"When I'm driving I found I'm dreaming": A Winter Mix

We have not had any significant snowfall to speak of here in the state of Not Chicago, leaving the cleared corn and soy bean fields looking even sadder and more barren than they would with white stuff covering them. In that sense, the "cover" to this mix I have created is not exactly accurate. But it is a piece by Grant Wood called "January" (which, as of this writing, is only four days gone), so it is a little early to be making predictions.

That said, the scenery is a little bleaker than usual — overcast skies, trees with nothing covering the branches, chilly but not chilly enough to create ice when it rains. It's really an extended fall without the pretty colors to look at.

Hence why this mix has two modes: Loud guitars with fuzz pedals or loud guitar that sound weird. (And also some offputting rap music thrown in there for good measure.) It's not sad bastard music like my last two mixes. It's just abrasive — much like my Midwestern winter.

Download it right here, if you wish.

"When I'm driving I found I'm dreaming": A Winter Mix
1. "Get Away" - Yuck
2. "Hack The Sides Away" - Chavez
3. "An Echo From The Hosts That Profess Infinitum" - Shabazz Palaces
4. "Nosferatu Man" - Slint
5. "Sleeper Hold" - No Age
6. "Bones" - Male Bonding
7. "Unforgettable Season" - Cut Copy
8. "Sour Times" - Portishead
9. "Strange Ways" - Madvillain
10. "Seagull" - Ride
11. "Now You Know" - Afghan Wigs
12. "4th Chamber" - GZA
13. "Futura" - Battles
14. "Future Crimes" - Wild Flag
15. "Black and Brown" - Danny Brown and Black Milk
16. "Ghost Town" - Kurt Vile

Power Rankings — Wu-Tang Solo Albums

I have recently taken up the (so difficult, I know) task of re-listening to every single Wu-Tang Clan solo debut album at least once.

Unsurprisingly, Liquid Swords is still ranked No. 1, mostly due to an all-star starting lineup (of well-known hits) as well as an extremely deep bench. Every single track, even a relativity unknown deep cut like "Hell's Wind Staff/Killa Hills 10304, sounds ominous yet inviting — the sonic equivalent of a kick in the teeth from Shogun Assassin while under some heavy drug-induced coma.

Only Built 4 Cuban Linx is No. 2 because I don't like Raekwon's flow quite as much as I like GZA's, and I also prefer weird pseudo-sci-fi underworld aspects of Liquid Swords to the whole "Let's rip off Scarface!" concept behind Cuban Linx. Really, though, the top two are a matter of preference.

What is non-negotiable, however, is Tical. The beats sound like RZA created them underwater, then dumped beer on his mixing board juuuuust in case. Also, Meth's flow is horrible (slow and sluggish) and he sounds high the whole time. This is not always a drawback in rap music (or even on Meth's Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) verses), but in this case it just makes the entire record feel sloppy and incomplete.

Here's the whole list. Judge for yourself.

Also, this is the solo debuts albums only... If you were to take the entire Wu-Tang solo oeuvre Ghostface wins by a landslide, no questions asked. But competitively, Iroman sucks.

And, technically, Liquid Swords isn't GZA's debut but it's his first put out after the Wu-Tang got big and entirely produced by RZA, so it counts.)

1. GZA - Liquid Swords
2. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
3. Ol' Dirty Bastard - Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version
4. Ghostface Killah - Ironman
5. RZA - Bobby Digital in Stereo
6. Inspectah Deck - Uncontrolled Substance
7. Masta Killa - No Said Date
8. U-God - Golden Arms Redemption
9. Method Man - Tical

Unreal Is Here: Fall Mix 2011

Those of my readers that live in the more Southerly states (i.e., the ones that have no seasons) may be laughing at me when it is December and I am essentially scraping glass off my car's windshield after an ice storm, but there's really no better season than the fall in a flyover state.

Recently I had to drive to a teeny town in west-central Illinois to cover, of all things, a soccer game. This meant meandering on state highways through cornfields and small towns with brick European style downtowns, and also wide places in the road with wood and stone Old-Western style "downtowns".*

*Never go to Van Brandenburg, Ill. If you blink, you'd miss it, and also be slapped with a $100 speeding ticket for blinking.

I don't say this so that you might pity me (although, I did hurt my back while carrying around a camera on the sidelines). I say it because it might be the most enjoyable drive I have made this year.

It rained the entire way. I never once got on the interstate, instead opting to look at the colors of the country. Well, the colors that were left. It had been so windy that many of the leaves skipped the transformation stage altogether and just flew off branches in waves.

I was listening to this fall mix I just made. (Mark always has good ideas about these things and made me want to make one of my own.) It's sad bastard music, maybe, but it's autumnal. Autumn is a sad bastard time of year. It makes you think — mostly about how cold it's going to be in a short amount of time and why didn't you spend more time outside and what the hell happened in the ALCS and what am I still doing here with myself?

