Monday Morning Shuffle

First off, the Grammy's sucked as usual. My dad was pissed that the Dixie Chicks won so much because they're commie pinko leftists but really they just had a great CD and a terrific producer and really did deserve to win a bunch. Also, i suggested that if my dad didn't enjoy protest music that he should take every album he has from every Vietnam era band he liked and just go ahead and burn them. Moving on.

Secondly, i really enjoyed the conversation about the Top 5 British Bands of all time. And yes, i missed a big one with Queen. They deserved to be up there in both lists. A great band, very influential and one of my favorites. It was a blinding error and i'm embarrassed for making it. Most of the time, these postings are just crap off the top of my head, but i actually went and did some research on the British Top 5 post and i really thought i had considered everyone who deserved the influential spots. For instance, I had initially written The Clash in at #5 before realizing that The Sex Pistols totally paved the way for The Clash...it would be like saying that Green Day was in my American Punk Top 5 but the Ramones weren't...So yeah, somehow Queen slipped through the cracks but thanks to Nole for bringing it to every one's attention.

Also, my lack of knowledge, experience and appreciation for Radiohead has been very well documented on this blog so i can't really believe that anyone was surprised i left them out. I'd have been a total poser for putting them in at all. It's a problem, i admit it, and i'm working on it, i promise. In the meantime, i would really like someone (Laura, Kate, Courtney i'm looking at you) to do some research and put some thought into just who and what Radiohead has influenced. The other bands we all named paved the way for other bands that followed with a swath as wide as a thousand bulldozers and i'm interested to see what bands or what sounds specifically can be traced back to Radiohead and also why they stop there and can't be traced THROUGH Radiohead to someone else. You have your mission, go forth, wreak havoc.

On with the shuffle:
1. Tunnel of Love - Dire Straits
I like it when the shuffle throws me an 8 minute song right off the bat so i can actually listen to it and type at the same time. It seems like i always get some crazy 2:15 song and i have to pause to finish my commentary about it and it just messes with the flow of the entire shuffle.
Anyway, Dire Straits kicks ass...and now that i think about it, i think they may be in my Brit Band top 5 after all... i originally had them at 6 -8 but now that i'm listening to this song, i might like their body of work overall more than i like The Who, or The Beatles. I'm not saying they were a better or bigger band, i'm just saying that on a song by song basis, i think i'd rather listen to "Money for Nothing" than "Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy" or "Sgt. Peppers"...i don't know, maybe, that's a pretty bold statement and one that may not be true by this afternoon. We'll see.
Anyway, this song has this rolling feel to it that would make it a good running or driving song. It just keeps flowing over its 8 minutes interspersed with little solos and guitar licks and Mark Knopfler's incredibly cool sounding vocals that sound like he's breathing out a puff of smoke every time he opens his mouth. Talented band, and an underrated one at that. If the depth of your Dire Straits knowledge is Money For Nothing or hearing Romeo and Juliet on the soundtrack of "Can't Hardly Wait" give me a call and i'll get you hooked up.

2. Chicago is So Two Years Ago (acoustic) - Fall Out Boy
I'm not sure where i downloaded this from but the quality is awful. You can barely hear Patrick Stump's vocals over the little scenster kids clapping and singing awfully off key while imagining how the lyrics perfectly apply to their own little broken-heart high school romances. In fact, this is horrible, i'm clicking next.

3. Red Rabbits - The Shins, off of Wincing the Night Away
I'm flying to NYC on Thursday and this CD is at the top of my play list for the 6 hour flight. I'm very excited. In fact, let's do a quick top 5:
Top 5 new (to me) albums i'm most excited about listening to on the way to and from NYC
1. The Shins - Wincing The Night Away
2. The Killers - Sam's Town (surprisingly good)
3. Norah Jones - Not Too Late
4. The Beta Band - 3 E.P.s
5. Johnny Cash - American V

Yeah, and just listening to this song for the first time, i can tell i'm going to enjoy it. I hope the rest of the CD is like this. The new Shins strikes me like the perfect album to chill out to on a plane while reading a large chunk of Audacity of Hope (sorry i'm so far behind guys). These guys should call Natalie Portman every damn day and thank her.

