the sticking point

Collaborate and Listen!

The weekend starts with Friday the 13th and ends on the Ides of March. Maybe all the superstitious types will shutter up and bunker down and the rest of us can get to our work, play, or workouts more freely.

This is the first of the thematic Pointcasts and I know it's a goofy theme, but what the hell... there's some bulletproof music here. Eleven songs originating from the land of Guinness and bloodshed. Below, the link to download the Pointcast. Below that, the notes. And below all that... the link you'll click to leave your comments and opinions.

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD TODAY'S POINTCAST

01 Jailbreak - Thin Lizzy (Jailbreak): If I did more of these 'casts, I'd make sure you got your recommended daily allowance of Lizzy. All their stuff is in print, easy to find and rewarding. I know I don't need to detail the rise and fall of Phil Lynott, as we all know the story (or if not, can easily look it up). I have played the Jailbreak album so many times I can’t even give you a ballpark figure. Back in the span of time that I moved into eight new addresses in five years, I christened each new place with a full listen of Jailbreak. I have taken this album with me on trips and expeditions in some form since the late '80s. I would even play it first thing upon returning as I unpacked. It became a well-worn ritual, a comfort.

02 The Jug of Punch - The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem (The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem)

03 Snow - JJ72 (JJ72): Bonus fun - make up some clever possible meaning behind the band's name. I'll go first: Former New York Ranger Jaromír Jágr? Born in 1972!

04 The Sun Beats Down - The High Llamas (Cold and Bouncy): Diehard Brian Wilson/Pet Sounds/SMiLE fanpeople get pretty uppity when you suggest (simply suggest) head Llama Sean O'Hagan might presently be carrying the BW/PS/S baton. Sheesh!

05 Mandinka - Sinéad O'Connor (The Lion and the Cobra): It seemed that every single one of my friends went apeshit for this album. (And me too.) I was the host of a local cable program at the time (but who wasn't?... stop yawning!), and Lion and the Cobra took over that studio like an infection. Eighty-five percent of that production crew was "in possession."
I know I say this about a lot of records, but it's true again... when this came out near the end of 1987, it sounded like nothing else. And yet, it just fit. I'm not even going to write anything about ex-Ant Marco Pirroni's guitar sound.

06 Looking After No. 1 - The Boomtown Rats (The Boomtown Rats): I hope you're listening to the recording before you read these notes, because when you get to this paragraph and read who it is, you might get yourself all rankled. Yes - the Boomtown Rats. The sonic leaping-off point for Sir Bob and whatever that name evokes in your mind. But 1977-79 era Boomtown Rats was a factory of edgy pop melodies and twisted guitar lines.

07 Sueisfine - My Bloody Valentine (Isn't Anything): From their debut album. I don't play it all that often but when the mood hits, it's perfect. I've been to see them play a few times, but could never identify many of the songs through the layers of noise.

08 Funky Céili (Bridie's Song) - Black 47 (Fire of Freedom): "I'm two months late / It's not with the rent." Chose the upbeat number instead of tracks I like better. "40 Shades of Blue" and "New York, NY 10009" are heftier songs. Next time, I won't be a-scared; I'll give you what you're here for.
Before Black 47 was even a glint in frontman Larry Kirwan's eye, he was a member of New York City's Major Thinkers with friend and fellow Wexford émigré Pierce Turner. They had a song called "Avenue B" that had a real cool sound but was, unfortunately, one of those songs you'd hear on left-of-the-dial radio stations only about once every four months. I was pretty happy the day I finally bought the six-song 12". I finally had "Avenue B," AND I ended up liking the rest of the tracks, too. It's way out of print of course. As you can see, prices for that 12" are all over the map. It looks like sellers are actually charging premium prices ($35+) for homemade CDRs of it. Just check back here; I'll get all six songs up here as soon as I can and you can download / burn your own. In the meantime, the Major Thinkers myspace page has tracks to hear.

09 Sally MacLennane - The Pogues (Rum, Sodomy & the Lash) / Dirty Old Town - Shane MacGowan (from The Henry Rollins Show [IFC]): All the great Pogues stories to be told begin "We got there at 8:30 for a nine o'clock show, and then the band didn't go on until...." All the worst Pogues stories start that way, too. Shane MacGowan is a troubled genius poet and the inelegant rest of us will suffer gladly his wayward manners, because he's the real deal. You've heard the phrase "been there, done that." Shane's been there, done that, intoxicated, and bleeding profusely. If you don't own Rum, Sodomy & the Lash, I recommend you amend the heresy at once.

