J's Indie/Rock Mayhem - 26th August 2009

[Welcome to another edition of J's Indie/Rock Mayhem. Great interview tonight with most of the band Decoration Ghost. They'll be playing tomorrow night as part of the Dotmatrix Project series down at the Green Burro on Elm Street downtown. They're playing along with Sin Tax and Joshua West. The show is free, gets started at 8pm and is a guaranteed great time, just like all the Dotmatrix shows are. Make sure you get there.

A head's up: If you live in Greensboro, or pay attention to the occasional PSAs I read, you might be familiar with First Fridays downtown. The first Friday of every month usually involves a lot of the art galleries staying open later with some awesome exhibitions and so forth. Well, now you can add the First Fridays Indie Market to the list of things to do downtown those nights. In addition to great local indie retailers hawking their wares, each hour will present a different live entertainment. Yours truly will be down there performing my original guitar music, most likely in the 5 PM hour. So, Friday, September 4th, come on downtown, say howdy to me and catch me playing. Why not?

Now, before I get too depressed about Jon Beason's injury, onward.]

J's Indie/Rock Podcast: 26th August 2009 Show

Theme Song - Peaches - "Rock Show"
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the Clean - "Tensile" [from the forthcoming mr. pop. great new zealand pop. what can i say? they still sound amazing years later.]
the Mountain Goats - "This Year" [from the sunset tree. this is, truly, the song that turned me around on really loving the mountain goats. i had enjoyed all hail west texas and some of his lo-fi earlier material, but i really, really loved this song the moment i heard it.]
Citified - "Pencil Me In" [from absence. one of my absolute favorite north carolina releases of this year - and seriously, that is not faint praise.]
Brendan Benson - "Eyes on the Horizon" [from my old, familiar friend. my interview with brendan is up over at aquarium drunkard so go check it out. pretty good stuff. his music, too.]

[So this is where Decoration Ghost came into the studio. They're playing tomorrow night, Thursday, August 27th, as part of the ongoing Dotmatrix Project series at the Green Burro downtown. It's a free show, so all the more reason to come. 3/4ths of the band were able to make it - Tim LaFollete, Devender Sellars and Scott Hicks. They played some live stuff for us, in addition to some new demos, and were great sports for a lot of interesting questions and a word-association game that kind of fell flat. My fault, not theirs. Enjoy the interview on the podcast.]

Decoration Ghost - "Camera Bag and a Backpack" (live) [i love the interplay of the guitars and the rock harmonies that these guys are able to put together. click here to download.]
Decoration Ghost - "The Haze of Wine and Age" (live) [literally, this song got stuck in my head for several days after hearing them play it live back in july. great stuff. click here to download.]
Decoration Ghost - "Horizon" [one of the demos recorded with snuzz. more awesome stuff.]
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Decoration Ghost - "Thick Tan Rope" [another of the demos recorded with snuzz. can't wait to hear a full release of this stuff.]
Langhorne Slim - "Say Yes" [from his forthcoming be set free. i saw him open for the avett brothers about 4 years ago and it's been fun to watch his star build. i'm really excited about his new record and his last was fantastic.]
Polvo - "The Pedlar" [from in prism. seriously. do you want one of the best indie records you've heard in a long time? get your hands on this when it comes out. honestly.]
Son Volt - "No Turning Back" [from american central dust. jay farrar and company will be at the cat's cradle in carborro on sunday, september 13th. get excited.]
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Vic Chesnutt - "Flirted With You All My Life" [from the forthcoming at the cut which is astounding. my interview with vic will be up on aquarium drunkard next monday - it's a really interesting talk, so make sure you check in.]
PJ Harvey - "Missed" [from rid of me. i only grabbed one of pj's two earliest records about a month ago and i've been floored by how much i love this album. i'd honestly not spent that much time with her earlier music, but that's going to need to change.]
St. Vincent - "Save Me From What I Want" [from actor. probably top ten bound on the j's indie/rock best of 2009. get ready for it.]
Lou Barlow - "Gravitate" [from goodnight unknown. merge is putting out some seriously amazing music this year. this, the clean, the new polvo, the new wye oak. geez, merge. spoil us already.]
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Wye Oak - "I Want for Nothing" [from the knot. this could be top 25 bound. and i never would've assumed that from their last record. i enjoyed it a lot, but didn't see them blowing my mind like they have this time.]
the Damnwells - "55 Pictures" [from one last century. the damnwells documentary, golden days, is finally being released on DVD. excitement? yes, 'cause i want to actually see it. they're such a great band.]
A.A. Bondy - "On the Moon" [from the forthcoming when the devil's loose. i did an interview with bondy that will be up on aquarium drunkard later next week also. a great week for interviews, obviously.]
the Ronettes - "Be My Baby" [this song's co-author, ellie greenwich died today. she, along with songwriting partner jeff barry, co-wrote, without a doubt, some of the greatest songs of the 60s. "then he kissed me," "da doo ron ron," "chapel of love," "river deep, mountain high" and "leader of the pack," just to name a few. so this is in her memory - an obviously incredibly gifted pop songwriter. rest in peace.]
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Roadside Graves - "Take a Train" [from my son's home. i have seen nothing but tweet after tweet on twitter talking about how great their live show is. i concur. they're marvelous.]
Portishead - "Plastic" [from third, last year's j's indie/rock mayhem # 1 album of the year. and for very good reason. amazing.]
Echo and the Bunnymen - "The Killing Moon" [from ocean rain. i was listening last night to one of the best mixes anyone has ever made for me and it contained the nouvelle vague cover of this song. so i thought i'd throw the original up as a way to say thank you. happy anniversary, lauren.]

