J's Indie/Rock Mayhem - 18th May 2011

[Welcome to another edition of J's Indie/Rock Mayhem. Sorry about the missed week last week, and I'll have to do it again next week, but I tried to make up for it tonight with a hot slab of new and classic stuff. There's quite a list of new music in this week's show, so it ought to be well worth it.

The bi-annual Joe G's Cover Band Explosion is this Saturday, May 21st, at the Blind Tiger here in Greensboro. I'm hosting the event, as I have the last few times, but for the first time I'm also a full-on participant. I'll be playing a solo set covering the music of Paul Westerberg. Come watch me along with others covering the music of Bruce Springsteen, Bobby Darin, Thin Lizzy, Waylon Jennings, the Grateful Dead, Wilco and Ween. Tickets are $5 at the door and all proceeds to go the North Carolina Humane Society, so there's a great cause to give you even more reason to come down and party with us this Saturday. The show starts at 9 PM, so get down there early to catch all the fun.

Now, I ain't dyin' to offend you, so onward.]

J's Indie/Rock Mayhem: 18th May 2011 show

Theme Song - Peaches - "Rock Show"
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Urge Overkill - "Effigy" [from rock 'n' roll submarine, their first new album in 16 years, which dropped this week. i'm digging this song still. how's the rest of the album hold up for those of you who've heard it all?]
Michael Penn - "Try" [from resigned. this was my introduction to michael penn and it's still one of my very favorite songs of his. i was kind of down on his last records. wouldn't mind hearing him put out a new one though.]
the Decemberists - "Don't Carry It All" [from the king is dead which is still one of my favorite records of this year so far. definitely, almost certainly, top 25 bound.]
Paul Westerberg - "High Times" [from the mono half of stereo / mono. joe g's cover band explosion is back this saturday, may 21st, at the blind tiger. someone (cough cough ME cough cough) is going to be doing westerberg alongside others doing thin lizzy, waylong jennings, wilco, ween, the grateful dead and more. all money going to the NC humane society, so come on down for a good time and a good cause.]
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Apex Manor - "Teenage Blood" [from the year of magical drinking. i know i've played the hell out of this record by now, but man, it's so ridiculously good. they'll be opening for jonny at the cat's cradle on tuesday, june 14th. can't wait.]
16 Horsepower - "American Wheeze" (live) [from ]
Smith Westerns - "Imagine Pt. 3" [from the excellent dye it blonde. and you should head on over to the a.v. club and check them out covering tom petty's "american girl". well worth your time.]
Midnight Oil - "Sell My Soul" [from diesel and dust. one of my all time favorite midnight oil songs. the version they did for mtv's unplugged is really the best though. so, so good.]
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Okkervil River - "Wake and Be Fine" [from i am very far. i haven't gotten my ears on the entire thing yet, but the reviewers seem to be loving this album. we'll see, but i dig this song quite a bit. we'll hear more.]
Hoodoo Gurus - "Dig It Up" [by request. from stoneage romeos. dug out our vinyl copy of this college radio gem. thanks for the request, @cowboytoast.]
Westfalia - "Sleep Talking" [from a limited edition cassette release from trekky records. westfalia features josh of butterflies, bobby from big fat gap and joe from embarrassing fruits. there are only 50 of the hand-numbered cassettes out there, but the songs are up on bandcamp and the trekky online store as well. quite a good little song, honestly. i'm digging it.]
Pulp - "Something Changed" [from different class. this has long been one of my favorite pulp songs, if only because of the just sheer romanticism of it. "i wrote this song two hours before we met," is one of the great opening lines in rock history, i think.]
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Steve Earle - "The Gulf of Mexico" [from i'll never get out of this world alive. his latest is a really sharp collection produced by t-bone burnett. and the usual earle political tropes come out - love this one about the deepwater horizon spill.]
Bruce Springsteen - "Used Cars" [from nebraska. one of the cover bands i'm most looking forward to this saturday at joe g's cover band explosion is someone doing only springsteen nebraska songs. i almost played "atlantic city," but this song has always struck me in some really powerful ways. i've always been fond of ani difranco's cover of it for the badlands tribute album, too.]
