bo fo' sho

thanks to math is sexy

better than mtv

the secret machines - nowhere again


interpol - specialist


green day - basket case


leonard cohen - suzanne


the black crowes w/ stereophonics & jools holland - twice as hard

boss tuneage tuesday 12/25

for some reason people tell me to be giving this time of the year. mostly jesus. and marc bolan.

t-rex - xmas message

for lack of posts lately. here's a whole buncha relevance. happy birthday america! i mean jesus.

trans-siberian orchestra - christmas canon rock
jim white - christmas day
the ventures - sleigh ride
james brown - soulful christmas
barnyard playboys - eight-ball for christmas
jesse malin - xmas
weezer - christmas song
the smashing pumpkins - christmastime
bright eyes - the night before christmas
caetano veloso - in the hot sun of a christmas day
elvis presley - if everyday was like christmas
the flaming lips - christmas at the zoo
deerhoof - xmas tree
fuck buddies - no playstation2 for christmas
mew - she came home for christmas
mogwai - christmas steps
okkervil river - listening to otis redding at home during christmas
seachange - christmas letters
smoking popes - o holy night
daniel johnston - merry christmas everybody
steve earle - christmas in washington
the walkmen - no christmas while i'm talking
harry nilsson - remember christmas
vince guaraldi trio - christmas time is here


go buy whatcha likes and delete whatcha don't

boss tuneage tuesday 12/18

almost totally forgot.

grinderman - go tell the women
gang starr - tonz 'o' gunz
robert palmer - sneakin' sally through the alley
immaculate machine - old flame
konono no. 1 - kule kule
22-20s - shoot your gun
2pac - white man'z world
albert hammond jr. - holiday
spiritualized - you know it's true
black rebel motorcycle club - complicated situation
curtis mayfield - check out your mind
pink floyd - if


go buy whatcha likes and delete whatcha don't

placebo instrumentals II

thought i had a few more than this. oh well shit happens.

dub psychosis
h.k. farewell
theme from funky reverend
hug bubble


go buy whatcha likes and delete whatcha don't

evenstar interview

after checking out the two cow garage show, we headed over to the evenstar and the rebuilts cd release show at the cactus club, i shot an email over to joey from evenstar with a few questions for interview #2. kinky!

so who's in the band and what do they do?
Chris - Guitars / Vox
Joey - bass / vox
brian / drums
josh - guitar

where does your name originate from?
the deep mind of chris evens.....the name was his baby

you play bass, describe your setup.
i play through an Ampeg and a fender bass.....im not really into equipment so much....actually chris picked out my setup...

how is the scene in your hometown of milwaukee?
Its cool, were just breaking into it again.....but from playing in milwaukee bands for years we all still have ties with many established local acts

what bands have you guys been in before forming evenstar?
joey - backyard voodoo, dirt puppy, SLURR, lost idols
josh - no direction
chris - no direction
brian - pseudo slinkee, spank, SLURR, fame, leval blessing, protestant

what was the worst gig you guys played and why?
our first show was at my friend sarahs birthday party at this bar in town, we werent prepared, we actually had to write a song the night before, actually we sucked.

ever had any on stage injuries?
not that i know of, chris gets a strained liver sometimes....he also enjoys competitive smoking...which injures his throat

what's the best gig you've played and why?
The cd release that you attended.....releasing a cd is a milestone for any band..it was a fun night, great turnout, great venue (cactus club)....

who have you shared the stage with?
we really havent played all that many shows...breathe fire and the rebuilts...both whom played the cd release are my two favorites to date

what are some of your favorite cities or venues to play?
we just got a van, so we have only been playing milw for the most part.....mad planet, cactus club are both good spots....riverwest commons too.....

what are 5 things in milwaukee that keep you guys there?
each person would answer these different....
1 family
2 friends
3 beer
4 brewers
5 the great weather

my favorite records are:
currently for joey
1 the jennifer echo - be dangerous on rock guitar
2 flickerstick - welcoming home the astronauts
3 big drill car - cd type thing

my favorite songs not on those records are:
1 paper wings - rise against
2 untitled - the cure
3 denim and leather - saxxon

if i could work with _________ life would be great.
1 music
2 eclipse printing full time
3 our own club

these records get spun on the bus the most
1 aiden (i think im the only one in the band who likes them)
2 Hot water music
3 grade

describe the songwriting process if you will.
we all come up with parts....chris and i primarily write the foundations/lyrics....each person adds....considering none of us listen to the same music it comes together pretty easily it most cases...we hit dryspells just like anyone else

say, did you ever see that movie, uh, 'clash of the titans'?
i havent....but im sure the other guys did

well i don't want to sound like a queer or nothing but i think unicorns are kick ass.
then you would probably enjoy the fact that we have a 10th level cleric in our band.

yes i do.

