Neko and Pornography for all

A repost of Neko Case's Fox Confessor Brings the flood was requested so here it is. This album is in my top 5 so far this year. It is awesome. Because I am posting Neko, I thought I would accompany it with Neko's collaboration with some Vancouver area musical stalwart, AC Newman. The band is called the New Pornographers. Last years release is called Twin Cinema. Pure power pop. It was one of my top ten of last year (actually coming in at #2 behind Andrew Bird's Mysterious Production of Eggs).

I will only leave them up for a couple of days.

I am too tired and didn't want to deal with hyper links.

This post updated while listening to Weather Systems by Andrew Bird.

Dreams Schemes and Themes...

It is Theme Time Radio Hour with your host Bob Dylan. So I was thinking, instead of me wasting precious iDisk space I thought I would direct you all o the place where I get Bob's XM show. That way if you want it you can downloaded there yourself. I go to a blog called White Man's Stew. This link is to the music section of his blog. He has some interesting things at time but way to classic rock and old hippie stuff for my tastes. But he is nice enough to share Theme Time.

What you will need to do is find the Theme Time Post with the Theme Time Logo. It is generally a couple of pages. Currently the Theme Time post is on page 3. You'll be able to find it. Most times he is able to host the file himself. Apparently he is out of bandwidth right now and can't host the files, so they are all on RapidShare. Which is annoying since those files are broken in to tracks. The files I have been posting are one track, which I like a lot better. When I get them this way I combine them with an apple script called Join Together, from Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes. Doug's scripts are great, and if you don't have any scripts for iTunes then you are not using iTunes to its fullest potential.

A new Theme Time Radio Hour comes out every Wednesday mid day. Generally White man's Stew has it up by Thursday or Friday.

If you need any help with downloading these files please let me know and I can walk you through it.

Also as a note Theme Time Radio Hour is an XM radio product if you have the means you should subscribe to XMRadio to get your weekly Theme Time fix.

enjoy

This post updated while watching The Best Week Ever Posdcast.

Glenn Kotche

If any of you caught Jeff Tweedy's solo show at the Orpheum last year then you also had the pleasure of hearing Glenn Kotche open for him. Kotche is the drummer for Wilco, and if his performance that night was any indication, he's a musical experimenter in his own right. That night he performed on marimba and what I can only call a "prepared" trap set: drums with springs and stuff pasted to the heads which he used to create some very interesting sounds.

This album, Mobile, which I bought this weekend, features some of the pieces he performed that night. To me it sounds like contemporary art music, limited to percussion instruments and various electronic noises. A little like listening to John Cage scrape pieces of metal across a metal surface, but with a good beat.

I hope you enjoy it.

Over The Hedge Soundtrack

Earlier this year Dreamworks put out an animated movie called Over The Hedge. The movie is based on the comic strip, Over The Hedge by Michael Fry and T Lewis. I have not seen the movie nor I have I ever actually read the comic (I am a Get Fuzzy Man myself.)

The soundtrack to the movie featured 6 "new" songs by Ben Folds, who I think is one of the better song writers alive today. The songs are ok, a bit throw away, but perfect for a soundtrack. The best thing on the album is the "Rockin' the Suburbs" update. The original version appears on his debut solo album which just so happens to be called Rockin the Suburbs. The original version was written from the vantage point of twenty something disgusted with the state of crappy music of the neo metal band of the late 90's and early 00's. The song is great. Now the new version is written from a perspective of a middle aged suburbanite. Not necessarly disgusted but resigned to the fact that he lives in the suburbs. It is fantastic. The new version is more family friendly, but a better criticism on suburban life. Plus Ben's good friend Bill makes a great cameo.

Also there is a so-so version of the Clash's "Lost in the Supermarket." The words are changed to fit the movie, which is lame in this instance. "I particularly like the song "Heist."

This post updated while listening to Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah. Man they totally want to be the Talking Heads.

Thom Yorke - The Eraser

Radiohead front-man, Thom Yorke, is about to release his first, um, solo album. Not exactly sure what wasn't working with Radiohead that he felt he had to do it this way. Still produced by Nigel Godrich, this is a pretty good album. Pretty good, but not great. I've only listened to it once and I might be missing something on the first go 'round. But it feels like The Eraser is missing something. Haunting piano layered on top of beeps and blips along with classic Thom Yorke vocals. Pitchfork has a pretty good breakdown of the album here. Give it a listen and post your comments here.

