clean up

hater - who do i kill?
american music club - patriot's heart
neko case - tightly

I keep a folder on my machine that's called "Post Me", where I stick songs that I want to share. I do this because every time I put something up here I end up rooting through all my different folders looking for something, and occasionally I'll come across something I want to talk about, but it doesn't fit my mood for the day.

In the process of putting up the first 32 tracks, I've managed to put 7 or 8 songs in my Post Me folder that I haven't gotten around to writing about. So today I'm going to start clearing out that folder, regardless of if any of these songs fit a mood or theme (or regardless of the fact that they're filled with oogy-boogy sadness, or whatever Jon called it).

Track #1 (or 33, depending on how you're counting) today is by Hater. I only know about Hater because at one point in my life I was a certified Seattle-ite, and I followed the careers of the members of Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice In Chains very closely. I never really was that big of a Nirvana fan.

Hater was a side project by Ben Sheppard (Bass - Soundgarden) and Matt Cameron (Drums - Soundgarden then, Pearl Jam now) along with some other guys that were in less popular bands that I can't remember now. As a Soundgarden fan, I always preferred the songs that Sheppard or Cameron wrote. They just seemed to be bring something completely different and "off" to the band. You can compare "Black Hole Sun" to the song "Half" off the Superunknown album for an example.

Hater's album was kind of like those weird one-off Soundgarden songs, if only you made them a lot more lo-fi and sort of less thought out. Or if you threw in a sort of yeehaw-country-jig-ditty about girls giving you blisters on your eyeballs. Unfortunately you're not getting that track today, because instead I've decided to post "Who Do I Kill?". In hindsight I have no idea why I chose this track to represent the album.

Track #2 for today is by American Music Club. If my memory serves me correct, Mark Eitzel was one of the fellows who sang for AMC, and I saw him open for Low once. Although I wasn't very familiar with his music (except for a track from the No Alternative comp that I always enjoyed), he put on a great show and was a great story teller.

This track, "Patriot's Heart" is a look at America from the eyes of someone who's life doesn't exactly fit the average depiction of the American dream. I think. The truth is I've never really paid a whole lot of attention to the lyrics past the first verse, and the song talks about an overweight male stripper. I think. In any case, I do remember thinking it was great. I have a shit memory though, so maybe I don't know what the hell I'm talking about. I should write record review for Rolling Stone, probably.

Track #3 is Neko Case's "Tightly". I don't know what's up with Neko Case... she writes and album that I can't get enough of ("Blacklisted") and then I go to check out her other solo stuff (She's also a member of The New Pornographers) and it sounds like run of the mill country knock off blah. Anyway, Tightly is a great track that reminds me of all the dead people I used to know.

By the way, Six Feet Under was great last night.

Have a happy day.

An aside: I had to re-edit this post 4 times to fix spelling and word us mistakes. I might need a nap or something.

regulators, mount up

aesop rock - no regrets
the crystallites - undertaker's burial
sleater-kinney - the fox
radiohead - trans-atlantic drawl


There's no rhyme or reason to the choices I've put up today other than they're what I've been listening to for the past week.

"No Regrets" is a song that I came across because of meeting DJ in Pittsburgh. DJ is just one of those "internet people" that I somehow decided to go visit. It happens. There's really no further story than that, I guess. "Internet people". Spoooooooky.

Ok, I lied. I haven't listened to the second song "Undertaker's Burial" for quite a while. But I've always dug it. It came from a free Trojan (a reggae record label, not a condom company) sampler that came with an issue of Mojo magazine. I think. I later bought more Trojan samplers collections, but none of them were as good as the one I got for free. This is a pretty upbeat song about a dead guy. I dig the horns.

The third song, "The Fox", is from Sleater-Kinney's new album "The Woods" that I recommend you buy immediately if you dig this song. The album reminds me of Jimi Hendrix's "Axis: Bold As Love" album, but I really have no idea why. It may take you a minute to get used to the singing.

