• Love And Rockets - Earth Sun Moon. Every now and then I feel the urge to back-fill some of the records I listened to a lot in the past but either traded-away or otherwise lost access to. So, this one. It's an absolute classic. Lush, early 90's late 80's, retro-Beatles psychedelia. There's not much of the old Bauhaus goth lingering around on this, but there is a lot of misty, watercolored, neo-hippie-dippyism. It was very stylish at the time. The catchy, "No New Tale To Tell" was the first song I ever learned to play on guitar (I had tried to learn The Beatles' "Help" prior, but that f'in Bm chord was too much for me at the time).
• Howlin Wolf - Howlin' Wolf/Moanin' in the Moonlight. I've had the "London Howlin Wolf Sessions" album forever. That's the one where Wolf and his guitar player somewhat-reluctantly hooked up with a bunch of British rock kids (Clapton, Steve Winwood, Ringo Starr, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, Ian Stewart, etc.) for a run-through of Wolf classics. I like it well enough, but I have to admit I bought it mostly for the rockers. It wasn't until I heard the original versions of the tunes that I really appreciated how awesome Wolf was. The stuff with Clapton et al drags a bit because Wolf wasn't into it, and the rock kids were intimidated by him. But these early versions are raw and rockin and, yes, howlin. It's easy to hear what drew all those rock kids to him. Plus $6 for 24 songs!
• Tame Impala - Innerspeaker. Retro-psychedelia, often sounding very much like The Nazz, or George Harrison, especially in the vocals. Or Cream. Or Hendrix. Or a great swirling stew of 60's rock. Which is a good thing, IMO. I like it.

You?

Some of what my car CD player is playing these days:

• Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires Of The City. While I do prefer the overt guitar-based afro-pop of the first two records to the studio-confections of this one, it's still a fun record. Plenty of good songs, interesting lyrics, etc.. Four raquos »»»»
• The National - The Boxer. Reminds me of The Church, Joy Division, and what I imagine Nick Cave sounds like. In other words: Very 80's alt influenced. Nice. Four raquos »»»»
• Mos Def - The New Danger. There's a live-band feel on most of this, but not a very interesting one. A couple of catchy tunes, but a lot of stuff that just doesn't grab me. Two raquos »»

Y'all got anything new ?

• David Bowie - The Next Day. Uneven. There are a bunch of interesting songs and a handful of songs that just fall flat. It's generally the slower ballads that don't interest me here; the rest is fun and funky. But, that's pretty typical of how Bowie's albums sit with me; even classics like Ziggy and Hunky Dory have a few clunkers. Scary Monsters, I can barely listen to. So far I'm liking this better than that. Some of sounds and little touches in these new songs recall older hits: guitar bits in Dirty Boys that remind me of Fame - but only a little. So, it sounds like a Bowie album.
  Pretty good.

• Bob Dylan - Tempest. This is the first time I've ever bought a new Dylan record. Wow. His voice is rough and gravelly. Musically... there are a few things I won't mind hearing, when he does his show here. But there are some things that really grate on me. The title track, for example, is a fourteen minute recitation of the Titanic story, over unchanging music - I swear the boat sinks a dozen times in those 40+ verses. The track before it is an eight minute recitation of a triple murder/suicide murder. The track after, a long ode to John Lennon. He steals, alludes, quotes, reworks and retells lyrics from ... everyone, which is interesting. But, on the whole, his lyrics today don't have anywhere near the zing of his lyrics from the 60s and 70s. That he's no longer the same verbal wiz is forgivable, but what wears me down is that he hasn't let up on quantity, even as quality has declined. Classics like "Tangled Up In Blue" and "Ballad Of A Thin Man" are long, but the words sparkle. Here, not so much. They just go on and on. I like most of the songs towards the front of the record (ex), but it drags at the end where the long songs bunch up.
  Not my favorite.

• Bob Dylan - World Gone Wrong. This one sits a lot better with me. They're all folk standards, recorded simply: just Dylan, his surprisingly deft guitar guitar playing, and some harmonica. Some of them feel a little long, but they don't even approach the grinding tedium (sorry!) of "Tempest". I hope this Dylan shows up for the show.
  Better.

