the last decade.

"The Golden Age" was the opening song from Beck's Sea Change which was another favorite album of the decade. The Beck, Nada Surf and Shins songs have been together on this mix since it's very earliest versions. They do everything I want together. "New Slang" is a particular favorite for many people.

The Band of Horses song adds some heavier guitar sounds to the mix along with some very intense quiet moments. The vocals move the song forward and move the listener to the very distinctive singing of My Morning Jacket. Their classic rock sound is a perfect lead in to Neil Young. After The Goldrush is a great album from 1970 and I picked a deep cut but that was an album that was played everywhere by everyone at the time. You heard it all the time and every song was familiar so it's nice to hear the not so obvious song from an album.

The next song is another deep track from a classic album. Lou Reed's Transformer is mostly known for "Walk On The Wild Side", "Vicious" and "Satellite of Love" but the pop sheen and mood of "Perfect Day" is the perfect song for the this mix. It is followed by Tim Buckley, one of the great vocalist of the 60's, whose wildly experimental vocal style highlights the classic "Song to the Siren" from 1970's Starsailor.

That little set of 70's singer songwriters is followed by a set that pays tribute to Leonard Cohen who opened the mix. Tim Buckley's tragic son Jeff Buckley gives a nearly definitive reading of Cohen's "Hallelujah" followed by "Bird on a Wire" from Jennifer Warnes' 1987 Cohen tribute album. The closer is a wonderful version of Cohen's "So Long, Marianne" by John Cale and Suzanne Vega. A fitting tribute to a great artist and the ending to a search for a perfect mix. Well, still not perfect but time to move on to the next one.

The Decades of Rock

2010-02-22T22:03:00.003-05:00

I'm calling this post the Decades of Rock because I want to rant a little bit about lumping music into calendar decades like it has some meaning.

My recent listing of favorite albums from the last decade got me thinking about how we look at music and how we break the history of popular music up into decades. We see list of songs, albums, movies, etc listed by decades. We tend to lump together music based on the decade it was created or released. 80's music, 60's music, etc.

In my own personal collection of music in mixes and playlists I have used a different breakdown of musical eras. My groups are still about ten years but my time span is based more on style and culture rather than the calendar.

My first decade of rock 'n' roll begins about 1956 and goes to 1965. I call it the First Decade and includes a variety of music from the early pioneers of rock 'n' roll, Elvis, rockabilly, doo wop and early Motown, the Beach Boys and surf music, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, the girl groups, the Four Seasons, early British Invasion, those first few Beatles albums, the early Stones and the blues men such as Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters.

The Second Decade starts about 1966 or thereabouts because Rubber Soul was 1965 and that album really shows the difference in the decades. It was the beginning or what came to be known as Classic Rock. It was also soul music and the beginnings of funk and reggae. Classic country too.

The Third Decade starts in 1977 but that again is arbitrary because you could see the changes coming a little earlier in bands like the Ramones and Big Star. Of course the really big thing about this decade is Punk, New Wave and Disco. Why limit this era to 80's music when artists like the Clash, Talking Heads and Elvis Costello began in the 70's with essentially the same sound. There is also the early Rap and Hip-Hop starting at this time.

The Fourth Decade runs from the mid 80's to the mid 90's and includes what is sometimes called Modern Rock, Post Punk, Grunge, Rap and the assorted smaller genres that music seems to have been obsessively broken down into.

The Fifth Decade hasn't really jelled into something really unique or discernible yet. It is still too early to tell. All those Alternative genres and endless sub genres abound. Post-Rock I guess and all the various Alt-this or that. So here we're talking about the mid 90's to the mid 00's.

Now we are already half way into the Sixth Decade.

Here is an example of using my decades concept for a mix. This might be called an 80's mix but it really is a Third Decade mix. Message of Love.

Here Comes Your Man is a Fourth Decade mix. It sounds like a certain time but not limited to a specific decade. The songs range from 1987 to 1996 which is the fourth decade of rock music.

So this is all just meaningless ramblings while I sit at my laptop listening to some great music.

Out In The Sweet Unknown

2010-02-15T20:36:00.007-05:00

The title of this mix comes from the opening song. This is another in the collection of music from 2009 that impressed me. This mix is a little more mellow than the last couple from the collection.

1. Heartless Bastards - Be So Happy (The Mountain, 2009)
2. The Dutchess and The Duke - Scorpio (Sunset/Sunrise, 2009)
3. Bon Iver - Blood Bank (Blood Bank, 2009)
4. Eels - The Look You Give That Guy (Hombre Lobo, 2009)
5. The Swell Season - In These Arms (Strict Joy, 2009)
6. Devendra Banhart - Goin' Back (What Will We Be, 2009)
7. Jay Farrar and Benjamin Gibbard - Big Sur (One Fast Move Or I'm Gone, 2009)
8. The Cave Singers - Summer Light (Welcome Joy, 2009)
9. The Felice Brothers - Penn Station (Yonder Is The Clock, 2009)
10. Hoots & Hellmouth - You And All Of Us (My Open Secret, 2009)
11. The Avett Brothers - Slight Figure Of Speech (I And Love And You, 2009)
12. Buddy Miller & Julie Miller - Gasoline And Matches (Written In Chalk, 2009)
13. M. Ward - Never Had Nobody Like You (Hold Time, 2009)
14. Exene Cervenka - Surface Of The Sun (Somewhere Gone, 2009)
15. Elvis Costello - Complicated Shadows (Secret, Profane and Sugarcane, 2009)
16. Calexico - Funeral Singers (All My Friends Are Funeral Singers, 2009)
17. Dan Auerbach - When The Night Comes (Keep It Hid, 2009)
18. Sleepy Sun - Golden Artifact (Embrace, 2009)
19. Anton Barbeau - Plastic Guitar (Plastic Guitar, 2009)
20. Atlas Sound - Walkabout (Logos, 2009)
21. Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks (Veckatimest, 2009)

You can listen here.

or

I Wanna Be Trash

2010-02-06T20:35:00.007-05:00

Here again this is another mix that was recently reworked. It is going up on Facebook as one of my Mix of the Week postings. It was mostly changed to make it part of my 2009 collection of favorites of the year put together in a 5 CD set.

1. The Whip - Trash (X-Marks Destination, 2009)
2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Zero (It's Blitz, 2009)
3. Peter Bjorn and John - It Don't Move Me (Living Things, 2009)
4. The Harlem Shakes - Strictly Game (Technicolor Wealth, 2009)
5. Suckers - Beach Queen (Sucker, 2009)
6. Franz Ferdinand - Turn It On (Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, 2009)
7. Girls - Hellhole Ratrace (Album, 2009)
8. L'Avventura - Swandive (Your Star Was Shining, 2009)
9. Tinted Windows - Can't Get A Read On You (Tinted Windows, 2009)
10. Camera Obscura - French Navy (My Maudlin Career, 2009)
11. St. Vincent - Save Me From What I Want (Actor, 2009)
12. Bat For Lashes - Sleep Alone (Two Suns, 2009)
13. Late Of The Pier - The Bears Are Coming (Fantasy Black Channel, 2009)
14. The Drums - Let's Go Surfing (Summertime, 2009)
15. Animal Collective - I Think I Can (Fall Be Kind, 2009)
16. Yo La Tengo - Here To Fall (Popular Songs, 2009)
17. Doves - Kingdom Of Rust (Kingdom Of Rust, 2009)
18. Washed Out - Feel It All Around (Life Of Leisure, 2009)

You can listen here

or

More of those favorite albums of the decade

2010-02-02T22:20:00.010-05:00

It's time to get back to my list of favorite albums of the just completed decade. As I stated in a previous post, this is not a best of but rather a collection of my personal favorites. Albums that I played over and over again. Albums that I kept going to for songs to use in mixes.

So here are 50 Albums.

These albums were discussed in previous post.

The Strokes - This Is It, 2001
The Flaming Lips - Yoshima Battles The Pink Robots, 2002
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, 2002
Bruce Springsteen - The Rising, 2002
Beck - Sea Change, 2002
David Bowie - Heathen, 2002
Arcade Fire - Funeral, 2004
Cat Power - The Greatest, 2006
Damien Youth - Alchemy, 2006
The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark, 2007

Here are more albums on my list and again they are in no particular order.

Radiohead - Kid A, 2000
Shelby Lynn - I Am Shelby Lynn, 2000
Steve Earle - Transcendental Blues, 2000
XTC - Wasp Star (Apple Venus Pt. 2), 2000
John Hiatt - Crossing Muddy Waters, 2000
My Morning Jacket - At Dawn, 2001
Chris Whitley - Rocket House, 2001
Lucinda Williams - Essence, 2001
Joe Henry - Scar, 2001
Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator), 2001
Solomon Burke - Don't Give Up On Me, 2002
Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights, 2002
Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around, 2002
Doves - The Last Broadcast, 2002
The Sleepy Jackson - Lovers, 2003
Damien Rice - O, 2003
The White Stripes - Elephant, 2003
The Jayhawks - Rainy Day Music, 2003
Joe Strummer - Streetcore, 2003
Ry Cooder - Mambo Sinuendo, 2003
Yo La Tengo - Summer Sun, 2003
Over The Rhine - Ohio, 2004
Ambulance LTD - LP, 2004
The Detroit Cobras - Baby, 2005
The Quarter After - The Quarter After, 2005
Alejandro Escovedo - The Boxing Mirror, 2006
Bob Dylan - Modern Times, 2006
M. Ward - Post-War, 2006
Grizzly Bear - Yellow House, 2006
Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther, 2006
Robert Plane & Allison Krause - Raising Sand, 2007
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights, 2007
Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova - Once, 2007
Richard Thompson - Sweet Warrior, 2007
LCD Sound System - Sound of Silver, 2007
Winterpills - The Light Divides, 2007
Deerhunter - Microcastle, 2008
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes, 2008
Bon Iver - For Emma, Long Ago, 2008
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion, 2009

etc, etc.

My Favorites Albums of the Decade, Pt. 2

2010-01-29T18:55:00.027-05:00

More of my favorite albums from the recently complete decade.

First our recap from the previous post on this subject...

1. Arcade Fire - Funeral, 2004
2. Beck - Sea Change, 2002
3. Cat Power - The Greatest, 2006

Here are some more but in no particular order...

The Strokes - Is This It?, 2001

This great little album seemed to be everywhere during the early years of the decade. Lots of hype but a classic sound. They came out with two more albums that were a little poppier and more polished. Albert Hammond Jr came out with a couple decent solo albums and recently Julian Casablancas released a nice solo album. I used so many songs from this first Strokes album on various mixes over the decade that when I listen to it now it sounds like a greatest hit album.

The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, 2002

The 90's was a great decade for the Flaming Lips with several uniquely weird albums but it was hard to imagine that they would reach the heights they climbed in the oughts. This album set the bar for the coming decade. Lots of great songs here.

Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, 2002

You could write a whole essay on just the distribution of this album before you even get to the music. The music is incredible and one of my all time favorite albums. Wilco released three other studio albums and a live album during the decade. They are all worth having in your collection.

Bruce Springsteen - The Rising, 2002

I thought it was another great decade for The Boss. He started with a good live album with the reunited E-Street Band in 2001. The E-Street Band returned for the post-9/11 perspective of The Rising's awesome collection of songs. He followed that with the somber Devils & Dust and the return to rock of Magic. In between he released two more wonderful live albums. One a revered live concert from 1975 and the other from the Seeger Sessions band live in Dublin. And of course there was Springsteen's first cover album; We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions. He ended the decade with the release of Working on a Dream. It was hard to only choose one Springsteen album for my favorites of the decade but The Rising got the nod.

David Bowie - Heathen, 2002

David Bowie has always been one of my all time favorite artist and I've enjoyed every phase of his long career. Heathen in 2002 and Reality in 2003 are two great albums. Some people called Heathen a comeback album as if his 90's output somehow didn't reach his high standards. He explored different genres and styles but always made them his own. In 2002 he released an album that was a return to his classic sound. He went on tour to support those two albums in 2003 but suffered a heart attack during that tour. The live album from that tour is being released in 2010. Heathen is full of wonderful songs including Bowie's cover of The Pixie's "Cactus".

Damien Youth - Alchemy, 2006

I came across Damien Youth through a friend's music blog last year. His music was highly recommended and I looked around for his albums. Eventually I found this album of quality retro-acid-folk-rock that became one of my favorite albums of last year. I played it over and over again and I'm on the lookout for more Damien Youth albums. His sound is Syd Barrett/Robyn Hitchcock/David Bowie but always with his own clever feel to his songs.

The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark, 2007

I found myself listening to this band from Montreal over and over again. There was something about their sound drew me back to them. They have haunting songs that seemly blend the Beach Boys, Velvet Underground, Roy Orbison, Pink Floyd, My Morning Jacket among others into a dreamy psychedelic mix. Stand out tracks... "Disaster", "For Agent 13", "And You Lied To Me", "Desolation". Looking forward to a new Besnard Lakes album coming out in 2010.

More to come...

Looking for the perfect mix - Pt. 1

2010-01-26T09:06:00.011-05:00

Is there such as thing as a perfect mix? Is it ever exactly right? Does it even matter now in the era of iPod playlists and the ability to instantly shuffle a group of songs?

I've been making mixtapes for decades and this hobby has always been one of my favorite ways to relax. Sometimes I just throw things together but more often I am looking for that perfect mix. I've made hundreds of mixes over the years and I doubt there are very many, if any, perfect mixes scattered among the boxes of tapes stored up on the third floor.

The method of creating mixes has drastically changed over the years. I would even venture to say that my very first mixes were really stacks of 45 rpm singles playing on a record changer for parties in the 60s. Here is a link to an old 60s mix based on my stacks of 45s.

The mixtape really began in the 70s with the coming of cassette tapes. They gave us the ability to pick songs from a vinyl album and record them out of context on a cassette tape. The cassette player in a car was a driving force to take your music on the road with you especially when commercial radio started fragmenting in the 70s. It was the late 70s that I really began mixing with a passion and really looking for that perfect mix.

I would sit by the stereo with a stack of LPs carefully recording songs on that cassette tape. It was important to get those sound levels right and constructing the segues. I had many drawers full of tapes I made throughout the 80s and eventually added CDs to the mix. I worked in a bar playing records for about five years during the early to middle 80s and sometimes I recorded sets of music which made for interesting listening later on. I think the experience of spinning records for people in a public setting helped develop what works and what doesn't work in the selecting of songs for people. I was lucky in that the place I worked didn't require me to always be looking for ways to get people on the dance floor. Sometimes that was the case but most often I was just entertaining people with my selections.

However, the primary reason for me to make mixes was to entertain myself both in the act of creating the mix and to play it back later. It was a hobby. I often also made mixes for other people whether for them personally or to play at parties and weddings. I've always hated playing the radio in the car and have always tried to have some mixtapes in the car. That has always been especially important for long trips.

So for a long time I created mixes in one or two sittings. I'd grab a pile of source material and sit there arranging the songs in a way that made sense to me. The pile of records gradually turned into a pile of CDs through the 90s. I've had personal computers since about 1984 but my computer suddenly became an important part of my mix making in the early 00s when I got a CD burner. Now I had the option of making mixes directly to CD. Wow. I quickly moved to that process but it did have pitfalls. It took up lots of space to have music on your hard drive back then. Hard drives were just not big enough.

At the start of my computer use for mix making I could only make one mix at a time because of space restraints. I would copy the songs to the hard drive, make the mix, burn the CD and then delete the songs so I could do it again. Eventually I got larger and larger hard drives and I started keeping more and more music on my computer. I got an iTunes to organize the music and eventually got an iPod too. A big one.

Throughout the decade that just concluded I put more music on my computer and if fact have been trying to put all my music on the computer. A daunting and time consuming job but most of it is there now. My latest upgrade included a terabyte hard drive and a terabyte external drive for backup. What's a terabyte? A thousand gigs. That's a lot of space but only if I slow down my accumulation of music.

That extra space and all those songs residing on my computer has meant that I can make more than one mix at a time. In fact my iTunes capability to create playlists means that I have an unlimited ability to make an infinite number of ongoing mixes. That overwhelming capacity has actually slowed me down considerably. I have too many mixes going and my time is often spent bouncing around between various mixes as I strive for that perfect mix.

After all that... sometimes making a perfect mix is not what I'm trying to do. Sometimes I'm just throwing together a bunch of songs to fill up some space; to put on a disc for listening to in the car. So sometimes some sort of collection of songs evolve over time and I burn the disc several times before I get it right.

Later some examples of coming close to that perfect mix...

Nixonland... the book

2010-01-25T07:58:00.008-05:00

Nixonland: the rise of a president and the fracturing of America by Rick Perlstein

A political history of endless war, riots, assassinations, social upheaval, civil rights, Southern resistance, drug culture, anti-war protests and the Southern Strategy that led twice to the election of Richard Nixon by the so called "Silent Majority" in 1968 and 1972.

The story is basically how we went from Lyndon Johnson's landslide Democratic victory in 1964 to Richard Nixon's equally landslide Republican reelection only eight years later. I liked how the author used the different perspectives on events that have become available to historians. We get the story as it appeared to people at the time through official announcements and current news reporting and of course I remember that time vividly. We get various views of the events from written memoirs of participants and we get the benefit of many official documents released in recent years. Best of all and most telling we now have Nixon's own words; his crazy ranting.

You really get to see that the differences in politics today have been with us for a long time and actually are not as divisive today as there were then. You also see the results today of that Southern Strategy from Nixon's time that has shifted the Republican Party to the South.

Are Corporations People?

2010-01-23T14:36:00.006-05:00

The activists Supreme Court thinks so and their ruling this week gives corporations expanded power over our everyday lives and clearly ensures that the rights of American citizens will come in far behind Wall Street and our old friends the Military-Industrial Complex.

Soon Corporate America will be pushing their 2nd Amendment rights and every company will have their very own Blackwater style militia to enforce their perception of the American Dream.

This is a battle that has been going on ever since the original right wing Americans filibustered their way putting slave holding rights into the Constitution. The Supreme Court ruled that corporations were people back in the 1880s as a sop to the Railroad Robber Barons. The link to the timeline below illustrates this long sorry history of our steady march toward fascism.

I don't use the word fascism lightly. Here is the definition of fascism.

This Supreme Court ruling would allow Osama Bin Ladin to donate to Sarah Palin's presidential campaign. Lets call it Al Qaeda Inc.

Special interest and lobbying will now take on new meanings and new powers. This is a serious blow to democracy in America.

Timeline of Personhood Rights and Powers

I've read the Wall Street Journal and the conservative blogs which think this is some great return to freedom and the taking away of unwarranted power concentrated in the "liberal mainstream media" which by the way is all corporate owned. I just don't agree with any of it.

My Favorites Albums of the Decade, Pt. 1

2010-01-15T21:48:00.017-05:00

I'm not going to make a list of what I consider the best of the decade but rather I'm listing my favorites. There's a difference there in that yeah maybe I could agree with the critics that Radiohead's Kid A may be the most important album of the decade and would be on the top of their list. I have it. I liked it. I played it a fair amount when it first came out but it never stayed in heavy rotation. I only went back again to it recently to what all the fuss was about.

It holds up. It influenced lots of other music throughout the decade. It was a pretty great headphones listen. However, I didn't play it a lot. I didn't use very many songs on my mixes. It wasn't one of my favorite albums of the decade.

These are some of my favorite albums of the decade. It took a while to come up with what I would consider to my favorite album of the decade. My number one. I played it a lot. I used lots of different songs on various mixes. It sounds like a greatest hit album to me now.

Arcade Fire - Funeral, 2004

Great songs. Great production. A solid album from start to finish. The thing that put it over the top for me was seeing them on Austin City Limits recently. The songs really came alive watching them perform these songs and their Neon Bible album. I was amazed at their instrumentation.

Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) is the first song from this album and starts off the mix of my favorite albums of the decade.

Here is the video of the song from their record company. It kind of sucks but the song is awesome.

Here is a live version of this song. They are really fun to watch.

Beck - Sea Change, 2002

This album almost took my number one position. I've always liked Beck and have most of his albums. He is wonderfully talented songwriter and producer. His albums have always been an adventure to hear. Sea Change was different for me. It was where he decided to put all that talent towards creating a classic rock album. Not in that generic cliche of an abused genre but in the sense of putting together a collection of classic love songs. A break up album. A great album. It stands up to repeated listens over and over again. His production genius comes through in subtle ways as he lets emotions drive these songs. I've used many of these songs on various mixes. It is a timeless masterpiece.

The Golden Age is the first song on the album and has been selected for this mix. Strange video but great performance.

Cat Power - The Greatest, 2006

This is the first album I really listened to from Cat Power. I had heard a few songs here and there and I had her categorized as one of the many indie diary-rockers. This album changed my perception.

I read a review of this album and thought I should check it out. She really reinvents herself here. She recorded the album in Memphis with some of the great soul music session musicians. She wanted to recreate the sound of some of the music she grew up with and that influenced her. She created a masterpiece. I love every song on this album and it has been on heavy rotation since the first time I heard it. It is one of those comfortable records that I keep nearby.

I went back to check out some of her earlier albums and came to like Moon Pix, You Are Free and especially The Covers Record. Loved her cover album Jukebox from 2008 too. I'm looking forward to hearing another album of original material from her.

There are so many great songs on this album and I used many of them on mixes. Could We sounds real nice following the Beck pick.