the Avett Brothers - "Sixteen in July" [by request. from four thieves gone. thanks to @chubbyjogger for sending this one in. i first heard this at an avett's show years ago, long before the release of this album, and it's always been a favorite.]
Toad the Wet Sprocket - "Little Heaven" [from in light syrup. a correction to my statement on the podcast: this song did not originally appear on the so i married an ax murderer soundtrack, but rather the soundtrack to buffy the vampire slayer. this was always one of my favorites from their b-sides and rarities collection.]
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the Rosebuds - "Woods" [from loud planes fly low. the new album doesn't drop until the first week of june, but my initial listens sound good. i especially got into this song. they're going to be at kings in raleigh on saturday, june 11th as well, so there you go.]
the Amps - "Tipp City" [from pacer. i'm an unabashed fan of pretty much everything kim deal has ever done, but for those of you breeder fans who've never picked up the amp's one and only album, well, you should. now.]
the Veils - "Don't Let the Same Bee Sting You Twice" [from troubles of the brain. come back to north carolina, guys. seriously. it's been since 2008. i think, at least.]
Randy Newman - "Louisiana 1927" [from good ol' boys. thinking of all the people in louisiana dealing with yet another flooding of the mighty mississippi, this song always comes to mind. as i properly enthuse on the podcast, if all you know of randy newman is his pixar work, well, buddy, grab this album now.]
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Thurston Moore - "Benediction" [from demolished thoughts. the new solo album from the venerable sonic youth frontman is really, really gorgeous. produced by beck, it's far less rocking than moore's last solo LP, trees outside the academy, which wasn't exactly tearing things up to begin with. but still, this is great stuff. really beautiful. we'll be hearing a lot more.]
Smashing Pumpkins - "I Am One" [from gish. the pumpkins' debut is getting a two-disc reissue treatment this fall and it'll be fun to revisit, certainly. while i think siamese dream is, undoubtedly, the band's masterpiece, gish is still a great slab of would-be arena rock that just hadn't found the proper studio outlet yet. there are people who disagree with me and feel this album is the band's peak, but i just don't know.]
David Byrne and Brian Eno - "Regiment" [from my life in the bush of ghosts. my copy of this went missing for a few years and then re-emerged in a bit of house cleaning the other week. seriously one of the great albums of rock in the early 80s, it's a tremendous fusion of everything talking heads and eno were doing together at the time. and a whole lot more beyond that.]
the Felice Brothers - "Fire at the Pageant" [from celebration, florida. one of the first things caleb caudle asked me the other day when i spoke with him was what i thought of this album, and certainly it's a good bit different from past felice brothers outings. i'm still wrapping my head around it, but i love this opening song, that's for sure. we'll hear more.]
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the Antlers - "Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out" [from burst apart. a record i'd read a lot about, so snatched up this week and am really digging it. this song is especially sharp. we'll hear more.]
Wilco - "I'm Always In Love" [from summerteeth. yet another band that will be getting the cover treatment at joe g's cover band explosion this saturday, may 21st, at the blind tiger. i'm curious to see what period of the band they pull from - only summerteeth and before, or yankee hotel foxtrot and after. i'm pulling for the former, but only because i think that'd make for a more rocking show.]
Tom Waits - "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" [from bone machine. my long-lost friend sylvia. i could write an entire essay about how she seemed like a gift from the musical gods. an older woman who i befriended my senior year of high school and who loaned me her copy of bone machine and really, truly, changed my life in the process. thanks, sylvia.]
Waylon Jennings - "The Wurlitzer Prize" [originally, i believe, from waylon and willie, this was a song introduced to me a few years ago by brian of filthybird, and it's become a favorite of mine ever since. i hope josh watson and the guys doing waylon at the cover show on saturday pull this one out.]

