J's Indie/Rock Mayhem - 27th April 2011

[Welcome to another edition of J's Indie/Rock Mayhem. I had a number of special guests this evening. As always, joining us at the end of the month for the Indie/Rock Roundtable, was Ryan Snyder of YES Weekly. Also joining us during that segment was not one, not two, but THREE separate Emergency Broadcast System interruptions for tornado warnings. Those of you who catch the podcast and live elsewhere will get to hear the real-time hot severe weather action this week. Feel lucky.

Also, it was announce tonight that my other home on the web, Aquarium Drunkard, won the inaugural MTV O Music Award for Best Independent Music Blog. We were up against some really awesome blogs, so to have won this is pretty darn cool to say the least. Awesome job, AD crew.

Now, before it gets more turbulent up in here, onward.]

J's Indie/Rock Podcast: 27th April 2011 show

Theme Song - Peaches - "Rock Show"
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Royal Bangs - "Back Then It Was Different" [from flux outside, already probably bound for my year-end best-of stuff. really solid record.]
Sugar - "Your Favorite Thing" [from file under easy listening. i'll always associate this song with the "i love you, toothbrush" sketch from the state. sadly it didn't make it onto the DVD version of the show. lousy copyrights.]
Dum Dum Girls - "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" [from the new he gets me high EP. pretty awesome cover of the smiths' classic.]
Blur - "Charmless Man" [by request. from the great escape. whenever i reach for this album, i almost always default to playing "the universal," which is probably my favorite song on that album, but it's loaded with great songs. it's blur. naturally.]

[Here's where Ryan Snyder and I broke out the Indie/Rock Roundtable again. This month we discussed some things related to Record Store Day: a new EP from Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, Class Mythology, and a couple of 7" record covers - Built to Spill doing the Grateful Dead's "Ripple" and Mastodon doing ZZ Top's "Just Got Paid." We also discussed the perks of the upcoming Hopscotch Fest this September in Raleigh. All in all, a good time. Take a listen.]

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - "Your Name Is On Fire" [from class mythology.]
Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - "Go Ahead and Rain" [from class mythology.]
Built to Spill - "Ripple" (live) [Record Store Day 7" single.]
Mastodon - "Just Got Paid" [Record Store Day 7" single.]
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Drive-by Truckers - "Tornadoes" [from the dirty south. the reason for this song was two-fold. first, the truckers will be one of the big bands playing the hopscotch festival and two, crazy tornadoes were everywhere outside at the time, apparently. good choice for music.]
Jonny - "Circling the Sun" [from jonny which is now out. they're going to be at the cat's cradle on tuesday, june 14th, along with..]
Apex Manor - "The Party Line" [from the year of magical drinking. i cannot even tell you how excited i'm going to be for this show. power pop heaven.]
the Jayhawks - "Settled Down Like Rain" [from hollywood town hall. one of my favorite songs on this album. and it's followed immediately by "nevada, california," probably my favorite on the album. great sequencing.]
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Five Eight - "Your God Is Dead to Me" [the title track from their latest. i got to see five eight for the first time last summer - also my first time really hearing them - and they blew me away. check out this fantastic interview with the band over at aquarium drunkard.]
KORT - "April's Fool" [from invariable heartache. another great band that will be at the hopscotch fest. cannot wait to see messr. wagner again.]
the Sea and Cake - "Monday" [from the moonlight butterfly. lovely little song that sounds like vintage sea and cake. enjoying this new EP.]
Bob Dylan - "4th Time Around" [from blonde on blonde. been revisiting this legendary album this week and so had to stick something on. this is one of my alltime favorite dylan tracks - probably in my top three along side "queen jane approximately" and "boots of spanish leather."]
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X-ray Spex - "Oh Bondage! Up Yours!" [from the expanded edition of germ free adolescents. of course, this was the band's original debut single and didn't appear on that album in its original form. but with the sad and untimely death of poly styrene this week, it needed to come back out in tribute. rest in peace.]
the Flaming Lips - "Chosen One" (live) [from the flaming lips are providing needles for your balloons. this is them doing a live cover of a bill callahan song from the smog era. pretty awesome.]
Bill Callahan - "Free's" [and from his new album apocalypse, the man himself. i'm really digging on this album. gorgeous stuff. he'll be at local 506 in chapel hill on friday, july 15th.]
Paul Westerberg - "Things" [from 14 songs. i'm getting back into my tradition of closing with a 'mats/westerberg song. i like it. i think i'll keep it up for awhile.]