That'll do it for this week. See you at Dotmatrix tomorrow night and back here next week for more great music. Until then, Go Panthers!, and take care.

J's Indie/Rock Mayhem - 19th August 2009

[Welcome to another edition of J's Indie/Rock Mayhem. Sorry for the lack of Extra Mayhem on Monday night and, indeed, that's it for the summer. This was a shorter season of Extra Mayhem for all sorts of reasons, but hopefully I'll get another crack at it next year - maybe with an earlier time slot even.

Next week here on the show will be an interview with one of my favorite newer local bands, Decoration Ghost. They'll be up in studio to talk about the upcoming Dotmatrix Project show next Thursday at the Green Burro. It's been awhile since we've had a DMP band up in studio, so this'll be great. We're talking about having them play some stuff live, so make sure you tune in for that. They are a seriously great band and I know we'll have fun talking with them.

Now, while I'm still calming down from the beginning of football season and getting psyched for my birthday on Friday, onward!]

J's Indie/Rock Podcast: 19th August 2009

Theme Song - Peaches - "Rock Show"
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the Veils - "The Letter" [from sun gangs. one of my absolute favorite songs from this record. this album initially didn't grab me the way their previous album had, but it's growing on me a lot and very quickly.]
Radiohead - "The Trickster" [from the my iron lung EP. they released a new song this week that you can still hear on youtube and is quite good. really.]
the Felice Brothers - "The Big Surprise" [from yonder is the clock. didn't expect to play something this low-key this early in the show, but the song got lodged in my head and when the music speaks, i follow.]
Invisible - "Prisons" [from irresponsibly electric. i've written here a couple of times about how much i think of this band and their live shows, but i always wondered how it would transfer to a recorded LP. it's quite a good listen and we'll be hearing a lot more.]
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Brendan Benson - "A Whole Lot Better" [from my old, familiar friend. did an interview with messr. benson the other day that will be going up on aquarium drunkard this week. a sharp, sharp pop record.]
the Byrds - "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better" [from mr. tambourine man. this song naturally lept into my mind when i saw the title of the benson song. so, last week i imagined this pairing. and this week i did it. there you go.]
the High Strung - "Out of Character" [from ode to the inverse of the dude. a great bunch of guys who recorded their latest album as a trio. much poppier, in the classic sense, than their previous records, but really excellent. follow their tour adventures over at twitter.]
Mark Vidler/Go Home Productions - "Mick n' Carly" [from spliced krispies. we heard "main bloom" from this mash-up collection last week, but i really wanted to play some more off of it and i don't doubt we'll hear even more. go grab this thing for free from their site. great stuff.]
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Vic Chesnutt - "Chinaberry Tree" [from the forthcoming at the cut. i got the advance copy of this last night and oh. my. god. vic has reunited with the group that recorded 2007's jaw-dropping north star deserter and the results are equally amazing. automatic best of 2009. no question.]
Embrace - "Come Back to What You Know" [from the good will out. not to be confused with proto-emo 80s band embrace. this is the UK britpop also-ran embrace. one of my favorite singles of the era. it's a pretty amazing song.]
Blair - "Hello Halo" [from the forthcoming die young which'll be out in october. i cannot wait. i mean, i already have it, obviously, but still. great stuff.]
Black Moth Super Rainbow - "Born on a Day the Sun Didn't Rise" [from eating us. i heard their show at local 506 was crazy. any confirmation?]
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A.A. Bondy - "I Can See the Pines are Dancing" [from the forthcoming when the devil's loose. just did an interview with bondy last week that will be up on aquarium drunkard at the beginning of september. this album is amazing. really.]
the Lemonheads - "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye" [from varshons, their new covers album. this is, of course, their take on the leonard cohen classic. and yes, you guessed it, this is another cover connection set like last week..]
