You may have noticed that most have my posts have discussed single songs lately. That’s a byproduct of my newborn not giving me the time to listen to more than one track before I feed, wipe, burp, feed, burp, wipe, wipe, wipe…
The other day I changed her and went about my business for about two hours before noticing that I had a gob of poo on my finger.
What does my stank finger have to do with music? Well I heard “Thrash Unreal” by Against Me! on the ole XM Radio and I started banging away at the steering wheel, resisting the urge to pump my fist out the window. I thought that this might be a guilty pleasure, but I’ve decided that I’m comfortable enough with my indie snobbery to embrace pop-punk. In fact, as my daughter grows up and starts listening to music with her friends, I’d hope that she chooses something like Against Me!. I’d love to take her to this show instead of some candy-ass group like the Jonas Brothers.
When I first heard “Thrash Unreal,” I started having flashbacks to third grade. I couldn’t figure out why, but the song brought out memories of my Mongoose BMX bike, a dirt racetrack, a yellow water-proof Walkman…and something else. What was playing? Then it hit me. It was Quiet Riot’s gloriously misspelled track, “Cum On Feel the Noize.” The slow intro with power-vocals, building into a pop-metal chorus that deserves to be in a beer commercial. Magnificent.
It’s summer, so play this track at your next backyard barbecue and tell a friend to toss you an ice cold Coors Light from about 20 yards away. Catch it with one hand, then you know what to do…
So I’m driving home from work last Friday, barely able to keep my eyelids open after my gassy newborn daughter kept me up at all hours the previous night, and XM radio responded by playing “Jackson Station” by Band of Heathens. It’s as if my radio was saying “Hey little buddy. I see you’re exhausted, but just roll down your windows, turn up the volume and go home and crack open a beer. Everything will be just fine.” That’s just what I did.
After the Sierra Nevada went down, however, I was dying to hear that song again. A search on Elbo.ws later that night brought me to Ick Music (which looks like a great blog, by the way) and now the song has been brought to you.
Band of Heathens are an Austin, Texas outfit that’s sure to please any fan of The Band and most of you Drive-By Truckers folks. If you were reading and listening in the old days when we wrote about Four Year Bender, assuming you liked what you heard, then Band of Heathens is absolutely perfect for you. The Heathens trade off vocal duties to play songs laced with harmony and soul. Their debut self-titled album is out today.
I found another gem on XM Radio’s Cross Country station the other day on a drive home from work. It’s rare to find an Irish-Country tune, but that’s just what Charlie Robison’s serves up in this track, “John O’Reilly.”
The song tells the story of an Irish immigrant fighting his way through Hell’s Kitchen, earning his keep from the gambling Italians. Why the picture and video from Snatch? Listen to the song and you’ll see. The story has a similar ending.
Here’s a great verse from “John O’Reilly”:
I fought in New York City and I fought the Jersey shore
My gut stayed full of whiskey and my bed stayed full of whores
They called my right a cannonball and my left they called the same
I left em’ all lyin’ half in blood and half in shame
Here’s the latest XM Radio track that I’m obsessed with. Cuff the Duke is an indie, alt-country band hailing from Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. You know, that country that seems to be putting out way better music than the US these days.
“Take My Money and Run” is actually from their 2005 self-titled album. Who said music blogging needs to be current? Good tunes have no shelf life.
HearYa has been full of testosterone lately. It’s time to mix in some indie tunes from the ladies.
Once again, XM Radio has introduced me to an artist that I wouldn’t have found otherwise. Jaymay is a New York poet and folk singer-songwriter that reminds me a little of Alela Diane. Check out “Sea Green See Blue.”
She’ll be at SXSW 2008, although she hasn’t posted her whereabouts.
XM Tracks highlights my new music discoveries via XM Radio, mostly pulled from one of these stations: X Country, XMU or The Verge. These are the two most recent songs that stayed in my head long after my head has left my car.
Coconut Records - “West Coast”
As a general rule, I try to avoid any band that was started by an actor. It’s okay if a rock singer ends up becoming an actor (I saw Tom Waits in the classic movie The Outsiders yesterday), but not the other way around. I refuse to listen to Billy Bob or Russell Crowe.
Jason Schwartzman is different. I’ll give him a free pass because “California” by his other band, Phantom Planet, has been a guilty pleasure of mine since it broke out with the first season of the O.C. Coconut Records - West Coast (courtesy of Anyone’s Guess)
Octoberman put out a great song called “Run from Safety” that reminds me of Wooden Wand. It’s a nice folk tune and I’m now diving headlong into his full length release, also entitled Run from Safety on White Whale Records.
Work’s been keeping me real busy lately, but I’m getting enough good tunes on XM Radio to make my music discovery a bit easier. I’ve decided to post tracks that I discover on XM Radio and give credit where credit is due. You’ll see these XM Tracks posts on a regular basis (or at least for as long as I’m an XM subscriber).
Most recently I heard two great songs, one by The Sadies and the other by Jose Gonzalez. I’ve since jumped into The Sadies’s full album called New Season on Yep Roc Records. It’s a fine piece of trippy alt-country. Anna Leigh is one of the quieter tracks on the album, with tempo changes and great guitar-work.
I’ve been reading lots of buzz about Jose Gonzalez and I understand why after hearing his track, “Down the Line.” He’s a unique singer-songwriter from Sweden that reminded me a little of Nick Drake.
