I AM FUEL, YOU ARE FRIENDS

...we've got the means to make amends. I am lost, I'm no guide, but I'm by your side. (Pearl Jam, Leash)

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Odds & ends

Every so often I wind up with a large enough collection of random interesting ephemera, and I believe it may be of interest to you guys as well. So here's what's perking up my brain and ears lately.

۞ I was reading an article in the paper this morning about dyslexia, and I kept thinking of this new shirt from Busted Tees and chuckling:


۞ As a longtime member of the Pearl Jam fanclub (and a fan of the club itself - those folks are good people), I thought this interview yesterday in the Seattle Weekly with Ten Club ringmaster Tim Bierman was an interesting read. Talk about a dream job, even with all the weirdos he no doubt has to reckon with. [via]


۞ This may be old news to ye hardcore My Morning Jacket fans (by the way, I recently pondered the question of what, exactly, is a morning jacket? Like . . . a bathrobe?), but the Louisville reverb-rock band are releasing some demos on June 11: The At Dawn/Tennessee Fire Demos Package is a reissue of out-of-print material on Darla Records. Sounds cool.


۞ Lucero had a fantastic, urgent winner of an album last year in my book with their Rebels, Rogues and Sworn Brothers. Frontman Ben Nichols has contributed a dirty new blues track called "Dog Day Night" to the Arkansas Compilation CD (pictured left), available now from Thick Syrup Records. Sort of a Black Keys meets Thorogood-vibe. Nichols also scored the new film Shotgun Stories, written by his brother, which just rocked the Tribeca Film Fest. It was recommended to me based on my interest in Hud (and, really, anything gritty with Paul Newman).


۞ I've loved author Cormac McCarthy ever since Mr. Hanford assigned me All The Pretty Horses for a 10th grade book report. McCarthy's recent book was called No Country for Old Men [see my review here] and somehow the fact that the Coen Brothers were turning it into a film completely eluded me until recently. Here's an unofficial trailer cut from Cannes clips:



۞ The Onion makes me laugh again. As usual.
Kentucky DMV Introduces Game Of Chicken To Driver's Test


۞ The excellent repository of exclusive live indie performances Daytrotter just keeps truckin along with great music. Recently (in addition to The Broken West and Voxtrot) they had DC area musician Benjy Ferree on to perform four ace songs. I still am just not tired of the infectious "In The Countryside." And I mean infectious in a good way -- not like, say, drug-resistant TB in Denver hospitals.

Mason Jennings :: Boulder tomorrow night

Looking for a good show tomorrow night? Of course you are.

Mason Jennings is coming to Boulder's Fox Theatre this Friday with Ferraby Lionheart (that's a fairytale character, right?) and Patrick Park. Mason is growing into a favorite of mine, with a sound that is alternately described as folk-rock-pop, protest-funk-rock . . . etc etc etc. I just call it some of the most fun you can have with an acoustic guitar, a bass, and some fat drum beats.

He's got a wonderfully organic do-it-yourself ethic, from the home-recorded first album, to the forming of his own record label (Architect Records) so that he could release "his music, his way." Now signed to Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock's Glacial Pace label, Mason is still blending introspective, poetic lyrics with inventive and soulful acoustic musicianship.

In the next few days here, I'll have some good interviewin' with Mason to share with you guys -- so brush up now by coming to see him live (TIX):

Living In The Moment - Mason Jennings

Nothing (live) - Mason Jennings
(from the Living In The Moment EP)

Fighter Girl (b-side) - Mason Jennings
(from the If You Need A Reason EP)

Oh Susannah - Mason Jennings
(from the Down By The Riverside comp)

Angeles - Mason Jennings
(Elliott Smith cover, 2/13/04)


BONUS:
California (Mason Jennings cover) - The Kooks


MASON JENNINGS TOUR DATES
Jun 1 Fox Theatre - Boulder, Colorado
Jun 2 In The Venue - Salt Lake City, Utah
Jun 4 Neumo's - Seattle, Washington
Jun 5 Aladdin Theatre - Portland, Oregon
Jun 7 Bimbo's 365 Club - San Francisco, California
Jun 8 Catalyst Club - Santa Cruz, California
Jun 9 Malibu Inn - Malibu, California
Jun 10 House of Blues - San Diego, California
Jun 12 Rialto Theatre - Tucson, Arizona
Jun 13 Santa Fe Brewing Co - Sante Fe, New Mexico
Jun 15 House of Blues, Cambridge Room - Dallas, Texas
Jun 16 Antone's - Austin, Texas


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Wednesday, May 30, 2007

New b-side from Jesse Malin :: Sister Christian (Where Are You Now?)

If you really want to be honest, I think we've all asked ourselves about the current whereabouts of characters from various '80s hair metal power ballads. Jesse Malin is no different than you and I.

This morning he posits the question to all of us: Sister Christian, where are you now? Night Ranger never sounded like this (although the 'Mats did). This is a b-side off Malin's new Broken Radio single (UK), and has that same anthemic rock and roll sound as the rest of the excellent Glitter In The Gutter album. Aside from some incongruous time-shifting in his lyrics here (he is alternately born in 1973, 1984, 1968, 1932) he also manages a few vivid couplets like, "foolin' around in the dark / back from college with carnal knowledge" and talks a lot about rocking - keep on moving, keep on grooving.

The first anthem of my summer.

Sister Christian Where Are You Now (new b-side) - Jesse Malin

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NYC's Hymns on tour now

I first heard of Hymns when guitarist Jason Roberts played with Ben Kweller's band and passed me their CD after the show. I caught them playing with The Lemonheads & VietNam a few months later, and have really enjoyed their album. See previous little interview dealie here.

They've announced a slew of tour dates starting this Friday in Texas. Check 'em out if you can, they put on a good live show.

