TerryB's MixTape

Not much to say

2011-10-08T18:23:00.000-07:00

I got this Birthday present in the mail this week:

The 13th Floor Elevators - Music of the Spheres (vinyl boxset being manufactured) from Charly Records on Vimeo.

Holy Shit! Thank you Julie!

This Mortal Coil, It'll End in Tears

2011-06-13T18:19:00.000-07:00

Okay, I should pull myself together and spit out some more of these review blurbs before my non-existent audience totally dries up. Picked up this little record at Buch Spieler last week. That's news, that BS has a renewed record selection, albeit about five years behind the curve. Anyway, they're trying, and their selection and prices weren't bad, so go support them.

This little platter is a pretty frickin' awesome supergroup-type thing from the 4AD label, circa 1984. A little goth, a little dirgy, very minimalist with great vocals, this is like Big Star's Third (two of whose songs are covered on it) played in a dank, dark, London S&M club.

Iron and Wine, Kiss Each Other Clean

2011-02-12T18:40:00.000-08:00

Wow, this is a great little pop record from Sam Beam. I've got Our Endless Numbered Days and dig its bedroom-Americana charm, but haven't kept up with his later stuff. Seems he's found an indie-pop backbone, if you will. File between old Wilco, Ray LaMontagne, Sufjan Stevens, Elliot Smith, and all. Or if you file alphabetically like I do, between Interpol and Iron Maiden.
The vinyl is terrific quality, flat, pop-free, clean. Mastering and production are nice, too. Early candidate for best-of lists, I'd say.

2011-01-28T18:33:00.000-08:00

The Decemberists - The King is Dead

My first real taste, or commitment anyway with these guys. They were way overplayed on WRUV a few years ago and they annoyed me, but Colin Meloy keeps popping up and I love his stuff on the last Minus 5 records, so I thought this was worth a shot. Not a bad record, probably not $28 worth (bought on vinyl at Exile), but a solid effort that will get multiple spins. I like how they tone down the Sea Shanty thing and up the Americana pop quotient, and thankfully Norah Jones doesn't make an appearance. It's a funny musc business that this is the #1 album in the land.

Top 10 and Then Some: 2010

2011-01-14T18:27:00.000-08:00

I try to come up with a list of my favorite records from each year, but I get so much stuff from so many years that these tend to reference what I added to the stacks between January and December. I might be in pretty safe territory here, no Witchhouse or uber indie indie rock, but it’s a good slice of my listening tastes. Yeah, it’s two weeks late, so what? I was goungf to add Amazon links to the albums, but on second thought, get your ass to a record store and support them!

Roky Erickson and Okkervil River – True Love Cast Out All Evil

Roky’s back, and I dare say with the best album of his career. His story is tragic legend followed by redemption, and this album could have gone all wrong, as he tells his tale over modern indie-rock backing. I mean, the guy’s not the most eloquent, but like a savant he says just exactly the right shit. I’d never heard Okkervil River before this except in the background on ACL, and Will Sheff did a really nice, sympathetic production on this one. Levels are a little hot in places, but that’s Modern Rock for ya. Best release of 2010, hands down.

Delta Spirit – History from Below

Worth it just for ‘Bushwick Blues’. Hot mastered, of course. Damn you!

Anais Mitchell - Hadestown

Terrific folk rock opera stuff, it still needs to sink in more but I dig it all, instrumentation, characters, the
sound. Very nice.

Belle and Sebastian – Write About Love

I’ve warmed to the cozy blanket charm of B&S’s music, and they’ve learned to add a little more rock and pure pop into their work since their 20th century work. Write About Love: the title sounds like a blast of cuddly twee sugar, but this platter is full of well-played, lightly orchestrated, hooky pop. Yes, we’re still in a B&S bubble, but this offering would appeal to non-believers, in a good way. The needless inclusion of Norah Jones may be a ploy to pander to the Starbucks Mom demographic, unfortunately, but her ill-fitting voice doesn’t drag the whole record down, thankfully. Mastering and pressing are terrific, this is one Matador LP with no warps or other physical flaws. With such a well-presented mix of terrifically personal songwriting, full but not overdone arrangements, and pop sensibility, Write About Love is a wonderful addition to the Belle and Sebastian canon, and to the Pop Universe as well.

Broken Bells – s/t

An easy one, as in easy listening. I’ve never heard Danger Mouse’s stuff that I know of, Shins are a nice little pop band but their shtick wears thin. I expected this to be blippy compressed crap, but instead it’s really good blippy mellow pop.

The Kinks - Great Lost Kinks Album

Really not that hard to find, but it’s been a big hole on my shelf for years. Given the title many shops think it’s worth more than it is, but I got it for $5 at Exile in VG shape. This is an absolutely terrific odds n’ sods collection right up there with Elvis Costello’s ‘Taking Liberties’, but it’s the Kinks, so it’s that much more essential.

Teenage Fanclub – Shadows

This great little record was a bit of a grower, but my hopes were high, TF fannie that I am. Fourth spin it clicked, as I knew it would. Standout track the terrific “Baby Lee,” “Into the City” has some wonderfully sunny guitar work and harmonies on it as well. I don’t know how these guys spend their days during the five years between albums; they deserve to be megazillionbaires, but probably write ad copy or some such thing. Support them every way you can, the world needs their charming outlook. On another note…

Teenage Fanclub – Bandwagonesque

This album has been in steady rotation for me since 1991. Picked up the ORG vinyl reissue just before Christmas, and I must say, it sounds fantastic. Great job on this reissue, ORG!

New Pornographers – Together

A safe one, more pure pop from the band that Neko really isn’t all that critical to. “Crash Years”, ‘Silver Jenny Dollar’ are standouts.

Swell Season at the Flynn

This is my yuppie tool moment of 2010. (The fact that I even use the term yuppie shows that I'm a tool, and an old one at that). Glenn Hansard really is a great frontman, and Marketa Irgova is pretty solid at her thing. They are two separate worlds, but that little spot where they intersect is impressive. It’s clear this is Hansard’s show now; he paid his dues with the Frames and is taking the glory. Sure he throws Marketa a bone here and there (get your heads out of the gutter) in acknowledgment of the fact that their little movie has made him successful, but there’s no doubt who the boss is.

The Figgs

Finally saw them open for / play with Graham Parker; I’ve known of them tangentially all these years and known I needed to check them out further, and finally did. Picked up Palais at the show, it’s an older double lp chock full of power poppin’ rockin’ shit. Sorry I took so long guys.

Radio Birdman - The Essential Radio Birdman: 1974-1978

Likely everything you need from these Aussie proto-punkers. Great stuff in the style of Stooges, Dolls, BOC, you know the drill. The guitar solo on ‘Aloha Steve and Danno’ is to die for.

Alejandro Escovedo – A Man Under the Influence Deluxe Bourbonitis Edition

So this was released originally in 2001, but the vinyl reissue came out in 2009 and I got it in Jan 2010, so it fits my criteria. Regardless, this is a terrific album from start to finish, wrenches the heart at times (“Rhapsody”, “Across the River”, the wonderful “Wedding Day”) and rocks a bit when needed (“Castanets”, “As I Fall”).

Cheap HiFi
2010 has brought me more cheap/free gear than any previous. Harmon Kardon 490i receiver for $25 with usable Marantz speakers, bpc cd changer, bpc Marantz tape deck. It had one channel out, cleaned all switches with deoxit and voila, great (no, killer) receiver for the den system. Sanyo Plus Q25 turntable, Empire 400TC cartridge, free on the side of the road, in the box! Pretty decent direct drive table for the den setup, cart is terrific and in nice shape. Also got some decent bookshelf speakers (forget make) that are in the garage system. Pioneer PL-15D turntable, $25 off craigslist. Great shape, in same 2nd system. Dual 506-1 turntable free from neighbor, I regifted to Matt Bushlow but kept the Signet TK3ea cartridge, now my #1 cart on the main rig upstairs. All this stuff for next to nothing will make a system that slays an ipod dock, ion usb turntable, or that chintzy plastic cased hifi that was left in your apartment when you moved in. Also picked up a Grant Fidelity DAC-09 tube buffered digital analog converter for a couple of hundred bucks which takes the main system to a new level, and is as versatile as a towel in space. Postscript…that HK 490i smoked a voice coil in another one of my garage sale speakers, so be careful with this stuff!

2010's Letdowns

Spoon - Transference

Too much focus on artsy sound manipulation (read: squashed, compressed, bloopy shit) and not enough on the songs. They sounded nice on Austin City Limits, though.

The National - High Violet

I like it enough, but it doesn’t rise above Alligator, or even Boxer. Somewhere along the way they seem to have completely lost any of the few hooks they ever had.

Paul Weller - Wake Up the Nation

This just doesn’t have the songs Weller is so great at, save for “No Tears to Cry”, which is great, and the production is cluttered and brickwalled and oh so modern.

Oldie but Goodie

2010-12-29T19:27:00.000-08:00

In a class I took recently the guest speaker gave a warmup poll asking the students and instructors whether Michael Jackson or Prince was the better artist. I was the only one on the Prince side of the room, and numerous kids asked "Who's Prince?"

Here's my evidence.

Support your local record store!

2010-12-29T19:21:00.000-08:00

Pretty sad, but accurate post on FB from Sound it Out Records in Traverse City, MI:

Sound it Out Records In keeping with the current music sales climate we will be greatly reducing the amount of new releases we stock on CD as well as discontinuing restocking most older CD titles. Some bigger titles or albums of local interest will be ordered for their release date, but for the most part we will only be stocking vinyl copies of new releases. We are happy to special order any CDs at no additional cost.

I sure hope vinyl customers are taking up the slack, but we know we aren't as we hear news of yet another shop closing it seems every week. Record shops are a hub, a watercooler of sorts, where music lovers can meet and discuss, and actually have face time. With music playing. No earbuds. I hate to think that chatrooms and iTunes will replace it all....

Belle and Sebastian – Write About Love

2010-10-14T02:56:00.000-07:00

I didn’t used to like B&S; their over sugared coyness just seemed a bit too much, and first spins of Boy with the Arab Strap and Fold Your Hands Child…, my introduction to their work, asked too much too soon. I mean, I’m okay with challenging work, but these guys didn’t even throw me a little pop kiss before asking me to seal them in a bubble and concentrate on the art, with their hushed instrumentation and effete singing. It’s been ten years since then, and a lot has changed. I’ve warmed to the cozy blanket charm of their music, and B&S have learned to add a little more rock and pure pop into their work. Write About Love: the title sounds like a blast of cuddly twee triteness, but this platter is full of well-played, lightly orchestrated, hooky pop. Yes, we’re still in a B&S bubble, but this offering would appeal to non-believers, in a good way. The needless inclusion of Norah Jones may be a ploy to pander to the Starbucks Mom demographic, unfortunately, but her ill-fitting voice doesn’t drag the whole record down, thankfully. Instrumentation, as with other recent releases, includes well-placed vintage synths and some great-sounding drums, guitar work actually slips in some tasty solos. Mastering and pressing are terrific, this is one Matador LP with no warps or other physical flaws. With such a well-presented mix of terrifically personal songwriting, full but not overdone arrangements, and pop sensibility, Write About Love is a wonderful addition to the Belle and Sebastian canon, and to the Pop Universe as well.

R.I.P. Pete Quaife

2010-06-24T19:38:00.000-07:00

The Kinks, until today, were that last great British Invasion band with all of its original members alive. That aside, Pete was an important, grounding influence on the greatest pop band of all time, the Kinks.
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/17386/121429

2010-06-20T19:01:00.000-07:00

New Tunes: Hitchcock, Roky, the National...

2010-05-28T16:55:00.000-07:00

From Pure Pop today or recently:

The National, High Violet

Hailed as their 'masterpiece ', the latest from brooding not-really Americana indie rockers is certainly atmospheric, but we all know we need more than air to survive. Well-recorded and mastered (on vinyl anyway, save for the clipped opener "Terrible Love"), the record ebbs and flows, and in a weird way reminds me of Spiritualized a tad. Great drum sound, by the way, but they don't do much with it. The problem with here is that the songs are almost devoid of hooks, even the subversive ones found in earlier releases. Three, maybe three and a half peanuts.

Roky Erickson and Okkervil River, True Love Cast Out All Evil

Everyone's favorite psychedelic basketcase cum horror-pop pariah culminates his return to music with his best album yet. Bare, barren, and touching, Roky puts out an almost autobiographical set with terrifically sympathetic backing by alt country kids Okkervil River. This is the real masterpiece people ought to be talking about.

Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus Three, Propellor Time

Another great of the psych-pop canon, Propellor Time is a relaxed affair recorded over several years with, yes, three quarters of the live R.E.M. (and three fifths of the Minus Five). But make no mistake, this is Robyn's record. Great songwriting, as always, backed by complementary contemporary acoustica-pop that reflects the comfort these guys have when sitting around the mike. File alongside I Often Dream of Trains and Eye, of course, but one slot away from Fegmania and Queen Elvis.

The Cure - Show

Three bucks from that box on the counter, this is a great live set from the golden era of the Cure.

The Forty Fives, Get it Together

Raunchy Stonesy garagey rock, worth the buck I have invested and likely a tad more. Can't call it original but these guys sure have fun.

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2010-03-23T18:29:00.001-07:00

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Spoon - Transference

2010-01-23T11:46:00.001-08:00

Two things make a Spoon record great. Second of these is Britt Daniel’s songwriting, which is generally full of great hooks, both lyrical and musical. Songs like “Sister Jack”, “Don’t Make Me a Target,” and “You Got Your Cherry Bomb” don’t need any bullshit to make them solid, they just stand on their own. But the first thing that’s great about this band is drummer Jim Eno’s impeccable talent, a timekeeper with this mysterious groove who always seems just a whisker behind the beat, lending an immediacy to the songs. Those drums have also been remarkably well-recorded, such that I can visualize the stick cracking the head with every midtempo beat. Unfortunately the band screws up both of these factors on their latest release, Transference.

The LP starts off with a grooveless dirge, “Before Destruction”, which displays the raw aesthetic sought on the record as a whole. I’m okay with somewhat lo-fi recording, hell I love classic Guided by Voices, but when a band at Spoon’s level of professionalism adopts it, the statement is a little concerning. The following tune, “Is Love Forever?”, has a decent groove, lyrically and musically. Unfortunately there’s an unnerving phased drum snap which reeks too much of gimmicky David-Fridman/Flaming Lips bullshit, when the washed, echoed vocal track kicks in, my fears are realized: these guys are trying to make an Indie/Artie record rather than a Rock record. “Mystery Zone” comes next with a decent, B-grade Spoon groove that’s making me question my doubts. Maybe this record will turn around? No, because “Who Makes Your Money” starts with a phased keyboard riff that could have carried the tune if it weren’t all fucked with, then the chorus comes in with more of that same echoey phasey shit. Nice bass line in there, though. The final cut on side A (yeah, I got this on vinyl, so for 20 clams I'm entitled to an opinion), “Written in Reverse,” gives a little taste of that Spoon groove I was looking for, with a heartfelt vocal, nice little harmony touches, and a killer bridge leading to a decent breakdown, false stop, and wrapup. Okay Britt, whatcha got for side 2?