More songs from my list should follow shortly in subsequent postings.

End of The Decade

2010-01-09T16:40:00.006-05:00

The end of the decade is always a time of reflection and lots of lists. There is also always that little controversy among some people about whether this is indeed the actual end of a decade because some people insist that of course there never was a year zero therefore if you count back then the decades actually end in 10, 20, 30 etc. and we have another year left in this decade.

Be that as it may... everyone conveniently groups decades in the familiar format that we all refer to as the 50s or the 90s no matter what the subject is.

In music we've always had strong opinions about our music decades. The 60s invokes a certain sense of what the decade sounded like just as the 80s brings up a totally different picture. We all have our favorites from the different decades and this decade that recently came to an end is no different. Sometimes it takes a while for a decade to come into focus but everyone rushes to put out their list of favorite albums at the end of the decade.

I thought it was interesting that the number one album of the decade for both Rolling Stone and Pitchfork was... Radiohead's Kid A.

Rolling Stone Top 100 Albums of the Decade

Pitchfork Top 200 Albums of the Decade

And I thought those two were opposites but I guess it really was the critics choice. On average it was the top album of the decade among critics in general.

Metacritic Best Albums of the Decade Roundup

So Many Lists

2010-01-08T12:29:00.022-05:00

I've always enjoyed looking at all the various end of the year best of lists and of course especially the music ones. Rather than going all over the place looking for all the various list I've found a one stop site that collects best of lists... Metacritic.

The people at Metacritic.com compile reviews from respected critics and publications for movies, DVDs, music, television and games. Then they compile their collected reviews into scores and rank materials based on those composite scores.

Actually I have Metacritic bookmarked and look at it frequently throughout the year for album and movie reviews.

The highest scoring album in 2009 according to Metacritic was Nirvana's live album of a 1992 concert.

The highest scoring album of music from this year...

Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion

Here is Metacritic's top albums of 2009.

I like to keep up with what the Brits are thinking about music so I check in on NME every now and then. I especially look in on their end of the year best of list. The top of their list...

The Horrors - Primary Colours.

Here is their complete top 50 albums of 2009.

Closer to home. Paste Magazine picked The Avett Brothers - I And Love And You.

The Paste 25 Best Albums of 2009.

The 36 Awesomest Songs of 2009... according to Paste.

Now here is Rolling Stone... always the obvious. Always the expected.

U2 - No Line On The Horizon.

Here is the Rolling Stone best 25 albums of 2009.

Their 25 best songs of 2009.

Pitchfork... a little more indie oriented.
Their pick for the best album of 2009.
Animal Collective.

Here is their top 50 albums of 2009.

AllMusic has a nice list of their favorite albums of the year listed alphabetically. No rankings. The AllMusic Favorite Albums of 2009.

New Year, New Decade

2010-01-06T15:55:00.003-05:00

So it's a new year, a new decade and a new blog. Well, not exactly new but certainly a new focus. I've shut down my other websites... Brain Storm which was about aneurysms and related topics. I also finally closed by AlternaTime website which I really hadn't been updating very much the past several years. AlternaTime started out as a gopher in 1992 and became a website shortly after that. That site was a collection of timelines on the Internet and was very popular for a while. Things have changed.

This will be my one personal online space besides Facebook.

I'll continue to post music mixes here and occasional rants about whatever...

Lately Pt. 2 - Hooting Heads Will Roll

2009-12-17T11:47:00.007-05:00

This is the second part of my collection of songs from 2009 that have been in heavy rotation on my various music devices. While the last set had many covers and looked back on previous styles this group is overall very now and more forward looking.

1. Wild Beast - Hooting and Howling (Two Dancers, 2009)
2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll (It's Blitz!, 2009)
3. Metric - Help I'm Alive (Fantasies, 2009)
4. Empire Of The Sun - Walking On A Dream (Walking On A Dream, 2009)
5. Phoenix - 1901 (Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, 2009)
6. Julien Casablancas - 11th Dimension (Phrazes For The Young, 2009)
7. The Raveonettes - Last Dance (In And Out Of Control, 2009)
8. The Kills - Cheap And Cheerful (Midnight Boom, 2009)
9. The Pains Of Being Pure Of Heart - A Teenager In Love (The Pains Of Being Pure Of Heart, 2009)
10. The Noisettes - Wild Young Hearts (Wild Young Hearts, 2009)
11. Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - Bitch, I Love You (Tell 'Em What Your Name Is, 2009)
12. PPP - On A Cloud (Abundance, 2009)
13. YACHT - Psycho City (See Mystery Lights, 2009)
14. The xx - Crystalised (xx, 2009)
15. Bat For Lashes - Daniel (Two Suns, 2009)
16. Dirty Projectors - Stillness Is The Move (Bitter Orca, 2009)
17. Neon Indian - Deadbeat Summer (Psychic Chasms, 2009)
18. Animal Collective - Summer Clothes (Merriweather Post Pavillion, 2009)
19. Florence & The Machine - Cosmic Love (Lungs, 2009)
20. The Big Pink - Velvet (A Brief History Of Love, 2009)

Let It Roll... a mix

2009-12-10T09:40:00.009-05:00

A collection of songs from some albums released in 2009 that I had on heavy rotation in my various devices. One of several mixes from a pretty good year.

The picture is Dead Man's Bones. One of the more interesting new bands of the year and yes the kids sing on the album.

1. Yim Yames - The Ballad Of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll) (Tribute To, 2009)
2. Yusaf (Cat Stevens) - Thinking 'bout You (Roadsinger, 2009)
3. Fiction Family - When She's Near (Fiction Family, 2009)
4. Cass McCombs - Dreams Come True Girl (Catacombs, 2009)
5. Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - Hard Row (Summer Of Fear, 2009)
6. Mark Olson & Gary Louris - Bicycle (Ready For The Flood, 2009)
7. Grizzly Bear - While You Wait For The Others (Veckatimest, 2009)
8. Marianne Faithful - The Crane Wife 3 (Easy Come Easy Go, 2009)
9. Iron and Wine - Love Vigilantes (Around The Well, 2009)
10. Roseanne Cash - The Girl From The North Country (The List, 2009)
11. Ryan Bingham - Dylan's Hard Rain (Roadhouse Sun, 2009)
12. Assembly Of Dust - Cold Coffee (Some Assembly Required, 2009)
13. Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs - Sugar Magnolia (Under The Covers: Vol. 2, 2009)
14. Wilco - You Never Know (Wilco, 2009)
15. Monsters Of Folk - Whole Lotta Losin' (Monsters Of Folk, 2009)
16. Girls - Lust For Life (Album, 2009)
17. Yo La Tengo - Avalon Or Someone Very Similar (Popular Songs, 2009)
18. St. Vincent - The Strangers (Actor, 2009)
19. Animal Collective - My Girls (Merriweather Post Pavillion, 2009)
20. Dead Man's Bones - My Body's A Zombie For You (Dead Man's Bones, 2009)

My Love Is Alien... another mix for Halloween

2009-10-27T11:01:00.002-04:00

1. Split Enz - Poor Boy (True Colours, 1980)
2. A Flock Of Seagulls - Space Age Love Song (A Flock Of Seagulls, 1982)
3. The Only Ones - Another Girl, Another Planet (Special View, 1979)
4. The B-52's - Planet Claire (The B-52's, 1979)
5. The Tom Tom Club - Booming And Zooming (The Tom Tom Club, 1981)
6. The Easy Star All-Stars - The Great Gig In The Sky (Dub Side Of The Moon, 2003)
7. The Easy Star All-Stars - Paranoid Android (Radiodread, 2006)
8. Dread Zeppelin - Black Dog/Heartbreaker (Un-Led-Ed, 1990)
9. The Cramps - Goo Goo Muck (Psychedelic Jungle, 1981)
10. The Fabulous Poodles - Pink City Twist/Vampire Rock (Think Pink, 1979)
11. Screamin' Jay Hawkins - I Put A Spell On You (Voodoo Jive: Best of Screamin' Jay Hawkins, 1990)
12. Brian Eno & David Byrne - Help Me Somebody (My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, 1981)
13. The Talking Heads - Psycho Killer (Live) (The Name Of The Band Is Talking Heads, 1982)
14. The Pixies - Wave Of Mutilation (Doolittle, 1989)
15. X - Devil Doll (More Fun In The New World, 1983)
16. Shorty Long - Devil With The Blue Dress (Hitsville USA, Vol. 1: The Motown Singles, 1992)
17. Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels - Devil With The Blue Dress/Good Golly Miss Molly (Rev Up: Best of Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels, 1990)
18. The Sonics - Psycho (Here Are The Sonics, 1965)

Rockin' Bones - a mix for Halloween

2009-10-27T10:56:00.001-04:00

1. The Cramps - Rockin' Bones (Psychedelic Jungle, 1981)
2. The Ghastly Ones - Spooky Girl (A Haunting We Will Go Go, 1998)
3. The Misfits - Ghouls Night Out (Misfits, 1986)
4. The Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil (Beggars Banquet, 1968)
5. H.P. Lovecraft - At The Mountains Of Madness (Dreams In The Witch House: Collection, 2005)
6. Tom Waits - Frank's Wild Years (Swordfishtrombones, 1983)
7. Dead Man's Bones - My Body's A Zombie For You (Dead Man's Bones, 2009)
8. Michael Jackson - Thriller (Thriller, 1982)
9. Brian Eno & David Byrne - The Jezebel Spirit (My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, 1981)
10. David Bowie - Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) (Scary Monsters, 1980)
11. Alan Vega, Alex Chilton & Ben Vaughn - The Werewolf (Cubist Blues, 1996)
12. Gnarls Barkley - The Boogie Monster (St. Elsewhere, 2006)
13. Split Enz - Dirty Creature (Time and Tide, 1982)
14. Dave Edmunds - The Creature From The Black Lagoon (Repeat When Necessary, 1979)
15. Redbone - The Witch Queen Of New Orleans (Redbone, 1970)
16. Dr. John - I Been Hoodood (In The Right Place, 1973)
17. Donovan - The Season Of The Witch (Sunshine Superman, 1966)
18. The Byrds - Mr. Spaceman (Fifth Dimension, 1966)

Message of Love... a mix

2009-05-04T20:53:00.002-04:00

An 80s night tavern mix.

