J's Indie/Rock Mayhem - 24th February 2010

[Welcome to another edition of J's Indie/Rock Mayhem. I had a tough time tonight with so much great stuff - no way I was going to get to all the good music I wanted to, so if I say I'm going to play something at the top of the podcast, take it with a grain of salt. I may end up not even getting to it. Oh, well.

So, a bit of a fun announcement - the podcast had its best month ever in the three years and four months of its existence in terms of downloads. More people downloaded the podcast this month than in any single month prior. It's a great achievement and I'm super excited. I'm fairly sure that tweeting the podcasts and getting those tweets re-tweeted by artists and followers is helping a lot, so if you're re-tweeting my podcast, thanks a lot. I really appreciate your enthusiasm about the show and wanting to share it with others. It means a lot.

Now, while I'm still misty-eyed, onward.]

J's Indie/Rock Podcast: 24th February 2010 show

Theme Song - Peaches - "Rock Show"
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the Clientele - "I Wonder Who We Are" [from bonfires on the heath. they're playing tonight at the cat's cradle in carborro along with vetiver. a great show, no doubt.]
the Heartbreakers - "Born to Lose" [from L.A.M.F. a classic punk record that doesn't always get mentioned in surface conversations of the 70s new york punk scene. well worth hearing if that's your thing, man.]
Vampire Weekend - "Horchata" [from contra. have i mentioned that i love drinking horchata? that stuff is amazing. this song is pretty great as well.]
Liz Phair - "Polyester Bride" [from whitechocolatespaceegg. the last good liz phair album. i hope she changes that, but, well, we'll see.]
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the New Pornographers - "Your Hands (Together)" [from the forthcoming together album which will be out in early may. pretty exciting to have yet another album from the excellent super group coming out. grab this song for yourself at the band's site.]
the Velvet Underground - "Who Loves the Sun" [from loaded. after the gorgeous day we had on sunday - temperatures in the 60s, beautiful sun - i decided that i was actually ready for spring. then this snow today reminded me that i actually do really enjoy the winter. i'll take a bit more.]
Decoration Ghost - "Horizon" [from the excellent the haze of wine and age. they put on a masterful show at the blind tiger here in town last saturday night. catch them while you can.]
Clem Snide - "End of Love" [by request. the title track from their 2005 album. their latest, the meat of life, we will definitely hear something from next week.]
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Drive-by Truckers - "Birthday Boy" [from the big to-do. i do so love me some mike cooly songs. this is no exception. add this to some phantom mix of "songs involving strippers as major characters."]
the Stranglers - "Peaches" [from rattus norvegicus. one of the crazier stranglers songs. and certainly one of the most disturbing on many levels. great stuff.]
Surfer Blood - "Take It Easy" [from astro coast which is, well, just a tremendous record. anyone go catch them at snug harbor in charlotte on monday night? or has anyone seen them live at all? what's the verdict there?]
Phoenix - "Lasso" [by request. from wolfgang amadeus phoenix. these guys are blowing up and deservedly so. hard to hate on that.]
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the Morning Benders - "Excuses" [from the forthcoming big echo. a pretty great album so far. i'll be doing the review for aquarium drunkard next week.]
Kathleen Edwards - "I Make the Dough, You Get the Glory" [from asking for flowers. i do love this song quite a bit and the video is hilarious. a great song - love all those metaphors.]
Harlem - "Be Your Baby" [from the excellent hippies which is out shortly. this is a punchy, great throwback song from an album full of great moments like this.]
the Gutter Twins - "All Misery/Flowers" [by request. from saturnalia. i wasn't hugely sold on this album, but it has some good moments. i think it just failed on the scale of really high expectations on something involving greg dulli and mark lanegan.]
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Johnny Cash - "Ain't No Grave" [from the forthcoming american VI: ain't no grave, the last of the american recordings records that johnny cash did with rick rubin. amazing opening track.]
Pavement - "Date with IKEA" [originally from brighten the corners, but also on the forthcoming quarantine the past best-of collection. a great choice for such a thing.]
Jesse Malin - "Wendy" [from the fine art of self-destruction, his debut. my friend lis, @lastyearsgirl_ over on twitter, is a big fan of jesse and has been indirectly reminding me of the fact that i like him as well. he has a new record on slate for later this year.]
Tom Waits - "Tom Traubert's Blues" (live) [from a 1974 radio broadcast on WNEW in new york. originally i got a hold of this through aquarium drunkard and it's a doozy of a live waits set. some solo and sparsely backed pieces. amazing.]
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the Happy Hollows - "We Will Find You" [from the excellent spells. please to be coming out to north carolina and playing!]
Gene Clark - "Elevator Operator" [from his debut solo album after leaving the byrds, gene clark with the gosdin brothers. gene's songs were some of my favorites on those early byrds records and this record is no slouch either.]
Best Coast - "In My Room" [from the make you mine EP. i'll be honest, the name of this band seemed obnoxious to me at first. but then i listened to them and, well, add them into the stack of amazing scratchy, noisy lo-fi bands making winning pop music.]
Gil Scott-Heron - "Me and the Devil" [from i'm new here. if you still haven't seen the video for this, well, take the time already.]
the Replacements - "Learn How to Fail" [a demo of a song from their early time on sire records. i've had this song on a cassette bootleg for years, but it recently surfaced, along with a bunch of other demos, on the captains dead blog. check it out.]
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Vic Chesnutt - "Degenerate" [from about to choke. this song is simply stunning. that is all.]

That'll do it for this week! I'll see you back here next week for another great episode. Until then, take care.