Hopefully that's a good thing and not a bad thing. If you'd like to see for yourself, you can download said mix here. I don't think it's as good as Mark's (which you should go find here) but it works for my current Midwestern mood.

1. "Tractor Rape Chain" - Guided By Voices
2. "Route" - Son Volt
3. "Trans Canada" - The Constantines
4. "In The Morning" - Junior Boys
5. "Should Have Taken Acid With You" - Neon Indian
6. "Cause = Time" - Broken Social Scene
7. "Age Of Consent" - New Order
8. "Vapour Trail" - Ride
9. "The Boy In The Bubble" - Paul Simon
10. "Everyday Is Like Sunday" - Morrissey
11. "Going To Acapulco" - Bob Dylan & The Band
12. "Unreal Is Here" - Chavez
13. "Ice Hockey Hair" - Super Furry Animals
14. "These Days" - R.E.M.
15. "Feel The Pain" - Dinosaur Jr.

Late-Night Summer Mix (For the Workin' Man)

Hello.

Spurned on by Dan Nick Sean Mark Sam Tom (a blog, yes, but also a bunch of dudes that I know... complicated), I decided to take up their idea (challenge?) of making a summer mix.

I was inspired by the kinds of music I listen to as I drive home from my second shift job at night, with the windows down and the cool, humid Midwestern air blowing through.* Sometimes, I am smoking a cigarette.

*Strangely, the title and idea for this mix was inspired by one song that did not make the final cut, "Factory," by Bruce Springsteen. ("And you just better believe, boy, somebody's gonna get hurt tonight/ It's the working, the working, just the working life".) But there are two other Bruce songs from the same album on here, so hopefully that makes up for it. Also, a very similar song ("Factory Belt" by Uncle Tupelo) did make the cut. What kind of Midwesterner would I be if I didn't include a Tupelo song on a mix about working?

So without further ado, here is the aforementioned summertime mix, "Late-Night Summer Mix (For the Workin' Man)". Don't worry, it's got fun songs on it too. Enjoy. (Download here: http://www.mediafire.com/?7xcgp7a7hjg084p )

1. "Two Angels" - Jayhwaks
2. "Factory Belt" - Uncle Tupelo
3. "Tonight's The Night, Part II" - Neil Young
4. "Chest Fever" - The Band
5. "The Promised Land" - Bruce Springsteen
6. "People Got A Lotta Nerve" - Neko Case
7. "Before They Make Me Run" - The Rolling Stones
8. "Stay Positive" - The Hold Steady
9. "Dig A Little Deeper" - Peter Bjorn and John
10. "The Corner" - Common
11. "No Future Shock" - TV On The Radio
12. "Valley Hump Crash" - No Age
13. "Linus Spacehead" - Wavves
14. "Still New" - Smith Westerns
15. "Melody Day" - Caribou
16. "Battery Kinzie" - Fleet Foxes
17. "ELT" - Wilco
18. "One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong" - Leonard Cohen
19. "Streets Of Fire" - Bruce Springsteen

'Bout to make some bodies turn cold

I might have something more meaningful here in coming days (I'm working on it), but until then, a song that I've been playing contless times since his death last week:

Stones

Not much to post, except I figured I should give a little update at least.

I'm in the middle of reading this book about the history of delta blues. Also, finished reading that Greil Marcus book I put on the side (it's like a "Studies in Classic American Literature," only for music). As a result, Robert Johnson's been in heavy rotation.

I guess I'd also ask: Anyone have any favorite blues guys for me to check out? Both books have opened up some new listening for me, but there's so much out there to process. I'd like to find out if any other readers have any favorite bluesmen.

2010 Jamz

The SadBear albums extravaganza is (hopefully) on its way.

In the meantime, (because of boredom and the want to write about some musical things), I present to you my 15 favorite (notice I say "my favorite" and not the best) tracks of 2010. You'll probabaly note that (when you see my albums list), a lot of these songs come from said albums. That's because I am, at heart, more of an "albums" guy than a single songs guy. (Not that there's anything wrong with listening to a lot of singles. It's just a different way of digesting and enjoying music.)

Again: These are just my jams that I played on repeat this year. I don't know if they're better or worse than any other songs that came out this year. I just couldn't stop listening.

Let's do this, countdown-style.

15. The Roots (feat. Joanna Newsom) - "Right On"
I did not listen to the album that Joanna actually released this year, but who knew that anyone could make her sound this funky? Leave it to Questlove.

14. Caribou - "Jamiela"
The kettle drum/synth climax halfway through this song makes me cream my jeans a little bit every time.