10 Roddy McCorley - The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem (The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem): I'm reluctant to write anything here about artists like these, about whom many other people could take me to school. What can I say here that's not just dipping a toe into the ocean? I bought a great three-disk box set in London years ago, on the Tradition label, and it has everything I can manage to get my head around for now.

11 N17 - Saw Doctors (If This is Rock and Roll, I Want My Old Job Back or Sing a Powerful Song): I haven't been to a Saw Doctors show in a couple years, and I can feel the hole in my life it's caused. I haven't kept up with their releases since Villains (2001), so my knowledge of the band had gotten a bit dusty, but I can tell you that the entire SD catalog up to that point could provide enough energy to fuel seven throat-shredding encores.

On the Pointcast, I forgot to mention that some of the artists I played are currently on tour. A few are in the NYC area this week. Here's some of that info:

Black 47 is at Toad's Place in New Haven, CT tonight; in Boston March 15 & 16; and at B.B. King's in New York on the 17th.
The Saw Doctors are one of the 5-10 best live acts I've ever seen, and (lucky us) they're at The Nokia Theatre Times Square tonight and tomorrow.
The Pogues are at Roseland Ballroom here tonight and tomorrow, and in D.C. at the 9:30 Club March 16-18.
Thin Lizzy have just released a hot-snot live CD, Still Dangerous, and announced a few European dates for later this year opening for some band called Metallica.

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More Sticking Point / music-related goods and chattel:

Tommy Himself site at LastFM

Find me on Facebook

Listen to Sticking Point radio

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On iTunes right now: Reach the Rock from the album Havana 3a.m. by Havana 3a.m.

[posted with ecto]

Maintenant je veux être votre chien.

[posted with ecto]

On iTunes right now: Kiss of the Octopus from the album March on Electric Children by The Blood Brothers

Of Thee I Swing

Now that Junior's back with the Mariners, aren't we all hoping it means a long-awaited creative reunion with Kid Sensation? It's been 16 years since Power of Rhyme came out. Bring it, Seatown!

Griffey's got a nice flow on the mic, but he sounds like he's holding a toothpick in his mouth. Here's just a little bit of a taste of the bass for you.

Download "The Way I Swing (Ken Griffey, Jr.)" by Kid Sensation

[posted with ecto]

On iTunes right now: Barbra from the album Teen City E.P. 12" by Modernettes

Binge Thinking

From Sticking Point pal Tim:

Subject: "When you talk about Ron Asheton show some respect!!"
Date: January 21, 2009 09:08:59 EST

Hey T-
Loved the new Pointcast. Finally got a chance to hear it this AM. One thing-- you left me hanging with your Scruffy The Cat story. Did you buy your stolen tapes back or did you punch the dude in the neck?

Aw, damn, Tim. You won't like hearing that I did very little retribution-wise. (OK... nothing.) I had a hunch the guy selling all this stuff from his blanket wasn't the thief who smashed my car window and took my things.

I was never a cassette buyer, so except for five or six store-bought tapes, all the rest were homemade (dupes, mixes, bootlegs, etc.) I bought back as much of the guy's "inventory" as I could. The comedy routine occurred when I argued to convince him it was MY HANDWRITING on all these tracklists.

* * * * *

I've been putting together playlists for some thematic Pointcasts I want to record this year. Keeping the sonic jihad portion of those things to just five songs is restrictive, so I may stop doing the random Friday 5ive. I don't know if hearing my random tracks is worth anything, and there's so much more I can get to you without them. In the coming weeks and months I'll post an "alternate versions" Pointcast, and another comprised of very hard-to-find and rarely heard tracks. I could do a covers 'cast, pairing each cover with its original version. (Tim -- a self-confessed covers fiend -- should dig it.) That one is already looking good; sometimes the original is the more well-known, sometimes the remake.

Last night, I was paring down the playlist for something pretty cool: a Pointcast of songs sampled by the Beastie Boys. When I got my hands on "Loose Booty" by Willie Henderson, I knew I had to do this one.

I really enjoy recording these things and getting the music onto your hard drives. I'll do them every time I have the hunk of hours they require, whether or not I get many comments or email responses from you. But lurkers and silent ungratefuls, I'm warning you: If your taciturnity and lack of participation continue, one of these Pointcasts will be the Trojan Horse that furtively unleashes 558 megabytes of unmitigated Gipsy Kings (or a Nickelback tribute band) onto your iPod.