“I Saw the Light” kicks it off in good style, a slow burner with nice build and song dynamics. This ‘raw’ production is starting to annoy me though, as I seem to be hearing a bit too much clipped distortion. C’mon boys, you’re too good to follow along with the distorto production trend! Just when it sounds really crap, they shift into a nice drawn out march to the finish, but unfortunately the breakdown/solo at the end is a phasey minute of “brum, brum, brum, brum” followed by a crazy distorted (er, digitally clipped) “bumbumbumbumbum…” that thankfully just ends to stop the song. Stop it now! But as they say on late night TV, There’s More! “Trouble Comes Running,” a Faces-style rocker, sounds absolutely atrocious, all tinny and clipped. What’s worse, this has the best vocal hook and harmony so far on the record. These guys are starting to remind me of the smart girl who acts like an idiot bimbo to impress the boys. You’re too good for this shit! Stop, please! And stop they do, only to shift into full piano ballad mode on “Goodnight Laura.” The sound isn’t bad, but the song is pretty much a ripoff of “Golden Slumber” from Abbey Road. “Out Go the Lights” comes back in with one of those great-sounding hanging snare grooves, a typical mid-tempo Spoon tune. Nice sound on this one, they must have recorded it on a good day, or before they heard the latest Flaming Lips record. The little echoey touches are nice and not overdone here, which makes me admire how post YHF Wilco has been able to integrate the ubiquitous laptop blips without them talking over. Boom bap, Boom bap; in kicks “Got Nuffin”, the leaked singleish money track. Nice rocker there with a well-used phased guitar lead and tinkly key accents. The record finishes with “Nobody Gets Me But You”, another marching song, with that fucked-up distorto drum sound and another nice bassline.

Conclusion: it’s great they picked up a consistent bass man, whose prominence is welcome. Obviously I can’t stand the distorted production crap, and given that this is the first record they have produced themselves, the blame all falls in their lap. After so many great records, I guess I expected more from these guys. Still, it’s a Spoon record, not Tapes n’ Tapes, so even their crap gets 3.5 stars.

Top 10 albums for 2009

2009-12-17T07:55:00.001-08:00

I’m a formerly run-of-the-mill music consumer who still needs to get his pop fix via a physical album/cd/whatever. I tend to acquire 50+ albums a year from all sorts of sources and eras, so my annual highlights only reflect what I picked up that year, with a mix of old (but new-to-me) and new releases. I also lean more towards vinyl than CD or download releases, so my acquisitions tend to skew in that direction. Sound quality, especially in the mastering process, also is pretty important to me, and tends to lead me away from a lot of hyper-compressed indie releases (Flaming Lips and anything else touched by David Friddman, I’m looking at you.) That said, here’s my little list:

Voivod, Nothingface. I remember a tour ad for these Montreal metalers in the back of some mag back in the 80’s with Soundgarden and Faith No More supporting. I picked up some early, crappy quality, pre-greatness ‘albums’ on eMusic some 10 years ago but didn’t pay much attention to their generic thrash. This mid-period classic, however, is the shit- think Pink Floyd and Rush meet 80’s Metallica and some SciFi lyrics/mythology and this is just amazing metal. Easily my best find in 2009.

Killing Joke, Killing Joke. Strange as it may seem, this dumb hick farmboy from Orange County, VT (me) once was big into Industrial; the whole Wax Trax!/Chicago/Europe thump and clang ‘dance’ scene. While that stuff from the late 80’s-early 90’s has not aged gracefully, this groundbreaker from 1980 is simply stunning; think of it as post-punk proto-industrial metal with a solid, organic groove. Vinyl score from Burlington Records, certainly not expecting to see that.

Dinosaur Jr., Farm. Like many folks from my generation, DJ are considered a pretty solid act in my world, discounting of course their mid-late 90’s crap. After last year’s unexpected and solid reunion, this release proves the boys can still rock as well as they did in their late 80’s prime.Awesome album cover, btw.

Neko Case, Middle Cyclone. Call me a fanboy, but I just love NC. Sure, the new one has upped the pop quotient, but is that such a bad thing? And given the pile of poo nominated for Grammy’s this year (especially see the album of the year category), it’s great that someone of her talent is recognized by the powers-that-were.

Booker T, Potato Hole. Great set from the king of instrumental soul with solid backing from the do-no-wrong Drive-By Truckers. Side note- when the hell are DBT coming to this town?

Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes. Yeah, FF are so 2008, but I’m behind the curve on these cool indie-rock things nowadays. Besides, I wait until I see everyone else’s ‘best-of’ lists before getting too excited about the flavor of the week. Anyway, picked this LP up at PP and boy is it worth the hype. I guess I’ll have to write about Grizzly Bear in 2010??

Robyn Hitchcock, I Wanna Go Backwards Box Set. Another oldie (from 80’s, reissued in 2006?), but a killer set from this crown prince of pop psychedelia. I have a good number of RH and the Egyptians records which feature more fleshed out (i.e. electric) weirdo pop, often brilliant, so I have no need for the second set, Groovy Decay. This material from both pre- and post-Egyptians is essential. To hell with the Beatles remasters, this is what the music world needs more of. Yep Roc Records.

Tiger Trap, Tiger Trap. Slightly twee girly punky-pop from the mid-90’s. Vinyl copies are pretty hard to find and at times pricey, I’ve seen up to $50. Picked this off a random eBay auction for $15, sealed.

The Go-Betweens, Oceans Apart. Picked this LP up straight from Yep Roc Records when they were having a $5 vinyl sale. What little bit I’ve heard from these late Aussie indie-poppers is just great. I love the bouncy opening cut, “Here Comes a City.”

Pearl Jam. As a child of the 80’s-early 90’s, I’ll always have a spot for these guys in the rotation. Countless hours were spent bombed out and bombing around in the (Che)Vette with Ten cranked, but I recognize that they are certainly not cultural icons. They play rock and roll, nothing more nothing less, and continue to do a great job at it. So in 2009 I picked up the Ten LP rerelease with the new Brendan O’Brien remix that really does add a ‘sparkle’ to the record. Also got Backspacer on LP, and I give “The Fixer” a vote as pop single of the year. Finally saw VS. on cd and picked it up, only copy I’ve ever had is a Memorex tape dupe. I might say that they’ve never bettered that one.

Wicked deals at Yeproc

2009-10-05T02:52:00.000-07:00

I'm breaking my resolution to only buy my music locally only because this deal is too good to pass up, and it goes straight to the label/artist. Guilt and warm and fuzzies aside, this is awesome, a bunch of cds from Yeproc for $5 each. Load up on some Sadies, Chris Stamey, Chuck Prophet, Minus 5, Robyn Hitchcock, and whatever just looks good that you haven't yet discovered, this shit is cheap! They had the same deal on a smaller selection of lps a couple of weeks ago. The deal only llasts through October 16.

Bad News for Music Lovers: Rhino Records Gutted by Layoffs

2009-09-25T04:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's announcement that Warner Music Group will be laying off 30-40 employees of Rhino Records marks another sad day for modern-day music lovers who still buy physical product (you know, cd's and records). Rhino has from the outset been a premier reissue and compilation label, and many of their sets simply define genres for the discerning consumer. Some of their modern/punk/indie sets including No Thanks! The ’70s Punk Rebellion, Left of the Dial: Dispatches from the ’80s Underground, A Life Less Lived: The Gothic Box and The Brit Box: U.K. Indie, Shoegaze and Britpop Gems of the Last Millennium are no-brainers in an essential music collection; their other genre sets are also not to be missed (but I couldn't find an easy link to copy like those above). Put simnply, this sucks.
It appears that they are going out with one of the best and most anticipated box sets in recent times, Big Star: Keep and Eye on the Sky. Buy some freakin' real music, will ya', and keep this music industry (the parts that don't suck) alive.

TB

Nice finds at Riverwalk

2009-09-12T18:34:00.000-07:00

I admit that I haven't always given Riverwalk Records the credit they're due. I like to check out new music, and I'm partial to Pure Pop's selection in that department. I've also wrongly given RWR the assumption that their selection is just more and more and more classic rock, even though I nearly always pick something up when I stop in. This week:

Husker Du, Flip Your Wig: I saw this in the window the other day and it brought me in. Absolutely stunning power pop punk, five stars no question. I think it's still in print from SST.

Voivod, Nothingface: Have a little of their stuff, but this along with their other mid-late 80's albums have been on my list. Imagine Rush, Metallica, and Pink Floyd in a blender, but is a good way. I needledropped this one and the sound, especialy the punch of the drums, is just awesome.

Traveling Wilbury's, Volume 1: This is just a great record. Hardly groundbreaking, just good pop/rock. It's a little hard to find, but old copies have come down in price since Rhino rereleased their stuff a few years ago.

Yo La Tengo: I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One LP

2009-07-17T18:22:00.001-07:00

Fuckin' love this record...finally. I got this as a crappy 128k mp3
from emusic almost ten years ago and have wanted the record (that's
vinyl) since. Too bad it fetches upwards of $50 or more on eBay. So
when I see Matador re-released it, I hopped down to Pure Pop to pick
mine up for 25 clams. I almost downloaded the 320k mp3's that came with
it but as I was lookinh on the hard drive I noticed my copy was a
full-res flac file. Oh yeah...I bought this on cdat a garage sale for
$1 last summer. Oh well, this is worth having in multiple (good)
formats,and worth supporting at retail value.

It's like a love song to pop music; so varied, yet cohesive. The
couplet of 'Stockholm Syndrome' and 'Autumn Sweater' (record 1, side 2)
still gives me the feelies.

I'll give someone the download code that came with my record since I
don't need it. Only hitch is you have to buy at least one more YLT
cd/record at an independent music store, no itunes, no cheating. Maybe
pick up a killer Kinks record while you're at it?

Catching up with MMJ on ACL from DVR.

2009-06-09T18:35:00.000-07:00

At first I wasn't sure about 'Evil Urges' but in this live setting especially I dig the 70's pop / Shuggie Otis blues-soul they bring to their indie jam schtick.

Jay Bennett, R.I.P.

2009-05-29T05:33:00.000-07:00

Jay Bennett, ex-Wilco, has been dead for days now. It's kinda shaken me up a tad. I admit to minimizing his impact on Wilco's music in the past, as I wrote a year ago in this music forum thread:
Been a fan since Being There, wasn't too into A.M (or Uncle Tupelo for that matter, whose final tour I caught). Bennett was a great addition to the band as a sideman and production assistant. Left to his own devices he puts too much crap into the mix, as is evident on his unlistenable solo albums. Palace at 4 AM is brilliant, but consider that it was done again with a collaborator (Edward Burch) and with some co-writes from Tweedy. As for the live band, I've seen every tour since BT, and none have disappointed. However, since cleaning up Tweedy has taken on a more relaxed, affable stage presence, and the latest outfit does the best ensemble/jam thing of any. Any time I saw them with Bennett he acted like the superior rock-star prick, spotlight stage left, thank you.

I'm a big Wilco fan, they may rank second only to the Kinks as my top act ever. I've been revisiting the Bennett-era albums, not that I don't play them anyway, but in particular this week. Just now I popped on their first post-Bennett release, A Ghost is Born, which gives a better assessment of what he brought to the party when you don;t hear his contributions. Simply put, the man was a musical master, a pop architect. It is undeniable that his contributions to Wilco took them from pretty-good alt-country territory to best band going right now. Yes, he was a little ADD in his approach, and may have cluttered things up a bit when left to his own devices. He may have been hard to deal with...so can Tweedy be. None of that overshadows his impact on some of the greatest records recorded in the past twenty years. And Jay's solo/collaborative record with Edward Burch (Palace at 4 AM) is a lost pop masterpiece.
Cause of death is still unknown, but anyone dying at 45 is a shame. Live every day as if it were your last, one day it will be. And try to make nice with those you have loved, because one day you may not be able to say "I'm Sorry".

An Outtake from I am Trying to Break Your Heart, Jay's tune "Cars Can't Escape":

The Jay composition "My Darling" from Session at W. 54th:

Jay's contributions the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

21 Reasons Why Jay Bennett Should be Back in Wilco

R.I.P. Jay.....

Thinking Outside The Box Store

2009-04-07T05:27:00.000-07:00

From Magnet, 2006:

"So you’re leafing through the ads in the Sunday paper and what to your wondering eyes should appear but the new Cat Power CD for $7.99. At Best Buy. This, you figure, is a great thing. Cheaper than iTunes, way cheaper than the $12.99 they’ll probably be charging at the local record store. And look: You can pick up Broken Social Scene, the Arcade Fire and a couple other titles at the same ridiculous price. It’s almost free, and therein, gentle indie rockers, lies the problem......"

Read it all here, then go out and buy a record from the locals.

Record Store Day

2009-04-07T02:20:00.000-07:00

April 18. This annual event will take place at your local independent record store. Lots of promos and exclusives and just a good reason to support these guys in down times. C'mon folks, how about picking up a real, tangible album (or cd) rather than send all your cash to Itunes or worse??

http://www.recordstoreday.com

John Mellencamp on the state of the music 'industry'

2009-03-26T12:31:00.001-07:00

From Huffington Post (also on his website)

Over the last few years, we have all witnessed the decline of the music business, highlighted by finger-pointing and blame directed against record companies, artists, internet file sharing and any other theories for which a case could be made. We've read and heard about the "good old days" and how things used to be. People remember when music existed as an art that motivated social movements. Artists and their music flourished in back alleys, taverns and barns until, in some cases, a popular groundswell propelled it far and wide. These days, that possibility no longer seems to exist. After 35 years as an artist in the recording business, I feel somehow compelled, not inspired, to stand up for our fellow artists and tell that side of the story as I perceive it. Had the industry not been decimated by a lack of vision caused by corporate bean counters obsessed with the bottom line, musicians would have been able to stick with creating music rather than trying to market it as well.....

Read the whole piece

The Amazing Saving Grace of Neko Case

2009-03-06T17:48:00.000-08:00

I tend to be a year behind all the cool trends, and I like it that way. I tend to peruse end of year best-of lists and use them to get the music I missed. It's a good strategy; the fluff may get sorted out a bit better, some records may be available in the used bin or finally on vinyl. As I was going over this Hype Machine Music Blog Zeitgeist list of the best of 2008, I was amazed with not only the shittiness of a lot of it, but that this is what the kids think was the best of the year. This blog polls other music blogs for their best-of's, so it's weighted towards techie/hipster stuff that the smart white kids listen to. Now there is some great music on their; Drive-By Truckers' Brighter Than Creation's Dark, Sun Kil Moon's April, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' Dig!!! Lazarus Dig, and Deerhunter's Microcastle come to mind. But a lot of this stuff is crap, blippy disco-dance fluff recorded and mastered with that terrible compressed and tipped fizzy-treble sound. Come on... MGMT? Cut Copy? M83? Hot Chip? This shit is the best of the year?

Along comes this week a little salvation in this world of shit, Neko Case's latest Middle Cyclone. Miss Case is this amazing singer, great songwriter, and just plain wonderful artist. Call her thing alt-country if you want but her sound is way more varied than the usual twangers, and her involvement as singer with the New Pornographers, not to mention her old punk n' twang days with cub, Maow, and others gives her hipster cachet. This latest album is easily her best, taking the lush, orchestral sounds of her recent releases and finally putting them to slightly less abstract songs that dodge around and demand interpretation while offering a touchstone to start from. Listen to her rather oblique yet excellent last album Fox Confessor... and you'll get my drift.

There are enough full/'professional' reviews out there ( here, here, here, and here to start) that I won't waste anyone's time with my own. Suffice to say though that this record starts off (in March no less) 2009 on a great foot. The music is great, the songs are great, and that voice...that voice.

Here's an excellent interview from the NY Times on the making of the album and all, and one from NPR. Since she's apparently moved to Vermont, I think I'll hit her up to sing at my summer barbecue for all the free cider she wants.

Obama's Secret Record Collection

2009-01-27T09:10:00.001-08:00

from Rolling Stone....