Delta Spirit - "Lovers' Waltz" (live) [from their daytrotter session, doing a cover of an a.a. bondy song from his first album. i used to play a lot more daytrotter stuff on the show, 'cause they are amazing, but i haven't recently. i need to fix that. click here for delta spirit's session.]
Antony - "If It Be Your Will" (live) [from the i'm your man soundtrack. this is a concert film of a tribute show to leonard cohen and antony, as usual, slays this cohen classic. if you've never heard this..well..get on it.]
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Future of the Left - "You Need Satan More Than He Needs You" [from travels with myself and another. seriously goofed on editing this one - which doesn't matter so much on the internet, but on the terrestrial radio..eh. a bit more. still. great song.]
the Replacements - "Can't Hardly Wait" (demo) [this was recorded in the sessions for pleased to meet me. it's a pretty rare demo version - with a synthesizer sitting in for the eventual string parts on the song's album version. the album's producer, jim dickinson, died this week at the age of 67.]
the Low Anthem - "To the Ghosts Who Write History Books" [from oh my god, charlie darwin. saw them live last week and it was seriously one of the best shows i've seen in ages. go see them live if you catch them. and buy this record.]
Polvo - "Beggar's Bowl" [from the forthcoming in prisms. great, great music. reminds me of, you know, how great out-there indie-rock could be in the 90s. and how good it can still be.]
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Taken by Trees - "Greyest Love of All" [from east of eden. just got this album earlier this week and it's a gorgeous listen. we'll be hearing more.]
Travis - "Turn" [from the man who, still one of my favorite albums of this decade, despite their precipitous drop-off in quality after it.]
Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers - "Songs in the Night" [the title track from her latest. seriously. can you come through greensboro sometime, samantha? please?]
Jarvis Cocker - "I Never Said I Was Deep" [from further complications. one of my favorite 'witty' songs on this record. especially with the 'willing receptacle' line. so icky, it's brilliant.]
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the Foreign Exchange - "Take Off the Blues" [from leave it all behind. while i was initially thrown by the stylistic shift of this record over their previous, i think it's slowly winning me over big time. it's a great album.]
the Roadside Graves - "God Touched Me" [from my son's home. another of the great songs that was even better live when i saw them a few weeks ago. another of my favorite records of this year.]
Richard Hell and the Voidoids - "All the Way" [from blank generation. one of the two covers from that classic album. i always enjoyed the 70s punk scene's willingness to tackle covers of songs that you wouldn't expect them to do.]

That'll do it for this week. Tune in next week for my interview with Decoration Ghost and lots of great music, as always. Until then, Go Panthers!, and take care.

J's Indie/Rock Mayhem - 12th August 2009

[A really fantastic edition of J's Indie/Rock Mayhem tonight with tons of new music - tons I didn't even get to as you can hear in my misleading intro to the show. This year has been really awesome for music coming down the pipeline and the fall is shaping up to be a hot season for it as well.

The final Extra Mayhem of the summer will be next Monday night at midnight. However, I've lucked into some earlier slots the past few weeks, so keep an eye on the Twitter feed (over to your right or by subscribing to my tweets) in case it jumps to an earlier slot. I'll try to make it something special.

Don't forget that this Friday, August 14th, is the second Often Awesome benefit show to help former WQFS GM and DJ, Tim LaFollette, in his fight with ALS/Lou Gehrig's disease. The final Kudzu Wish reunion (Tim's old band) will headline the even along with performances by J's Indie/Rock favorite Tiger Bear Wolf, former show guest Matty Sheets, and the Social Life. I'll be MCing again, so come on down and say howdy. It's $5 at the door with 100% of the door going to the Often Awesome organization and additional donations are welcome and encouraged. Come on down!