* * * * *

I had to replace the earphones I wear at the gym again. The set I wear when I'm training always takes a beating. I'm the guy who gets ear-snagged three times an hour when my wire gets caught on a barbell or the water fountain. Because of this, I look for passable sound quality and a fairly rugged in-ear design. And I won't pay more than $25.

I tried a different model (again) this time, and ended up with the third-best earphones I've ever had. Numbers 1 and 2 are the sets I wear when I'm really listening, not "gym listening." These new ones were a couple hundred dollars less and are a close third place. So I'm telling you about them.

Sennheiser CX300 Earbuds. Bass response, sound separation -- great. Very comfortable, and they stay put even under sweaty gym conditions. Definitely worth having, they're far superior to anything in their price range.

I can't explain why the price has gone up on Amazon... I paid $19.99 about three weeks ago. (I just double-checked my online invoice to be sure.) They're still better than any headphones I've heard under $75, believe me.

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On iTunes right now: Rainbows In The Dark from the album Bottoms Of Barrels by Tilly and The Wall

[posted with ecto]

Wednesday Dispatch

Hi. It feels like January in New York. I don't know what else to tell you.

Actually I do.

• I'm going to try to post something special this Friday. Not quite a Pointcast, but more than just a playlist, it's a bundle of songs inspired by 01.20.09. Let's call it the Obama Sutra.

• Find, Friend me: Search for Tommy Himself on Facebook.

• If you've been reading The Sticking Point long enough, you know I've got issues with the useless, inadequate Forest Hills P.D. Briefly, I live in a neighborhood where drivers race through red lights and stop signs, speed the wrong way down one-way streets, and create a warzone for any pedestrian who ventures past the curb. The local police enforce only those infractions that result in Zero Confrontation: past-due inspection stickers and expired meter parking. When you are lazy, useless, and out-of-shape it is far easier to slip a summons under a windshield wiper than to pull over Live Human Strangers and confront them on their infractions.

Here's a short story. The beginning is true. The ending, however, is creative license -- a writer's embellishment.

Walking back home this morning after some errands, I stopped at a curb and waited for the WALK light. A few feet to my right, a driver approached the intersection and stopped. She had the RED, I got my WALK, and I went. I was a few steps shy of the other curb when I could see in my peripheral vision that the driver began creeping forward and then just pulled right out into the intersection. I turned around and watched her make a left turn against the light... crossing directly in front of a squad car! It took me just five seconds to realized the cops weren't going to do, well, their jobs, so I raised my palms in the air and opened my mouth a bit -- the internationally recognized "What The Fuck?!" gesture. Passenger Cop saw it and we made eye contact. He formed his own "Wuddamye Gonna Do?" expression with fat cheeks and lazy eyes as Driver Cop stepped on the gas and continued their "patrol."

Writer's embellishment:
When the cops drove past me I flipped two middle fingers at them. Sure enough, they pull over to address this personal issue. As I'm refusing to show them my identification, I ask them why they thought my fingers were more of a public threat than the car running the red light. While they struggle for a wiseass response I say, "I have no more time to waste with you fucktards, I have to go." Then I give them the fingers again and moonwalk three entire blocks home.

On iTunes right now: Colors from the album Colors by Ice-T

[posted with ecto]

"Do not trust the horse, Trojans"

Sorry these have been too few and far between, but here's the first Friday 5ive / Sonic Jihad for 2009. Below, the link to download the Pointcast. Below that, the notes.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD TODAY'S POINTCAST

The Friday 5ive

01 Gravity - Rilo Kiley: An unknown/forgotten gem from the second pressing of the self-titled CD (Rilo Records 2000), which was a reissue of the first pressing of the self-titled CD released a year earlier. Both are long out-of-print but occasionally detonate on eBay at about $150. The first three RK releases have nearly identical cover art. Known as Self-Titled (first pressing), Self-Titled (second pressing), and The Initial Friend EP are a fanboy's trifecta: hard to find and puzzling to unravel all the song-swapping, track sequencing, and alt versions. The first

pressing has eight songs (The Frug / 85 / Glendora / Papillon / Teenage Love Song / Asshole / Sword / Steve) plus a hidden track RK fanatics call "They Say It Rained The Day Your Mother Gave You Away." This is the only disk on which exists.