When Barack Obama moved into the White House on January 20th, he gained access to five chefs, a private bowling alley — and a killer collection of classic LPs. Stored in the basement of the executive mansion is the official White House Record Library: several hundred LPs that include landmark albums in rock (Led Zeppelin IV, the Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed), punk (the Ramones' Rocket to Russia, the Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols), cult classics (Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica, the Flying Burrito Brothers' The Gilded Palace of Sin) and disco. Not to mention records by Santana, Neil Young, Talking Heads, Isaac Hayes, Elton John, the Cars and Barry Manilow.

During the waning days of the Nixon administration, the RIAA, the record companies' trade group, decided the library should include sound recordings as well as books. In 1973, the organization donated close to 2,000 LPs. The bad news: The selection was dominated by the likes of Pat Boone, the Carpenters and John Denver. In 1979, legendary producer John Hammond convened a new commission to update the list for the hipper Carter administration. "They felt they needed to redress some of the oversights that might have taken place the first time around," says Boston music critic and author Bob Blumenthal, who was put in charge of adding 200 rock records to the library.

At the commission's first meeting, Blumenthal brought up Randy Newman's thorny dissection of Southern culture, Good Old Boys, to determine what restrictions the panel might face. "That was exhibit A," Blumenthal says. "And I was told, 'Oh, the president loves that album! Go ahead!' " So Blumenthal and his advisers — including Paul Nelson, then Rolling Stone's reviews editor — compiled a list to reflect "diversity in what was going on in popular music." They picked the Kinks' Arthur for its "theme of empire," and Blumenthal snuck in favorites like David Bowie's Hunky Dory.

On January 13th, 1981, the LPs — each in a sleeve with a presidential seal — were presented to Jimmy Carter at a White House ceremony. But the collection — placed in a hallway near the third-floor listening room, complete with a sound system — didn't remain upstairs long. When Ronald Reagan took office that year, the LPs were moved to the basement. Depending on the source, the reason was Nancy Reagan's distaste for shelves of vinyl, or the edgy choices themselves. A spokesman for Obama said it was too early to comment on whether the president would revive the library. But Obama may be pleased to learn that at least a few of his favorite albums — Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks, Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run — are there if he wants them on pristine slabs of vinyl.

[From Issue 1071 — February 5, 2009]

2008 Recap, #1 Music Together Now!

2009-01-22T04:33:00.000-08:00

By far my favorite musical moments this year came from the Music Together class that we enrolled Alice in. Every Saturday morning we head over to the All Together Now compound in East Montpelier and sing and dance around with other kiddos and parents. It's been such a joy to watch Alice open up, have fun, and sing along, and I expect we'll keep up with the program for some time. Anyone with kiddos ought to check it out.

2008 Recap- #2 Ray Davies

2009-01-22T04:12:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'll finish my 2008 list and put it to bed.

#2- Ray Davies, Working Man's Cafe and 12/11/08 at Higher Ground:

Everyone should know I'm a big Kinks fan, from back when I started listening to music. And even though I missed out on the boys from about 1993-2000 (funny how that coincides with my 'wasted youth' years), they are now again in major rotation in my life. Ray put out arguably one of his best records since the early 80's last spring, Working Man's Cafe. Another wistful look back like Village Green a bit, with his solid publican attitude. Ray also wrote some great stuff reflecting on life itself, particularly "Morphine Song" which deals with his recovery after being shot by a mugger in New Orleans maybe five years ago. In general, a really solid record.
So when I see Ray is making a rare Vermont stop on his short winter tour, I was pretty psyched. I hadn't seen Ray since '91 or '92, missing his local/regional stops while I was in my twenties. In spite of the show's promotion and a really shitty snow/ice storm that night, he nearly packed the house. Starting the set as an acoustic duo, he pulled out some killer material, reaching back to the Kinks' Golden Years for tracks like "I Need You", "I'm Not Like Everybody Else", and "See My Friends", among others. As his touring band members trickled out on stage song-by sonhg the intimate duo morphed into a full band and filed the set with selections from the new albums (including tracks off 2005's Other People's Lives) mixed with older classics. "Celluloid Heroes" was performed so well I damn near weeped, and the only bugger I had was that they could have dropped "Apeman" and pulled out "Shangri-La" which has been played at some other shows on the tour. All in all, a great night and one of my top ten shows ever.

Set List

MissN' Cider

2009-01-08T17:56:00.001-08:00

Pretty creative, I gotta say...

Ron Asheton, RIP

2009-01-07T05:21:00.000-08:00

Stooges massively influential guitarist Ron Asheton found dead.

Sad stuff....

2008 Recap...British Pop

2009-01-05T13:45:00.000-08:00

So I've been doing this recap thing, not really a 'top 10 list' since there's more than ten things and I haven't really ordered them. Well now I'll start the numbering....

3) Yeah, three. There's a bunch more stuff before in my more recent posts that could be called 11 or so through 4. But this is where I rank them. I'm lumping two discovery into one post since it's really the vein of music I'm talking about here, rawky british pop. Sort of.

I first heard the Kooks on XM and was pretty caught by their retro-now sound. Didn't know anything about them, but their hooky guitar pop caught me and I had to remind myself to check them out. This was a year ago, maybe two. I guess they sold a shitload of that first record, which I have yet to hear save for that one radio song I can't remember now. So they put out a record this year called Konk. As in Ray Davies/the Kinks studio. That says a lot, and I picked it up. It is what it is, decpetively simple four guys-with-guitars pop. They don't annoy me like the Strokes, who seem to have no soul. Anyway, this is a killer record, with memorable yet disposable hooks. Love it. Get it on vinyl and like me, 'clean' it on your homemade record vacuum before recording it to digital. That way the super glue residue on the vacuum wand will scuff up the last 1/2 inch of grooves and give the recording that old time scratchy sound.

Locksley, Don't Make Me Wait. These guys aren't British, they're kids from Wisconsin now in uber-hip Brooklyn. They opened on Ray Davies short winter tour last month. Their cd is a bitch to find since they're unsigned, but I guess they have some licemsing deal with MTV and maybe some commercials. They're album is totally fucking derivative and killer. They sound like the Small Faces and the Beatles (pre 1966). They're nice kids. They'll make you dance around the room. Preview the record here, then buy it.

Music and Culture

2009-01-01T11:28:00.001-08:00

I went to First Night Montpelier last night with the family, mainly so Alice could dance. As usual at this event there are a ton of performances throughout the afternoon, many focused on non-Western music, for lack of a better term. Last year Alice surprised us when she broke out into a wicked hoe-down during a Klezmer performance, so we headed to see the same folks again this year to start the afternoon off. While Alice didn't bust out as much as last year, due probably to being a bit tired from her recent nap and a venue change to a fluorescent-lit room and all, I couldn't help but appreciate the scene we were taking in. Here was a group of Vermont-transplanted Jews keeping alive their musical, linguistic, and cultural history with an art form that has been passed down all the way back from the home land, or Eastern Europe anyway, for centuries. Some audience members were totally into it, doing that Jewish line dancing thing and all, and a tiny little cultural center popped up for a moment. Considering that Orange County where I grew up is 1/2 hour and fifty years behind Montpelier, it was good to see this. So that got me thinking what music I should be listening to, performing, or otherwise spreading to keep my seven-generation Central Vermont Yankee culture alive.
I can say that music wasn't huge in my upbringing, at least 'traditional' music. My grandmother would tell stories of 'kitchen junkets' back in her youth, when a designated family up on West Hill (or South or East Hill in Williamstown and Brookfield, respectively) would invite everyone over on a Saturday night, clear out the kitchen, and hoe down to fiddle music. I certainly don't carry this tradition on, and it seems the only ones who do are hippies who co-opted contra dancing and old folks who put on museum shows.
So we left the show to see a guy who blows bubbles and get something to eat, then made our way over to see 35th Parallel. Here's an outfit that throws my earlier thinking on its head, two Americans, one Jewish I presume (not that it matters but it plays into the above reference of maintaining one's culture through their music), that specialize in multiple world music styles: "35th Parallel's name comes from the latitude line intersecting the regions that inspire their music - the Middle East, North India, North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the United States." These guys pull bits of culture from all over the world and meld it together into their own art form that respects its influences while creating a new sense of wonder regarding non-Western music, culture, and thought.
So now my hypothesis was getting all screwy, and we went home. After dropping off Alice and Julie I shot up to Hardwick to see my brother's band, Dog House Roses play a rare gig at Claire's. These guys play rock music, well-rooted in the 4/4 Western (not Country-Western) aesthetic. No tablas, bouzoukis, fiddles, or dance callers. I then realized that this music, while it seems 'simpler' than all that other fancy stuff, is a legitimate, traditional form for Americans and even Western Europeans from the latter half of the 20th century and beyond. It certainly evolves, as do all traditional art forms, and it steals from others, but in the end it is as important as Raga, Jazz, Klezmer, or whatever.
Now I can appreciate the The Kinks, or The Stooges, or Built to Spill, or Alejandro Escovedo, or Sun Kil Moon, or whatever and know that it is simply the tradition of music that is being carried on. I don't have to worry that I'm not saving my culture from fading away, because my culture and its art evolves with the times while still keeping its distinct identity (those contra dancers still kick up a mean show). And what is really fascinating and deserves it own analysis someday is how we as a species have always sought melodic/harmonic sounds to integrate into our lives. I guess any music therefore maintains Human Culture in that regard.

Oh what the hell am I babbling about, I've been listening to the Misfits all week.

TB

2008 Recap, Chinese Democracy

2009-01-01T11:14:00.000-08:00

I was in Best Buy back in November buying Julie that ubiquitous electronic for wives this year, the Car GPS, when I saw this on the racks. I sort of knew it was coming out but haven't paid much attention, and haven't been tempted to listen to the 'leaks' that have popped up over the years.
The backstory needs little retelling; paranoid whacko Axl holes up for 17 years with gazillions of money to make an album with no consistent band, producer, or even songwriter it seems. When it finally sees the light of day everyone is expected to either laud it unquestionably or pan it automatically. I figure I'll judge it on its own merits.
On first listen I thought, "Holy Shit, this is good!" On second lisetn, too. Amazing, earth-shattering, anything even close to Appetite for Destruction? Hell no. But this sounds like a logical followup to Use Your Illusion. It's basic hard rock with Axl's 'you against me' lyrics and obvious contribution, sound and song-wise, from Robin Fink (Nine Inch Nails) and Buickethead, who plays some pretty solid and even Slash-like solos.
Most amazingly this record isn't overly compressed like so many nowadays, and just plain sounds good. Turn it up, especially on "Better," "Street of Dreams,", and "There was a Time."

TB

Misfits Box Set...

2008-12-25T11:37:00.000-08:00

I'm taking a break from the 'best of '08' thing, although I guess this would count, so I guess I'm not. I've had this little 'wishlist' on my site far awhile, so long it's outdated and Julie thinks a little tacky, like I'm begging for shit. Since I don't really update it I thought I had de-linked it from the site. So what do I fond from my wonderful wife under the tree this morning but a little item I had placed on there, The Misfits' Box Set. I secretly was thinking I might buy this for myself this Christmas but wasn't sure how to do it and stick to my 'buy local' resolution. And here it is, staring right at me...about the last thing I expected to get from Julie.
This set compiles four discs, about 100 songs, from the bands whole punk-fuckin' rock career. I haven't heard the Misfits since high school, when I borrowed Jason Goodrich's copy of Walk Among Us and eventually got my own. I loved that horror-rock stuff, brilliantly simple and crass comic book lyrics blasted over rudimentarily simple (in the best way, think Ramones here) three-chord punk. What makes this music is Glenn Danzig's amazingly tuneful/melodic/powerful voice. I doubt it was multitracked in the recordings but he has some amazing way of harmonizing with himself in real time. I had most of my cassettes swiped from my car in my senior year of high school, so it's been 17 years since I've popped this on. I just pulled a workout to Disc One, and this shit hasn't lost anything. Highly recommended.

Oh go
Possession of the mind is a terrible thing
Its a transformation with an urge to kill
Not the body of a man from earth
Not the face of the one you love, cause

Well, I turned into a martian
Woah oh oh
I cant even recall my name
Woah oh oh
Times I never hardly sleep at night
Woah oh oh
Well, I turned into a martian today

I walk down city streets
On an unsuspecting human world
Inhuman in your midst
This world is mine to own, cause

Well, I turned into a martian
Woah oh oh
Well, I cant even recall my name
Woah oh oh
Times I never hardly sleep at night
Woah oh oh
Well, I turned into a martian today

Go go

Well, I turned into a martian
Woah oh oh
Well, I cant even recall my name
Woah oh oh
Times I never hardly sleep at night
Woah oh oh
Turned into a martian
Woah oh oh
Cant even recall my name
Oh, wont you tell me what the fuck is my name, martian
Woah oh oh
Woah oh oh

More 2008 tunes

2008-12-23T13:00:00.000-08:00

Here's some more stuff that I listened to this year:

Equipment, two items of note:
I picked up this fancy car stereo, a JVC KD-PDR80 this summer that plays mp3s right off a USB flash drive. High fidelity? Hardly, but neither is the listening environment in my eight year-old civic. Convenience? Amazing, I can fit some 40-50 albums in high-rate (VBR-0, roughly 200kbps) form on a 4 gig drive. No more shuffling cd's in the car, and I can listen to a lot of older stuff easily without feeling like I'm wasting a cd-r. If only it used SD memory (so I didn't have a thumb drive sticking out of the dash) and played flac files. Ohwell, it's pretty sweet anyway.

I have this old turntable, a Dual 506, that has this ultralight tonearm that's fussy about cartridge mating. The Ortofon OM series is preferred, but they are becoming discontinued and you really want a higher-level stylus (OM 20 or greater, starting at $100 for the stylus) alone to make it sing. I've had a cheapo OM-3e on here since I got it, but the kind folks at Audiokarma.org gave me this little tip. There's this cat on eBay selling these new old stock 'Digitrac 200 NE' cartridges for $20 including shipping. Turns out they were an OEM Ortofon 20 from the 80's that had a crappy motor setup, so most of them are missing a channel. Turns out the stylus is a nude elliptical, grey market vesrion of the OM-20. So for $20 and using the old OM body I had, I have a $180 cartridge that takes this 'table to another level. I've got it set up in the den/workout room and actually put more hours on it than my main rig, a Music Hall mmf-5. No inner groove distortion, smooth highs, solid lows, and decent midrange. Amazing.

Dave Holland Quintet- Burned a bunch of his stuff from a buddy of mine (I know, bad, BAD). This guy is a hell of a jazz bassist and composer but even better bandleader. All these recordings (late 80's to mid 90's stuff) feature player that just fucking rip that shit up. This is rocking jazz, but definitely not jazz-rock. Killer stuff.

Delta Spirit- My Brother and I went to finally catch the Old 97's back in October. Too bad they sucked. They just didn't want to be there, acting and playing all aloof, guitarist out of tune, slack solos, no energy. We were right in front of the stage so I could see the
setlist, which was shrinking with every song change. So they ended the show early and bro got us into the show in Higher Ground's smaller room. This place was packed with college kids, and this band Dr. Dog was playing. I've seen the name around, figured they were some jam band crap. Their 'look' was pretty horrible; fedoras, Ray Bans, white shirts and skinny ties. Why do these kids born in the 80's (90's?) feel a need to relive that era that they never really knew? Anyway, I soon learned that if you shut your eyes and listen to the music that these kids played some killer indie pop, sort of a Guided by Voices by way of Apples in Stereo/Elephant 6 sort of thing. Checking out the merch table I saw this record by Delta Spirit, who I heard of in a promo email from Pure Pop. I guess they had opened for these Dog kids (horrible name, horrible).
Plopping that platter on at work the next day I was amazed. This was rootsy, Americana-sort of folky rock, with great songs. Turns out the members used to be in some up and coming emo outfit but smartened up and moved to the back porch. So to sum it up, bro and I went to the
wrong show that night, and this is easily one of my top 3 records this year.