Stop Talking - Hymns

[plus download a few cool live tracks on their site here]

HYMNS ON TOUR
June
01- Austin, TX- Momo's
02- Houston, TX- Meridian Red Room
03- Dallas, TX- Double Wide Bar
04- Denton, TX- J&J's Pizza
06- Albuquerque, NM- Atomic Cantina
08- Las Vegas, NV- Vegas Divebar
10- Phoenix, AZ- Modified Arts
11- Los Angeles, CA- Viper Room
12- Long Beach, CA- The Prospector
14- Costa Mesa, CA- Detroit Bar
16- Portland, OR- The Tonic Lounge
17- San Francisco, CA- The Hotel Utah Saloon
19- Salt Lake City, UT- Kilby Court
20- Denver, CO- Three Kings Tavern
23- Minneapolis, MN- 400 Bar
24- Racine, MI- Macauliffe's Pub
26- Chicago, IL- Double Door
27- Cincinnati, OH- The Gypsy Hut
28- Detroit, MI- TBA
29- Indianapolis, IN- Radio Radio
30- Philadelphia, PA- North Star Bar

July
03- Cambridge, MA- Middle East Upstairs
05- New York, NY- Piano's
07- Norfolk, VA- The Boot
08- Boone, NC- Black Cat
11- Charlotte, NC- The Evening Muse
12- Atlanta, GA- The Earl
15- Jacksonville, FL- Jack Rabbits

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Monday, May 28, 2007

Ten years gone: Jeff Buckley


"So I wait for you
And I burn
Will I ever see your
sweet return?

Oh, will I ever learn?"


Ten years ago tomorrow (May 29, 1997) Jeff Buckley decided to go for a swim in the Wolf River, laid on his back and began floating while he sang "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin. Quickly, stealthily, and tragically the currents sucked him in and pulled him under.

Ten years.

Ten years ago Wednesday I was sitting at the kitchen table in my parents' house in California reading the morning newspaper and probably having coffee, getting ready for one of my last few weeks of my senior year before graduating high school. Stuck at the very bottom of a sidebar with mundane news briefs of the day was this short blurb saying that folk-rock singer Jeff Buckley had been reported missing following a swim.

Such a small news bit; such a huge crashing sound in my ears. I remember exclaiming out loud, and calling my mom over; I had been deeply in love with his music for a year or so at that point, and felt this crazy urge to get on a plane and help the search efforts, or at the very least I wanted more information, something more to go on that just "he's missing." Today I could probably clickety-click to a live streaming news feed from the muddy banks, but then all I had to go on was a half-inch of sterile newsprint.

My answers came a few days later when his beautiful body showed up bloated and bruised in the waters at the foot of historic Beale Street in Memphis.


The story was over. The one finished album, the masterpiece, would have to be enough.

I wonder what ground he would have travelled, and what he would have created had he lived. By all accounts, Jeff's musical creativity was unbounded, and I've heard for myself the joy in his voice when he was doing what he was manically driven to do: create, perform, create.

In retrospect, Jeff is not the kind of artist I would have thought to fall in love with. At that time in my life, I was all about brooding, rocking, loud music. I guess Grace had enough of that to entice me in (through songs like "Eternal Life") and then, like the nectar at the bottom of a venus flytrap, I was ensnared, but happily.

In searching through my old news clippings for this post, I found an old press release with a listing of tour dates from 1994. He came through San Francisco on November 20. I wonder what else I was doing that night, my sophomore year of high school. Maybe I just place him higher on a pedestal than I should because I've built up in my mind what it would have been like to see him live, breathless, glowing. But maybe not.

Jeff is quoted in that press release as saying, "I'm really into flying. I don't care about being a gospel singer or a blues singer per se, but elements of that music are keys to my subconscious. When I sing something like that--if I do it right--it's like a weird snake that will get in you and unlock something. If I wasn't able to do this, I think I would really lay down and die.

"Music comes from a very primal, twisted place. When a person sings, their body, their mouth, their eyes, their words, their voice says all these unspeakable things that you really can't explain but that mean something anyway. People are completely transformed when they sing; people look like that when they sing or when they make love. But it's a weird thing--at the end of the night I feel strange, because I feel I've told everybody all my secrets."

Those 'secrets' of his still affect me more powerfully than almost any other artist with that soaring, gorgeous, fearless, devastating voice.

I miss you, Jeff.


Lover You Should Have Come Over (alternate version)
From the Eternal Life single

I Know It's Over (Smiths cover) - Jeff Buckley
from the so-called "Garbage Can Tape," circa 1993

I Shall Be Released - Jeff Buckley
collaborative Dylan cover, live over the phone with WFMU radio. Arresting, gorgeous - NOW ON CD: please see this post to buy it for a good cause!

Satisfied Mind - Jeff Buckley

TRIBUTES: There are a wide variety of tribute events taking place for Jeff. His website lists ones upcoming in Hollywood, London, Louisiana, Iceland, Georgia, Macedonia, Boston, Dublin, Melbourne, and Paris. The Uncommon Grounds Chicago event is scheduled for November. I went to one in San Francisco at Noe Valley Ministry several years back, and it was surprisingly transcendent.

Related posts (all links reupped where needed):
The story behind Jeff covering Dylan
Tribute songs penned about Jeff
Jeff Buckley and Aimee Mann
Rarities from NYC
Jeff channels his father
Video: Jeff singing Satisfied Mind
Some live covers from Jeff

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Monday Music Roundup

So what, exactly, do you get the dog that has everything? I almost spit my coffee in laughter/disbelief the other morning when I came across this site (a link from dooce) -- Neuticles. Apparently these little silicone delights "allow your pet to retain his natural look, self esteem and aids in the trauma associated with neutering." If that doesn't just beat it all. Good thing I don't have to worry about decisions like that; although I am definitely a dog person, pets are just too much work for me right now. I consistently and methodically kill plants. I sometimes leave groceries in the car (meat. mmmmm.). I horrifically shrink wool sweaters by putting them in the washing machine. I don't think I have time to worry about testicular implants. Anyways. I don't really have a point other than . . . wtf?

Changing gears completely (thankfully), here are some new tunes to please your ears.

Aftermath
The Alternate Routes
I am completely in love with this new album from The Alternate Routes: Good and Reckless and True (Vanguard Records). I've been listening to it all weekend and from the first notes I smiled, and kept at it all the way through. They've got a warm, expansive, alt-pop-americana sound with hints that remind me of The Damnwells or Whiskeytown -- and speaking of Ryan Adams, current Cardinals drummer Brad Pemberton pitches in on the skins here as well. Solid songwriting and incisive lyricism, a highly recommended new album. I'll be talking more about them, I'm sure.

Either Way (featuring Mike Skinner of The Streets)
The Twang
Stereogum calls bollocks on this group, but I find myself rather liking this ditty in a summer-fun way. The video starts out promising, all froliciking on a rocky British beach, but ends up a bit like the goofy-looking kids from high school who got a hold of dad's camcorder while drinking. Either way, I can always do a little bit of Mike Skinner's rhymes, notwithstanding his odd penchant for wearing rainbow striped sweaters.


