February 24, 2009
This week, we're listening in on music from HBO's Eastbound & Down, MC5, The Knux, Roxy Music, Scissor Sisters, The Clash, Lily Allen, & M. Ward.
The new buzzed about HBO comedy Eastbound And Down does the great service of introducing us to Wayne Kramer - and by extension the must hear music of The MC5. It's also a good opportunity to re-emphasize that not all musical roads that lead to Detroit come by way of Motown. While there's no quibbling about the magnificence of the sounds that came from the house that Gordy built, it's important to recognize the city's role in being a bridge between early heavy metal and punk. Exhibit A (and the best place to start) involves a trip to our Iggy Pop Essentials to visit early sides from the punk icon's first band, The Stooges -- arguably Detroit's best ever rock and roll band. A cursory listen to "I Wanna Be Your Dog", "No Fun," "TV Eye," and "Search And Destroy" will have you reeling and surprised that this predates what is considered the first golden era of Punk (Ramones/SexPistols/Clash) by over half a decade.
February 17, 2009
This week, we're listening in on music from They Might Be Giants, Dan Auerbach, The Black Keys, Beastie Boys, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, The Everly Brothers, and Little Milton.
They Might Be Serious
http://itunes.com/essentials/theymightbegiants
Even though we make the case that TMBG is far from a novelty band by citing "Your Racist Friend' a closer look at key songs on our TMBG Essential reveals more depth than they get credit for.
- "I Should Be Allowed To Think" which uses Alan Ginsberg opening line from his classic poem Howl
- "Memo to Human Resources" sung from the point of view of an 'I had enough worker' pondering his existence.
- "How Can I Sing Like A Girl?" offers up both gender politics and identity issues under the guise of the song's title.
They represent an even larger number of Giant's songs as proof that clever and ironic aren't wholly synonymous with lightweight.
Don, Phil And The Lost Decade
http://itunes.com/essentials/theeverlybrothers
The two Everly songs covered by Alison Kruass and Robert Plant on Raising Sand are only the tip of the iceberg. During the sixties they tried their hands at everything: British Invasion style pop (including an entire album with the Hollies), country rock, and neo-psychedelia. Their hits in the sixties were few and far between ("Cathy's Clown", "Crying In The Rain" - both Everly classics) but the their creativity never ebbed. The large majority of songs on Next Steps and Deep Cuts on our Everly's Essential collect the cream of the nearly 20 albums they made for Warner Brothers in one decade. I'd start with the almost pre-power popish "Man with Money", the California chamber pop ode to Kentucy "Bowling Green" and the country-tinged melancholy of "Sleepless Nights."
February 10, 2009
This week, we're listening in on music from Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and Waylon Jennings, the garage rock sound of the Hives, the history of the Wu-Tang Clan, and jazz great Sonny Rollins.
Don't Let Looks Decieve - Buddy Rocks
http://itunes.com/buddyholly/thebuddyhollycollection
Although Buddy Holly looked non-threatening make no mistake about it he rocked. When you get past hits like "Everyday," "It's Raining," and "True Love Ways" (which you shouldn't - because they're great too) you'll see another side. Many of his best records make the best use of the Bo Diddley beat this side of the man with the square guitar himself. How many of his ilk, even the other founding fathers (Fats, Elvis, Richard) could best Chuck Berry with one of his songs? When Buddy takes on "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" that rockabilly hiccup brings something out in the lyrics that take the song somewhere else. In the same league is his own "Rockin' Around With Ollie Vee." Let's not forget that Sonny Curtis, one of the original Crickets, wrote "I Fought The Law" -- a very Buddy Holly-esque song that was a hit for The Bobby Fuller Four. And even fewer know that he wrote "Love Is All Around," the theme from The Mary Tyler Moore show -- about as un-Hollyesque as you can get, but cool enough to be covered by 80s alt rock legends Husker Du.
Lux-Loss and Discovery
http://itunes.com/thecramps/songsthelordtaughtus
But nobody did a better version of the 50s/60s in the 70s/80s than the Cramps -- distilling everything that was great about 50s and early 60s trash culture: horror movie kitsch, rockabilly, surf, and some still unknown secret ingredients. The untimely passing of Lux Interior means we'll never see that combination of Iggy Pop, early Jerry Lee Lewis and Screamin' Jay Hawkins (fill in your own comparatives here) but that shouldn't stop you from acquainting (or re-acquainting) yourself with their early records. They were perhaps the first punk band to make peace with rock's past. Even a cursory listen to "Human Fly," " Goo Goo Muck," "Sunglasses After Dark," or anything from their first two albums (Songs The Lord Taught Us and Psychedelic Jungle) will show you that they had the best record collections of any punk band and they weren't afraid to share the contents with us.
Check out this week's full playlist below.
February 3, 2009
This week, we're listening in on the "New Hippie" movement involving Animal Collective and Devendra Banhart, the rootsy sounds of the Gourds, Old 97s, and the Band, and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Wanda Jackson, Bobby Womack, and Run-DMC.
