Category Archives: Start Your iPods

Start Your iPods

Five. Because it's half of ten.

  1. Modern Jazz Quintet - Autumn In New York. It's just around the corner! I'm wary, though. The summer was cool, here. And so I suspect it will be a cold fall and a very cold winter. And that means $$$$$s for heating gas.
  2. Jimi Hendrix - 51st Anniversary. I like the music, but the words are a little strange.
  3. Allison Krauss & Union Station - Shield Of Faith. Is it weird that, though an atheist, I like gospel tunes?
  4. Sigur Ros - (Intro). It's nearly silent. Not much of an intro.
  5. Merle Travis - Cannonball Rag. Damn, that dude could play.

Feel free. Comments are open.

Start Your iPods

Double-stuffed this week, because there won't be one next week!

  1. Smashing Pumpkins - Smiley. From their Peel Sessions. I like.
  2. Jim Kweskin & The Jug Band - My Gal
  3. Pavement - Date With Ikea. That's a great, late, Pavement song. Melodic enough, slack enough.
  4. Boris - Electric. Grinding, screeching, noisy: Boris.
  5. Bishop Allen - Rain. Pleasant guitar pop. Probably would fit well on a triple bill with Vampire Weekend and Matt Pond PA.
  6. NiN - Gave Up. Wow. I haven't heard this in forever. Classic fast angry NiN, live!
  7. Beck - Scarecrow. Another one I'd forgotten about. Good stuff.
  8. Hilkka - Last April. Very post-rock: angular and cyclical with spoken vocals, very Slint / June Of 44. Good, though!
  9. Elliott Smith - Needle In The Hay. Verses are good, but I do not like the chorus. He had better.
  10. Wye Oak - The Tower. I resist this album because they traded her guitar for synths, and I loved her guitar. But, these are good songs. Kindof a mid-80s feel.

U?

Start Your iPods

5!

  1. Pavement - In The Mouth A Desert. So that's what this is called? It's the "It's What I Want" song, to me.
  2. Benny Goodman Quartet - Vibraphone Blues. Now that there is a descriptive title! No artsy obfuscation there, no sirree. Blues: check! Vibraphone: check!
  3. Van Halen - Secrets. On later albums, VH sometimes turned their backs pn the thumping cock-rock that they're best known for and slid into a weird slack noodley pop thing.
  4. Modern Lovers - Dignified And Old. Yep. But I'd take old, if I had to choose between the two.
  5. Breeders - It's The Love. That grinding guitar and the sing-song singing - it's the Breeders that I like best.

U?

Start Your iPods

It's the five.

  1. Bears - Everywhere. I'm a sucker for psychedelic indie pop. This isn't Belew's band, The Bears. This is a different band, Bears.
  2. Sidney Bechet - Muskrat Ramble. Not enough swing.
  3. Jack White - Three Women. I want to hear guitar, not keyboards!
  4. Sebadoh - Too Pure. Never got into them, but this is a good song.
  5. Death Cab For Cutie - The New Year. Gah! The melodies! The hooks!

The five that the iPod wants me to hear.

Start Your iPods

Turn up the old iVictrola, gonna dance the day away...

  1. Okkervil River - Walking Without Frankie. This is a very different sound from older O.R.. There's no old-timey folk in here; this is more like The Walkmen.
  2. Devendra Banhart - Hatchet World. Hmm.
  3. Nod - Tree Stuff & Lightning. Doin their Nod thing. Sounds like... I dunno... V.U. and Canned Heat shared a big pot of coffee?
  4. Junior Wells - Sugarfoot Rag. What starts out as a straight bluegrass tune picks up all kinds of Hendrix-style attitude (and Hendrix-style licks) as it progresses. He's one of those performers who is easily 10x more fun to see live than to hear on an iPod.
  5. Gentleman Jesse - You Give Me Shivers. Retro pop-punk rock, think Flamin Groovies. It's a good, fun record.

Who do you sound like?