Smog - Cold Blooded Old Times

Smog, a.k.a. Bill Callahan, really captures the, low-fi, record in your basement feel. I have to say, I appreciate it. I have certainly lived through an era of over production, so it is nice to hear some things that are stripped down to their bare minimum. I think it matches with the content of the song which exposes a raw nerve to the dysfunction of a typical family. Anyway, I thought it would be a good song given the holiday season and time spent with families who might be in different levels of functionality.

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Snakedriver

Will got me thinking about my early concert experiences with that last post. I saw The Jesus and Mary Chain in Ithaca, NY (Bailey Hall at Cornell) in 11th grade. Mazzy Star opened the show so it was a real shoe-gazing night. My friend (Sean) and I used to crank Snakedriver a lot while we were driving between home, high school and Perkins. It's got 2 minutes of sappy sounding vocals followed by 2 minutes of guitar noise, the perfect recipe for teenagers who took themselves too seriously.

War Pigs and my adolescence

As a kid in rural Appalachia, I knew Black Sabbath by reputation only. Because my community regarded them as pure, coal-black Satanic evil, it was dangerous to possess a Sabbath cassette, and since I had no older brother or stoner friend to introduce me to music, I was on my own. I never heard any of Sabbath's music until I got to college.

I was, however, an avid music geek. I would get a cassette by a band (my first was Red Hot Chili Peppers "Freaky Styley") and then get cassettes by every band listed in the "thank yous." I also read Rolling Stone and SPIN (which weren't bad magazines back then) with a red marker to circle all the albums listed in "Artists' Picks" features. I also taped every episode of 120 minutes (and Alternative Nation, when it was on). [Unfortunately, I didn't really discover how awesome Headbanger's Ball was until my college years, so I missed out on a lot.]

This lengthy prologue is my way to tell you how I discovered the Meat Puppets before Nirvana's Unplugged appearance, and that the spectre of Black Sabbath will return later in the story. So I loved the Meat Puppets, and I heard that they were opening for Blind Melon during their (as I called it) Bee Girl tour. It just so happened that Blind Melon was coming to Radford, VA, and I got the chance to go. It should be noted that then as now I couldn't stand Blind Melon's hippie shit. But to see the Meat Puppets--and let me note that I had recently gone to a Spin Doctors concert in order to see Screaming Trees and it was totally worth it (let me also note that I kind of like the Spin Doctors)--I was all about it.

So we get to the show, and there's an opening opening act called Alice Donut. I'd never heard of this group, and since everyone else in the auditorium was there for the Bee Song, I was in a group of 50 at the front of the stage while 12,000 or so sat on bleachers or milled about in the back of the venue. Alice Donut became my favorite band ever within about five minutes, right after lead singer Tomas Antona started the show by saying, "This song is about having your head cut off in a construction carbine and staying conscious for a few minutes while the blood drains out. It's called, 'My Severed Head,'" and they played this incredible song. I was in love.

Later in the show, the singer said, "This one's for Bush and his bullshit war for oil. You might think it's over [this was 1994], but it's not, so long as there's oil and religious warfare." He then headed back to the drumkit while the drummer came up front with a trombone. This is what they played.



War Pigs. On a trombone. It was awesome. I still love Alice Donut, who are still putting out albums (having just celebrated their 20th year of total obscurity). Turns out the drummer works at a wine store near my sister's apartment in New York. She met him and told him that her brother was obsessed with Alice Donut. I think (hope?) he hit on her.

Here's a nice Joe Strummer moment, a performance of London Calling from 1988 with The Pogues as his backing band. Too bad Shane wasn't there to take a verse....

Chuck Berry - Merry Christmas Baby

Tough to beat Chuck's version...
Merry Christmas! See you guys soon.

Charlie Brown

Okay, so this is a song / clip, I hope I am forgiven. It turns out that Charlie Brown isn't such a blockhead after all. I hope we can get down with CB's message this Christmas. Whether we need a holiday to create moments of reflection to help us or not, we can appreciate the simplicity of CB's message. I hope all of you are having a wonderful Christmas holiday filled with friendship and fellowship. I leave you with Linus's message - "and on earth peace, good will toward men." Interestingly enough, my Latin teacher, who also taught Hebrew and other classic language, suggested that the translation is actually "peace on earth to men of good will." Something to think about.

