New updates coming shortly (and more regularly), but in the meantime, here's a list of the artists who've already popped up more than once in the 10 mixes so far, along with some great youtube clips from two of the top three most represented.
In third place with three appearances, the great Tom Waits, shown below rotoscoped to perfection:
In second place with four appearances, Van Morrison, who's lawyers seem to be scouring the web making sure folks like us can't promote him, which given most of his output for the past three decades, is just as well. He sure was great, though…
And the champs: Who but the Velvet Underground, with five appearances. Oddly enough, no solo appearances from any of the members thus far, so to compensate, here's perhaps Reed's finest solo hour:
For you stat heads there, David Bowie, Brian Eno, PJ Harvey and the Rolling Stones are all tied for fourth, with two appearances each.
Something a little different this time—story songs and just plain stories as a companion to last week's gambling mix. Featuring our first original recording, with the TYCS players reading the fabulously filthy epic The Devil and Billy Markham.
Deck of Cards — Tex Ritter
Your belief that this is the chintziest things you've ever heard will be proven false shortly.
Jack O' Diamonds - Harry Jackson
The great cowboy singer, poet painter and sculptor performs an entirely different song than that of the same name John Lee Hooker does on the previous gambling mix.
The Devil and Billy Markham — The TYCS Players
A TYCS original performance in six parts of the great, dirty as all get out, epic enough poem by the great and epic enough Shel Silverstein. Those who don't know his work for Playboy are really missing out. Those who might know the performers are encouraged to stay silent.
Colorado Trail; Roving Gambler — Burl Ives
More singing without accompaniment.
The Red Deck of Cards — Tex Ritter
Now you're right—this is the chintziest thing you've ever heard. Just jaw dropping.
We're back up and running, and with a fresh batch of gambling songs for the pleasure of all our unlucky pals. Here it is, then:
Mr. Gold and Mr. Mudd — Townes Van Zandt
"Man, they took my girl too." We're curious if these lyrics made sense to TVZ, but certain they don't to anyone we've asked. Nonetheless (or for that reason?), hands-down the best stud poker-themed song ever sung.
Jack O' Diamonds — John Lee Hooker
It's a hard card to play.
Railroadin' and Gamblin' — Uncle Dave Macon
Here's the long description from The Ballad Index, and who are we to argue:
More Uncle Dave Macon surrealism. Singer has been in the state house (prison?) and the court house, and is broke from gambling despite his mother's advice. "Lawd, that preacher got, ain't that a sin/Johnny get your whiskers cut, here comes the wind." Chorus: "Railroadin' and gamblin'/Pickin' up chips for mammy/Lawd, lawd, lawd/Take your feet out the sand, stick 'em in the mud." You figure it out.
Diamonds and Gold - Tom Waits
So far as this blog is concerned, there's Dylan, Cohen, Waits and Van Zandt, and then a big drop-off before anyone else.
The Gambler's Dying Words — Norman Blake
Cheerful stuff.
Gambling Man - Woody Guthrie
Actually cheerful stuff.
Rambling Gambling Willie - Bob Dylan
Young Dylan comes quite correct.
Bilnd Willie McTell — Delia
Dylan does a great cover of this on his extremely underrated early-90s covers album World Gone Wrong, but McTell's take is unimpeachable.
Becky Dean, She Was a Gamblin' Girl — Leadbelly
Continuing the gambling girl cut down theme.
The Gambling Man — Sister O.M. Terrell
Your Dice Won't Pass — Smokey Babe
Oddly, Smokey Babe is the man here. No idea who the woman is.
Shooting High Dice — Mississippi Sheiks
If you win, your woman will spend it. And if you lose, she won't let you in.
Gambling Polka Dot Blues — Jimmie Rodgers
"He bet his watch and I called it/And lost my money like a man."
Dyin' Crapshooters Blues — Ian Thomas
Thomas is the real deal. Check out more at his website, and for fuck's sake, support living artists.
The Stranger Song (live 1972) — Leonard Cohen
Is this the best opening lyric ever? "It's true that all the men you knew/Were dealers who said they were through/With dealing/Every time you gave them shelter." We think so. We know, though, that "That's all/I don't think of you that often" is the best closing lyric ever.
Viva Las Vegas — Citigrass
The best bluegrass band in NYC, which is higher praise than you might guess. Check their website for more.
