Friday Music Day

FMD: Jan 6, 2012

38 Comments

I had two unfinished points on my best-of-2011 list that I was hoping to get to today. Guess not.
I'm eagerly awaiting DK's best-of-2011 list.

Also to random lists from the rest of you.
I'll assign points to anything released in 2012 (or 1912!).
I've only got one such release: I'll see if it makes it. If not, I'll grab it as my bonus track.

Points to be redeemable for more points at the end of the day.
Any unused points will expire at midnight (CST) on Jan 7, 2011.

38 thoughts on “FMD: Jan 6, 2012”

  1. Any unused points will expire at midnight (CST) on Jan 7, 2011.

    Gonna be hard to redeem those.

    1. Well, first "writing the old year" error for me.
      I'd change it, but the idea was that points will be redeemable for more points, which then expire.
      Kindof like Letterman's old Olympic Challenge, wherein contestants drawn from the street had only ten seconds to win, but nothing beyond that.

      In the spirit of the half-bakef, I'll leave it without correction.

  3. 1. Mr. Tambourine Man -- William Shatner
    2. The Gloaming -- Radiohead
    3. Venus in Furs -- The Velvet Underground
    4. Capital Radio Two -- The Clash
    5. Lincoln Town Car -- The Waco Brothers
    6. Get a Faceful -- Robert Pollard
    7. This Song of Love -- Middle Georgia Singers
    8. Spirit in the Night -- Bruce Springsteen
    9. From Head to Toe -- Elvis Costello
    10. Sister I Need Wine -- Guided By Voices

    Bonus: The Unsinkable Fats Domino -- Guided By Voices

    Ding Ding Ding. The bonus tract is from 2012!!! Here's the Video of the Letterman performance:

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aOZPNyVaIY

    1. "The Unsinkable Fats Domino" was released as a 7" by Matador Records on November 22, 2011.

      Wipe away the basket!

      2. Damn! I have the album version which is "officially" released January 17th, although it is currently on-sale at I-tunes.

        1. My bonus has a Dec 2011 release date at Beatport (download), but Boomkat and Amazon both but it at Jan 17, 2012.

  4. Not sure it'll have an 1912 tracks (the dates aren't listed), but sometimes I like to listen to Radio Dismuke on Live 365, which plays only songs taken from 77rpm. Think I'll make it my radio station today.

    [EDIT] Nope, guess it's mainly 1920's-1930's music there.

  5. .

    * Sorry But It's Over - Dredg - El Cielo
    * Set You Free - The Black Keys - Thickfreakness
    * Climbing - Meat Puppets - II
    * In My Life - Johnny Cash - American IV: The Man Comes Around
    * Vietnow - Rage Against the Machine - Evil Empire
    * Lechium - Dredg - Leitmotif
    * Cheating, Lying, Stealing - Bang on a Can All-Stars - Classics (D. Lang)
    * Tier - Rammstein - Sehnsucht**
    * You and Me - Neil Young - Harvest Moon
    * While Waiting - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Soundtrack ***

    ** yes, Rammstein.
    *** so close! released in the middle of December.

  6. .
    .

    1. Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Bad Moon Rising" - Chronicle, Vol. 1
    2. Wolf Parade - "Modern World" - Apologies to the Queen Mary
    3. Bob Marley & the Wailers - "Burnin' and Lootin'" - Gold Disc 1
    4. The Folksmen, The New Main Street Singers, and Mitch & Mickey - "A Mighty Wind" - A Mighty Wind Soundtrack
    5. Common - "Forever Begins" - Finding Forever
    6. The New Pornographers - "The Bleeding Heart Show" - Twin Cinema
    7. Cake - "Frank Sinatra" - Fashion Nugget*
    8. Childesh Gambino feat. Garfunkel and Oates - "These Girls" - Culdesac
    9. Atmosphere - "Shoes" - Seven's Travels
    10. Radiohead - "You and Whose Army?" - Amnesiac
    B. Semisonic - "Never You Mind" - Feeling Strangely Fine

    *Fashion Nugget songs in consecutive weeks!

  7. Worked late last night. On way home, was listening to "Exile on Main Street". Was moved to call my buddy Joel, when I heard this little lick in "Torn and Frayed" that he always loved. He answers the phone. I don't say hello, I say, "When's the last time you listened to Exile on Main Street?" He says, "[Stick]! How about you?" I said, "Was just listening to it." He says, "You should have called me first."

    Great to talk to my old buddy. Listening to the Stones with Joel and some of my other friends were some great times.

