Friday Music Day

FMD: First Friday of Regular time.

54 Comments

No Christmas music. No reading or thinking about year-end lists. Just whatever I actually want to listen to. Maybe the same is true for you.

A short anecdote about one of the entries on my year-end album list, Untold's Black Light Spiral. I added that to my iPod the same day I added all of the tracks I added for the WGOM summer mix, and when I add new tracks, I often make a new Mix to shuffle through the various recent additions. Well, I'd forgotten about the Untold album and thought it was just the Summer Mix nominations, so when I shuffled the "New 2014 06 10"*, I thought that this song was someone's summer mix nomination:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhnajCTEMVQ
So I imagined that the beginning of this amazing noisy thing, an echo chamber without release, was the intro to someone's warped, poppy, summer song. I kept listening without prejudice and without looking until after about 2 minutes I really couldn't figure out what it was. But I was already hooked.

*(or whatever date it was, I delete them when they're no longer new)

Now, share your regular time lists.

54 thoughts on “FMD: First Friday of Regular time.”

  1. 1. The Avett Brothers - "Sorry Man" - A Carolina Jubilee
    2. Nirvana - "School" - Bleach
    3. Kishi Bashi - "Debut - Impromptu" - Lighght*
    4. Sun Kil Moon - "Micheline" - Benji
    5. The New Pornographers - "The Fake Headlines" - Mass Romantic

    6. Yo La Tengo - "More Stars Than There Are In Heaven" - Popular Songs
    7. Drive By Truckers - "Pulaski" - Go Go Boots
    8. Cymbals Eat Guitars - "Jackson" - LOSE*
    9. Mike Cooley - "Shut Up and Get On the Plane" - The Fool on Every Corner
    10. The Kinks - "Long Tall Shorty" - Kinks

    B. Sufjan Stevens - "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" - Songs for Christmas

    *3. Kishi Bashi was featured on the First Ave Best of 2014 playlist I mentioned. This is just a short opening track to the album.
    *8. Because Zack

  2. ! - Part IV - Black Swan - In 8 Movements
    @ - Highway Song - System of a Down - Steal This Album!
    # - Star of Bethlehem - Neil Young - American Stars n' Bars
    $ - Trilogy: A) The Wonder - Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
    % - Running Dry (Requiem for the Rockets) - Neil Young - Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
    ^ - That's Not Really Funny - Eels - Souljacker
    & - I Wanna Secret Family (With You) - The Offspring - Days Go By
    * - Source Tags and Codes - ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - Source Tags and Codes
    ( - Sanibel - The Goslings - The Grandeur of Hair
    ) - The Mystery Zone - Spoon - Transference

    A list that is remarkably absent of 2014 music.

    I recommend Priests - Bodies and Control and Money and Power. 17 minutes of punk sermonizing. The rhythm section in this band is great fun.

    Video is NSFW (lyrics)

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztyquLceoXA

  3. 1. "The Wang Wang Blues"--Benny Goodman Sextet--The War: The Soundtrack
    2. "The Old Home Town"--The Bluegrass Album Band--The Bluegrass Album, Volume 4
    3. "Rip It Up"--Elvis Presley--Elvis
    4. "Landslide (Live)--Stevie Nicks--Crystal Visions: The Best of Stevie Nicks
    5. "Come On Get Higher"--Matt Nathanson--Some Mad Hope
    6. "1 2 3 4"--Feist--The Reminder
    7. "Just What I Needed"--The Cars--The Cars
    8. "The Old Rugged Cross--Alabama--Songs of Inspiration
    9. "Leaving, On a Jet Plane (Babe, I Hate to Go)--John Denver--Definitive All-Time Greatest Hits
    10. "Let Her Go"--Jasmine Thompson--Bundle of Tantrums

  4. 1. Auditorium -- Guided By Voices -- Alien Lanes
    2. The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) -- Simon & Garfunkel -- Simon & Garfunkel Greatest Hits
    3. You Lose -- The Replacements -- Hootenanny
    4. Hit -- Guided By Voices -- Human Amusements At Hourly Rates
    5. Firehouse -- Kiss -- Alive!
    6. Town Of Mirrors -- Guided By Voices -- Live At The Wheelchair Races
    7. Several Girls Galore --My Bloody Valentine -- Isn't Anything
    8. 25 Minutes To Go -- Johnny Cash -- At Folsom Prison
    9. I'm Depending On You -- Otis Redding -- Live on the Sunset Strip
    10. Made In Japan -- Buck Owens -- 21 #1 Hits: The Ultimate Collection

    B1. Tomorrow Night -- Elvis Presley -- The Sun Sessions
    B2. Turbo Boy -- Guided By Voices -- Suitcase 1: Failed Experiments and Trashed Aircraft

    Wow. lots of GBV. Also I don't think there is anything on this list newer than 20 years.

  5. Not sure if I'll have a chance to do a proper list today, but now that we're allowed to talk about non-2014 music, I thought I'd mention this article about Sleater-Kinney's Secret Basement Sessions. I never paid particular attention to them (though perhaps I should have), but the article has me intrigued by the new album.

        1. Used to. I mostly stopped when management declared we couldn't use both earbuds when listening to music at work. I stopped completely when I realized multiple songs could go by without me noticing anything.

          For the record, I have never heard of them.

          1. I thought between the "Silence is Foo!" avatar and the current one you had one of their album covers.
            Who was that then?

    2. I've got Call the Doctor and Dig Me Out. I liked both of them quite a lot, but my tastes changed and I haven't followed them much since.

      FWIW, I've always been a fan of Janet Weiss' other band--Quasi. I'll definitely give the new one a listen.