"Trans-Atlantic Drawl" is my final choice for today. In the magnetic field that is my love of music, Radiohead has always been the north pole and also possibly south pole. Everything else is judged on its coordinates in relation. This song was a b-side on the European version of the Pyramid Song single. I enjoy it because it sounds like Radiohead gone wacky looney tunes until the end when it all ends quite sadly and funeral-like. I'd imagine they thought it was funny.

Alright, damnit. I want to know what you think of each and every song. And if you can't bother to say, then you're a freeloading freeloader type of person who takes loads for free.

refresher course

horace andy - quiet place
massive attack - man next door

A week or two ago I ask some folks who read my livejournal for music recommendations, and a lovely lady named Fran (I'm pretty sure) suggested the music of Horace Andy. So I looked Mr. Andy up and discovered that I already knew him.

FROM ALLMUSIC.COM:

MASSIVE ATTACK - MAN NEXT DOOR
Composed By Dempsey/John Holt/Robert Smith/Laurence Tolhurst
Song Review by Amy Hanson (www.allmusic.com)

In deciding to rehash this reggae classic, Massive Attack had quite a plethora of renditions from which to choose. A tale of domestic violence whose implications, it seems, only become more pronounced every time it's re-recorded, the song was written by Paragons vocalist John Holt in the mid-'60s and released under the title "A Quiet Place." Several subsequent Jamaican versions retitled it "Got to Get Away." Massive Attack, however, would look closer to home for their inspiration, incorporating elements of two definitive versions from musicians directly influential to their sound: a 1981 Sly & Robbie-powered dub version, recorded with a new Paragons lineup (and titled this time "Indiana James"), and the dub/ punk of the Slits' near-simultaneous "Man Next Door." Using these tracks to keep themselves in check, Massive Attack recorded what is perhaps the best-ever rendition of the song -- a new classic of magnificent scope. Keeping a muddy, dubbed-out bass of Slits-ian proportion to drive the song, the band paid further homage to their musical influences by sampling the drip-drip guitar from the Cure's "10:15 on a Saturday Night" and dropping it prominently into the song to punctuate the bridge. Horace Andy, whose own original version of the song is one of its finest early airings, then reprised his vocals to great effect and, alongside the band's melodic retooling, it became less story and more veiled threat. This version was unlike any that came before, both in its vision and content, especially as the entire thing dissolves into a soft, metallic cacophony that just falls away as the song trickles out to nothing.

* * * * *

So there you have it. I've posted the earlier version and the Massive Attack version for your listening pleasure today.

This was certainly easier than writing something myself.

double dare

In the ultimate sign of how many people are paying attention, I had the same link up for both songs (so both links pointed to the lcd song) for four days now, and no one said anything. Encouraging! I need some advertising. Anyway, it's fixed now.

lcd soundsystem - disco infiltrator

iggy pop - nightclubbing

I dunno if yall have looked at Mike's musichorsey music blog- He tries with a flair of history, humor, and general meaninglessness to describe why a particular song he chose to let people download. I usually enjoy his songs, but sometimes there is not enough funk or too much oogly-boogly sadness in his choices. Not that I don't like sad songs. Just oogly-boogly sad songs.

That seems like a fair enough assessment of this blog (I am a proponent of oogly-boogly sadness), so I'm gonna switch it up today and give Jon something to dance to.

The first selection is from LCD Soundsystem's self titled release from earlier this year. The obvious single from the album is a track called "Daft Punk is playing at my house", but I'm not putting that up because it was used as background music during a cut scene at the MTV movie awards. I feel like the whole album may be overexposed already, but that's just because of the web sites I read. So here's a track called "Disco Infiltrator" that reminds me of that Beck album with the pink cover with the green lighting (Midnight Vultures). Except I never really liked that Beck album, and I do enjoy the LCD Soundsytem album.