The National- Okay, sometimes I'm late to the party. I often make new music choices based on 'best-of' lists from the previous year. I kept seeing The National's Boxer listed for 2007, so picked it up along with its predecessor Alligator. While I prefer the earlier record, I really dig these guys in general. Really downbeat stuff with somewhat complex/mid-tempo instrumentation, right up a Wilco fan's alley.

2008 recap, first post

2008-12-21T17:57:00.001-08:00

Yeah, I don't write here too much, and often when I do it's not much of
note. Oh well...here's my little recap of tunes I was interested in in
2008, as well as some sidenotes:

Pure Pop : I love this place, and support it
whenever I can. Great but smallish selection of new records, and these
guys make their picks so well it's like a snapshot of my dream
collection at any one time. Classic hip college town shop with way cool
disaffected clerks and grating tunes playing just a half-notch too loud.
Since my 2008 New Year's resolution was to buy my music locally, I went
here a little more often than previous, and they tend to get my business
over other Vermont shops.

Metal: Neither of these came from Pure Pop; 1) I loved my rediscovery of
these shitty low-rate MP3's I bought back in '00 or '01 of Sacred Reich
and Mercyful Fate. Killer metal, the latter is pretty proggy/heady
stuff while SR are just straight up thrash, nothing pretty. 2) I've been
digging those Warner reissues of the first four Metallica records. Some
people bitch about the sound quality, but it's friggin' thrash metal,
people. For fifteen clams you get a really good copy of some classic
shit. Bought mine at Exile on Main Street in Barre. Given their rockin'
blue-collar roots it only seems right.

Sun Kil Moon, Ghosts of the Great Highway. I went to a garage sale
this spring and got a bunch of pretty mellow but slightly left-field
stuff; Nick Drake, Jem, Kings of Convenience, Ray Lamontagne (blah...).
This record was to best of the bunch. "Carry Me Ohio" rattles around
the dusty corners of my head a lot. Spooky, shattered Americana from an
artist (Mark Kozelek) I need to learn more about.

Alejandro Escovedo, Real Animal. I've dug this guy for a long time,
and got a chance to catch him last November at a corner bar in Austin.
He played a bunch of the songs that would come out on this record, and
their strength lies in that they sounded like classics then, and again
on first listen to this. Al is at the top of his game right now; just a
solid rock-oriented songwriter with wisdom to offer. Not as deep at
Boxing Mirror but after that reflection on near-death it's good to let
down and boogie a bit.

More to come.......

WBKM...what the f@#?

2008-12-11T11:24:00.003-08:00

Ray Davies is coming to town tonight. Yes, the leader of the Kinks, my all-time favorite band. This is going to be pretty killer. What's the problem? The show is being put on by WBKM, and internet-only station based out of Burlington. Click the link to see their really bad website. Just don't click on the 'listen now' icon lest it totally fuck up your browser as it did mine, after installing the crap plugin required. If you're an internet-only station, don't make it hard to listen to your streams you friggin idiots.
Apparently tickets haven't been moving too quick, no shit, these guys have done pretty much zero promotion on it, and their on-air promos go out to a tiny listenership. They have tried hardballing local media outlets for a shot at an interview with Ray, when in the end they couldn't even get him into their studios for an on-air. I actually listened to The Point on my ride in to see if they were running promos, but of course not; it's not their show and WBKM isn't smart enough to buy time to promote on the station that actually matches both the target audience and the quantity of customers needed to pull this off. With the expected snowstorm the Point was actually encouraging people to stay home tonight and watch Christmas Cartoons rather than go to this pretty amazing show. Unfortunately this will leave a bad taste in Ray's management's mouth and we'll be lucky to see him set foot in Burlington again.
I expect that WBKM will have a hard time covering Ray's guarantee and can only hope that it bankrupts them out of business. Thanks for getting Ray to town, but no thanks for the botched promo of the gig, you tools.

Wild stuff

2008-11-18T06:56:00.001-08:00

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in
waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht
the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total
mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the
huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but, the wrod as a wlohe.

Ptetry amzanig huh?

Old 97's, or my foray into album downloads

2008-10-06T04:22:00.000-07:00

So the Old 97's are playing at Higher Ground tonight. My Bro and I will be catching this one, I've wanted to check these guys out since the turn of the century. When I first picked up Too Far To Care that disc as well as some live shows off dimeadozen.org were in my car deck for weeks on end. Since that peak, the 97's may have faltered a tad, slipping into semi-generic alt-pop territory a bit. Where the writing on TFTC was simply amazing ("If that phone don't ring one more time/ I'm gonna lose what's left of my mind' you make a big impression for a girl of your size/ now I can't get by without you and your big brown eyes", "So I sidled up beside her, settled down and shouted, "Hi there."/ "My name's Stewart Ransom Miller, I'm a serial lady-killer."/ She said, "I'm already dead," that's exactly what she said. ", "Just like California was not even there/ Since it's gone I'm so withdrawn/ I ain't got no one nowhere/ Right beside the ocean my darlin' Clementine/ Well the water got high and she never got dry and She was a water sign"), later material was merely pretty damned good, especially "Muder or a Heart Attack" off Satellite Rides.

So I saw this spring that a new album was out, on New West Records nonetheless, a killer label that I have high respect for in terms of putting out quality product, both in terms of artistry and sound quality. I heard a track, "Dance With Me" on a promo compilation and was a bit dismayed; it sounded squashed like most new releases today. Having been burned on some new records I chose to sit this one out even though the reviews were really solid. I've seen the LP at Pure Pop, but haven't picked it up. This morning, I decided that I had to hear this album if only to be primed for the show. No time to buy it, needledrop it, and dump to digital so I can play it on my Sansa while driving the tractor, so I did the Amazon download thing. I haven't downloaded an album since my foray into eMusic years ago, and their 128 kbps downloads left a lot to be desired. Well click away I did this morning, and the album was loaded up and ready for the car in about ten minutes.
Sound quality? Not bad at all, and the squashed mastering wasn't there from that one track I had heard. Sure it would be nice to have on vinyl, but after dropping $9 for the download I doubt I'll drop another $18 for the record. I don't plan to d/l my music from now on, and this did break my NY resolution to but my music locally, but in a pinch, when i just had to have it, it worked.
So now I'm just pretty psyched to see these guys live, finally.

TB

Don't know what to say about this one...

2008-10-04T17:41:00.001-07:00

Crate digging....

2008-09-15T04:47:00.000-07:00

Here's a pretty funny blog post about 'crate digging', or the practice of digging through pile of used, dusty, often crap records, in search or that 'special one'...

TB

the 90's...the latest great music era?

2008-09-09T04:04:00.000-07:00

This is a really good time to be buying used cd’s, especially at yard sales. While decent vinyl stocks seem to have dried up a bit in the backyard market, casual music consumers are wither changing tactics or dumping music collections altogether. Thank the Ipod and downloading for this I guess- with some more tech-savvy folks dumping their cd’s onto hard drives, the physical media is often tossed as an afterthought (bad idea, IMO). On the other hand, with the ubiquity of shitty-sounding music out there makes listening no longer special, so folks are dumping cd’s and their bulky packaging for invisible mp3’s and DVD’s. So I’ve loaded up on a lot of stuff at garage sales this year, all for $0.50 – 1.00 each.

I picked up this Carpenter’s tribute last weekend, remembering it a bit from back in the day (and being reminded by its inclusion in “Juno”). Not being a major Carpenter’s fan, my history with their music is simply through its position on pop radio while I was growing up. I will never deny these sibling’s ability to write a great pop song. So this collection, produced in 1994, contains tracks by many bands from that era that were hitting on ‘alternative’ radio at the time (and a good few who should have). American Music Club, the cranberries, Johnette Napolitano, Matthew Sweet, Cracker, Sonic Youth, Babes in Toyland and Shonen Knife contribute tracks (along with Dishwalla, 4 Non Blondes, Sheryl Crow, and others that may not have been in my playlist at the time). Like any good tribute album, this one is held together by the songs; even those I don’t know have a familiar feel that unites the rather different artists. So listening to it on the way home last night felt like a weird time warp to 1992-1994, when a few of these characters played a not insignificant role in my soundtrack.

Which brings me to my point. I’ve heard it said that one’s musical tastes generally are set during their years from 18-25, and this little window fits in there for me. So many changes in life happen during that shift to adulthood, and those changes are accompanied by music that brings us back to that time when our eventual ‘grown-up’ selves are forming. Certainly I can very specifically identify with the music of Matthew Sweet, the Cranberries, Concrete Blonde, and American Music Club with a very particular slice in my time, and the other bands on this comp are peripheral but certainly contemporary with this feeling. And I find myself buying (and listening to) a lot of cd’s from that window, say 1992-1996, this summer. Maybe it’s that folks my age are growing up and out of their music collections, and dumping them at the garage sales along with baby books and that bike they don’t ride. I’ve been gobbling it up though, and I feel for another reason- this was the last great era of mass recorded music.

Yeah, that’s a bold statement, and one every generation makes when the new kids come along with their version of the latest noisy racket. But I but a lot of music, not just at yard sales, and feel a little tuned in to what’s playing nowadays. Just a peek at my stack of records here in the office finds The Sadies New Seasons (2007), Drive-By Truckers Brighter Than Creation’s Dark (2007), Band of Horses Everything All the Time (2006), The Kooks Konk (2008)The Cure The Cure (2004), Ray Davies Working Man’s Café (2008), Interpol Turn on the Bright Lights (2002), and Tapes n’ Tapes Walk it Off (2008). Granted these are just the vinyl LP’s I have at my office, and even represent a more adult contemporary/alt-country sensibility than a pop music one, but I do work around college kids. Sometimes they use my computer to charge their ipods. What do I find on them? Bob Marley, Grateful Dead, Phish, moe AC/DC, Aerosmith (and Coldplay, Radiohead, and U2). Yeah, this is UVM, where a good bit of pop music is the music of the previous generations or its recreation thereof. But I also have working for me one of the music directors of the uber-indie college radio station, WRUV. We’ve swapped some music, and I played DJ with the week’s current review discs when he drove me to Maine for a meeting. None of the music stuck- I was just swapping cd’s and skipping tracks.

Much has been written on the indie rock explosion of the early nineties, when the underground hit the masses with sometimes great results. Today’s pop artists don’t seem to have that tension resulting from the dichotomy between these worlds. And that’s not because the underground doesn’t exist, but rather because the mass pop market is in the toilet. I really think that a lot of this has to do with the new digital distribution. I’m not bitching about downloading per se, although that doesn’t help, but rather the switch from listening to music as a social activity to listening in earbud seclusion, where our soundtracks are no longer shared, and memories no longer associated with the music. Add to this the ridiculous mastering bullshit of most modern releases, where the loudness levels make a listener want to shut the music off, as well as the poor lossy compression that listeners accept by default, and our culture is actively discouraged from actively collecting music as a cultural commodity. So the good music that is created tends to either stay in the indie circles, or make it to AAA radio (now that I’ve heard Spoon on The Point), but stay out of the kid’s hands. And isn’t that where new music belongs, playing the theme to our newest generation’s coming of age?

Amazing.....

2008-08-29T01:51:00.000-07:00

I'm just really discovering YouTube a little (now that we have high-speed). Amazing what creatvity and a littleediting can do. This is absolutelyhilariousand yet could be a hit single....

Gear Daddies, Billy's Live Bait

2008-08-28T04:22:00.000-07:00

I forget where I found this record, but it has a $4 price tag on it. These boys were second-tier contemporaries of the Replacements, Soul Asylum, Jayhawks, and others from the late-eighties Minneapolis scene. Playing understated, competent roots-rock, the Gear Daddies pulled a nice one off with this record. Too bad the band name, and album title for that matter, brings to mind some lunkhead covers bar band who finally got a shot at recording an album.

Two things lift this record from mediocrity. First is the production and mastering. While the band doesn’t go out on any limbs musically, their basic sound crackles and snaps with well-recorded authority, and without heavy-handed (nor overly light) production. On “Where Your Crown” and “Time Heals” the rhythm section in particular snap with a crisp authority that keeps the listener interested.

Songwriter Martin Zellar brings the other real highlight to this record, a great batch of tunes that explore the sunless underside of daily life. This isn’t some mopey stuff a la Mark Eitzel or early Cure, but rather focuses on his own self-deprecating outlook. Take “Where Your Crown” for example:
Open your eyes and look around / Then slowly get up off the ground / First figure where you are / Find your keys, your coat, your car / I don’t want to wear your crown / I’ll only let you down

Maybe it wasn’t meant to be / I’ve got a past keeps haunting me / No matter how hard I try / It’s there, it stares me in the eye / I don’t want to wear your crown / I’ll only let you down / Please don’t make me wear your crown / Don’t you know I was born to let you down? / I don’t want to wear your crown / I’ll only let you down

Doesn’t get any clearer than that, huh? How about “No One Home”:

And the clouds move in / Out of nowhere / Then they’re gone again / My hands are shaking and I’m out of cigarettes / My mind turns over fourteen years of regrets / I lock the doors and unplug the phone / Ain’t no one home

This would all be pretty depressing stuff if it wasn’t delivered with such solid and non-downer music. And that explains why this record stands out so well, that dichotomy between lyrical focus and sharp musicianship presents a pretty ironic package that grabs you, pulls you into the story. Too bad these guys didn’t make it. After breaking up in 1992, Zellar went out on his own, although the GD’s have reformed for a few reunion gigs since.

New Metal

2008-07-21T03:58:00.000-07:00

Well it ain't exactly new, but I've had a hankering for some metal sometimes for that long drive home, or sometimes while I'm sitting in the tractor now that I have an MP3 player to drag along. Since I've discovered my 'lost' stash of low-res MP3's from the old days of the early 21st century, and I've had a player to bring them along, I've been able to sample stuff I've owned but didn't listen to because the fidelity was not that great and made them not worth constantly burning cd's for portability's sake. Flash memory is a godsend for portable tunes- dump 'em on, listen, and toss 'em off when done, no waste. It's great that I got a fancy car stereo that let's me play files off a usb drive, and makes tuneage portability that much easier. And since some may say I'm a hypocrite for going MP3, I need to stress that these are for portable use only, and not for 'home listening', or for archiving, for that matter. Who gives a shit anyway, I'm talking about my latest finds in METAL.
Sacred Reich. Jason Goodrich used to listen to these guys in high school, and I may have borrowed a tape once. Anyway, I'd forgotten them, but tossed them on recently while in the tractor cab doing the back-and-forth monotony thing. Wearing earbuds under earmuffs in an air-cooled 73HP German diesel tractor with an airblast sprayer wailing at full speed is not a situation for 'critical listening', so this sort of music fits the bill. These guys play balls-to-the-wall no frills speed/thrash with a decided leftist lyrical bent. Vocals and major songwriting are handled by bassist Phil Rind, with the resulting sound a rhythmic and bottom-heavy speed stew. Heal, their 1996 release, is some pretty solid stuff, and the title track stands out as among the best metal songs out there. What I like most here is that unlike the new breed of metal where bands seem to feel a need to up the 'scary factor', complete with those brillo-throated vocals, Rind's voice is just basic metal shouting.

Mercyful Fate. These guys certainly have the melodrama that Sacred Reich lack, with operatic, wailing, sometimes hushed, somewhat boogity-boo scary lyrics thanks to vocalist King Diamond. The music is tight, full of changes and dynamics, and superbly played. Well worth picking up, since I'm sure you can find it in the used bins by now.

Yours in RAWK,

TB

The piss-poor state of modern music professionals expands...

