So I broke my first FCC law tonight. About midway through the show, I jumped into Ron Wood's Act Together (a great song that was covered by Band of Horses when they played Higher Ground a couple years back). A minute and a half into the song, during the first chorus, he sings the word "shit" and it totally caught me off guard b/c I forgot that he said that, otherwise I wouldn't have played the tune. The Radiator may be a small, low-frequency commercial free station, but we still have to follow The Man's laws. Can't ever escape that man, can we? That guy's reach stretches far and wide.
So after the "shit" went down, so to speak, I slowly faded the song out and read the disclaimer, which basically frees the station of any responsibility, and jumped right into the Whiskeytown tune Turn Around. I was a bit flustered by the "shit", as it threw me off course a bit in my show, however I was ready to get it back on track. Well, even though I was on track, the cd was off track and started skipping on that song. Awesome. Flustered further, I stopped that song and crossed my fingers and jumped into some 2 Live Crew. Just kidding. I put on a little Husker Du ditty called Never Talking To You Again and got the show rolling again.
Later on in the show, I played my favorite three songs of the night. It was a local set that included the three all-stars of the Burlington scene in my opinion--Lowell Thompson, Kelly Ravin, and Paddy Reagan. I've been really immersed in some local tunes lately through the Radiator, the Bands of Burlington show, Art Hop shows (Blowtorch specifically), and some Monkey House shows.
The first song was Kelly Ravin's Those Days and I can't write enough about this song. I downloaded it from his myspace page, so check it out. I don't know much about him, but downloaded a live set by him, Paddy Reagan, and Lowell at the Monkey House from this website http://www.vermontlivemusic.com/Paddy%20Reagan,%20Lowell%20Thompson%20and%20Kelly%20Ravin/2008-05-13%20-%20Monkey%20House/MP3%20Format/
and it's such a great, full set of awesome tunes by these guys. Check it out and download it. Kelly's song in this set stood out immediately--especially the "drive fast cars" lyric about a 2 minutes in. Check it out.
The next to stand out is the next song I played and is Fortunate to Sing by Paddy Reagan. Paddy is the booking guy at The Monkey House and is responsible for turning that place around and making it the best hang out in the area by far. They have great beer, awesome music, and always a cool crowd. The shows they've been pulling lately (thanks to Paddy) have really filled a void in the area for me. The bands aren't limited to the usual singer songwriter--although there's nothing wrong with that--but they branch out to punk bands, rock bands, electro-trash bands, salsa night, etc. They also hold a lot of the Tick Tick promoted events which are always guaranteed to be awesome. And best of all, it's only about 5 stumbling blocks from my house. So back to Paddy's song, it makes some great VT references and is a solidly crafted tune with a good vocal melody over the top.
I finished off the local trio with my guy Lowell Thompson's tune called You. He finger picks his way through this slower ballad of a song and impresses me, as always, with his song writing ability. I'm surprised that he is not bigger than he is, but am kind of happy he's not, in a very selfish way b/c I like being able to see him in smaller environments. His set at the Bands of Burlington event at Nectar's/Metronome last Thursday was the first time I'd seen him play with a full band since the very first time I saw him a couple years ago and it was an incredible set of rocking tunes ala The Stones, Kings of Leon, rockin' Boss, etc.
There were a bunch more tunes that I threw into the show tonight that I love and next week I think I'm going to speed it up a bit and get some more hard rocking going on, so tune in.
1. Tombstone -- Barbacoa -- Barbacoa
2. Self-Destructive Zones -- Drive By Truckers -- Brighter Than Creation's Dark
3. 7 Months, 39 Days -- Hank Williams III -- Lovesick, Broke, & Driftin'
4. Stop the World -- Dwight Yoakam -- Dwight's Used Records
5. Standin' -- Vetiver -- Thing of the Past
6. Turn Around -- Whiskeytown -- Stranger's Almanac
7. Never Talking to You Again -- Husker Du -- Zen Arcade
8. Those Days -- Kelly Raven
9. Fortunate to Sing -- Paddy Reagan, Lowell Thompson, & Kelly Raven -- 5/13/08 Monkey House Winooski, VT
10. You -- Lowell Thompson w/ Lowell Thompson & Kelly Raven -- 5/13/08 Monkey House Winooski, VT
11. I Must Be In a Good Place Now -- Vetiver -- Thing of the Past
12. Bury Your Burden -- Oakley Hall -- Gypsum Strings
13. I Was A Stranger -- Smog -- Red Apple Falls
14. Swimming Song -- Loudon Wainwright III
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Caught on the In Between Playlist 09-16-08
Tonight's show was a feature on the website www.daytrotter.com. It's a website that plays live tracks recorded in the mid-western studio Futureappletree Studio One in downtown Rock Island, Ill. Rock Island is one of the 5 (ironically) Quad Cities -- Illinois cities Rock Island, Moline, and East Moline and Iowa Cities Davenport (my birthplace) and Bettendorf (where I lived the first 7 years of my life). I check the site often and have gotten some great tracks from it.