Ooh Las Vegas — Gram Parsons
If Parsons had lived, he'd be up there with our big four.
The Gambler — Johnny Cash
We had to have this on our gambling mix, and figured we should steer clear of the Kenny Rogers recordings, and the Pharoahe Monch rap cover too.
Baby Comes Home – Patrick Cleandenim Yes, this kid's stage name is Cleandenim. And in this song he talks about werewolves and vampires, and it's a little vaudevillian. He's also maybe 22 years old, max. But still, we kinda like it.
Waltz – Fiona Apple The songs that sound the best on the Mike Elizondo version of Extraordinary Machine are the ones that are left largely untouched from the never commercially released Jon Brion version. Clearly, we're suckers for a little string section, but extra orchestral maneuvers are not all that make Brion's album better than the official album. While the accusation has been that Brion overproduced, it seems to us that Elizondo allowed no one else in the room with Fiona, tiptoeing around her as if she's a hothouse flower. Instead of letting violins, cellos and other instruments play with Apple, he's content to throw canned beats on top of her haphazardly. We could go on. We won't.
Cyprus Avenue – Van Morrison “My tongue gets tied every time I try to speak / and my inside shakes just like a leaf on a tree.”
This Is What It Is – Nina Nastasia You should listen to Nina Nastasia. No one can really describe her, so reviews say things like “goth-folk” and that's awful. But she's not awful, she's good. It's not her fault that music critics are scum, is it?
Golden Hours – Brian Eno Brian Eno's a genius. Scary looking, though. Like the butler from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. No, really, check it out. This is the first of four—, yes, four—songs on this mix where the violin is actually a viola, and is played by John Cale. So sue us. John Cale is amazing, and the songs are really different from one another.
Fly – Nick Drake Bryter Later is Nick Drake's best album. After hearing Five Leaves Left, the first album, John Cale called and demanded to play on the album. Maybe you need to be a little gay or a little female or a little emo or a little British to get Nick Drake. Or maybe you just have to be able to recognize beauty. Who knows.
The Greatest – Cat Power We're not saying that there's not a lot of Cat Power that sounds the same. That's not the point. If you don't like at least some of her work (hear: Moon Pix), you're immune to the plight of the South. You're immune to women who hold lifetimes beyond their years in their voices. Basically, you have no heartstrings to be tugged.
Fake Palindromes – Andrew Bird Basically, Andrew Bird is a violin virtuoso who chucked it all to be a pop star, or at least a popster. Live, he plays violin, records it, loops it, then he whistles (he's a fantastic whistler), records it, loops it, and so on with the other instruments, and then sings over it and plays the guitar. The very definition of a one man band, without the novelty act aspect. And yes, he uses an awful lot of big words, but we like that in a man.
I Don't Believe You – Magnetic Fields "I had a dream and you were in it/ the blue of your eyes was infinite/ You seemed to be in love with me/ which isn't very realistic.”
Keep the Car Running – Arcade Fire For one, we thrill to a bit of hand-clapping, and our buddies over at the Arcade Fire have plenty of it. Secondly, each member of their seemingly 30-thousand member band has more energy in this song than we do in a week. Thirdly, our college boyfriend had a bit of a man-crush on this tall, shy kid in our class named Win. We didn't understand why bf thought Win seemed so cool then. We get it now.
Man Size Sextet – PJ Harvey “Silence my lady head/ get girl out of my head/ douse hair with gasoline/ set it light and set it free.”
Go ahead, pretend you're not scared. This song is possibly the weakest link on Rid Of Me, an album that is a contender for the greatest rock album by a woman ever. Certainly in the last 20 years. This album makes us all depressed about her later work, which is still frequently better than anything else around.
Gideon's Bible – John Cale Wherein we finally let the man speak for himself, and find out, as we've long suspected, that the Welsh are truly strange.
“Gideon lied/ so Gideon died/ the force of China felt/ Gideon smiled/ as Gideon died/ the thought of China held.”
And that's just the chorus. We have no clue what the hell he's talking about, but it's perfect. In our opinion, songs this airtight are rarely this enjoyable.
Forks and Knives (La Fete) – Beirut This song is from the forthcoming Beirut album, which is French-inspired and good. Also, as seen in the video below for the song Nantes, also new, this kid is adorable.
