Wooden Shjips - Aquarian Time

Seems like about our speed...

Wooden Shjips - Aquarian Time (mp3)

And here's a hi-quality live video of them at a record store:

Tom Waits on Music...and Keith

excerpt from Keith Richards' book Life, which I just finished. This is a quote of Tom Waits talking about Keith.  What especially struck me was not necessarily the Keith aspect, but being right on about the wonder & mystification that music inspires.

Like all the great things in the world - women, religion and the sky...

oh and just because reading his book put me on a tangent, found this great live clip of Keith's X-pensive Winos from early '93. I saw them on this tour at the Beacon in NYC with my pal Jose - fantastic. The band he had and the two records they did are far and away the best Stones-related anything of the last 30+ years (since Some Girls basically).

Enjoyed the heck out of the Keith book, btw.  There were periods he skipped over or gave little detail of, but considering the years -- and extent -- of excess, it's amazing he was able to retrieve as much detail as he did.

Sabbath - War Pigs

Here it is to download...

Black Sabbath - War Pigs

Best 11 of '11 - Loud Version

For me, 2011 was a bit of an effort to find 'exceptional' albums. Ones I thought would be great were just pretty good; many artists I expected to deliver, came up a bit pedestrian.  For music of the loud variety, the Wild Flag album stood out above most. Otherwise, stumbled on a good number of new discoveries with a track here or there, not so much by album...
For the mellower sibling of this list, check out Best 11 of '11 - Quiet Version.

The following order isn't so much my ranking as much as what I think goes well together as a playlist/mixtape. You can stream all the songs in this post using the ex.fm player at the bottom of the page OR you can just download the mp3 individually, (right-click the song title, save as, etc.).
Or download the full mix here.  There's also a Spotify playlist.
*Note - the ex.fm player works way better in browsers other than IE - Chrome is pretty ideal.

1. Tom Waits Chicago (mp3) from the Bad As Me  album

If you're not partial to Tom Waits, there's nothing here to change your mind. But if you're game, it has as much twisted, dusty charm as anything in his past couple decades. And great musicians as always.

This tune cooks and chugs and barks and does everything an album opener should. At least for a Tom Waits album.

Here's another swingin' one from the record:

2. Off! Blast (mp3) from the 3rd EP  

Technically this came out in late 2010, but it first bashed me in the head in 2011.  This is not indie or alternative or post-anything -- it's real deal punk rock like early SST or DK's back in the day. Even down to the Raymond Pettibon artwork.

The full 'album' of 4 EPs together clocks in at 18 mins total. Here's a good example of what former Black Flag/Circle Jerks singer Keith Morris and his other cred-heavy bandmates do live:

The Pitchfork Tunnelvision segment is also totally worth watching.

3. Thee Oh Sees Contraption/Soul Desert (mp3)
 from the Carrion Crawler/The Dream  album

This year I finally caught on to these Bay Area weirdos.  It's like meatier, vintage-era B-52's with spazzier guitar and an incessant commitment to push the boundaries of freak-rock.

This live clip is a favorite of this year.  Clearly there is something going on and it is commanding us all to get our freak on.

4. Wild Flag Electric Band (mp3) from the Wild Flag  album

They all have had their moments, but I think this indie-chick supergroup is even better than the sum of the individual parts. I thought it would be interesting, but it was a pleasant surprise what an immediately compelling, obviously inspired record it turned out to be. Kicks total ass.

This is a cool, previously unreleased track they did live-in-studio in late 2011:

Wild Flag performs 'Nothing' on Sound Opinions from WBEZ on Vimeo.

And, well, the gals playing baseball in the 'official' Electric Band video  is worth a view:

5. Spectre Folk The Blackest Medicine (mp3) from the The Blackest Medicine, Vol. II  EP

This was a stumble-upon of a find that turned into one of my favorite weird little discoveries of 2011. One of those jams I can listen to again and again.  And anchored by one of my favorite drummers, Sonic Youth's Steve Shelley.

I'm not so sure Pete Nolan's main band Magik Markers is exactly my bag.  But this EP is a great little below-the-radar gem.