That'll do it for this week. I'll be back next week with more new music and, hopefully, 100% fewer storm warnings. Until then, take care.

J's Indie/Rock Mayhem - 20th April 2011

[Welcome to another edition of J's Indie/Rock Mayhem. Sorry for the unintentional hiatus last week, but life comes up sometimes. It was nice to get back to the studio and lay down some of the awesome new stuff.

Next week will be the monthly Indie/Rock Roundtable with Ryan Snyder from YES Weekly as we talk about some new music and new music news. Pretty exciting on the whole. Always fun to talk with Ryan about what's going on.

Now, while we can, onward.]

J's Indie/Rock Podcast: 20th April 2011 show

Theme Song - Peaches - "Rock Show"
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R.E.M. - "Alligator, Aviator, Autopilot, Antimatter" [by twitter request. from collapse into now. i haven't played much off of this album because, well, it's rem and they really don't need my help, but it is a pretty solid late-career entry for them.]
Verbena - "Me and Yr Sister" [from la musica negra. ran across my CD copy of this album the other day and decided to play this song, one of my favorites. as i said on twitter during the show, it feels like my own listening preferences evolved with a.a. bondy's songwriting - from loud rock and roll to more dark americana. it's been a good relationship as listener to artist.]
Apex Manor - "Teenage Blood" [from the year of magical drinking. i would like to humbly request that apex manor get their awesome asses to greensboro, north carolina and play a show. if you don't enjoy this song, you have no soul. i know i say that about a lot of things, but darn it, it's true.]
10,000 Maniacs - "Scorpio Rising" [from the wishing chair. it's probably odd to talk about 10,000 maniacs rocking that much, but this song and this album has some pretty amazing moments on it in terms of rockability.]
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Eddie the Wheel - "Nearsayerfive" [from he's a scream. we'll have to hear more, because honestly, this stuff is great. band from athens, georgia that i was hipped to via my boys at aquarium drunkard.]
Sleater-Kinney - "Turn it On" [from dig me out. so while i'm still waiting for the wild flag record to drop, let's go back and grab some classic sleater-kinney.]
Hammer No More the Fingers - "Steam" [from black shark. seriously. you guys need to put your ears on this record. this is good, good rock and roll.]
David Johansen - "Funky but Chic" [from his self-titled solo record from 1978. i had to revisit the original version of this after playing the re-recorded version from the latest new york dolls record the other week.]
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Jonny - "Wich is Wich" [from their self-titled record that dropped last week. did an interview with norman blake of jonny/teenage fanclub on tuesday and it'll be up in its entirety on aquarium drunkard soon. in the meantime..]
J's Indie/Rock First Times - Norman Blake [..here's a snippet from the interview that won't be on the write-up. an exclusive for this show as blake talks about his first show which he doesn't remember going to as he was all of one year old at best: the kinks. great story.]
Teenage Fanclub - "I Don't Want Control of You" [from songs from northern britain. and in addition, some excellent teenage fanclub as well. one of my favorite of blake's contributions to the band over the years.]
Dirty Gold - "California Sunrise" [from roar. their new EP is quite dynamite and you should pick it up. for real. these kids are how old again? jeez.]