Now, while I sit here and watch my Upright Citizens Brigade DVDs, onward.]

J's Indie/Rock Podcast: 12th August 2009 Show

Theme Song - Peaches - "Rock Show"
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Oneida - "The River" [from rated O. this is some classic, rockin' oneida to be sure. i still haven't gotten my ears on the entire record (the curse of parsing things for radio), but the reviews have been solid.]
the Flaming Lips - "Lightning Strikes the Postman" [from clouds taste metallic. i'll be doing a write-up on this album for drunkard in the coming week, but i couldn't hold back on playing one of my favorite tracks in the meanwhile.]
Akron/Family - "River" [from set 'em wild, set 'em free. they're playing tonight at local 506 in chapel hill, though by the time this goes up, that won't matter to you. you'll either be there or you want. so there. great album, though. and great live.]
Dinosaur Jr. - "Over It" [from farm. so, thoughts, people? how does this stack up to beyond? leave it in the comments - i wanna know what you think.]
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Brendan Benson - "Garbage Day" [from the forthcoming my old, familiar friend. if you missed out on hearing benson before he began his stint with the raconteurs, then get on it. pronto. this is his new album which is out next week and, honestly, it's great.]
Meat Puppets - "Backwater" [from too high to die. i'll be honest - until earlier this summer when i did the wholesale album piece about their up on the sun, aside from this song, i'd never really listened to too high to die. it came out around the same time as their appearance on nirvana's unplugged performance, so i'd been aware of it for a long time.]
Wye Oak - "Take It In" [by email request. from the knot. i'm really enjoying this new wye oak record. it's a lot stronger than their first one, i think. growth in a band is a marvelous thing to get to watch happen.]
Obits - "Fake Kinkade" [from the excellent i blame you. VBS.tv, which is associated with vice magazine, has a great session with obits in their practice room series that is well worth a checkout if you're a fan of the band.]
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Reigning Sound - "Stick Up for Me" [from the new love and curses which is ridiculously good and might just be a match for their amazing time bomb high school. yeah. it's that good.]
Mark Vidler/Go Home Productions - "Main Bloom" [from the spliced krispies compilation. it's a mash-up album - here featuring alan parker's "main chance" mixed with the vocals from nirvana's "in bloom." the whole album is a masterpiece of mash-up work and you can download the whole thing for free from their site. vidler also made videos for each song which are viewable there. it's some great stuff. we'll be hearing a lot more.]
Future of the Left - "Throwing Bricks at Trains" [from travels with myself and another. easily, yes, this is going on my top 25 albums list for the year. i'll go ahead and say that now and the rest of you can fight it out for the other 24 spots.]
the Clean - "In the Dreamlife You Need a Rubber Soul" [from the forthcoming mr. pop which will be out on merge records. it is so good to hear new music from this excellent new zealand band.]
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the Lemonheads - "Waitin' Around to Die" [from the new varshons cover album. this is a take on townes van zandt's classic which you can see van zandt perform in this video. tearjerking. damn.]
the Replacements - "Can't Hardly Wait" (live) [recorded at maxwells in hoboken, new jersey in february of 1986. that's bob on guitar and you can check out my post and the follow-up posts at aquarium drunkard about this song here and here. great reading and lots of great comments. love this live version.]
Steve Earle - "To Live is to Fly" [from townes. another townes van zandt cover, this from earle's new van zandt tribute album. great, great stuff.]
Justin Townes Earle - "Can't Hardly Wait" [from midnight at the movies. justin is steve's son, of course, and he's named partly after van zandt. and here he is covering the replacements. serendipity, my friends.]
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A.A. Bondy - "When the Devil's Loose" [the title track from his forthcoming album. i've already listened through this a time or two and man, it's every bit as good as american hearts. we should be hearing more in the coming weeks including an interview i have scheduled with bondy later this week. stay tuned.]
Dogbowl - "The Girl with the Pelican Hair" [by request. from tit: an opera. i've never heard this album, i just went digging for the caller. a pretty fun song and i imagine an interesting album. i'll have to do some research.]
Prince - "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker" [from sign 'o' the times which i also did a piece on for aquarium drunkard this week. check it out.]
Kudzu Wish - "Afraid of the Bomb" [from en route. kudzu wish is the former band of tim lafollette, he of the often awesome benefit from last month. the next benefit show is this friday at the blind tiger here in greensboro at 9pm. kudzu wish will be playing what will probably be their final reunion show along with the social life, tiger bear wolf and matty sheets. yours truly will be MCing again, so come on down and have a great time for a great man and a great cause - helping tim fight als/lou gerigh's disease.]
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the Low Anthem - "Ticket Taker" [from oh my god, charlie darwin. they're playing tomorrow night, thursday, august 13th at local 506 in chapel hill. i'll be there. so should you as it ought to be awesome.]
Radiohead - "Let Down" [by request. from ok computer. i was having a discussion with someone about this album the other day and it came up that one of their favorite songs from the album was this. so the suggestion was stuck in my brain until i started thinking of songs to play for lauren. so there you go.]
the Foreign Exchange - "Daykeeper" [from leave it all behind. very different from the first foreign exchange record but even more beautiful in a lot of ways. great album.]
Sonic Youth - "Leaky Lifeboat (for Gregory Corso)" [from the eternal. what do y'all think of this record? i've enjoyed it quite a bit, honestly. better than rather ripped i think.]
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Port O'Brien - "My Will is Good" [from the forthcoming threadbare. i saw these guys last fall and they put on a tremendous live show, so go catch them live if you can. hope this album is as good as this song sounds.]
Jason Falkner - "I Live" [from presents author unknown. a great slice of power pop from a former member of jellyfish and the three o'clock. this album is from 1996 and is just, well, amazing. seriously.]
Ride - "Vapour Trail" [from nowhere. same guy i was talking to about radiohead was also talking to me about ride, so i thought we'd close up with this gorgeous number.]