Pressing number two adds songs "Always" and "Gravity," subtracts "Steve," has an alternate version of "Teenage Love Song" (with keyboard solo), different track order, and the hidden track here is a 22-minute monster of narcissistic fluff called "Troubadours + The Annoying Noise of Death"

The Initial Friend EP (Rilo Records, 2001) omits "Glendora" and "Teenage Love Song," includes "Troubadours" but deep-sixes the noise of death part. Initial Friend was re-released in 2007 as The Rilo Kiley EP.

All this info is out there on fan sites, with jpegs and whatnot, but oddly Rilo Kiley's official website disregards the 1999-2001 releases (and about a dozen of the band's singles) entirely.

Blake Sennett and Jenny Lewis, 03/16/01: Photo by John Perry

02 I Can't Wait - Luna [Lunapark]: To some it's a supergroup: When they recorded this album, they were hardly a cohesive band. They were just the singer/guitarist from Galaxie 500, the drummer from the Feelies, and the Chills' ex-bassist. Their studio sessions guitarist was from Mercury Rev. If all you know about the Galaxie 500 split is Damon and Naomi's account in the liner notes of the box set, check out Dean's memoir. His side of the breakup seems more valid, in my opinion.

03 Bum Bum - Trio: I ripped this from the German import 45. The English-language version, "Boom Boom" is slightly more well-known, I guess. Or better yet, you probably know "Da Da Da, Ich Lieb Dich Nicht du Liebst Mich Nicht (Aha Aha Aha)," which was a 1982 cult hit in English as "Da Da Da I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me Aha Aha Aha." In 1997, it turned up in TV commercials for -- of course -- German cars.

"Bum Bum" reminds me of driving to Carvel with my high school pal John every Wednesday to get buy-one-get-one-free ice cream sundaes. We'd listen to WLIR on our powerful after-market car stereos and if we were lucky we'd hear something fucking great like this or, say, "Get Out of London" by Intaferon. (Jesus!)

(For a reason that I'll never remember, we referred to the ice cream as "F.B.S." for "fat bastard sundaes." Of course, it was Yonkers, NY, so we pronounced it "fat bas-tidd sundaes.")

04 Love Is Like A Bottle of Gin - The Magnetic Fields [69 Love Songs]: Some of you have written and asked why MagFields/Stephin Merritt popped up on Friday 10s with such regularity, maybe more than any other artist. My answer is always: I don't know. Looking at my iTunes as of this morning, MagFields accounts for 82 out of the 9500+ songs in the library. Not complaining. 69 Love Songs is like a book on how to write songs. Merritt released Distortion last year, it landed at #6 on The Sticking Point's albums of the year.

This song? It's in 21/8 time. Wild.

05 Laughing - R.E.M. [Murmur]: That's the 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Murmur that Brian Last Stop sent me the other day. I A-and-B'd the original CD vs. the new mastering, and the new one wins. That's not always the case with remasters, as you know, but luckily it is here; Murmur is an exceptional album, it deserves a perfect mix. You could tell R.E.M. and producers Mitch Easter and Don Dixon had a Stax-like sound in mind: organic-toned instruments, clean guitars, a heavy drum groove carrying the vocals. Listening back to the original CD release (I.R.S. 70014), the mix sounds watery to me now. The new one polishes all the reverb and atmospherics without sounding digital. Does that make sense? Probably not. Anyway -- thanks, Brian.

"Laughing" was always one of my favorites on Murmur. Love that Stewart Copeland-style rhythm on the rototoms. And back in those days, back in my day, when Stipe unfurled this lyric referencing Laocoön, you can bet the fact-finding fieldwork took me 5000 times longer than it'll take you, today.

The Sonic Jihad

01 Phobias - Love As Laughter [#1 U.S.A.]: From my "If Only They Knew..." iTunes playlist. I found "Phobias" first on a great (GREAT) Rough Trade comp, loved it immediately. Not much on the #1 USA album can hold a candle to this, but still: wow... this. The band is still out and about. Info at loveaslaughter.net.

02 The Perfect Me - Deerhoof [Friend Opportunity]: If I could have, I would have. I would have gotten this song in your ears long ago. I wish I'd started doing these Pointcasts sooner and more often.

Dialogue excerpt from "The Facts of Life."

03 Fresh Cut Dynamite - Squatweiler [New Motherstamper]: Another group (along with Love As Laughter) that some of you probably haven't heard. Worth your hard-earned to get your hands on this one or Horsepower.