J Oi to the World

I suppose it's admitting to a guilty pleasure when I say this is my favorite Christmas song. The Vandals postured as an Oi! band in their early days, but the fact is they're a bubblegum pop punk band, not as hard as Screeching Weasel, but a bit higher up in the spectrum than Green Day, at least. Anyway, during their oi-er days, they put out "Oi to the World," which is one of the funniest (yet poignant?) songs of their oeuvre. For those unfamiliar with punks vs. skins controversies, a brief distinction. You have your punks, who're a diverse (in hair color) group. Then there are the skins, a uniformed lot with shaved heads, boots, bracers, and working class politics. Finally there are the skinheads, who look exactly like skins except that they're racist neo nazis. Skins and skinheads hate each other for giving each other a bad name. Punks hate them both for believing in something other than anarchy and fashion. The Vandals decided that for Christmas the punks and the skins should love one another (and fight the real enemy....As Jello Biafra so poetically wrote in his song of the same title, "Nazi Punks Fuck Off!")

Enjoy, and merry christmas to everyone.

Christmas in Prison

To combine the sentiments of Marty's last post, I'll indulge a little working class hero tribute of my own, and keep a yuletide theme. John Prine's a singer-songwriter who started performing in the late 60's. He's probably best known for Bonnie Raitt covering his song "Angel From Montgomery." Anyway, he's been compared to Dylan quite a bit, and obviously he took some inspiration from BD. But whereas Dylan took his own influence from folk and activist Okies like Woody Guthrie and Chris Bouchillon, Prine leans more to the Old Time Appalachian storytellers like Dock Boggs. Dylan's more rock, Prine's more country, both are true American poets. The protagonists in Prine's songs are always complicated, sympathetic, and abhorrent. This song reminds me of some of the work I did back in Kentucky. There was an arts and activist project called "From the Holler to the Hood" that worked with prison issues in Applachia. As the coal industry begins to dry up in the mountains, a new industry of private detention facilities is beginning to sprout up. Prisoners from New England are getting shipped down to Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, and the region is dealing with issues of cultural difference, race, violence, and the impact of these new types of careers and populations. The project developed documentary films, held dialogues, and each Christmas had a radio call-in show for friends and relatives of prisoners who were too far away to visit to call and broadcast messages. so this John Prine song reminds me of that time. Unfortunately, the only video I can find with the song includes some jokey (?) Bush-Cheney imagery. Just listen to the lyrics and forget the video.

Joe Strummer

It is easy to fall into the mode of hero-worship with famous people. They reside on some elevated plateau where nothing can tarnish their image. I gave up on the illusion a long time ago. There is only one singer I count among those whom I admire. Joe Strummer. Was he fallible, yes, in fact he would probably be the first to tell you that. However, throughout his life, Joe Strummer never lost his humanity. Whether he was singing with The Clash or with The Mescaleros, he was in touch with people's lives. I admire the hell out of him for being uncompromising yet compassionate ("If you're after getting the honey. Then you don't go killing all the bees"). That is a hard balance to achieve. Even later in his life, he did not take on the fading, washed-up rock star role, he created, he lived, and he inspired. In some ways, I appreciate his work with The Mescaleros even more because it shows a matured, more worldy side of Joe Strummer. Even his songs set in London, "Bhindi Bhagee" celebrate the diversity found in the city. He used his voice to reach out to not only the disenfranchised but the suburban teen as well - again, not something achievable. I will quit my ramble and celebrate him through his music. I am going to post a lot of clips and I hope you have a chance to listen to them all.
On a side note that is not really a side note at all, my friend, Tully, reminds me that on the same day, December 22nd, D Boon of the Minutemen died. Tully, if you want to add more about D Boon, we are happy to hear your thoughts. So, in his honor, we will be posting a clip as well.

The Minutemen - Little Man With A Gun In His Hand

London Calling

Johnny Appleseed

Redemption Song (tribute video)

Anyone who would like to add Strummer videos, please feel free.

