J's Indie/Rock Mayhem - 3rd June 2009

[Another fantastic edition of J's Indie/Rock Mayhem as we enter the summer season here at WQFS. My interview with the Diamond Center had to be cancelled due to them being able to get a show in Charlotte tonight, so maybe we'll have them on the show in the future. In exchange, ridiculous flash floods that made the city a hazard for awhile. Lucky for them they were elsewhere.

Awesome news - J's Extra Mayhem is back for the summer. If you remember Extra Mayhem from a couple of summers ago, it's an additional show where I pull out music I don't normally play on Indie/Rock Mayhem, plus devote one hour to playing a classic album in its entirety. This year the show is on Monday nights/Tuesday mornings at Midnight, so tune in next week for the first episode and enjoy the fun.

Now, while the flash floods subside, onward.]

J's Indie/Rock Podcast: 3rd June 2009 Show

Theme Song - Peaches - "Rock Show"
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Wilco - "Wilco the Song" [from wilco (the album). they really went all out on this self-titled issue. "wilco will love you, baby," indeed.]
Daisy Chainsaw - "Love Your Money" [from eleventeen. i think i mention it every time i play this song, but the video on beavis and butt-head was my introduction to the song. so there you go.]
Scott H. Biram - "Sinkin' Down" [from something's wrong / lost forever. exciting new music from the dirty ol' one-man band.]
Josh Ritter - "Right Moves" [from the historical conquests of josh ritter. if you follow the j's indie/rock twitter account, you saw me wax rhapsodic about how good ritter was at the cradle last saturday. literally the best i've ever seen him and this song was a definite highlight.]
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Bob Dylan - "Shake Shake Mama" [from together through life. i enjoy this album, though it seems like it's another wall. dylan kind of hit a comfortable spot following the awesome love and theft and he's stayed there without a lot of change.]
Passion Pit - "Make Light" [the lead track from manners. summer jam '09, i'm telling you, people.]
Citified - "Founded" [from the excellent new absence EP. they're going to do an off the record piece about greensboro for aquarium drunkard in the coming week or two, so stay tuned.]
Marilyn Manson - "Get Your Gunn" [from portrait of an american family. i twittered about this topic, but when dr. tiller was gunned down this past weekend, my musical thoughts went immediately to this song, inspired by the murder of florida abortion doctor david gunn. while the song isn't exclusively about that, it was on my mind and i rarely play any manson for obvious reasons, but i do enjoy his first three LPs, even to this day, so here you go.]
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Avi Buffalo - "What's It In For?" [a great band from long beach, california who also spent some time doing an off the record post for drunkard recently. great music and we'll definitely hear more.]
Supergrass - "Cheapskate" [from in it for the money. sunny summer days are here and this album is a perfect listen for just such occasions. i keep coming back to this record, even though i love all of supergrass' albums. this one is the perennial winner.]
St. Vincent - "Save Me From What I Want" [from actor. slowly this is becoming another of my favorite albums of this year. i missed her debut, but now we're getting somewhere.]
Jarvis Cocker - "Slush" [from further complications. this is the song that really sold me on the album as i neared the end of my first proper listen. it's already one of my favorite songs written by him - pulp or solo.]
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Sonic Youth - "Calming the Snake" [from the forthcoming the eternal. i'm liking this record more than rather ripped already. good stuff for fans.]
Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers - "Songs in the Night" [by request. the title track from her newest, out on my hometown, concord, north carolina's own ramseur records, former home to the avett brothers. we'll be hearing more. bonus: today (thursday), the fine folks at monkeywhale put up their live session with samantha. enjoy. it's awesome.]
the Church - "Deadman's Hand" [from untitled #23. 23 albums in nearly 30 years is pretty good, i must say, church. if you're a fan of their atmospheric albums like priest = aura, get on it.]
Blur - "This is a Low" [from parklife. someone over at pitchfork the other day called this possibly blur's finest moment and i can't really argue with them. this song has blown me away from the first time my 16 year old ears heard parklife and knew the type of music most of my peers listened to just wasn't going to cut it for me anymore.]
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Son Volt - "Jukebox of Steel" [from the forthcoming american central dust, which i misnamed on the podcast. my bad. it's due out on july 7th. a little more subdued than the last couple of son volt albums, but it's gaining traction with me. we'll hear more.]
the Streets - "Dry Your Eyes" [from a grand don't come for free. when this album came out, i really thought i was in for a future of amazing records from mike skinner, that he'd beaten the sophomore slump and was going places. didn't know this would be the last truly brilliant one. well, so far anyway. alas.]
Key Witness - "Pinebox" [by request via email. from seven across the sea. an interesting band that we ought to hear some more from. meanwhile, go check out some more and a review over at chrome waves.]
Jason Lytle - "Yours Truly, the Commuter" [the title track from his debut solo record. not a bad little song. i like this record. it's subtle and laid-back but good.]
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Grizzly Bear - "Two Weeks" [from the much ballyhooed veckatimest which debuted at #8 on the billboard top 200 album chart this week. which poses an interesting question: is indie music becoming that mainstream, or is it just getting easier to get into the billboard charts in the wake of the massive slump in music sales? this album did only shift 33,000 units to get to #8. that used to barely even get you a shot at the top 20, let alone the top 10.]
White Rabbits - "Midnight and I" [from it's frightening. and here's where they really sound like spoon. but you know what? who cares. this record is really good.]
Crystal Antlers - "Dust" [from tentacles. are 'crystal' bands the new 'deer' or 'wolf' bands this year? i was distracted while this was on, so i honestly can't recall much about it. noisy, catchy, potential.]
Blair - "Kamikaze" [from the forthcoming die young which will be out on autumn tone records later this summer. i've been playing this song on my show for some time, but blair has re-worked it for the album and this more subdued version is really lovely and now i'm torn. i like both versions a lot.]
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the Love Language - "Lalita" [from their self-titled album. i saw these guys live earlier this year and though i was distracted by interviewing megafaun at the time, what i heard was awesome. this album proves that i was right. we'll be hearing a lot more from this excellent north carolina band.]
the National - "Daughters of the Soho Riots" [from alligator. since i didn't get a chance to play them on the show last week before their sold out show in raleigh, i slipped them in this week. this was, for me, one of the highlights of last week's show. glad i finally got to see them as they were fantastic.]

That'll do it for this week. Make sure you tune in next Monday night/Tuesday morning at midnight for the first 2009 edition of J's Extra Mayhem. I haven't decided on the album yet, but believe that it'll be something you won't want to miss. Until then and next week, take care.