j’s indie/rock mayhem – 9th march 2005

[when i loaded up the car tonight i thought this was going to be a rather homogenous evening. but i think it actually ended up being one of the more diverse shows i’ve had of late, in feel at least, if not in genre. so, let’s get to exploring. onward.]

Theme Song – Peaches - “Rock Show”
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Crooked Fingers - “Call to Love” [more rousing, hopeful, anthemic rock from the new dignity and shame. this album is quite amazing and is quickly stacking up as eric bachman’s best work as crooked fingers.]
the Afghan Whigs - “Somethin’ Hot” [surging, sleazy and, yes, hot. the lead track from the whigs’ swan song, 1965.]
the Velvet Underground - “White Light/White Heat” [the title track from their second album. bluesy classic rock, droning and a salute to amphetamines. what else do you want?]
the B-52’s - “52 Girls” [people sometimes forget just how much the b-52’s truly rocked. this song is proof. from their self-titled debut.]
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the Finks - “Wake Up” [from the NC band’s latest, more songs about robots and black things. this is one of the more straight ahead songs on the album, but it does the job.]
Dizzee Rascal - “Stand Up Tall” [from the j’s indie/rock top 25 of 2004 album showtime. dizzee will be at the cat’s cradle in chapel hill on april 21st and his live show is something to behold.]
the Replacements - “Otto” [by request. i’m getting weekly replacements requests now from a listener and you know what? that’s alright. from their 1981 debut, sorry ma forgot to take out the trash.]
Matt Pond PA - “Holiday Road” [from the new winter songs EP. a cover of the lindsay buckingham song that apparently graced the national lampoon’s christmas vacation soundtrack. who knew?]
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M. Ward - “Big Boat” [big, stomping old-time rock and roll from his new album transistor radio. listening to this album really is like taking a tour through a big chunk of american music over the past 60 or so years.]
Saint Etienne - “Nothing Can Stop Us Now” [early 90s dancey britpop. originally from their debut foxbase alpha, but also on the new best of collection, travel edition: 1990-2005.]
Blur - “There’s No Other Way” [i decided to demonstrate how early 90s britpop really did sound more dancey than pop or rock for awhile and brought out this stellar track from blur’s 1991 debut album leisure.]
Handsome Boy Modeling School featuring Cat Power - “I’ve Been Thinking” [and then why not wind up the dance portion with this smokey, sultry song from handsome boy modeling school’s newest album white people?]
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the Avett Brothers - “Walking for You” (live) [this is off their forthcoming live album live volume 2 which, amazingly enough, doesn’t hit stores until may. early radio saturation. the avett’s are truly one of north carolina’s brightest stars right now.]
Steely Dan - “Any Major Dude Will Tell You” [i have to credit the grammys with something. when steely dan won album of the year a few years ago, i decided to check out what the sarcastic, aging duo were about. now i’m hooked. from pretzel logic.]
Hank Williams III - “7 Months 39 Days” [from lovesick, broke and driftin’. hank III will be at the cat’s cradle on april 5th and he puts on one hell of a show.]
Killing Joke - “Requiem” [i bought this album on reputation alone and though it took me a few listens to get my head around it, i now love it. from their 1980 self-titled debut. post-punk, early-industrial, dance rhythms all intertwine to make a glorious album.]
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Iron and Wine - “Freedom Hangs Like Heaven” [one of the amazing tracks off the new woman king EP. sam beam’s delivery on this record, coupled with the new, more driving direction, is amazing.]
the Posies - “Flavor of the Month” [great, great power-pop from their 1993 album frosting on the beater.]
Stevie Wonder - “Living For the City” [a few weeks ago i had a request for some stevie wonder, but i couldn’t lay my hands on any. so, i try to rectify that. from his glorious innervisions album.]
Kathleen Edwards - “In State” [the lead track from her remarkable new album back to me. americana rock with songwriting that will floor you. or, at least it does me.]
Mia Doi Todd - “The Way” [another of the various genre experiments on her new album manzanita. this one features washington d.c.’s dead meadow as her backing band and the results are a psychedelic swirl.]
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the Jayhawks - “Nevada, California” [i saw the reunion tour with gary louris and mark olson the other night and it was quite incredible. and of course, this is one of the songs they didn’t play off of hollywood town hall. so i played it.]
Emmy Lou Harris - “She” [her version of gram parson’s classic. from the album luxury liner.]
the Kills - “Love is a Deserter” [by request. yeah, the bluesy, early p.j. harvey comparisons fit pretty well and i liked this song. charlie complained that it was repetitive, but hell, i listen to krautrock, so that’s no put off for me. from their new album no wow.]
Cat Stevens - “The Wind” [and so to apologize for making charlie listen to droning, repetitive music, i played this. from his lovely teaser and the firecat.]
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Josh Rouse - “It’s the Nighttime” [the lead off track from his wonderful new album nashville. it seems to take a combination of the best of his last couple of records, working the period piece of 1972 in with the soft pop and americana landscapes of his prior records. good work.]
A.C. Newman - “Miracle Drug” [from his awesome solo album the slow wonder. it’s so good to see so many great pop songwriters these days. catchy music is back in style.]
the Velvet Crush - “Why Not Your Baby” [their lovely cover of the guy clark classic. from teenage symphonies to god.]
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Ani DiFranco - “Sunday Morning” [this may mark a turning point in my life. i’m not a huge fan of early ani difranco. while i respect her immensely as an artist, her music never appealed to me in the rabid way it did others. ever since her double album revelling/reckoning however, it’s been a different story, and this new album, knuckle down, may be the one that i actually buy. plus, joe henry produced it. you can’t go wrong.]

That’ll do it for this week. Thanks for listening and reading and I’ll talk to you next week. Leave comments, as I love hearing feedback and this is a public forum for public radio. Until then.