Venus in Furs – Devotchka This band has some pretty good songs of their own, but this is what really impressed us. It is not easy to cover the Velvet Underground without making a complete embarrassment of yourself, and Venus in Furs is not an easy choice. The atonality of the violin on this song is a departure from their usual style, and a positive one.
Hyperballad – Bjork This song, from Post, marks the last time we really cared about what Bjork was doing. We're imagining this wild-haired woman in a long dress, throwing toasters and kittens off a cliff, wailing like a banshee on the moors, while an unfazed string quartet plays in tuxedos on the edge. Basically, we're imagining ourselves.
Life On Mars – David Bowie When this song was written, there was no international space station, and there were sure as hell no Mars probes. We didn't know about the shallow sea that was probably once on Mars, or the bacterial life forms, or whatever. We can't help but wonder what Bowie thinks of all that stuff. Does he still wonder about life on Mars?
Stephanie Says – The Velvet Underground We are actually sort of nicknamed Alaska. You know, because it's so cold in Alaska. It's not true, though. We're really warm and fuzzy. I mean, we have a sentimental attachment to this (totally great anyway) song because of the nickname. That's not cold, right? Guess who's playing the viola?
Nature Springs – The Good, the Bad, and the Queen Yes, it's that guy from Blur and Gorillaz and stuff, but there's also that guy from the Clash. And the Clash is great. And this band—we’re not sure, but I think they're pretty good. Being as it's an all-star band, maybe it's John Cale on the strings there. Just kidding, we think.
Half a World Away – R.E.M. We're feeling a little contentious and we're ready to fight for our choices. And what we have to say now is this: if you don't like R.E.M., it's probably because you haven't given them a chance. If you've think you've given them a chance and don't know anything that happened before Green, you're mistaken. And if you do know the older albums, and you still don't like R.E.M., then you should be put to sleep. Find Eponymous and listen to it. If you don’t thin Central Rain is a great song to you, you have no ears. And we're sorry for you.
She's a Rainbow – The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are one of the very very few British bands that have ever managed to get this certain sound that is generally uniquely American. Not so much on this song, but on, say, Tumbling Dice. How'd they do that? Oh, right, by being better than the Beatles.
The Shangri-Las - How Pretty Can You Get Man parking a 1950s convertible. He puts on lipstick in his rearview mirror; his nails are painted red.
Elvis Presley - Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues Inside of an old timey Louisiana country bar. Women walk by, shot in slow motion from below, in tight knee-length pencil skirts. Old men, shot the same way, turn from their barstools to gawk. People are seen reflected in the beer mugs clinking glasses and saying "cheers." Now a close up on one of the women, a very done-up rockabilly-stripper type with a Betty Page wig. She winks and leans over the bar, and we see that she is the man from the car.
Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash - Another Man Done Gone Montage sequence in black and white with a young boy putting on women's clothing and an old man laughing maniacally. Then for no reason the laughing man is consumed in fire. Cut to an old black lady sitting on the porch of an even older broken-down house miming the Johnny Cash part of this song.
H.B. Barnum - Freeway Barbeque in the backyard of a 1950s southern suburban house. Housewives chatting with each other, and husbands doing the same; one man barbecuing, It's Jane but now as the perfect husband. He is standing by the grill and talking, his wife walks over and kisses his cheek, grabs his hand playfully and then notices a red smudge on one finger. A tight shot of fire, evocative of the laughing man ablaze, and then cut to a wide shot of the grill from above, red hot, and then lighter fluid coming down into the shot, feeding the fire.
The Crystals - He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss) Jane, still as a man, arguing with his wife. He beats her to death. As this happens, the shots shift between the wife's progressively more mangled face and Jane progressively dressed more as a woman. Once he's done, he uses her blood as lipstick and rouge.
Shangri-Las – Remember (Walking in the Sand) Jane as a man, in a bar with some good ole boys talking about women. Flashes throughout to his dancing with the dead body of his wife, dressed and blood-covered as at the end of the last scene.
Jonathan Richman - Affection Jane at a lesbian bar, talking with some girls about women. The girls and the shots roughly match up with the men in the previous scene. One girl is very interested in Jane, and they obviously have sparks. A touching and romantic scene.
Patsy Cline - Crazy Arms Jane and bar girl driving in Jane's convertible on a great American highway. They pull off to take photos in front of a tremendous, clumsy wooden Paul Bunyan. It's all very touching and a little reminiscent of Thelma and Louise. As the car pulls out, the camera pans right to a giant blue ox. To the side is a garbage can with an old newspaper discarded beside it. On the paper is a photo of Jane as a man and a smaller shot of his wife's mutilated face, both beneath the headline "What Sort of Man?".