  8. '(Shes) Sexy + 17' - The Stray Cats The Best of The Stray Cats
    'Tea in the Sahara' - The Police Synchronicity
    'Bitch' - Rolling Stone Sticky Fingers
    'Who Loves the Sun' - Velvet Underground Loaded
    'Last Night On Earth' U2 Pop

    'In A Moment' - Ray Davies Working Mans Cafe
    'No Matter What' - Badfinger No Dice
    'Dont Let Them Cool Off' - Peter Bjorn and John Gimmie Some
    'Reason To Believe'- Rod Stewart Every Picture Tells a Story
    'F**k You' - Cee Lo Green The Lady Killer

  9. Destroyer "An Actor's Revenge" Notorious Lightning
    Beulah "Cruel Minor Change" The Coast Is Never Clear
    Okkervil River "A Girl In Port" The Stage Names
    Sam Roberts Band "Streets of Heaven" Collider
    Doom "Yessir" Born Like This
    Neko Case "Margret vs Pauline" Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
    Bonnie Prince Billy "Rich Wife Full of Happiness" Ease Down the Road
    Beta Band "Human Being" Best of
    Pavement "Starlings of the Slipstream" Brighten the Corners
    Blizten Trapper "Badger's Black Brigade" Wild Mountain Nation

  10. .
    .
    01. Within You Without You - The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper
    02. World Shut Your Mouth - Julian Cope - Left of the Dial
    03. Reincarnted Souls - Bob Marley - Burnin'
    04. The Murder Mystery - Velvet Underground - Peel Slowly and See
    05. You Just May Be the One - Monkees - Listen to the Band
    06. Obviously 5 Believers - Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
    07. Out in the Woods - Leon Russell - Carney
    08. Boogie in My Bones - Laurel Aitken - Tougher Than Tough
    09. They All Went to Mexico - Santana/Willie Nelson - Revolutions of Time
    10. Bell Bottom Blues - Derek & the Dominos - Layla

    Bonus: City of New Orleans - Johnny Cash & June Carter

  11. .

    Boys, The Night Will Bury You Richard Buckner Since
    Half of You Cat Power You Are Free
    Terror Of The Man Cate Le Bon Me Oh My
    Blow Your Tuneless Trumpet The Mekons Rock n' Roll
    Weeping Wall David Bowie Low

    Rocket MachineOpal Happy Nightmare Baby
    Life On A String Eleventh Dream Day Prairie School Freakout
    Red Shoes by the Drugstore Tom Waits Blue Valentine
    Come to the City The War on Drugs Slave Ambient
    A Big Fan Of The Pigpen Guided By Voices Bee Thousand

  12. 1. Boom Boom Satellites “Dub Me Crazy Ver.02” Out Loud (US)*
    2. Shabazz Palaces “Hottabatch” Of Light EP
    3. Lana Del Rey “Video Games (Balam Acab Remix)”
    4. Battles “Atlas (AMR edit)”* Mirrored
    5. Tim Hecker “Pond Life” An Imaginary Country*

    6. Porter Robinson “Say My Name” SPIN Presents Dance Island: An Electric Zoo Mixtape 2011*
    7. The Weeknd “Coming Down” House of Balloons*
    8. Tristen “Brand New Punching Bag” Live at Cake Shop NYC, Oct 20, 2011
    9. Count Basie feat. Frank Sinatra “Chicago” Martini Lounge
    T. So So Radio “Walls (Live in Studio)” WUWM Cafe, Feb 23, 2010*

    E. Mark Van Hoen “Don't Look Back” The Revenant Diary (2012!*)

    Notes:
    1. I once called these guys "post-grunge" but I meant that in a good way. They've taken a lot of the "big beat" and jungle sound that was "popular" during the late 90's, kept the fuzzy guitars, and applied it to a hard rock songs that aren't that far removed from what a Japanese version of Soundgarden or Pearl Jam would have sounded like. Japanese because of the great ESL lyrics. The above track isn't a good example, as it's almost an instrumental. But, "Push Eject", from the same album:

    I'm always spying on you
    I can be whatever shape
    If you wanna leave it's now
    Push eject push now
    Don't think trust me
    I will make you feel good
    I will take you up on a new venture
    Coming through your intentions
    How does it feel to be posessed by me?
    Better than your usual self?

    Their first releases were on the Dutch label R&S, and they've kept releasing albums of decent but not great quality since. It's been hard to keep up with them as they're in Japan and because my enthusiasm's waned on them over time. (It'll be a long time before they come back to tour the U.S., and I've basically been wanting to see them in concert since their show opening for Moby at First Ave in 1998 sold out while I was planning to buy tickets at the door. I believe Out Loud is their only release in the US. Check your local used bins, as it was part of the major-label "electronica" push, where there are probably more promos in existence than paid-for CDs. If you've heard their music before, it was probably on the soundtrack for Grand Turismo 2 or the Anime series Appleseed.