Aztec Camera - "The Crying Scene" [from stray. i wrote a piece about this album over at aquarium drunkard this week and it is a true favorite of mine.]
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Kurt Vile - "Jesus Fever" [from smoke ring for my halo. frank got this one up to me and it's well worth hearing, as is the rest of the album.]
the Jayhawks - "Haywire" [from sound of lies. one of the first pieces i wrote for aquarium drunkard was about this album and it remains my favorite jayhawks record.]
Futurebirds - "Via Flamina" [the title track from their new EP. the autumn tone records re-issue of their self-titled EP is up for digital download now as well. go get it. ]
XTC - "Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)" [by request. from black sea. one of my favorite XTC albums. see, twice this week twitter requests got played. get your requests in to me over at twitter!]
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Gardens and Villa - "Black Hills" [from their self-titled LP. another band i was hipped to via aquarium drunkard this week.]
Dwight Yoakam - "Guitars, Cadillacs" [from guitars, cadillacs, etc. etc. this song never fails to put me in a great mood. never. so naturally i pull it out with some regularity here on the show.]
Wye Oak - "Civilian" [the title track from their latest. one of the best records i've heard this year. it just gets better with each listen.]
Rain Parade - "You Are My Friend" [from the explosions in the glass palace EP. the first release post-dave roback, but man, it still fires on all cylinders. love this band.]
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Royal Bangs - "Grass Helmet" [from flux outside. for the concert calendar set this week, i played all bands who will be at the hopscotch festival in raleigh this fall. the lineup was announced this week and it's pretty exciting to say the least. i will love seeing royal bangs, for one.]
the Old Ceremony - "Tender Age" [the title track from their latest. one of the best things about hopscotch is how it features so many great north carolina artists and here's just one example of the many awesome ones who will be there.]
J. Mascis - "Several Shades of Why" [the title track from his latest. pretty excited that mascis will be at hopscotch also.]
Drive-by Truckers - "Strutter" [the truckers will be there and why not play their awesome cover of kiss' "strutter" also? yup. next week, maybe i'll play another cover of "strutter" just to keep the ball rolling.]
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TV on the Radio - "Will Do" [from the new nine types of light record. sadly, just yesterday, tv on the radio bass player gerard smith died from lung cancer. i had the pleasure of seeing tv on the radio play at gate city noise back when their first EP had just been released and it was quite a unique experience. rest in peace.]
the Kinks - "Oklahoma USA" [from muswell hillbillies. a gorgeous song and it seemed to hit the right tone following tv on the radio.]
Bill Callahan - "Baby's Breath" [from the new album apocalypse. callahan can be a bit of work to wrap your head around at times - he's a unique artist - but i really like this song. grab it at aquarium drunkard.]
the Replacements - "Answering Machine" [maybe i should go back to doing the 'mandatory 'mats' like i used to do at the end of shows. always fitting to go out with something from the best rock and roll band of the past 30 years.]