Percy Mayfield - Life is Sucide Jane's wife in a stained, slutty camisole smoking a cigarette and reading a copy of the same paper in the bed of a motel room. The song is playing on an old radio. A man whose face we don't see gets out of the bed, puts on his pants and hastily throws some bills on the bed. She doesn't bother to look up, but begins fanning herself with the newspaper. She looks beautiful, except for a giant scar on her torso.
The Clovers – Rotten Cocksucker's Ball Young greasers on the streets of the Bronx singing do-wop. Then cut to a nightclub (not necessarily in the Bronx) and Jane, her lesbian friend from the bar and Jane's wife, all in leotards, heels, fishnet stockings and top hats.They are all cabaret dancing in a fashion that would fit nicely in an old time musical. Though lights are on, there is no one else in the nightclub. At scenes end, ecstatic reaction shots from suddenly present regulars; an unlikely mix of sophisticated dandies and shady strip club devotees.
The Shangri-Las - Good Taste Tip Jane with her girl sharing an ice cream cone at the bar of a soda shoppe. Jane pays and puts her arm around his girl, as the jerk focuses his attention on an imagined stain on the spotless counter.
The Moonglows - The Ten Commandments of Love The girls look fondly into each others eyes. The lights lower and the girls drop their cones on the floor and start slow dancing. The jerk continues to clean the counter.
Lori Burton - Nightmare As they are dancing the wife comes in wearing the same outfit from the dance number, but this time with a cane. A vicious girl fight ensues; wigs and top hats go flying.
Ryan Adams - Shakedown on Ninth Street The fight continues. Finally, midgets appear and sing in a chorus of helium voices as the camera cuts to blood slowly spreading on the black and white checkered floor.
The Tammys - Egyptian Shumba Jane driving away, bloody and alone. He takes off his wig and makeup.
Duane Eddy-Rebel 'Rouser Jane, again a man, in a diner drinking coffee and watching a teenage girl put money in a juke box. Jane has the greedy, slitted eyes of a wolfish teenage boy.
Chuck Berry - Downbound Train Cops walk into the diner, sit at the counter and look over at Jane. He leaves, walks out and turns into a dark and depraved street with hooker scattered everywhere. He talks to one and they walk away together.
Gene Vincent & The Blue Caps - Race with the Devil In a motel room. They are getting it on (as they say) and Jane starts choking the prostitute. There is a struggle, during which he turns back into a woman.
Esquerita - Esquerita and the Voola After the killing, Jane does the twist.
Jackie Wilson - Reet Petite Night. Jane, all dolled up, exits the motel room, a cigarette between her lips and hips swinging, walks toward the hookers. She talks to some of them for a moment and then joins them.
Jerry Lee Lewis - Chantilly Lace Montage of Jane hookering and having a damned good time doing so.
Freddy Fender - Wasted Days and Wasted Nights Jane sitting in a bar with a John Doe talking. He is telling her that he loves her and wants to marry her, take her away from her horrible lifestyle. He goes on to explain that it is because he loves her that he has never "known" her in the biblical sense. She signals to the bartender, tells him "Bring me something very expensive."
Kitty Wells - Making Believe Montage of Jane and the John together as a happy suburban family.
Roy Orbison - Pretty One John Doe walks up to the group of hookers looking for Jane. He finds her and hands her some bills. She slips them into her bra, locks arms with him and they walk away together.
Emmylou Harris - You Don't Know Me They walk to a motel room, where she sits down. They begin to kiss but John Doe stops himself. They sit and talk, with the John doing most of the talking. Jane never reveals her extra appendage.
Ray Price - Prisoner of Love The John Doe leaves the motel and walks slowly and pensively away. Jane is lying on the bed smoking a cigarette. John stops, waits, turns around and begins to walk back to the motel. The scene cuts back and forth from Jane, looking content, and John, looking haunted.
Tony Bennett - Boulevard of Broken Dreams John Doe forcefully opens the door and stands, looking very threatening, in the door frame. Jane feigns impassiveness and turns slowly to put out her cigarette, keeping her eyes on him. John Doe lunges at her, and she screams. He rips off her clothes and discovers her not so little secret. He is enraged and starts hitting her.