The second track I've got up, Iggy Pop's "Nightclubbing", is funky, I suppose, but it's a very sleazy dirty "let's go shoot heroin and watch people have violent sex in a dimly lit room" kind of funky, which I don't think I've ever really come across in any other song.

If you can suggest any other songs that you think might accurately fit that description, please let me know about them.

And let's see if I answered the challenge. Right now I'm thinking I probably failed, but I'm probably not done trying.

not so well traveled

jim o'rourke - and i'm singing

This song sounds like the mid-night view from a Japanese train station that is overlooking a barely occupied pachinko parlour that is slowly being taken over by flood waters.

I hope that at least makes sense to Jon.

Warning: The song is 8 - 9 minutes long and has no lyrics. or form, really.

I won't rest until I break it

xiu xiu - i luv the valley oh

I suppose that when I started this blog, I pictured two distinct groups of people using it. The first group, my real-life-we-go-way-back friends, who either don't enjoy the music I listen to, or perhaps don't even know how to download or use the music I'm providing. This group of people would be Jim, Brent, Dave Y, Mark, possibly Dave H... But not Nate, Jon, or Jason, because I think they might enjoy the music.

The second group would be the folks I know from online, who I've probably met through the Radiohead messageboard. They also may or may not like the music, but it's more likely that this is up their alley.

I really started the blog to share with Nate, but he's not online.

In any case, I originally thought I was writing for the first group of people. The more I look at it, I'm probably writing more for the second group of people (+ nate and jon).

Chances are I'm really just writing at (but not really for) Dave H and Gina.

So. If anyone wants to leave a comment in any entry, I'll try to dedicate a post to something I think he or she might like. This is actually a lot more difficult to do than you might think. Music is such a personal thing that no matter how great I think a song is (and I could think it's the great thing ever), there's a good chance that it's all wrong. I might really feel like a song has to be perfect for someone, but usually that leads to almost a feeling of rejection if the person doesn't like it. Perhaps I take things to personally, or maybe you know what I'm talking about. That's why I always try to give other peoples' suggestions a fair shake.

With all that in mind, today I'm posting a song by Xiu Xiu that I fully expect only I might enjoy. Well, I know Nate likes it and that his wife doesn't. That's fair enough, because Xiu Xiu is really dumb. But it's an interesting sort of dumb, and that's why I can find enjoyment in it.

postsecret

added a link to postsecret on the right. it's a blog filled with secrets.

but not in a mysterious "who killed my mother" sort of way.

columbo? like the bald guy?

I've just discovered that I had alot more web space than I thought. This means more music per day, probably. I enjoy the writing and sharing.

m.i.a. - sunshowers

If you want to know M.I.A.'s deal, you can read about it here or here or here. Whatever.

I saw her on MTV2 and she seemed like she didn't really know what the hell she was talking about. Maybe it was just me.

The song is good though, if you're into that kinda thing. I am. Into that kinda thing.

ouch

cannibal ox - the f-word

When you're a young lad (say about 13-15 years old) everything seems like the end of the world, and when you think you're in love with someone you really have no idea what the hell is going on, really. And while 15-20 years later it's all a laugh, that doesn't make what went on then any less genuine or heartfelt.

Junior high drama is something I think we all went through and all find humorous now. Unless, I suppose, you're still hung up on the girl that dumped you the day before the dinner dance, after you had bought her a corsage. And then her friends tell you she never really like you anyway. Seriously, man, get over it. Jesus. So what if she's like really hot now.

Anyway, the song I'm putting up today, Cannibal Ox's "The F-Word" is sorta like those relationships when you're in junior high or high school or whatever when you like a gal and she says she just wants to be friends. I mean, that's what the song is about. The truth is she never liked you and she doesn't really want to be friends either. She just trying to be nice. You never really had a chance with her anyway. She was out of your league. Well now she's a whore, so actually it worked out for the best.

This whole post has been an in-joke.