2008-07-18T09:56:00.001-07:00

In a recent blog post the music editor for our local Alternative Newsweekly laments the loss of his hard drive on his MacBook, and the resulting loss of some 60,000 songs collected through. There's a few problems I have with this, and his slight whining about it. First, I thought Macs were indestructible? Actually I knew they weren't, but the hubris exhibited by many Mac owners who feel that their machines are so good that the most basic computer safety procedures can be ignored is amazing. I mean, backup drives are ridiculously cheap, and software will automate it for you. There’s no excuse.
Second, 60,000 songs on a laptop drive? Maybe my math is off a bit, but my 250 GB drive at home is holding 10000 high-res FLAC files and 15000 mid- and low-res MP3’s (most are copies of the FLACS for car listening) and it's approaching full. That many songs on a single drive would require low bitrate files as a default. My problem with this? The city’s (state’s?) arguably highest-profile music editor doesn’t need to be an audiophile (a word he often uses in the completely wrong context), but the music samples he reviews and uses for reference should be of reasonable sound quality, and <160 kbps MP3 simply is not. On that note, it amazes me that this resource, that being the reference music library for the state's preeminent Arts rag, contains no physical media? I mean, what about liner notes, fidelity, and protecting oneself from this hard drive business?
I don't mean to be a dick, but I would expect more from 7D and their music man. But then again this is the guy who steered me towards buying that Tapes n' Tapes garbage...

TB

Greg Calbi on the Loudness Wars...

2008-07-10T11:44:00.000-07:00

A good YouTube Explanation of the Loudness Wars...

2008-04-29T04:35:00.001-07:00

...and the death of modern recorded sound:

Tapes 'n Tapes, Walk it Off

2008-04-29T04:23:00.001-07:00

I picked up this little slab of vinyl based solely on a bit in Seven Days touting their ultra-cool indieness. I don't know why the music press doesn't warn us about absolutely atrocious sound quality when turning us on to a band and convincing us to plop down our $17.
Having never heard these cats I was intrigued when I plopped the platter on the turntable. I thought it funny that a twelve-songer was on two records, and the initial sound told me why, it was pressed at 45 rpm. A flick of the speed switch got things timed right, but I was then immediately assaulted with one of the worst sounding recordings that has ever graced my ears. There's lots of info out there about the problems of modern engineers and mastering techs who over compress music and blast the base volume to give an impression of 'loudness," but this one takes the cake. And not only is this compressed at the mastering end, but the actual recording is so distorted and clipped that the resulting track just plain sounds like shit. THE INTENDED EFFECT IS TO MAKE THE RECORD SEEM LOUD WHEN PLAYED ON A RADIO OR IPOD BUT IT REALLY JUST MAKES IT ANNOYING AS HELL LIKE WRITING LIKE THIS. Funny thing is that vinyl recordings tend to be better in this regard because it's hard to smash all that shit into the groove without making the needle jump. Hence, the 45 rpm speed, which allows for wider groove spacing.
As for the music, I guess the Pavement comparisons make sense, but I have a really hard time listening to it to give it a fair shake. Look for this record on eBay soon. This band either has their heads up their asses or got a raw deal on the production/engineering/mastering end.Here's a screen shot of the waveform, notice that the level is completely maxed out with no room for subtlety or dynamic:

For comparison, here's a shot of a vinyl recording of The Clash, Brand New Cadillac, a song that I consider to have great slam and impact thanks to its use of dynamics:

Another Ray Davies vid

2008-04-07T11:05:00.001-07:00

"Days", from that same BBC video:

Ray Davies does "Shangri-La"

2008-04-07T11:02:00.000-07:00

HOLY SHIT... I'm a huge kinks fan, and this track literally gave me goosebumps:

A pretty funny (and interesting) thread on cleaning vinyl

2008-03-10T05:53:00.000-07:00

Located here

"...So after a good bit of scotch I have concluded that you can probably clean your vinyl with most anything and it will sound better, that vinyl doesn't deteriorate very quickly under full strength of either substance, so I can't imagine you'll do much harm with short cleaning sessions of either. Long term problems? Maybe, and I'm going to hang onto this record and test later, but I doubt it...

OTOH, the much gentler water/alcohol/Dawn combo worked as well and probably has NO negative effect. I'm sure the expensive record cleaner also works and makes the owner feel good. Nothing wrong with that either.

Off to more scotch! Might try carb cleaner and WD-40 next....:

Drive By Truckers on Vinyl!

2008-02-15T13:08:00.001-08:00

So I have this New Year's resolution that I'll buy my music locally. I spend a lot of my discretionary funds on tunes, and often have been known to order over the 'net. But I love record stores, and I hate to hear of them generally being in bad shape these daysand closing down. So I hear a while back that the Drive-By Truckers are rereleasing their back catalog on vinyl, and Music Direct has them all. They're limited to 1000 copies each, so I'd better get them quick..... Then I rethink. I go down to Pure Pop in Burlington, a solid bricks and mortar indie shop whose vinyl selection has been pretty good and getting better. I'm talking new stuff here, including overpriced rereleases as well as brand-new offerings. Low and behold they had the whole catalog. I skipped the first two (Pizza Deliverance and Gangstabilly) which I understand were put out before they found their songwriting groove, and pick up the rest; from New West records there's The Dirty South, Decoration Day, and A Blessing and a Curse, from Lost Highway I got Southern Rock Opera. I already have the latter two on cd and love them. Only quibble? Lost Highway's SRO is, like most of their releases, of pretty bad pressing quality: many 'pimples' per side and both records with pretty good edge warps. The New West releases however are pristine, like the best I've ever seen. I'm a happy man and no resolutions broken.

Jen Trynin

2008-02-04T04:43:00.000-08:00

Way back in '94 or so my brother was telling me about this woman, Jen Trynin, and her incredible debut cd. Bro had picked up on her in a local Boston rag and had ordered her disc direct before she had been picked up by a label. At that time there was talk about how she was the next big thing, and I heartily agreed upon hearing the tunes.

Cockamamie was initially released on her own Squint records label and is one of the greatest debuts ever in rock, and is probably one of the best power-pop records of the 90's. That opening drum roll, those down chords, and the lines "What could make me happier than sitting right here/ trash in the walkway and boys on the street/ screaming bloody murder/ cause that's what you do/ when you don't have a chance," signaled a cry of pop desperation that shook with honesty. The album is truly a solo affair with Trynin on guitar and vocals and a hired-gun rhythm section that really complements her well. The general focus of the lyrics is on love affairs good and bad (mostly the latter) and seeing a sense of hope in that aforementioned desperation.

This theme is really developed on the second track and should-have-been-a-hit "Better than Nothing." The opening lines "Maybe we could talk in the shower/ I bet we'd be gone in an hour/ I bet we could leave all this behind/ or we could just stay home," detail a woman who is struggling to find goodness in a blase situation. The jangly pop and keen drum beat accentuate the hope to be found, and the chorus "It's Better than nothing/ I'm feeling good for now/ But I know that tomorrow, I'll probably come around" hammer home the point that maybe we just have to accept our plight and take what life is giving us.

The remainder of the album continues that theme with great songwriting and especially killer guitar playing from Trynin. Titles such as "Snow", "Everything is Different Now", "All this Could be Yours", "Knock Me Down", and "Beg" hammer that lyrical theme home. I popped this in last week after a long hiatus and was struck by how personal this record is to me. That probably has to do with my situation back in the mid-nineties when this record was an essential part of my soundtrack. I was in my early twenties, going through some of the same relationship issues as the songwriter, and sometimes just trying to make sense of messed up love affairs and my own shortcomings as a partner. "One Year Down" was a particularly close to home tune: "One year down and I'm no hero/ One year down and there is not a sound/ One less year that I'll be lonely/ With one ear to the ground."

I never understood why this record didn't take off into the stratosphere, and when it's followup Gun Shy Trigger Happy (killer title, by the way) was released, there was very little push behind it. Trynin had toned down the rocking a little bit, and even had a short-lived single on the local AAA station, but the damage was done, and she faded out before long. I caught her live gig at Club Metronome in Burlington for this record, and was pleased that she brought her rockin' pop up to Vermont. Chatting with her after the show she seemed a little disenchanted with her plight in the industry...if I'd only known. Her records are now found in cutout bins and for $1.99 on eBay.

So last week I had some time to kill in Barnes and Nobles and picked up her 2006 biography Everything I'm Cracked up to Be. I cranked through it in no time at all, and learned of how she was chewed up and spit out by the major labels during their insane bidding war for Cockamamie, how the initial tour was fraught with false expectations, too much drinking, inter personnel conflict, and was, by the time it hit the West Coast, a failure. It happens that the first record was released the same day as Alannis Morrisette's Jagged Little Pill, and parent company Warner Brothers decided to put its full marketing power behind that one. Too bad, because Morrissette was a flash-in-the-pan (with an undoubted killer single), while Trynin really had the skills to go for the long haul. Fed up with it all, Trynin quit the business after GSTH. The sad thing is that even in her afterlife as a writer, she gets crap for respect. I bought the book in the closeout section of B&N for six bucks.

Track down her records and give them a spin. Hell, Cockamamie even saw a vinyl release, which I ordered last week off the 'Bay (ten bucks, shipped). And learn more at her website.

Papas Fritas

2007-11-14T11:13:00.000-08:00

Back when I was downloading those MP3’s from eMusic around the turn of the century I often would do so based on the text/review for a particular release. I wasn’t too discriminating, obviously with the 28 gigs I would end up downloading, and it took me awhile to sort through things (still am, really). One descriptor in those reviews which soon meant nothing was ‘pop’. I know what pop music is to me, and I guess it’s like the Supreme Court’s definition of pornography…it’s not easy to define, but you know it when you see/hear it.

So I was digging around these piles of bits and bytes for good tunes at a time when I had to burn an audio cd to listen them in my system. When burning ‘pop’ music from the likes of Piebald, The Promise Ring, and others of that emo-crap genre, I was turned off. And somewhere in there I had lumped Papas Fritas in with those characters, much to my loss for the next five or six years.

Now contrary to my previous posts on shitty 128kbps bitrates, I have not put any PF tracks into another format nor sought out the better (cd, vinyl preferably) formats yet. But this music is so incredibly catchy, so fuckin’ POP! that I don’t mind those scattered highs so much on my music player.

The wonderful trio Papas Fritas formed in 1992 or so at Tufts University and released a debut EP, three full-lengths, and a compilation/best-of that seems to have closed the lid on these fine chaps. What a shame. I’m not going to go into an album-by-album rundown here, save that for the all music guide, and since these are loaded onto my music player I tend to listen them not as individual albums but rather as a big chunk of singalong. I can say that the group, basically guitarist Tony Goddess, drummer Shivika Asthana, and bassist Keith Gendel with a few additions near the end, evolved a bit over the course of their albums from stunning-what-they-could-do-with-it-lofi indie pop through better produced (but not Produced) indie-pop to slightly more mature (read sometimes slower) indie pop. All three write songs, sometimes credited collaboratively. Goddess and Asthana trade vocal duties, from his slightly reedy/geeky tone to her boppy/exuberant and sometimes plaintive foil. To simplify their sound, imagine the New Pornographers play early 90’s era twee/cuddlecore with Jay Bennet circa The Church at 4 AM at the production console. Subject matter spans the range; lost love, happy days, playing clubs as a small act, relationships, sunny days. I’ll hit just a few highlights (files are ~1 meg Mp3’s…after the taster, buy the records!):

“Passion Play,” debut EP and LP: A downbeat ode to a relationship, with great use of strings on the latter version.

“Holiday” S/T LP: “Take one of these/ on your holidayyyy…”

“Say Goodbye,” Helioself: Asthana sings this beautiful postscript a friend (lover) who has left set to a steady pulsing backbeat. Understated and brilliant.

“Hey Hey You Say,” Helioself: A throbbing little piece that will stay in your head all day.

“People Say,” Buildings and Grounds: Very nice vocal from Asthana on this one.

“Way You Walk,” Buildings and Grounds: Crazy hooky riff that makes you strut. "I can tell by the way you walk that you want to be alone with him..."

See more on these guys at their website: http://www.papasfritas.com

Discovering the Lost MP3s

2007-11-06T10:22:00.000-08:00

Way back in the dark ages of 2000-2001 I dipped my toes into the developing world of downloaded MP3 music. With a particularly sluggish dialup connection at home, a fast work connection that blocked filesharing sites, and too much holier-than-thouness to ‘steal from the artist’, I looked into eMusic.com. What a friggin’ deal! Unlimited downloads, cheap ($12.95/month, now limited to 50 songs/month) subscription, and access to a wealth of mostly indie music. I started downloading with fervor, setting my work computer up in the morning to download piles of stuff on their T-1 connection, burn it to cd at lunch, then start again for the afternoon. Over the course of eight or nine months I pretty much downloaded all I wanted from their library. Then I didn’t listen to it.
Around that same time I was getting into vinyl and picking up the pace of my music collection in general. I was also starting to pay attention to sound quality, not from the audiophile point of view but rather just searching for good sounding playback of the music in my life. Often I would burn a 128kbs MP3 to disc for the drive to work, and I just couldn’t listen to it for more than five minutes, that shrill low bitrate MP3 sound literally gave me a headache especially with jazz or other music with a lot of cymbals and other natural high sounds. I played around with some ‘sound optimizer’ software to make things more tolerable, but basically I shelved all of that music, some 20+ gigabytes and 400 or so albums. I hadn’t even listened to many of them at the time, and downloaded based on the description.
Fast forward to 2006. I picked up an outboard AD/DA unit for our laptop so that I could make recordings of my vinyl (Edirol UA-EX1, works great). So while I had the ‘puter hooked up to the hifi, I figured I’d dump all of those MP3’s onto an external drive along with some select cd’s (in FLAC format, mind you). Suddenly those lost tracks were at my fingertips and playable on a better setup than my then truck cd player. They are still low-quality MP3’s, but they are good enough to sift through, play for background music, and look for higher quality copies of those that I really like. In future postings I’ll mention a few of these ‘lost tracks'....

Goodbye iPod... hello iVinyl

2007-10-09T05:48:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I wonder if I look like this guy...

Men at Work, Business as Usual

2007-08-27T04:11:00.000-07:00

When I was just a wee duffer, say ten years old or so, I thought that Men at Work was the greatest thing to hit the music scene ever, save maybe for Bruce Stringbean. With their catchy, slick melodies and songs about that imagined land of Australia, they had the pop hooks to bring home a far-off world. I must have spent hundreds of hours with this cassette in my Emerson portable tape player (we were too poor for me to have a real Walkman). Hell I even got their other stuff, including Two Hearts, making me one of maybe five people on the face of the earth that picked up the band's final album. Well time went on and like much of the new wave music of the 80's, Men at Work fell by the wayside.
I picked up a copy of Business as Usual on vinyl some time ago, and last night dropped the needle on it and must say that this is one of the finest pieces of 80's pop produced. All these years since it has not only held up, but rather increased in relevance. These five lads whipped up a rockin' new wave sound that wasn't really a product of the slick, synth-heavy times but rather combined elements of that era with a solid pub-rock foundation and great songwriting. Besides the great hits "Who Can It Be Now", "Down Under", and "Be Good Johnny", great songs themselves, the deep tracks really hold their ground, even stand out. I always dug "I Can See it in Your Eyes" as a kid and this one still holds its ground, same for "Touching the Untouchables". And "Down by the Sea", played on a decent mid-fi/modest hi-fi setup, has a touch of ambience to it that really carries it home. I have sort of meant to catch up on frontman Colin Hay's solo career, and with this reintroduction to his early, stellar work I just may need to follow through. This is a five star record.

TB

What's the Point???