david coverversion: neutral milk hotel vs. the mountain goats vs. ace of base

man, i fucking love the song 'two-headed boy'. the glue that holds 'in the aeroplane over the sea' together lies within this song. the mountain goats did a cover of the classic neutral milk hotel song live sometime, somewhere. the mountains goats also did a cover of the ace of base classic 'the sign'. some people say that the hives are the greatest band from sweden. i ask, how can this be when they aren't even better than ace of base? superopentonewideas says he heard something about the lead singer of the dresden dolls but he can't remember what. he can remember, however, that it was 'supergross'. anyone think they know what he's talking about??

neutral milk hotel - two-headed boy
the mountain goats - two-headed boy
the mountain goats - the sign
ace of base - the sign

dresden dolls - two-headed boy

ps thanks again to my sister for the ace of base tune.


go buy whatcha likes and delete whatcha don't

boss tuneage tuesday 12/11

got 20 minutes and 27 seconds?

beck - i've seen the land beyond
the toadies - mexican hairless
tenacious d - classico
the showcase showdown - police, police
the soul benders - 7+7=
benny martin & josh graves - salty dog blues
the frogs - u bastards
split lip rayfield - drinkin' around
the white stripes - jumble jumble
pavement - flux=rad
the ventures - hot pastrami
theivery corporation - within you without you


go buy whatcha likes and delete whatcha don't

david coverversion: massive attack vs. jose gonzalez vs. the knife

earlier this year, jose gonzalez released his second solo album 'in our nature'. keeping along the same lines as 'veneer' his excellent debut record a few years back, nature could just as easily been 'veneer2'. for 'veneer' he gave an excellent cover of swedish siblings the knife's 'heartbeats' and for 'in our nature' he gave another classical guitar take of trip hop pioneers massive attack's 'teardrop'. pigeon kicker nicholas has been a knife fan for many a-year and pigeon kicker superopentonewideas has been a massive attack fan for even longer. so direct any questions to them, like, hey nicholas, what's the deal with the knife and 'the swedish grammis'?

the knife - heartbeats
jose gonzalez - heartbeats
jose gonzalez - teardrop
massive attack - teardrop


go buy whatcha likes and delete whatcha don't

two cow garage interview

many thanks to shane from two cow garage for breaking our interview cherry as it were.

so who's in the band and what do they do?
Currently the line up is:
Andy Schell- Keys
Cody Smith- Drums
Chris Flint- Manager/sometimes guitar
Micah Schnabel- Guitar/vocals
Shane Sweeney- Bass/vocals

where does your name originate from?
A long time ago I worked at a science museum and a friend of ours and I were going to have a smoke. We were discussing the tribulations of coming up with a band name and he suggested, as a joke, Two cow garage. At our first show we still did not have a proper name so we, again as a joke, announced ourselves as Two Cow Garage. And it stuck. This could be fortunate or unfortunate depending on who you talk to. But we didn’t actually come up with it, I don’t know that any of us are that clever.

you play bass, describe your setup if you will.
Well, the thing is I play some pretty shitty gear. We tend to abuse our equipment and even aside from that expensive gear never lasts on the road. You just end up losing money on it. If I break a hundred and fifty dollar bass I don’t feel that bad, if it was like a ’59 jazz bass I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. So I play a Fender Squire P-bass through a 250 watt rogue head with a 4x10 crate cabinet.

how is the scene in your hometown of columbus?
The music scene in Columbus is pretty amazing. So is the art scene actually. There is an abundance of talent and some killer bands. Too many to name them all so I will name just three:
Times New Viking
The Evil Queens
Tree Of Snakes

what was the worst gig you guys played and why?
We played at a place in Pittsburgh, where the opening band played either bass or guitar (neither at the same time), the drummer had an electric kit, and two girls played plastic tubes. After sitting through that the manager of the place came to pay us our 8 dollars and we told him just to keep it, and he said, good that he needed to because the electricity was getting shut off the next week. This is by far not the worst but it was one that sprang to mind.

ever had any on stage injuries?
Yes. Many. I’m slightly accident prone. Guitar headstocks to the forehead happen occasionally, or small things like fingernails getting ripped. I once hit a globe lamp with the headstock of my bass. It shattered on me slicing my lip and left index finger. Everytime my heart would beat a stream of blood would come shooting out of my finger. Lots of stitches. That was probably the worst.

what's the best gig you've played and why?
Just like the bad ones, there are an inordinate amount of good ones too. Though as far as I am concerned, the recent This Is American Music, revue with the Drams, Grand Champeen, Glossary, and ourselves was the most special thing I’ve ever been a part of.

who have you shared the stage with?
This would be an extremely long list so I’ll just put some buddies that I haven’t mentioned yet.
I can Lick any sonofabitch in the house
Drag the River
Lucero
Centro-Matic
Little Grizzly
Hogpig
Okkervil River

i hear fiddles and banjos littered thru-out 'please turn the gas back on', are you guys playing all we hear, or do you bring in session players, friends etc...?
It really just depends. I think Micah played the banjo parts on that first record and we typically have friends get involved, even if its for something that would could conceivably play ourselves. It’s more fun to have your buddies playing with you. Sometimes we just don’t have the ability to play some of the things we hear in our heads though.

