Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Smash Your Head Part 2

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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.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Smash Your Head Part 1

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1.Girl Talk - “Smash Your Head”
2.My Chemical Romance - “How I Disappear”
3.The Strokes - “Red Light”
4.OK Go - “A Million Ways”
5.The Apples In Stereo - “Sunndal Song”
6.Veruca Salt - “Save You”
7.Timbaland & The Hives - “Throw It On Me”
8.+44 - “Baby Come On”
9.Social Distortion - “It Coulda Been Me”
10.The Pipettes - “One Night Stand”
11.Pedro The Lion - “Discretion”
12.Living Things - “Monsters of Man”
13.No Knife - “The Red Bedroom”
14.Linkin Park - “Bleed It Out”
15.The Automatic - “Monster”
16.Rev. Horton Heat - “Revival”
17.The Start - “Blood On My Hands”
18.The Grates - “19-20-20”
19.The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - “Don't Know How to Party”
20.Broken Social Scene - “Fire Eye'd Boy”
21.Glue - “Beat Beat Beat”
22.Feist - “I Feel It All”
23.Flogging Molly - “Seven Deadly Sins”
24.Tori Amos - “Teenage Hustling”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

A relatively new mix, with some new songs by old favorites. This is part one of a two-part mix, because I haven't made a "recent additions" mix in quite some time. There was originally going to be a third disc, but I threw most of those songs out.

We start with Girl Talk, a DJ with mad skills and deep crates who just wants us to have some fun. Welding Fall Out Boy to MC Lyte, Elton John to Notorious BIG and many many more, Girl Talk's semi-legal album Night Ripper is bound to be the Grey Album of 2007. The kicking Nirvana sample (from "Scentless Apprentice") lends the entire drum scheme for the second half of "Smash Your Head" - appropriate as Girl Talk have been known to cover the song at live shows.

The Black Parade is an exemplary album for emo stalwarts My Chemical Romance, who managed to not only avoid the sophomore slump after Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, but managed to outshine their previous release. "How I Disappear" is but one of many examples of this - all rock guitars, Freddy Mercury vocal acrobatics and dark lyrics.

People, including myself until recently, overlooked The Strokes' third album, First Impressions of Earth. Maybe it was the over-cooked single "Juicebox", maybe it was the weird style changes... or maybe their audience had grown fickle. Either way, the record is stacked with songs like "Red Light", which have the classic Strokes sound plus a little something extra.

Those treadmill-dancing maniacs in OK Go do one thing they do it well : they craft rocking pop songs that have hooks to spare. "A Million Ways", which also has a choreographed dance video, is a sultry, sexy tune that slinks along on that tender bassline and the sparse jangle of them guitars. The rest of Oh No is as good, if not better than this.

No one changes styles like The Apples In Stereo. They manage to keep themselves full of hooks and pop charm on the album New Magnetic Wonder, which trades The Velocity of Sound's fuzzy punk for a more art-rock approach. "Sunndal Song" sounds old and new at the same time, just like the record as a whole.

After Nina Gordon left Veruca Salt for her solo career, things got mighty heavy. "Save You", from the EP Lords of Sounds and Lesser Things, manages to bridge the gap between old and new Veruca Salt. Which is harder than it sounds, with half the creative team behind the songs now gone.

Fewer people have had years as good as Timbaland is having on 07. Huge hits from his produced acts, Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake, encouraged him to release a record full of one-offs and oddball gems entitled Shock Value. "Throw It On Me", a collaboration with Swedish rockers The Hives, is one such track - a driving guitar anthem buried in Timba's production with a thrusting chorus and goofy raps for verses.

When Blink 182 split up, the two bands that emerged, Box Car Racer (now Angels and Airwaves) and +44. The better of the two, +44, fill their songs with lyrical barbs and sharp hooks. From the album When Your Heart Stops Beating, "Baby, Come On" starts soft and ends heavy, like all good songs.

I haven't seen Social Distortion in about 10 years, but I remember each and every time they came through St. Louis. The release of Social Distortion in 1990 is a big deal to me, because without that record, who knows where I would have ended up. "It Coulda Been Me", with the laundry list of possible outcomes for people - prison, marriage, drug addiction, suicide - was a spiritual kindred to Jim Carroll's "People Who Died", both potent songs about the times.

