Monday Morning Shuffle

Sorry for the absence last week, there's not a ton of internet access up here:


However, i did take my iPod and although i tried to spend most of my time listening to the sounds of nature, i did fall asleep each night to The Shins and The Decemberists. They were instrumental in drowning out the waterfall that we camped next to (i don't care what they put on those relaxation CDs, listening to pounding water for 8 hours sucks.) and also my father's snoring. Good times!

On with the shuffle:

1. Chop 'Em Down - Matisyahu, off of Shake Off the Dust...Arise
Maybe it's my Hebrew roots, maybe it's the fact that a Hesidic Jew in full garb is singing reggae, rapping and beat boxing, or maybe it's just because i like good music, but Matisyahu is terrific.
I mean after a weekend of watching Making the Band 4 with my sister, do you realize how rare it is for a musician like this to be noticed and become even the slightest bit mainstream? Just read his Wikipedia entry...this guy has been everywhere, done everything and somehow has become a famous musician while interjecting Old Testament ideas and thoughts into his lyrics...tell me what the odds of that are in today's musical climate??

2. Jambi - Tool, off of 10,000 Days
This is a song to get you jacked up on a Monday Morning. If i was driving (and i guess everyone on the 101 should be glad that i'm not...) i would be drumming on my steering wheel and full on rocking out to this song while stuck in traffic. This is a perfect Monday Morning Shuffle song.
I especially like the voice-box guitar solo towards the end of the song...very Frampton.

3. Eat The Rich - Aerosmith, off of Get a Grip
I believe this is Aerosmith's first turn on the Shuffle...strange how long that took...
So this is one of those teenage-angst anthems i loved in Middle School because of the swear words and that fact that my mom absolutely hated the album cover (the pierced cow udder anyone?) I used to rock out to this song, knew the lyrics by heart and would pump my fist during the ubiquitous "take that Grey Poupon my friend and shove it up your ass!" climax of the song.
Then one day, i looked around at my surroundings and realized, "hey, i'm not living such an under-privileged life here..." and then that lead into my thinking, "Hey, Steven Tyler's probably got some money lying around too...why the hell is he singing about rich people when he's loaded?" And the whole thing just got really hypocritical real fast.
And although i think he was talking about the blueblood, Lifestyles of The Rich And Famous type people and not just people who had a few bucks and although i still love the song and the sentiment, it just got a little weird for me to consider it my anthem.

4. Gone for Good - The Shins, off of Chutes Too Narrow
Of course the shuffle would play a song from a band i've already mentioned once...
Anyway, the thing i'm really starting to like about The Shins is the breadth of their influences. This song is straight country, steel guitar and everything and it's the only song i've heard on 3 different albums that comes even close to sounding like this. You have to have a certain level of respect for a band that will sound completely different from song to song. I know they're not the first ones to do it, but just like Matisyahu, it takes some balls to go that far from the norm. I'm just saying...

5. How I Could Just Kill A Man - Rage Against the Machine, off of Renegades
And now for something completely different... I love when the shuffle does this to me.
This CD was a cop-out full of cover songs but i have to admit that it really did expose me to some music that i never would have listened to otherwise. Rage could have gone with rap covers and some metal/punk stuff but they really dug deep for some of these songs. Some of the bands they covered on this album: Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul-Sonic Force, EPDM, E-40, Bruce Springsteen and Devo...that's right, Devo..the same guys who wore the red pyramid hats and sang Whip It.
This is actually the live version of this song with Zach on stage with B-Real and Sen Dog from the original and mighty Cypress Hill. And before you get all caught up in the fact that i had to stop listening to Eat the Rich because the song was kinda, sorta about me but i can still nod my head to a song about killing cops...well, you'll just have to figure that shit out for yourself.

Thanks for reading.

P.S. Are you guys downloading the music? Does it work? Do you like it? Anyone? Beuller?

Monday Morning Shuffle

Alright, i think we're back in business. I have no idea what happened to my computer, it just decided not to work for a good 3 days, and then all of a sudden, came back to life and acted like nothing was wrong. Weird.