why was 'III' a more rock n roll record?
Well, actually I thought the first one was a rock record, it wasn’t until it started getting reviewed that it kind of got tagged as not that. For a very long time we were a three piece and we always played with a certain kind of abandon and obviously did not have banjo or fiddle live, so they were all rock songs to us. I just think that musically we had explored what those I guess “country” instruments could do for our songs and moved onto things that interested us more. So I guess dropping those things might make it sound more that way. Though they all have been to me. I don’t know if that made any sense.

i noticed with that with the drams and glossary, that whoever wasn't on stage would rotate in and out of playing the other bands songs on stage; a guest if you will, is that normal behavior for a show or a tour of yours?
Typically if we’re on tour with some friends we’ll have one of them on stage for something, but not to the degree of the TIAM tour we just did with those guys. That was specifically set up as a rolling thunder revue type thing. And it was beautiful. We’ve all toured together, we’re all friends, we all love each others songs. It was more like a family reunion than a tour. So no its not typically like that, though we do like to have friends up occasionally.

what are some of your favorite cities or venues to play?
I’ll list them, but it would be an essay describing why.
Cities:
1 New Orleans
2 Seattle
3 Columbus
4 Austin
5 Portland, Ore

Venues:
1 Vera- Groningen, NL
2 Paradiso, Amsterdam, NL
3 Subterranean, Chicago

what are 5 things in columbus that keep you guys there?
1 Music scene
2 Art Scene
3 It’s incredibly liberal
4 Clintonville
5 It’s our home

my favorite records are:
This is a loaded question
1 Born to Run- Springsteen
2 Where ya been- Dinosaur Jr
3 Sleepy-Eyed- Buffalo Tom

my favorite songs not on those records are:
1 Motion Pictures- Neil Young
2 Unsatisfied- The Replacements
3 Call the Legion In tonight- Centro-Matic

if i could work with _________ life would be great.
1 Springsteen
2 John Steinbeck
3 The Coen Brothers

these records get spun on the bus the most
1 The better angels of our nature- Glossary
2 Bested- Big Back Forty
3 Nothing feels good- The Promise ring

describe the songwriting process if you will.
For me, something will just appear, and I’ll hear it in my head, be it a melody or chord progression, a good line or a title, and then I just run with it and flesh it out. I can’t sit with a guitar and just write something like it’s a job. I’ve tried, it doesn’t work for me. I wish I could, maybe I’d be more prolific.

say, did you ever see that movie, uh, 'clash of the titans'?
Yes I have. It is the single reason why I’m afraid of scorpions

well i don't want to sound like a queer or nothing, but i think unicorns are kick ass.

david coverversions: absolutely sweet marie

full of desire with lines like "well, i got the fever down in my pockets", bob dylan's 'absolutely sweet marie' hasn't been given that many official takes, but the ones out there are worth tracking down. jason & the scorchers summon up the honkytonk gods and a bit of the stones' swagger for their take first released on the 'fervor' ep, their first release. they re-recorded it for their 2001 double album 'wildfires + misfires: two decades of outtakes and rarities'. for their 1979 record 'jumpin' in the night' the flamin groovies' gave a spectacular garage take. george harrison also tried this song out for 'the 30th anniversary concert celebration' in honor of bob dylan's 30 years as a recording artist. many people gave many sweet takes for this concert and the double album is totally worth tracking down, if only for neil young's 'all along the watchtower'...

bob dylan - absolutely sweet marie
the flamin' groovies - absolutely sweet marie
jason & the scorchers - absolutely sweet marie
george harrison - absolutely sweet marie


go buy whatcha likes and delete whatcha don't

my bloody underground

head on over to the brian jonestown massacre dot com and download the rough mix of their new record 'my bloody underground'. it's totally worth your time.

boss tuneage tuesday 12/4

got 2 hours?

the fiery furnaces - quay cur
neil young & crazy horse - slip away
tortoise - gamera
brightblack morning light - star
aphex twin - journey (aphex twin care mix)
stars of the lid - austin mental hospital part 2
the warlocks - jam of the witches
can - peking o
herbie hancock - sly
sigur ros - svefn-g-englar
bob dylan - desolation row
120 days - i've lost my vision


go buy whatcha likes and delete whatcha don't

david coverversions: froggie went a-courtin'

written way back in 1548 and many people have given different takes of this scottish tune. c-c-c-crambone. (there's a yodel in thar somewhar, but it's a little too high f'r me.)

bruce springsteen - froggie went a-courtin'
nick cave & the bad seeds - king kong kitchie kitchie ki-me-o
bob dylan - froggie went a-courtin'
pecos pest - froggie went a-courtin'


go buy whatcha likes and delete whatcha don't

two cow garage

on friday night we headed out into that long milwaukee night to catch the cd release parties of local bands evenstar and the rebuilts. this was going down at the cactus club. little did we know that just across the street at club garibaldi was columbus ohio's own two cow garage. having only read snippets of press here and there i thought this band was made-up, a fairy-tale if you will you could tell to hipsters. 'don't be a completely useless asshole and this band will come to your town and they will burn it down'. but here they are, live and in the flesh. tits. for those of you who don't know--two cow garage are musically like early wilco with the cowpunk swagger of jason & the scorchers (minus the mega-honkytown infatuation), the southern vibe of the drive-by truckers and my morning jacket, the blues, some banjos and some fiddles. they also utilize the booze-soaked vocal stylings not unlike the mark lanegan's and the tom waits' of the world. anywho the news here is that shane, two cow's bassist, agreed to do an interview for us so look for that in the next few days. in the meantime, check out these tunes from the first and latest two cow garage records then go to their website and buy them. (also gracing the stage on this evening, that i saw, were the drams and glossary.)

