j's indie/rock mayhem - 7th november 2007

[another week and another great and enjoyable show. i was under the weather most of this weekend and am still recovering. so if vocally i sound a bit strained, you know why.

congrats to a frequent listener, rod north, for winning this week's $15 gift certificate to BB's new and used CDs and DVDs. he correctly identified "the wicked messenger" as a dylan song from the john wesley harding album. we give away a gift certificate at the beginning of the third set each week, right at 6:30pm or a little after, so tune in for your chance to answer and win.

now, before i start coughing again, onward.]

J's Indie/Rock Podcast: 7th November 2007 Show

Theme Song - Peaches - "Rock Show"
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the Arctic Monkeys - "Temptation Greets You Like Your Naughty Friend" [from the brainstorm single. it's a b-side that features a cameo by east london's own dizzee rascal. there's a companion song to this on dizzee's album maths + english, called simply "temptation," that uses the guitar riff from the verse as the undergirding for the song. good stuff.]
Sleater-Kinney - "Ironclad" [from all hands on the bad one. an album that was a bit maligned by some, or at least criticized for holding the pattern still. each of their albums from dig me out through one beat do kind of feel of a piece, even with the mood differences between them, but maybe that's just because of how amazing their swan song, the woods, really is.]
Band of Horses - "Is There a Ghost" [from cease to begin. i'm enjoying all the songs i've heard off of this record thus far. the move to south carolina has done them some good i think.]
Georgie James - "Look Me Up" [from places. i'll stop harping on how this is, flat out, one of the best indie-pop records of the year, but its odes to classic pop songwriting are just too obvious and too great to overlook. it has a 70s gloss about it without feeling old at all.]
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the Octopus Project - "Bees Bein' Strugglin'" [from the album hello, avalanche. octopus project are an instrumental band that has done some work with black moth super rainbow and won a lot of accolades. even pitchfork gave it a pretty haughty nod. i like this song, but instrumental albums are always weird for me: they have to be really good to make me want to put them on over a vocal record.]
the Minus 5 - "Twilight Distillery" [from their latest, 2006's self-titled (aka the gun album). i really enjoyed this record, as you might recall, and i hadn't played anything off of it in awhile. glad i remedied that.]
Health - "Crimewave" [from their self-titled album. not to be confused with greensboro, nc's health. this health is from l.a. and has produced a record of squalling beauty. this song is a perfect example - discordant and self-righteous, it's an interesting listen to say the least.]
Josh Ritter - "Girl in the War" [from the animal years. i saw josh at the cat's cradle in chapel hill on monday night and, again, he put on a tremendous show. this song, as always, was a highlight. but really the entire show was a highlight. dude knows how to hold an audience in the palm of his hand and he didn't let us go for nearly two hours.]
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the Black Keys - "The Wicked Messenger" [from the i'm not there soundtrack which i reviewed this week. i love how the band turns this into a stomping blues - the original is great, but this is just downright rockin'.]
Future of the Left - "Manchasm" [from curses. mark foley was right, so the song says. make your own conclusions. there is no one in rock quite as giddily abrasive and reckless what they do to spite the world. great, enjoyable music like this just doesn't happen much these days.]
the Replacements - "Color Me Impressed" [from hootenanny. mad dog said the other night that he always enjoyed using this phrase on people. and it is a great, great song. i was always one for the 'giving out their word / 'cause that's all that they won't keep' line, myself. the whole thing's genius.]
Jason Isbell - "Chicago Promenade" [from sirens of the ditch. as common as it seems for isbell to do covers at his shows, he needs to do something by the replacements. maybe "talent show" or "unsatisfied" or something along those lines. he'd do it justice, i know.]
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His Name Is Alive - "The Wolf Put His Mouth on Me" [xmmer continues to impress and draw me in. it's a dreamy, frayed world that exists in warren defever's head. somewhere vicious and cold, but so beautiful at the same time.]