2007-07-09T11:13:00.000-07:00

Julie called me a couple of Wednesdays ago telling me to listen to the Point to try and win us some Bob Dylan tickets. The Point used to be known simply as 96.7 WNCS when I was a kid growing up in central VT. Back then, late 80’s early 90’s, they were truly an original station and an island of great programming amidst the classic rock and hair metal culture of Orange County and the greater Barre area. It was on NCS that I discovered Elvis Costello, the Clash (outside of “Should I Stay or Should I Go”), Talking Heads, and all sorts of other great music. It can be said that their unique mix of semi-formatted music and huge library pioneered the Format now known as Adult Album Alternative. So yeah, I was once a fan.

Then in the mid nineties things started toi go downhill. The station was sold to a small regional outfit, certainly no Clear Channel, but changes soon began. First was the frequency change to 104.7, still out of Montpelier. Then the change to a branded station, The Point. This was a real bad sign of things to come, because once a unique station begins branding itself it’s obvious that the programming is going to be tweaked towards ‘focus groups’ and demographics. They picked up another frequency, then another, and now have four or five. Now the advertisers began controlling things. The music library began to shrink, long time DJ’s started to leave, and they were becoming a caricature of themselves, another ‘The River’ or ‘Alice’.

I’d say it was a couple of years ago that the latest shakeup really came. It was suddenly obvious that their playlist, now with a library of maybe 1000 songs, was being tweaked to reflect their aging demographic towards more safe and familiar stuff- lots of Eagles, Springsteen, and simple stuff like Bonnie Raitt and Indigo Girls. And of these they played the same three songs or so. Then their last original DJ, the morning guy, was canned and the clichéd morning show two-man banter bullshit was added. With this show came more of the canned, formatted contests and features repeated ad nauseum in keeping with the Branding concept. One feature was the “Nine at Nine” where at nine AM they would play nine songs from the same year. A year or so ago I was tuned in and 1977 came up. Great year for music. They played some safe stuff from the Police and Elvis Costello, then came the most offensive thing I had heard on the station to date: Foreigner’s “Hot Blooded”. “HOT BLOODED!?! YOU’VE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!!” I remember shouting at the radio. I haven’t turned that crap on since.

So I’m listening to “Ticket Window Wednesday” (notice the Branding) and they’re giving away a bunch of stuff today, usually to caller six or whatever. Well they come on with the Scratchy 45 contest where they play a snippet of a song and you have to ID it. The tickets weren’t anything I was interested in (passes to the lift at a local mountain/bike trail deal), but when they played the track, the music collector in me had to call in because I knew that most of the listeners wouldn’t be able to ID Rockpile’s “If Sugar Was as Sweet as You Honey”. So I won the little game and the DJ’s did their thing of playing the caller back over the air, something the old station never did because they were about the music, not some novelty crap. Then they played the track and I sung along, thinking that maybe the playlist was picking up a bit. A few minutes later they do their ‘nine at nine’ thing again, this time for 1984. Great year for music. They played Some Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, and then I was again slapped by their offensive crap: The Scorpions’ “Rock You Like A Hurricane”. This bullshit is everything that this station was once up against, and the reason why they were so great in providing an alternative to it. I don’t mind hearing it on a classic rock station, but this is a total insult to any music lover. The Point, you suck my nuts.

So the Saturday after my little experience with the Point’s suckness I’m going through Montpelier with Alice after a grocery run and see a sign for a Yard Sale listing cd’s and such. I stop by and it’s a frickin’ Goldmine, probably 1000 cd’s for sale, lot’s og great stuff. I picked up 20 or so for $25, mostly radio promos but some still sealed legit copies. Spoon, My Morning Jacket, Built To Spill, Front 242, Penelope Houston, Hammell on Trial, Mudhoney, Ani Difranco, Belle and Sebastian, Drums and Tuba, and this is just the stuff I picked up. So someone at the sale asks the proprietor if he’s in the music business and he replies that he has been for 15 years and has been music director at The Point for the past six, “So if you don’t like the music, I’m the guy to talk to.” “What the hell were you playing the Scorpions for the other day?” I asked. He then blamed it on the two-man morning doofus team, saying that they like to play that stuff on their nine at nine thing to show the diversity of the music in that year, and said he himself cringed when he heard it. Hey buddy- you’re the music director. Every track in the library is your responsibility, and that station is so formatted that every track that is played is directly approved by you. Don’t give me that horseshit blaming the DJ’s. If we want to hear the ‘other’ music that came out in a certain year, we can listen to an ‘other’ station. Your station sucks because you let it suck. I used less and nicer words to him, but I hope I got the meaning across. Doesn’t matter to him anyway, I’m outside his ‘demographic’ I suppose since I actually like to find unique music and spend my money on it so that I have plenty in the car and don’t have to listen to his crap.

What makes this matter worse, I thought on the way home, was the whole yard sale aspect of it. Here was a guy in the ‘music business’ (actually advertising business) selling the promo albums he received from labels and breaking artists hoping to get airplay on his station. He was clearly profiting from selling his gifts (unethically, and probably illegally) albeit at really cheap prices. The artists were getting screwed by having their goods sold for nothing, but moreso because they lost the chance to get airplay and further increase legitimate sales. Particularly bad in that regard was the 1993 Penelope Houston album I picked up; this woman is an amazing musician and deserves much more exposure than she gets. Were the Point (or WNCS back then) to put her in rotation while they were still a relevant and even groundbreaking station, she may have been picked up by other station that were copying the AAA format, and we would have her instead of Tori Amos as a Legacy Artist. I was getting screwed because this idiot was selling off the best music given to him rather than playing it on his station, thus depriving myself and other true music lovers of a good ‘venue’ to discover stuff. So now I have a stack of cd’s that are ethically questionable on many accounts. Did I contribute to this crap by buying them? Probably, in a sense, but I’m not going to lose too much sleep over it. I spend a lot of money on music, including other releases from the artists I picked up, and arguably support the real players of the industry (the musicians) more than many listeners out there.

One final note….As I was briefly impressed by the station playing that Rockpile track a few days ago, I still thought that they might keep some good stuff buried deep intheir library. So what cd was this moron selling at his little yard sale? Rockpile, Seconds of Pleasure. I guess they wrung just a little coolness out of that one before hanging it out to dry with all the other good music they could be playing instead of another spin of Tears for Fucking Fears.

What's "indie" mean?

2007-07-08T08:04:00.000-07:00

A great post from the Audio Asylum forums:

In Reply to: RE: What's "Indie" BTW? <486010.html> posted by
Feanor on July 07, 2007 at 13:49:11

Indie is just short for independent which in simplest terms just
means you have no affiliation with a major label.

However the meaning goes deeper now. Back in the 70's depression
when all US indie labels died (and most major ones too) everything
changed. Pop music, as in the "pop" scene, started it's death spiral
because majors no longer had indie labels feeding them talent. (like
the guy in the camper in the movie "The Wonders")

It used to be majors just wanted the #1 song, they didn't care who
it was because they knew some other act would come along next week,
next month, and next year. But when indie labels stopped feeding
them acts, and they couldn't find them on their own (because they
never did) they started trying to manufacture "stars". Instead of
selling 50 thousand copies of 20 different albums, they now sell a
million of just one.

The indie scene revived itself in the UK in the 80's and was
referred to as alternative, and many bands from it became known here
(Human League, The Smiths, Depeche Mode, Modern English etc etc..)
however by the early 90's most of these UK indie labels tanked also.
The majors then stepped in and started offering what they called
"alternative" (which would be bands like smashing pumkins or green
day) only there was nothing alternative about it. They were marketed
just like anything else the majors touched and you didn't find out
about new, upcoming bands.

The majors thought they killed Indie but it found a home on the web
in the mid late 90's. Most of the best stuff right now comes from
scandinavia, but it exists everywhere and these are kids motivated
by the UK bands of the 80's and as a result they all sing in
english. You NEVER hear about any of them, but I see the music
getting used on TV commercials all the time. The song playing in the
Geico commercial with the caveman going thru the airport terminal is
Röyksopp and features vocals by Erlend Oye from Kings of
Convenience, whos music has also been used in AT&T ads. Target used
a Concretes song for their jingle once, Postal Service songs have
been used in car commercials, and some wireless companies new ad is
using an Architecture In Helsinki song for example.

So if we were to extrapolate back, indie is essentially old
fashioned "pop" music. Get Dick Clark, spin the cut and let the kids
dance. In other words, music for people who like music. The stuff
that makes brains go dead and puts smiles on faces."

From Peter Gunn, http://www.indiespinzone.com/

Old school...video games encoded into vinyl!

2007-06-22T06:27:00.000-07:00

A cool blog post on old-school video game code recorded as hidden tracks on vinyl records:

http://www.kempa.com/blog/archives/000053.html

A quick update of tunes this season

2007-06-10T11:46:00.000-07:00

Little time to update nowadays, but I've picked up some new tunes and
wanted to touch base on them. Still planning to update on LAST WINTER's
system upgrade. On dialup, so no album cover links:

Wilco, Sky Blue Sky: So the boys have 'settled down', unfortunately
after finally recording with guitar wunderkind Nels Cline. Rather 70's
soft-rockish, with one guitar workout on "Impossible Germany" that I
always look forward to as the album highlight but which still leaves me
underwhelmed. Sorry guys, this one's a 6 at best.

Spoon, Girls can Tell: Picked up at Buch Spieler for five bucks,
probably the best bang for the buck I'll get in 2007. I've known of
them for some time but never sought them out. Killer hooks, excellent
songwriting, easily a 9.5 or better.

Drive by Truckers, Blessing and a Curse: Seven bucks at Buch Spieler.
Another outfit that's been at the corner of my radar screen but always
missed. Solid alt-country in the vein of Bottle Rockets and Marah. Dig
this much.

Stooges, The Weirdness: Detroit Garage Skuzzbags return a lot wealthier
with Mike Watt (or 'shit stain, as my wife calls him, more on that in
another entry) on bass. The playing is pretty standard, but Iggy is a
real let-down on this one. Sorry, a no better than a 6.

Buzzcocks, Singles Going Steady: Got this 4 Men With Beards reissue,
and holy motherfucker do these guys rock! This is often lumped in with
London Calling (agree) and Never Mind the Bollocks (shitbag album IMO)
as the essential first-wave British punk. Helluva album.

Talking Heads, Fear of Music: More Eno-Byrne dancerock. Good stuff.

Mastodon, Whatever their major label record is: I was looking for some
good metal, and instrumentally this is it, very Iron Maiden with maybe
some newer 21st century metal influences. Not crazy about the vocals,
they lean a bit toward the contemporary Dark Metal cookie-cutter crap
that's on Headbanger's Ball.

John Mellencamp, Freedom Is: Bought this one that was supposed to be
his best album in years, if ever. It sucks enough to deserve a full
entry of its own.

Jesus and Mary Chain, Psychocandy and Automatic: Been wanting these on
vinyl but I did my semi-annual Columbia House cycle and picked them
up. Good shit.

Beth Orton, three of hers: Same Columbia House deal, don;t listen to
them enough but not bad for a mellow commute.

Rachael Yamagata, ?: Picked up through CH too for Julie. Okay
singer-songwriter stuff but nothing too special. Same for KT Tunstall,
although she probably has more staying power.

I know there's more, but that's all I can think of.

And no, haven't picked up Corinne Bailey-Raye.

Yeah, I'll get to it someday....

2007-05-08T06:01:00.001-07:00

So I've been telling myself that I will write something at least once a
week for at least one of my blogs. Someday. This spring is hectic as
hell, as they always are, so when things settle down I'll add a few
things. Like Alice's latest feats (Personal Blog). Or my current love
for Cheap Trick (MixTape). Or how my orchard has come through the
winter, and the new strawberry plantings we're putting in (ApplePress).
I'll get to it. Someday.

--
================
Terence Bradshaw
Calais, VT 1450 feet, zone 4

http://www.lostmeadowvt.com

The lost art of record shopping

2007-04-10T13:47:00.000-07:00

http://tinyurl.com/2xxzu2
By Jeff Herrin
Rocky Mount Telegram

Sunday, April 08, 2007

On a recent trip to Georgia, I spent about an hour in the record shop where Michael Stipe met Peter Buck in 1979, beginning a friendship that led to the creation of R.E.M.

That's the kind of name drop that 15 or 20 years ago might have triggered a response along the lines of: "You were at Wuxtry Records in Athens?!"

Today, the more likely reaction would be: "They still have record stores somewhere?!"

Baby boomers left behind plenty of embarrassing artifacts in our long-ago youth – butterfly bowties, AMC Gremlins, plaid everything – but we knew how to celebrate, worship and respect the almighty album.

Record stores weren't just places to spend paper route money. They were practically houses of worship – incense hitting you as you walked through the doors, black-light posters framed like stained-glass windows, the holy soundtrack of our generation on a turntable, always spinning near the cash register.

Guys kept an eye on what the girls were buying. We mostly ignored anyone in the Osmonds section. We tried everything we could think of to talk to the ones looking at Rolling Stones albums.

A record was a cheap, legitimate date. No money for movies? Nothing worth watching on any of the three TV channels we could receive?

Hey, want to come over and hear the new Dylan album?

Not only was that a respectable activity for a Saturday night. It also triggered high-fives among envious friends. Dude, she likes Dylan!

Sometime in the 1980s, records gave way to compact discs. You could still find love and serenity in a CD shop. It was just that the artwork was smaller, the discs were more expensive and the Stones' output became a little more miss than hit.

Still, CD shop clerks, like record shop clerks, knew good music. You could hit the store with your friends, browse for a while, hear some good stuff, walk out with an R.E.M. album and still find reasons to return next week.

Now ... not so much.

Try finding a record, much less a record store. Heck, the way things are going, try finding a store of any kind that's dedicated to music.

Ask a kid what kind of music he's enjoying these days, and chances are, he'll open his laptop. Here you go. All the music you could ever want ... in a lifeless digital format.

Playing a record was practically an art form in cool, especially in front of a girl.

You made a big production out of gently rolling a special brush across the surface of the vinyl. You used another brush to clean the stylus of your turntable's tone arm. You waited until the needle hit the groove before you turned up the volume on the amplifier.

These were important skills to be practiced many hours in private long before trying them out in front of a significant other.

Sharing music nowadays consists of sending a download link via e-mail. Or handing over your iPod. Or, worst of all, cranking up the volume of your ringtone.

Does anyone in 2007 wrap up a hard day thinking: "Man, I'm ready to hear some Stevie Wonder 'Innervisions.' What'd I do with my cell phone?"

Assuming someone wants to actually pay for music, kids are more likely to log onto iTunes than they are to drive to an actual store. Shops like Wuxtry, mentioned at the beginning of this column, are few and far between – mostly relegated to college towns and big cities.

Downloads and cell phones are convenient, I suppose. But I can't for the life of me figure out how a guy with no money gets dates anymore.

Jeff Herrin is the editor of the Rocky Mount Telegram.

Alejandro Escovedo, and Dance Baby!