That'll do it for this week. I should be on for what will be the last Extra Mayhem of the summer next Monday night - watch the Twitter feed for updates in case the time moves to any earlier in the evening. Otherwise, the usual midnight to 2 AM. Until then, take care.

Extra Mayhem - 10th August 2009

[We're winding down the summer here on Extra Mayhem, so I wanted to make sure these last weeks were special. Tonight's Wholesale album was a doozy, to be sure, and the theme from tonight's show was...hot...to say the least.

I'll keep it short tonight and get crackin'. Onward.]

J's Extra Podcast: 10th August 2009 Show

the Afghan Whigs - "Somethin' Hot" [from 1965. so tonight's theme was 'hot thing,' inspired by prince and by the hot weather we've had in these early, dog-days of august. immediately i thought of this song and, well, here it is.]
Cheap Trick - "Hot Love" [from their self-titled 1977 debut. i haven't really enjoyed this album as much as i have even the records immediately following it. it's a bit rough and less catchy than their later, more polished stuff. give me the big cheap trick.]
Beck - "Hotwax" [from odelay. viva la hotwax. i've been listening to or had foisted upon me a lot of beck recently. that's not a bad thing, mind you.]
Ini Kamoze - "Here Comes the Hotstepper" [from the pret a porter soundtrack. i honestly never could've thought i'd be playing this song on WQFS, but when i typed in the keyword 'hot' to search my harddrive for songs, and this was the first song that came up, how could i not play it?]
Le Tigre - "Decepticon" (BBC Sessions live) [okay. so, an apology as on the podcast i call this song "hot topic." why do i do that? because the meta-information on the mp3 that i ripped from the cd was mislabeled and said this was "hot topic." i also failed to notice it wasn't. so, yeah. goof. great live track though.]
Guided by Voices - "Hot Freaks" [from bee thousand. dedicated on the air to satisfied '75 since a) he loves gbv, b) he loves this song as the annual blog-curated showcase at SXSW is named after it and c) i can do what i want. great song.]
Mitch Hedberg - "Hot Air Balloons" [this is part of a bit from do you believe in gosh? this was the posthumously released album that came out last year. "here's my license. it's the scissors. snip. later." love it.]
the Hold Steady - "Hot Soft Light" [from boys and girls in america. this is probably my favorite hold steady album and songs like this go a long way towards reinforcing that. jeez.]
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Jurassic 5 - "Red Hot" [from feedback. i've rarely been as disappointed in an album as i was in feedback. it's just as well, no offense, that j5 broke up after this because, really, c'mon. i will defend their first three LPs with ferocity. but this one..no. this song is quite good though.]
Prince - "Hot Thing" [from sign 'o' the times. i just wrote a piece about this album over at aquarium drunkard. it's a crazy, unique. sprawling and vivacious record and seriously required listening if you consider yourself open minded at all to music.]
Simple Minds - "White Hot Day" [from sparkle in the rain. i'll tell you, it's hard to dig into 80s music sometimes because of how dated the instrumentation is. and there's something about that decade specifically that the type of instrumentation used just did not carry over very well to other times. so, the great songwriting is sometimes lost amidst dealing with the sound. simple minds is a great example of that as they are, honestly, a great band. or were. or something.]
Sleater-Kinney - "Hot Rock" [from the hot rock. this was s-k's somewhat challenging follow-up to the groundbreaking dig me out and it's a bit more cerebral and less immediate than its predecessor. of course i'm drawn to it as a result.]
His Name is Alive - "Hot Tonite" [from the nice day EP. i received a nice his name is alive-related gift from my friend chris yesterday and i'll probably be sharing some of it with you on the wednesday show. stay tuned.]
the Soft Boys - "I Got the Hots" [from underwater moonlight. robyn hitchcock and company explaining how they do, indeed, have the hots. like curry for a corpse. or something. whatever.]
Rock Plaza Central - "The Hot Blind Earth" [from the excellent new at the moment of our most needing. rock plaza central is a pretty amazing band, i must say.]
Yo La Tengo - "Don't Say a Word (Hot Chicken #2)" [from electr-o-pura. what a gorgeous song. i'm pretty sure they played this when i saw them at the carborro arts center last year. when georgia sings, we listen.]
Wilco - "Poor Places" (demo) [this is from the yankee hotel foxtrot demos. i love this version of "poor places" as it shows the song as a much more sprightly and traditional version, versus the song as it became on the record. both versions are pretty stellar if you ask me.]