Neko on Lettermen

So I have you know I totally love Neko Case. I think she has one of the most amazing voices in recent memory. She is so gosh darn talented. Her work with The New Pornographers is only surpassed by her work as a solo artist. On June the 14, she played "Maybe Sparrow" on Late Night with David Letterman. You can find the orginal version on the excellent Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. Here is the YouTube version of it.

Enjoy

This post updated while listening to the ceiling fan in my office.

"arlo, folk songs are serious"

love that quote.

this may be a bit behind the folk wave that hit a few weeks back, but i wanted to pass along this link to an npr piece on pete seeger... majority of it is an interview with the man in 1984. he goes on about playin nickel songs with woody guthrie, gettin folk tunes on mainstream radio with the weavers and being blacklisted for 'associating with unamerican types'. interesting guy. downloads as a real player or windows media player file.

mm&w - uninvisible

i'm really not such a fan that i can refer to these guys as an acronym. medeski, martin & wood... it is a bit of mouthful. however i can say that this 2002 album has ever-so slowly grown on me. much like a foot fungus i had a few years ago. one part groove jazz, one part avantgarde improv... always innovative.

The Village Green Preservation Society

I have a friend named Aaron Scholz. He plays his laid back alt-country, singer songwriter stylings in and around town. Many of you know him, or have seen him live. Unfortunately I think his music career has taken a back seat to a career of being a dad. He has not put out an album since Come Back Down in 2002. But this post is not about Aaron. In the liner notes he wrote "Listen to The Village Green Preservation Society by the Kinks." Now in 2002 I was not sure what that meant. I mean, album by the same guys who fouled the airways with "Lola."

My friend Kristian loves the Kinks. He told me under no certain circumstances that I was to bad mouth "Lola." And if I knew what is good for me I would pick up Village Green Preservation Society. So about a month ago I did. Man was Kristian and Aaron right. This album is fantastic! Of course you will remember the song "Picture Book" which was on the ubiquitous HP commercials about a year ago.

The album is truly solid from start to finish. You can hear almost every late 90's and early 00's British band. I mean Belle and Sebastian might as well just give it up and say they are a Kinks cover band. Jack White, I mean lay it down man to the alter of Ray and Dave Davies. Without this band there would be no Big Star, and well everyone knows my feelings on Big Star.

From their allmusic.com biography they remained true to their English roots. After reading that I would say The Kinks are the English Beatles. The Kinks will remain in the pantheon of under appreciated artists that have way more influence than you would have ever imagined.

So I leave you with the words of Aaron Scholz, "Listen to Village Green Preservation Society."

This post updated while listening to my iTunes on shuffle (you can see how much time I spend on this thing. I am a geek.)
I have heard:
Firecracker - Ryan Adams
Someday - Ween
Black Diamond - The Replacements
Miss Teen Wordpower - The New Pornographers
Illumination - Gogol Bordello
You're Pretty Good Looking (For A Girl) - The White Stripes
No More Parades - Son Volt
Pads, Paws And Claws - Elvis Costello
Goodnight My Friends - They Might Be Giants
Too Far Gone ("lost session" version) - Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Controversy - Prince
Johnson Rag -Esquivel

Apple Rooftop Concert

On January 30, 1969 The Beatles performed live for the last time ever. It just happened to be an unannouced performance of on top of their London Studio, Apple. I have been able to garner a copy from my various sources. So my sources are your sources. With the recent death of Billy Preston, I thought it was an appropiate time to post this gem.

There are a lot of double takes and repeat songs, this recording does not make any cuts or edits. It is straight from the audio of the cameras. So take that with a grain of salt. There are a bunch of sites that talk about this concert, the best one I found is here. It actually is a great story of the Get Back sessions.

Enjoy

This post updated while listening to the Cubs v Astros.

Theme Time Radio Hour #3

schemes, Dreams and Themes, it is the Theme Time Radio Hour with your host Bob Dylan. Number three is up there for you. This episode is all about the hooch. I really was hoping for Gin and Juice by the Dogg, but still some good stuff. Plus Bob's recipe for a mint julep.

While we are on the topic of drinks, my new favorite summer drink is a mojitio. Tasty.

Also heard Dylan's new Album Modern Times will be out in August.

This post updated while listening to an album I shouldn't have.

Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere

You've probably heard the buzz about this project, and if not, I assume you can use Google. So I'll spare you an involved critique except to say that this is merely adequate hip-hop that's geared to appeal to indie rock tastes.

Notable are the lead single "Crazy" and the Femmes cover "Gone Daddy Gone". I'm still digesting it, but Danger Mouse has clearly done better work, and has probably jumped the shark.