4. The Man in Me - Bob Dylan, off of The Big Lebowski Soundtrack
Hilarious song, hilarious movie. They did such a good job on the music in that movie that i can't listen to a single song on the soundtrack without automatically picturing exactly what's happening in the movie. And isn't that what a soundtrack is supposed to be about? Just total symbiosis between the two mediums? That's what i thought.
Anyway, what more can i say about Dylan or the movie? Not a lot i feel. But i will mention this joke from Bill Maher: "Bob Dylan is the voice of our generation and he can't argue with that. We didn't really have a choice in the matter. If we had a choice wouldn't you think we'd pick a better voice than his?"

5. Rockin' The Suburbs - Ben Folds, off of Rockin' the Suburbs
It makes sense that i'm going to see Courtney in NYC this weekend and she's the one who introduced me to Ben Folds and to this song. Courtney and I took a class our freshman year in Colorado called U.S. Race And Ethnic Relations...which we both affectionately remember as Race Relations Boot Camp. What an awful semester. Although Courtney and I will both admit that we learned more about race and privilege and our own thoughts and prejudices than at any other time in our lives, it was just an amazing way to be absolutely torn down at your core and be told that everything you've known about your race and your upbringing and your opportunities were just complete false or worse, that you've only had the opportunities you had been given at the expense of someone else. So this song really hit me at the perfect time in life... "Y'all don't know what it's like/being male, middle class and white./Y'all don't know what it's like/being male, middle class and white. It gets me real pissed off and i wanna scream/It gets me real pissed off and i wanna scream, It gets me real pissed off and i wanna scream, 'FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
UUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Yup...that's pretty much exactly what it felt like at the time. Isn't it amazing how music can do that?

Alright, big week this week. Vegas tomorrow with Ron and Nole, then NYC to see Courtney and others. I can't make any promises about more posts this week but i've got a lot of ideas and i'm hoping that i can find a really cool coffee shop to sit in with my laptop and iPod and just be so stereotypical that it hurts. So don't be surprised if you see 3-4 more things this week.

Monday Morning Shuffle: The Long Band Name edition

There's a lot to take care of this morning before we actually get to the shuffle.

First thing, after my Kanye Sucks post last week, i found this video today with Common's new single featuring, of course, Kanye:

I really like it when these two work together (The Food off of Common's Be album was the shit.) and this song is really no different. I definitely feel it and i can't wait for Common's new CD, even if Kanye is going to manhandle and take over every song he's on. Common balances him out pretty well i'd say. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Also, i found a record store in Flagstaff this weekend that was going out of business and had a bunch of music on sale for 20%-25% off and of course i went nuts. I always feel justified in buying a ton of music at once because usually i'm just stealing it and i feel like i'm all square with the recording industry by buying 5 CDs a year. So here's what i picked up and i'm really excited to load them all onto the iPod and dive in.
The Beta Band - The Three E.P.S (and if you don't recognize the significance of me buying this CD in a local indie record store and talking about it on this blog then you need to go rent High Fidelity right now and watch it until you get it.)
Johnny Cash - Super Hits (This isn't an official Cash album, just one of those random compilations. It had some good songs on it and some that i haven't heard before so i picked it up.)
Johnny Cash - American V (Nole recommended this CD a long time ago and since i stole American IV i thought it was the least i could do for Johnny's estate.)
Death Cab for Cutie - We Have The Facts and We're Voting Yes (I'm a big fan of Plans, but my overall Death Cab knowledge and context is lacking, so i picked it up.)
Thrice - Vheissu (I know, i'm really late on this one but the Dustin Kensrue solo CD has me digging back into Thrice a bit. I already listened to it on the way home from Flag, and i like it so far.) And here is Dustin's performance on Letterman the other night, just for fun:

Talib Kweli - Quality (On VINYL bitches. Yeah, beat that. I already have this CD but the chance to have it on wax for 25% off was just too good to pass up. And yes, having this album makes me cooler than you. Now all i need is a record player and i'll be good to go.)
Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (Yes, i missed this by about 7 years but so what? I've recently gotten back into the Fugees -- and all of their spin offs -- and knew that i really needed to give this CD a lot of attention. Why hasn't she done anything else recently? Come on Lauryn, come back, we need you.)