All The Way Down
Glen Hansard
This is from the rootsy-melancholy soundtrack to the new movie Once which is in select theaters now after wowing everyone at Sundance. Glen Hansard (of Ireland's The Frames) stars in the film as an art-imitating-life busker on the streets of Dublin, and wrote the evocative soundtrack. I haven't seen the movie yet, but readers tell me I must. This hushed song is in a similar vein to countrymate/tour companion/duetter Damien Rice, or maybe Josh Ritter. Good stuff.

Reunion
Jason Collett covering Stars
This tune is labelled as being by lush-indie-popsters Stars (whom I adore), but it's from their new remix album Do You Trust Your Friends, and is completely reinvented by friend and Broken Social Scenester Jason Collett. He delightfully turns it into something rollicking and loose, with a funky beat and fatty bass line that would be marvelous live. The Stars remix album is out now on Canada's Arts & Crafts label, and I also still recommend the impetus behind the remix album, 2005's Set Yourself On Fire.


Ghost of An Afternoon
Dave Fischoff
Independent musician Dave Fischoff labors from his small Chicago apartment/closet studio, weaving together sound samples that he has created himself and culled from the vast Chicago Public Library collection of sounds. You can hear his concentration in listening to the world around him, absorbing sounds and ideas, incorporating his own. They become melded together here on his album The Crawl -- one touch Postal Service with threads of '60s pop and orchestral strings. You can stream his whole album here and buy it from label Secretly Canadian.

PS - Comments turned on. That was an accident.

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Saturday, May 26, 2007

Your '90s Nostalgia summer tour

Counting Crows is heading out on the road this summer in support of their new album coming out this fall, which is in the mixing stages at the moment. They will be reprising their double bill with Live -- I saw this same pairing on the tour for This Desert Life at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, and that was just when Ed Kowalczyk was hitting his full rap-rock stride (complete with crotch-gesturing, which he has now perfected into a veritable art form).

It was actually a really good show (I remember Adam running out on stage to sing with Ed on "Dolphin's Cry" and I think Ed returned the favor during the Crows' set as well). If they announce another leg of this tour (nothing this far West yet) I will probably go if it isn't too expensive.

You know I love Counting Crows, and have never really grown tired of Live. I absolutely wore out their Throwing Copper album in high school, and even though Secret Samadhi was a little uneven, they struck gold again my book with The Distance To Here. I just love their strong and soaring, melodic-rock sound.

Collective Soul and Third Eye Blind will also be joining the tour for most dates. I don't especially ascribe to either of these groups (which is why I only have covers from them to post below), but allegedly the lead singer of 3EB is a foxy, foxy man in concert. Duritz writes, "What you may not know is that on Saturday, May 21st, 1994, Third Eye Blind played their 1st show ever, opening for Counting Crows at the historic Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. We've never toured with Collective Soul before, but we've played festivals together and...well, they're just a great band."

The tour will be hitting minor-league ballparks across the nation in smaller towns and communities (speaking of which - I am going to a Colorado Sky Sox game tomorrow on a package with free food and free beer until the 7th inning . . . no better way to spend Memorial Day? ). This is an interesting idea for a tour -- and just in case there was any lingering question who the primary audience now is for Counting Crows, children under 12 are free at all shows on this tour. Ha.

Einstein On The Beach - Counting Crows
They Stood Up For Love - Live
Train in Vain (Clash cover) - Third Eye Blind
Jealous Guy (Lennon cover) - Collective Soul


COUNTING CROWS SUMMER TOUR
July 22nd - Daniel S. Frawley Stadium in Wilmington, DE

Home of the Blue Rocks
July 24th - Classic Park in Eastlake, OH
Home of the Lake County Captains
July 25th - Consol Energy Park in Washington, PA
Home of the Wild Things
July 27th - Fifth Third Field in Dayton, OH
Home of the Dragons
July 28th - Fifth Third Ballpark in Comstock Park, MI
Home of the West Michigan Whitecaps
July 31st - Jerry Uht Park in Erie, PA
Home of the Seawolves
August 1st - Dunne Tire Park in Buffalo, NY
Home of the Bisons
August 3rd - Louisville Slugger Field in Louisville, KY
Home of the Bats
August 4th - Victory Field in Indianapolis, IN
Home of the Indians
August 7th - GCS Ballpark in Sauget, IL
Home of the Gateway Grizzlies
August 8th - Drillers Stadium in Tulsa, OK
Home of the Drillers
August 10th - Sedalia, MOwithout Live/Collective Soul or 3EB
August 11th - Principal Park in Des Moines, IA
Home of the Iowa Cubs
August 14th - Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen, MD
Home of the Ironbirds
August 15th - Harry Grove Stadium in Frederick, MD
Home of the Keys
August 17th - MerchantsAuto.com Stadium in Manchester, NH
Home of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats
August 18th - New Britain Stadium in New Britain, CT
Home of the Rock Cats
August 21st - Blair County Ballpark in Altoona, PA
("all that moisture's gonna push off towards Altoona")
Home of the Curve
August 22nd - First Energy Park in Lakewood, NJ
Home of the BlueClaws
August 24th - McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, RI
Home of the Paw Sox
August 25th - Dutchess Stadium in Wappingers Falls, NY
Home of the Hudson Valley Renegades
August 27th - Syracuse, NYwithout Live/Collective Soul or 3EB
August 28th - Allentown, PA- without Live/Collective Soul or 3EB
August 30th - Memorial Stadium in Ft. Wayne, IN
Home of the Wizards
September 1st - Midway Stadium in St. Paul, MN
Home of the Saints
September 2nd - Newman Outdoor Field in Fargo, ND
Home of the Redhawks

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Friday, May 25, 2007

Spiderman winner and a sweeeet new giveaway from Brushfire Records

I didn't forget about that Spiderman 3 soundtrack contest -- you guys thought of some freaky superpowers. I think Ali's was closest to my own heart, although if I had this superpower I would be ridiculously sleep-deprived from going to a concert every single night, somewhere in the world:

At May 14, 2007 12:12 PM, Ali said...
The superpower I wish I had would have to be the ability to Apparate (referencing the magical Harry Potter-isms), to appear somewhere else (like a pete yorn concert, for instance) *snap* just like that. anytime, anywhere, whenever. no plane tickets, rental cars or luggage necessary.