1. Nick Lowe - Cruel To Be Kind (Labour Of Lust, 1979)
2. Rockpile - Teacher Teacher (Seconds Of Pleasure, 1980)
3. Dave Edmunds - Girls Talk (Repeat When Necessary, 1978)
4. Elvis Costello - Lip Service (This Year's Model, 1978)
5. John Hiatt - Pink Bedroom (Two Bit Monsters, 1980)
6. Moon Martin - Bad Case Of Loving You (Shots From A Cold Nightmare, 1979)
7. Split Enz - I Got You (True Colours, 1980)
8. The Cure - Close To Me (The Head On The Door, 1985)
9. Depeche Mode - Just Can't Get Enough (Speak & Spell, 1981)
10. The Clash - Train In Vain (Stand By Me) (London Calling, 1979)
11. Wreckless Eric - Whole Wide World (Big Smash, 1980)
12. Crowded House - Something So Strong (Crowded House, 1986)
13. Marshall Crenshaw - Someday Someway (Marshall Crenshaw, 1982)
14. Dexys Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen (Too-Rye-Ay, 1982)
15. The Proclaimers - I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) (Sunshine On Leith, 1988)
16. The Pretenders - Message Of Love (Pretenders II, 1981)
17. The Cars - You're All I've Got Tonight (The Cars, 1978)
18. Prince - When You Were Mine (Dirty Mind, 1980)
19. Robert Palmer - Johnny & Mary (Clues, 1980)
20. The Go-Go's - Our Lips Are Sealed (Beauty And The Beat, 1981)
21. Talking Heads - With Our Love (More Songs About Buildings And Food, 1978)
22. Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart (Substance, 1988)
23. Squeeze - Goodbye Girl (Cool For Cats, 1979)

I Wanna Be Trash... a mix

2009-05-03T15:22:00.004-04:00

First mix in May. Part of the May Mixathon at ZeRO.

A bunch of new things I've been listening to the past few months. The opening song has a catchy repetitive chorus exclaiming I wanna be trash. Thus the mix title. There is also a trashy feel to a lot of the songs here and some trashy dance beats too.

Photo is from one of the trash people installations by German artist HA Schult.

1. The Whip - Trash (X Marks Destination, 2009)
2. The Harlem Shakes - Strictly Game (Technicolor Health, 2009)
3. Peter Bjorn and John - It Don't Move Me (Living Thing, 2009)
4. Franz Ferdinand - Turn It On (Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, 2009)
5. The Kills - Cheap And Cheerful (Midnight Boom, 2008)
6. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll (It's Blitz!, 2009)
7. The Presets - Talk Like That (Apocalypso, 2009)
8. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - A Teenage Love (The Pains Of Being Pure Of Heart, 2009)
9. The Airborne Toxic Event - Happiness Is Overrated (The Airborne Toxic Event, 2009)
10. Dan Auerbach - Heartbroken, In Disrepair (Keep It Hid, 2009)
11. The Upsidedown - Light (Human Destination, 2008)
12. Bat For Lashes - Sleep Alone (Two Suns, 2009)
13. PPP - On A Cloud (Abundance, 2009)
14. Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - Sugarfoot (Tell 'em What Your Name Is!, 2009)
15. Friendly Fires - Lovesick (Friendly Fires, 2008)
16. Cut Copy - Hearts On Fire (In Ghost Colours, 2008)
17. Late Of The Pier - The Bears Are Coming (Fantasy Black Channel, 2009)
18. Animal Collective - Summertime Clothes (Merriweather Post Pavillion, 2009)
19. Richard Swift - The Atlantic Ocean (The Atlantic Ocean, 2009)
20. Doves - Kingdom Of Rust (Kingdom Of Rust, 2009)

In Dreams... a mix

2009-04-15T21:43:00.011-04:00

The Dream series, Part 2

1. Roy Orbison - In Dreams (The Soul of Rock and Roll, 2009)
2. The Magnetic Fields - Busby Berkeley Dreams (69 Love Songs, Vol. 3, 1999)
3. The Sleepy Jackson - Dream On (Personality: One Was A Spider, One Was A Bird, 2006)
4. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Among Dreams (The Doldrums, 2004)
5. The Beach Boys - And Your Dreams Come True (Summer Days and Summer Nights, 1965)
6. Sam Philips - I Dreamed I Stopped Dreaming (A Boot And A Shoe, 2004)
7. Suicide - Keep Your Dreams (Suicide, 1977)
8. Shitdisco - Dream Of Infinity (The Emanator, 2008)
9. New Order - Dreams Never End (Movement, 1981)
10. The Soft Boys - Dreams (Underwater Moonlight, 1980)
11. Wooden Wand & The Vanishing Voice - Future Dream (James and The Quiet, 2007)
12. Patsy Cline - Sweet Dreams (The Collection, 1991)
13. Marianne Faithful - Bored By Dreams (A Secret Life, 1995)
14. Swans - Dream Dream (Various Failures: 1988-1992, 1999)
15. Kate Bush - The Dreaming (The Dreaming, 1982)
16. Bill Nelson - Do You Dream In Colour (Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam, 1981)
17. The Shiny Gnomes - You Live In A Dream (Wild Spells, 2001)
18. The Pillbugs - 4 Sec Nightmare In A 5 Sec Dream (Monclovia, 2007)
19. R.E.M. - I Don't Sleep, I Dream (Monster, 1994)
20. The Cure - The Dream (Join The Dots: B-Sides & Rarities 1978-2001, 2003)
21. Glen Campbell & Bobbie Gentry - Dream, Dream, Dream (All The Best, 2003)
22. Tom Waits - Innocent When You Dream (Frank's Wild Years, 1987)

How Long Must I Dream... a mix

2009-03-28T17:06:00.008-04:00

First mix in a while... first post in a while actually.

A quickie mix done in almost one sitting. Used iTunes to create a list of songs with dream in the title as a source to work from. Why dreams? I had a mix in progress that started with the Tyler Ramsey song and then I was inspired by my friend Cliff's posting of his "mind" theme mixes on ZeRO.

My list of dream songs was quite large and I'm planning on a second volume of this theme mix and maybe even a third. I was pleased with this collection and I think they work quite well together.

How Long Must I Dream

1. Tyler Ramsey - A Long Dream (A Long Dream About Swimming Across The Sea, 2008)
2. Eels - The Trouble With Dreams (Blinking Lights And Other Revelations, 2005)
3. Randy Newman - Last Night I Had A Dream (Sail Away, 1972)
4. Love - Dream (Four Sail, 1969)
5. The Lovetones - Inside A Dream (Meditations, 2005)
6. Of Montreal - I Was A Landscape In Your Dream (The Sunlandic Twins, 2005)
7. My Morning Jacket - Dream A Lil Dream Of Me (Ch.2 Learning: Early Recordings, 2001)
8. Dion - Life Is But A Dream (Acappella Underdub) (King Of The New York Streets, 2000)
9. Daniel Johnston - I Had A Dream (Why Me? LIve Volksbuhne Am Ros, 2000)
10. John Lennon - #9 Dream (Walls & Bridges, 1974)
11. Olivia Tremor Control - Define A Transparent Dream (Dusk At Cubist Castle, 1996)
12. Hawkwind - You Know You're Only Dreaming (In Search Of Space, 1971)
13. The Teardrop Explodes - When I Dream (Kilimanjaro, 1980)
14. Pixies - Bird Dream Of The Olympus Mons (Trompe Le Monde, 1991)
15. Robyn Hitchcock - I Often Dream Of Trains (I Often Dream Of Trains, 1984)
16. Nico - Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams (Chelsea Girl, 1967)
17. The Zombies - Hung Upon A Dream (Odessey and Oracle, 1968)
18. John Martyn - Dreams By The Sea (Solid Air, 1972)
19. Richard Thompson - I Still Dream (Amnesia, 1988)
20. Los Lobos - Dream In Blue (Kiko, 1991)
21. Roy Orbison - Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream) (The Soul of Rock and Roll, 2008)

The Tyler Ramsey lead song is also the lead song off his recent solo album. He plays in Band of Horses. I could listen to song over and over. I did.

I'm a big fan of Eels and Blinking Lights... may be my favorite of albums of theirs although I really like the recent Useless Trinkets B-sides & rarities collection.

Sail Away is probably the only Randy Newman album that I could listen to all the way through but that album is a classic. Every song is great. I like a few of his songs scattered throughout his career but overall I don't pay much attention to him.

I close the mix with Roy Orbison. You can't have a collection of dream songs without him. He is the King of Rock 'n Roll Dreams. I'll probably start the next mix with him.

Listen here.

Nothing Ever Happened - New Mix

2009-01-01T17:37:00.006-05:00

This is a collection of some songs from some albums released in 2008. Not really a best of the year collection but certainly lots of great songs that sound good together. This mix will be finding it's way to my brother's bar next week and a few patiently waiting people. I highly recommend all of the albums highlighted here.

Nothing Ever Happened

1. White Winter Hymnal - Fleet Foxes (Fleet Foxes, 2008)
2. Gordie Can't Swim - The Junipers (Cut Your Key, 2008)
3. Lost Coastlines - Okkervil River (The Stand Ins, 2008)
4. Heads Roll Off - Frightened Rabbit (The Midnight Organ Fight, 2008)
5. Nothing Ever Happened - Deerhunter (Microcastle, 2008)
6. Give A Little Love - Noah And The Whale (Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down, 2008)
7. You Don't Love Me Yet - Winterpills (Central Chambers, 2008)
8. I Don't Live In A Dream - Jackie Greene (Giving Up The Ghost, 2008)
9. Out Of Time - Jason Collett (Here's To Being Here, 2008)
10. Walk Through A Cloud - The Donkeys (Living On The Other Side, 2008)
11. I Believe In You - Cat Power (Jukebox, 2008)
12. Sister Lost Soul - Alejandro Escovedo (Real Animal, 2008)
13. So Well - Benji Hughes (A Love Extreme, 2008)
14. Twisted - The Wood Brothers (Loaded, 2008)
15. Methamphetamine - Old Crow Medicine Show (Tennessee Pusher, 2008)
16. Ain't No Lord - The Moondoggies (Don't Be A Stranger, 2008)
17. The Sound - Human Highway (Moody Motorcycle, 2008)
18. No One Does It Like You - Department Of Eagles (In Ear Park, 2008)
19. For Emma - Bon Iver (For Emma, Forever Ago, 2008)
20. Something More - Kelley Stoltz (Circular Sounds, 2008)

Link

The 2008 Fav 50

2008-12-31T15:26:00.005-05:00

Time for the end of the year list of favorite albums.

1. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
2. Deerhunter - Microcastle
3. Old Crow Medicine Show - Tennessee Pusher
4. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
5. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
6. The Donkeys - Living On The Other Side
7. Brian Eno & David Byrne - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
8. Winterpills - Central Chambers
9. TV On The Radio - Dear Science
10. Damien Jurado - Caught In The Trees
11. The Wood Brothers - Loaded
12. Human Highway - Moody Motorcycle
13. My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
14. Department Of Eagles - In Ear Park
15. Jackie Greene - Giving Up The Ghost
16. Lucinda Williams - Little Honey
17. Delta Spirit - Ode To Sunshine
18. Steve Wynn - Crossing Dragon Bridge
19. Kelley Stoltz - Circular Sounds
20. Beach House - Devotion
21. Joan Of Arc - Boo Human
22. The Fireman - Electric Arguments
23. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig! Lazarus Dig!!
24. The Moondoggies - Don't Be A Stranger
25. The Black Angels - Directions To See A Ghost
26. Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
27. The Baseball Project - Vol. 1: Frozen Ropes And Dying Quails
28. The Ruby Suns - Sea Lion
29. The Cure - 4:13 Dream
30. Lila Downs - Shake Away
31. Tindersticks - The Hungry Saw
32. Vetiver - Things Of The Past
33. T-Bone Burnett - Tooth Of Crime
34. Barry Adamson - Back To The Cat
35. Robert Forster - The Evangelist
36. The Accidental - There Were Wolves
37. School Of Language - Sea From Shore
37. Santogold - Santogold
38. Blitzen Trapper - Furr
39. Benji Hughes - A Love Extreme
40. Portishead - Third
41. The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age Of Understatement
42. Atlas Sound - Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel
43. The Pillbugs - Everybody Wants A Way Out
44. The Dreadful Yawns - Take Shape
45. The Quarter After - Changes Near
46. Hayes Carll - Trouble In Mind
47. Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
48. No Age - Nouns
49. Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
50. Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer

Some great reissues, compilations and findings from the vaults this year

The New Order series of Collector's Editions
The Replacements expanded editions
The Jesus And Mary Chain - The Power Of Negative Thinking: B-Sides & Rarities
The Lines - Memory Span
The Lines - Flood Bank
Bob Dylan - The Bootleg Series Vol. 8, Tell Tale Signs: Rare & Unreleased 1989-2006
R.E.M. - Murmur (Deluxe Edition) Disc 2: Live In Toronto 1983
Neil Young - Sugar Mountain: Live At Canterbury House 1968
The La's - The La's (Deluxe Edition)
The La's - BBC Sessions
Belle & Sebastian - BBC Sessions
The Clash - Live At Shea Stadium
Ry Cooder - The Ry Cooder Anthology: The UFO Has Landed
Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue (Legacy Edition)
Outrageous Cherry - Wide Awake In The Spirit World: The Best of Outrageous Cherry
King Khan & The Shrines - The Supreme Genius Of King Khan & The Shines
Wooden Shjips - Volume 1
The Grip Weeds - Infinite Soul: The Best of The Grip Weeds
Paul Weller - At The BBC
Portastatic - Some Small History
Golden Smog - Stay Golden, Smog: The Best of Golden Smog
Pavement - Brighten The Corners: Nicene Creedence Ed.

There was lots of other great music that rocked my world this year so why stop now...

The Dodos - Visiter
Calexico - Carried To Dust
Black Mountain - In The Future
The Explorers Club - Freedom Wind
Bryan Scary - Flight Of The Knife
Giant Sand - ProVisions
Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs
Sigur Ros - Med Sud...
Jamie Lidell - Jim
The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust
Dungen - 4
Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
The Dirtbombs - We Have You Surrounded
Spiritualized - Songs In A&E
The Sea And Cake - Car Alarm
The Kills - Midnight Boom
Mugison - Mugiboogie
Johnny Flynn - A Larum
The Walkmen - You And Me

Lots of music from some old friends too...

John Hiatt - Same Old Man
Beck - Modern Guilt
Glen Campbell - Meet Glen Campbell
Al Green - Lay It Down
Steve Cropper & Felix Cavaliere - Nudge It Up A Notch
B. B. King - One Kind Favor
Paul Weller - 22 Dreams
Steve Winwood - Nine Lives
Solomon Burke - Like A Fire
Pretenders - Break Up The Concrete

And these list could keep going on and on...

Satellite Radio and The Lightning Strike

2008-11-30T14:31:00.007-05:00

Recently I had the opportunity to listen to satellite radio. XM Radio to be exact which also included some Sirius stations. Now I would never have gone out and purchased the service but I did have to purchase a new car recently and the XM radio was included in the package. I din't really care for it all that much initially. I like programing my own music in the car with CDs or my iPod but my wife likes the satellite radio and she uses the car for her daily commute to work.

So where does the lightning strike come in? My car was struck by lightning and totaled causing me going out to buy a new car which happened to have satellite radio.

It took a while to really determine what happened to my car. We didn't know right away about the lightning strike. I just went out to the car one morning to go to work and it didn't start. I called AAA and they couldn't get it started so it was towed to a shop in the neighborhood. They couldn't figure out what was wrong. The car stayed with them for a week before they finally gave up and said I needed to take the car to the dealer. This car was a 2001 Honda Accord with 21K miles on it and I have a very short commute. This car was going to last a long time. Except it got struck by lightning.

So after a week in the one shop it went to the dealer and they had the car for another week before they admitted that they couldn't figure out what was wrong either. The electrical system was fried and the computer system gave weird readings. At one point one of the technicians jokingly said to me it looked like the car was jumped by a Mac truck. That got me thinking about maybe it was struck by lightning because we had some bad electrical storms in the area. I checked the newspaper online archive and saw that there was a bad storm with lots of lightning the night before I had the problem with the car. We were out that night in the other car and we remembered the big storm that night. Our block club has a listserv and I emailed the group asking if anyone remembered a lightning strike that night. Several people replied to describe lightning strikes that night and one person was on his porch when he saw lightning strike a tree in front of his house. My car was parked on the street that night under that tree.

I brought up the possibility of the car being struck by lightning to the dealer technician and he exclaimed that it would explain lots of things. They were truly boggled with the problem and even had the resources of the national Honda network which was not helping them with the situation. They started looking at the car with a lightning strike in mind and things started making sense to them. Then they found a small series of scorch marks on the roof of the car which confirmed the lighting strike. By this time another week had passed and we were without the car for three weeks now. I made an insurance claim and the adjuster came out and declared the car totaled. It just was not worth fixing and how could they fix it? One would never know if they got all the problems solved and how many man hours would it take to go through the entire electrical system. No, it was totaled.

We got a check from the insurance company and went out looking for a car. This was not a good time to look for a used car because we just went through a summer of high gas prices and all the good fuel effecient cars had been snapped up. We looked at new cars and finally ended up getting a 2009 Hyundai Sonata that happened to include XM satellite radio free for three months.

I got to check out satellite radio for the first time and yeah there sure are a lot of stations. A week after we had the car we drove down to Philadelphia for a long weekend and I really got to experience this new radio service. Most of the stations were crap but there was a handful that kept us going on the trip. We also tried out some of the comedy stations and some news but mainly it was music of course. As time went on having this radio what really started making a difference was the special shows with interesting people picking the music. An example of these would be Bob Dylan's show. That was an interesting listen full of great picks and a unique take on music.

Another great find was Little Steven's Underground Garage. A great selection of music that was always interesting and fun to listen to. It also led me to explore some of the new garage revival bands featured on his show and where many of them were being signed to his record label Wicked Cool Records.

I've been listening to lots of new music through his show and his label and of course I love listening to new music.

I got a new mix coming. I feel it. A mix full of these great garage bands. Coming soon.

Armagideon Time... a mix

2008-09-30T14:38:00.002-04:00

And you thought I was going to talk about the economic meltdown and start of the 2nd Great Depression but actually this is just another reggae mix. However, it is something a little more hot, dark and dangerous and has a few angry Brits thrown in for some cultural diversity.

Armagideon Time

1. Igziabeher (Let Jah Be Praised) - Peter Tosh (Legalize It, 1976)
2. Utterance - Black Uhuru (Red, 1981)
3. Taking Over - Sizzla (Taking Over, 2001)
4. Steppin' Out - Steel Pulse (Earth Crises, 1984)
5. Crazy Baldhead - Bob Marley & The Wailers (Rastaman Vibration, 1976)
6. Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)(Live) - Bob Marley & The Wailers (Live At The Roxy, 2003)
7. Time Tough - Toots & The Maytals (Funky Kingston, 1973)
8. Warning - Tony Rebel (If Jah, 1998)
9. Armaagideon Time - Dr. Israel (Inna City Pressure, 1998)
10. One More Time - The Clash (Sandinista!, 1980)
11. Whine & Grind / Stand Down Margaret - The English Beat (I Just Can't Stop It, 1980)
12. Food For Thought - UB40 (Signing Off, 1980)
13. What's The Matter With The World - Bushman (The Reggae Box, 2001)
14. War & Friction - I Roy (Ten Commandments, 1978)
15. Old Marcus Garvey - Burning Spear (Marcus Garvey, 1975)
16. Blood & Fire - Niney (Freaks, 1992)
17. Chant To King Selassie - Augustus Pablo (East Of The River Nile, 1977)
18. All Nations Bow - Big Youth (The Chanting Dread Inna Fine Style, 1983)
19. I Love Jah - Beres Hammond & Flourgon (Music Is Life, 2001)
20. Jah Rastafari, Jungle Safari - Lee "Scratch" Perry (Jamaican E.T., 2002)
21. Give Praises - Yabby You (Dub It To The Top: 1976-1979, 2002)

Reggae Got Soul... a mix

2008-09-28T10:21:00.003-04:00

Some of the classic stuff. This mix was originally posted to AotM back in October of 2003.

1. Israelites - Desmond Dekker & The Aces
2. Rivers Of Babylon - The Melodians
3. The Harder They Come - Jimmy Cliff
4. Reggae Got Soul - Toots & The Maytals
5. King Tubby Meets The Rockers Uptown - Augustus Pablo
6. Concrete Jungle - Bob Marley & The Wailers
7. I Shot The Sheriff (Live) - Bob Marley & The Wailers
8. Police & Thieves - Junior Murvin
9. Book Of Rules - The Heptones
10. War Ina Babylon - Max Romeo
11. 1895 (96 Degrees In The Shade) - Third World
12. Marcus Garvey - Burning Spear
13. Worth His Weight In Gold (Rally Round) - Steel Pulse
14. Ratafari Liveth - Peter Broggs
15. One Way - Inner Circle
16. Positive - Black Uhuru
17. Stepping Razor - Peter Tosh
18. No. 1 In The World - U Roy
19. Private Beach Party - Gregory Isaacs
20. The Ghost (Dub Version of Marcus Garvey) - Burning Spear

McHoover On The Tube

2008-09-27T09:42:00.010-04:00

Watched the debate last night and was certainly not impressed with McCain. Sure, he can recite lots of times when he did things in government but we never heard what the results were of his decisions over the years.

He also came across as a snarling little twit, a weasel and he certainly didn't look presidential all of the time. He was condescending and arrogant. It was also really weird that he refused to look at Obama anytime during the debate.