The Pipettes are a charming trio of English ladies who use old-school pop music to deliver modern ideas. In "One Night Stand", and all over We Are The Pipettes, they sing girl-group songs that The Supremes wouldn't have ever dreamt of.

It's funny that Achille's Heel, the most recent album from Pedro The Lion, may be his own Achilles Heel. Songs like "Discretion" take the Pedro template and add more guitars, pop song structure and a bit more verve, making something fresh.

A lot of ink was spilled on Living Things, a St. Louis band who got dropped from a big name label for their anti-Bush stage antics. But few were really ready for the album, Ahead of The Lions. It's a blast of Iggy Pop and Motorhead, full-throttle old school rock. "Monsters of Man" is one of the fuzziest, grungiest examples. (There is a horn, buried somewhere in there...)

I had totally forgotten about No Knife, until I found my copy of Riot For Romance buried in a desk drawer. And I'm really glad I did. These guys have hooks to spare, lyrics that cut and arrangements that are often rivaling those of art-rock gods Minus The Bear. They've been around for 10+ years (1995 was their first cd, Drunk On The Moon.) and you should most definitely check them out - starting with "The Red Bedroom".

Righteous handclaps? Check. Vitriolic rhymes? Double check. "Bleed It Out" from Linkin Park's Minutes to Midnight continues to impress - their style gets flipped on its hygenic head for this raw clap-along rock number.

Apparently, a song my band does sounds like the intro to "Monster" by The Automatic. Thanks to Chad for hooking me up with this record, Not Accepted Anywhere. Their songs are excellent rock numbers with a dense echo-ey guitar and a disco beat. Awesome.

2007 was the year of the Return of the Reverend. Horton Heat, that is. The appropriately titled Revival continues the Rev. Horton Heat legend, filled with great tunes and plenty of rockabilly attitude. The title track, "Revival" chugs along on its own energy and smolders in its own ashes towards the end. Classic Rev.

My friend Ken introduced me to The Start in 1999, but I had since forgotten about them. Then I saw the cover art for the album Ciao, Baby! and it came back to me. "Blood On My Hands" is a great example of the dance-y rock songs that make The Start so excellent.

The Grates, lead by elastic-voiced charmer Patience Hodgson, is fun, bouncy music with shades of Yeah Yeah Yeahs and other New York bands. On Gravity Won't Get You High, the guitars are sharp and angular, the vocals are yelped, moaned and squealed, the songs are ridiculous and the overall result is amusing rock music - songs like "19-20-20" included.

A lot of people I know hate on The Mighty Mighty Bosstones for their successful albums and pop radio hits. They completely ignore the fact that these ska-core devils pre-date alot of their contemporaries and have been crafting ska/rock songs for decades. Including "Don't Know How to Party" from the EP of the same name.

Falling victim to the dreaded Sophomore Slump, Broken Social Scene's second record, Broken Social Scene, is doing miserably on the charts while getting excellent reviews. And those reviewers couldn't be more right. "Fire Eye'd Boy" and a handful of others from the album, deserve to be revered for the messy pop gems that they are.

Chicago hip-hop has been and remains my favorite strain. Adeem, now part of the 3-piece called Glue, is a breathless, big-brained flow maniac. On songs like "Beat Beat Beat" he crams words in like he's going to die any minute. It's that urgency that drives the album Catch as Catch Can and their previous record Seconds Away.

Canadian pop singers don't come any better than Feist. Pretty songs with delicate vocals are the norm on Feist's second album The Reminder and on songs like "I Feel It All". RIYL Regina Spektor, Cat Power.

How do you resist a raucous pirate-themed anthem from Irish punks Flogging Molly? You can't, you won't, just give up and rock out to "Seven Deadly Sins". The newest from Flogging Molly's massive Miles From Home, a solid slab of traditional Irish music wrapped in punk rock's tattered rags.

Tori Amos once said, "I guess you go too far, when pianos try to be guitars." It's appropriate then that "Teenage Hustling" features a real guitar and Tori's signature piano. Rock songs about on Ms. Amos' new record, American Doll Posse, each sung from a fractured perspective. This one from the vantage point of a reformed teenage ho, slinks and slides all over the place with its grinding guitar, stomping chorus and Tori's jagged glass vocals.