Starting off the show was Surf Jam by The Beach Boys off of Surfin' USA and then we jumped into the Daytrotter tracks --
1. Surf Jam -- The Beach Boys -- Surfin' USA
2. Another Late Night -- Catfish Haven -- Daytrotter
3. White Winter Hymnal -- Fleet Foxes -- Daytrotter
4. Are You As Excited About Me As I Am -- Jeff Daniels -- Daytrotter
5. Restless -- Langhorne Slim -- Daytrotter
6. Marlboro Man -- The Felice Brothers -- Daytrotter
7. Furr -- Blitzen Trapper -- Daytrotter
8. Biscuits -- Justin Townes Earle -- Daytrotter
9. Dry -- William Elliott Whitmore -- Daytrotter
10. Flume -- Bon Iver -- Daytrotter
11. Alive Among Thieves -- Oakley Hall -- Daytrotter
12. Priest, Poet, and The Pig -- Vietnam -- Daytrotter
13. You Ain't Going Nowhere -- Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson -- Daytrotter
14. Goodbye Dear Old Stepstone -- Bonnie "Prince" Billy -- Daytrotter
My favorite song out of all of them is the Jeff Daniels tune. Go download it right now. I was shocked at how good it is and it wasn't what I was expecting it to be at all. Yeah, that's Harry Dunne. Mock, Yeah, Ing, Yeah.
Another great one is the Catfish Haven song Another Late Night. It's a rocker that sounds like it's played at some big town hall and people are dancing up a storm to it. The other songs they've recorded for Daytrotter are great as well, specifially Please Come Back.
William Elliott Whitmore has a voice like a weary, travelled 75 year old man. And plays the banjo like one too. It's front porch music.
The Felice Brothers are complete and unique and can't be lumped into indie rockers trying to play old timey. They're creative and have great voices and control of their instruments. Their set at the Newport Folk Festival, although I only caught the last couple minutes of it, was amazing--the power had gone out, so they jumped down into the crowd with their instruments and voices and had everyone clapping, dancing, and singing. It was one of those shows where the audience would barely let the band leave the stage at the end.
Langhorne Slim is hit and miss in my opinion. This tune is a strong hit. I saw him live at Higher Ground and the show was also hit and miss. He's got his way of playing and singing, but sometimes the songs tend to blend together.
Oakley Hall is a great band out of Brooklyn. Their album Gypsum Strings is a good place to start if you're looking to check them out. The Daytrotter songs is an even better place.
So hopefully that's a good guide to www.daytrotter.com. It's a great blog to support as it's not your run of the mill blog...just talking about music...er...wait...
Starting off the show was Surf Jam by The Beach Boys off of Surfin' USA and then we jumped into the Daytrotter tracks --
1. Surf Jam -- The Beach Boys -- Surfin' USA
2. Another Late Night -- Catfish Haven -- Daytrotter
3. White Winter Hymnal -- Fleet Foxes -- Daytrotter
4. Are You As Excited About Me As I Am -- Jeff Daniels -- Daytrotter
5. Restless -- Langhorne Slim -- Daytrotter
6. Marlboro Man -- The Felice Brothers -- Daytrotter
7. Furr -- Blitzen Trapper -- Daytrotter
8. Biscuits -- Justin Townes Earle -- Daytrotter
9. Dry -- William Elliott Whitmore -- Daytrotter
10. Flume -- Bon Iver -- Daytrotter
11. Alive Among Thieves -- Oakley Hall -- Daytrotter
12. Priest, Poet, and The Pig -- Vietnam -- Daytrotter
13. You Ain't Going Nowhere -- Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson -- Daytrotter
14. Goodbye Dear Old Stepstone -- Bonnie "Prince" Billy -- Daytrotter
My favorite song out of all of them is the Jeff Daniels tune. Go download it right now. I was shocked at how good it is and it wasn't what I was expecting it to be at all. Yeah, that's Harry Dunne. Mock, Yeah, Ing, Yeah.