• Iron Maiden - Number Of The Beast / Piece Of Mind. Bought these during a couple bottles of Moinette blonde. The music is better than I remember, the lyrics worse. I didn't realize how progressive these guys were, at the time. And, frankly, I was more of a Judas Priest fan when I was 14; I liked Priest's harder, less-fussy approach. But, nearly thirty years later, I can appreciate how much of a monster Maiden was - how technically adept and how thunderous their music is. I even got over my "Paul Dianno was better than Bruce Dickinson" delusion: Dickinson is just an amazing vocalist.
  A nice stroll down Hazy Memory Lane.

Y'all got anything new?

Though impeded by my lack of connectivity, I manage to find new music to listen to:

• Tift Merritt - Traveling Alone. Is this alt-country? It's country alright, but it's nothing at all like what you'd hear on commercial country radio; and it's not paleo- stuff like Gillian Welch or bluegrass; and it's not old-style redneck stuff like Johnny Cash or Merle Haggard. It's that Graham Parsons / Emmylou / later-Krauss strain: a little bit of rock, heavy on the balladry, a lot of twang, but none of that shit-kickin, whoop-it-up, faux-downhome stuff that popular country music relies on. I like it. Good songs. Nice vibe. Andrew Bird makes an appearance on backup vocals, doing a very convincing Roy Orbison impression. She's pretty good live, too.
• Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison. I'd heard some songs from it, but never the whole thing, with all the talking and his jokes and the little novelty songs. It's pretty wild. The sound is raw and live. The wardens make announcements. The crowd laughs at the little innuendos in the lyrics, then he cracks up and forgets the words. The crowd is loving it, in a much different way than the James Brown Apollo crowd is loving it: convicts, not teenage girls. His voice is great, and his personality dominates. The music is, while not always amazing, at least fun.
• Janelle Monae - Archandroid. So it seems I have a thing for quirky female R&B singers: Santigold, Erykah Badu, etc.. And Monae is super-quirky. Or, at least that's the impression the album wants to convey. The record leaps all over the place: 80's pop, big-band, jazz, hip-hop, R&B, classical, rock, etc.. It wants to be a wild ride - a concept album inspired by Metropolis, she says. And some of it is fun, and some of it is interesting. But the rest isn't strong enough to carry me along. She's got talent. But I think I'd like to see it focused on maybe two or three genres at a time, instead of six or seven.

You got anything new?

A couple of quick impressions:

• My Bloody Valentine - m b v . They had a tough puzzle: how to follow up Loveless. Ditch the trademark swirling guitar noise? Lose the ethereal vocals? Update the 1991 sampled dance-beat drums? Answer to all three: no. Instead, they reduced the number and density of the guitars - now it sounds like one guy giving his whammy bar and effects pedals the workout of their lives. And, they reduced the warmth and sweetness in the melodies, which makes the album a lot less easy to get into. I'm not crazy about this, so far. Willing to give it more chances, though.
• James Brown - Live At The Apollo. Regarded by many as the best live album ever. Dunno. The band is tight, sure, but I'm not a huge fan of 60s R&B in general, nor of James Brown in particular, so tightness in service of music that doesn't grab me isn't going to get me there. Plus, the crowd noise is a bit overdone - those girls shrieking all the time are just distracting. Not my bag.

Hard to get new stuff without decent internet...

Got anything we need to know about?

Everything is all crazy because of the move - I don't even know where the NAS where my iTunes library resides is right now. So, listening is down a bit. But...

• Metz - Metz. Take the most abrasive and tuneless songs from bands like Nirvana, Jesus Lizard and Drive Like Jehu (or Paper) and then compress the hell out of them. Crushing. Grinding. Grating. I have a hard time with it. I'm old.
• David Byrne & St Vincent - Love This Giant. Mostly it sounds just like you think it would: David Byrne singing over St Vincent's signature angular & jittery alt-pop songs. I'm not familiar with Byrne's recent stuff, but I know St. Vincent's work pretty well, and musically it sounds just like this. And that means the songs where St. Vincent sings lead and Byrne remains silent might as well just be St. Vincent songs. That's not necessarily a bad thing, of course. But, sadly, most of the songs here don't really grab me.
• The Amps - Pacer. The Amps were Kim Deal's short-lived mid-90's band, formed while the Breeders were on a break. This, their only record, sounds like it could have just as easily have been a Breeders record - that sweetly dazed vibe Kim Deal brings to everything she touches is all over this. The playing is a bit looser than The Breeders, and the hooks aren't quite as strong as The Breeder's best. But it's still fun.