Ali, please email me your address and I'll get your soundtrack prize pack sent. Thanks for playing!


NEW CONTEST -- and this one may be my favorite yet.

I am a hearty fan of the laid-back quality tunes on Jack Johnson's Brushfire Records label (formerly The Moonshine Conspiracy Records), which was started in 2002 as an offshoot to the surf film collaborative Woodshed Films. Jack birthed this idea in 1998 with Emmett and Chris Malloy during the creation of the surf film Thicker Than Water, and since then they've released soundtracks to several like-minded films, and built up a roster of artists whom I unfailingly enjoy.

So, I recently came across a new bright green Matt Costa t-shirt that I picked up in a schwag bag at a conference last year and it gave me the idea for this new contest. Thanks to the good folks at Brushfire, one random winner will get a fine smattering of the entire artist catalog:

1 Matt Costa CD [previously on Fuel]
1 Money Mark CD [previously on Fuel]
1 ALO CD [previously on Fuel]
1 G. Love CD [previously on Fuel]
1 Jack Johnson CD (your choice)
1 XL Matt Costa t-shirt
1 signed Matt Costa poster


Leave your name and email address (and some pleasant words or a joke or something if you want to make me smile too) in the comments and I will pick one lucky person next Friday.

Let It Be Sung - Jack Johnson w/ Matt Costa & Zach Gill of ALO

Rainbow - Jack Johnson and G. Love

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Thursday, May 24, 2007

Ryan Adams Down In A Hole, and two new songs from Easy Tiger

Moderate apologies for the punny picture (I couldn't resist), but I nearly fell out of my chair the other night when I read reports that Ryan Adams had spiced up his Kingston, NY set with an acoustic cover of Alice in Chains' "Down In A Hole." AIC? No one covers AIC, but they had a proprietary chunk of my musical heart back in 1993 when I first started to get into, shall we say, decent music. Before AIC and Pearl Jam I was trapped in a world of oldies (which actually comes in handy now, since I can sing along with most any tune on the AM radio), Bel Biv Devoe, and Petra.

In any case, Alice in Chains has aged moderately well for me and they've certainly got some evocative lyrics and construction behind even their heaviest scream-tastic stuff, more readily apparent in their duo of fantastic EPs, SAP and Jar of Flies.

Down In A Hole (Alice in Chains cover) - Ryan Adams
(alternate Savefile link)

Down In A Hole - Alice In Chains (from Dirt)

Got Me Wrong - Alice in Chains (from SAP)

Don't Follow - Alice in Chains (from Jar of Flies)


AND - these just hit my inbox, so I'll throw 'em on here too: Two new tracks from Easy Tiger, coming out June 26th. It's nice to hear a non-radio-rip of Two, and Everybody Knows is growing on me in a big way:

Two - Ryan Adams

Everybody Knows - Ryan Adams

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International Talk Like Bob Dylan Day

While probably not as much fun as Talk Like A Pirate Day (and a heck of a lot more mumbly), today is the day someone decided to christen International Talk Like Bob Dylan Day.

Seriously -- it's the moment this guy has been waiting on for months:

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Wednesday, May 23, 2007

The Black Keys :: Free live EP, just because they love you

Hey Black Keys fans (yes, I'm talking to you): Those who find themselves enamored with the dirty, gritty, minimalistic blues-rock of this Akron, Ohio duo can let out a whoop of thanks for the live 4-track EP they just posted up for download at their MySpace. All the lovin of good new live tunes, for free. Don't you wish every band would sate us this way?

You can get the tunes there or you can get it mirrored here:

No Trust (live) - The Black Keys
Recorded at The Troubador in LA on 9/13/06 by Dan Auerbach - Mixed by Dan Auerbach


Girl Is On My Mind (live) - The Black Keys
Recorded at The Troubador in LA on 9/13/06 by Dan Auerbach - Mixed by Dan Auerbach

10am Automatic (live) - The Black Keys
Recorded at the Mercy Lounge in Nashville on 12/15/2006 by Wilton J. Wall, Jr. - Mixed by Patrick Carney

Elevator (live) - The Black Keys
Recorded at the Mercy Lounge in Nashville on 12/15/2006 by Wilton J. Wall, Jr. - Mixed by Patrick Carney

THE BLACK KEYS WANT TO ROCK YOU
Jun 13 Cain's Ballroom - Tulsa, Oklahoma
Jun 15 Bonnaroooooooo - Manchester, Tennessee
Jun 16 La Zona Rosa - Austin, Texas
Jun 17 Warehouse Live - Houston, Texas
Jun 18 Lonestar Pavilion at Sunset - San Antonio, Texas
Jun 19 The Ridglea Theater - Dallas, Texas
Jun 21 Tabernacle - Atlanta, Georgia
Jun 22 City Hall - Nashville, Tennessee
Jun 24 The Vogue - Indianapolis, Indiana
Jun 25 Agora Theatre - Cleveland, Ohio
Jun 26 Majestic Theater - Detroit, Michigan
Jun 28 First Avenue - Minneapolis, Minnesota
Aug 3 Lollapalooza - Chicago, Illinois

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Indeed: how a resurrection really feels

"he likes the warm feeling but he's tired of all the dehydration.
most nights were crystal clear but tonite
its like it's stuck between stations"

The Hold Steady were all I had expected and more. We walked into the hot, loud club just as the opening notes of Stuck Between Stations was starting, and I felt a crackle of electricity run through my nerves to my fingertips. I came with really high expectations and Craig Finn pretty much singlehandedly fulfilled each one. To be completely honest, words like "salvation" and "rock and roll redemption" kept flitting across my mind as I watched this band pour every ounce of themselves into each song they created for us with raging ferocity and heartfelt passion.

I didn't take any pictures or video because I was too involved to be bothered. But the picture that kept echoing in my mind was what I had written about Josh Ritter, another amazing performer:

"Ritter is also a rare, rare performer in his obvious ebullience to be performing. As he weaves his intricate, literate songs on stage, he overflows with each lyric as if he were birthing every line afresh for the first time. There is no sense of a rote performance, and no indication that he's sung some of these hundreds of times. Instead, he radiates a palpable joy and a sense of barely-contained anticipation with each word that comes out."