    4. I did this for a mix disc. The original was really too long, especially for the purpose of that disc, so I just cut it off at 2:48. It makes a kickin' sub-3-minute track. I don't even really remember what happens in the last six minutes of the song, or even how long it really was.

    5. Since I so loved Ravedeath and Harmony in Ultraviolet, I'm giving the album in-between a chance. I never really paid attention to it when it came out. Also, The Brainwashed readers' poll gave Ravedeath its top spot. I trust it more than Pitchfork's readers or staff, although it'll ignore anything pop or hip-hop or on a major label. The website itself covers a lot of the stuff where Daneeka's Ghost's tastes and mine overlap.

    6. This may be brostep, but I don't think it falls into that category. Add a little bass wobble and give the vocal snippet some screaming and cussing and I could mistake the first part for Skrillex. But I don't really know Skrillex that well. Not great, it probably won't go back onto my iPod once it's off. Back in August, my wife asked the neighbor kid who mows our lawn what kind of music he likes, and when he said "Different stuff, lots of Techno", I got excited, as my Plastikman box set had just arrived. I asked him who, and he said, "Like Skrillex". I was a bit disappointed that he wasn't into mid-90's Detroit Techno, but hey, I found someone who said they liked "Techno" as a first answer!

    7. I've now listened to the new Weeknd album, Echoes of Silence, and at first listen it sounds better than Thursday, but less impressive than House of Balloons. But I don't know if House of Balloons would sound as good as it did coming out of nowhere. I'm expecting something now.

    T. Cut from a radio show where I downloaded the whole thing. If anyone wants a copy of this track and the other they played, as well as a few others from the same session that became 75% of The Ponder EP, I can certainly get them to you. Though I may be the only So So Radio completist that's not related to any of the band members.

    B. I think a limited vinyl press was out last year, but his website says its a 2012 release date. Van Hoen was part of Seefeel at one time and has recorded as Locust for much of the interim. For some reason, he followed me on twitter, and I didn't know who he was, so I re-followed him, and decided to try his album. So far, I'm not really feeling it, but I've only listened to five or so tracks with partial attention.

    1. 6.

      I found someone who said they liked "Techno" as a first answer!

      No, you found someone who's definition of 'techno' was 'music made without guitars or other live instruments'.

      7. Still haven't heard Echoes of Silence. Thursday had a couple of songs that got me, but was overall pretty 'meh', I have to agree with House of Balloons coming out of nowhere, though. I wonder what I'd think about the albums if the order of release had been swapped around. Then again, without the super-chill pop of 'The Morning', or the huge sample in the title track, would I have given any of it a second thought?

      1. He's seventeen, give him a break. I often used "Techno" because it was easier than "Jungle, House, and Trip-Hop" for the 96% of the people that wouldn't care after you didn't say "Rock", "Country", "Rap", "Jazz", or "Classical". BTW, if you picked one of those last two, you were a nerd.

        I put proto-"brostep" artist Bassnectar in my "Techno" category in iTunes because where else did it go?

        1. I had someone lay into me on the intricate working of what was and was not "techno" when I said something similar. I'm not a connoisseur of the subject and was being facetious. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

          You sure you don't want "Proto-Brostep" as a category in iTunes? I can see that one getting a lot of use.

          1. Yeah, I more or less know the differences between House and Techno and Acid and Trance and Jungle* and Big Beat and Garage/2-Step and Dubstep and IDM and Drill&Bass and Clicks&Cuts and their subcategories and a bunch of the others. Yet at some point subgenres become just descriptors. Like, what kindof music is the Field? At my first listen, without hearing what others called it, I came up with "Minimal Trance" which I felt described it. (It's also a nice oxymoron.) I was hoping to read someone else coin something like that, but no one did.

            *which is the same as Drum&Bass, anyone who says otherwise would also tell you there's a difference between Rap and Hip-Hop.

            Even connoisseurs need to be able to talk to the rest of the world. They shouldn't be telling people that what they're drinking isn't a "beer" it's an "ale" (true story unless it "Lager" that was the alternative)? [Shorter AMR: the guy who laid into you was a dick.]

            Anyways, I thought you might have been mocking the boy for saying he liked "Techno" when Skrillex and Brostep could basically be instrumental hard rock played with samplers.