Beirut - "Guyamas Sonora" [from the flying club cup. one of the best concerts i saw in 2006 was these guys. if you ever get a chance to see them, i say take it.]
Blur - "Death of a Party" [from their self-titled album. i wrote about this album earlier this week as well. i should clarify that the fact that i let the popularity of "song 2" get in the way of me actually approaching that album is, completely, ridiculous. i have odd urges at times. but i'm glad i was able to come back to it now, from a very different perspective and find the band i always loved was there all along.]
Radiohead - "Climbing the Walls" [from OK computer. this is, quite possibly, my favorite radiohead song of all time. and in my blur review i commented that this song sounded like the more paranoid, menacing cousin of "death of a party." they were both released in the same year and it's really kind of eerie the similarities i hear between them. it may not be immediately obvious, but give it a listen and see.]
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A. A. Bondy - "Lovers' Waltz" [from the gorgeous american hearts. it's the lyrics that sold me on this album - but the hazy production doesn't hurt. i feel like i'm peering through a smoke-filled room to bondy on stage, bringing us all further along.]
Grizzly Bear - "Shift" (alternate version) [this is from the new Friend EP. grizzly bear has been getting an amazing amount of press and admittedly i've slept on them. i was about to listen to yellow house and then just didn't. this EP has gotten good press, so maybe it's time i perk up.]
Vic Chesnutt - "Everything I Say" [from north star deserter. brooding. and the more i think about it, really a top 25 contender for this year. chesnutt is an amazing artist.]
Warren Zevon - "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" [from excitable boy. i don't know why this was in my head earlier today, but it was. isn't there some new biography about zevon written by his widow? i thought i saw it the other day - talking about how he lived the crazy life or whatever. i hope someone under the age of 20 somewhere reads that.]
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the Graves of Fairmount - "Ignore the Forecast" [from the calendars & casualties EP which i reviewed last week. i like this song, possibly, the most of the ones on the EP. at the very least, it's a great slice of 90s indie-rock come to life.]
Black Moth Super Rainbow - "Sun Lips" [from dandelion gum. i got a link to the video for this in my mail yesterday and it amused me. with the lack of videos getting played on television anymore, it's interesting to see the type of creative, or just plane wacky, stuff that bands are doing as promotional work for their songs.]
Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - "My Love For You is Real" [from the new follow the lights EP which i reviewed in the same post as that graves of fairmount cd. i like this song a lot - as i said, it reminds me in parts of adams' love is hell output.]
the Damnwells - "Louisville" [from air stereo. earlier this year i became somewhat obsessed with this record and its many gorgeous songs. so i put it away for awhile so i wouldn't play it so much. well, it's back in my mind again. i guess i feel bad since i didn't hear it until this year (it was released in 2006) and it would've easily been in my top 25 if i had. but i didn't. le sigh.]
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Son Volt - "The Search" (live) [recorded at their performance at lollapalooza this summer, this is part of a 7 song EP that is available through EMusic. pretty good - the new version of son volt has won me over finally, after irritating me. and this song especially is sharp, sharp, sharp. farrar actually sounds...amiable when he greets the crowd. go figure.]
Bruce Springsteen - "The River" [title track from the album. josh ritter did a great acoustic solo version of this at his show on monday and i thought it'd be nice to let the original speak on the show as well.]
Richard Buckner - "Boys, the Night Will Bury You" [from his self-titled album. this song has always been one of the most haunting things i've ever heard. his soft, breathy intonations and and the title phrase. the hidden agendas of "the search," followed by the desolation of "the river" turns into full-on surrender on this track. i didn't get to come in and say goodbye, but i thought the last two songs were paired beautifully.]

That'll do it for this week. I'll be back on Friday with Notes From Underground. I'll be taking next Monday off from the new album review - it will be Veteran's Day after all - and new content will return on Tuesday with the Return Trip feature. Until then, Go Panthers (please?), and take care.