Finn made me think of these things, except -- his exuberance in performing is multiplied by a factor of 4,354. It's as if all the molecules of his being are spinning in a fury of musical joy, barely and not-even-completely contained by his skin from flying out into a million directions. Instead of a gradual dawning of the birth of a lyric, it's an atomic bomb. He gestures, he spits, he jumps as he shouts out the lyrics. He dances these slightly uncool jigs without caring that folks just don't do that anymore. The rest are all too hip. He doesn't care. This is music, their music, their lifeblood pouring out for the joy of the moment.


we had some massive nights
every song was right
all that wine was tight

we had some massive highs
we had some crushing lows
we had some lusty little crushes
we had those all ages hardcore matinee shows.


Go, ye, and be saved.


HOLD STEADY TOUR DATES
5.23.07 Salt Lake City UT Urban Lounge
5.24.07 Boise ID Neurolux
5.26.07 George WA Gorge Amphitheatre Sasquatch Fest
5.28.07 Portland OR Crystal Ballroom
5.30.07 San Francisco CA Slim's
5.31.07 Los Angeles CA El Rey Theatre
6.1.07 San Diego CA Cane's Ballroom
6.2.07 Phoenix AZ Brick House
6.3.07 Las Vegas NV Beauty Bar (FREE SHOW)
6.4.07 Tucson AZ Plush
6.7.07 Houston TX Walter's on Washington
6.8.07 Austin TX Emo's
6.9.07 Denton TX Hailey's
6.10.07 Norman OK Opolis
6.11.07 Little Rock AR Sticky Fingerz Chicken Shack
6.12.07 Columbia MO Blue Note
6.14.07 Ashville NC Grey Eagle Music Hall
6.16.07 Manchester TN Bonnaroo Festival Grounds Bonnaroo Festival
6.23.07 GER Soutside Festival
6.24.07 GER Hurrican Festival
6.27.07 NOR Hove Festival
6.30.07 BEL Werchter Festival
7.2.07 London UK Shepherds Bush Empire
7.4.07 Portsmouth UK Wedgewood Rooms
7.5.07 Manchester UK Academy 2
8.4.07 Chicago IL Lollapalooza

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Colorado gets our own rad music festival

Okay fellow Coloradoans, get yourselves ready for a brand new festival bringing some top notch talent to our scenic red rocks this September 14th and 15th. The Monolith Festival has announced a lineup with several bands I am jumping to see this fall. I am about this close to throwing my hat into the press ring and being there for all this action. Here's who makes my top list:

Kings of Leon [here's why]
Cake [here's why]
Flaming Lips
Spoon
The Broken West
[here's why]
The Decemberists
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Born In The Flood
Gregory Alan Isakov
[here's why]


Full lineup here, with more acts to be announced. Tix onsale June 2. Wahoo!

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Monday, May 21, 2007

Just hold it steady, will ya?

I am thoroughly excited to be seeing The Hold Steady tomorrow (Tuesday) night at the Ogden Theatre in Denver, as everyone who sees their live show comes back fairly glowing. Last year's Boys and Girls in America is a solid, lyrically dense, interesting rocker of an album, but I really started getting excited about buying a ticket for the Denver show when I saw the video of Craig Finn performing at Carnegie Hall for the Springsteen tribute:

Now that's what rock and roll is supposed to both look and feel like.

I also read a very good snapshot interview with The Hold Steady in Paste Magazine on the airplane this afternoon. I recommend the whole article, but here's a snippet that made me smile:

It’s awfully easy (and somewhat fun) to get tangled up in The Hold Steady’s Midwestern mythos— the band’s aesthetic is straightforward (brews, devil horns, guitars, good times) but not simplistic (Finn’s lyrics are near-prophetic), and they’ve cultivated, however inadvertently, a certain working-class appeal (see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, The Hold Steady’s most obvious predecessor). They’re the band you go see when you feel like getting drunk on PBR, dancing and then loitering outside the venue, eating crappy pizza on the curb; they embody the half-tragic, half-ecstatic American adolescence every 33-year-old with a desk job wants desperately to re-live.

In some ways, their appeal is as much about escapism—a return to teen-dom, to making out with a friend and hunting down parties in the woods—as anything else. I hold up a stack of press clippings and tell Finn I’m tempted to highlight every instance of the word “beer.” Finn grins, surveys the drained mugs littering our table, and raises his eyebrows. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he deadpans.


While I was reading the article somewhere over Arizona, I also listened to a handful of related b-sides and live tracks assembled by my friend Tom and scavenged in various locations.

Enjoy these, and come out to the show tomorrow:

Curves and Nerves (b-side) - The Hold Steady

Stuck Between Stations (acoustic) - The Hold Steady
I just love these lyrics

Against The Wind (Bob Seger cover) - The Hold Steady



FROM THE
LIVE AT FINGERPRINTS EP

(links removed: you can still buy it here!)


THE BROKERDEALER

And here's an interesting collection: Craig Finn's old band The Brokerdealer, which may be likened, at least on these tracks, to Finn's own Postal Service project. All electronica and club-beats, but those same biting, poetic lyrics.

Give Me Back My Body - The Brokerdealer

If Not For Hipster Pictures - The Brokerdealer

The Last Ones Up Became Lovers - The Brokerdealer



THERE'S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL
And finally a soundtrack to the season: If you're a baseball fan like I am, you should read this lovely piece from the Portland Mercury with Craig Finn ruminating on the connections between music & baseball, recording "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" for his beloved Twins, and how he saw Paul Westerberg at spring training.

Take Me Out To The Ballgame - The Hold Steady


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The angels love you more :: Broken Radio video

I am still in San Diego today, so no Monday Music Roundup will be coming. I've gotten to speak Italian to a group of folks outside the San Diego Museum of Art, meet a British guy named Usher holding a tiny Pomeranian, bowl and drink beer with my dad, and maybe if I'm lucky I'll get a patdown at the airport this afternoon. Oh, and also I got to see my little brother graduate college, which was awesome.

This video is all the music content I can swing this morning, it's Jesse Malin's new song "Broken Radio," off Glitter in the Gutter, which is really a beautiful tune. It stars Bruce Springsteen and the parts with both of them were just recorded a few weeks ago at Bruce's house/farm/studio in Colt's Neck, NJ:



Jesse has foxy eyemakeup. That's better than mine most days.

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Friday, May 18, 2007

"Love Is A Mix Tape" mix tape

Love Is A Mix Tape just absolutely knocked my socks off.

