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

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.