John Vanderslice and the Magik*Magik Orchestra cover “Strangers” by the Kinks at Great American Music Hall, January 30, 2009.
I'll get back here someday.
I’m sure I’ll be expected to make some “Best of the Decade” lists at some point in the next few months.
xxh
#14 - Siempre me acordaré
SUP FOLKS. I’ve been feeling really sexy-like the past few weeks for a number of reasons. This mix is a shitload of tunes that, in their own special way, make you (read: me) all nipply.
Due to a MASSIVE iPOD CRASHING FIASCO, I don’t have the tracklist ready. It’s forthcoming. For now just download and be surprised. It’ll work better that way, anyway!
EDIT! Here ya go!
1. “How Naked Are We Gonna Get?” The Blow (from The Concussive Caress or, Casey Caught Her Mom Singing Along With the Vacuum, 2003)
2. “To Be Alone With You” Sufjan Stevens (from Seven Swans, 2004)
3. “The High Heat” Wilco (from Wilco Book CD, 2004)
4. “New Year’s Kiss” Casiotone for the Painfully Alone (from Etiquette, 2006)
5. “My Body Is A Cage” The Arcade Fire (from Neon Bible, 2007)
6. “Kiss Kiss” Yeah Yeah Yeahs (from the Is Is EP, 2007)
7. “Hey” Pixies (from Doolittle, 1989 (can you fucking believe it?!))
8. “A Man Like Me” Beulah (from Yoko, 2003)
9. “Come Crash” A.C. Newman (from The Slow Wonder, 2004)
10. “And Sleep Al Mar” Au Revoir Simone (from Verses of Comfort, Assurance, and Salvation, 2005)
11. “In the Cold, Cold Night” The White Stripes (from Elephant, 2003)
12. “Lonestar” Mirah (from Storageland, 2001)
13. “Dress Up In You” Belle & Sebastian (from The Life Pursuit, 2006)
14. “Not A Robot, But A Ghost” Andrew Bird (from Noble Beast, 2009)
15. “The Moneymaker” Rilo Kiley (from Under the Blacklight, 2007)
16. “U.R.A. Fever” The Kills (from Midnight Boom, 2008)
17. “One For the Shareholder” Maria Taylor (from 11:11, 2005)
18. “Hustle Rose” Metric (from Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?, 2003)
19. “I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked” Ida Maria (from Fortress Round My Heart, 2008)
20. “Milkshake N’ Honey” Sleater-Kinney (from All Hands On the Bad One, 2000)
21. “Melt” The Secret Stars (from Genealogies, 1996)
22. “House of Cards” Radiohead (from In Rainbows, 2007)
23. “Flower” Liz Phair (from Exile In Guyville, 1993)
Next time…
Um…I’m thinking some killer covers. Y/N?
Sexy songs go up tomorrow.
Thursday went a little too well.
It’s all put together and ready to go, I just need to go to bed and don’t have the time to upload tonight.
Excelsior!
xxh
What's In Store...
I’ve kind of abandoned the idea of a schedule. I’m sorry for that, but it’s kind of been stressing me out. Hopefully once I get back into the swing of things I’ll just keep to one without trying.
Anyway, on Friday or Saturday, depending on how my Thursday goes, I’ll be putting up the next podcast, which will be very sexy.
In following weeks, you can expect (in no particular order)…
-Women singing in French
-Some covers I really, really enjoy
-Songs about bars
-Songs with really good whistling parts
-What I like to call a “stringfuck”
-A mix comprised of songs by bands of whom I only like one song
Also I plan (hope) to be doing pretty comprehensive round-ups of Outside Lands, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, and the Treasure Island Music Festival, including day-by-day recaps in blog-form and podcasts dedicated to the artists playing each festival who I’m particularly excited about. I’ll try to get a good lot of photos, also.
And finally, I’ll be seeing Ted Leo two nights in a row at the end of this month. A little week-early birthday present to myself. These shows will undoubtedly be amazing and I’m positive I’ll want to be telling everyone all about them so come August 25th, be prepared for an onslaught.
That’s all for now! See ya this weekend.
xxh
A retraction of sorts.
19. “Summertime Clothes” Animal Collective (from Merriweather Post Pavilion) “I want to walk around with you.” That was enough to hook me on this record. I’m still digging on it despite their recent blatent rip-off of the Books in the form of their “My Girls” video.
Unofficial video for My Girls off Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)
It’s fan-made. The official video that Animal Collective made for this song is here.
Excuse my ignorance/lack of investigatory skills/motivation! Jen has corrected me and I am glad for it. Now I can go on loving Animal Collective and move on to being annoyed at this Rob Chesnutt character. Thanks Jen!
#13 - 2009's Been Pretty Epic So Far
I’ll forgo the usual prolouge and just get on with it. I’ll break with format slightly, though, and insert some ridiculous commentary directly into the playlist. Here is the grand return:
1. “Sister” Emily Loizeau (from Pays sauvage) Emily is quickly becoming one of my favorite women-who-sing-in-French. Fall in love with her immediately. You’ll thank me.
