The first, "I paid $10 mil to talk to Xenu..." takes a look at new fascinations and some new songs by old favorites.
Let's go!
I paid $10mil to talk to Xenu and all I got was this stupid CD
1. Tripl3fastaction - Revved Up
2. Saves The Day - Can't Stay The Same
3. Cursive - Hymns For The Heathen
4. Arctic Monkeys - The View From The Afternoon
5. Bonde do Roll - Tieta
6. The Most Serene Republic - Battle Hymn of the Republic
7. Hamell on Trial - Don't Kill
8. Tegan and Sara - Knife Going In
9. Mark Ronson - Stop Me
10. Happy Mondays - Kinky Afro
11. The Hives - Try It Again
12. Salt - Obsession
13. Cobra Starship - My Moves Are White (White Hot)
14. State and Madison - Circumstance
15. Say Anything - We Killed It
16. Piebald - Get Old or Die Trying
17. Sleater-Kinney - Modern Girl
18. The Mars Volta - Aberinkula
19. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Over and Over Again (Lost and Found)
20. Fischerspooner - We Need A War
21. Kenna - Sun Red Sky Blue
22. Electric Six - Down at McDonnelzz
23. Pavement - Date With Ikea
24. PJ Harvey - The Devil
DOWNLOAD HERE
The title came from a blog someone posted about Tom Cruise's Scientology video (I think it was RStevens, brains behind dieselsweeties...)
Some tracks on this mix come from the 90s and my old-school mixtapes - the first one is a prime example. Tripl3fastaction's album Broadcaster was a tapedeck staple in my high school tapes, the song "Revved Up" in particular with its rockin' dual-vocal chorus.
My friend Ken gave me a copy of Saves The Day's Through Being Cool back in our undergrad days and we've been listening to their emo-tastic pop-punk ever since. They keep getting stranger and stranger : on their latest album Under The Boards, they still bring the drama but they augment it with clearer hooks, tastier songs built around skilled players and far superior songwriting. 2nd best track on the album? "Can't Stay The Same"
The album Happy Hollow gets a fair amount of rotation at my house, with its Wizard of Oz allegories and vicious Fugazi-style polemics. Cursive used to sound like the second coming of Fugazi, but now they sound like their own thing, and we're all the better for it. Adding horns and stripping away the scream-o makes for tasty tracks like "Hymns For The Heathen"
I tend to avoid the hype machine, so when it spewed its guts over Brits The Arctic Monkeys, I said, "whateva." Then friend from the UK sent me a mix with them on it. I changed my mind immediately the moment I heard the hook to "The View From The Afternoon", which is the first song on Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not. Cheeky bastards.
Brazilian bizarr-o music to move your booty to. Not exactly pop, not exactly electro, Bonde o Role have topped many critics' "Best of 2007" lists. Add me to that number. With Lasers is straight-up awesome. Want proof? Check out "Tieta"
The Most Serene Republic often live up to their name, but sometimes they bring the cling-clang noise. "Battle Hymn Of The Republic" comes from their newest record Population.
Ani DiFranco's labelmate Hamell on Trial makes concise little punk epics on his acoustic guitar. Yes, it's about as awesome as it sounds. The album Tough Love is full of songs like "Don't Kill" - a direct communique with Yahweh himself, asking "what part of 'thou shalt not kill don't ya understand?'"
Tegan and Sara released a new album, The Con, and are coming to St. Louis this spring. To celebrate, I added "Knife Going In" to this mix. If you don't know how awesome these two ladies are, you will soon.
Another critical darling that I approached with caution, Mark Ronson's album Version changed my concept of what a cover album could be (but, frankly, so did Cat Power's Covers Album and the recent Jukebox). Ronson's version of The Smiths "Stop Me (If You Think You've Heard This One Before", here called simply "Stop Me" replaces the sad-sack Morrissey act with a more Motown feel. Genius.
My friend and bandmate Ken keeps telling me about the Manchester scene in the 90s and that I would LOVE the Happy Mondays. For once, he was right. "Kinky Afro" is from their second album Pills N Thrills N Bellyaches and is more awesome than anything from the 90s has the right to be.
ALERT : The Hives are (one of) the BEST BAND(s) on the planet! The Black and White Album shows Howlin' Pete and company doing what they do best - laying down garage rock - as well as expanding outwards and trying new things, like the schoolgirl chanting of the chorus of "Try It Again"
Another 90s mixtape staple, Salt were always getting my friends confused. "Is this Veruca Salt?" "No, it's Salt"... and repeat. But their album Auscultate got fairly little radio play and they kinda fizzled out. Sad really, because songs like "Obsession" were truly rockin'.
Some people didn't care for Cobra Starship's second album Viva La Cobra! But if you've got a sense of humor, the desire to rock and the willingness to put up with some goofiness, you'll love it and songs like "My Moves Are White (White Hot That Is)".
My band The Orbz played with State and Madison and they were some really friendly awesome Chicagoans. Their record, Consider This A Confession, is really only an EP, but it's still great.
Say Anything just put out Max Bemis' senior thesis on Emo 499 : In Defense Of The Genre. It's backed up with singularly great songwriting and killer hooks. Study up, haters, songs like "We Killed It" are far and away better than most emo out there.
Piebald are just a bunch of goofy dudes writing goofy songs. While this may remind too many people of Presidents of the United States of America, it really works on albums like Accidental Gentlemen and songs like "Get Old or Die Trying." Plus, I really loved POTUSA...
Sleater-Kinney's swan song, the beautiful and angelic The Woods was the best way to go out as a band. "Modern Girl" is a genius track on an album full of genius tracks.
Most people don't think The Mars Volta are really mix tape material : their songs are too interconnected and 'out-there' to fit in. Usually I'd agree, but "Aberinkula" off the new album The Bedlam in Goliath is just too good not to include.
My friend Joe talked me into finally listening to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and I was really impressed. The self-titled debut is packed with songs like "Over and Over Again (Lost and Found)" full of glockenspiel and warbly vocals.
Electroclash survivors Fischerspooner managed to escape intact from a rapildy imploding genre. Then they got Susan Sontag to write "We Need A War" for their second album Odyssey. Yes, the deceased author wrote a pop tune about war...
Kenna was supposed to be the "next big thing"... then his label delayed his first album, which may have cost him dearly. That's all behind him as he tries to be a hit again with the record Make Sure They See My Face, bringing with him bombastic tracks like "Sun Red Sky Blue". He's got a style that ranges between Bjork and modern rock, so give the guy a listen.
I thought joke bands were supposed to die off at some point. I guess Dick Valentine's Electric Six aren't a joke... Their 4th album in 4 years, I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being The Master, is 1.) a really long title and 2.) pretty universally awesome.
Hooray for 90s indie rock! Pavement, being standard-bearers of the genre, are a current obsession - their album Brighten The Corners in particular. "Date with Ikea" is surprisingly current despite its age.
Lastly, I leave you with a spooky gem. PJ Harvey's new album White Chalk sounds like it was recorded 100 years ago in a haunted schoolhouse. All piano and spooky vibes, songs like "The Devil" bring palpable chills.
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