Smash Your Head Part 2

Smash Your Head Part 2

1. Saul Williams (featuring Trent Reznor) - "Convict Colony"
2. Queens of The Stone Age - "Battery Acid"
3. The White Stripes - "Conquest"
4. Belle & Sebastian - "The Blues Are Still Blue"
5. Kings of Leon - "Charmer"
6. Cobra Starship - "The Church of Hot Addiction"
7. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - "A Bottle of Buckie"
8. The (International) Noise Conspiracy - "The Subversive Sound"
9. Regina Spektor - "On The Radio"
10. Heartless Bastards - "New Resolution"
11. Bad Religion - "New Dark Ages"
12. Bayside - "Thankfully"
13. Tegan and Sara - "Back In Your Head"
14. Ambulance Ltd. - "Heavy Lifting"
15. Dinosaur Jr. - "Been There All The Time"
16. Arctic Monkeys - "Cigarette Smoker Fiona"
17. Hot Hot Heat - "My Best Friend"
18. Tapes n Tapes - "Crazy Eights"
19. Silversun Pickups - "Well Thought Out Twinkles"
20. Prince - "Guitar"
21. The Secret Machines - "Lighting Blue Eyes"
22. Radiohead - "Bodysnatchers"
23. The Arcade Fire - "The Well and The Lighthouse"

This mix is either early or late depending on your perspective. Early for the week of 11/23, but late for the week of 11/16....

But it's here and you'll enjoy, promise. This is the second disc of a two-disc set and features some new stuff to the weekendmixtape collection, new songs from artists we haven't covered yet and some new stuff from old favorites.

So let's begin.

DOWNLOAD HERE.

Saul Williams released an album, produced by and featuring Trent Reznor called The Inevitable Rise and Fall of Niggy Tardust. Full of Saul's trademark wit and Trent's trademark digital destruction, the album bores into your brain like a powerdrill. "Convict Colony", one of the first tracks, does not disappoint in this regard. Great way to start a mix.

Era Vulgaris, the new Queens of the Stone Age record, translates to "Common Era" and not "Vulgar Era", as I originally thought. Either way, it's a brash, bad-ass album full of punishing cuts like "Battery Acid" - all stomping drums, fat bass and raw guitar noise.

The song "Conquest" from The White Stripes' album Icky Thump sounds like the theme to a Grindhouse-era spaghetti western - horn stabs, tango beat and Zepplin-esque guitar included. It's Sergio Leone meets George Romero in a barroom brawl and it's the second best song on this album.

For a year or so, I ignored the new Belle & Sebastian album, The Life Pursuit, because it wasn't quite the same B&S I was used to. But songs like "The Blues are Still Blue" still have the lyrical barbs and the charming twee-pop sound, just with more guitar. And I always say nothing beats adding guitar.

I know it's the second or third time I've featuring Kings of Leon on a mix for this site, but seriously, Because of the Times is a contender for Album Of The Year. Songs like the chugging, bass-driven "Charmer" and many others on the album, stake out new territory for these former southern-rock-by-way-of-The-Strokes revivalists. Instead of slick New York cool, the lead singer screeches and howls, the bass player takes the fuzz to 11.5 and the record takes off.

You can't deny the pure pop-punk energy of Cobra Starship. Seriously. "Church of Hot Addiction" from the album While The City Sleeps, We Rule The Streets is a blast of fun - chant-along choruses, references to GHB, slick beats - that I can't stop playing in my car.

Ted Leo of Ted Leo & The Pharmacists loves him some Cheap Trick. Most of his songs from the oxymoronicly titled album Living With The Living pay a direct homage to his favorite rock band. However, this cut, "A Bottle of Buckie" goes all Irish on us with its acoustic guitars, mandolins and other references to his family history. An overlooked classic on an album filled with classics.

The (International) Noise Conspiracy, the reformed version of Refused, minus all the screaming metalness that made Refused awesome, is actually pretty damned cool in its own right. "The Subversive Sound" from their album Survival Sickness stomps and rocks, as it should.

Russian chanteuse Regina Spektor has been a favorite of many for years, but it took my friend Steffy to really push her into my consciousness. Now I'm regretting not listening for so long. I finally caught up, just as "Fidelity" hit the radio and took off. The album Begin to Hope is a funny, freaky collection of songs like "On The Radio", which seem to have no direction other than to tell silly stories or to experiment with sound. Which is just fine with me.