2. “Little Sparrows” The Handsome Family (from Honey Moon) First of four Chicago acts on this list. Chicago is to me what Nashville was to Gillian Welch…
3. “Broken Broken Broken Heart” Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard (from Em Are I)
4. “Never Had Nobody Like You” M. Ward (from Hold Time) Featuring Zooey Deschanel. Ah…
5. “Too Much Time” John Vanderslice (from Romanian Names)
6. “Deeper Down” Wilco (from Wilco (the album)) Personally, this was my second most anticipated album of the year and by God if it did not deliver. The perfect meeting of Being There and A ghost is born (both belonging to my top three favorite Wilco records), the album, as I (and I am sure many others) have been referring to it, is a quintessential record from America’s quintessential rock band. I couldn’t love it more if I wanted to.
7. “The Neighbors” St. Vincent (from Actor) I want to marry Annie Clark.
8. “Honey In The Sun” Camera Obscura (from My Maudlin Career)
9. “I Was Only Going Out” Loney, Dear (from Dear John) We’ve already discussed ther merrits of Swedish pop music. Moving on…
10. “100,000 Times” Maria Taylor (from LadyLuck) You know how I want to marry Annie Clark? I want to marry Maria Taylor even more. LadyLuck has Maria thismuch closer to finally singing to her full ability, and this song is the best example of this. The next time I see Maria, I will be bringing her and extremely large bottle of Malbec and then she will love me forever.
11. “This Tornado Loves You” Neko Case (from Middle Cyclone) This song isn’t as good without Nora O’Connor’s involvement, but I am still obsessed with it. I challenge you to not love this record.
12. “Prophets” A.C. Newman (from Get Guilty) I have always prefered Carl Newman’s solo work to the New Pornographers. This song is fucking epic. That is all I need to say.
13. “Human of the Year” Regina Spektor (from Far) I have extremely mixed feelings about this record as a whole, but Regina did right by “Human of the Year,” which has been one of my favorites for a long time now.
14. “Souverian” Andrew Bird (from Noble Beast) Needless to say this was my most anticipated album of the year, and it came out in January, and I’m still losing my shit over it. We do not need me to continue on about Andrew Bird; I do enough of that over on my other blog.
15. “Wheelpusher” Anni Rossi (from Rockwell) This is the first of three songs on this list that originally appeared on EPs from previous years. This was not intentional. Anni Rossi is amazing. She covers Ace of Base. You don’t need to know anything else.
16. “Gone Are The Days” Mirah (from (A)Spera)
17. “Gimme Sympathy” Metric (from Fantasies) I’m certain this will be in the running for my favorite record of the year.
18. “Knight Of Wands” Au Revoir Simone (from Still Night, Still Light) I want to marry Heather D’Angelo. I love clapping along with this one, but I almost always miss the clapping parts. Fail.
19. “Summertime Clothes” Animal Collective (from Merriweather Post Pavilion) “I want to walk around with you.” That was enough to hook me on this record. I’m still digging on it despite their recent blatent rip-off of the Books in the form of their “My Girls” video.
20. “Trepanation Party” Voxtrot (online single available at voxtrot.net) I am so fucking ready for a new Voxtrot record. Come on, boys, let’s make this happen.
21. “Sleepyhead” Passion Pit (from Manners) From-an-EP #2.
22. “Just Impolite” Plushgun (from Pins & Panzers) From-an-EP #3. Believe it or not, it was my not-so-musically-inclined friend Miray who turned me on to these guys. I’m glad for it because Pins & Panzers (and of course the previous EPs) is one of the most fun records I’ve heard in a long time.
23. “Hysteric” Yeah Yeah Yeahs (from It’s Blitz!) Possibly my favorite Yeah Yeah Yeahs song of all time. Ever.
OKAY I’m done being all hypocritical and music-critic-y. Here’s your fucking download link.
And here’s to an equally amazing second half!
In coming weeks…
Stringfuck
Women Singing In French
“I really just like this one song…”
xxh
Oh, what have I been doing?
A lot. It’s been a pretty epic summer so far. Two weeks and a half in New England, two and a half more weeks with my love Korinna here in San Francisco, Jenny Lewis in Boston, Fleetwood Mac in Manchester, Wilco in Berkeley, and most recently Azure Ray at Great American Music Hall. Which was amazing.
The current backing section of Azure Ray consists of Nick White, Andy Lemaster, and Tod Wisenbaker. Maria Taylor wrote her setlist on a brown paper bag—with the handle still attached (I managed to nab it). They played what I would consider a dream set (save for the fact that they didn’t do “Nothing Like A Song”). They were beautiful as always. They are working on a new record. They are back. And I for one could not be more thrilled.
Above, a video of the ladies performing “If You Fall” on Thursday night.
It’s only fitting that my summer be this musical, considering what an amazing year 2009 has been already. In just the first six months, literally over twenty records have been released that I am personally ecstatic over. And so in mere moments I will be posting the first podcast in what now? two months? and it will highlight my favorites from the first half of 2009. IT’S GONNA BE FUN.