The Shangri-Las - Dating Courtesy Tip John fixing up the now battered, tattered and dead Jane. He makes her look somewhat decent, lies her in the bed, lights a cigarette and puts it in between her fingers.
The Louvin Brothers - In the Pines John looking very sad at a bar, drinking beer and exchanging tales of woe and lost love with the bartender and the patrons.
Dean Martin - Return to Me John Doe, looking very dapper in a 1940s style, singing this song into an old fashioned microphone on an empty stage. Jane, his wife and his lesbian lover, appear on the stage in matching white gowns and long white gloves and sing the chorus. Fade to white, roll credits.
Special bonus not-a-spoof Public Service Announcement from David Lynch — Don't litter or rats will gnaw through your leg, into your soul…
Marion Brown - Introduction Despite the name, the fourth track from 1973's Geechee Recollections, one of the odd and under appreciated ax-man's finest hours.
Matthew Shipp - When Johnny Comes Marching Home. It's easy to be put off by Shipp, who insists on releasing more albums than can be absorbed, all while working with electronics and collaborating with people like hiphop label Def Jux head El-P. Don't be—he just may be the most creative and dynamic pianist playing these days. And even he's put to the test keeping up with bassist William Parker, one of the few who knows how to make a bass sing, and howl.
Ahmad Jamal - Autumn Leaves Almost too musical. At the least, it arouses one's suspicion.
Duke Ellington, Charlie Mingus & Max Roach - Money Jungle Seminal, and as far outside as Duke ever got. Mingus sounds possessed here, and there's a real fuck-you-just-try-to-keep-time-to-this aspect to his playing. Somehow, I always think of the phrase "bug music" when I put this on.
Hossam Ramzy, Sarvar Sabri, Emmanuel Tago & Miguel Castro - Rangoli Instruments? Real percussionists don't need no stinking instruments, not even percussive ones.
Billy Bang - In a Minute The first of two brief cuts from the great violinist's awesome album Invitation.
Roy Burrowes - Jericho Jazz I've had a hard time finding out much about this album (Reggae Au Go Jazz) online. What I know is that it's got Jackie Mittoo on the keys and Clifford Jordan and Charles Davis on sax, and that's it's at least as good as that ought to make it. A surprisingly natural and appealing combination of sounds.
Sonny Sharrock - Hit Single Didja know Sharrock started off singing in a doo wop group? Me neither. Nor does it explain the fire he brought to this, from the Space Ghost Coast to Coast sessions that were his last recording.
Miles Davis - Miles Runs the Voodoo Down (reprise) Live at the Fillmore East, second set March 7, 1970. It's interesting to compare this really live cut with the official Sony release of Miles Davis at the Fillmore, which contains Davis and Teo Macero's edits and overdubs.
Mark Feldman & Sylvue Courvousier - Smoke The sort of fullness and telepathy associated with, say, the classic Bill Evans trio. Very nervous music.
Max Roach & Abdullah Ibrahim - Inception Continuing with duos, this starts skeletal, and fleshes out nicely once the future Dollar Brand butts in.
Earl Hines & Jaki Byard - Sweet Georgia Brown Apologies for the best low bandwidth, but it hardly matters. Two of the best, put aside their usually very dissonant styles to make harmonious music together on a single piano.
Rashied Ali & Le Roy Jenkins Filthy, furious funk.
Joe Maneri - Let Me Tell You One critic called this Brooklyn born, Schoenberg-studying stud a player of "slippery, space-filled alien blues." Word.
Anthony Coleman - Disco By Night Rarely is a song title so apropos. This is on John Zorn's old Avant label, and also serves as a good reminder that for all the pretentiousness of Zorn and the downtown scene, there's music there that's not easily dismissed.
Raymond Scott - War Dance for Wooden Indians Scott never wrote music for cartoons; he just wrote tunes great enough to enliven animation's golden era, and endlessly echo in our brains.
Jerzy Milian - Serial Rag How many Polish vibraphonists does it take to…
Embryo - Autumn Leaves Krautrock with great vibes, and the inimitable Mal Waldron on the ivory.
Van Morrison - Sweet Thing Sweet thing is a rare sort of song in two ways. One, it is sweet to the point of gorgeousness without being even the slightest bit sickening, a result that such ambition often yields. Two, it is pretty much entirely improvised, which I would have known by ear except that some of the moves are so strange, yet well-suited to the song, that I figured it had to have been composed in advance.
Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
My Bloody Valentine - Only Shallow Man, do those people (or their engineer) know how to make things completely unintelligible and fantastic.
U2 - Surrender There have always been streets in Manhattan that never quite emptied out, but even eleven or twelve years ago, blocks that were not completely desolate by about 2:30 AM were very much the exception. It was around this period of my young life that I became obsessed with the devastating beauty of empty night city streets, and Surrender, of all songs, perhaps conjured for me the greatest number of images and scenes set therein.
David Bowie - China Girl Sure, the video sucks big and sucks hard, but the song is a classic for all time.
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Breaking the Girl The Peppers never have the greatest lyrics, but the instrumental portion of Breaking the Girl adds a poignancy and depth of meaning that is suggested—but not achieved—lyrically.
Mew - Pink Monster I first found out about Mew in 1999 on "Burly Bear", an offshoot of MTV that was aimed at college kids. The video for I Should Have Been a Tsin-Tsi (for you), which probably aired once and was truly bizarre in its obviously ironic Chinese exoticism, made me want to hear more. Unfortunately, search engines of the day returned very little information about the band—not even a means to buy a record. With Pink Monster, I have found Mew again.
The Cure - A Forest
Tom Waits - Hang on St. Christopher
El Perro Del Mar - Candy
Brian Eno - St. Elmo's Fire
Velvet Underground - The Black Angel's Death Song The best songs of the Velvet Underground are those in which the sounds of John Cale and Lou Reed achieve a balance, neither too arty nor too simple and repetitive. And what is apparently a bicycle pump really drives it home. [Eds—compare this version from the Velvet Undergound and Nico album to the Norman Dolph acetate version from last week's Other Indicators OK mix.]
B-52s - Legal Tender
Men at Work - No Restrictions
The Mountain Goats - This Year
A Brief View of the Hudson - Someone Else's Street A band you likely don't know, but certainly should. Hear more (and buy songs) here.
Jimi Hendrix - Burning of the Midnight Lamp
Dr. John - Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya Just feels like being in a swamp at night with torches burning, and not for any reason that can be explained away as easily as the reverb settings or the psychoacoustic depth of the mix—although these things help.
Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart This somwhow manages to represent perfectly all that is great in 80's pop without sounding like any other piece of 80's pop that I can think of. Combine this with its apparently low production value, and its greatness is almost inexplicable, yet undeniable.
The Beatles - Birthday. Before 50 Cent, there were the Beatles.
Big Youth - Screaming Target AHHHH. Enjoy the greatness of stereo seperation. On the reissue they mixed the tracks which pissed me off to no end. This album (Screaming Target) feels like a mix tape by Big Youth, with him screaming along to his favorite tunes.
The Velvet Underground - Black Angel's Death Song (Norman Dolph Acetate of the April 1966 Scepter Studios session) Remember those stories of people paying 250K for a Velvet Underground acetate? Well, here's a track off of it for what it's worth. Play spot the difference here if you feel the need, but I've just enjoyed the overlay of fucked up transfer and rambling lyrics.
Aunt Sally - Sameta Kajibe de This song title roughly translates to "Cold Thing on Fire". If I could tell you more about this band, I would.
Desert Sessions - Johnny the Boy Steps to making awesome rock: 1) Go to House in the middle of nowhere 2) Take Drugs for five weeks straight 3) Record ten 10"s worth of greatness 4) Die. (These guys have made it to step three so far, I think)
Leatherface - I Want the Moon Somewhere between Motorhead and Husker Du.
Boris with Michio Kurihara - Rainbow From the latest and greatest Boris record, where they do the best damn Can impression they can.
Jana Hunter - The Angler I wish this lady much success with circles of 5ths metaphors.
Frank Zappa & The Mothers - You Didn't Try to Call Me (Vinyl version) I was really into this album (Cruisin' With Ruben and the Jets) a year or two ago, but then found out that Zappa did massive edits on the CD rerelease I'd been listening to. Thankfully some obsessive transferred his vinyl, and there are pretty significant differences in the vocal mix and drum arrangement. I can't stand too much Zappa but this is pretty perfect.