RADIO DAVIDBYRNE.COM

Since we are talking about famous musicians being a DJ check out DavidByrne.com and listen to his monthly playlist. This months theme is Avant Pop. The 30-40 songs rotate 24-7 all month. View the archives to see past months playlists: Latin Rock, Psychedelic, Rednecks, Racists and Recationaries: Country Classics, etc. For the last 6 months I have looked forward to checking out his new playlist at the beginning of every month. There are a couple of Mum songs in the rotation this month.

The Twilight Singers

I saw The Twilight Singers two week ago and wasn't so much impressed by the band as I was by the passion of the crowd. But I was intrigued, and after getting some distance from the show and listening to Blackberry Belle, their acclaimed album from 2003, in the much quieter comfort of my own home, I've come to understand a bit of what the crowd was screaming and pumping their fists for. Here, for your enjoyment is Greg Dulli's The Twilight Singers.

Theme Time Radio Hour #2

Well as I said before I got Bob's Theme Time Radio Hours 1 - 5. So right now I am posting # 2. It was the Mother's Day special. So theme of course is mothers. It is quite good. Who is with me in saying that Bob is a better DJ than performer?

mark mallman - who's gonna save you now?

it's really about time i become an actual contributor, need to live up to that title on the right. for my first blogging entry i supply Mark Mallman's 'Who's Gonna Save You Now?' EP. good local TC tunes... he puts on a hell of show, a madman at the keys really. hope you like.

Newest and last Grandaddy album

A few weeks back I had made a shout out for anyone with the newest Grandaddy album – Just Like The Fambly Cat. I managed to scrounge a copy for myself so I uploaded Grandaddy’s self-proclaimed “last album.”

I haven’t had much time to listen to it; however, it seems to be getting mixed to reviews – from a “brilliant masterpiece”, to a “worn out and used up.” Either way you look at it, almost everyone agrees that between the space-aged power chords the album carries a certain weight of death.

Judge for yourself . . .

Band of Horses - Everything All the Time

I think I may have posted this album before, but it's worth posting again for those that didn't grab it the first time. Last night I saw Band of Horses at the 7th Street Entry. Somewhere between Red House Painters and The Flaming Lips, this Seattle based band is both loud and introspective. Lead signer and songwriter Ben Bridwell switched between the lap steel and electric guitar. Their short set lasted less than an hour and included a cover of "You Make My Dreams" by Hall & Oates.

Mason Jennings - Boneclouds

I used to love Mason Jennings. I thought he was the second coming of Bob Dylan, Paul Westerberg, and Jesus Christ. I remember I would be at the 400 Bar every Thursday watching him and his band play. I prolly extolled his virtue to many of you as well. Of course I then left Minneapolis. I saw him less frequently, listened to his CD's more. Still loved his self titled debut and Birds Flying Away had some great songs on it. The Simple Life a collection of songs that did not make Birds was also quite good.

Then came Century Spring. Man that album sucks. I mean if you wanted a collection of sappy, pretentious, coffeehouse ballads pick up this piece of crap. I mean wow this album was one of the biggest disappointments in my music listening career. I gave up on Mason. I didn't even bother with Use Your Voice, because everything I heard it was as bad as Century Spring. So it turns out he was not Paul Westerberg he was a weak sauce John Mayer.

Mason's latest effort is called Boneclouds. I got this album because Mason had peaked my interest again. Think this is his first "major" label record (going from Bar-none to Epic). The record company seems to be pushing him a bit more. He was on the excellent CBS Sunday Morning (which is the only show I watch on CBS - take that CSI.) Also I have heard some good things about this album. Though the album cover looks a Greatful Dead reject, which worries me. I have note yet heard one note of this disc. So if you grab it off the old iDisk let me know what you all think.

This post updated while listening to Aramis Ramirez hit a grad slam against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Theme Time Radio Hour #5

As I mentioned before I would post Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour as I found them. Unfortunately it has not been as easy as I originally thought. Nor have I been as resourceful as I could be. Needless to say I have found Bob's Theme Time Radio Hour #5. The theme this week is coffee. I am about half way through it right now. Now if I can just find hours 2, 3, and 4.

This post updated while listening to Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour # 5 (Black Coffee in Bed by Squeeze).

****UPDATE AS OF 10:00 AM*****
I have found the reamining Theme Time Radio Hours. Hopefully this site will stay up for awhile. I am in the processing of downloading them right now. I will post them in a bit.

Updated while listening to Burned by Wilco