6. Moon Duo When You Cut (mp3) from the Mazes  album

The first of two tracks featuring San Fran noisy psych guitarist/singer Ripley Johnson (see Wooden Shjips below). With its repetitive simplicity, sometimes I can only take this stuff in...err...doses, but when they catch a hooky trancey groove like this I can't turn it off.

I give credit for this song to an excellent music blog I keep tabs on - Gimme Tinnitus. Check out this well-made, if a bit creepy film from a tour EP later in the year.

7. The Black Keys Stop Stop (mp3) from the El Camino album

The Black Keys are hitting the bigtime and some purists long for the days of the sparse, raw twosome.  But I embrace what they're doing - the live show I saw in 2010 blew the roof off.  And I think the collab with Danger Mouse suits them well - this tune with its Motown-tinged groove and goodtime handclaps only takes Dan Auerbach's soulful, Akron-grit further.

Here's another full-tilt El Camino singalong live on Colbert:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Exclusive - The Black Keys - "Gold On the Ceiling"
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8. Shepherdess Blackout (mp3)

Great little Boston band who I discovered on my favorite indie radio show, WMBR's Breakfast of Champions.  This tune has an undeniable Breeders-y feel which is just great with me.  Hoping to see their gig opening for Mission of Burma this month.  Check out their bandcamp page.

And they're behind the Girls Rock! Camp in Boston - gonna aim to get my daughters involved with that...

9. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks Stick Figures in Love (mp3)

from the Mirror Traffic  album
I am generally pro-Malkmus but I still haven't found the handle on this album as a whole.  Lots of good-to-very-good, not many tunes that pop off the device as needing to repeat. Great band though.

And this here video starring Jack Black and the Office Space douchebag boss is totally worth a spin:

10. Battles (featuring Gary Numan) My Machines (mp3)

from the Gloss Drop album
While I'm not sure if I like this album quite as much as Mirrored, there are moments that really stand out.  And I'm kind of a sucker for a good Gary Numan vocal.

These guys put on an impressive display at ATP Asbury Park this past fall (see fantastic photos from my pal Tim). And I actually loved the way they did the 'guest' vocalists as recorded hi-def video behind them. In fact, here's a real tasty filming of this song live in Paris:

And then just because it was of my favorite 'official videos' of the year 

-- and includes a nice cameo from Gary Numan.  This one's a trip - must watch!

11. Wooden Shjips Flight (mp3) from the West  album

I'm not all about the fuzzy psych-rock, but I find myself reaching for it more and more.  And what these guys do, they do really well.  Clearly, the live show that Aubrey and I saw at TT's was an inspiration for Garagerator.