No, really. I've always liked this song because it seemed like it came for a very real place. Or at least a place I could identify with from my Jr/High school crushes. And I generally don't get that from Hip-Hop. Whitey.

Let me know how you relate.

Yeah, that's not gonna happen.

HEY! (this is track 20)

the pixies - hey

I've been dyin' to meet you.

The Pixies were just in town, and I didn't go because the tickets were $45. I'd pay $45 to see Radiohead; I'd pay $45 to see Blur; I might even pay $45 to see The Pixies... but in this case I just didn't really want to.

I read some show reviews online afterwards and discovered that the sound was bad; You couldn't hear Frank Black's singing unless he was screaming (which, granted, he does quite a bit of), and the background vocals weren't quite there. All this made me glad that I didn't spend the $45.

But then I read that they pretty much played songs from Surfer Rosa and Doolittle, and I was a little jealous.

I was a Frank Black fan before I was ever a Pixies fan. Aaron Chelburg (I'm not sure if that's how you spell his name. It's funny you could know someone for 2 or 3 years and never know) had some Frank Black stuff (Frank Black, Cult of Ray) and turned me onto it. It was probably the Frank Black song "Los Angeles" that really got me into his music.

I got into the Pixies later after learning Frank Black's history with the band. I've always liked Surfer Rosa, from the first moment I heard it. But the production of the other albums (going from Steve Albini to Gil Norton) always turned me off.

Well recently I watched the Pixies dvd, and that got me back into everything, and I've realized that Doolittle is and album with NO bad songs. Nobody can write an album with no bad songs. I even skip a song on my favorite album ever.

So I would have been happy with the setlist.

Oh well. I saw Frank Black for $12 in St. Louis once (Blueberry Hill's Duck Room) and it was probably the second or third best concert I've ever seen.

And $12.

"Hey" is from Doolittle, and I'm sure some of you already are quite familiar with it. On the Pixies dvd, Gil Norton talks about how Frank sang his vocals into a kitchen cabinet, and they put the mic in there as well. How about that.

Anyway. Dig it.

(I want to point out something to people that are reading this that I don't actually know. I don't think I've ever said "dig it" in public. Except maybe to say "yeah I dig it" when someone asks if I like something. But even then, I don't think I've ever said "dig it". But I do tend to type it out a lot. I just don't want you to think I'm the kind of guy that says things like "dig it" or "groovy" or whatever.)

even the son of god had to die, my darlin'

pj harvey and john parish - taut

Today's entry is a song from a one-off PJ Harvey album that she did with John Parish, who played on her album "To Bring You My Love". The album, "Dance Hall at Louse Point", is music by John Parish for an unrealised theatrical production, with lyrics by PJ.

I was lucky enough to catch PJ on what appears to be her last tour (she's apparently grown unhappy with her work), and was quite surprised that the band performed this song... although I fell in love with it because of a live performance on PBS' "Sessions From West 54th", I didn't really think it was one the band still be playing.

This song has it all, including creepy screeching, fits of passion, and references to Christ. Basically all the cornerstones of a great PJ Harvey song. Because of blatant use of these factors, this remains my favorite PJ song, and it probably sits high in my list of favorite songs ever.

I wanted to post a nice summery song today, but instead I came across this. Go figure. I hope you'll share your thoughts on this one... even if you just want to tell me that I'm weird for finding it a favorite.

that we used to go see on the landing in the summer

toad the wet sprocket - stupid

Wilco's "Heavy Metal Drummer" has always been a song I enjoyed because I shared something with the narrator. When Jeff Tweedy sings "I sincerely miss those heavy metal bands that I used to go see on the landing in the summer", I can relate, because I also used to go see heavy metal bands on the landing in the summer. The landing is an area on the riverfront of St. Louis filled with horrible nightclubs and restaurants such as Hooters. Jeff Tweedy rarely (if ever) writes about St. Louis, and if he ever mentions the city in interviews, it sounds as though it's something he wants to leave behind.