[Tonight's Wholesale album of the week is one of those true stand-alone masterworks of modern music. The La's released one, and only one, album and it was a doozy. Spinning off one of the most perfect pop songs ever written in "There She Goes," the rest of the album is a concentrated slice of trad-pop in the grand British traditions of the band's influences. Lee Mavers, the main architect of the La's sound, has been making noise about a follow up record for close to two decades now, but it has never surfaced. If he actually did, what sort of expectations would surround it? Would they be realistic? Would he have any hopes?

What this record does, and does well, is rehash and give individual voice to the best music of the previous 30 years in pop in England. The Stones, the Beatles, the Kinks, even the Jam are represented in fleeting sounds and snippets woven together into a distinctly British tapestry of pop. It's a timeless sounding record that could just have easily been created in the 60s, 70s, 80s or 90s and that gives immense credit to the band for creating such a unique and yet indebted piece of art. Tonight's Wholesale album of the week is..]

Track Listing

1. Son of a Gun
2. I Can't Sleep
3. Timeless Melody [click to listen]
4. Liberty Ship
5. There She Goes [click to listen]
6. Doledrum
7. Feelin'
8. Way Out
9. I.O.U.
10. Freedom Song
11. Failure
12. Looking Glass

That'll do it for this week. I'll be back on Wednesday night for Indie/Rock Mayhem - tons of new stuff to parse through, so get set for a great show. Until then, take care.

J's Indie/Rock Mayhem - 5th August 2009

[Welcome to the return of J's Indie/Rock Mayhem after, basically, what amounted to my summer vacation from the show. One week. But that one week makes you jones for coming back. I get jittery when I'm out of the station for too long. Seriously.

I can't promise you all the time music intensity, but if you haven't followed the J's Indie/Rock Twitter, then you missed out on my live tweeting from the Pitchfork Music Festival and the Merge Records XX Anniversary shows. Can you afford to be out in the cold when I tweet from your favorite local shows here? I think not. So join me already!

Now, tonight's show was awesome, so while their are brass tacks on which to get down, onward.]