04 Moons of Jupiter - Scruffy The Cat [Moons of Jupiter]: One of the all-time great bar bands. Just flat-out and real. I think a dream gig for me would be a night with Scruffy, Del Fuegos, and Too Much Joy on the same bill.

05 Harder Than You Think - Public Enemy [How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul?]: They lost the plot between 1993 and 2006, so I didn't expect much from How You Sell Soul... in 2007. Good to have 'em back. P.E.'s tenth studio album, and they land on it like a ton of bricks. Call it "Son of It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back."

* No Fun - The Stooges [The Stooges]: "Come on, Ronnie..."

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Get off your ass and do it for yourself. Put your digital jukebox or mp3 player on "shuffle all songs," and use the comments section to tell us the first 10 tracks out the chute.

Tommy Himself page at LastFM

[posted with ecto]

Ron Asheton 1948-2009

The Stooges have released the following statement via IggyPop.com:

We are shocked and shaken by the news of Ron’s death. He was a great friend, brother, musician, trooper. Irreplaceable. He will be missed.

For all that knew him behind the façade of Mr Cool & Quirky, he was a kind-hearted, genuine, warm person who always believed that people meant well even if they did not.

As a musician Ron was The Guitar God, idol to follow and inspire others. That is how he will be remembered by people who had a great pleasure to work with him, learn from him and share good and bad times with him.

Iggy, Scott, Steve, Mike and Crew

-----------------------------------------

I am in shock. He was my best friend.
Iggy Pop

[posted with ecto]

For A Song

Top Tracks of 2008

01 You Want the Candy - The Raveonettes (Lust Lust Lust)

02 See Fernando - Jenny Lewis (Acid Tongue)

03 Acid Tongue - Jenny Lewis (Acid Tongue)

04 Jack Killed Mom - Jenny Lewis (Acid Tongue)

05 The Nun's Litany - The Magnetic Fields (Distortion)

06 Carpetbaggers - Jenny Lewis (Acid Tongue)

07 Kiss Me on the Bus (demo) - The Replacements (Tim 2008 remaster)

08 Love Vigilantes - Laura Cantrell (Trains and Boats and Planes)

09 Waitress in the Sky (Outtake) - The Replacements (Tim 2008 remaster)

10 Trying My Best To Love You - Jenny Lewis (Acid Tongue)

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On iTunes right now: Die a Little (L) from the album Live at Austin City Limits: Music Festival 2006 by Deadboy & the Elephantmen

[posted with ecto]

Who Charted?

Happy new year. My weblog resolution is to post at least nine 'Pointcasts. I'm looking to get the first of '09 up on Friday 01.09.09. (So prep for your own Friday 10!)

I wanted to get something up here -- something more than just a campaign promise, so here are the charts to reflect what 2008 sounded like at The Sticking Point, starting with my favorite '08 releases. There were some great discoveries, but it was a relatively unrewarding year for the ears.

Top 20 Albums 2008

20: Trouble In Mind - Hayes Carll
The Texas songslinger's got tough competition from all the other albums titled Trouble In Mind, but there's a lot to love on this collection of songs about sex, drinking, fighting, playing in bars, and losin' wimmen. "She Left Me For Jesus" (sample lyric: She says I should find him / And I'd know peace at last / If I ever find Jesus / I'm kickin' his ass) brought Hayes a lot of grief from God-fearin' good ol' boys and a disgraceful lack of airplay on country/western radio.

19: Earth to The Dandy Warhols
Sonically speaking, they are all over the map, as usual; and this one's got the good songs their last one lacked.

18: Gods of the Earth - The Sword
Crushing metal from Austin, Texas.

17: Real Emotional Trash - Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Not as good as Pig Lib, but better than anything he ever released with Pavement, IMHO. Dig "Baltimore." (My treat).

16: The Terrorism of Everyday Life - Hamell on Trial
One man, one acoustic guitar. Another great album. Get to his site soon and start sampling his genius.

15: Momofuku - Elvis Costello and the Imposters
Stage of career: Royal Troubadour. Can try anything, and does.
Costello went into the studio to guest on Jenny Lewis's "Carpetbaggers," stays just long enough to boil up an album of his own. Guest musicians: Jenny Lewis, Johnathan Rice, Dave Scher. EC is having rock 'n' roll fun again; it's his most enjoyable record since King of America (1986!).