Another great one is the Catfish Haven song Another Late Night. It's a rocker that sounds like it's played at some big town hall and people are dancing up a storm to it. The other songs they've recorded for Daytrotter are great as well, specifially Please Come Back.
William Elliott Whitmore has a voice like a weary, travelled 75 year old man. And plays the banjo like one too. It's front porch music.
The Felice Brothers are complete and unique and can't be lumped into indie rockers trying to play old timey. They're creative and have great voices and control of their instruments. Their set at the Newport Folk Festival, although I only caught the last couple minutes of it, was amazing--the power had gone out, so they jumped down into the crowd with their instruments and voices and had everyone clapping, dancing, and singing. It was one of those shows where the audience would barely let the band leave the stage at the end.
Langhorne Slim is hit and miss in my opinion. This tune is a strong hit. I saw him live at Higher Ground and the show was also hit and miss. He's got his way of playing and singing, but sometimes the songs tend to blend together.
Oakley Hall is a great band out of Brooklyn. Their album Gypsum Strings is a good place to start if you're looking to check them out. The Daytrotter songs is an even better place.
So hopefully that's a good guide to www.daytrotter.com. It's a great blog to support as it's not your run of the mill blog...just talking about music...er...wait...
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Caught on the In Between Playlist -- 09/09/08
Tonight's show is dedicated to my brother Brad b/c today is his birthday. Happy birthday, Brad!
We started off the show with the local boys Barbacoa and a tune called Stratosphere. Bill Mullins is in another band these days--Blowtorch--and I had the pleasure of catching them last Friday at the Art Hop behind Speaking Volumes. They put on a great show and I see them as a mix between Robyn Hitchcock, Bad Religion, and The Descendents. I liked the feel of that tune, so I played another similar styled tune by The Untamed Youth called I'm Going Away.
Next up we jumped into a block of David Byrne tunes. Setting it off was Strange Overtones off of his new collaboration album with Brian Eno called Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. Following that was a live version of Psycho Killer off of their live album Stop Making Sense that is from the DVD of the same name. Rounding out the set was a tune off of his album on which he jumped with both pies into Latin music called Make Believe Mambo. The album is called Rei Momo and features Byrne's take of various Latin music styles such as merengue, Cumbia, Rhumba, Bolero, Cha Cha Cha, etc. It's a great, diverse album.
Last week I was down in VA for a family reunion and my dad's cousin Carolyn Matousek was there. I always knew that she and her husband used to play music together, but over the 3-4 days that I was down there, I found out just how big of an act they were. Her husband, Danny Matousek, started a band called The Flairs in 1958 when he was still in high school in Sioux City, Iowa. Eventually they became The Screamers and finally The Velaires. In 1961, their cover of Chuck Berry's tune Roll Over Beethoven was a top ten hit nationally and went to #1 in Los Angeles according to Billboard. They toured for the next several years and became the only band out of Iowa to be on American Bandstand. Eventually Danny and Carolyn became a duo and started incorporating country music into their tunes and moved to Nashville to do some recording and performing. In 1997 they were inducted into the Iowa Rock N Roll Hall of Fame and in 1998, after Danny passed away due to a heart ailment, the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame began giving out the Danny Matousek Lifetime Achievement Award each year to "those persons that have displayed, during their lifetime the same dedication, the same spirit, the same professionalism, and made a lasting contribution to Iowa Rock and Roll music as did Danny Matousek."
The first Danny and The Velaires tune that we played was a B Side called Shaggy Dog that is actually featured, albeit sneakily, in the movie Pineapple Express. After that we heard "What Am I Living For" which really showcases how great of a singer Danny was.
We next rolled into the tune Broken Heart off of Deke Dickerson's The Melody album, which is a concept album on which Deke did his best to construct tunes with great melodies and hooks that never leave you throughout the day. Following that was Elvis doing Don't Be Cruel off of the new Platinum: A Life In Music box set, which features a ton of unreleased versions of Elvis tunes. Finishing out the set was Peer Pressure by my buddies Tan Analog.
