Oh, you offended few and non-offended majority,
I promise now to move on to something more important than politics and whatever it is Sarah Palin is practicing. Yes, it is time to discuss music.
So all of you who come here for that (the same 5 people who showed up at my show at the Lizard Lounge, minus the two who engage in political jousting), let’s talk about music. I will tell you something and then I want you to tell ME something.
Me first: Round 2 of the 6-round gladiator hootenanny at the Lizard Lounge is fast approaching this Thursday night. I will tell you that very special guests will be coming to sit in at one or more of the upcoming shows. When I say “very special,” I friggin’ mean it. Of course, Billy, Billy, Matt, and Philly are all special to me as well. But I mean, special to you, the “Joe Fan.”
Warning to those not interested in the Sox (as I don’t want to offend any more folks by straying off topic, what I know best, should stick to, etc.): SOX WIN! BEAT NAYSAYERS! GO ON TO CHALLENGE YOUNG UPSTARTS WHO WILL LIKELY FALL AT THE HANDS OF THE CHAMPS!
OK, back to music now. Me? I’m digging all kinds of stuff lately, from getting back into the Feelies (whom I was going to go see until the SOX advanced — dang, sorry!), to the Ohio Players, to Coltrane (very much back on Lush Life), Gene Clark, Mean Creek, the Budos Band…oh man, so good. Tell me, tell me what you like.
i like deerhoof, leonard cohen and the wailers
so glad you are back to the music, as the politics are sooo depressing to say the least. why do you even entertain those guys?? it only incites them.
i have been listening to lots of kinks lately, partly due to your playing them at your shows, i think. i also love the white stripes; jack black can take drums & guitars, mix them up 100 different ways and always come up with something good.
looking forward to seeing you this thursday!
Hi Bill –
I hope you weren’t implying that the other Mike and I don’t care about the music! Well, I don’t know about him, actually, but I am still all about it…. I am actually going to choose the Feelies over the Red Sox this Saturday. I’ve seen lots of Red Sox games, and I’ve never seen the Feelies, so…. If it was like an elimination game, then I’d have to think about it a little (I suppose if I had tickets, it’d be a tougher decision too, though).
The true answer is that I’ve just been loving listening to tons of WFMU. Sure, there’s a lot of stuff that’s so off-the-wall, that its hard to listen to, but the rest is frequently amazing. What’s great is they archive everything and you can stream. Let me recommend three shows: Three Chord Monte, Evan “Funk” Davies, and Bill, you particularly will appreciate Downtown Soulville, which is an hour long show where they play only old soul 45s. Great stuff. (My true favorite show on FMU, though, is The Best Show on WFMU, which is a great, funny show that’s too much to explain here).
Otherwise, I’ve lately, been buying/listening to a frightening amount of reissues and/or retro-y stuff:
Fleet Foxes are a great new band with great harmonies, etc.
Megafaun have a horrible name, but I really dig their debut album. They were actually previously in a band together with the Bon Iver guy. They basically are this great sorta experimental hillbilly band, if that makes any sense. So they have great acoustic guitar, banjo, and percussion sounds, with three-part harmonies, but they’re also influenced by minimalist types, so there are sometimes weird drone-y or noisy parts. Pretty cool.
Portastatic – Mac’s new two disc anthology (plus another dozen tracks for free download) of rareties and unreleased tracks is so varied – some lo-fi cassette stuff, some full-band studio stuff, some covers, some originals – that there’s a lot to keep you busy. His amazing cover of Prefab Sprout’s “When Love Breaks Down” further reinforces my theory that there’s tons of stuff from the 80’s that I would like so much more if it weren’t buried under that era’s horrible production values.
Scarce – their Deadsexy is one of my favorite albums of the 90’s and I’m so glad to have them back. They have a new EP that’s pretty darn good.
Big Dipper – another band I’m happy to have back. The reissue set with the entire unreleased disc is amazing.
Thalia Zedek’s new one Liars and Prayers is dark and rocking. Great stuff.
I do like music way more than politics. Thanks for reminding me!
I like you Bill. I like YOU.
No… check that… if loving you is wrong I don’t ever want to be right.
Things I like lately:
The Lucy Channel on Direct TV. 90’s Alternative hits and some deep cuts. Makes slinging drinks to white hats and daddy’s credit card one swippers almost bearable.
Digging back in to the CD collection from the days when I would frequent the record store and leave with a bagful… I found some Superchunk and some Dramarama that has worked famously. The Uncle Tupelo Anthology is uneven but still most excellent at many points. Even the wifey likes all of them and is bummed her new discoveries don’t play round’ here no more.
As far as songs that have popped in my head repeatedly lately the Conells “Get a Gun” seems to be the number stuck in the mental IPOD shuffle.
Mike H – well, there we go: Superchunk: yes (Portastatic is the guy from Superchunk’s solo stuff, in case you were not aware); Uncle Tupelo: the Anthology’s uneven? It’s a best-of! All gold! And The Connells’ “Get A Gun” is one of my all-time faves. Love that song.
But, um, Dramarama? One of these things is not like the others.
I think it is fair to say “uneven” would be a more apt description of Dramarama. But yes there are some flat spots on the Tupelo anthology IMHO.
I was not aware of Portastatic and will have to delve in once I procure a new music holding device of some sort.
Another artist I want to delve more into is Buddy Guy. After seeing him at the Hot Stove and his monster work with the Stones in Shine a Light I want to hear more. Any Guy aficionados care to make any suggestions? I’m leaning towards a live recording.
Fun show again last night. My friend Tom (AKA Vinyl) came in to the office today singing “Act Nice, Act Nice, and gentle to me”.
I don’t know if that was the music in his head or a just shell shock response from the liberal version of Shock and Awe after stumbling in to the den of the lioness.
Anyway he was highly impressed with the selection of Van the Man’s Cul-de-Sac. He told me he was delighted to find it available on the recently released re-masters and never imagined he would hear somebody pull that out at a jam. My fellow disciple of Goldwater is also an aficionado of 60’s and 70’s rock n’ roll and also was impressed with the breath and scope of the offerings including the jano-compositions and inquired as to what outfits each was recorded with.
Perhaps Bill has been targeting his work to the wrong audience. Would he consider putting up some “Call Now” adds on Fox and late night TV? I think Toad, The Dise’, and the Lizard could use a few more holy rollers in the crowd!
I have been digitizing old cassettes at work and unearthing some treasures of old, among them Prince’s “Around The World in a Day”, Ramones “Greatest Hits Live” and Morrissey’s “Bona Drag”.
One I can’t stop playing over and over is Elvis Costello doing a cover of Many Rivers to Cross from some Aid to Ireland comp. Here it is for your listening pleasure, or if any of you out there are doing a residency at the Lizard Lounge maybe you’d want to cover it too.
http://www.billjanovitz.com/ManyRivers.mp3