Let me know if you want me to send you any of these albums for your own collection. I'm hoping to start posting a weekly wish list for music and hopefully we can all start sharing and not buying as much (To kick the wish list off, i heard the new Andrew Bird album leaked last week. Someone get their hands on it and send it to me eh?)

Also, the new Fall Out Boy is streaming on Myspace, if anyone is interested.

On with the shuffle:
1. Plush (acoustic) - Stone Temple Pilots
Between stints in rehab and time spent with former members of G&R, Scott Weiland made some damn good music. This is one of my favorite songs of the grunge 90s, right next to Pearl Jam - Jeremy. It has a really catchy chorus and i just help but sing along. The acoustic version here is really nice. Just one guitar and Scott, whose voice sounds better here than it did on the actual album version.

2. Suzie Q - Credence Clearwater Revival
Ahhhhh the Credence. They just remind me of Big Lebowski no matter what and there's nothing wrong with that. This song has a kind of Jeremiah Was A Bullfrog feel to it for me. It's like, i like it once i'm listening to it, but if i don't get passed the first couple seconds then i'm just never going to listen to it. It has a cool sound to it, and it's a fun song when in the presence of people named Suzie, but that's about it. Upon closer inspection, i really do like the beat and the guitar in this song. I'm actually surprised that no rapper has sampled the drums yet. It would be a pretty mellow track. This is why i need to become a DJ.

3. Mess - Ben Folds Five, off of The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner
This was my first Ben Folds song. My good friend Courtney gave me this CD freshman year of college because she said it reminded her of me. Which is interesting seeing as though this is easily Ben Folds' most depressed CD. I guess i was a little more sad and Emo at that point of life, which is too bad, but hey, i'm still here and it seems that i made it through OK.
This song really did catch my ear because at the time, i was a complete Mess. It fit, and the sound and feel of the song is one of those that just affects your heart when you hear it. I think my most poignant memory of this song is being really damn drunk on a vacation back in Phoenix and Erika had to drive me home in my own car (how she got home, i can't remember) and i just remember being effected by this song and yeah. Deep semi-painful memories there. Let's just move on.

4. On My Own - Black Eyed Peas, off of Bridging the Gaps
Imagine a time before London Bridges, before My Humps, before that cracked out little whore Fergie forsook her Kids Incorporated upbringing and began teaching completely inappropriate lyrics to every kid in America between 8 and 17. Can you picture that time? Yes it existed, and once upon that time a hip-hop group called the Black-Eyed Peas made an album so socially conscious and thought-provoking that their label wouldn't even release it. My God, how they've fallen.
Bridging the Gaps is a bad-ass album from a group that used to tour with Ozomatli and J5. This song includes vocals from Les Nubians and Mos Def. Do you think Mos would be caught dead on a Black-eyed Peas album now? Let's hope not.
It really makes me sad what's become of this band. They used to be awesome, now, well...we know what they are now.

5. Stadium Arcadium - Red Hot Chili Peppers, off of Stadium Arcadium
This song reminds me so much of Californication that it's almost disheartening. It's almost as if they have a formula for writing title tracks or something. It starts with some mournful, yet catchy, guitar riff, in comes the drums, then Keidis' voice with some profound and obscure lyric. They really are quite similar and i just noticed that today for the first time.
Well i won't let one little realization ruin this song for me. It's no secret that i really like this album and the title track here really does fit the whole ebb and flow of the entire 2-disk set. Another thing i really find myself enjoying about this song is the harmonies in the chorus. Flea's voice actually adds a ton of texture to this song (and on Make You Feel Better, another good song on the album) and it really sounds like the whole band is singing and believing in what the song and the band is about. I like it. A lot. Now, a little variety would be good for next time.

More this week. Promise this time. I've been saving up some good topics for a while. Keep an eye out.

(I didn't realize this until now but 4 of 5 bands in the shuffle today have 3-word names, and the 5th band has a 4-word name. Weird. We know not the insanity of the shuffle button.)