One of my favorite bands of all time is The Clash. Their openness to different genres of music is what most pulls me toward them. When most punk rockers were being narrow minded and sticking to their same punk style, The Clash ventured into all kinds of different music from ska to reggae to R&B to funk and to even early hip hop with The Magnificent Seven. More bands need to take a cue from them and open up a bit. We played the songs Revolution Rock and Rudie Can't Fail off of London Calling and Bankrobber which was not on an official studio release, but ultimately came out on Black Market Clash.
Calexico's new album Carried To Dust was released today, so in honor of them I played one of their new tracks called The News About William. I'm happy to hear that tune heading more towards their Southwest style as opposed to their middle of the road last album Garden Ruin. Hopefully the rest of the album sounds the same b/c I liked this song. Next up we jumped into some instrumental tunes -- Beans For Breakfast by Blktop Project which features the three skate legends Ray Barbee, Tommy Guerrero, and Matt Rodriguez, then Ciudad Del Swing by the Colombia based DJ Quantic and finally a tune off of Tommy Guerrero's album A Little Bit of Somethin' called 100 Years. Thanks for listening and I'll see you next week.
1. Stratosphere -- Barbacoa -- Barbacoa
2. I'm Going Away -- Untamed Youth -- Untamed Melodies
3. Strange Overtones -- David Byrne and Brian Eno -- Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
4. Psycho Killer -- Talking Heads -- Stop Making Sense: Special New Edition
5. Make Believe Mambo -- David Byrne -- Rei Momo
6. Shaggy Dog -- Danny and The Velaires
7. What Am I Living For -- Danny and The Velaires
8. Broken Heart -- Deke Dickerson -- The Melody
9. Don't Be Cruel -- Elvis Presley -- Platinum: A Life in Music (disc 1)
10. What Peer Pressure -- Tan Analog
11. Revolution Rock -- The Clash -- London Calling
12. Rudie Can't Fail -- The Clash -- London Calling
13. Bankrobber -- The Clash -- Black Market Clash
14. The News About William -- Calexico -- Carried To Dust
15. Beans For Breakfast -- Blktop Project -- Blktop Project
16. Ciudad Del Swing -- Quantic Presents Flowering Inferno -- Ciudad Del Swing
17. 100 Years -- Tommy Guerrero -- A Little Bit of Somethin'
We started off the show with the local boys Barbacoa and a tune called Stratosphere. Bill Mullins is in another band these days--Blowtorch--and I had the pleasure of catching them last Friday at the Art Hop behind Speaking Volumes. They put on a great show and I see them as a mix between Robyn Hitchcock, Bad Religion, and The Descendents. I liked the feel of that tune, so I played another similar styled tune by The Untamed Youth called I'm Going Away.
Next up we jumped into a block of David Byrne tunes. Setting it off was Strange Overtones off of his new collaboration album with Brian Eno called Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. Following that was a live version of Psycho Killer off of their live album Stop Making Sense that is from the DVD of the same name. Rounding out the set was a tune off of his album on which he jumped with both pies into Latin music called Make Believe Mambo. The album is called Rei Momo and features Byrne's take of various Latin music styles such as merengue, Cumbia, Rhumba, Bolero, Cha Cha Cha, etc. It's a great, diverse album.
Last week I was down in VA for a family reunion and my dad's cousin Carolyn Matousek was there. I always knew that she and her husband used to play music together, but over the 3-4 days that I was down there, I found out just how big of an act they were. Her husband, Danny Matousek, started a band called The Flairs in 1958 when he was still in high school in Sioux City, Iowa. Eventually they became The Screamers and finally The Velaires. In 1961, their cover of Chuck Berry's tune Roll Over Beethoven was a top ten hit nationally and went to #1 in Los Angeles according to Billboard. They toured for the next several years and became the only band out of Iowa to be on American Bandstand. Eventually Danny and Carolyn became a duo and started incorporating country music into their tunes and moved to Nashville to do some recording and performing. In 1997 they were inducted into the Iowa Rock N Roll Hall of Fame and in 1998, after Danny passed away due to a heart ailment, the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame began giving out the Danny Matousek Lifetime Achievement Award each year to "those persons that have displayed, during their lifetime the same dedication, the same spirit, the same professionalism, and made a lasting contribution to Iowa Rock and Roll music as did Danny Matousek."