That'll do it for this week. I'll be back next week with Ryan Snyder from YES Weekly for the Indie-Rock Roundtable. Make sure you tune in for that and until then, take care.

J's Indie/Rock Mayhem - 6th April 2011

[Welcome to another edition of J's Indie/Rock Mayhem. This week was a full-on rock party, no question, with some great new music and some fun older stuff as well. I'm not even going to spend a lot of time talking. Onward.]

J's Indie/Rock Podcast: 6th April 2011 show

Theme Song - Peaches - "Rock Show"
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Yuck - "Get Away" [from their self-titled debut. undoubtedly bound for my year-end best singles show. the guitar leads on this song are just too ridiculously good.]
Helmet - "Biscuits for Smut" [from betty. i've been re-listening to the older helmet records lately, though i'm not sure why. teenage angst returning to me, perhaps? the records have aged well in some respects, not in others.]
the Decemberists - "Rox in the Box" [from the king is dead. i'm all about this record, by the way. i think it's one of the finest things to come out this year so far. also the best REM record released this year. ahem.]
Uncle Tupelo - "Gun" [from still feel gone. always funny to think about in-retrospect super groups. i worry that tweedy's obvious win in the post-band success contest has really overshadowed how well he and farrar wrote together, especially since jay's work has been a mixed bag at times.]
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Royal Bangs - "Fading Obelisk Two" [from flux outside. i put this record on and ended up listening to it twice in a row this past week. really good and we'll hear a lot more.]
the Afghan Whigs - "Fountain and Fairfax" [from gentlemen. truly one of the best songs ever written in rock and roll. try and prove otherwise.]
Toro Y Moi - "New Beat" [from their latest, underneath the pine. i've really enjoyed everything i've heard by this band, so we should hear ore.]
Dave Edmunds - "Queen of Hearts" [from repeat when necessary. i, of course, grew up with juice newton's version of this song, so i was borderline shocked when i ran across edmunds' version some years ago. good stuff.]
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the Sea and Cake - "Up on the North Shore" [from the moonlight butterfly EP which will be out soon. the sea and cake has an odd place in my musical collection. i have way more of their records than i could really name - and really who is an incredibly passionate fan of a band this mellow overall? - but i still really, really like them.]
Egyptian Lover - "I Cry (Night After Night)" [from on the nile. i will never be able to repay my friend jay for introducing me to this record. prince meets kraftwerk, indeed.]
Destroyer - "Savage Night at the Opera" [from kaputt. destroyer, along with the war on drugs, will be at the cat's cradle in carborro on thursday, april 7th, so get thee to that show.]
George Lindsey - "96 Miles to Bakersfield" [the title track from his second record. this one is played pretty straight and full of country stuff. really not bad. i'm a huge fan of the andy griffith show, and though i definitely knew about jim nabor's singing career, i don't think i knew about lindsey's.]
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the Pains of Being Pure at Heart - "Anne with an E" [from belong. the more i listen to this album, the more i'm digging it. i definitely love the more full production. good on you guys.]
Teenage Fanclub - "Ain't That Enough" [from songs from northern britain. a request from my good friend. he left it up to me, but i know this is his personal favorite teenage fanclub record, so there you go, man.]
Fleet Foxes - "Helplessness Blues" [the title track from their forthcoming sophomore LP. i'm pretty excited to hear this, because this song is pretty awesome, all told.]
Modern Skirts - "Yugo" [from all of us in our night. modern skirts have a new record out, but i bought this used the other week and got really into this song, so i had to play it. hopefully it'll still encourage you to check out their new stuff, too.]
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the Mountain Goats - "For Charles Bronson" [from the new all eternals deck. i really like this song a lot and think it's one of the sweeter songs on the record, certainly. way to give a great story to a really interesting and enigmatic actor, too. they'll be at the cat's cradle in carborro, along with megafaun, this friday, april 8th.]
Jonny - "Goldmine" [from their forthcoming self-titled record. they'll be at the cat's cradle on tuesday, june 14th. features norman blake from teenage fanclub who i hopefully will be interviewing soon. stay tuned.]
Bombadil - "Sad Birthday" [by request. from tarpits and canyonlands. sadly bombadil isn't playing anytime soon, but i couldn't turn down such an excellent request from a listener. love this NC band.]
J. Mascis - "Can I" [from several shades of why. i really like this song and its subtle, loping lead line throughout the darker parts of the song. i really am digging on this album.]
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Futurebirds - "Wicked Game" [from the forthcoming via flamina EP. yes, it's a cover of that "wicked game." and yes, it's awesome.]
Beth Orton - "I Wish I Never Saw the Sunrise" [from trailer park. i've always loved her version of this classic song. had a caller call up absolutely in love with it. always happy to hear people fall in love with a song.]
Hammer No More the Fingers - "The Agency" [from black shark. already possibly one of the best north carolina records to drop this year. really good stuff.]
the Replacements - "Unsatisfied" [from let it be. yeah, i don't always play the big replacements songs on my show, but that's only because i save songs like this for very special times. jeez, this song still kills me.]
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Dirty Gold - "Sea Hare" [from the new roar EP. newly out on autumn tone records and well worth picking up. a bunch of high school kids making some damn good music.]
the Emergency - "Lie Detector" [from doo-lang doo-lang. i do wish i'd been able to catch these guys live back in the day. morgantown, west virginia, represent.]
Joni Mitchell - "Blue" [the title track from her legendary album. for melissa, who loves this record.]

That'll do it for this week's show. I'll be back next week with more fantastic new stuff and some classic things as well. Until then, take care.