J's Indie/Rock Podcast: 5th August 2009 Show

Theme Song - Peaches - "Rock Show"
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Jarvis Cocker - "Further Complications" [the title track from his latest. he performed this on jimmy fallon's show the other night. you can catch videos of past episodes their site. jarvis was on last week.]
Pavement - "Stereo" [from brighten the corners. do you ever need a reason to play this song? nope. you literally don't. just do it.]
Beck - "I'm Waiting for the Man" [from the new record club thing beck and his pals have been doing. they take a bunch of people into a studio, re-record a classic album in its entirety in one day, and slowly release the results. obviously they're doing the velvet underground and nico. they've released up through "venus in furs" at this point. it's awesome stuff. you can check out a post on it over at aquarium drunkard.]
Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers - "Scissor Tales" [from the excellent songs in the night that i honestly can't say enough good things about. great americana music.]
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Wye Oak - "For Prayer" [from the knot. i was a pretty big fan of their first record and from all indications, this second album is even better. i just got it, so we'll see how it stacks up soon.]
Phoenix - "1901" [from the pretty sharp wolfgang amadeus phoenix. i'm looking forward to hopefully seeing them at the monolith festival this fall. french rock is back. or something.]
the Tragically Hip - "Bobcaygeon" [from phantom power. this is my favorite hip album - something i mention every time i play something off of it on the show. but it really is an amazing record and one of the best distillations of their live sound, i think.]
the Love Language - "Lalita" [from their self-titled debut. great north carolina music. i love my home state sometimes. well. lots of times. all the time, really.]
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Radiohead - "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)" [this was released today through radiohead's website. a tribute to the late harry patch, the last living british veteran of world war I. he died this week as the world's third oldest living man. the lyrics to this song are all quotes of patch. when you buy the song, a donation is made to the Royal British Legion, a UK veteran's charity. go get it.]
Drive-by Truckers - "Women Without Whiskey" [from southern rock opera. you know, the more i dig into mike cooley's songs, the more i really, really like them. he's a really great character writer and his character's voices are incredible.]
Citified - "Pencil Me In" [from absence. one of the best NC releases of this year, without a doubt.]
Jay Reatard - "Wounded" [from his forthcoming watch me fall. i need to listen to more of him, 'cos it sounds like an awful lot of fun, but i haven't taken the time yet. i'll fix that.]
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the Lemonheads - "Beautiful" [from varshons. i had been meaning to pick up this new covers album for a few weeks, but hadn't. we'll be hearing a lot from this as it's a pretty solid collection of songs and interpretations by dando and company. you know this one - the linda perry song probably most famously done by christina aguilera.]
Lou Barlow - "Gravitate" [from the forthcoming goodnight unknown. interesting to see lou release this album so close to the new dinosaur jr. album. but hey, it's a completely different beast from the sound of it. so be it.]
Roadside Graves - "Far and Wide" [from my son's home. saw these guys at nightlight in chapel hill last friday night and wow, what a show. go. see. them. live. now.]
the La's - "There She Goes" [from their self-titled album. seriously one of the best songs ever written. seriously. it never gets old. ever.]
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Future of the Left - "I Am Civil Service" [from the awesome travels with myself and another. one of the best aggressive records of this year and maybe i'm biased since i don't listen to a lot of this stuff anymore. as mad dog says, i just don't have that bad a day anymore. but damn these guys are great.]
Obits - "Widow of My Dreams" [from i blame you. the hot streak continues for anyone associated with drive like jehu.]
Michael Penn - "High Time" [from mp4: days since a lost time accident. this is probably my favorite michael penn album. he's an underrated songwriter. a shame his last album was so meh.]
Katy Mae - "You May Already Be a Winner" (live) [recorded live here when katy mae dropped by earlier this year. they're hopefully coming back this way in the fall, so we'll be hearing more. great brooklyn, ny band.]
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Son Volt - "Jukebox of Steel" [from american central dust. the last track on the album and just about as perfect a closing song as i think you could ask for.]
the Minus 5 - "The Disembowlers" [from killingsworth. i like this record a lot - it's got a laid-back 70s west-coast country vibe to it but without, you know, sounding like the hideous eagles.]
Megafaun - "The Fade" [from gather, form & fly. is megafaun freakin' great or what? north carolina, c'mon and raise up. i know megafaun are our adopted sons, but we'll take 'em.]
Built to Spill - "Goin' Against Your Mind" [from you in reverse. this was one of the definite highlights of their set at pitchfork music festival the other week. i can't say enough good things about them. and they're going to be coming to the cat's cradle on sunday, october 18th. i'll be there for real.]
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Times New Viking - "No Time, No Hope" [from their new born again revisited. lovers of lo-fi rejoice. haters of lo-fi, cover your ears. quick!]
the Moondoggies - "Changing" [from don't be a stranger. i love this song. i really ought to hear more of the record finally, considering how great this one song is. sheesh.]
Paul Westerberg - "33rd of July" [from suicaine gratifaction. since my parents' 40th wedding anniversary was this week - and it's on august 2nd, also known as the 33rd of july - i thought i'd play this track from the japanese edition of this album. great song. happy anniversary, mama and daddy.]