I devoured this book in one weekend and enjoyed every single page, heartily. This is ostensibly a book about mix tapes, and looking back at a life spent seeing the world in a series of 45-minute vignettes (then, of course, you flip the tape over). Rob Sheffield has penned an honest (yet wildly entertaining) book that affected me more deeply than any book I've read in recent memory, woven throughout with a genuine and bleeding love for music. It's electric.

The meta-theme of the book is great love, great loss, and the soundtrack: his relationship and marriage to Renee, a girl who he says was "in the middle of everything, living her big, messy, epic life, and none of us who loved her will ever catch up with her." Rob loved Renee, and chronicles that here beautifully from their first meeting to her sudden death at 31.

Parts of the book are evisceratingly intimate. Sometimes I felt almost too close to his darkest and most intimate moments, and it's hard to phrase this right but -- because I knew so much of the music that weaves throughout their stories, I almost felt like I had a personal stake. I kept thinking that it was surprising to find a story so real and honest and intimate when I initially picked this up because, duh, it's about mix tapes.

If you don't like reading about other people's love stories, you should still 100% read this book. Renee was his muse, but his passion (and hers) is thoroughly and unabashedly music -- and there is some absolutely fantastic stuff in here. He writes of their relationship, "We had nothing in common, except we both loved music. It was the first connection we had, and we depended on it to keep us together. We did a lot of work to meet in the middle. Music brought us together." They were both music writers and radio DJs, they fell in love hard and married young. They made lots and lots of fabulous mix tapes, and each chapter begins with a reprinted tracklist from one cassette from that era in their lives.

This is a man after my own heart. How could I do anything but love a man who starts chapter 14 with: "Every time I have a crush on a woman, I have the same fantasy: I imagine the two of us as a synth-pop duo." He goes on to elaborate how she is in the front ("tossing her hair, a saucy little firecracker"), stealing the show and he is hidden in the back behind his Roland JP8000 keyboard, "lavishing all my computer blue love on her."He even lists all the best band names he's come up with for their synth-pop duo: Metropolitan Floors, Indulgence, Angela Dust.

And you should hear him wax poetic about mix tapes. Be still my heart. Rob writes, "There are all kinds of mix tapes. There is always a reason to make one." He then gives his examples:
The Party Tape
I Want You
We're Doing It? Awesome!
You Like Music, I Like Music, I Can Tell We're Going To Be Friends
You Broke My Heart And Made Me Cry and Here Are Twenty or Thirty Songs About It
The Road Trip
Good Songs From Bad Albums I Never Want To Play Again

. . . and many more. "There are millions of songs in the world," he writes, "and millions of ways to connect them into mixes. Making the connections is part of the fun of being a fan." The book starts with Sheffield pulling out a box of old tapes and all throughout the book --from his childhood school dance recollections, to the first mixes he can remember making for Renee, to the ones that accompanied him in the dark days and months following her death-- the mix tapes and the songs are as much characters in this story as the actual people are.

Since each of us have our own completely sovereign and self-focused memories surrounding our favorite bands and favorite songs (the unique feelings, smells, companions, activities associated with them), there is something that I just find so ebullient about "seeing" all these bands and songs through the unique rubric of their lives.

Take this amazing passage about their first Pavement concert (summer 1991):

The night of the show, the floor was abuzz with anticipation. None of us in the crowd knew what Pavement looked like, or even who was in the band. They put out mysterious seven-inch singles without any band info or photos, just credits for instruments like "guitar slug," "psued-piano gritt-gitt," "keybored," "chime scheme," and "last crash simbiosis." We assumed that they were manly and jaded, that they would stare at the floor and make abstract boy noise. That would be a good night out.

Royal Trux went on a few hours late, which I'm sure had nothing to do with buying drugs in Richmond. They were great, like a scuzz-rock Katrina and the Waves. The peroxide girl in the football jersey jumped around and screamed while the boy with the scary home-cut bangs played his guitar and tried to stay out of her way. She threw a cymbal at him. We wanted to take them home for a bath, a hot meal, and a blood change.

But Pavement was nothing at all like we pictured them. They were a bunch of foxy dudes, and they were into it. As soon as they hit the stage, you could hear all the girls in the crowd ovulate in unison. There were five or six of them up there, some banging on guitars, some just clapping their hands or singing along. They did not stare at the floor. They were there to make some noise and have some fun. They had fuzz and feedback and unironically beautiful sha-la-la melodies. The bassist looked just like Renee's high school boyfriend. Stephen Malkmus leaned into the mike, furrowed his brows, and sang lyrics like, "I only really want you for your rock and roll" or "When I fuck you once it's never enough / When I fuck you two times it's always too much." The songs were all either fast or sad, because all songs should either be fast or sad. Some of the fast ones were sad, too.

Afterward, we staggered to the parking lot in total silence. When we got to the car, Renee spoke up in a mournful voice: "I don't think The Feelies are ever gonna be good enough again."

Our friend Joe in New York sent us a tape, a third-generation dub of the Pavement album Slanted and Enchanted. Renee and I decided this was our favorite tape of all time. The guitars were all boyish ache and shiver. The vocals were funny bad poetry sung through a Burger World drive-through mike. The melodies were full of surfer-boy serenity, dreaming through a haze of tape hiss and mysterious amp noise. This was the greatest band ever, obviously. And they didn't live twenty years ago, or ten years ago, or even five years ago. They were right now. They were ours.

I think about those days, and I think about a motto etched onto the sleeve of one of those Pavement singles: I AM MADE OF BLUE SKY AND HARD ROCK AND I WILL LIVE THIS WAY FOREVER.


--------------------------------------------------------------
I know this is getting long (who cares) but as I read this passage on that recent sunny Sunday afternoon, I was mightily moved by the gorgeousness and the raw emotion that I think we all can relate to. Or at least . . . that we all wish we could relate to.

Renee and I spent a lot of time that fall driving in her Chrysler, the kind of mile wide ride southern daddies like their girls to drive around in. She would look out the window and say, "It's sunny, let's go driving" -- and then we'd actually do it. She loved to hit the highway and would say things like, "Let's open 'er up." Or we would just drive aimlessly in the Blue Ridge mountains. She loved to take sharp corners, something her grandpa had taught her back in West Virginia. He could steer with just one index finger on the wheel. I would start to feel a little dizzy as the roads started to twist at funny angles, but Renee would just accelerate and cackle, "We're shittin' in tall cotton now!"