Anyway, i had a fun and musical birthday weekend. Went to some clubs and listened to the DJs intently (turntables are my next purchase), dusted my piano off and even played some guitar. It kind of amazed me how much i remember how to play. Kinda like riding a bike...now just imagine if i actually gave enough of a shit to practice. I think i'd be pretty decent. Anyway, i'm making some moves to get more and more involved with music performance. Once i figure out how to spin, i'm going to get my own night to DJ somewhere and then once i get some more guitar practice, i have an idea for a lounge act that i've always wanted to do. I'm writing this so someone might hold me to it. I don't really have any time to do this stuff but maybe i'll actually follow through on something one of these days.

Anyway, on with the shuffle:

1. King Without a Crown - Matisyahu, off of Live at Stubb's
If you haven't heard of Matisyahu yet, you've probably been in a cave. He's just about the most popular hesidic Jewish rapper/reggae artist around (in history?). And he takes the stage looking like this:



What more do you need? Just listen to him.


2. Kick Out The Jams - Rage Against the Machine, off of Renegades
This is definitely in the top 100 favorite songs of all time i think. It was originally done by MC5 and according to Wikipedia, it has been covered by, "The Presidents of the United States of America on their eponymous debut album in 1995, by hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult on their 1978 live album Some Enchanted Evening, Rage Against the Machine on their album Renegades (2000), Henry Rollins with Bad Brains for the Pump Up the Volume soundtrack, Africa Bambaataa, Monster Magnet, Pearl Jam on their 2005 South American tour in Mexico and Brazil, Japanese rockers Guitar Wolf on their debut album Run Wolf Run, Jeff Buckley, whose version was released on his posthumous "legacy edition" of Grace on the bonus CD of unreleased songs, Entombed on the EP Family Favourites and Give Up the Ghost (formerly American Nightmare) on their Year One comp."

This song first made its buzz not because of the song itself but because on the album, lead singer Rob Tyner yelled out, "Kick out the jams MOTHERFUCKER!" and then adamantly refused to let it be edited out of the final print editions. That's so rock and roll...

3. Burning Love - Garth Brooks, off of Ropin' the Wind
There was a time in college where one of my favorite things to do at night was pour a Thirstbuster sized Rum and Coke, fire up NHL Hitz on the Playstation2, pump up some Garth on the stereo and get absolutely rowdy with Danny while yelling and singing and generally howling at the moon until all hours of the night. Our neighbors must have loved us. But seriously, i think i talked about drunken Garth nights about 3 times this last weekend, recounting those exploits. Good times all around...and i don't even like country music. That's the best part i think.

4. 10,000 Days (Wings Part 2) - Tool, off of 10,000 Days
Maynard's (Tool's lead singer) mom had a stroke and was paralyzed and wheel-chair bound for 27 years before her death. 27 years multiplied by 365 days in a year equals roughly 10,000 days.

The song before this on the album is called Wings for Marie. Marie was Maynard's mom's middle name. In this song he talks about his mom as his savior and how despite all of his anti-religious and anti-God philosophies, that his mother always loved him and despite how angry he would get at her unwavering faith, she always stayed true to her belief in God and Jesus. This song basically says that when his mom gets to the gates of heaven that God himself better be there to welcome her because there are few people more deserving of being there than her.
These lyrics are great:
"10000 days in the fire is long enough. You're going home...

You're the only one who can hold your head up high,
Shake your fist at the gates saying,
"I have come home now!
Fetch me the spirit, the son and the father,
Tell them their pillar of faith has ascended.
It's time now! My time now! Give me my Give me my wings!"...

You are the light, the way, that they will only read about

Set as I am in my ways and my arrogance
Burden of proof tossed upon non-believers.
You were my witness, my eyes, my evidence, Judith Marie, unconditional one."

5. Cute Without the "E" (Cut from the Team) Acoustic - Taking Back Sunday, off of Punk Goes Acoustic
I loved this song back in the day, and this acoustic version is kinda just OK. A little boring, but OK. Kind of an anticlimactic end to what was a really good shuffle.

Alright kids. More soon.