2007-04-09T12:19:00.000-07:00

Alejandro Esvovedo, The Boxing Mirror:
My brother turned me onto this cat some fifteen years ago or so with his With These Hands record. Quite a musical pedigree old Al has, from the punk (era and sound) Nuns and Dils to the countrified roots-punk Rank and File, his own True Believers (Austin roots n' roll) and Buick McKane (a little more nutsy), he was seasoned before starting a solo career in the early 90's. After being sidelined by hepatitis at the turn of the century, he roared back to form with this killer album. This is one of those 'textured' rock albums alongside the likes of Los Lobos' Kiko, late-era Wilco with less skronk, and most anything produced by Mitchell Froom. The man behind the boards this time is none other than the great John Cale, and aside from a questionable choice or two, he pulls it off wonderfully. The opening track "Arizona" opens with a swirling dirge and the offer..."have another drink on me/ I've been empty since Arizona..." This (autobiographical?) tale is veiled in shadowy phrases relating to his maturity, maybe looking back at a lost love? Not sure, but it's damned enchanting. The record continues with the 4/4 rock of "Dear Head on the Wall", complete with shifting strings which lift it above the standard. Other rockers include "Notes on Air", and the fist thumper "Break This Time." Unfortunately two tracks ("Looking for Love" and "Take Your Place"), while great (or at least good) songs, are marred by whizzy synth tracks, the former of which drills into my head like the worst MP3 you've ever heard.
Given his penchance for slow introspection, Escovedo does a nice job of it on "The Ladder", "Evita's Lullaby", and "Died a Little Today." My standout however is the spoken-word over free-form rock-skronk (not unlike Wayne Kramer) of "Sacramento and Polk" where the singer reflects on a gritty life and someone from his past. Spellbinding stuff from a brilliant artist.

Fisher-Price, Dance Baby Dance!:
I love my mother and know that she only wants my little 15 month-old Alice to be happy. So she gets her this cd of horribly synthesized/produced 'dance' versions of "Old McDonald", "Bingo", etc. If you really want to see Alice dance, put on XM channel 65, The Rhyme. She just starts boppin' away in the car as soon as it's on; Public Enemy, Digital Underground, Snoop, Run DMC, hell she was diggin' 2 Live Crew's "Pop That Coochie" the other day. She also loves James Brown, London Calling, and Cheap Trick. Little ones are smarter than we think....

New Toons- Lucinda Williams, Sleater Kinney, Cheap Trick, Smithereens, Talking Heads

2007-03-08T05:37:00.000-08:00

One great thing about working for a University is that when you get to travel to other college towns there's often a decent record store waiting for you. Last week I went to Lansing, MI and found Flat Black and Circular, one of those great old-school record shops with a devoted staff and lots of vinyl. Here's what I picked up:

Lucinda Williams, West: I've been trying to pick up new vinyl when I can, and generally hold out for those releases that I really think I'll spin in years to come. Lucinda is a real elder stateswoman of the alt-country movement, and her last few releases have been stunning works. So when I came across this one for $20, I picked it up. There has been some talk on the vinyl asylum about the quality of many new vinyl releases, and I will say that this one was a little questionable. Mainly it was disc tow which seems to have not had its outer edge trimmed, leaving a sharp, jagged edge. There's also one or two of those little 'pimples' in the vinyl. That said, it sounds great, especially after the wet cleaning. I say 'sounds' great, because the sonics are wonderful, as is the production. Keltner's drums in particular have that snap and realism that is hard to find sometimes, and the guitars are clear and tonally great. What's lacking a bit is the music.
Now don't get me wrong, Lucinda is a great songwriter, and this batch is pretty solid. But it's also a bit boring. Every tune is played in the same down tempo, and I fell asleep during both of my first two listens. The lyrical tales reflect losses in her family life, without a lot of edge or metaphor to sift through. If this were my only Lucinda release, it would probably be a great one, but sitting next to Car Wheels... or World Without Tears, it's only decent.

Sleater Kinney, The Hot Rock: Now we're cookin'! I've been picking up more from these girls lately, and considering their breakup last year each acquisition s bittersweet. This album continues the strong work of Dig Me Out where they picked up there final and best drummer Janet Weiss, and here she seems to really be fitting her playing into the amazing guitar work of Brown and Tucker. At the risk of relying hipster-vantage points here, I need to say that these girls have the intricate playing of Television down pat, but only better. Not only do the guitars interweave seamlessly through some amazingly jagged/melodic material, but their voices do the same. Seeing them do this live was nothing less than astounding. The best evidence of their complicated cohesion would be on "Burn, Don't Freeze", a stunning number I've had on MP3 but always needed to get a better copy of. A much better spin on the way to work than Lucinda's.

The Smithereens, Green Thoughts: For three bucks, nonetheless! I just love these guys and their Kinks meets garage/bar-rock thing. This second full length garnered some chart attention back in '88, and deservedly so. Not only do we hear more of their pop brilliance, but this one really introduces us to Pat DiNizio's downcast, cynical lyrical bent. Sample song titles: "Drown in My Own Tears", "Only a Memory", "House We Used to Live In", "Deep Black", "If the Sun Doesn't Shine". But while the lyrics may have that crappy outlook thing going for them, what keeps this from being a Mark Eitzel project is the wonderfully poppy hooks and melodies. Keep 'em coming, boys....

Talking Heads, More Songs About Buildings and Food
: This is a replacement for a cassette copy that I have which is in really bad shape. Not much I can say about it which hasn't already been said. TH during this era were simply amazing, groundbreakers in every way. The rhythms alone on this disc from Franz/Weymouth are worth the price of admission; add Jerry Harrison's solid guitar and Byrne's vocals (and instrumental work) and we have a real classic. Screw the remastered cd's, this chunk of wax was a steal at ten time it's $3 price tag.

Cheap Trick, In Color: With this record I can now say that I have the full collection of essential early Cheap Trick. My buddy Ben always gives me shit for touting these guys, but he's only familiar with their 80's drivel (and I guess "I Want You to Want Me") and missed out on their incredible early stuff. The Trickers made four-four rock and roll worth listening to at the end of the Seventies, and this one, their second release, is a five-star gem. The whole record is a standout, but the original "...Want You..." sticks in the head with it's swinging bubblepop that is so much better than the arena-fired At Budokan version.

AIr Guitar

2007-03-01T03:51:00.001-08:00

AIr Guitar
Originally uploaded by TerryB_VT.

Any self-respecting guy would rather be caught pounding his pud than playing air guitar. But Alice loves it! So we rocked out today to a little Hoodoo Gurus....

TB

System Upgrade

2007-02-26T04:41:00.000-08:00

So I'm pretty much done sinking cash into the hifi for now. I'll post more when I get a chance, maybe this weekend since I'll have a plane flight to Michigan when I can work on some site stuff. Suffice to say that I'm extremely happy with my vinyl front end and general amp/receiver setup. Also, I've tweaked the computer audio setup a bit so that I have more storage space for the vinyl rips I've been doing. If Julie won't let me get rid of the woodstove and put in a Wurlitzer jukebox (like I could afford one anyway), loaded with 7" singles, of course, at least I can set up a virtual jukebox for casual/party listening (do we still party?). NO MP3s, of course.....

TB

Maybe I am a Yuppie Tool!

2007-02-13T05:34:00.000-08:00

Corinne Bailey Rae- my next essential spin????

So I was watching the Grammys the other night, or the first hour anyway since I have a 9:00 bedtime. I need to seriously consider if I'm turning into a tool who buys their cd's off the counter at Starbucks. Actually I don't go to Starbucks, so that's not such a worry, but anyway. I actually wanted to see this Police reunion (not bad but Sting had to sap up 'Roxanne' during the last verse, the bastard) and the Dixies perform. Then I was pretty happy to see that three-way singer/songwriter thing with Corrinne Bailey Rae, John Mayer, and some other dude. I'm not really a Mayer fan, although I like that song from his first (?) album that goes "I want to run through the halls of my high school/I want to scream at the top of my lungs." But I had heard that Bailey Rae tune "Put Your Record On" on the local soft rock station that our shop man plays at work all day, and I really like it. It doesn't help that I've been driving the truck to work lately which only has AM/FM and I end up listening to AOR/AAA radio a bit.

I got Julie a cd by Rachel Yamagata, an artist she heard on XM. I've only given it a background music spin so far, but it ain't bad- female singer-songwriter stuff with lots of piano and stuff. Did I mention I bought the first Norah Jones album on vinyl for $30 on preorder?

Now I'm ripping some cd's onto my work computer to have some tunes to listen to during the day. What's on there? Dixies, Beth Orton, Richard Thompson, Alejandro Escovedo, Ray Davies, the Smithereens last album. Not exactly edgy stuff, but some might fall just a little out of the AAA format if only due to bad sales (chicken or egg?).

I need to fix this. Once I get the Civic out of the shop and can drive with a cd player it's time to crank up some Helmet, maybe a little Slayer, whoop it up with some Snapcase. I think I need to get an album from a band I know little about, Mastodon. That'll cure me. Right? Right?

Then I'll go home and spin the new Cat Power record. Maybe put on R&L Thompson's Shoot Out the Lights. Oh and I think I need to get that Corrinne Bailey Rae record.

But I draw the line at Coldplay.

TB

Dixie Chicks, Taking the Long Way:

2007-02-06T05:58:00.000-08:00

Call me a yuppie tool if you want. I guess I'm still young, despite my gray hairs, but certainly not urban and only marginally professional. Anyway, I like these girls, despite their sketchy dealings a decade ago that helped push them to superstar status, and consider them the ‘real deal’. Yeah, the need co-writers for virtually all of their songs, but they pick good ones and come up with good results. So their 2006 release was one I was looking forward to, and kind of hoped would reflect a new attitude, less gloss, more substance, in light of their troubles with the country music establishment in recent years. (But what the hell is with the album cover???) An establishment they just don’t need, but who fed them loads of cash for a good while.
So the girls pop out this Rick Rubin-produced slab, and the Rubester did a fairly good job toning down the slick production edges.

The choice of co-songwriters reflects these girls standing in the music world- no Nashville hitmakers, but real, honest-to-goodness crafters like Mike Campbell, Gary Louris, Keb ‘Mo, Dan Wilson, hell even Linda Perry and Sheryl Crow. The nice part about their own songwriting contributions is the diversity in lyrics. Because the three ‘chicks essentially write their own songs separately, we have very different viewpoints here. You’ve got pissed-off Natalie, the firecracker with and attitude on “Not Ready to Make Nice,” a solid stab at the ‘fuck-you song’ we knew she would put out there, as well as the cranked-up “Lubbock of Leave It”, another solid one with poppin’ banjo and a great guitar riff from Heartbreaker Mike Campbell. Then you’ve got the sisters- one seems to be smitten in love (the wistful and lovely “Easy Silence”, XXX “Lullaby”, the gospely “Baby Hold On”). Then the other who seems to be reconciling her lost love on the Neil Finn co-penned “Silent House” as well as and the album’s standout “Voice Inside My Head”. The latter was the radio single, at least on our shitty The Point station, and its theme of love lost and regret belies its pop melody.

Yeah, there’s a weak track or two, particularly “Favorite Year”, co-written by Sheryl Crow. The lyrics, again looking back on a soured relationship to the good times before, aren’t bad, but without even looking at the liner notes I thought it sounded like a derivative SC song. That said, if it’s the weakest thing on the record, then this one stands up as pretty solid after all. Hopefully the ‘chicks will continue on this alt-pop-countryish path and stay the hell away from Nashville. They don’t need an army of New Country fans, even if they make fewer millions, but rather can hold their own artistically in the real music arena with a fanbase that truly appreciates them.

TB

Funny shits

2007-01-13T17:05:00.000-08:00

So I use a webtracker to keep track of hits to my website. One nice thing it tells me is where they came to the site from, so that I can see what external links are effective. Lately I have been ranking well in google, and by proxy many other search engines, so a lot of traffic comes from searches. Here's a list of recent searches that resulted in site hits and the rank I met: Rank Search 7 applepress homemade, google.se (sweden?) 5 cider ferment slowed, google 18 in-keg carbonation, google 6 deck layout fence dog, google 2 "Angelo Montrone" bad mastering, google (mixtape) 8 "in bottle pasteurization", yahoo 5? terry bradshaws family, msn 18 www.lost dogs, search.live.com 1 how to delabel a wine bottle, search.aol.com Now all that randomness is normal, but I had my best one yet today that made me crack up good: 1 cider shits, yahoo TB

More Kinks stuff

2007-01-05T09:54:00.000-08:00

from some dude bob's blog

New Records

2007-01-05T09:21:00.000-08:00

Cashed in a gift cert at Exile Records this past weekend:

Cat Power, The Greatest: Saw this there a while back and had to pick it up. I have some of her earlier stuff on MP3 which I don't really listen to. I've known I needed to check her out for some time now. Well this record is amazing. Recorded, mastered, and pressed very well. Her songs are so emotional and played with such soul that they just grab you. A nice addition.

Macy Gray, On How Life IsAnother one I saw previously and had to pick up, in keeping with my desire for more soul/R&B. She's a great artist and the sound on this album is pretty solid. Nice grooves, great songs.

Replacements, Pleased to Meet Me: Have it on cd but I really want to get their trio of killers (this plus Tim and Let it Be) on vinyl. It rocks, as expected.

Crowded House, Self Titled: Great pop from one of the Neil bros. Need to get more of their stuff.

Something else I'm spacing on right now. Too many records? Nah....

TB

My life with the Kinks

2007-01-04T08:07:00.000-08:00

I've been a fan of the Kinks for half of my life now, and their music constantly finds new meaning to me. So I wrote a little piece on my life and how they have influenced/affected me. I guess it's a continuation of that bad term paper I wrote on them in 10th grade.
Read it here

http://www.lostmeadowvt.com/miscellany/tunes/kinks1.htm

TB

Look ma, new highs!

2006-12-27T18:29:00.000-08:00

My wonderful wife got me a new cartridge for mt turntable for Xmas, and
Audio Technica 440MLa. For those out of he vinyl loop, the cartridge is
the box on the end of the arm from which the 'needle' sticks out. But
it is so much more than that. On a record cutting head, the carving
stylus works lie a very miniature speaker where an electrical signal is
fed to a coil which sits in the field of a magnet. Just like an
electrical motor this setup will now move in the motion described by the
signal. The signal thereby makes a cutting diamond vibrate which in
turn cuts into a vinyl master disc. After pressing, a record is made
which contains the physical waveform of the music on it.
The cartridge then, works in reverse. The stylus (needle) vibrates with
the groove of the moving record. Attached to the stylus via a tube
called the cantilever is either a magnet which then vibrates with the
vinyl groove in proximity to a voice coil. The moving magnet in the
field of the coil creates a very low voltage signal which approximates
the original electrical signal cut to the disc.
Phono cartridges perform this job to varying degrees of success, and
have different 'voices' which reflect their design. I have gone through
a number of cart's in my day, from a cheapo Ortofon (OM 3E) which did
the job barely on my Dual 506-1, to the Goldring 1012GX that came with
my Music Hall mmf-5. This cart retails for somewhere in the $250 range,
and is an excellent unit. I found it to be very full sounding with
great midrange and very smooth yet detailed highs. Unfortunately the
stylus assembly is (or hopefully was) crap, because the diamond came
right off the cantilever once during a gentle cleaning, and the cart was
only a year old. Since replacement styli are over $150 for this rig,
and they appear to be tender, I went looking for a suitable replacement.
During my down time I hooked up a Grado Black which kept me spinning but
was definitely an under-performer. I thought about a higher-level Grado
but their multitude of issues (humming, poor tracking of the groove,
woolly bass) turned me away. It was therefore down to the 'budget carts
du jour," the AT440ML and the Shure M97XE. Both retail at less that
$100 with replacement styli around $60-70. At the time (winter 2005-6)
the 440ML was considered a bright performer, but a bit too much so.
Reports were pouring in that the top end was very harsh and shrill, and
made the record sound like a poorly produced cd. So I went fr the
warmer Shure.
I used that cart for a year and was generally happy with it, but far
from satisfied. The Shure was a solid performer, and would pay anything
you threw at it, but there was no pizazz. It was like playing records
on Grandpa's system. I also found myself constantly bumping the treble
up on my receiver a notch or two, as much as I hated to, in order to get
some highs out of it. So when I heard that the 440M was retooled with a
deemphasis on the top end, and rave reviews began to come in for it, I
wanted to try one out. Thanks to Julie, I got my chance.
I hooked this baby up last night and spun my usual initial test, The
Kinks "Village Green Preservation Society." This isn't the best
reference disc I have, but I'm familiar with the material enough to get
a feel for things. Suddenly my high end was back with a vengeance! I
would even say the cart was pretty harsh, and even made my ears hurt a
little. There was also a lot of needle talk- the sound of the stylus
vibrating off the record with the volume turned down. I threw on Booker
T's "Green Onions" a mono recording, to get a scoop on things without
stereo getting in the way, and I noticed that the right channel was
significantly louder than the left.
It is well-known that AT carts require a good break in period of 50 to
100 hours to settle into their thing, so I'm ready for this baby to open
up in the days and weeks to come. I put seven hours on it today,
sometimes with the volume off just to keep it working, and sometimes
with all systems on and my ears tuned in. After five hours I'll say
that a spin of Wilco's "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" was definitely a treat,
and things are settling in quite nicely.
At this point I can't recommend this cart enough to the budget-minded
vinylphile.