We would always sing along to the radio. I was eager to be her full-time Pip, but I had a lot to learn about harmony. Whenever we tried "California Dreamin'," I could never remember whether I was the Mamas or the Papas. I had never sung duets before. She did her best to whip me into shape.

"They could never be!"
"What she was!"
"Was!"
"Was!"
"To!"
"To!"
"To!"
"No, no, damn it! I'm Oates!"
"I thought I was Oates."
"You started as Hall. You have to stay Hall."

We never resolved that dispute. We both always wanted to be Oates. Believe me, you don't want to hear the fights we had over England Dan and John Ford Coley.

Have you ever been in a car with a southern girl blasting through South Carolina when Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Call Me The Breeze" comes on the radio? Sunday afternoon, sun out, windows down, nowhere to hurry back to? I never had. I was twenty-three. Renee turned up the radio and began screaming along. Renee was driving. She always preferred driving, since she said I drove like an old Irish lady. I thought to myself, Well, I have wasted my whole life up to this moment. Any other car I've ever been in was just to get me here, any road I've ever been on was just to get me here. Any other passenger seat I've ever sat on, I was just riding here. I barely recognized this girl sitting next to me, screaming along to the piano solo.

I thought, There is nowhere else in the universe I would rather be at this moment. I could count the places I would not rather be. I've always wanted to see New Zealand, but I'd still rather be here. The majestic ruins of Machu Picchu? I'd rather be here. A hillside in Cuenca, Spain, sipping coffee and watching leaves fall? Not even close. There is nowhere else I could imagine wanting to be besides here in this car, with this girl, on this road, listening to this song. If she breaks my heart, no matter what hell she puts me through, I can say it was worth it, just because of right now. Out the window is a blur and all I can really hear is this girl's hair flapping in the wind, and maybe if we drive fast enough the universe will lose track of us and forget to stick us somewhere else.



LOVE IS A MIX TAPE - MIX TAPE
I am heading off to San Diego this weekend so I'll leave you guys with this, and I'll be listening to it too. Some new stuff, some old friends -- all these songs are assembled from the tapes listed in the book. Thanks to Rob for opening the vaults.

Call Me The Breeze - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Coax Me - Sloan
Slow Dog - Belly
Thirteen - Big Star
What You're Doing - The Beatles
Your Favorite Thing - Sugar
Fall On Me - R.E.M.
Debris Slide - Pavement
Supernova - Liz Phair

She's Gone - Hall & Oates
Sister Havana - Urge Overkill
God Knows It's True - Teenage Fanclub
Rougher - Lois (with Elliott Smith)
Houses In Motion - Talking Heads

Midnight Train To Georgia - Gladys Knight and The Pips
You Don't Love Me Yet - Roky Erickson
Gold Star For Robot Boy - Guided By Voices

Freezing Point - Archers of Loaf
Bang A Gong (Get It On) - T Rex
Questioningly - The Ramones

Waiting On A Friend - Rolling Stones

LOVE IS A ZIP FILE

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Thursday, May 17, 2007

Ryan Adams loves Jay-Z, cries at Bonnie Raitt, and doesn't have his driver's license

Ryan Adams' celebrity playlist hit the UK iTunes earlier this week. Whether he meant this list in seriousness or jest (?) I'll say it again, I love this man -- even if he listens to Linkin Park, I guess.

In related news, I think I will be seeing Ryan again at a new festival goin' on at Red Rocks on August 3rd (with --check this lineup-- Lucinda Williams, Old '97s, Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter, and Denver superstars DeVotchKa). Tickets onsale Saturday. Not a bad way to be introduced to Red Rocks - it'll be my first time at the hallowed grounds.

Who's in with me?

*****************
RYAN ADAMS: CELEBRITY PLAYLIST

Lost One - Jay Z
This is my favorite song (yes, song) of the year, maybe of all time. I listen to this every day when I leave home and hit the streets of the Big A - Manhattan representing or something . . .

Do You Believe In Rapture? - Sonic Youth
This is a band that will apparently never suck, and will have changed your life no matter what kind of music you listen to. This is some lovemaking music or go crazy music. Either way. Both.

"Hip Hop Is Dead" - Nas
Although I strongly disagree with the message of this song - because it's awesome - which would mean it - being hip hop - only suffered minor injuries. Mainly people not unlike myself having access to breakbeats. Ah, snap.

"Kingdom Come"- Jay Z
Man, this song made me almost get my license. I'm not lying. I started talking about it and everything because I wanted to jam this song in a car. People hate it when you jam songs in THEIR car too loud. So if he continues, I need a car and you people need to build a freeway in the forest for me where I cannot cause harm to others. I would press all the knobs in the car and mess with the seat and never get to the jam. Jay-Z is probably, in my opinion, the first person who should be allowed to perform in outer space and that is saying a lot.

"How To Save A Life" - The Fray
This is perfect songwriting and anybody that says otherwise is a jerk. Amazing hair-raising stuff. I would write songs like this if I had an attention span, but they would have more wizards, problems, and space references, etc . . .

"I Can't Make You Love Me" - Bonnie Raitt
Instant tears. Flawless. And a sick guitarist to boot who, I have to say, sorry, but is hotter than Martian asphalt.

"Don't Stop Believin'" - Journey
Don't worry Journey. Nobody will stop. Although Sartre would stop. Because it's all, you know, nothing.

"Numb" - Linkin Park
Amazing band, nice folks, kick-ass music. Everyone steals from them and they don't care. They still do it like it was yesterday and yesterday was tomorrow. Times five.

"Is It Any Wonder?" - Keane
This song really shook me to the core when I first heard it. I felt like the words were so on time and that the melody and meaning reminded me of that pain a person can feel right before it all goes up in smoke. Very beautiful and scary.

"Over the Mountain" - Ozzy Osbourne
I once listened to this album six times in a row in one evening. Alone. It was fucking great. The album, I mean.

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Slow on the uptake: M. Ward on Conan tonight

I got an email earlier today from Merge Records and just now got to it - but this sounds cool:

M. Ward will be performing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien TONIGHT Thursday, May 17th.

M. Ward will be joined by an impressive band of friends including Neko Case, Kelly Hogan, Jim James, Mike Coykendall, Than Luu, & Adam Selzer to perform "Chinese Translation" from Post-War

(note: my #1 last year!)

Don't miss this just-for-TV slice of musical magic positioned just a little later than what will no doubt be an action-packed season finale of The Office!