14: District Line - Bob Mould
"The Silence Between Us" stands out. "Walls in Time" is from the Workbook sessions.

13: The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull - Earth
I'd been a fan of the heavy droners Sunn O))) for years before reading that they formed as an Earth tribute band. Figured I'd go right to the source for a listen. The always-intense Dylan Carlson and Co. supply some heavy and visceral stuff here.

12: Trains and Boats and Planes - Laura Cantrell
Cantrell's sweet cover of New Order's "Love Vigilantes" was on the playlist that played to the studio audience prior to tapings of "Spectacle." That was the first I heard her. Doesn't matter how one gets to it, I guess, as long as you do.

11: Passing Strange - Stew
I've been worshiping at the altar of Stew since I found Welcome Black and Naked Dutch Painter in 2002; you've read all about here. Stew is the man. This is the soundtrack of the criminally under-appreciated Broadway show. Theater fans and Tony voters, send your apologies to Mr. Stewart forthwith.

10: Imperial Wax Solvent - The Fall
The Fall come back with a good return to form.

09: O - Tilly and The Wall
A great recovery after their 2006 sophomore slump.

08: Paper Planes (Homeland Security Remixes) - M.I.A.
This EP comprises five different takes on the weirdest pop song in years.

07: Slumdog Millionaire Original Soundtrack
Effervescent, thrilling music from M.I.A. and A.R. Rahman. "O...Saya" and "Jai Ho" are drop-dead standouts. I've been reading whatever I can find online about Rahman; besides this and a track on the The Inside Man soundtrack, I don't have any of his other releases, but I reckon I'll get to the 2-cd "for dummies" intro when I can.

06: Distortion - The Magnetic Fields
Not Stephin Merritt's best lyrics, but damn I like the sound of this record.

05: Offend Maggie - Deerhoof
Deerhoof are just incredible. I only have a few of their releases, but I haven't heard anything I didn't like.

04: Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
This is a very great Cave album. I'll admit I didn't "get" it at first, but because it's Cave I put in a little extra time listening. If you like music and have a functioning circulatory system, this is the record for you.

03: Lust Lust Lust - Raveonettes
From top to bottom, a consistently brilliant album, a lovable bastard stepchild of Psychocandy and Isn't Anything.

02: Acid Tongue - Jenny Lewis
Jenny Lewis - of course, she's written so many 5-star songs that she'll have my love and admiration for eternity. Not as cohesive as Rabbit Fur Coat -- some of the songs here could have been written or demo'd years ago -- but Acid Tongue is pretty and heavy nonetheless.

01: Bang Bang Rock & Roll - Art Brut
It'll probably fall from my graces in time -- it doesn't seem like the kind of music that'll hold up for me -- but for four months last year, it got plenty of play. Think of Oasis meets the Buzzcocks in the land of the Arctic Monkeys. Downside: "...in the land of the Arctic Monkeys."

Honorable mention: Chemical Chords - Stereolab, Seldom Seen Kid - Elbow, In Field and Town - Hayden

Best Reissues of 2008

Tim, Let It Be, Hootenanny, Sorry Ma Forgot to Take Out the Trash - The Replacements: All the 'Mats stuff has now been reissued and they are all great. The sound of the original CDs was abysmal: tinny and flat. The 2008 remasters sound more complex and throaty, finally an engineer with a working knowledge of the RIAA curve got hold of the source material. These four are superior to the other reissues only for their more valuable the outtakes and demos. Highlights are a clean studio version of "Treatment Bound" an alt take of "Waitress in the Sky" that's better than the keeper, and Westerberg's "Answering Machine" home demo.

Kala - M.I.A.
Out in '07, reissued months later. Always listenable. For great fun, put this album in a playlist with Joe Strummer's Global A Go Go.

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Next: Top 20 Songs of 2008


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On iTunes right now: Earth Died Screaming from the album Bone Machine by Waits, Tom

[posted with ecto]

The Second Time Usually Lasts a Little Longer, Too

It took a long while to get another one of these recorded for you, so I won't waste your time with a preamble. Below, the link to download the Pointcast. Below that, the notes.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD POINTCAST

The Friday 5ive

01 Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley - Lee Dorsey [Yes We Can]: I really dig the horn sound on this track. The Meters, the backing band on these sessions, didn't have a horn section so I'll have to do a little more research to find out who was playing on this. Dorsey wasn't knocking down any walls with his range or technique, but his timing is unimpeachable.