from 'please turn the gas back on'
been so long
farmtown
goodbye (alt)

from 'III"
mediocre
blanket gray
postcards and apologies


go buy whatcha likes and delete whatcha don't

free records #2 & #3: rachel car 'rachel car' & 'behave' ep

so more reviews. finally. i'd apologize for taking so long but i don't apologize for anything ever. the next defendant be: rachel car.

when these discs arrived at my doorstep, courtesy of los angeles' strater records, i wasn't sure what to expect. before this review begins, i'd like to declare that i have great admiration and respect for the fact that rachel car basically did this album and ep all by herself. that being said, these sound like they were done all by herself on her lil' casio and apple IIgs. but that's neither here nor there because i'm a-thinking that if rachel hooks up with a producer like linda perry, she could create the ass shakin' and boot knockin' music she's shooting for. not that these songs aren't filled with good ideas, they just don't bounce like she wants them to. it doesn't help her that these songs sound uninspired and that she sings them with a ho-hum boredom in her voice. if you want me to want you, act like it. don't sound like you'd rather be doing anything else. however, the remix album that streams from her website bounces like she wants it to.

side note: when i first got these records, i spent a good hour looking at the artwork for the 1-800 number to call as i thought it was promotion for some hot kinky clown sex phone line. too bad, i was totally in the mood for a hilarious verbal wank. but for seriously, all you cali cats and kittens keep an eye out for rachel car and her various projects, who shows much promise but sometimes people need a little help getting there.

arbitrary grade: knockin' boots with a softy johnce

from 'rachel car'
i know you want me
love somebody

from 'behave' ep
keep me high
love love baby


go buy whatcha likes and delete whatcha don't

david coverversion: paul simon vs. grizzly bear

so just about a year ago, i picked up grizzly bear's second record 'yellow house' without having heard them. being released by warp i was not expecting beach boys worthy harmonies sounding like they were recorded in a cave. excellent excellent excellent. i still need to go pick up the 'friends' ep with various covers by band of horses, css and atlas sound (who is one of the dudes from the excellent deerhunter). paul simon is god amongst mere mortals. anything, and i do mean anything, he has done is worth picking up. when i heard that the grizz covered my favorite paul simon tune off my favorite paul simon record it was insta-stiffy time. the excellent songwriting in the verses totally make up for the kinda lame chorus in the paul simon version. still looking for that department of eagles record as well...

paul simon - graceland
grizzly bear - graceland


go buy whatcha likes and delete whatcha don't

david coverversions: ace of spades

so here's the deal. if you don't like motorhead, you are a huge pussy. kind of like this but bigger. anyways. after getting the boot from proggy nerds hawkwind, apparently for a most excellent drug habit, lemmy kilmister formed the brutal motorhead. during my stint in colorado, my good buddy max (rip 1974-2004) introduced me to the onslaught that is the motorhead by way of their 1991 album '1916'. what's good about that particular record is it was a rebirth of sorts for the band, as it was released on a new label for them and they called their time as a band leading up to its recording and release as stale. also the original producer, some pussy, was fired for adding tambourines to a track. i digress. arguably 'ace of spades' is motorhead's best known song. speed demon pickers hayseed dixie give another blazing bluegrass rendition of the song and the twistin' tarantulas rockabillied the fuck out of it as well. lemmy's warts have gotten more action than you as well. let that soak in.

motorhead - ace of spades
the twistin' tarantulas - ace of spades
hayseed dixie - ace of spades


go buy whatcha likes and delete whatcha don't

david coverversion: link wray vs. calexico vs. joy division

once again we've returned to the never-lets-us-down calexico. many of you might know main calexers joey burns and john convertino from their old band giant sand. giant sand being the brainchild of howe gelb, whose various projects over the years are all worth a look, especially arizona amp and alternator. but that's for another day. six string demigod link wray can be thanked by all youse not-super-precise slingers for being one of the first to bring distortion to the table. see 'rumble'. (obviously). he achieved that sound by poking holes in his amp speaker with a pencil. for some huge fucking shame, link wray has not yet been inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame. why not you ask? probably because the voters are a group of righteously lame motherfuckers. at least that's my theory. i'm sure blondie and ratt got in their first time at the plate. link was also responsible for getting rockabilly back on the radio in the 70's with the albums he did with legendary rockbillyboy robert gordon. those records are totally worth tracking down and listening to over and over again. rockabilly!! whueh! calexico also gave a south-western fried version of joy division's 'love will tear us apart'. seeing that joy division will be appearing in a few future posts, we'll get down to those crunchy details then, ponce. also attached is the jose gonzales take of 'love will tear us apart' from the ep he brought with him on his 2005 australian tour.

joy division - love will tear us apart
calexico - love will tear us apart
calexico - falling rain
link wray - falling rain

robert gordon & link wray - fire
jose gonzales - love will tear us apart

ps. in case you were wondering, 'fire' was penned by the boss.


