J's Indie/Rock Mayhem - 9th December 2009

[Welcome to the last regular edition of J's Indie/Rock Mayhem for 2009. Next week will be the annual best singles show and then in three weeks, on December 30th, the 8th annual J's Indie/Rock Top 25 Albums of the Year. It's a lot later than normal this year, but it's been a crazy year. I won't be on the air on Wednesday, December 23rd - it's my dad's birthday, so I'll be otherwise occupied, but I'm hoping to do a special Christmas oriented podcast that week, so stay tuned for that. Hopefully.

Now, while the going's good, onward.]

J's Indie/Rock Podcast: 9th December 2009 Show

Theme Song - Peaches - "Rock Show"
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Cymbals Eat Guitars - "Some Trees (Merritt Moon)" [from why there are mountains. really raucous and blustery music from this year. this has been a good year for music, so to stand out as this has is a good sign.]
the Twilight Singers - "Teenage Wristband" [from blackberry belle, one of this week's decade pieces at aquarium drunkard. go read it here. i love greg dulli's music and this album is a peak moment for him without question.]
Blur - "Bugman" [from 13. the head drunkard and i were having a discussion about this album the other day and while for me it's usually songs like "coffee and t.v." and "no distance left to run" that stick out, he called out this song in particular and i remembered that yes, it is pretty righteous. so here it is.]
Lake Inferior - "Johnny B" [from the new pegasaur EP. great music from a great north carolina band who we had up here in the studio last week for an interview. hope to get them down here for a show at some point as well.]
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the Flaming Lips - "Convinced of the Hex" [from embryonic. they played this when i saw them this summer and it was the first new music i'd heard from them in quite some time that i really enjoyed. so here's to it.]
the Rain Parade - "Blue" [from explosions in the glass palace. i'm becoming more and more convinced that this EP might be better than the rain parade's debut album. the quality of their albums drops after this one, but man this EP is good.]
Bash and Pop - "Fright Night (Is Killing Me)" [the title track from their one and only album. this was tommy stinson's first post-replacements project and he knocked it out of the park as far as i'm concerned.]
Califone - "Alice Marble Grey" [from all my friends are funeral singers. can i please see these guys live sometime, please? thank you. one of those bands who are subtly your favorite band. they may not leap to mind when you're asked, but then you look at your cd collection and it's full of stuff by them.]
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Susu - "M.B.T." [from the forthcoming r and r and r. the fine folks in this band were nice enough to send me an advance copy of their record that'll be out next year because they're super sweet and wanted to gift me with their new record. we'll hear more in the new year.]
the Replacements - "They're Blind" [by request. from don't tell a soul. i used to play this when i played in coffee shops in high school. a really gorgeously styled song that still hits me in the right places.]
the Whigs - "Right Hand on My Heart" [from mission control. these mugs have a new record coming out next spring, but will be playing at the local 506 in chapel hill next monday, december 14th. so you know you wanna see them. seriously one of the best live rock acts around.]
Bill Callahan - "Diamond Dancer" [from born on a whale heart. bill will be playing tomorrow night, thursday, december 10th, at studio b at the broach theatre here in downtown greensboro. the show is co-sponsored by WQFS and WUAG and is FREE! so go get you some free smog action.]
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Built to Spill - "Planting Seeds" [from there is no enemy. not too many songs in the world that namecheck bill hicks on their way to making a pretty solid point, but this is one of 'em. great stuff.]
Silver Jews - "Punks in the Beerlight" [from tanglewood numbers, another of this week's decade pieces at aquarium drunkard. go read it here. this was the album that truly got me into the joos as well, so i wholeheartedly agree with this choice.]
Pixies - "Hey" [from doolittle. since the pixies have been out doing this album in its entirety, they showed up on the fallon show the other week and did "debaser" and then followed it up with a web-only clip of them doing "hey." very awesome.]
the Duke and the King - "Summer Morning Rain" [from nothing gold can stay. ex-felice brothers member and not a bad little record.]
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Tom Waits - "Metropolitan Glide" (live) [from the new glitter and doom live album. this particular song is from the knoxville, tennessee show which is the one i was at. i think you can here me and my friend, jeremy, yelling around the 2:38 mark.]
Wilco - "Sunken Treasure" [from being there. been listening to this record quite a bit this week, but especially this song. the line that stuck out to me most was when tweedy sings "if i had a boat.." which immediately made me think of...]
Lyle Lovett - "If I Had a Boat" [from pontiac. yup. this is how i piece together a lot of my show each week - lyrical connections. well, at least i like doing it that way. that said, i love lyle lovett.]
Romancer - "The World is Exploding" [one of the new recordings from romancer, a project of tiger bear wolf, ex-health member jonathan moore, who just had a new baby born. congrats, jon and laura.]
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Tune-Yards - "Sunlight" [from bird brains. really unique sounding stuff and we'll have to hear more in the new year. but i've heard this is a truly fantastic album from this year too. just to be safe, squeezed it in so i can play it on the album show if need be.]
T. Rex - "Mambo Sun" [from electric warrior. okay. so, this is the only t. rex album i've ever heard in its entirety. i love it. where do i go next. suggestions?]
Fleet Foxes - "Blue Ridge Mountains" [from their self-titled LP, another of the decade picks this week over at aquarium drunkard. go read it. it took me awhile to warm up to this record, one of a few that i did that with this decade, but it is a stellar, unique and gorgeous piece of work.]
Grizzly Bear - "While You Wait for the Others" (live) [apparently this came from the sound opinions show on NPR. pretty great listen to a stripped down version of grizzly bear. i'm going to be a curmudgeon and probably put this band's release way lower than it deserves, or not on the list at all, but that's not to say it's not worth listening to - i just haven't gotten into it the way others do.]
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Sufjan Stevens - "The Upper Peninsula" [from michigan, another of the decade albums this week. go read about it here. i think i've spoken of my ambivalence towards sufjan stevens before, though i've never heard this album and this song is pretty good. i've heard this one is less glossy than illinoise, which is where all my experience with him lies. worth checking out, i suppose.]
Polaris - "She's Everywhere" [from songs from the adventures of pete and pete. one of the most gorgeous songs by this band and in mark mulcahy's entire catalogue.]
Bobb Trimble - "One Mile From Heaven" [from iron curtain innocence. i had never heard this guy before until this piece at aquarium drunkard hipped me to a musician i obviously need to pay attention to. two self-released albums of 80s psychedelic revival and they are magnificent. so much great music falls by the wayside.]

So that'll do it for the regular shows of 2009. See you back here next week for the best singles of the year - wall-to-wall great singles for two hours. It's one of my favorite shows of the year, no doubt. Until then, Go Panthers! Go Heels!, and take care.