Run D.M.C. - Christmas in Hollis

For those New Yorkers out there.

The Kinks - Father Christmas

After Will's stunning debut of two videos in one day, I thought I would continue the Christmas spirit with another holiday treat. The video quality is pretty poor but the audio is okay. I realize that this is the second Kinks video, so this is a deadly precedent. Do with it what you will.

Fear and The Ramones celebrate the season

Since it's Christmas time, my two favorite yuletide songs. These make me feel 14 or so again.

First, there's a live cut of Fear:




And, on a more sentimental note, The Ramones have this delightful Christmas video with dramatic dialogue pre- and post-performance:

Paul Westerberg - It's A Wonderful Lie

Drop the "f" in a classic holiday movie title and you get a great song about self-doubt, getting older and dishonesty. Here's another Jools Holland performance from another guy who appeared on the Singles soundtrack. Luckily this one's still around.

Alice In Chains - Would? (live)

Why do we see the same pattern repeat itself? Originality is at first spurned except by a few, it slowly grows to mainstream acceptance, overexposure, death. The last part can be figurative, a dearth of quality production if you will, or literal in the case of so many artists. Layne Staley certainly falls into this category. His unique vocal style coupled with dark lyrics made him a poster child for the grunge movement. But like some of his contemporaries in the Pacific Northwest, the sun shone too brightly on him. This is performance from 1993 on the Jools Holland show.

Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas?

Okay, I suppose I should recognize the season. I can remember when this song was released in 1984. This was the era of the MTV rock star, so it was a big deal to see British and Irish rockers like Bono with Boy George (seen him lately?) with Sting and on the list goes. I am sure that this socially conscious song raised awareness to the famine in Ethiopia, but isn't it deeply ironic that the question being put forth is one that is irrelevant to the majority of the population on Earth? But all is forgiven because they invited all of Bananarama.

Radiohead - Street Spirit (Fade Out)

I hold a special place for Radiohead. In the mid-90s they were producing music that made sense to me. Both The Bends and Ok Computer offered a breath of fresh air from the pop-grunge that was overtaking the airways. In addition, they produced videos which disturbed, provoked, and always puzzled. It is difficult to pick just one song/video at this point, but I think "Street Spirit" fits the bill.

Black Star - Definition

Popular hip hop is in a pretty sad state these days. The radio is loaded with a seemingly endless number of “artists” (Lil’ Wayne, T-Pain, Akon, etc.) who excessively use the cold and tinselly Auto-Tune vocal effect, making you feel like you’ve just been paid off with counterfeit money. Black Star (Mos Def and Talib Kweli) was the real deal. They released their one and only album in 1998, back when the Auto-Tune effect was left up to aging pop stars who no longer had the pipes (see Cher's Believe).

Samuel Flynn Scott - War over Water

Two years ago, Belinda and I took an amazing trip to New Zealand during the Christmas break. We rented a car and drove the South Island. When we reached the town of Dunedin near the bottom of the island, we decided we needed a CD for the car. So, we popped into a record shop, and Dunedin is a college town (Otago University is located there) so we figured we could get something good, to purchase some Kiwi music. After being told that Kiwi music is really not that far along yet, we were given several CDs to listen to in the shop. In fact, I think the clerks enjoyed picking out various bands/artists for us to listen to. We finally settled on Samuel Flynn Scott. He is better known for his role in The Phoenix Foundation. His CD became the soundtrack for our trip (even though our car ended up not having a CD player).

The Who - Baba O'Riley

A song to rock out to. Originally this song was slated to be in the Lifehouse project which was a follow up rock opera to Tommy, but when that project was scrapped, it turned up on Who's Next. I always liked the rumor that the music from the synthesizer came from the vital statistics of Meher Baba.

Nick Drake - Fly

Many of today's song writers owe a lot to Nick Drake. While only recording three albums before his death at the age of 26 in 1974, Drake's intimate,haunting lyrics and music have influenced a generation of singer/songwriters. "Fly" is from his second album, Bryter Layter released in 1970. The song reached some acclaim through its inclusion on The Royal Tenenbaums soundtrack. It is a good representation Drake's sparse, autumnal sound.

