Sunday, November 26, 2006

Uncle Tupelo/No Alternative

I was introduced to the band Uncle Tupelo through the CD No Alternative, a benefit CD for some aids charity. I bought the album in the midst of my R.E.M. crazy because Pavement had contributed the track The Unseen Power of the Picket Fence, a song about R.E.M. The disc was packed with some of the biggest "college radio" bands of the time(was anyone using the term indie) like Mathew Sweet, Buffalo Tom, Soundgarden, American Music Club, Dinosaur Jr, Urge Overkill etc. It also contains what would become my favorite Smashing Pumpkins song of all time, Glynis. Anyway Uncle Tupelo has a great tune called Effigy on the compilation that became one of my favorite songs on the disc. Why i didn't immediately go out and buy every Uncle Tupelo album i could find is one of those things i can't quite remember. By the time i followed up on the sound that made Effigy so great i was fully aware that the band had broken up and so i ended up buying SonVolt's Trace and later Wilco's AM. I'm sure there is a musical moral to the story but I'll skip it and leave you with a couple of MP3's from it.
Download - Uncle Tupelo - Effigy
Download - Pavement - Unseen Power of the Picket Fence
Download - The Smashing Pumpkins - Glynis

Ryan's Birthday idea #2

This would be a perfect gift for the soon to be birthday boy. Go here to see what the kit contains. I'll bet it even works on shoe polish.

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Soccer video

Looks like a scoregasms match.

Friday, November 24, 2006

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving proved to be a busy day. Lots of cooking got done and lots of food was eaten. Download - The Spinto Band - Did i tell you

Monday, November 20, 2006

KT Tunstall/Radiohead


I've been listening to this track a lot lately. It seems like a lot of Radiohead covers are a bit too flimsy but this one is dead on. I don't know much about KT but she looks like she should date Ryan Adams. Somewhere I have a great track of Pedro the Lion covering Radiohead, I'll try to dig it up. Download - KT Tunstall - Fake Plastic Trees

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Metallica's good for something/hardcore Classic



It seems like I do most of my driving at night after several days of too little sleep. In order to combat sleep I've put several hard core classics on the ipod to keep me awake. I almost always listen to the ipod on shuffle so the hardcore tracks can pop up at any time. I recently put Metallica's last good album Ride the Lightening on. I can't wait to hear a little "Creeping Death". I'm sure it will be a matter of moments before BJ posts to refute my assessment of Metallica's catalogue.
Hey BJ I need a picture of you sporting one of your classic pushead Metallica shirts. If at all possible please be throwing the devil horns.
Download - Metallica - Fade to Black
Download - Metallica - Creeping Death

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Someone roll down the motherfucking window/MC Hawking


Why have I never heard of this? My god, it's been awhile since I laughed that hard. The all knowing Wikipedia classifies this as nerdcore. I love it. Check out the official website, it's got some hilarious pictures. This is from the greatest hits album "A brief history of rhyme".

Download - MC Hawking - Interview part 1 (Start here and try not to laugh)

Download - MC Hawking - E=MC Hawking

Download - MC Hawking - The Dozens (Yes it is what it sounds like.)

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Damien Rice "9"



Damien Rice's new album "9" was released this Tuesday although it has been bouncing around the net for the last month. I haven't decided whether I love it or not yet, I've only listened to it all the way through twice but I definitely like it. I loved his last album so much and this new one has been so long in coming that it may have been built up a bit unrealistically high in my mind. I do know that I like the track Dogs and he was smart enough to keep Lisa around for this album. It may be one of those albums that each song grows on you over time, I'm keeping my fingers crossed and my ears open.
Download - Damien Rice - Dogs - from "9"
Download - Damien Rice - The Blower's Daughter - from "O"

Christmas 2007

Ryan i've found the outfits for christmas 2007. I'm Batman.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Iron & Wine Live

I thought i'd post a little show from one of my favorites Iron & Wine. I'll never forgive Ryan for getting married and making me miss his show in Tulsa. Anyway this is from the Amstel Festival on June 28th 2003.

The Rooster Moans
Naked as we came
Lion's Mane
Upward over the mountain
New Song
Waitin on a superman (flaming Lips cover)
Dearest Forsaken
Muddy Hymnal
Jesus the Mexican Boy
He lays in the reins
Promising Light
Her Tea Leaves

Birthday ideas

Ryan's birthday is almost here so it's time to start searching for the perfect gift. What do you think of this?