Got anything worth mentioning?

Let's listen to Tift Merrit!

You're welcome.

• Cloud Nothings - Attack On Memory. When I listen to this, I hear a band trying out sounds from other bands: from the vaguely Thom Yorke-ish opener, into things that sound like Paper, Pixies, Tokyo Police Club, etc.. It's not bad, but I get so distracted by the echoes of other bands that I can't get into it fully. Not their fault entirely, it's a curse of mine.
• Buddy Guy & Junior Wells : Hoodoo Man Blues. 1965. Now this is the shit. Guy's guitar playing is awesome: aggressive and playful (and his influence on Clapton is obvious). He sounds like he's just having a ball. Harmonica, in the mouths of folkies at least, makes me want to tear my ears off and fill the holes with spackle, but Wells' favors a low and growly tone, and it's well down in the mix. Awesome. Killer record.
• Buddy Guy & Junior Wells : Alone And Acoustic. 1981. Just Guy with an acoustic guitar and Wells with his harp; both sing. I much prefer the electric side of these guys, but there are some good songs here.
• Buddy Guy - Sweet Tea. 2001. The sound of this reminds me of Neil Young's "Le Noise" record; it's huge and raw, up-close and intimate when it's quiet, and when it gets loud it grabs you by the neck and roars in your face. It's a great sound, very live. Feels like you're watching them in someone's backyard. The only thing that detracts are the various odd reverbs/echoes on Guy's voice; seems like there's a different unnecessary vocal effect on each song. His voice still sounds fine, and doesn't need any decoration.
• Divine Fits - A Thing Called Divine Fits. This is Spoon's Britt Daniels, Wolf Parade's Boeckner and New Bomb Turk's Sam Brown. It's a fun record; a strong 80's electronic new wave vibe, and a good amount of Britt Daniels signature hooks and vocal lines. They're coming to town next month. I am excite.

You got anything new?

• Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel.... It's been ten years since her last, so learning she had a new record out was a bit of a surprise. It was also a bit of a surprise to hear that she hasn't changed much - she's still doing the same kind of whimsical, angry, off-kilter songs centered around her piano playing and unmistakable voice. The difference this time is that the core of piano and voice is all there is. Her previous records decorated that core with layers and layers of instrumental ornamentation: keyboards, guitars, heavy bass lines, strings, etc.. This time, there's only some skeletal percussion to fill in the spaces: spartan. I kindof miss the rest of the stuff, though. I actually find myself mentally decorating these songs with typical Fiona Apple trappings - "and here's where you'd hear a circus organ doing a melody like this... la la, dee dee deeeee...". I need some more time to get past that.
• Disappears - Pre Language. Picked this up because (possibly defunct) Sonic Youth's drummer, Steve Shelley, is a member. They're loud, grungy, with a strong Sonic Youth vibe (and not just in the drums), and a touch of Joy Division-ish drone. Pretty good.
• Ty Segall Band - Slaughterhouse. Stoner garage rock with a singer howling from the bottom of a deep well of reverb. Some of it makes me think of early Yo La Tengo doing revved-up versions of early Pink Floyd, some of it is just plain old garage rock. I like it, but it's pretty heavy, so I'm not always up for it.
• Digable Planets - Blowout Comb. I've finally resigned myself to the fact that the only hip-hop I really like is the jazz-influenced, sample-based stuff made in the early 90s: Tribe, De La Soul, Digable Plants, mid-period Beasties. So, this is from 1994. It has the same deeply groovy but laid-back vibe as their fantastic first record: the same unhurried, smoothly-delivered vocals, the strong political element. Great stuff.
• Jungle Brothers - Straight Out The Jungle. Part of the same scene that A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul came out of, and pioneers of that jazz/hip-hop fusion. But, this one's a few years older than any of ATCQ's or De La's records (though ATCQ's Q-Tip shows up on a couple of tunes) and so it's got a leaner, rougher and relatively un-polished feel: much more of an old-school vibe - a lot of rapping over a bare drum beat. It's growing on me, though.
• Mos Def - Black On Both Sides. It's from 1999, but, it's still got a strong enough link to the early-90's golden age that I can dig it, even if it's a little on the shouty side for my taste. There are re-uses of samples that ATCQ used, and Q-Tip shows up here, too, on a tune that samples ATCQ's "Sukka Nigga". So: nice.

