Sunday, April 3, 2011

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

rockpile!

pretty cool doc from 1979. in 12 parts

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Monday, February 14, 2011

godihatetheaughts

GIHYB friend and occasional contributor Live Oak Blues has a pretty great radio show called "Left of the Dial" on Monday afternoons from 3-5pm over at growradio.org. He asked to me to put together a playlist for today's show of my best of the 2000s. Journey with us back to those dark days before Arcade Fire won best grammy awards ...

Friday, January 21, 2011

american idol???

i'm not a follower, though i've occasionally watched. one thing i've never understood is why anyone has a problem with the show. when peeps (and some actual music stars) bitch about the fact that the "artists" who become famous from the show haven't come up the traditional way, i have to laugh. did britney spears slog it through the clubs?? it's fucking show biz. is the music industry unlike chase bank?

this doesn't relate to the topic as much as it did when i dreamt up this amazing piece of journalistic insight, but here you are. greatest rock band ever begins as worst band ever

Sunday, January 2, 2011

GIHYB's Top Ten Things of 2010

(ed note: a series of collected thoughts from GIHYB contributors on the year that wuz 10)

as always, i know i'm forgettin something. in no particular order, except for TITUS ANDRONICUS!!!!!!!!

like:

the monitor, titus andronicus
as i said in an earlier post "... comically long songs ... pretentious as all get out ... channelling jim steinman songwriting at times …" and easily the best record of the year

brothers, black keys
i liked "attack and release" for the most part (lots didn't), i thought dan's solo record was pretty cool. i thought blackroc was one of the lamest exercises ever (lets all leave our A games at home and see what happens???). i can only listen to this straight through. that's sumthin

pavement live in central park
possibly the perfect reunion concert by a band that (in their legend) should be embarrassed for winning that distinction. guess what happened indie rockers? they turned our to be a (GASP) rock band (who got better with time) with a frontman who can play his ass off. put it this way, they fucking opened with their best song, and i coulda stayed another half hour after they were done ... i was drinking an unlimited supply of free beer, but that's … beside the point?

that amazing arcade fire video
... of course none of my childhood addresses worked, nor did my wife's, but that house a half a mile away from my wife's childhood place that we'd never seen worked just fine. i'd include the album as well, but in reality, each subsequent AF record is a better sounding version of the far superior debut

the big to do, drive-by truckers
requisite amount of patterson filler, leaving the best song off the record ("girls who smoke"), and an almost no-show by cooley stills adds up to a winner. choice cuts: birthday boy, all the songs about death

strychnine dandelion, the parting gifts
greg cartwright should write the phone book, and then he should sing it. google that shit young!!!

completely illegal advance of next record, hunx & his punx
yeah fuckers, i know people. i have no idea when this record is coming out, but, suffice ... i have heard the future of rock and roll and it's a gay dude backed by girls that should be played in phil spector's cell 24/7 to show him what a waste of space he was for the last 40+ years

"bottled in cork" (video), ted leo & the pharmacists
tom scharpling rules in just about any medium. ted leo wrote a great song. scharpling made it epic

my beautiful dark twisted fantasy, kanye west
this stupidly titled record can be pretty fucking interesting

king of the beach, wavves
given this dude's legendary meltdowns … aw, who cares? this was fun

dislike:

my beautiful dark twisted fantasy, kanye west
is this guy fucking retarded?

never fulfilling my wish to spend a day at the OTB. RIP

Jack's Top 10 of 2010

(ed note: a series of collected thoughts from GIHYB contributors on the year that wuz 10)

1. The ArchAndroid, Janelle MonĂ¡e (Badboy/Wondaland)

Sounds like: A zillion things including Funkadelic, April March, Outkast, The Association, the soundtrack to West Side Story and maybe even Sgt. Pepper.

Top tracks include "Locked Inside", "Cold War" and "Mushrooms & Roses"

2. Hippies, Harlem (Matador)

They're from Texas not Harlem and they reminded me why my favorite bands are usually trios.

Sounds like: Pixies, The Minders, Violent Femmes

Top tracks include "Gay Human Bones", "Number One" and "Cloud Pleaser"

3. True Love Cast Out All Evil, Roky Erickson w/ Okkervil River (ANTI-)

I was curious to hear how Roky with a mortgage would sound. Only half of the songs sound insane.

Top tracks include "Please, Judge" and "John Lawman"

4. Catching a Tiger, Lissie (Fat Possum)

Sounds like: The Stone Poneys, Stevie Nicks, Lucinda Williams, We Five

Top tracks include "Record Collector", "Bully", "Stranger" and "Loosen the Knot"

5. Strychnine Dandelion, The Parting Gifts (In The Red Records)

Another Greg Cartwright record and so far my favorite one.

Sounds like: Emmylou Harris, The Rolling Stones, Arthur Alexander

Top tracks include "Keep Walkin'" and "Born to Be Blue"

6. Love to Live, The Living Sisters (Vanguard)

Eleni Mandell's 2007 LP was my top record of that year so this was no surprise.

Sounds like: Gale Garnett, The Roches, Lesley Gore

Top tracks include "Ferris Wheel" and "Blue"

7. Rohnert Park, Ceremony (Bridge Nine)

Finally a loud record!

Sounds like: Naked Raygun, Fucked Up, the weaker cuts on Zen Arcade

Top tracks include "Sick", "Open Head" and "Back in '84"

8. Tin Can Trust, Los Lobos (Shout! Factory)

Sounds like: Los Lobos

Top tracks include "Burn it Down" and "The Lady of the Rose"

9. The Big To-Do, Drive-By Truckers (ATO)

Doesn't sound like: DBT

Top tracks include "The Fourth Night of My Drinking" and "Birthday Boy"

10. New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh, Erykah Badu (Universal Motown)

Sounds like: a tamer but more manageable and ultimately better version of Part One.

Top tracks include "Turn Me Away (Get MuNNY)" and "Gone Baby, Don't Be Long"