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Cut you down


I don't know how long this has been out but I just came across it. What a great video for a powerful song. I can't believe the stars involved in this video. It's a real testament to how far reaching his popularity was. A good argument for never compromising on what's important.

Chloe breaks it down.

Chloe has been on a roll this weekend as far as music goes so I thought I'd share some of her observations. Chloe and I spent a lot of time in the kitchen on Friday where I have a small speaker system to hook up the ipod to. While fixing lasagna Jane's Addiction's Ain't no right came on so I sang it while she danced. Afterwards she wanted to know how I knew all of the words. I explained to her that I had probably listened to that album hundreds of times, her reply, "You must like them", simple understated.
Download - Jane's Addiction - Ain't no right
Later on tin the Lasagna preparation Regina Spektor's song Samson came on and I sang along. Chloe's comment, "I like that song but you usually like stuff that's more rockin".
Download - Regina Spektor - Samson

To cap it off tonight on the way home from West Leb we were listening to G!'s ipod, which she had set on Coco Rosie. From the backseat Chloe came with "This lady sounds whiney" she then commenced to yell "Waaaaa Waaaa" repeatedly. She's like a reviewer from Pitchfork right there in the car. I couldn't agree more about Coco Rosie.
Download - Coco Rosie - Beautiful Boyz - The song that my six year old daughter ridiculed.

Monday, November 06, 2006

Decemberists @ The Metropolis Montreal


Colin Meloy(former high school French Club President) and the rest of the Decemberists put on a fantastic show at The Metropolis in Montreal on Sunday night. Getting across the border was a bit of a bother but with a stomach full of great Sushi and in the midst of a group of very cool, interesting people we arrived at the venue in plenty of time. In true Decemberists style, the hall was filled with the sounds of Peter and the Wolf as we collected drinks and merchandise before making our way to the floor. Let me take a moment to say that the Metropolis is a great venue. Nice sound and not a bad seat in the house. All three shows that I've attended since moving north have been in very cool spaces. You can tell from the picture above that the Decemberist's stage set was decidedly Asian flavored. It's nice to see that the band has put some thought into every aspect of the show.
The set list was dead on. They kicked it off with something from each album before playing the bulk of their new release The Crane Wife and then finished up with a new track and some old favorites. While Castaways is still my favorite album the new offering is a great solid effort. The Decemberist have managed to keep their string of interesting and engaging albums alive.
The band's energy was amazing. Having never really seen them(across a field while waiting for the Arcade Fire at ACL) I expected the show to be a little more sedate. Colin makes a great frontman, engaging the crowd, ironically rocking out and making ample use of his high school level French. The crowd seemed to like the "crooked French-Canadian" line from July! July! Above you can see Colin singing into a fan's cell phone. He also grabbed a few cameras from fans and took pictures from the stage before handing them back.

The band also acted out a battle between the red coats the huganots and the Indians during a break in the song "A Cautionary Song". You can see the new member Leslie in front of the mallet held by Chris, They were right there beside us. Overall it was another great concert experience in a city that I am beginning to like more and more. A big thanks to False45th for the ride(I owe you gas money) and Bill and Emily from Candleblog for the company.

Download - The Decemberists - July! July! - from Castaways & Cut-Outs

Download - The Decemberists - The Perfect Crime #2 - from The Crane Wife

Candleblog has a short post on the show.

False 45th took some good video that I'm sure will be posted soon.

I took a pretty decent video of A Cautionary Tale that is too big for youtube, any suggestions?

Friday, November 03, 2006

Willie Nelson - Songbird

The new Willie Nelson album Songbird is now out. As you know Ryan Adams produced the disc and he and his Cardinals are the backing band for Willie on this great disc. Willie's previous disc Countryman has been growing on me since I picked it up several months ago but this one doesn't take any time to warm up to. Willie sounds great and the Cardinals really breath life into some of Willie's classics as well as some covers and a couple of new tunes.

Download - Willie Nelson - $1000 Wedding(Gram Parsons cover)

Download - Willie Nelson - We Don't Run (Classic)

Download - Willie Nelson - Sad songs and Waltzes(One of Okryan's favorites)

Aquarium Drunkard has an even better review of the album as well as an mp3 of the song Ryan wrote for the album.

NB574

What do you think?

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

The Decemberists


My gigantic Decemberists ticket came in the mail so I am set for another trek up to the great white north. Can anyone explain why the ticket is so damn big? I thought everyone had gotten together and decided on a standard size(just perfect for sliding into a back pocket)? Maybe the memo on that hasn't circulated to everyone yet.