I guess I just don't trust McCain. He has shown that he will do anything and say anything to get elected. Now that may be a typical characteristic of a politican but this guy promotes himself as a maverick. All the things that he did that was supposedly bucking his party and president has been reneged on. Tax cuts for the rich, immigration reform, campaign finance, energy, etc etc. He has changed his position to pander to far right conservatives. Oh yeah, he is a conservative. The maverick thing was bullshit. It also looks like McCain's stunt to suspend his campaign so that he could go to Washington and solve the crises backfired. His request for Obama to also suspend his campaign and postpone the debate was a pathetic gimmick that stunk of desperation.

I just don't trust McCain's risky behavior. The Palin pick and his bullshit campaign suspension illustrates that distrust. I can't see him being careful and steady as president. He would risk everything for personal gain.

It's been interesting to see all the right wing print columnists declaring Palin unfit to be Vice President.

All Tomorrow's Parties... a mix

2008-09-26T16:16:00.007-04:00

Andy Warhol was on my mind when I made this mix a while ago after watching a PBS program on him and then getting the DVD. We had also recently visited the Warhol museum in Pittsburgh where we bought some books on him and his work. This CD mix came out of me like some "Exploding Plastic Inevitable". Andy Warhol was everywhere in NY during that time and these songs are all somehow connected to him.

The Factory, CBGB, The Velvets, The Dolls, Bowie, the Sticky Fingers cover, Nico, the entire New York scene. Warhol's influence was immense.

Of course this mix just uses Warhol as a touchstone to put together a collection of songs about him, the people around him and the NY scene in general.

All Tomorrow's Parties

1. All Tomorrow's Parties - The Velvet Underground (The Velvet Underground & Nico, 1967)
2. Andy Warhol - David Bowie (Hunky Dory, 1971)
3. Artist Only - Talking Heads (More Songs About Buildings And Food, 1978)
4. Venus - Television (Marquee Moon, 1977)
5. We Are The Mystery Girls - The New York Dolls (Too Much Too Soon, 1974)
6. Walk On The Wild Side - Lou Reed (Transformer, 1972)
7. Sweet Jane - Mott The Hoople (All The Young Dudes, 1972)
8. Femme Fatale - R.E.M. (Dead Letter Office, 1987)
9. Chelsea Girls - Nico (Chelsea Girl, 1967)
10. I'll Be Your Mirror (Live) - Lou Reed (NYC Man: The Ultimate Lou Reed Collection, 2000)
11. White Light/White Heat (BBC Live) - David Bowie (Bowie At The Beeb, 2000)
12. No Fun - The Stooges (The Stooges, 1969)
13. Sister Morphine - The Rolling Stones (Sticky Fingers, 1971)
14. You Know More Than I Know - John Cale (Fear, 1974)
15. Song For Nico - Marianne Faithful (Kissin' Time, 2002)
16. Hello It's Me - Lou Reed & John Cale (Songs For Drella, 1990)
17. Sunday Morning - Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs (Under The Covers - Vol. 1, 2006)
18. Rock 'N' Roll - The Velvet Undergound (Loaded, 1970)

Cold Winter Sun Symphony... a mix

2008-09-25T16:38:00.006-04:00

a mix from several months back

1. Here Comes The Sun - The Beatles (Love, 2006)
2. The Warmth Of The Sun - The Beach Boys (Greatest Hits Vol. 1, 1999)
3. Who Loves The Sun - The Velvet Underground (Loaded, 1970)
4. Lazy Old Sun - The Kinks (Something Else, 1967)
5. Sun Is Out - The Apples In Stereo (New Magnetic Wonder, 2007)
6. Sun In The Sky - The Seers (Psych Out, 1991)
7. It's The Sun - The Polyphonic Spree (The Beginning Stages... , 2002)
8. Sun Is Still Shining - The Moody Blues (To Our Children's Children's Children, 1969)
9. The Sun - The Pretty Things (Emotions, 1968)
10. By The Grace Of The Sun - Richie Havens (By The Grace Of The Sun, 2004)
11. Sun, Sun, Sun - The Elected (Sun, Sun, Sun, 2006)
12. Way Of The Sun - Archer Prewitt (Wilderness, 2005)
13. Play In The Sun Again - The Dreadful Yawns (Early, 2003)
14. Sun Child - The Vines (Winning Days, 2004)
15. Into The Sun - Great Northern (Trading Twilight For Daylight, 2007)
16. Fly Into The Sun - Sun Dial (Acid Yantra, 1995)
17. Cold Winter Sun Symphony In D Major - Faine Jade (Introspection: A Faine Jade Recital, 2006)
18. Fingers Of The Sun - The Fugs (Electromagnetic Steamboat:: The Reprise Recordings, 2001)
19. And The Sun Will Shine - The Bee Gees (Horizontal, 1968)
20. Around The Sun - R.E.M. (Around The Sun, 2004)
21. Here Comes The Sun Again - M. Ward (Transitor Radio, 2005)

Some Cool Vids...

2008-09-23T20:34:00.005-04:00

These guys are a hoot.

Sarah Palin and the Preaching Witch Hunter

The Struggle Carries On... a mix

2008-09-21T19:52:00.008-04:00

Another in my series of protest rock mixes. I had to post this today after watching the news and seeing Bush leading us into a second great depression. Corporate welfare indeed.

Phil Ochs in the picture.

Phil Ochs singing Power And The Glory.

Title comes from a line in the Billy Bragg opener.

The Struggle Carries On

1. I Dreamed I Saw Phi Ochs Last Night - Billy Bragg (The International, 2006)
2. Power And The Glory - Phil Ochs (Farewells & Fantasies, 1997)
3. There But For Fortune - Joan Baez (Washington Square Memoirs: The Great Urban Folk Boom 1950-1970, 2001)
4. Blowin' In The Wind - Peter, Paul & Mary (Best Of Peter, Paul & Mary, 1970)
5. 7 O'Clock News/Silent Night - Simon & Garfunkel (Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme, 1966)
6. In The News - Kris Kristofferson (This Old Road, 2006)
7. Anthrax - Kimya Dawson (Body Of War: Songs That Inspired An Iraq War Veteran, 2008)
8. How Did I Get Out Alive? - Mischief Brew (Songs From Under The Sink, 2006)
9. The Damage Done - Butch Hancock (13 Ways To Live, 2004)
10. When The Generals Talk - Midnight Oil (Oils On The Water, 2004)
11. War Dance - XTC (Nonesuch, 1992)
12. This Is Baghdad - Bruce Cockburn (Life Short Call Now, 2006)
13. Dad's Gonna Kill Me - Richard Thompson (Sweet Warrior, 2007)
14. Love Vigilantes - Laura Cantrell (Body Of War: Songs That Inspired An Iraq War Veteran, 2008)
15. War - Joan Osbourne (How Sweet It Is, 2002)
16. Glory Of War - The Redwalls (De Nova, 2005)
17. After The Garden - Neil Young (Living With War, 2007)
18. Road To Peace - Tom Waits (Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards, 2007)
19. Political Science - Randy Newman (Sail Away, 1972)
20. Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream - Pete Seeger (If I Had A Hammer: Songs Of Hope, 2006)

As always... download available on request.

It's Four In The Morning... a mix

2008-09-18T23:09:00.004-04:00

A reworking of a mix previously posted on AotM. Actually it's just the last several songs that are changed. The title comes from the opening line of the first song.

1. Famous Blue Raincoat - Leonard Cohen (Songs Of Love And Hate, 1971)
2. Pink Moon - Nick Drake (Pink Moon, 1972)
3. Waltzing's For Dreamers - Richard Thompson (Amnesia, 1988)
4. Waltz #2 - Elliot Smith (XO, 1998)
5. Five String Serenade - Mazzy Star (So Tonight I Might See, 1993)
6. Nightswimming - R.E.M. (Automatic For The People, 1992)
7. The Golden Age - Beck (Sea Change, 2002)
8. Blonde On Blonde - Nada Surf (Let Go, 2003)
9. New Slang - The Shins (Oh, Inverted World, 2001)
10. Sonnet - The Verve (Urban Hymns, 1997)
11. The Way He Sings - My Morning Jacket (At Dawn, 2001)
12. Perfect Day - Lou Reed (Transformer, 1972)
13. The Good Thing - Talking Heads (More Songs About Buildings And Food, 1978)
14. More Than This - Roxy Music (Avalon, 1982)
15. I'd Like That - XTC (Apple Venus Volume 1, 1999)
16. She Doesn't Exist - Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians (Greatest Hits, 1996)
17. So Long Marianne - John Cale & Suzanne Vega (Bleecker Street: Greenwich Village In The 60s, 1999)

We Got All Lined Up... a mix

2008-09-14T19:49:00.010-04:00

From a time and a place...

1. Lined Up - Shriekback (Care, 1983)
2. I Found That Essence Rare - Gang Of Four (Entertainment, 1979)
3. All That Jazz - Echo & The Bunneymen (Crocodiles, 1980)
4. Bloodsport - Killing Joke (Killing Joke, 1980)
5. Houses In Motion - Talking Heads (Remain In Light, 1980)
6. The Walk - The Cure (Japanese Whispers, 1984)
7. Careless Memories - Duran Duran (Duran Duran, 1981)
8. All Stood Still - Ultravox (Vienna, 1980)
9. Reduction - Material (Temporary Music, 1981)
10. Collapsing New People - Fad Gadget (Gag, 1984)
11. It's A Sin - Pet Shop Boys (Actually, 1987)
12. Blasphemous Rumours - Depeche Mode (Some Great Reward, 1984)
13. Temptation - New Order (Substance, 1987)
14. Nova Heart - The Spoons (Arias & Symphonies, 1982)
15. Treason - The Teardrop Explodes (Kilimajaro, 1980)
16. Seven Minutes To Midnight - Wah! (Na=Poo--The Art Of Bluff, 1981)
17. Boys Keep Swinging - David Bowie (Lodger, 1979)

9/11

2008-09-11T11:12:00.003-04:00

George W. Bush will always be known as the president who spent the summer of 2001 on vacation and incompetently ignored the warnings that allowed the terrorist attack on America to happen during his watch. I grunt in disgust every time I hear a Republican exclaim that Bush and his administration has kept America safe. That they can turn around a gross security failure and use it politcally to increase their own power. That they can take a moment when the country should unite and use it to divide the American people for political gain. They didn't keep us safe. They let 9/11 happen and then started a war they were planning long before that horrible day in September.

History's footnote on George W. Bush will be brief...
"George W. Bush was the first US president of the 21st Century and considered one of the worst presidents. He is known for the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America that happened during his administration and the incompetently waged war against the wrong country that seriously weakened the US both militarily and economically."

When The Levee Breaks - Mix

2008-09-06T12:47:00.014-04:00

Inspired by reading The Great Deluge by Douglas Brinkley three years after the flood and during the evacuations preparing for Hurricane Gustav.