13. Black Keys - "Every Lasting Light"
Note to Dan and Patrick: More falsetto-stomp, please.

12. Titus Andronicous - "A More Perfect Union"
One of my favorite moments in song comes in at around 1:45, when Patrick Stickles yells "Baby we were born to die!" Then comes a messy solo that probabaly isn't that hard to play but just makes me want to pump my fist along the whole time. Also, the outro with "Rally round the flag" is very cathartic. I think it's about a relationship and not about war, but I have no real idea.

11. Thermals - "I Don't Believe You"
Always count on the Thermals to write a hook.

10. She & Him - "In The Sun"
Zooey sounds great (as Econ says, "her voice is actually pretty hot in this song") and M Ward mostly lays low until that solo at the very end, which is very tasteful yet kind of trippy with all the reverb layers. Also, the video: M. Ward is just fucking cool the entire time, and she's adorable.

9. Beach House - "Silver Soul"
It was really a matter of "which Beach House song on the album is best?", since I love all of them but have limited myself to one song per artist. I went this route because I think it's the most representative of the album and what I like about it.

8. Wavves - "Green Eyes"
Real stoner love.

7. Kanye West ft. Pusha T - "Runaway"
Pusha T's verse on this song has been lingering in my head ever since the first time I heard it. "Power" might be the more epic song, and most representative of the album thematically, but I think this one takes the cake musically and production-wise.

6. Broken Social Scene - "Forced to Love"/"Meet Me In The Basement"
These both count as one in my mind, mostly because it's hard to seperate "Basement" from the album since it's only an instrumental. But, boy, what an exhilarating instrumental. When the horns come in near the end, you're almost sad to hear it end, and wish it could go on for another four minutes. But it does. So you have to listen again.

The other song here, "Forced to Love", is perhaps the exact opposite. It announces its intentions quickly, with a fluid keyboard-and-flute main riff and pretty easily-digestible (probabaly disposable) lyrics about love. It's nothing new, but it all comes together so nicely. I thought I would get sick of these songs/this album after seven months, but I still haven't.

5. Hot Chip - "Take It In"
Hot Chip at their most vulnerable.

4. Cee-Lo - "Fuck You"
If this song doesn't stick in your head after just one listen, you have no soul.

3. Janelle Monáe ft. Big Boi - "Tightrope"
I came into Janelle late in the game (try three weeks ago) so maybe this should be No. 1. Time will tell. Regardless, she sounds so exuberant in this song — it just drips with excitement.

2. Big Boi - "General Patton"
The rap world needs more opera samples. This one is downright triumphant.

1. LCD Soundsystem — "Dance Yrself Clean"
Any doubt as to why this song is No. 1 on my list? 3:07. Just hang tight til 3:07 and all your questions will be answered.

Plagerism

Reebok's new sneaker commercial sounds awfully familiar, no?

Unfortunately, this is not the first time a sneaker company has ripped off aspects of rock and roll culture to sell its wares.

No Love Lost

The description to this video says simply "smoking is cool." And, really, I must agree. Only Don Draper makes smoking look cooler.

Dear Yo La Tengo...

Dear Yo La Tengo,

Please record an album filled with nothing but wordless instrumental noise jams like this one. I will listen to it every day.

Love,

Jack

Say You Miss Me?

Quickly, relating a dream I had last night:

First, in Hillsdale. Sunny. I think I was in art class. Not sure why. So this is going on normally enough.

Then, cyborgs. And lasers. No idea where they come from, or why, but good old Hillsdale College melts away to reveal a dystopian nightmare of steel, machinery and holograms. Some sort of combination of Blade Runner and TRON.

At one point, I shoot a double-barreled laser gun at some ominous television screen, nicking a Big Brother robot through both its eyes and somehow frying its circuits through the screen.

I woke up at some point after this.

Playing on continuous repeat through this whole ordeal— through Hillsdale, during the great cyborg/ android rebellion, and right up to the point where I killed the Big Brother stand-in robot— was "Say You Miss Me" by Wilco.

I would try and deconstruct this but I really have no answers. Mostly just a question: Does Wilco support or reject the pending android rebellion?

If we holler loud and make our way...

(...We'd all live one big holiday)

Back from all my holiday travel, and ready for the grind. And it's a new year. Meaning, a new commitment to updating this thing a bit more often. Let's see if it takes, eh?

Playlist for January 6th, 2010:

My Morning Jacket - "One Big Holiday"
Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Matt Sweeny - "My Home is the Sea"
Ha Ha Tonka - "Walking On The Devil's Backbone"
Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys - "Empire State of Mind"
Neil Young - "Don't Let It Bring You Down"
Nick Cave - "Get Ready For Love"

Also, a few links to savor (like Chase + Silliman):

The Stylus Decade
Beer drinking flowchart
Gangs on Indian Reservations
RATM tops the UK music charts (really!)
9,000 words about the KC Royals (proceed at own peril!)
The best sports feature I have read in a long time (Gary Smith in SI)
Boston Globe Big Picture: Best 100 Sports Photos of 2009
Cormac McCarthy does not think highly of Joplin, Mo.
Nick Southall

I caught the flu and away I flew.