That'll do it for this week. Come on out to the Blind Tiger this Saturday, May 21st at 9 PM for Joe G's Cover Band Explosion. Yours truly will be hosting as well as playing Paul Westerberg, so come down and say hi. Tickets are $5 and all proceeds to go the North Carolina Humane Society. Great music for a great cause, folks. You can't beat it. I'll be gone next week again, sadly, so I'll see you in two weeks. Until then, take care.

J's Indie/Rock Mayhem - 4th May 2011

[Welcome to another edition of J's Indie/Rock Mayhem. Great show tonight, digging into the vaults for some favorite classics and some new favorites as well. Was a good show all in all.

Let's keep it short and simple. Onward.]

J's Indie/Rock Podcast: 4th May 2011 show

Theme Song - Peaches - "Rock Show"
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Obits - "Shift Operator" [from moody, standard and poor. i love this slower, chugging riff of a song. i really hate that i missed obits live up in raleigh before the record dropped.]
Mansun - "Taxloss" [from attack of the grey lantern. i really meant to play this back close to tax day, but blanked on it. i rarely run into people who remember mansun, but i'm a huge fan of their first two albums, both of which are some pretty awesome pieces of electronic and prog influenced rock and roll from britain in the 90s.]
Wye Oak - "The Altar" [from civilian. bound for the year-end best-of without question. this album is stellar. while you're at it, check out their cover of danzig's "mother" over at the a.v. club's undercover series.]
Girls Against Boys - "Rockets are Red" [from venus luxure no. 1 baby. on twitter i called this "a steamroller of a song" and i have felt that way since high school. i love, love, love these guys and miss them quite a bit.]
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the Henry Clay People - "California Wildfires" [from the new this is a desert EP. i really dig these guys live, so if you get a chance, go catch them.]
the Church - "Unified Field" [from uninvited, like the clouds, one of the best latter-day albums by the band. my copy had disappeared for awhile and i found it the other day and have been driving around to it since.]
Hammer No More the Fingers - "Shark" [from the excellent black shark which, honestly, i can't say enough good things about. really one of my favorite records this year so far.]
Paul Westerberg - "Stain Yer Blood" [from besterberg: the best of paul westerberg but originally from the friends: music from the television series soundtrack. oh, paul.]
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Fleet Foxes - "Montezuma" [from the new helplessness blues which finally dropped this week. really amazing stuff so far, we'll hear more. check out the review over at aquarium drunkard.]
Saint Etienne - "Nothing Can Stop Us Now" [from fox base alpha, their debut. i'm always interested in the dancier side of british pop from the early 90s. even blur had its dancey, madchester-esque feel on leisure and saint etienne is another facet of all that stuff.]
The Don Isaac Ezekial Combination - "Ire" [from the new nigeria 70 compilation featuring long lost rock music from nigeria in the 70s. pretty awesome stuff. we'll hopefully hear more.]
the Breeders - "Divine Hammer" [from last splash. seriously. this album is so, so good. i love the breeders. more than the pixies. there. i said it.]
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Richard Buckner - "Traitor" [from the forthcoming our blood which will be out in early august. pretty excited to hear some new richard buckner, that's for sure. download the track over at aquarium drunkard.]
That Petrol Emotion - "It's a Good Thing" [from manic pop thrill. one of those vinyl bin finds that forever becomes one of your favorite albums. love this record.]
Telekinesis - "Please Ask for Help" [from 12 desperate straight lines. truly an excellent record. hey, michael, come back to north carolina soon, man. we need more rock shows like yours. in the meantime, check out their cover of belle and sebastian's "like dylan in the movies" over at the a.v. club undercover series.]
Del Amitri - "Won't Make It Better" [from some other sucker's parade. great scottish pop music. a favorite genre of mine.]
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Twilight Singers - "Blackbird and the Fox" [from dynamite steps. they'll be at the cat's cradle this saturday night, may 7th. a truly great live show and the new album will be well worth hearing in a live setting, no doubt.]
Jew(s) and Catholic(s) - "Bandits" [from god's trash. they're going to be opening for hammer no more the fingers at the garage in winston-salem on friday, may 27th. this is some older j&c stuff, but still raucous. they've got a live drummer now! can't wait to see it.]
Birds and Arrows - "Time Alone" [from we're gonna run. their album release show is this saturday, may 7th at local 506 in chapel hill. saw them live once a year or so ago, so it's cool to hear these recorded tracks.]
Jonny - "Candyfloss" [from their self-titled debut. going to be at the cat's cradle on tuesday, june 14th along with apex manor. power pop, ahoy! check out my interview with norman blake over at aquarium drunkard.]
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Royal Bangs - "Faint Obelisk Two" [from flux outside. might be time to retire this record for a bit, but man, we'll hear more of it at the end of the year, at least. great album.]
the Charlatans UK - "Can't Even Be Bothered" [from between 10th and 11th. as much as i love me some brit-rock, i've never gotten onto the charlatans. i've had several friends gently chide me for this over the years, but maybe picking this album up recently is finally going to bring me around. mad dog says telling stories is the way to go - any suggestions?]
the Sea and Cake - "Up on the North Shore" [from moonlight butterfly. check out the review of this over at aquarium drunkard. good stuff.]
Verbena - "All the Saints" [from la musica negra. whenever i start listening to an album again for the first time in awhile, songs usually make an appearance for at least two weeks. so here's the second verbena song in three weeks. love this album.]
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the Mountain Goats - "Damn These Vampires" [from all eternals deck. one of my favorite tracks off the new album.]
Swirlies - "Jeremy Parker" [from blonder tongue audio baton. there's a story about how i got into swirlies. about a t-shirt randomly given to me. about years of wondering what it meant. about finding random cds. but really, it's about how everyone should own a copy of this album and appreciate it as one of the best american indie albums of the last 25 years.]

That'll do it for J's Indie/Rock Mayhem this week. I'll be back next week with more fantastic music, so until then, take care.