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boss tuneage tuesday 11/27

these tuesdays are coming 'round quicker and quicker. yarbles.

hell preachers inc. - nirwana
eluvium - indoor swimming at the space station
donovan - to susan on the west coast waiting
hasil adkins - i don't want nobody the way i want you
clutchy hopkins - track5
the giraffes - haunted heaven
ghostland observatory - i'll be suzy
teenage fanclub - mad dog 20/20
the perceptionists - love letters
gotan project - triptico
kings of leon - true love way


go buy whatcha likes and delete whatcha don't

david coverversion: the smiths vs. placebo vs. nick drake

pigeon kicker nicholas is a fan of the smiths. he tried telling me that it is in fact 'good' and should be listened to because of the subtle humor and morrisey's uncanny ability to make nerds look even nerdier by liking them as well. once upon a time i read the track listing for a recent morrisey solo album, and anyone who names a song 'all the lazy dykes' in this ridiculously politically correct world probably isn't all bad. chronic cockshiners placebo gave a technologically updated version of the song for a b-side to the single 'nancy boy' from their debut self-titled record. placebo also squeezed off a take of the late nick drake's 'been smoking too long'. nick drake is great and will probably get his own post someday soon.

the smiths - bigmouth strikes again
placebo - bigmouth strikes again
placebo - been smoking too long
nick drake - been smoking too long


go buy whatcha likes and delete whatcha don't

david coverversion: the clash vs. the afghan whigs vs. tlc

i've never hidden the fact that greg dulli is one of my (and therefore one of pigeon kickings) all time heroes. everything he has his hands in is excellent. i'm sure i've sorta gone off on how fucking excellent the music he has made over the last 17 odd years or so is (twilight singers, helping dave grohl out with the first foo fighters record etc..) so i'm not about to rehash or retype shit. dulli's first band to make it as it were--the afghan whigs--whipped up a whole variety of covers for various ep's over the years. this is why 'she loves you' should not have surprised anyone. greg dulli covering mary j blige should not have been looked into that much. for their 1996 ep 'honky's ladder' the whigs continued their 'let's put some covers on our eps' plan and gave us a soulful as fuck take of tlc's 'creep'. they also gave a dark take of the tin man's 'if i only had a heart' for the ep as well. for the so-so 'burning london: the clash tribute' record, the afghan whigs also gave an excellent take of 'lost in the supermarket'. they turn this song about isolation (to me at least what it seems this song is about) into something you could totally knock someone up to. sweet. too bad it fades out. if anandamide hadn't come up with the 'patron saint of [various stuff] and anandamide' first, greg dulli would certainly be one of ours. speaking of anandamide, head over to his page and submit your entries for his homoerocktic photo contest and get some ideas on how to get your swerve on. first time whiggers should seek out 'gentlemen' or 'black love' first.

the clash - lost in the supermarket
the afghan whigs - lost in the supermarket
the afghan whigs - creep
tlc - creep

the afghan whigs - if i only had a heart
the twilight singers - real love

ps. thanks to my sister for the tlc track.


go buy whatcha likes and delete whatcha don't

lust lust lust

with a tentatively lame us release date in fucking march february of next year, i decided to get the import of the raveonettes new album 'lust lust lust'. released earlier this month the on the london based indie label fierce panda, it's good to hear the raveonettes have gone back a bit to their signature sound (as lame as that phrase is). you know what sound i mean--the orgy of garage fuzz, dark surfish-noir, drum machines, a huge love affair with the jesus & mary chain and pop from the 50's and 60's being produced by lou reed during his 'metal machine music' days. although, this time around it seems that they have also been paying extra special close attention to the jesus & mary drums. the raveonettes went indie so they could have control of their records and now we gots to wait 4 months to pick it up here. weak. at least some asshole major label would have it out here. and just for that here are four cuts from 'lust lust lust', which is totally worth importing with your tea, fancylad.

from 'whip it on' ep
beat city
do you believe her

from 'that great love sound'
love can destroy
new york was great

from 'pretty in black'
red tan
you say you lie

from 'lust lust lust'
lust
blush
dead sound
with my eyes closed

ps. that raveonettes link up there is really only worth it for the music streamage.


go buy whatcha likes and delete whatcha don't

boss tuneage tuesday 11/20

the moon-rays - blues for vampires
gomez - whippin' picidilly
seachange - glitterball
ghostface killah feat. raekwon - kilo
tripping daisy - piranha
ted leo & the pharmacists - little dawn
creedence clearwater revival - lookin' out my back door
the smashing pumpkins - marquis in spades
rage against the machine - snakecharmer
scott joplin - maple leaf rag
thunderball - on the sly
green day - king for a day


go buy whatcha likes and delete whatcha don't

david coverversions: breaking the law

i first remember hearing this song on beavis & butthead many a-year back. there isn't anything special about the back story to this tune. some overtly homoerotic leather abusing band wrote one of the catchiest riffs ever. ever. and each one of these versions are pretty fucking good. blah blah blah bling bling bling blah.