Here's a nice clip of another great track from West :

~~~~~
Enjoy... \m/

In the Funk Monastery

My pal Albertson

showing how its done

Best 11 of '11 - Quiet Version

2011 did not blow me away as far as "great" albums - for awhile it was just the Real Estate album, and everything else seemed a tier or two below in the good-not-great category... For 'quiet'-ish stuff (I tend to lean loud), I also found Kurt Vile and Junip to deserve 'exceptional' status, Thurston Moore too.
For the more rocking sibling of this list, check out Best 11 of '11 - Loud Version.

The following order isn't so much my ranking as much as what I think goes well together as a playlist/mixtape. You can stream all the songs in this post using the ex.fm player at the bottom of the page OR you can just download individually, (right-click the song title, save as, etc.) and play them using a digital media player of your choice. Or you can download the full mix here.  There's also a Spotify playlist.
*Note - the ex.fm player works way better in browsers other than IE - Chrome is pretty ideal.

1. Radiohead The Daily Mail (mp3) from The Daily Mail & Staircase  single

Despite many listens I found King of Limbs to be one of those good-not-great records.  What did it for me much more was seeing their From the Basement session where the band, aided by horns and most notably the Portishead drummer, did the whole KoL album along with two non-album tracks.

And then late this year they release those non-album cuts as a single and I like 'em more than any specific track on the full album. So, I'm bookending this mix with those two; for this one, listen all the way thru - a couple minutes in it kicks into a gear you might not initially expect is there... And below is the From the Basement video - all I could find online has the video inverted, so you can watch 'em all play lefty. Official vids avail now on iTunes, DVD/Blu-ray in Feb. 2012.

2. Real Estate Green Aisles (mp3) from the Days  album

I thought their previous recordings were good, very promising.  But with Days, everything came together to a level far beyond what I could have expected.  Pure and effortless gold, top to bottom. Hands down my favorite album of 2011.

This unique and nicely-filmed live video is worth a look-see.

3. Junip Rope & Summit (mp3) from the Fields  album

Technically the full album came out in late 2010, but I didn't get wind of it til Spring 2011, when Sweden's Jose Gonzalez and company were promoting it in the US. Kicking myself for missing the live show...

Here's a great live version of the other album track I thought of using:

4. Kurt Vile Puppet to the Man (mp3) from the Smoke Ring For My Halo  album

Admittedly, the least 'quiet' tune of an otherwise pretty mellow album - a record I found entirely and immediately enjoyable. Personally not yet completely sold on young Mr. Vile, but this album has me expecting that's more likely to happen.

Here's a live rooftop version of another of Halo's tracks:

5. Boston Spaceships Minefield Searcher (mp3) from the Let it Beard  album

You wouldn't normally see Robert Pollard's side-trio listed in the 'quiet' section, and I wouldn't call the album as a whole mellow at all.  Bob calls it "a subconscious concept album about the sorry state of rock and roll."  Or, "The White Album meets Quadrophenia meets Jesus Christ Superstar."

I dunno...but you'll hear the Who influence on this track for sure. I would at least call Let It Beard a top-5 Pollard album of the post-2004-GBV-breakup period. Honorable mention to his Mars Classroom collaboration with Gary Waleik from Big Dipper. Terrific little record!

6. Wilco I Might (mp3) from The Whole Love  album

A band I really like and an album that though it has many good moments, hasn't yet struck me as at the 'great' level overall. This tune, though, adds to the big heap of all-time Wilco songs.

Here they are ripping thru it on Letterman:

7. PJ Harvey In the Dark Places (mp3) from the Let England Shake album

Another of those 'grower' PJ albums, and one which I enjoy as a whole if I'm in the right mood.  Not a lot of tracks that for me standout as ones I'd reach for and put on repeat.

They did a series of 'short films' for each song on the album -- this one is interesting...

8. Destroyer Chinatown (mp3) from the Kaputt album

Who thinks it's a good idea to take their obtuse indie songwriter cred and make a slick, 80's-sounding, dance-y/disco type of album?  And then pulls it off convincingly - and dare I say (gulp), tastefully? Dan Bejar did just that. If you're feeling a little Sade-as-done-by-scruffy-Canadian, this delivers.

This 'unofficial' video is amusing -- captures the era perfectly...

9. Mogwai Letters to the Metro (mp3)

from the Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will album
These fellows are known for the punishing volume of their live shows. But this one's sweet and purty.

Here's some fine filmwork from the guy that did the album art, with a remix of another track from the record.

10. Thurston Moore In Silver Rain With a Paper Key (mp3)

 from the Demolished Thoughts album
A subtle, moody, gorgeous, grow-on-you record where you gotta give Beck credit for tasteful production. Seems exactly the kind of record Thurston should have made at this point in his life & career. When listening to these songs, I can't help thinking about his split with Kim. <sigh...>

Of all the videos on this page, this might be my favorite - bits of interview and real nice, intimate performance footage of a couple Demolished tracks:

oh and here's part two from the same series:

11. Radiohead Staircase (mp3) from The Daily Mail & Staircase  single

See comments above from "The Daily Mail". And here they are doing this tune on SNL (inverted/lefty again to avoid the corporate snatchers):

~~~~~

Enjoy!  Loud version to follow...

First rehearsal. We got something here.

Helluva first rehearsal. Far exceeded anyone's expectations. An all out blast.

Tunes we covered:
Wire - Lowdown
Husker Du - Don't Want to Know If You Are Lonely
Wire - Ex Lion Tamer
The Clash - London Calling
The Clash - Guns of Brixton
Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog
and then a weirdass, slightly creepy jam on GBV's Hot Freaks