The first Danny and The Velaires tune that we played was a B Side called Shaggy Dog that is actually featured, albeit sneakily, in the movie Pineapple Express. After that we heard "What Am I Living For" which really showcases how great of a singer Danny was.
We next rolled into the tune Broken Heart off of Deke Dickerson's The Melody album, which is a concept album on which Deke did his best to construct tunes with great melodies and hooks that never leave you throughout the day. Following that was Elvis doing Don't Be Cruel off of the new Platinum: A Life In Music box set, which features a ton of unreleased versions of Elvis tunes. Finishing out the set was Peer Pressure by my buddies Tan Analog.
One of my favorite bands of all time is The Clash. Their openness to different genres of music is what most pulls me toward them. When most punk rockers were being narrow minded and sticking to their same punk style, The Clash ventured into all kinds of different music from ska to reggae to R&B to funk and to even early hip hop with The Magnificent Seven. More bands need to take a cue from them and open up a bit. We played the songs Revolution Rock and Rudie Can't Fail off of London Calling and Bankrobber which was not on an official studio release, but ultimately came out on Black Market Clash.
Calexico's new album Carried To Dust was released today, so in honor of them I played one of their new tracks called The News About William. I'm happy to hear that tune heading more towards their Southwest style as opposed to their middle of the road last album Garden Ruin. Hopefully the rest of the album sounds the same b/c I liked this song. Next up we jumped into some instrumental tunes -- Beans For Breakfast by Blktop Project which features the three skate legends Ray Barbee, Tommy Guerrero, and Matt Rodriguez, then Ciudad Del Swing by the Colombia based DJ Quantic and finally a tune off of Tommy Guerrero's album A Little Bit of Somethin' called 100 Years. Thanks for listening and I'll see you next week.
1. Stratosphere -- Barbacoa -- Barbacoa
2. I'm Going Away -- Untamed Youth -- Untamed Melodies
3. Strange Overtones -- David Byrne and Brian Eno -- Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
4. Psycho Killer -- Talking Heads -- Stop Making Sense: Special New Edition
5. Make Believe Mambo -- David Byrne -- Rei Momo
6. Shaggy Dog -- Danny and The Velaires
7. What Am I Living For -- Danny and The Velaires
8. Broken Heart -- Deke Dickerson -- The Melody
9. Don't Be Cruel -- Elvis Presley -- Platinum: A Life in Music (disc 1)
10. What Peer Pressure -- Tan Analog
11. Revolution Rock -- The Clash -- London Calling
12. Rudie Can't Fail -- The Clash -- London Calling
13. Bankrobber -- The Clash -- Black Market Clash
14. The News About William -- Calexico -- Carried To Dust
15. Beans For Breakfast -- Blktop Project -- Blktop Project
16. Ciudad Del Swing -- Quantic Presents Flowering Inferno -- Ciudad Del Swing
17. 100 Years -- Tommy Guerrero -- A Little Bit of Somethin'
Monday, September 8, 2008
Great live show -- Bands of Burlington show 9/18 at Nectars/Metronome
Check out this great show on Thurs 9/18 at Metronome/Nectar's. The admission benefits our beloved Radiator, so make sure you go to the show! Not that you need an excuse b/c the lineup is incredible -- Swale, Husbands, Lowell Thompson!, etc.
Make sure to check it out!
http://whatsgood.7dvt.com/2008/08/local-music-101.html#more
Make sure to check it out!
http://whatsgood.7dvt.com/2008/08/local-music-101.html#more
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Caught on the In Between Playlist -- 08/26/08
I am super proud of this show, but bummed that it wasn't broadcast over the net. The server was screwed up again for some reason (i.e. someone probably spilled tie-dye paint on it), so the show could only be heard over the radio.
I started off with another stellar Dick Dale tune called Fish Taco. While out in CA a couple weeks ago, I got super inspired by their History of CA Surfing exhibit in the OC Airport and it had a cool section on Dick Dale. Such a great guitarist and musician.
Next up was Catfish Haven -- a Missouri band named after the trailer park that the singer hails from. The song is off of their new, as of yet unreleased, album Devastator and is called Are You Ready. It's an excellent hype song to get the show rolling right. They're a trio and they play loud, tight, soulful, bluesy rock with the singer plugging in an acoustic and turning it up to 10. He's got a great voice.