judas priest - breaking the law
hayseed dixie - breaking the law
hellsongs - breaking the law
supersuckers - breaking the law


go buy whatcha likes and delete whatcha don't

more side a track ones

so after a long weekend, here's another reason to post songs.

gillian welch - caleb meyer from 'hell among the yearlings'
serena maneesh - drain cosmetics from 'serena maneesh'
yonder mountain string band - half moon rising from 'elevation'
grandaddy - he's simple, he's dumb, he's the pilot from 'the sophtware slump'
union jack - red herring from 'there will be no armageddon'
morcheeba - slow down from 'charango'
the decemberists - the infanta from 'picaresque'
vincent gallo - i wrote this song for the girl paris hilton from 'when'
spiritualized - ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space from 'ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space'


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better than mtv

shelter - here we go


dj swamp - worship the robots


counting crows - angels of the silences


clinic - if you could read your mind


dungen - festival

placebo instrumentals

i've always been a believer that if placebo recorded an album of all instrumentals it would very possibly be my favorite release of theirs. i haven't been paying that much attention to the placebo camp as of late, mostly because of the lackluster 'meds', but their early work still holds a place in my brainstew. some people hold disdain for placebo the same way that they disliked the smashing pumpkins--the singer's voice. granted, they're both whiny, nasally, neurotic, annoying, blah blah blah...but it's better than some generic radio vocals stylings (like most nu-metal and generic hard rock bands as of late), or something so blatantly auto-tuned it makes me want to spit. sometimes placebo gives the listener's ear a break and they compose some bizarre instrumental woven into psychedelics, uppers and downers all at the same time...

bulletproof cupid
ion
evalia
bionic
the innocence of sleep

ps. i know there are a few words in 'bionic' but it's just the same shit repeated over and over again and the lead is sweet tits. plus it's my blog so kiss my grits.


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boss tuneage tuesday 11/13

it's good to see da bears back to being big winners.

clogs - thom's night out
the field - sun & ice
fela ransome-kuti - jeun ko ku (chop n quench)
bowerbirds - in our talons
the groggers - one more crass display
the highwaymen - live forever
russian futurists - sentiments & syllables
perry como - magic moments
ruth ruth - uninvited
bob dylan - sara
the morning-after girls - lazy greys
grampian police pipe band - amazing grace


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the twilight singers part two

so i meant to post this earlier but i didn't. after revisiting 'powder burns' again tonight, i remembered there was supposed to be a part two. there were facts and anecdotes in the part one i think. i don't remember. word around the campfire is that 'powder burns' was the first record that greg dulli has done completely sober. but that doesn't mean you need to be while you listen. anywho, on to the jambs.

from 'she loves you'
strange fruit
what makes you think you're the one
black is the color of my true loves hair
summertime

from 'powder burns'
there's been an accident
bonnie brae
candy cane crawl
underneath the waves


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better than mtv

r.e.m. - e-bow the letter


2pac - dear mama


dj qbert - lamb chops


califone - spider's house


wax - california

david coverversion: the beach boys vs. stevie wonder vs. youngblood brass band

upon releasing his 8th album--1967's 'i was made to love her'--a teenage stevie wonder was just emerging in the funky r&b/soul scene he would later dominate. upon this record's release he achieved his 2nd highest chart placing to date when the title track reached #2. his first single 'fingertips part 2' reached #1, a live recording with marvin gaye on drums released when he was 13. brian wilson saw the talent in little stevie wonder and the beach boys gave 'i was made to love her' a sunny cali makeover for their 'wild honey' record released that same year. i'm a fan of any brass band; dirty dozen, forgotten souls, rebirth, madison wisconsin's own youngblood brass band, et al. on their 3rd record, 2000's 'unlearn', they gave a spectacular cover of stevie's 'pastime paradise'. turning those eerie strings into a funky horn section seems an impossible task, but youngblood is up to it. many of you should know that coolio sampled the living fuck out of it for his 'gangsta's paradise'. 'weird al' yankovic is good shit and coolio is kinda lame for agreeing to let weird do 'amish paradise' and then getting pissed about it. first off, coolio, you can only get partially pissed because you basically did the same thing to stevie. secondly, why don't you fucking cry about it, pussy? anyways, let the funk into your soul.

youngblood brass band - pastime paradise
stevie wonder - pastime paradise
stevie wonder - i was made to love her
the beach boys - i was made to love her

jimi hendrix - i was made to love her
stevie wonder - fingertips part 2
'weird al' yankovic - amish paradise
coolio - gangsta's paradise

ps. stevie plays drums for jimi on his blistering instrumental bbc session take of 'i was made to love her' as well. sweet!