Other reasons why modern music recording/delivery sucks

2006-12-15T04:39:00.000-08:00

A somewhat sketchy article on MP3's and hearing damage here.

More on bad mastering

Industry admits new pop sounds like shit

2006-12-15T04:36:00.000-08:00

"You listen to these modern records, they're atrocious, they have sound all over them. There's no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like — static."

— Bob Dylan in Rolling Stone magazine

The ranting of a cranky old man? Perhaps.

One man's opinion? Hardly.

In August, an open letter from a music industry executive on the state of commercial compact disc mastering and manufacturing was sent to an industry tip sheet/e-mail list run by a music pundit named Bob Lefsetz.

The letter was written by Angelo Montrone, a vice president for A&R (the folks who scout and sign music acts) for One Haven Music, a Sony Music company.

"There's something . . . sinister in audio that is causing our listeners fatigue and even pain while trying to enjoy their favorite music. It has been propagated by A&R departments for the last eight years: The complete abuse of compression in mastering (forced on the mastering engineers against their will and better judgment)."

This compression thing has been a topic of discussion among audiophiles and music fans for nearly a decade. But hearing a music industry executive cop to it was pretty unusual.

for the full story click here

Upgrade in the works...

2006-12-09T05:18:00.000-08:00

No new tunes for a spell. I'm looking to upgrade my vinyl rig in the
next few months: phonostage, system amp, maybe cartridge. I'll post
with the developments as they come. Until then, I'll have to be happy
with the new Sleater-Kinney (r.i.p.) disc I picked up the other day, The
Woods. Pretty heavy stuff with 'Big Rawk' guitar, but some of the
middle tracks are quite similar to their previous stuff, and "Modern
Girl" is even a little heart-touching,

All for now.

New records in the collection

2006-11-20T07:54:00.000-08:00

Early Nov, eBay:

Soul/funk lot. We’ve been feeling a little deficient around the Bradshaw house in the area of soul/funk/R&B. I pulled this lot off from eBay, actually in trying to save on shipping or another auction I ended up losing (Tiger Trap, self-titled LP). A decent lot for a total of ten bucks.

Platters, Encore of Golden Hits. Overproduced 50-60’s pop/soul. Innessential.

Earth, Wind and Fire, Greatest Hits, Volume 1. Far exceeds expectations, great sound, solid funk/soul in a good way, great songwriting.

Pointer Sisters, Having a Party. Solid set of adequate party funk which thankfully stays away from disco.

Ohio Players, Gold. ‘Rollercoaster of Love.’ Just the ticket.

Love Unlimited Orchestra feat. Barry White, Rhapsody in White. Likely to be overproduced crap, in no hurry to listen to this one.

Staple Singers, City in the Sky. Haven’t listened yet, but has good funk potential.

Mid- October, Exile on Main Street, Barre VT

Exile is a record shop I started going to in pre-junior high when their building also housed Comics Outpost. It’s a decent shop with a lot of LP’s, probably too many being from the 70’s and 80’s. Nonetheless there’s still good stuff to be found. I forget what brought me in here this day, but I left with two records:

REM, Murmur. It’s not a bad thing to have a good supply of early REM on hand.

Los Lobos, And a Time to Dance. Their first proper release, this predates their blossoming into one of the greatest bands in the world. That said, it’s a very solid slab of Mexamerican boogey music, and is no black mark in a record collection.

Halloween 2006, Exile on Main Street, Barre VT

Went back here because of something I saw on a previous scouting mission.

Kinks, Kinks Kronikles.

Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians, Globe of Frogs. Pretty good slab of psych-pop weirdness with an accent on the pop, mid-80’s college style. Decent, but not on par with Element of Light of Fegmania!.

Willie Nelson, Stardust. Great collection of Willie’s take on classic pop tunes from yesteryear. $1, only needed a good cleaning.

Patti Smith, Dream of Life. Another one-bucker. Nothing really special, like a lot of records great artists released in the mid-eighties.

Cheap Trick, S/T. Killer debut from these pop greats. This has been a gaping hole in the collection for some time. Incidentally they also had an LP copy of CT’s pretty good 2003 record Special One, but I have it on cd and it’s not essential enough to archive on vinyl.

Pretenders, II. Must have if only for “Talk of the Town”. Sonically not great, and this track is the last one on side 1 where tracking distortion is greatest, so probably not the best buy. But then again, it is their best song.

Vulgar Boatmen, You and Your Sister. Indie folk-rock from late ‘80’s. Only soun it once so far, and need to digest it again sometime. Of course the Chris Bell allusion in the title might have suggested I pick it up, but I also remember reading something about them in the Trouser Press Record Guide.

Rank & File, S/T and Long Gone Dead. First two from country/roots-punks led by the brothers Kinman. First record has Alejandro Escovedo. Pretty good but I think my collection is maxing out on this vein (Green on Red, Gear Daddies, Beat Farmers, Guadalcanal Diary, etc.) By the way, their third record sucks.

Sir Douglas Quintet, Border Wave. New wave meets Texas stoner-swing-pop in the hands of the late great Doug Sahm and company. Very solid set on the Takoma label.

November 14, Raleigh, NC.

In town for a work meeting, I flew in too early the day before and had some time to kill. No rental car so I was on foot and explored the NC State University area and found two good records shops.

First was Schoolfish records, a typical indie shop in a college town with a nice selection of new vinyl at new vinyl prices. After much browsing picked up:

Elliot Smith, S/T and Either/or. Solid sets of downcast Nick Drake-style acoustipop for the sad and lonely.

Minus 5, Down with Wilco. Passed this one up at Pure Pop in Burlington once. Have a burned cd copy which kicks ass, so this is worth archiving on LP. Amazing mix of modern Beatles/3^rd-era Big Star influenced indie pop.

Next stop was a used bookstore up the street with a huge stash of LP’s, most all used and a few good new ones. Must have spent almost two hours browsing the stacks, but you have to do that when you have one burning on your wishlist that’s near impossible to find. Left with a few:

Richard and Linda Thompson, Shoot out the Lights. Their masterpiece written during the total collapse of their marriage and partnership. I was familiar with a lot of the songs from the tribute cd Beat the Retreat but this package blows it all away. Incredible sonics to start, with amazing songwriting and guitar work. This piece damn near pulls you into the room with these two as their breaking apart. Powerful shit.

Dave Alvin, Romeo’s Escape. Bought this one mainly for the version of “4^th of July”. It’s not as pretty harmony-wise as the X version, but this tale of desperation almost sounds better in the solo croaky voice of a lonely man. Rest of the album is decent roots music.

Neville Brothers, Treacherous. In keeping with my desire for some good soul/funk/R&B I couldn’t pass this one up. A great two-disc collection from Rhino.

Thin White Rope, Moonhead. About the only release I’m lacking from this underlooked but incredible desert-freak guitar band from the mid-late 80’s.

Kink Kronikles

2006-11-05T17:17:00.000-08:00

I did some record shopping the other day at Exile on Main Street. A
couple of weeks back I spied a vinyl copy of the Kinks Kronikles,
their best-of and odds-and sods from their golden era in the late
sixties and early seventies. Now I have a ceedee copy of this that I
traded with my old college pal Sam Pfeiffle, I think for a Brand New
Heavies disc. Well Sam, I'll say that I won out, since I'm sure that
BNH disc is collecting dust now. Anyway, this collection contains some
of their best gems, but also has pretty bad sound quality, being from
the early days of cd mastering and considering that the original
recordings were destined for vinyl and maybe done a little on the
cheap. This period also corresponds wit Ray Davie's initial forays as a
producer. To add to this my disc is pretty heavily scratched and skips
on some key parts.
So I get the vinyl home, give it a quick clean, and spin it up. Now
I'll admit that I was likely a bit biased, but the whole piece sounded
much more alive. Songs I had mentally skipped over on the cd stood out
and grabbed me. Suddenly "Berkeley Mews" has become a shimmering pop
tune, "Willesden Green" swings in its boozy little way, and "Autumn
Almanac" has becomes an irresistible singalong. Better yet, the killer
tracks stand out even better than before. I've always wanted good,
vinyl copies of "Days", "Susannah's Still Alive", and especially
"Mindless Child of Motherhood", to name a few of the semi-unreleased
tracks on the collection. And without the annoying skip/breakdown on
the cd I now have learned that the garagey Merseybeat of "She's Got
Everything" has a wicked little breakdown at the end. Chalk one up for
the big black wax today...

Killer Pop songs, round 2

2006-08-30T08:02:00.000-07:00

My next round of great pop music, here

4th of July

2006-07-05T15:04:00.000-07:00

She's waiting for me when I get home from work
But things just ain't the same
She turns out the light and cries in the dark
Won't answer when I call her name

On the stairs I smoke a cigarette alone
The Mexican kids are shooting fireworks below
Hey, baby, it's the Fourth of July
Hey, baby, it's the Fourth of July

She gives me her cheek when I want her lips
And I don't have the strength to go
On the lost side of town in a dark apartment
We gave up trying so long ago

Whatever happened, I apologize
So dry your tears and baby, walk outside
It's the Fourth of July

This magical song, penned by Dave Alvin and first recorded by X on /See
How We Are/ while he was in the band, ranks up there with some of the
greatest pop songs in history. On initial listens, not paying attention
and all, it sounds like a summer singalong. At closer inspection,
however, it is a perfect distillation of that desperate feeling when a
relationship hits a stone wall. I think we've all been there, and
hopefully got out of it. Anyway, this song, and specifically X's
version with the John Doe/Exene harmonies, a pair who likely lived the
scenario many times, is simply classic. And it has nothing to do with
what we traditionally attribute to the 4th.

So Long Sleater-Kinney.....

2006-07-02T10:34:00.000-07:00

I got news yesterday that the greatest all-woman rock and roll band
going, possibly the greatest any sex band going, is essentially breaking
up. Sleater-Kinney are/were simply amazing in their melodic and
rhythmic sense, far beyond what anyone else is doing in the post-punk
world nowadays, IMHO. I was introduced to them on a mix tape a very
good friend gave me many moons ago, back when they were still a bit raw
and hadn't completely gelled, but the elements of their future greatness
were there. I kind of missed them for a spell until bassist
extraordinaire Mike Watt started pimping them in the late 90's, and I
finally caught them at Higher Ground in S. Burlington VT last year.
Wicked good stuff, and a sad day in music to hear that they're moving
on. Why must good things always go away???

Teenage Fanclub, Bandwagonesque

2006-07-01T05:37:00.000-07:00

First of my Desert Island Disc series. My brother has always had a
finger on the new music scene, and in 1991 he brought home a little
cd with a great cover, Teenage Fanclub's Bandwagonesque. I quickly
made a copy and played it consistently in my car. The music is
jangly pop, and is often compared to Big Star. I would back that
comparison up and add some non-contemporary similarities such as the
Posies and even the Replacements. But enough of the
comparisons. This album, released in 1991, the year that Nirvana et.
al. broke, was ranked as best album of the year by Spin magazine,
back when Spin used to matter a little bit. And for good
reason. Those hooky, melodic songs ring in your head and make for a
transcendent experience. I should also say that of the 'Class of 91' albums ("Nevermind", "Ten", "BloodSugarSexMagic", "Badmotorfinger", etc.) this is the only one that I have never pulled out of rotation, and in fact I think the only one I still own. From the love anthem "What You Do to Me" to the confused lover "I don't Know"; rock worship odes "The Concept" and "Metal Baby"; the funny spirituality and gum-sticky melodic "Star Sign", down beat "December", reflective "Alcoholiday", and the rockin/raucous and melodic/Scotch (respectively)instrumentals "Satan" and "Is This Music?", this is simply a perfect album. This needs to be in your player/on your platter. Now. These
guys still pop out amazing alt-pop, but this one stands with me as
their masterpiece. Get it

Recent Yard Sale Finds

2006-06-30T16:05:00.000-07:00

Cd's:
TLC- CrazySexyCool Been wanting this for awhile.
Cranberries- Everybody Else is Doing It So Why Can't We?
Beck- Mellow Gold
7 Year Bitch- Gato Negro
US3- Hand on the Torch

what is it, 1994 or something??

Cassettes:
Bad Brains- Quickness and I Against I
Quicksand- Slip
Agnostic Front- Cause for Alarm

A buck apiece...

Father's Day Toons

2006-06-28T11:35:00.000-07:00

Julie got me some gift certificates, fifty bucks apiece, to Buch Speiler
and Riverwalk Records.

Riverwalk (all vinyl):

Miles Davis: Workin', Steamin', Kind of Blue, 'Round about Midnight,
Sketches of Spain

Coltrane: A Love Supreme, Giant Steps

Cannonball Adderly: Somethin' Else. I think this is possibly the best
trad jazz album ever.

Joe Jackson: I'm the Man. Dollar bin.

Buch Spieler

cd's

Dixie Chicks: Taking the Long Way. Good melodies and songwriting. I'm
finding this to stick in my head often,

Fastball: All the pain Money Can Buy. Great Pop stuff, nothing deep or
heavy but just what you're looking for sometimes.

The Essential Leonard Cohen. Gotta have him around.

vinyl, used and need cleaning

Elvis Costello: This Year's Model

Lou Reed: Rock n' Roll Animal. Killer album from someone I once wrote off.

Pinhead: Where Are You? Seminal early '80's Burlington, VT group.

The Knack: Get the Knack. My Sharona.

Asleep at the Wheel: The Wheel. My buddy Ren's uncle Leroy Preston was
a founding member. This is a prime one from when he was still in the group.

New stuff

2006-06-28T10:39:00.000-07:00

In the past couple of months I went on a little bit of a
tunes buying spree, and I've settled on a couple of platters that really
stand out and brighten a day. I picked up Neko Cases' last three albums
(Blacklisted, Tigers Have Spoken (Live), Fox Confessor Brings the Flood)
and while the two studio albums are great in their 'chamber-country'
way, this woman has such an amazing voice and writes such great songs
that you'd like to hear her in a little more traditional setting. Well,
the live album does that, and is in constant rotation. Case's originals
are great, especially the opener and the title track, and she chooses
some great cover material from Loretta Lynn, Buffy St. Marie, and
others. Buy it.
The other standout (of over twenty albums) is "The Trials Posthumous of"
the Minus Five. I've mentioned this one before, but it's pretty amazing.
There's one hoppin' punker on track two, but the bulk of the album
consists of expertly done modern Beatles pop. Somehow the the whole
record is tied together with a gun theme that I haven't really digested,
but the individual tracks are stellar, hooky little nuggets. How else
could I find myself dancing with my sixteen-week old daughter, singing
happily to her "Your mama knew it/ now I know it too/ all you really
need is/ cigarettes, coffee and booze..."
Go get these records.