It's been a while since I've gotten to sub for a rock/pop show, after doing one per quarter for a while there. Always feels good to get back behind the wheel of one of these babies.
Format:
ARTIST -- "TRACK TITLE" -- ALBUM TITLE (LABEL, YEAR)
* Secret Machines -- "This Road Leads Where It's Led" -- This Road Leads Where It's Led (Reprise, 2005)
* Scrabbel -- "Not Right" -- 1909 (Three Ring, 2005)
Kings of Convenience -- "Failure" -- Quiet Is the New Loud (AstralWerks, 2001)
* Piano Magic -- "Night of the Hunter" -- Disffected (Darla, 2005)
* Teenage Fanclub -- "Save" -- Man-Made (Merge, 2005)
? The Ike Reilly Assassination -- "Whatever Happened to the Girl in Me?" -- Sparkle in the Finish (Rock Ridge, 2004)
* Dressy Bessy -- "Side 2" -- Electrified (Transdreamer, 2005)
* Mirah with the Blak Cat Orchestra -- "Monument" -- To All We Stretch the Open Arm (Yoyo, 2005)
* Al Stewart -- "Gina in the King's Road" -- A Beach Full of Shells (Appleseed, 2005)
Like Blue Oyster Cult, Al has at least one worthwhile song on even the worst of his
albums. (There's a comparison you didn't expect, eh?) Even the most
wretched '80s-looking ones -- check the bargain bins and see what I mean. But for his best stuff in general,
seek out Past, Present, and Future with the epic, powerful,
heartbreaking "Roads to
Moscow," and Rhymes in Rooms, a live album that revisits a
couple of Year of the Cat tracks without the Alan Parsons
saccharine dumped all over them. On the folky side, an out-of-print gem from
circa 1994 called "Between the Wars" is packed with '30s-era history; you
could almost use it in classrooms (seriously).
*! Andy Haas/Don Fiorino -- "Memorywound" [excerpt] -- Death Don't Have No Mercy (Resonant, 2005)
* Charming Hostess -- "War" -- Sarajevo Blues (Tzadik, 2004)
Oneida -- "Did I Die" -- The Wedding (Jagjaguwar, 2005)
? Robert Pollard -- "I Expect a Kill" -- Fiction Man (Fading Captain Series, 2004)
The Chris Stamey Experience -- "McCauley Street (Let's Go Downtown)" -- A Question of Temperature (Yep Roc, 2004)
XBXRX -- "Siren Bomb Voo" -- Love Songs for the Blind (Anal Log, 1999)
* = Item in KZSU rotation
-- Go back to Memory Select playlists.
I like Ike. Came across him during a short trip to Boston.
He's got a gruff blue-collar look, and his songs draw from pop and folk
(but with louder guitars). Kind of a tough guy with the heart of a
poet. His songs are catchy singalong types. He's apparently got a new
album coming out soon, so watch and listen for it.
* Okapi -- "Vesto Meglio" -- Where's the Beef? (Inflatabl Labl, 2005)
Al rules, and it's just too bad that he's got that '70s
"lite-rock" reputation (and that so many of his fans
hail from that zone of fandom). This CD packs snappy folky tunes with lots of guitar
and spritely lyrics thick with historical references. Al writes smart
stuff, and it's great to see him not only recording, but doing so
in his more natural, rootsy habitat.
* Hillstomp -- "Nope" -- One Word (self-released, 2004)
Experimental improvisations that focus on stringed
instruments: Guitar and dobro (steel/slide sounding guitar-like instrument)
mostly. Atop some rootsy grooves they'll add squawky sax
and various electronics, so it crosses between the
avant-garde and the, uh, pre-garde. I'll be playing this on
my regular show as well. A couple of tracks are more
straighforward grooves in Mexican-guitar or Native-American motifs... this ain't one of 'em.
* Uncle Earl -- "Old Bunch of Keys" -- She Waits for the Night (Rounder, 2005)
Bluegrass instrumental. Trying to keep that
"roots" theme going ...
? Stan Ridgway -- "Wake Up Sally (the Cops Are Here)" -- Snakebite: Blacktop Ballads and Fugitive Songs (Redfly, 2004)
The "zowza-zowza" song, for those who heard my show. Great album
drawing from Eastern European folk sources, featuring female harmony
vocals and lots of modern rock/jazz/noise touches. Powerful, touching
stuff that reflects the despair of wartime.
? Chalk -- "I Saw It Coming" -- Black Box Broken (Dreary Me, 2002)
Noisy stuff from Cincinnati. Guitars, drums ... but
also lots of analog synthesizers and similar noisemakers.
* Little Red Car Wreck -- "Crashing Cars" -- V/A: Yoyo a Go-Go (Yoyo, 2005)
Missed this one by one week -- it dropped out of
rotation last Monday. Not that that should stop me from
playing it.
* The Go-Betweens -- "Here Comes a City" -- Oceans Apart (Yep Roc, 2005)
The face, voice, and pen behind Guided by Voices. This
album came out right around the time he announced GbV was
breaking up. Pollard will start his "official" solo career
with a two-CD project, "From a Compound Eye," slated to
come out this fall, AFAIK.
King Crimson -- "Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream" -- Thrak (Discipline Global Mobile, 1994)
It seems every rock show I do, I toss in King Crimson. And this
one isn't even the long King Crimson that I normally use as a
coffee break! Apparently I like these guys (all 6 or 7 different permutations of them).
*! Thollem/Rivera -- "Prisons Are Neither Prevention Nor the Cure" -- Everything's Going Everywhere (Edgetone, 2004)
Local songster, sort of. Thollem McDonas is a pianist
and singer, but this is far from traditional jazz vocals.
The piano is an athletic, choppy affair with definite
jazz leanings but in an aggressive, almost cynical style --
a wonderful, unique style. And he sings on some tracks, like
this one. Rick Rivera is a drummer who often accompanies
Thollem. They're local; look for their gigs on
www.bayimproviser.com.
* The Orange Peels -- "California Blue" -- Circling the Sun (Parasol, 2005)
Chris Stamey (of The dB's fame) with Yo La Tengo as
his backing band. Nice album; the first half is mostly
covers ("Compared to What"! Television's "Venus"!) and
the second half are Stamey originals. This is the
10-minute one that gets into a nice strong jam over
its melancholy chords. Great stuff for those dead, still,
lazy summer days.
Oranger -- "Going Under" -- Shutdown the Sun (Jackpine Social Club, 2004)
Everyone should listen to Oranger. Great local
pop band. This song has that "hit single" feel, and it made
a good transition out of the 10-minute Stamey track,
starting with a slow sparse sound and quickly bursting
into thick guitar chords and tight harmony vocals.
* Bunky -- "Boy/Girl" -- Born to Be a Motorcycle (Asthmatic Kitty, 2005)
Yes, they have a new album out. No, we don't have a copy yet. Bouncy punky stuff reminiscent of old old Devo -- and
they've apparently got Weasel Walter behind the drums now.
Young Marble Giants -- "The Taxi" -- Colossal Youth (Les Disques du Crepuscule, 1994)
A calm instrumental from an otherwise rocking band.
Numbers -- "Driving Song" -- Numbers Life (TigerBeat6, 2002)
Like XBXRX, a band reminiscent of old old Devo. But
they don't sound the same as XBXRX. Hope that's helpful.
* Sputnik -- "Sputnik (Song for Laika)" -- Meet Sputnik (self-released?, 2005)
! = Jazz anomaly
? = Item not in KZSU library
-- Bay Area free/improv music calendar: http://www.bayimproviser.com.