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david coverversions: exit music (for a film)

with the possible exception of 'where i end and you begin' from 'hail to the theif' and 'like spinning plates' from 2001's live ep 'i might be wrong', (granted the downtempo trippiness of the studio take is unrivaled, it can't compare to to the amazing piano/bass/voice take they gave for said ep) my favorite radiohead song could possibly be 'exit music (for a film)'. legend has it they were given the last 5 minutes of the 1996 movie 'william shakespeare's romeo + juliet' and were asked to write a song for the closing credits. from that comes exit music. i'm glad thom yorke had the foresight to keep it off the soundtrack, keeping it for ok computer and giving them 'talk show host' instead. 2 versions of the song appear on the easy star all-stars cover of the album previously posted. one being the straight ahead reggae take and one entitled 'exit music (for a dub)' which is sweet. classical pianist and public radio host christopher o'riley transcribed a bunch of radiohead tracks for 'true love waits: christopher o'riley plays radiohead' album and it's follow up 'hold me to this'. they are both great, if you like music interpretations and the piano. speaking of musical interpretaions, i was somehow surprised to find 'corporate love breakdown" a bluegrass tribute to radiohead. most of those bluegrass tribute or pickin' on discs are ok, some are lame, but radiohead's is spot-on. keeping true to the original arrangements this disc is quite an enjoyable time around the old victrola. lastly, music website stereogum commissioned a ten year anniversary ok computer tribute album called okx. stereogum is like pitchfork and filter and shit. minus the pretentiousness and plus the sweet cover albums. they just gave us this a month ago. christopher o'riley's discs of elliot smith songs and nick drake songs are worth seeking out as well. why is 'i will' posted?

radiohead - exit music (for a film)
christopher o'riley - exit music (for a film)
vampire weekend - exit music (for a film)
corporate love breakdown - exit music (for a film)
easy star all-stars - exit music (for a film)
easy star all-stars - exit music (for a dub)

radiohead - i will
radiohead - where i end and you begin
radiohead - like spinning plates
radiohead - like spinning plates (live)


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david coverversion: steely dan vs. the mountain goats vs. hank williams vs. mark lanegan & isobel campbell

i've always thought that steely dan was the bastard child of the cheesiest aspects of 70's culture and the coke-fueled yacht rock scene. well, those that aren't the coke-fueled yacht rock scene. that being said, steely dan gets me in the same mood neil diamond does--it lifts me up when i'm feeling down like when i heard motley crue was getting back together. and doing a live album. hopefully everyone knows about hank williams. dying early, he set the bar pretty high for songwriting and helping to roll out honky tonk. many many artists, too many to list, have also covered his work. oddly enough, the last two songs associated with hank were his final single 'i'll never get out of this world alive' and the unrecorded 'then came that fateful day', the handwritten lyrics for the latter being with him when he od'd. weird. prolific lo-fi songsmith the mountain goats covered both previously mentioned artists. any of the albums, eps, cassettes or whatnot you can get you hands on from the mountain goats is worthwhile and should be picked up. mark lanegan and isobel campbell's 'ballad of the broken seas' offers a excellent take of hank's excellent loner tale 'ramblin' man'. i'm still amazed how everything mark lanegan is involved with is great. i'm sure mondo generator is ok for at least one song... anyone know?

steely dan - fm
the mountain goats - fm
the mountain goats - i'm so lonesome i could cry
hank williams - i'm so lonesome i could cry
hank williams - ramblin' man
mark lanegan & isobel campbell - ramblin' man


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david coverversion: alphaville vs. youth group

most 80's music can stay put. this song, however, was excellently dug up for 'napoleon dynamite' maybe showing just how out of touch some places are. maybe it's the reverse reverb scattered thru-out the song. maybe i'm a sucker for cheeseball synths. either way, i like this tune and was happy to see alphaville's 'forever young' debut record in a used bin for $1. noice. i don't know much about australia's youth group, but i picked up their 2006 album 'casino twilight dogs' because it has the word twilight in the title and as it turns out, it's a totally competent record. i don't know how aussie bands like jet and silverchair get blown by every journo-cunt out there, but bands like augie march and youth group fly under the radar for so long. payola dudes! actually... i guess silverchair was pretty good for at least their first two or three records but jet will always suck a farts dick.

alphaville - forever young
youth group - forever young

augie march - sunstroke house
augie march - the honey month
silverchair - cemetery


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david coverversion: leo kottke vs. sons of the pioneers

everyone remembers this sons of the pioneers song from the introduction to the coen brother's 'the big lewbowski'. one thing about the coen brother's films is that, like quentin tarantino, the music is always a right-on definition for the scene it's over. even if it means reusing a song or two in the same movie. then again, when you have t-bone burnett as your musical archivist and producer on a bunch of your films, the soundtrack and music selection are going to be great and appropriately fitting. for his 1981 album 'guitar music', yes the one with the cheeseball 80's cover (but don't let that frighten you away), leo kottke gives an amazing 12sting instrumental rendition along with some other pigeon kicking favorites; namely 'sleepwalk' and 'all i have to do is dream'. let's be honest here, any leo kottke album is an enjoyable listen, especially the album 'clone' he did with mike gordon.