When The Levee Breaks

1. Before The Deluge - Jackson Browne (Late For The Sky, 1974)
2. The Levee's Gonna Break - Bob Dylan (Modern Times, 2006)
3. Hurricane Party - James McMurtry (Just Us Kids, 2008)
4. O Katrina! - The Black Lips (Good Bad Not Evil, 2007)
5. Hurricane - Golden Smog (Another Fine Day, 2006)
6. When The Levee Breaks - Led Zeppelin (Led Zeppelin IV, 1971)
7. Here Comes The Flood - Peter Gabriel (Peter Gabriel, 1977)
8. Hurricane And Fire Survival Guide - Cloud Cult (Feel Good Ghosts, 2008)
9. Hurricane - Jamie Lidell (Jim, 2008)
10. New Orleans Is Sinking - The Tragically Hip (Up To Here, 1989)
11. In A Flood - John Cale (Black Acetate, 2005)
12. Disaster - Saturday Looks Good To Me (Sound On Sound, 2006)
13. After The Flood - Lone Justice (Lone Justice, 1985)
14. Talkin' Bout New Orleans - The Meters (Fire On The Bayou, 1975)
15. Jesus In New Orleans - Over The Rhine (Ohio, 2003)
16. The Sharpest Town - Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint (The River In Reverse, 2006)

McSame and Pain

2008-09-03T21:41:00.008-04:00

Can't believe this shit. They must really think we are stupid.

OK, now this is a pretty funny...

The Great Deluge

2008-09-01T20:17:00.008-04:00

I just finished this book. It was particularly intense reading experience because New Orleans was once again on the news everyday as Hurricane Gustav approached the city. So I was reading of the many horrific experiences from three yeas ago as another hurricane was bearing down on the still greatly damaged city. One thing I couldn't believe was how Ray Nagin could possibly still be mayor.

The book was full of heroic stories and also truly evil people taking advantage of the crises. There was also a tremendous number of totally incompentent political lackeys running FEMA and other government agencies.

After reading this detailed examination of that awful event I realized we were only seeing a tiny portion of the tragedy as it unfolded on television. It was actually worse than I ever imagined. Much worse.

For example the "toxic gumbo" of contaminated water that flooded the city is vividly described throughout the book. It is completely unimaginable how that must have smelled let alone getting that disease ridden scum in your body or infecting a cut.

This book illustrates the unpreparedness of authorities before Katrina and was interesting to compare with the ongoing response to Gustav. Also interesting to see the different behaviors of the politicans threes years after the Katrina experience.

Hot Buttered Soul - The Mix

2008-08-27T23:06:00.003-04:00

I needed to followup that last post on Isaac Hayes with this mix that opens with that great first song from the Hot Buttered Soul album. This of course is the full lenght jam of the Burt Bacharach song that Dionne Warwick made into a hit.

Lots more great songs here including George Benson sounding an awful lot like Stevie Wonder and the Earth, Wind & Fire backed Ramsey Lewis soul jazz jam. The mix ends with a trio of late 60s classic soul.

1. Walk On By - Isaac Hayes (Hot Buttered Soul, 1969)
2. This Masquerade - George Benson (Breezin', 1976)
3. Sun Goddess - Ramsey Lewis (Sun Goddess, 1974)
4. I Want You - Marvin Gaye (I Want You, 1976)
5. If I Ever Lose This Heaven - Average White Band (Cut The Cake, 1975)
6. I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun - Rotary Connection (Hey Love, 1971)
7. Now That We Found Love - Third World (Journey To Addis, 1978)
8. Love And Happiness - Al Green (I'm Still In Love With You, 1972)
9. Baby I Love You - Aretha Franklin (Aretha Arrives, 1967)
10. All I Need - The Temptations (With A Lot Of Soul, 1967)
11. I'll Keep Holding On - The Marvelettes (Ultimate Collection, 1998)

Hot Buttered Soul

2008-08-21T22:17:00.008-04:00

I've been meaning to write something about soul man Isaac Hayes since his recent death. I've always loved his music. Issac Hayes had several high points throughout his career. Many people got to know his music from Shaft in 1971 and then there was his huge resurgence as the Chef character in South Park in the 90s. Then I was a little weirded out with his later scientology thing and stopped listening to anything he had to say.

But for me it was the Hot Buttered Soul album in 1969. I grabbed that record based on the title and cover. I was vaguely aware of his name from song writing credits from Sam & Dave singles I owned that he produced for Stax Records in the late 60s such as Soul Man. The House Party 1968 mix I posted recently is an example of some of the soul music I was listening to at the time. Then along comes Isaac Hayes and Hot Buttered Soul. It was an amazing thing to listen to back in 1969. Four songs on one album... ten minutes or more for each song at a time when the three minute soul single was king. Nothing Hayes would do later would have the impact on me of the songs on Hot Buttered Soul. Truly amazing.

Here is a link to the first song from the album.

Walk On By was a Burt Bacharach song originally a hit by Dionne Warwick.

Have a listen to this incredible twelve minute opus and then go get the album.

Friday I'm In Love - A Tavern Mix

2008-08-15T22:33:00.011-04:00

Another mix for my brother's bar. The bartenders wanted some music they knew so here is a mostly early 90s mix of radio fodder and some stuff that should have been on the radio.

1. Friday I'm In Love - The Cure (Wish, 1992)
2. She's Electric - Oasis ([What's The Story] Morning Glory, 1995)
3. Laid - James (Laid, 1993)
4. She Don't Use Jelly - The Flaming Lips (Transmissions From The Satellite Heart, 1993)
5. Girlfriend - Matthew Sweet (Girlfriend, 1991)
6. There She Goes - The La's (The La's, 1990)
7. What You Do To Me - Teenage Fanclub (Bandwagonesque, 1991)
8. That Is Why - Jellyfish (Bellybutton, 1990)
9. Fade Into You - Mazzy Star (So Tonight That I Might See, 1993)
10. I Feel Possessed - Crowded House (Temple Of Low Men, 1988)
11. The One I Love - R.E.M. (Document, 1992)
12. Found Out About You - Gin Blossoms (New Miserable Experience, 1992)
13. Flavor Of The Month - The Posies (Frosting On The Beater, 1993)
14. Common People - Pulp (Different Class, 1995)
15. Runaway Train - Soul Asylum (Grave Dancer's Union, 1992)
16. Somebody's Crying - Chris Isaak (Forever Blue, 1995)
17. Drowning In Your Tears - The Rembrandts (L.P., 1995)
18. If I Could Talk I'd Tell You - The Lemonheads (Car Button Cloth, 1996)
19. Buddy Holly - Weezer (Weezer, 1994)
20. When I Come Around - Green Day (Dookie, 1994)
21. So You Think You're In Love - Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians (Perplex Island, 1991)
22. If I Can't Change Your Mind - Sugar (Copper Blue, 1992)

Have a listen...

Here Comes Your Man - A Tavern Mix

2008-08-10T15:20:00.010-04:00

I'm back to making mixes for my brother's bar although it's hard to do from almost 300 miles away. I talked to some of his bartenders recently about the music they liked and wanted to hear while working. I also looked through the collection of CDs behind the bar.

It's a small city bar and they don't want to take up valuable space with a jukebox and they just very recently added a kitchen so they don't want to spend money on a fancy music service and sound system. So I'll try to help out.

Each of the upcoming mixes will be around an hour long and focus on a theme whether a time period, a musical style, etc. My house party soul music mix from last week is a good example of something they will like at the bar. This mix is a collection of late 80s and 90s alternative rock. Lots of familiar stuff which is what those bartenders like and they won't grab a mix off the shelf if they don't like it themselves.

So here goes...

1. Under The Milky Way - The Church (Starfish, 1988)
2. Dreams - The Cranberries (Everybody Is Doing It, So Why Can't We, 1993)
3. Just Like Heaven - The Cure (Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, 1987)
4. Here Comes Your Man - Pixies (Doolittle, 1989)
5. Cut Your Hair - Pavement (Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, 1994)
6. Creep - Radiohead (Pablo Honey, 1993)
7. Beetlebum - Blur (Blur, 1997)
8. In The Meantime - Spacehog (Resident Alien, 1995)
9. Low - Cracker (Kerosene Hat, 1993)
10. Today - Smashing Pumpkins (Siamese Dream, 1993)
11. One Headlight - The Wallflowers (Bringing Down The Horse, 1996)
12. Counting Blue Cars - Dishwalla (Pet Your Friends, 1995)
13. Under The Bridge - Red Hot Chili Peppers (Blood Sugar Sex Magik, 1991)
14. Selling The Drama - Live (Throwing Copper, 1994)
15. Lithium - Nirvana (Nevermind, 1991)
16. Happy When It Rains - The Jesus & Mary Chain (Darklands, 1987)
17. Cuts You Up - Peter Murphy (Deep, 1990)
18. Mysterious Ways - U2 (Achtung Baby, 1991)

The Fortune Cookie Chronicles

2008-08-06T21:38:00.006-04:00

With the Olympics opening this weekend in Beijing I thought it would be a good time to post about a book I've just finished reading... The Fortune Cookie Chronicles. This is a terrific read about what the subtitle calls Adventures in the World of Chinese Food.

The author, Jennifer 8. Lee, is a Chinese-American writer with the New York Times and she has put together a wonderful account of the impact of Chinese food in America. I first heard about Lee and her book on an NPR interview with the author. So when the book showed up in my library I grabbed it for a quick read.

There's lots of great stories concerning fortune cookies, soy sauce, chop suey, General Tso and the history of Chinese restaurants in America. It was a very enjoyable book and I really had to have some Chinese food after reading it. I'm going to get lots more in the coming weeks, take out of course, for sitting in front of the TV with my chopsticks watching the Olympics from Beijing.

Visit Lee's blog - fortunecookiechronicles.com
The NPR story is here.

House Party - 40 Year Old Mix

2008-08-03T21:04:00.012-04:00

This is a newly updated mix of an old mix. A forty year old mix.

Forty years old would be summer of 1968. I was a high school kid in Philadelphia and I had my first job making decent money back then working in a machine shop shoveling the hot chips flying off the lathes. Most of my pay went for buying records and going to shows. During that summer I was checking out the West Coast bands playing at the original Electric Factory down on Arch Street, hanging out downtown at the head shops on Samson Street and groovin' at the Be-Ins in Fairmount Park.

I was the guy with all the music. I was an obsessive collector even back then and read everything I could get my hands on to discover new music. I was also getting invited to parties with the understanding that I would bring my records and I would arrive with a box of 45s.

I had playlist of stuff that worked good at these parties but this was not some DJ setup that would evolve later on. There would just be a record player with a changer that would play a stack of singles in the order they were placed on the spindle.