We kept the vibe going with M. Ward's To Go Home next and then jumped right into a song by the legendary Talking Heads called Tentative Decisions. I'm going to play a trio of David Byrne songs on my next show this Tuesday, so check it out. His musical career over the past 30 years is incredibly inspiring and ever changing. From Talking Heads to his solo stuff to his work with Brian Eno to the bands he chooses to put on his label Luka Bop, he's a very well-rounded musician and the kind of genre jumping musician that I love.
The next set started off with a tune from the mix-tape Top Ranking released by Diplo and Santogold called Guns of Brooklyn. The music is a lift from The Clash's Guns of Brixton (specifically Paul Simonon's bassline) and I think her voice sounds great over top of it. This song is so unique to The Clash and to Simonon in particular that it's hard to cover, but this version is great. Next up was Nacimiento by Cordero, which is a band that was started back in '99 and featured members from Calexico and Giant Sand. I'm a huge Calexico fan but not really a fan of Howie Gelb's work in Giant Sand b/c I feel it's too incomplete and his voice is more of a whisper or spoken word style than actually good singing. Cordero is fronted by Ani Cordero and has moved on from the Calexio/GS backing band to form a full band unique to Cordero and they have a new one that just came out on the excellent Bloodshot Records.
We moved on next to Life Goes Down Low by the Lijado Sisters off of the Soul Borders album and then to Tamacun by Rodrigo y Gabriella. They are a guitar destroying duo originating from Mexico but relocating to Ireland. They started off playing hard metal music, but have moved to playing guitar instrumentals in the style of flamenco. He plays the melody and she's responsible for the beat which is where the flamenco styling comes from. They haven't fully left their metal roots as they do a cover of Metallica's Orion on this album.
Shantytown Carnival by Jehro was next and is from his self-titled album. He comes from France, but most of this album is either in English or Espanol and is a very relaxing album perfect for sunny Sunday afternoons. We next moved on to the Burlington collective Guagua and their song Newest Son off of Psychotropical. The very first time I heard Guagua was 3-4 years ago when I was driving by Radio Bean on a sunny Tuesday evening. I was completely caught off guard by the sounds that were hitting me as they sound like they're straight out of South America rather than Vermont. But that's Vermont for you--always catching you off guard.
Next up I played a tune by my great friends Noel Paris, Brooke Pedersen, and Jeff Trainor from Tan Analog. I met them all when I was out in CA working for Sole Tech years ago and wish I still lived close to them to see them play. I tried to get to one of their shows when I was out there the other week, but it was sold out. I fondly remember seeing Noel playing at the Kitsch Bar and also out with The Scrimmage Heroes. The song I played was Kitten Attack.
I played a couple covers next -- Iggy Pop's Lust For Life covered by Yo La Tengo and then The Smith's What Difference Does It Make covered by Bobby Bare Jr. Ending the show was a tune by Richard Buckner called Town and then finally Sparkle and Shine by Steve Earle. This was the song that hey played to introduce his wife to the stage at the Newport Folk Fest and it absolutely captivated the audience, me included.
Thanks for listening. Tune in Tuesday at 9pm.
1. Fish Taco -- Dick Dale -- Unknown Territory
2. Are You Ready -- Catfish Haven -- Devastator
3. To Go Home -- M. Ward -- Post-War
4. Tentative Decisions -- Talking Heads -- Once In A Lifetime
5. Guns of Brooklyn -- Santogold and Diplo -- Top Ranking
6. Nacimiento -- Cordero -- Somos Cordero
7. Life Goes Down Low -- Soul Boulders -- Soul Boulders
8. Tamacun -- Rodrigo y Gabriella -- Rodrigo y Gabriella
9. Shantytown Carnival -- Jehro -- Jehro
10. Newest Son -- Guagua -- Psychotropical
11. Kitten Attack -- Tan Analog -- Pre Fabric
12. Lust For Life -- Yo La Tengo --
13. What Difference Does It Make? -- Bobby Bare Jr. -- Young Criminal's Starvation League
14. Town -- Richard Buckner -- Meadow
15. Sparkle and Shine -- Steve Earle -- Washington Square Serenade
I started off with another stellar Dick Dale tune called Fish Taco. While out in CA a couple weeks ago, I got super inspired by their History of CA Surfing exhibit in the OC Airport and it had a cool section on Dick Dale. Such a great guitarist and musician.