How bout you - got anything new?

• Slint - Tweez. I've avoided this one for decades. Their second (and final) record is so perfect, and so unusual, that I didn't want to hear anything that would change my opinion of the band, or to take away from the notion that Spiderland is a sui generis masterpiece. Of course that's exactly what happened. Musically, it's the same band, for sure. Well, OK, there's a different bassist, but the band's sound was clearly driven by the others. The records share many of the same ideas, musical approaches, tricks, sounds, the ineffable Slintyness. There's a bit of Jesus Lizard in there, too. So, Spiderland now feels like a natural progression, not a complete one-of-a-kind. Still, the records are distinct, sonically, especially. Albini recorded this, and either he, or the band (as he claims), made the guitars sound extremely harsh and thin: basically, the Big Black sound - which doesn't encourage close listening. The songs are louder and harsher on this, too; not as much of the beautiful tense near-silence that defines Spiderland (and which makes close listening necessary). But, there are some really good things here (and on the Slint EP), so it's not a disappointment. It's just that this is never going to escape the shadow of Spiderland, and I honestly don't want it to.

  Speaking of Slint, here they are doing Neil Young's "Cortez The Killer", of all things.

• The Men - Open Your Heart. I hear so many other bands in this: from Sonic Youth and various 80s punk bands, to things like The Feelies and Teenage Fanclub, and then to modern drone/stoner rock. And except for a pretty blatant rip of The Stones' "Dead Flowers", it's a blaring, gritty, guitar attack. Pretty good. Not perfect for all moods and settings, tho.
• Gentleman Jesse - Leaving Atlanta ...on "Douchemaster" records ! It's another bag of influences. Different ones, though. This band completely embraces late 70's pop/punk bands like Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Flamin Groovies, Southside Johnny, etc.. Their catchy, melodic, energetic, feel-good rock songs sound like overlooked classics; like, maybe it's a band who you knew from a couple of minor hits a few decades back and that you're just hearing the rest of the album for the first time now - and you can't believe how great it is. Odds are good if you remember the 70s, you'll immediately feel comfortable with these songs. They've perfectly captured a very specific, and long-forgotten, sound and style. Put it on at a party, and expect people to ask, "Hey, who's this?! It sounds like ______ !"
• Graham Coxon - The Spinning Top / A+E. Coxon is probably best known as the singer guitarist from Blur, which in the US probably doesn't ring many bells; they've had only minor success here. Nonetheless, in addition to Blur, he's had a long solo career, and these are the two most recent records. The first, The Spinning Top, is a pastoral, Brit-folk record, with a lot of really nice acoustic guitar work. Nick Drake, Pentangle, that kind of vibe. I like it. The next, A+E, is a completely different record. It's loud and fast and messy, aggressive. He bounces from early punk sounds (think Buzzcocks), Krautrock, glam, things that sound like whatever LCD Soundsystem was drawing from, to stuff that sounds like the only Blur song I know, the great Song 2. Sonically, this record is pretty experimental: in addition to the loud guitars and drums, there are odd electronic things, distressed horns, heavily-processed drums; six people are credited with "Screams" on Allmusic's review. They both give off a "self-made record" vibe - which I typically like.
  A+E isn't available in the US, for some reason (a stupid reason, I'm sure). Thanks to RobC, for pushing this into my sights.

Recommend things!