J's Indie/Rock Mayhem - 8th October 2008

[Welcome to another edition of J's Indie/Rock Mayhem. A return to full-on music this week which was a lot of fun. Tons of good stuff, some great requests and some good premieres as well. All in the name of good rock.

Next week's show will be a three-hour affair as we're on fall break temporary schedule and I'll be covering part of Anna's show after mine. The podcast will be the usual two-hour show, but tune in live for an extra hour of Indie/Rock Mayhem.

Now, before John McCain refers to me with an improper pronoun, onward.]

J's Indie/Rock Podcast: 8th October 2008

Theme Song - Peaches - "Rock Show"
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the Broken West - "Perfect Games" [from now or heaven. i'd imagine this song is bound for the end-year 'best singles' show. and the album, as well.]
Wilco - "Box Full of Letters" [from a.m. i think it's one of the great, epic stories of alt-country that the first post-tupelo records by tweedy and farrar were both produced by the same man, brian paulson. both albums, a.m. and trace, are amazing records, though that initial round absolutely went to farrar's son volt. my biases aside, that wouldn't ever happen again.]
Blitzen Trapper - "Gold for Bread" [from furr. speaking of albums bound for the year-end show. man, that's only two months away at this point. what a year for music, too.]
the Clash - "Safe European Home" [from give 'em enough rope. this album almost never gets mentioned when people talk about the clash, but it's just as spunky as their self-titled debut and is even showing the creative spurts that would craft london calling. just not quite there. the calm before the storm.]
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the Streets - "Everything is Borrowed" [the title track from the new album which is out now. i just got my copy today so haven't had a chance to dive in, but i like this song. it's a grower, certainly.]
Fountains of Wayne - "No Better Place" [from welcome interstate managers. a friend of mine and i were discussing this album last night, so when i saw it today, this song immediately lept into my mind. it's a solid, well-crafted pop album that i never get tired of. yes, even "stacy's mom."]
Future of the Left - "Small Bones Small Bodies" (live) [from the last night i saved her from vampires live album that the band is selling on tour. they tore it up last night opening for ted leo and against me! here in town at greene street. i was very impressed.]
Dinosaur Jr. - "Forget the Swan" [by request. from dinosaur. i'll cop to not having listened to a ton of older dinosaur jr. in my day. my introduction to them was "feel the pain" and dinosaur jr.'s original lineup, until beyond, has long been an unknown to me. that said, wow this song sounds so tame compared to the fuzz-explosion of, well, pretty much everything after it. intriguing listen and a great song.]
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the Rosebuds - "Life Like" [the excellent title track from their new album. people were very back and forth about their last album, but i felt it held up remarkably well and i'm anxious to hear this one in its entirety.]
Randy Newman - "Burn On" [from sail away. over at aquarium drunkard, we're doing our sevens posts this month on political songs. marty already did an excellent bit about "born in the u.s.a." and i threw in my first contribution talking about twin-environmental songs. this is the first one - about the cuyahoga river fires from 1969. read about the songs here.]
R.E.M. - "Cuyahoga" [from life's rich pageant. this is the other song i wrote about, also focusing on the cuyahoga river fires. and while we're at it, go check out r.e.m.'s live version of this song from their second appearance on mtv's unplugged. it's simply gorgeous.]
Lambchop - "Sharing a Gibson with Martin Luther King" [from oh (ohio). i have enjoyed this record a lot and really hope to see lambchop in north carolina next year when they get around to american touring.]
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TV on the Radio - "DLZ" [from dear science. maybe i'm coming around on tv on the radio. i've never disliked them, but it's been a kind of indifferent road for me. sometimes it's all about hearing in the right context. i like this song. let's see if i can build on it.]
Michael Penn - "Don't Let Me Go" [from mp4: days since a lost time accident. i've always really loved this song. michael penn, in general, i find to be a top-notch songwriter.]
Deerhoof - "Buck and Judy" [from offend maggie. this is a band i know very little about, so it's new to me. though this is their tenth album in eleven years. that's the kind of output i like to see from a band.]
Molly McGinn - "Put Your Woman On" (live on WQFS) [this is from last week's in-studio performance. molly plays every wednesday night from 9-11pm at m'coul's pub in downtown greensboro and is well worth checking out.]
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the Replacements - "Kiss Me On the Bus" (demo) [so this week kicked off four weeks of feature blocks about the latest replacements reissues. each week i'll feature four bonus tracks from each of the new reissues, in order, starting with 1985's tim. this demo version of "kiss me on the bus" is louder, rockier and, i'm thinking i might actually prefer it to the album version. both have their respective charms, but this is all about what the song probably was like in a live setting. well, i know it is having heard bootlegs of it before.]
the Replacements - "Can't Hardly Wait" (electric version) [the first of two versions of this song on the tim re-issue. the final one wouldn't appear until pleased to meet me, but this song has so many permutations (with varied lyrics, especially) that it's a really interesting documentation of westerberg's writing. the cool part is that this is NOT the same electric version that was on the all for nothing / nothing for all retrospective set released back in the 90s.]
the Replacements - "Nowhere is My Home" [probably my favorite 'lost' 'mats song. its only official release was on the european-only vinyl EP boink! they could've ditched "dose of thunder" or "lay it down clown" easily for this song and tim would've been that much stronger an album.]
the Replacements - "Can't Hardly Wait" (acoustic version) [this is the oft-labeled 'airshaft' version of the song, so called because it sounds like they're in some cavernous, echoy chamber. it's one of the most emotional versions of the song (short of the eventual album version which always gets me a little choked up - for real) and is just plain gorgeous in that respect. next week it's bonus tracks from 1987's pleased to meet me.]
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Antony and the Johnsons - "Another World" [brace yourselves. the title track from the new EP, all set as a teaser for the forthcoming antony full length. seriously. antony is a one of a kind performer and no one is like him. i'm very excited for this album.]
Reigning Sound - "You're Not as Pretty" [from time bomb high school. god this album kills me. power-pop and gorgeous ballads and just everything you could ask for in a pop record. oh, and killer lyrics and songwriting.]
the Subways - "Kalifornia" [from all or nothing. butch vig is still producing records? good for him. and yeah, brad pitt movie, etc. but really all this was just to pave the way for..]
Semisonic - "California" [from feeling strangely fine. one of my absolute favorite semisonic songs and just a tremendous overall song. it's a bit longish at nearly 6 minutes, so i needed an excuse to play it. and i made one. bully.]
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Le Switch - "Pristine" [from the excellent and now.. great band out of l.a. on the autumn tone label.]
Dead Confederate - "Yer Circus" [from wrecking ball. i have some ideas about this record. i'll get back to you. it's excellent, by the way.]
Blackalicious - "Paragraph President" [by request. from blazing arrow, one of the best hip-hop albums of all time. seriously. it's fantastic. and amazing. yes.]

That'll do it for this week. As I said, next week will be a three hour show so tune in for the fun. And as I say on the podcast - Go Panthers! and, I hardly can believe I'm saying this during football season, but, Go Heels! Until next week, take care.