I can't remember who introduced me to Heartless Bastards, but I thank them. I'm kinda tired of the Karen O-esque ladies and the Liz Phair pop queens and the L7 screamers that dominate most female-fronted bands. But Heartless Bastards' Erika Wennerstrom is a woman who sounds like she's not aping someone else's style. "New Resolution" comes from their first album, Stairs and Elevators.

Bad Religion rule you. 25+ years as punk rock gods and they're still going strong. New Maps of Hell is a fireball of an album, almost as bristling and furious as their first. "New Dark Ages" is a typical polemical rant against the status quo, warning against the Apocalypse. How can you complain when they have been doing the same thing just as well for decades?

I always thought Bayside were like Alkaline Trio meets Smoking Popes. And on their third album The Walking Wounded, they prove my hypothesis again - mixing up emo songs like "Thankfully" with a vat of pure dark imagery.

The return of Tegan and Sara was a great thing for me. I had nearly worn myself out on their previous album, So Jealous, so when The Con came out I jumped on it doublequick. And it doesn't disappoint one bit. "Back In Your Head" is a fine example of T&S' style, twin vocals, pop instrumentation and lyrics that stick.

The Ambulance LTD album LP has been sitting around collecting dust and I don't know why. I love indie rock and these guys do it well, with swelling songs like "Heavy Lifting" and many others filling their ouvre I can't see why they would give up the game anytime soon.

First the Pixies got back together, but just for a tour. Then, my real heroes Dinosaur Jr announced their re-formation. Then, they put a new album out! Yeah, Beyond, is no Where You Been?, but it's a hell of a good try. Songs like "Been There All The Time" approach the 1994-era sound as closely as they possibly can

The hype machine was all over Artic Monkeys for a year or so. I finally took the plunge and found strong songs with good hooks and hella lyrics. I took a cut from their first album, appropriately titled Who The Fuck Are The Artic Monkeys?, "Cigarette Smoker Fiona". Sample lyrics - "Well-to-do girls in stilletos aren't something to fear."

Hot Hot Heat were top of my list for a long time. And then they put out Happiness Ltd... Not a bad album, but not all that great by their own standards. "My Best Friend" sits atop the best of this middling record.

Another critical darling, Tapes n Tapes, was another that I slept on. The Loon is filled with songs like "Crazy Eights", Pixies-esque numbers with indie rock cred written all over. Their praise in this case is well deserved.

Hooray for the return of fuzzed-out spacey rock jams! Silversun Pickups rock in the classic My Bloody Valentine/Starflyer 59 style (aka "Shoegaze"). The album Carnanvas is a blast to listen to. Catch them live at The Pageant in St. Louis with my friends Stella Mora this Christmas! Oh, and enjoy "Well Thought Out Twinkles" too.

People called Planet Earth Prince's "return". Which confused me, because the same people gave favorable reviews for Musicology and 3121, which came well before... But I guess what they mean is "return to form", which is very true of this album. Grinding rock songs fill the gaps between funk jams and dance numbers, making this a very 1999-era Prince album. "Guitar" is a loving ode to the newfound instrument of choice, wherein he tells his lady, "I love you baby/ But not like I love my guitar" before launching into another smoking solo. P, I think she'll understand.

Since they brought the retro-rock a couple of years before Wolfmother, I tend to give The Secret Machines more credit. Their second album, Ten Silver Drops, is not getting a lot of ink and it's a damn shame. It's filled with great songs like "Lightening Blue Eyes" and should not be overlooked.

In Rainbows got industry tongues wagging because of Radiohead's unique retail strategy. But what should have turned heads is their daring experimentation. They also bring their guitars back for rock burners like "Bodysnatchers", easily their heaviest song since "Electioneering" off of Ok Computer. Adding guitar noise to their already heady audio soup makes for a bristling experience not to be missed.

The Arcade Fire's Neon Bible is also a contender for Album of The Year. Pretty pop songs like "The Well and The Lighthouse" (among many many others) bring the classic E-street-era Springstein jam and the freaky folk rock of Neutral Milk Hotel together at last. Pop bands of the world, take notes.