Royal Trux - Another Year On the other end of the strange arrangements/drug habit spectrum, Royal Trux seem to have the ability to get overloaded on whatever the fuck and knock out albums in a month which are full of perfect sloppiness, as opposed to Zappa's mechanical operas.
Jah Batta - Informer (Watch it) One of the greatest reggae rereleases I've heard in the past few years, this guy was showed the ropes by Sugar Minott, and somehow pulled off all these retoolings of classic rhythms (Answer, Real Rock, Throw Mi Corn are all on this album), but this organ pumps, hits and soothes just right.
Hot Snakes - L.A.X. A good radio recording which I've gotten to prefer over the album version. Tight fast perfect vocals. I dunno how much better a song about LA of all places can get...
Iggy Pop - Butt Town …unless it's Butt Town. Backed by basically Guns n' Roses, Brick By Brick was the last enjoyable Iggy Pop album. and was also proceeded by a few years of shit. It's too bad the new one is supposed to be pretty horrible. I had high expectations of Iggy Pop and Mike Watt. Whatever, this was perfect.
RZA - B.O.B.B.Y. Digital.
Venetian Snares - Banana Seat Girl Don't fucking stop. Don't fucking stop, there's pirahanas. Don't stop but stand—your seat is now comprised of all the people that wish you harm. Keep pedaling, don't crash.
Dungen - Mon Amor Ok Ok Ok. I know it's not fair. A long hip hop song, a long Venetians Snares fuck off followed by an 8 minute "jamish" song. Fuck it. The last Dungen record was perfect and this one is like that but compressed into 36 minutes. This song has the longest jam part but also the catchiest chorus. You decide if it's worth it.
Roky Erikson - Bloody Hammer Since seeing Roky a week ago he's occupied about 80% of my listening time. Can you blame me? Isn't that what he's about? Letting him and his world take over your life is a good move. Just avoid acid.
The Pillows - Blues Drive Monster Along with little Runners High and Happy Bivouac, the Little Busters album is the peak of The Pillows' Pixies impersonation era. Nothing can go wrong in your life if this is your theme. Also good is their solo-era Morrissey impressions (Please Mr. Lostman is the lost moz solo record).
PJ Harvey & Tom Yorke - The Mess We're In Music for mutant baby-making.
Rolling Stones - Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker) Righteous, rocking nonsense from back when ('72) apocalypse felt as heavy in the air as summer heat.
Dead Heart Bloom - New York City Heat Beatlesesque pop gloom glory. Get full albums for free here, if you know what's good for you.
Hello - New York Groove The original recording of Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley's classic, loosely defined.
Mick Harvey - New York U.S.A. The Bad Seed covers Serge Gainsbourg, with bongos.
Black Keys - Brooklyn Bound
Steve Earle - NYC In from the outside, long before he moved here and got all gentrified.
Ramones - 53rd & 3rd "Then I took out my razor blade/Then I did what God forbade/Now the cops are after me/But I proved that I'm no sissy" is up there with "I killed a man in Reno/Just to watch him die" in our book.
Adam Chimera - Lost in Brooklyn. Chimera, lately of the excellent 9th Street Mission outfit (click through for another free album worth downloading), lights it up lo fi. So what if he was crazy?
Yo La Tengo - Meet the Mets
Van Morrison - Glad Tidings [live] A great song. We must note, though, that "And the lips that you kiss will say christmas" is one of the worst lyrics not just in existence but humanly imaginable.
Tom Waits - Downtown Train [live] "Be careful of [Brooklyn girls] in the dark," the man says. Just the sort of good advice it's a pleasure to be young enough to ignore.
Velvet Underground - Chelsea Girls More women you ought to avoid in the dark, but, given the choice, wouldn't.
Regina Spektor - That Time A would-be Chelsea girl sings a song of her own that's better than it has any right to be.
Harry Nillson - Everybody's Talkin' [reprise] What you hum when it all feels doomed and sublime.
The Innocence Mission - Into Brooklyn, Early in the Morning Siren singing. What sublime doom hums back at you.
Bob Dylan - Talkin' NYC An old sourpuss song from 1962, from a then-young sourpuss.
Bonus Cut: Savatage - New York City Don't Mean Nothing Why, you ask, are there no classic hair metal operas? Fuck you, sir, reply the members of Savatage, who with producer and songwriter Paul O'Neill, are owed thanks for 1991's classic, Streets: A Rock Opera, from which album this well-titled, if rather absurd, songs comes.
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