Bought Wilco (The Album) used for 9 bucks this weekend. Of course, it never reaches the heights of any of the classics, but I listened to it twice in the car on the way back. It's thoroughly enjoyable. I even like "Wilco (The Song)" (click for Colbert show) more than maybe I should. The whole album does smack of complacency, but there are some gems. Nice harmonies all 'round, some Nels Cline shredding, and references to older albums (church bells! They return!) for the hardcore fans disappointed with later output.

I wouldn't buy it new, but used I think it's a pleasant steal.

Nervous Breakdown

The Missouri Department of Motor Vehicles is seriously going to drive me insane. Ahhh...bureaucracy...

I went ahead and hacked the sides away/ Without respect to age

Playlist for June 11, 2009:

Chavez - "Hack the Sides Away"
Afghan Whigs - "Be Sweet"
Sonic Youth - "Leaky Lifeboat (For Gregory Corso)"
Wilco - "Dreamer in My Dreams"
Bob Dylan - "Simple Twist of Fate"
Sleater-Kinney - "One Beat"
Flaming Lips - "Mountain Side"
Uncle Tupelo - "Train"

Trickster

I like the new Sonic Youth album, but why do they always have to start their albums with somewhat annoying Kim Gordon songs?

(PS, They're on Letterman tomorrow...competing with Conan, who has...wait for it...RANCID! What to watch, what to watch...)

Things I like right now

A broadened version of my "feel good hits." Because right now I am mainly interested in listening to three types of things:
•Classical music on NPR - Am I getting old? I don't even know most of these pieces but there's something enjoyable (refined?) about driving around in the summer with classical strings cranked to 11 (well, more like cranked to 3...my care stereo is loud)
•Alt country — I'm officially a sucker for all things that involve twangy guitars. Uncle Tupelo began me on this righteous path, and I have been smiting everything in its wake. Recent purchase Whiskeytown is perfect highway/ backwoods driving music (can you tell that's when I listen to a lot of my music?), and the Jayhawks are, well, what would happen if the Byrds were from the Midwest and rocked out a little more with Graham Parsons. A.k.a. awesome. There's a YouTube playlist of them doing a live set in Germany, I suggest you check it out. It has a lot of material from Blue Earth, the album I've been spinning.
•Power pop — Power pop, indie pop, call it what you will. I currently have a taste for lots of power chords and big hooks. Matthew Sweet satisfies this need nicely— that solo on "Girlfriend" kills. Also found an affection for the Fountains of Wayne (I never thought they were that good...but they actually kind of are) and another band I randomly found called the American Princes. Also, the New Pornographers and A.C. Newman...how did I ever get out of the habit of listening to them? (If Elliott Smith were happier, I might include him here too...he shows some hooky brilliance when he's got a full band...but that self-titled solo album, the only one of his I actually have and have been listening too, can be really fucking depressing).
•Then there's XTC, which doesn't really fit into the power-pop category but they're still notable as a weirdass post-pop (kind of a combination between power-pop and post-punk, I guess?) band I've also re-discovered. I always knew a song or two but never delved deeper. Good thing I did. I always heard lots of Kinks comparisons, which might be true if only the caveat: Kinks songs as covered drastically by the Talking Heads. Maybe a bit much. Thematically, though, English Settlement and Skylarking remind me a lot of Village Green Preservation Society.

Feel good hits of May 13

Feeling very lo-fi today. Also, thanks to Tony, I've gone somewhat YouTube-playlist happy, like right now with similar songs. Find that here.

Wavves - "To The Dregs"
No Age - "Eraser"
Times New Viking - "Times New Viking vs. Yo La Tengo"
Pavement - "The Hexx"
Wilco - "I'm Always in Love"
Guided by Voices - "Game of Pricks"
!!! - "Me and Giuliani Down by the Schoolyard"
Grinderman - "No Pussy Blues"

Summertime

Oh, hell yes:

Feel good hits

A shamelessly appropriated idea which I will use as my own from now on. From former Stylus writer Ian Mathers. My feel good hits of May 5th/ the early morning of May 6th, 2009:

Los Campesinos! - "You! Me! Dancing!"
Animal Collective - "Brother Sport"
Tokyo Police Club - "Your English is Good"
Thermals - "Liquid In, Liquid Out"
Belle and Sebastian - "I'm A Cuckoo"
Jens Lekman - "The Opposite of Hallelujah"
!!! - "Take Ecstasy With Me"
Beta Band - "Inner Meet Me (live)"
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - "Tupelo"
Jayhawks - "Sioux City"