(Team Pam! Team Pam!)

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Zidane: the soundtrack (by Mogwai)

A surprise hit at the Cannes film festival last year, the film portrait of French footballer (aka soccer player) Zidane looks fascinating, and sounds even better. The instrumental score is by Mogwai (yep, originally named after the Gremlin) and impressed me in its lush sensuality and moody atmosphere.

Having not heard Glaswegian band Mogwai before (I'll admit, maybe not being up to the challenge of getting into an all-instrumental band) when this arrived in the mail I expected the soundtrack to be triumphant and rousing. You know, maybe like that one song they always play during the seventh-inning stretch with the thumping drums and the kazoo (doo doo-doo-doo-doo-doo HEY! duh-doo-doo-doo).

What I got instead was this gorgeous, sweeping soundtrack that conjures up images of floating away, drifting, or even drowning. There's a taut darkness strung through every song -- reminding me a bit of Massive Attack or the brooding melancholy of Jesus & Mary Chain. The album also definitely has its sexy moments, like the downtempo tension-filled scorchers on the Out of Sight soundtrack (trunk scene anyone?). It's richly layered, revealing new depth with each listen. I recommend it as one of the best soundtrack scores I've heard in a long time.

I also need to see this movie! One synopsis reads: "Follow one of the greatest soccer players of the modern era for a full 90-minute match between Real Madrid and Villareal. Scottish film director Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parenno exquisitely train 17 different 35mm cameras on one of this century's most creative athletes, Zinedine Zidane. While cameras capture Zidane in 'real time,' Gordon and Parenno's artfully crafted debut feature is anything but a typical sports movie."

I'll admit to villifying Zidane because of the way he acted in the World Cup (not that Materazzi was blameless) and because he was on "The Other Team" (I was wholeheartedly pazzo for Italia). However, I understand his talent and his legacy and should learn more about why he is so beloved. With a soundtrack like this, I think I would definitely enjoy the viewing.

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Wednesday, May 16, 2007

By each giving 100% as a team, together we can all achieve our summit

I just finished four hours at a mandatory teambuilding workshop, complete with Power Point slides and graphics of pyramids and color blocked charts illustrating our goals. It's four hours I can never get back. I don't want to pull a dooce here blogging too much about work, but hooo-whee. At a certain point, buzzwords about team dysfunctions, a culture of trust, and joint achievements just kinda stop sounding like real words and all kind of run together into humming. But at least we got a loosely-related fresh air inspirational video about a guy that took three attempts to summit Mount Everest. And he ultimately achieved it BECAUSE OF HIS TEAM. He let the Sherpa guide summit first! We never climb alone!

I volunteered to be blindfolded for the trust walk (yes, there was a trust walk) because I thought it would be kind of fun to tie on the silk scarf over my eyes and wander gropingly around the office (in my cute new wedge sandals), trying to not trip on anything. And the redemption finally came in that we actually got to watch a clip from The Office (US version). Now that's what I call a win-win-win situation.

[Demotivator poster courtesy of the wonderful Despair.com]

My featured eMusic playlist & Music Blogger Awards

Independent online music store eMusic is partnering with the new Music Blog Awards to see what you guys thought was the best music of the blog world in 2006.

A bunch of us bloggers were asked for our picks of the year (although not many of mine seem to have made it into the final voting options) and you guys finally get to have your say. It's fun to see what was nominated. The survey will command you in dictatorial tones to vote in every category, but if there is a category for which you feel ill-informed and you know you have no business voting in -- for me that was the rap categories -- I have discovered that you can select "Other" and put n/a. Y'all can VOTE HERE until June 15.

But wait, there's more.

The thing I am most excited about is that I've got a featured playlist now on eMusic, in conjunction with these awards!

If you vote and are new to eMusic, they give you the chance at the end of the survey to get 40 free tunes - so you could get my whole playlist, and have 20 left over for a binge. They really do have an excellent selection, almost everyone you could want, with non-protected mp3 files that work on any player. Me gusta.

So check it out, I experienced much joy in making this:


Featured playlist: I AM FUEL, YOU ARE FRIENDS
I could have picked hundreds of songs for this playlist out of the largesse I've found on eMusic, but instead I narrowed it down to 20 fantastic songs, all of which I love. Any of these artists and their catalogues deserve a closer look.

And even though this is an independent music site, I still managed to sneak in a guest vocal appearance by Eddie Vedder.

Figures.

*Dancing Song - Washington Social Club
(off Catching Looks)
*Hello Conscience - The Zutons
(off Help: A Day In The Life)
*Radio - Teenage Fanclub
(off Four Thousand, Seven Hundred and Sixty Seconds)
*Take A Walk - Spoon
(off Girls Can Tell)
*Good To Me - Brendan Benson
(off Lapalco)
*This Charming Man - Stars (Smiths cover)
(off A Lot Of Little Lies...)
*From The World Of The Lonely - Luce
(off Never Ending)
*My Favorite Mutiny - The Coup
(off Pick A Bigger Weapon)
*Disillusion - Badly Drawn Boy
(off Disillusion CD1)
*Sacred Heart - Deadstring Brothers
(off Starving Winter Report)
*Only Living Boy In New York - David Mead
(Simon & Garfunkel cover)
(off Everwood: Original Television Soundtrack)
*Southern Cross - Mason Jennings
(off Use Your Voice)
*I Don't Want To Know - Matthew Sweet
(off Kimi Ga Suki Raifu)
*Stuff and Nonsense - Neil Finn (with Eddie Vedder)
(off 7 Worlds Collide)
*Down In The Valley - The Brokedown (aka Broken West)
(off The Dutchman's Gold)
*Thirteen - Wilco (Big Star cover)
(off Big Star, Small World)
*Another One Goes By - The Walkmen
(off A Hundred Miles Off)
*The First Single - The Format
(off EP)
*The Emotional Kind - Superdrag
(off The Anniversary/Superdrag EP)
*Come Together - The Smokin Mojo Filters
(Paul Weller, Paul McCartney & Noel Gallagher, Beatles cover)
(off Help)

[Boo - I just noticed that they messed up my exquisite and intentional sequencing on the eMusic site. If you get the songs, you might humor me and drag and drop yourself an iTunes playlist with it in the right order. You and I will both feel so much better with the overall effect, I promise]

So, go ahead and vote if you like, and get my playlist so we can all rock simultaneously.


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