So before mixes were created on mp3 playlist, burned CDs and cassettes there was the carefully selected stack of 7" 45 rpm singles sitting on a record changer. The mix listed here is taken from my collection of 45s from 1968 which I still have. In fact I probably still have every single, album, tape and CD that I have be accumulating for about 45 years now. I've never sold or gotten rid of anything from my collection much to my wife's chagrin.

This mix below is all soul music from the time that I owned on singles. I will post a companion mix of garage rock singles that was also from pre-1968. By that time I was strictly buying albums for rock music and had been for a couple of years.

House party music from my stack of 45s.

1. The Show Stoppers - Ain't Nothin' But A House Party
2. Dyke & The Blazers - Funky Broadway, Pt.1
3. The Soul Survivors - Expressway To Your Heart
4. The Isley Brothers - This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You)
5. The Supremes - You Can't Hurry Love
6. The Dells - There Is
7. Marvin Gaye - I'll Be Doggone
8. The Four Tops - Reach Out (I'll Be There)
9. Martha & The Vandellas - I'm Ready For Love
10. Soul Brothers Six - Some Kind Wonderful
11. Sam & Dave - I Thank You
12. Fantastic Johnny C - Boogaloo Down Broadway
13. Eddie Floyd - Knock On Wood
14. The Parliaments - (I Wanna) Testify
15. The Temptations - The Way You Do The Things You Do
16. The Platters - With This Ring
17. The Contours - Just A Little Misunderstanding
18. Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston - It Takes Two
19. Aretha Franklin - Think
20. Jackie Wilson - Higher And Higher
21. Arthur Conley - Sweet Soul Music
22. James Brown - I Got The Feelin'
23. Sly & The Family Stone - Dance To The Music
24. Jr. Walker & The All Stars - Shake And Fingerpop
25. The Capitols - Cool Jerk
26. Gladys Knight & The Pips - I Heard It Through The Grapevine
27. Kim Weston - Helpless
28. The Bar-Kays - Soul Finger

A link to listen is on the way.

You're Gonna Miss Me

2008-08-02T09:59:00.004-04:00

Last night my wife and I watched the Roky Erickson bio "You're Gonna Miss Me" on the Sundance Channel. It was a stunning film that both shocked and entertained us. I knew the basic outline of Roky Erickson's life of mental illness and hundreds of LSD trips but seeing the story of his life unfold was like watching a car wreck. His mother was unbelievable. He was crazy. His family was crazy. His entire life was crazy. Tormented genius indeed.

After watching this film it is nice to hear that Roky is back playing and sounds great. He has played at Austin's South By Southwest Festival the past few years.

Here is a clip of Roky singing with the 13th Floor Elevators.

Here is a trailer for You're Gonna Miss Me

A couple of videos..

2008-07-31T11:48:00.004-04:00

A couple of videos from a couple of bands I've seen at a neighborhood watering hole recently.

Just loved the Detroit Cobras even if they didn't start playing until well after midnight on a Tuesday night.

Grizzly Bear put on a great show. Strange video here.

Armageddon Days... a mix

2008-07-27T09:37:00.002-04:00

I posted this mix on AotM back in March of this year on the five year anniversary date of the start of Bush's Iraq War.

Armageddon Days (Not In My Name Vol. 4)

1 The The - Armageddon Days (Are Here Again) (Mind Bomb, 1989)
2 Killing Joke - Wardance (Killing Joke, 1980)
3 Fear - Let's Have A War (The Record, 1982)
4 Green Day - American Idiot (American Idiot, 2004)
5 Robert Plant & The Strange Sensation - Freedom Fries (Mighty Rearranger, 2005)
6 Faith No More - War Pigs (The Real Thing, 1989)
7 The Ramones - The Shape Of Things To Come (Acid Eaters, 1993)
8 The Dead Kennedys - Holiday In Cambodia (Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegitables, 1980)
9 Love And Rockets - Ball Of Confusion (Sorted: The Best Of Love And Rockets, 2003)
10 10,000 Maniacs - My Mother The War (Campfire Songs: The Popular, The Obscure & The Unknown Recordings, 2004)
11 Yo La Tengo - Nuclear War (Version Two) (Nuclear War, 2002)
12 Celebration - War (Celebration, 2005)
13 Arcade Fire - Antichrist Television Blues (Neon Bible, 2007)
14 Sonic Youth - Youth Against Fascism (Dirty, 1992)
15 The Clash - Hate & War (The Clash, 1977)
16 The Stranglers - Tank (The UA Singles '77-'79, 2001)
17 Matthew Sweet - Holy War (Girlfriend, 1991)
18 Super Furry Animals - The Man Don't Give A Fuck (Songbook: The Singles, Vol. 1, 2005)
19 MC5 - Kick Out The Jams (Kick Out The Jams, 1969)

Listen here:

Wilber The Cat

2008-07-26T17:21:00.003-04:00

My nephew made this film and posted in on You Tube. I'm not a cat person but maybe you are. Check it out. More short films from Eric are here.

Oil Man's War... a mix

2008-07-26T16:09:00.000-04:00

Oil Man's War

This is one of several mixes I put together to mark five years of war in Iraq. I began a series of anti-war mixes back in March of 2003 during the lead up to the war and added a couple of more in March of 2004 and 2005. I'll post them here soon too.

1 Bright Eyes - When The President Talks To God (When The President Talks To God, 2007)
2 Ani DiFranco - Millennium Theater (Reprieve, 2006)
3 The National - Start A War (Boxer, 2007)
4 Billy Bragg - Price Of Oil (Peace Not War, 2003)
5 The Decemberists - When The War Came (The Crane Wife, 2006)
6 The Wrights - Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning (Song Of America, 2007)
7 Lizzie West & The White Buffalo - 19 Miles To Baghdad (I Pledge Allegiance To Myself, 2006)
8 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Details Of The War (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, 2005)
9 Lucy Kaplansky - Line In The Sand (The Red Thread, 2004)
10 Tom Waits - Hoist That Rag (Real Gone, 2004)
11 Son Volt - Endless War (Okemah And The Melody Of Riot, 2005)
12 John Fogarty - Long Dark Night (Revival, 2007)
13 Neil Young - Let's Impeach The President (Living With War, 2007)
14 Kathleen Edwards - Oil Man's War (Asking For Flowers, 2008)
15 John Gorka - War Makes War (Old Futures Gone, 2003)
16 Dixie Chicks - Not Ready To Make Nice (Taking The Long Way, 2006)
17 Joan Osborne - Why Can't We Live Together (How Sweet It Is, 2002)
18 Solomon Burke - A Change Is Gonna Come (A Change Is Gonna Come, 1994)

You can listen to the mix here:

You're Not The Only One... some best of 2007

2008-07-26T14:54:00.000-04:00

2007 was a very good year for music and I put together several mixes of songs from albums that I enjoyed throughout the year.

You're Not The Only One... some best of 2007

1 Fields - Song For The Fields (Everything Last Winter, 2007)
2 Cloud Cult - Please Remain Calm (The Meaning Of 8, 2007)
3 Liars - Houseclouds (Liars, 2007)
4 VietNam - Priest, Poet & The Pig (Vietnam, 2007)
5 The Besnard Lakes - And You Lied To Me (The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse, 2007)
6 Oakley Hall - No Dreams (I'll Follow You, 2007)
7 Pinback - Devil You Know (Autumn Of The Seraphs, 2007)
8 Phonograph - In The Mind (Phonograph, 2007)
9 Ghost Stories - The Nettles In Your Mouth (Quixoticism, 2007)
10 Castanets - Sway (In The Vines, 2007)
11 The Pines - Let's Go (Sparrows In The Bell, 2007)
12 Hoots & Hellmouth - Rattle These Bones (Hoots & Hellmouth, 2007)
13 Field Music - In Context (Tones Of Town, 2007)
14 Animal Collective - Fireworks (Strawberry Jam, 2007)
15 The Lovetones - Navigator (Axiom, 2007)
16 The High Dials - Picture Of A Fading Man (The Holy Ground, 2007)
17 Great Lakes Myth Society - Stump Speech (Compass Rose Bouquet, 2007)
18 The Dreadful Yawns - Due South (Rest, 2007)

A link to listen is on the way.

Baby I've Got Some... a mix

2008-07-26T14:45:00.001-04:00

I'll start with a mix I put together earlier in the year. One of several mixes of music from the previous year.

Baby I've Got Some...
Title taken from the opening line from the opening song of the Besnard Lakes album. One of my best albums of 2007. I found myself coming back to it over and over again.

So many good albums from 2007. Here are songs from a few more.

1 The Besnard Lakes - Disaster (The Besnard Lakes Are Dark, 2007)
2 Arizona - Life Is Great (Fameseeker And The Mono, 2007)
3 Keren Ann - Lay Your Head Down (Keren Ann, 2007)
4 Winterpills - Broken Arm (The Light Divides, 2007)
5 Oakley Hall - All The Way Down (I'll Follow You, 2007)
6 The Broken West - Down In The Valley (I Can't Go On, I'll Go On, 2007)
7 Arcade Fire - Keep The Car Running (Neon Bible, 2007)
8 Spoon - You Got Yr Cherry Bomb (Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, 2007)
9 Ideal Free Distribution - Apples And Oranges (Ideal Free Distribution, 2007)
10 Life On Earth - Sell Your Soul To Me (There Is Life On Earth!, 2007)
11 The Three 4 Tens - I Am The King (Down The Way, 2007)
12 Maps - You Don't Know Her Name (We Can Create, 2007)
13 The Shins - Turn On Me (Wincing The Night Away, 2007)
14 Albert Hammond, Jr. - Everyone Gets A Star (Yours To Keep, 2007)
15 Radiohead - Jigsaw Fallin In Place (In Rainbows, 2007)
16 The Ponys - Exile On My Street (Turn The Lights Out, 2007)
17 King Khan & The Shines - Take A Little Bit (What Is?!, 2007)
18 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Not Want You Wanted (Baby 81, 2007)
19 Wilco - Walkin (Sky Blue Sky, 2007)
20 Birdie Busch - Hold Ya (Penny Arcade, 2007)
21 David Vandervelde - Nothin' No (The Moonstation House Band, 2007)

Listen here...

Back From Vacation

2008-07-26T14:28:00.000-04:00

I took a break from blogging but I'm back with this new blog. I've shut down my previous blogs and some of my other web pages. This blog will be my main online place for posting music mixes, book & film discussions, and political commentary. Whatever.

I just got back from vacation and really wanted to go check out Art of the Mix to see what's been going on the past two weeks. Unfortunately the viruses, bugs, trojans, etc that were constantly attacking the site earlier this month are still there.

I've been visiting that site several times a week if not everyday for five and a half years and it's been hard to go cold turkey. So I am going to post my mixes here and maybe some of my old friends from AotM will stop by to check them out. Maybe we will be able to continue sharing mixes and having our music discussions on the blogs while the site gets sorted out.

I'll get a few mixes up as a proof of concept