There were two reasons for me to be on the landing back then, and they both involved friends playing in bands. I think the first band I ever saw play on the landing was indeed a heavy metal band; My friend Alan's band, Parasthesia. Any amount of writing I can do here will immediately be the most press the band ever got, and deservedly so. Although everyone in the band could play their instrument quite well, they were horrible. Of course we all sort of suspected this back then, but seeing any band play on the landing (even if the crowd was 10 people I knew) was exciting when you're 16.

The second band I saw on the landing wasn't a metal band. The band was called "Mary", and it was fronted by my good friend Brant. Much like Parasthesia, everyone in Mary could play their instrument quite well. But unlike Parasthesia, Mary had some pretty good songs (at least I think so from memory). I eventually got to know the guys in Mary, who were all kids from Greenville College, a small Christian college with a nice campus and the most fucked up collection of students a guy could know or know of. (It may have just been the circle of people I knew...)

We all thought that Mary really had something back then, and maybe they did... but eventually for reasons I forget they broke up. Brant started another band later with a guy from work. Ben (the guitarist) and I remained friends for quite a while after Mary, but eventually stopped hanging out... and then I found him again, playing Sgt. Peppers in a Beatles cover band (on the landing, of course). He eventually moved to Austin, I think. I wonder what he's up to...

Mary did a few covers, one of which was Toad the Wet Sprocket's "Stupid". If you're anything like me, you don't have fond hindsight memories of Toad the Wet Sprocket, but nevertheless... it's a nice little song.

This is for Brant, because I thought of him this morning.

i mean, seriously...

r. kelly - trapped in the closet (part 2)

Well hopefully by now you know what's going on in the saga that is R. Kelly's "Trapped In the Closet", but if you aren't, I'll catch you up.

In part one, R hooks up with a woman at a club, goes back to her place, wakes up the next morning, realizes that he's not at home with his wife, can't believe what he's done, and decided to go home. But as he starts to leave the woman tells him he can't go out the door, because her husband is coming up the stairs. He can't go out the window, because they're on the fifth floor. The only place he can go is into the closet.

The man comes in and starts having sex with his wife while R is trapped in the closet. R cannot believe his misfortune. Just then, his cell phone rings. Oh crap.

Now the man is trying to figure out what's going on. He looks in the bathroom, he looks under the bed, he looks under the dresser (?), and now he's walking over to the closet...

GASP!

That was the end of part one. Here's part two.

I just want to note that even if you have no interest in music whatsoever, you need to listen to these songs. They are that good.

hmmm

Minorly, I wish my blog wasn't refered as general. It is not very general. It is pretty specific in a very un-general way, unless your sense of the word is like General McDouglas, then, yes it is a General's blog. I'm just a bit bored... sorry

what are you, talkin' clothes?

r. kelly - trapped in the closet (part 1)

You've really got to hand it to R. Kelly. Somehow he's not in jail, despite the fact that millions have seen him urinating on an underage girl. He must have some kind of moxy.

I can remember when the allegations started, and the video was floating around the internet, and you could turn on MTV news and see his fans defending him. "Oh R. Kelly's a good man!" "R. Kelly has bladder problems! He couldn't help himself!" "I pee on my little cousin all the time!"

Whatever. The R. Kelly pee jokes have been run into the ground. The whole time all this has been going on (and is it over yet? I really don't have any idea) he's continued to release songs that immediatly jumped up the charts. Let's just say I don't get it.

Well, until now, because R. has just released a series of tracks called "Trapped In the Closet" (I think. It may be "Comin' Out of the Closet") that prove he is perhaps our nation's most brilliant songsmith, author, and storyteller, all at once. He's a modern day Mark Twain.

I'm not going to say anymore. The song speaks for itself, and you're definitely going to want to hear more, I think.

I'll post more, but only if you request it. And one request is not enough. I want at least two. Maybe three. And you've only got a couple of days.

Oh man, this is awesome.