Paul Simon - Graceland

It is easy to think of music as mere entertainment, an escape or even a diversion from our current state of mind. However, throughout history, we can see that music has had a larger social impact on society than we might realize. Paul Simon's album, Graceland, really captures the weight music can have on an individual and on a cultural level. A sort of a mid-life crisis feeling underscores many of the songs, but musically there is a trans-Atlantic musical connection that celebrated South African musicians and their American counterparts. This was a particularly important time as South African apartheid was beginning to crumble. I find that this moment coalesces in "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes" at the concert in Zimbabwe.

Bon Iver - Skinny Love

The story of Bon Iver is a familiar one: A guy hits a rough patch in life, isolates himself in a cabin for three long winter months, and then emerges with an album’s worth of great songs. For Emma, Forever Ago ranks way up there with the best releases of the past year. Not only is it difficult to pick one song from the album to highlight, it’s a chore to decide which performance of Skinny Love to use. This one’s unique in that it shows the band playing in an intimate setting and never really shows Justin Vernon’s face. Instead you get an idea of what it looks like when you’ve written a great song and your audience acknowledges it. It must beat staring at a cabin wall…

Modest Mouse - Gravity Rides Everything

Modest Mouse has been putting out quality records for quite a while now. Their mainstream success in the early 2000s brought a wider audience, but their music has not seemed suffer from their commercial success. Over time, I think people may look back on them with even more critical praise because of what they were doing when much of music at the time seemed so unoriginal. From The Moon and Antarctica, "Gravity Rides Everything."

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Powderfinger

You know you’re at a rock concert when the stage is decorated with giant Fender amps and the roadies are dressed up like Jawas from Star Wars (look for the glowing eyes at the end). The band looks a little out of place in the midst of all of this. Neil Young’s sporting his favorite pair of white pants and red suspenders while the guys in Crazy Horse are dressed like it’s a typical Saturday afternoon, complete with Frank Sampedro in his Habs jersey.

Powderfinger ranks right up there with the best Neil Young songs, a mysterious backwoods story over guitars that alternate between crunchy power chords and beautiful solos drenched in reverb. It’s hard to believe that such a full sound can come out of four guys. Maybe those giant amps aren’t just props after all…

Grateful Dead - "New Speedway Boogie" (live)

This one comes from Tully. He reminds us that today is the 39th anniversary of the free concert at Altamont Speedway. A lot went down there and this is a song echoes that. "It's not just a change in style?"

Robert Earl Keen - "Feelin' Good Again"

Last of the themed songs for the week - I promise. I just could not resist this one. Robert Earl Keen captures the local bar kind of feel in this song. As much as I have listened to it over the years, it still brings a smile to my face. I think Keen has it right "feels so good feelin' good again." Happy to be home.

Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain Nation

A good "welcome home" song for Sandy...

The Everybodyfields - "So Good to be Home" (live)

Well, this is a bit of a selfish pick. Every time I listen to this song, it makes me whistful for youth/home. Tomorrow I start my journey home and I think this song will be going through my mind as I touch down at GSO. Next post from me will be from the States.

Old Crow Medicine Show - I Hear Them All

Old Crow has an interesting back story. A group of musicians from New York, they moved to Boone, NC to cut their teeth on the regional music in the area. One afternoon while performing on King St., they caught a bit of luck as none other than Doc Watson stopped by to listen. Shortly there after an invitation to Merlefest was extended and the rest they say is history.
"I Hear Them All" (co-written by David Rawlings) seems timely at this moment of transition from us / them to the more inclusive we.

Vampire Weekend - The Kids Don't Stand A Chance

I guess these guys owe a lot to Desmond Dekker, among others... It took me a while to warm up to Vampire Weekend, but their record is just too good to deny... and it's hard not to respect a band that can pull off a song with nothing but a couple of acoustics, a portable keyboard and some garbage cans.

#80.2 - VAMPIRE WEEKEND - The Kids don't stand a chance
by lablogotheque