sons of the pioneers - tumbling tumbleweeds
leo kottke - tumbling tumbleweeds

leo kottke & mike gordon - clone
leo kottke & mike gordon - the collins missle


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boss tuneage tuesday 11/6

tommy james & the shondells - i think we're alone now
funkadelic - i'll stay
a band of bees - the russian
i love you but i've chosen darkness - the owl
cat stevens - morning has broken
merle travis - peach pickin' time in georgia
m83 - don't save us from the flames (superpitcher remix)
satan's pilgrims - haunted house of rock '95
my bloody valentine - when you sleep
jam & spoon - stella
aesop rock - basic cable
the tyde - best intentions


go buy whatcha likes and delete whatcha don't

better than mtv

elbow - powder blue


the ventures - slaughter on 10th avenue


quasimoto - bullyshit


ravi shankar - some song


steve martin, bela fleck & tony trischka - the crow

free record #1: terrene 'the indifferent universe'

hello reviews. we promised them and we eventually make good on our word goddamnit. so let's get down to business. only half of us here at pigeon kickers have even heard of this site, and only half of them know what the wall street urinal is, so we will all (hopefully) be doing these in-no-way professional reviews. after everything thought up for a review system has, in some form or another, been used by some other entity, and our final decision was 'fuck it'. so, the first defendant be: terrene.

seeing that the knob fiddler phil ek was involved with terrene's debut 'the indifferent universe', i was like 'who the fuck is phil ek'? well, phil ek is the bad ass that was responsible for the halo benders 'the rebels not in', dios (malos)'s self-titled debut, both band of horses albums, 2 shins albums and on and on. fucking a. he also engineered the david cross stand-up album 'shut up you fucking baby'. as you would imagine, things were already looking up for portland oregon's terrene. i mean even if the music sucked balls, i'm sure the production would have been good. yet the music doesn't suck balls. it's the exact opposite, it's getting your balls sucked. taking cues from all over the map--explosions in the sky-esque leads, arcade fire's sense of epic urgency, shinsy nerdiness, sigur ros' surreality--combined with an overall good pop sensibility, makes this record quite an enjoyable listen.

'the indifferent universe' was released in august (i think) on the mostly hip-hop label, wax orchard, whose credo i greatly agree with and admire. anyways, as a whole the record flows very nicely--in fact so smoothly in some places you don't notice it's already half way thru the next song. there is still nerdjuice oozing from all over this record as well. for example, the intro to the track 'unwelcome' sounds like the music from bubble bobble and the music and some sound effects from ms. pac-man took a whole buncha quaaludes, drank some yukon jack and spacefucked all night long like a couple of catholic school girls. wicked good. no you guys, i'm seriously, this was free. anyways, maybe these reviews will get better with time, maybe not but i hope this is a promising sign for the rest of the reviews...

arbitrary grade: a fried-egg sandwich

andromeda
media sift (through heart rises)
unwelcome
spirits on the shelf


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david coverversion: the fireflies vs. air vs. franz ferdinand

at times air (not to be confused with these buttfuckers) can be a little frou-frou. i don't know much about the fireflies but some of it seems a little frou-frou. franz ferdinand probably referred to themselves as dandy lads or something of the like, which is totally frou-frou. these songs are good. but a little frou-frou.

the fireflies - cherry blossom girl
air - cherry blossom girl
air - sexy boy
franz ferdinand - sexy boy


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david coverversion: bob dylan vs. neil young vs. heather nova

neil young has blasted motherfuckers for years. i remember seeing him at the h.o.r.d.e festival back in the late ninties, along with kula shaker, beck, and some others probably not really worth remembering. anyways, before that, the only neil young song i knew of was 'rockin' in the free world' and after watching neil rock in the free world, i put 2 and 2 together and figured out that neil young is sweet. for his live album 'weld' from the 'ragged glory' tour, neil and co (crazy horse) gave old bobby's timeless protest shanty 'blowin' in the wind' an almost a capella performance in what seems to be dresden. it is very reminiscent of his guitar work on the soundtrack for the widely hated (but loved by me) 'where the buffalo roam', a movie very loosely based on hunter s thompson. like frida snell previously, i don't know much about this heather nova, but i came across her take of neil's 'like a hurricane' at itunes or something and i dug it. violins dude.

bob dylan - blowin' in the wind
neil young & crazy horse - blowin' in the wind
neil young - like a hurricane
heather nova - like a hurricane

neil young - home on the range


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boss tuneage tuesday 10/30

it other things boss. i found a hammond s4 chord organ in excellent
condition at goodwill for $20. tits!

the handsome family - winnebago skeletons
ibrahim ferrer - melodia del rio
trancendental anarchists - 6th sense
ladyhawk - long 'til the morning
castanets - you are the blood
automator - cartoon capers
cymande - rickshaw
supersuckers - sleepy vampire
lee 'scratch' perry - dub a come
the animals - it's my life
the mountain goats - going to georgia
johnny cash - guess things happen that way


go buy whatcha likes and delete whatcha don't