02 Sleeping In The Devil's Bed - Daniel Lanois [Until The End of the World]: The Wikipedia page for Lanois's For The Beauty of Wynona has both versions of the Jan Saudek cover photo, and from there you can surf the link to the photographer's work. Oh, and Lanois? I wonder how many times he sat at the board for some other artist, knowing he had a song as great as "Devil's Bed" in his back pocket.

03 How Long the Night Was - deadboy & the Elephantmen [Live at Austin City Limits Music Festival 2006]: Dax and Tessie weren't together for long -- just one album, one TV appearance, and some tours -- but they sure left a trail of sparks in their wake. Listen to how hard this duo is playing and think of what passes for "rock" these days.
Here is a link to Tessie's latest project, Animal Electric.

04 (I Want To Live On An) Abstract Plain - Frank Black [Teenager of the Year]: Trust me about the Teenager album. You won't just like it, you'll like like it. You'll wonder where you've been all its life. There's no shortage of great Frank Black material, but that one -- for me -- is a standout.

05 God Is In The House - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds [Huxley's Neue Welt, Berlin; 11.14.04]: I've forgotten how I acquired this bootleg. It's a solid one, though; the sound is off-the-board CD quality, the mix is perfect, and the 2-disk setlist includes "Abattoir Blues," "There She Goes My Beautiful World," and "Stagger Lee." The studio version of "God Is In The House" is from No More Shall We Part, which came out in September 2001, following a couple years of Cave getting his drug and drink problems solved, and it's a masterpiece. His voice and range were the best they'd ever been, and the lyrics pulled no punches.

The Sonic Jihad

01 Solitary Confinement - The Weirdos [Dangerhouse Vol. 1]: The Dangerhouse comps are great, but if you are now a Weirdos purist, here's the link to Weird World. Solid West Coast punk rock from some cats who could effing play. Great riffs, great songwriting. And "Solitary Confinement" was a b-side! The Weirdos were playing L.A. clubs with the Germs, X, Black Randy, The Avengers, etc.

02 Bullets - Tunng [Good Arrows]: Like I said on the thing, I flipped pretty hard for this band. I think I had heard the song "Arms" on a KEXP podcast and within days I'd nailed down Tunng's entire canon: the EPs, the full-length releases, and the b-sides. It's all good, real good, but if you';re looking for a normal-person's portion, you'll be happy with Mother's Daughter and Other Songs (2005) or Good Arrows (2007) which has "Arms" on it, too. There are sounds and textures on that album that I'd never heard before. On "Bullets," check out how the guitars begin front and center in the mix, with the kick and snare, and then start to "float" a little bit. We'll be hearing more Tunng on future Pointcasts.
Here's a good interview with band member Mike Lindsay that includes explanations for a lot of the songs.

03 Silver Machine - Hawkwind: Last month my friend MDavis IM'd me a URL link. No hello; nothing but the link, which took me to a trailer for a Lemmy movie. I immediately sent the link to SO'C, who posted about it on his site, and within hours his page became a forum for idiot fanboys like us to share "Brush With Lemmy" stories. Check 'em.

Apologies Dept.: This song doesn't sound nearly as good as it should on the Pointcast, because of a problem I had in recording; the right channel had some unexplained pops in it, so in trying to correct that I came up with the stupid idea to copy the left channel and paste it onto the right. Which is a roundabout way of saying I double-tracked the left channel, rendering it flat and totally destroying the "spacey-ness" of the tune. Sorry.

Dialogue excerpt from The Sarah Silverman Program, 2007

04 When I Was Bleedin' - Dax Riggs [We Sing of Only Blood or Love]: Haunting and beautiful music abounds on this solo album. Another great track from the Bayou genius.

05 Toumast - Tinariwen [Aman Iman]: The electric guitar isn't an instrument that Toureg people are accustomed to seeing, hearing, or playing so I'm blown away when I listen to them and hear drop-dead John Lee Hooker riffs. It's hard to find solid info to read up on the band, but the Interweb's got plenty to watch!

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It's not Friday anymore, but what the hell -- do it yourself. Put your digital jukebox or mp3 player on "shuffle all songs," and let me know the first 10 tracks out the chute.

Tommy Himself page at LastFM

On iTunes right now: Open Letter To Duke from the album Ah Um by Mingus, Charles

[posted with ecto]