J's Indie/Rock Mayhem - 2nd July 2008

[Another edition of J's Indie/Rock Mayhem. This was an attempt to sort of make up for last year's hamstrung 4th of July show that didn't happen due to station equipment problems. So the first half of the show includes my interview with Hayden and the second half is a mix of new music and America/4th of July themed songs and comedy pieces.

Congratulations to Jeff who answered tonight's trivia question based on the first part of the Hayden interview. He won himself a $15 gift certificate to BB's New and Used CDs and DVDs. As a head's up, if you're in the area, please go by and spend some money at BB's during their huge clearance sale. They're trying to raise enough money to be able to move the store to a new location. They'll be shutting down the Quaker Village location regardless, but want to be able to re-open. As Greensboro's last remaining indie record-store, please go help them out. There's a great community of music in this area and record stores are as much a part of that as anything else.

There's going to be some re-shaping of the J's Indie/Rock blog in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for how the posting schedule is going to re-arrange itself. In the meantime, onward.]

J's Indie/Rock Podcast: 2nd July 2008 Show

Theme Song - Peaches - "Rock Show"
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Silver Jews - "Suffering Jukebox" [from lookout mountain, lookout sea. this album has really grown on me and fast, and you can read my review over at aquarium drunkard. ]
the Kooks - "Mr. Maker" [from konk. mad dog is a big fan of this kind of kinks-ian modern british rock, but it has to do a bit more to win me over. i like this song quite a bit, but from mad dog's recommendation, it's also the album's best song. we'll see.]
the Whigs - "Right Hand on My Heart" [from mission control, easily on of the best rock records of this year. i took a nice break from this album, but have recently started jonesing for it again.]
Dawn Chorus - "I'm Cured!" [from the forthcoming florida st. serenade. if you were at the show at the green burro last thursday you would've had a chance to pick up a copy of the new album which isn't officially out until later this month. there will be an album release show in the early fall and i've already been talking with zach and andrew from dawn chorus about coming on the show to play some live music. plenty to come.]
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Alejandro Escovedo - "Nun's Song" [from real animal. this album is chock full of great songs. i got to do a phone interview with alejandro this week and the transcript should be appearing on aquarium drunkard in the near future. stay tuned.]
Colour Revolt - "Ageless Everytime" [from plunder, beg and curse. if you want to hear an album that runs the gamut of indie rock, search no further. there are moments of pavement and even radiohead that run through this fairly entertaining album.]
Tom Waits - "Lie to Me" [from orphans: brawlers, bawlers and bastards. this was absolutely one of the highlights of the show in knoxville this past sunday. it was an amazing experience to finally see such an amazing performer live. only downside, no "i don't wanna grow up." but that's alright. there was still two and a half hours of great classic music.]
Aimee Mann - "Borrowing Time" [from the new @#%&*! smilers. she'll be playing at the carolina theatre here in greensboro on sunday, september 6th. tickets are on sale now.]

[Here was my interview with Hayden. You can also read the transcript at Aquarium Drunkard. We talked about his new album, the recording process, evolution in his songwriting, the differences in Canadian and U.S. touring and odd audiences in Philadelphia. Enjoy.]

Interview - Hayden : Click to listen.

Hayden - "In Field & Town," "Lonely Security Guard" and "Where and When" [all three of these are from the new album in field & town.]
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My Morning Jacket - "I'm Amazed" [from evil urges. this is the first non-title track cut i've played and i like it, though cycling through the rest of the album, i don't know. we'll see.]
X - "4th of July" [from see how we are. this began my fourth of july segment. i do so love this song.]
the Hold Steady - "Stuck Between Stations" [from boys and girls in america. i love this song. a good chunk of their forthcoming album, stay positive, is streaming over at their myspace and is released on july 15th. get excited, guys.]
Ryan Adams - "Firecracker" [from gold. i've always been kind of down on this album, but man, this is still one of my favorite ryan songs of all time.]
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Julie Ocean - "My Revenge" [from long gone and nearly there. if you missed my interview with terry banks of julie ocean last week, you should read the interview over at aquarium drunkard. interesting stuff.]
Bill Hicks - "The Elite" [from rant in e-minor. bill's ruminations about what he thinks happened when the president gets elected. "it's a video..of the kennedy assassination..from an angle you've never seen..it looks suspiciously off the grassy knoll.." classic, brilliant hicks.]
Brad Neely - "JFK" [from neely's cartoon the professor brothers. the song is great, but is greatly amplified by the animation. neely also had an excellent ode to george washington that i ought to dig up sometime.]
Lewis Black - "Dead President" [from his carnegie hall performance. a really great bit about the one sure fire way to defeat al qaeda - convince them we're insane by electing a dead man president. black recommends reagan and it just gets better from there.]
Patton Oswalt - "Dukes of Hazzard" [from werewolves and lollipops. "then they just jump the general lee over the bill of rights...it's incredible." a great metaphor of our president and vice president as bo and luke duke.]
Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Fortunate Son" [from willie and the poor boys. since oswalt winds up his bit talking about draft dodgers, this seemed only natural.]
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Fleet Foxes - "Quiet Houses" [from their self-titled debut full length. good stuff. i need to get it for myself.]
Dangermouse - "What More Can I Say" [from the grey album. this set grabbed a couple of songs that either were the result of free-speech/copyright controversy or were the cause of them. this is, of course, from dangermouse's brilliant mash-up of jay-z's black album vocals and the beatles' self-titled (the white album) music. it's an amazing piece of art and god bless whoever sent us that edited copy back in the day.]
Luke feat. 2 Live Crew - "Banned in the U.S.A." [the song the band recorded as a response to their double-platinum as nasty as they wanna be's ban in florida record stores. if you're not familiar with this whole debacle, it's one of the more interesting first amendment cases to erupt over music - dead kennedy's fight for the frankenchrist poster insert is another fascinating one - in recent time.]
Bruce Springsteen - "The Ghost of Tom Joad" [the title track from his mid-90s album. there's little more american than tom joad.]

Bonus Track - Negativland - "The Letter U and the Numeral 2" - Click to listen - Warning: Discretion is advised for lyrical content. [this actually isn't on the podcast. i found, too late, that the copy i'd brought with me was not the edited version, so i couldn't play it on air. this is another important case in copyright law and it's been the foundation of negativland's continued war for freer artistic license in commercial art.]

That'll do it for this week. I'll see you back next Wednesday night for my last show before I head out on vacation. Until then, take care.