Next up was Catfish Haven -- a Missouri band named after the trailer park that the singer hails from. The song is off of their new, as of yet unreleased, album Devastator and is called Are You Ready. It's an excellent hype song to get the show rolling right. They're a trio and they play loud, tight, soulful, bluesy rock with the singer plugging in an acoustic and turning it up to 10. He's got a great voice.
We kept the vibe going with M. Ward's To Go Home next and then jumped right into a song by the legendary Talking Heads called Tentative Decisions. I'm going to play a trio of David Byrne songs on my next show this Tuesday, so check it out. His musical career over the past 30 years is incredibly inspiring and ever changing. From Talking Heads to his solo stuff to his work with Brian Eno to the bands he chooses to put on his label Luka Bop, he's a very well-rounded musician and the kind of genre jumping musician that I love.
The next set started off with a tune from the mix-tape Top Ranking released by Diplo and Santogold called Guns of Brooklyn. The music is a lift from The Clash's Guns of Brixton (specifically Paul Simonon's bassline) and I think her voice sounds great over top of it. This song is so unique to The Clash and to Simonon in particular that it's hard to cover, but this version is great. Next up was Nacimiento by Cordero, which is a band that was started back in '99 and featured members from Calexico and Giant Sand. I'm a huge Calexico fan but not really a fan of Howie Gelb's work in Giant Sand b/c I feel it's too incomplete and his voice is more of a whisper or spoken word style than actually good singing. Cordero is fronted by Ani Cordero and has moved on from the Calexio/GS backing band to form a full band unique to Cordero and they have a new one that just came out on the excellent Bloodshot Records.
We moved on next to Life Goes Down Low by the Lijado Sisters off of the Soul Borders album and then to Tamacun by Rodrigo y Gabriella. They are a guitar destroying duo originating from Mexico but relocating to Ireland. They started off playing hard metal music, but have moved to playing guitar instrumentals in the style of flamenco. He plays the melody and she's responsible for the beat which is where the flamenco styling comes from. They haven't fully left their metal roots as they do a cover of Metallica's Orion on this album.
Shantytown Carnival by Jehro was next and is from his self-titled album. He comes from France, but most of this album is either in English or Espanol and is a very relaxing album perfect for sunny Sunday afternoons. We next moved on to the Burlington collective Guagua and their song Newest Son off of Psychotropical. The very first time I heard Guagua was 3-4 years ago when I was driving by Radio Bean on a sunny Tuesday evening. I was completely caught off guard by the sounds that were hitting me as they sound like they're straight out of South America rather than Vermont. But that's Vermont for you--always catching you off guard.
Next up I played a tune by my great friends Noel Paris, Brooke Pedersen, and Jeff Trainor from Tan Analog. I met them all when I was out in CA working for Sole Tech years ago and wish I still lived close to them to see them play. I tried to get to one of their shows when I was out there the other week, but it was sold out. I fondly remember seeing Noel playing at the Kitsch Bar and also out with The Scrimmage Heroes. The song I played was Kitten Attack.
I played a couple covers next -- Iggy Pop's Lust For Life covered by Yo La Tengo and then The Smith's What Difference Does It Make covered by Bobby Bare Jr. Ending the show was a tune by Richard Buckner called Town and then finally Sparkle and Shine by Steve Earle. This was the song that hey played to introduce his wife to the stage at the Newport Folk Fest and it absolutely captivated the audience, me included.
Thanks for listening. Tune in Tuesday at 9pm.
1. Fish Taco -- Dick Dale -- Unknown Territory
2. Are You Ready -- Catfish Haven -- Devastator
3. To Go Home -- M. Ward -- Post-War
4. Tentative Decisions -- Talking Heads -- Once In A Lifetime
5. Guns of Brooklyn -- Santogold and Diplo -- Top Ranking
6. Nacimiento -- Cordero -- Somos Cordero
7. Life Goes Down Low -- Soul Boulders -- Soul Boulders
8. Tamacun -- Rodrigo y Gabriella -- Rodrigo y Gabriella
9. Shantytown Carnival -- Jehro -- Jehro
10. Newest Son -- Guagua -- Psychotropical
11. Kitten Attack -- Tan Analog -- Pre Fabric
12. Lust For Life -- Yo La Tengo --
13. What Difference Does It Make? -- Bobby Bare Jr. -- Young Criminal's Starvation League
14. Town -- Richard Buckner -- Meadow
15. Sparkle and Shine -- Steve Earle -- Washington Square Serenade
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