            Proto-brostep, eh? I could put these in there: the Aphex Twin (Half of the Skrillex I've heard sounds like "Ten Variations on Come to Daddy"), Squarepusher (the other half could be "Variations on 'Come on My Selector'"), Bassnectar, uhhh..., Eskmo?, maybe a few Britney Spears tracks? Here's where that descriptor (not a genre) comes into play.

            1. [Shorter AMR: the guy who laid into you was a dick.]

              Heh, I could have told you that. I find genre classifications fun, but only in the cerebral sense. I check out people arguing tooth and nail over whether James Blake's new one is Future garage, Art Pop, or Dubstep and actually getting angry about it, and it just seems beyond absurd.

              [Shorter Nibbish: No, I wasn't mocking anyone.]

              1. [Trying to think of something really witty...]
                They're all wrong, it's Twee-step.
                [No, that's not quite right.]
                They're all wrong, it's Junk-step.
                [That's not even descriptive, just dismissive. I wish I would have something like DK's Hornsby line...]
                [I think I've gotta give up.]

            2. They shouldn't be telling people that what they're drinking isn't a "beer" it's an "ale" (true story unless it "Lager" that was the alternative)

              Right, since they are both "beer".

  13. I don't actually have any 2012 yet (well, I guess 'Born to Die' by Lana Del Rey counts), I'm still looking over the stuff from 2011 that I missed. I knew about Lydia Loveless... why did I not pick up on her earlier?

    Nothing from 1912, either... nothing all that close really (I've got the original War of the Worlds radio play on my computer somewhere, but I think that was early 30's, and I've got that one phonautograph recording from 1860-whenever, but that one's only 10 seconds long, so even if I was doing a random 10 (this is a long winded way of me saying I'm not), it wouldn't show up.

    I've been listening to Lydia Loveless, Feist, Atmosphere, and Childish Gambino lately. Also Coachwhips... I need to find more bands that play that style of music, but it's something I'm relatively unaware of.

    1. Get yourself the Lydia Loveless Daytrotter session before you go after her first album The Only Man. It's got the four best tracks from the debut as acoustic versions.

  15. Okay, here goes.

    10. The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar
    One of the more aptly-named albums of the year, for sure.

    9. The Rural Alberta Advantage - Departing
    8. Cymbals Eat Guitars - Lenses Alien
    These aren't particularly similar to each other, but they illustrate a similar point. I recall these two bands had a fair amount of tastemaker push when their debuts were released a couple years ago. This year, despite each releasing a record that I felt was a significant step up from their debuts, they've gotten almost nothing, that I could perceive. Such is the turn of the indie rock hype wheel, I suppose.

    7. Wilco - The Whole Love
    Starts and ends really strong, but it's a little soft in the middle. I'll take it any time over The Album, though, and "Art of Almost" is probably my favorite Wilco song since Ghost Is Born.

    6. Radiohead - The King of Limbs
    Similarly, not likely to ever be my favorite Radiohead record (is it anyone's?) but I like it more than In Rainbows, and they kept it lean and really didn't put a bad track on it.

    5. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
    Freealonzo, you're probably going to want to just stop reading this now.

    4. Arctic Monkeys - Suck It and See
    It seems like I'm the only person out there who thinks these guys have gotten better with every record, but I do. They made me regret giving up a ticket to their First Ave show (a couple weeks before this album came out) in order to go to a Twins game instead; that was a doubly bsd decision.

    3. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy
    Every year it seems like there's someone whose catalog hasn't clicked with me yet who finally puts out something that hits me in a big way. This year it was Annie Clark.

    2. TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light
    Another surprisingly attention-lacking record, especially considering how big Cookie Mountain and Dear Science were, and that this record could be more fun (and definitely more funky) than either of them. Very sad to lose their bass player to lung cancer this year.

    1. Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver
    Yeah, you could probably see this coming. I just can't fight Bruce Hornsby. Actually, "Perth" is my favorite here, and probably my favorite song of the year.

    1. Completely agreed on Nine Types of Light. Probably their strongest full album since Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes, if not in their entire career. It's just loaded with good, fun songs. Somehow, no one seemed to care.

      Also, we agree on #1 for the second (at least) year in a row.

      I'm going to have to give St. Vincent another try. I've never really cared for any of her other stuff.

    2. I completely forgot that King of Limbs was released in 2011. I probably should have included it as well. Agree that it's not a Radiohead fave but it's got a nice vibe. Definitely grew on me over multiple listens.

      Yeah, your #5, #2, and #1 don't really do it for me. But I realize I'm in the minority opinion. That's what happens when one gets old and jaded.

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