  6. "Misunderstadning" - Genesis
    "The Flame" - Cheap Trick
    "Big Shot" - Billy Joel
    "Your Time Is Gonna Come" - Led Zeppelin
    "The Passenger" - Iggy Pop

    "Tony's Theme" - Pixies
    "Just the Two of Us" - Bill Withers
    "For Your Love" - The Yardbirds
    "Favorite Thing" - The Replacements
    "The Hipster" - Black Joe Lewis

  7. 1. Zola Jesus “Live 9/22/2013 at Amsterdam Bar & Grill, St. Paul, MN”* AMR's Bootlegs
        a. Sooty Grouse “Male Song (or Hoot)” (Cornell Master Set)
    2. Johnny Cash “If You Could Read My Mind” American V: A Hundred Highways*
        b. Pacific Loon “Long Wail Calls”* (Cornell Essential Set)
        c. Western Meadowlark “Song with Several Variations” (Cornell Master Set)
        d. Rock Ptarmigan “Female Calls”* (Cornell Master Set)
    3. Emot “Garbage Tones (Solo Rendition)” Emot (Bonus Tracks)*
        e. Spruce Grouse “Male Attack Calls”* (Cornell Master Set)
        f. Long-tailed Nightjar “Song and Calls” (A Sound Guide to Nightjars and Related Nightbirds)
    4. Clean Bandit feat. Jess Glynne “Rather Be” Rather Be (single)
        g. Great Grey Owl “Defensive Hoot”* (Voices of North American Owls)
        h. Lesser & Common Nighthawks “Song and Calls”* (A Sound Guide to Nightjars and Related Nightbirds)
    5. Lydia Loveless “Hurt So Bad” Somewhere Else

    6. Merle Haggard “Green Green Grass of Home”* Mama Tried
        i. Blue Jay “Bell Calls, Cooper's Hawk Mimicry, and Grating Calls” (Cornell Master Set)
    7. Lennon P. Bone & Leilah Kouri* “Lost” Live from the Bone Abode
        j. Hoary Redpoll “Rising Calls”* (Cornell Essential Set)
    8. Steve Reich “V. Fast” Radio Rewrite*
        k. Rock Pigeon “Primary Song”* (Cornell Essential Set)
    9. Coil “The Dreamer Is Still Asleep” Musick to Play in the Dark, Vol. 1
    T. Matthew Dear “More Surgery” Black City

    *Notes:
    1. "Versions" Tour. She's playing the Cedar next Thursday (1/15), and I'm not sure whether I want to go. I've seen her three times and she puts on a good (if brief) show, but her recorded output has left me progressively colder since her two 2010 EPs. But the concert on the Conatus tour made that music better, so maybe I'd like the new Taiga more if I saw her perform it?
    2. The little pedant in me wants to say, "'An Hundred Highways', Mr. Cash." But Mr. Cash was dead before this was released so my little pedant must remain unsatisfied. As an aside, I like some of Gordon Lightfoot's songs, but they get a bit same-y. This one and "Song For a Winter's Night" might be all I need.
    b. As far as vocalizations go, the Common Loon puts the other loons to shame.
    d. This is a good little sound for a sample-based producer to use. Deep, rough (almost grinding). Not a cluck; it could be used as a bassy percussive sound.
    3. I emailed the band's singer about lyrics and he later asked me if I'd like two alternate versions, and then mailed them to me.
    e. This is everything that #d is and more. A little percussion of some bizarre sound.
    6. I should have heard this song before I heard Múm's "Green Grass of Tunnel".
    7. Bone is the former drummer for Ha Ha Tonka. He was current when this was recorded.
    8. Probably the most "meh" thing I've ever heard from Reich.

  8. Still no year-end list...it may be that AMR's "best of the half-decade" may come to fruition.

    1. Radioactive – Imagine Dragons
    2. Mrs. Claus’ Kimono – Drive-By Truckers
    3. Dancing On Quicksand – Bad Suns
    4. All My Love – Led Zeppelin
    5. Slow Train – Bob Dylan

    6. The Boy Next Door – Bill Evans
    7. Hongkongaton – Gorillaz
    8. You’re A Wolf – Sea Wolf
    9. In The A – Big Boi
    10. Wherever I May Roam – Metallica

    B. Blackcurrant Jam – Grizzly Bear</strong

  9. 01. Iron Maiden - "These Colours Don't Run", A Matter of Life and Death
    02. Amon Amarth - "Varyags of Mikklagaard", Twilight of the Thunder God
    03. Bruce Dickinson - "Navigate the Seas of the Sun", Tyranny of Souls
    04. Eluveitie - "Carnutian Forest", Evocation I - The Arcane Dominion
    05. Megadeth - "Something That I'm Not", The System Has Failed
    06. Black Label Society - "13 Years of Grief", Stronger than Death
    07. Battleroar - "Dreams of Steel", Age of Chaos
    08. In Flames - "Dead Eternity", The Jester Race
    09. Jag Panzer - "Tempest", Casting the Stones
    10. Equilibrium - "Wingthors Hammer", Turis Fratyr

  10. Hey, speaking of music I'm not cool enough to know much about...everybody knows that KTWIN 96.3 is now GO96.3 with a moderner rock format, right?
    So far it sounds ok to me, generally.
    I don't suppose everybody posting the playlists is doing a lot of radio listening...now that I consider the situation a tad.

    2. I actually listen to a fair amount of radio, especially now that I commute alone. When I carpooled with my wife, it was always, "too loud" or somesuch. Haven't done much of the 96.3 yet (it being the off season) as I'm still getting a feel for the other 'new' moderner rock station in town - 93.3. Nothing groundbreaking: it's been a lot of nostalgic commercial fun thus far with newer stuff mixed in. In the span of a few days (off the top of my head) I heard Nirvana, Gorillaz, Harvey Danger, Arctic Monkeys, Green Day, Sublime, Muse, Foo Fighters, Oasis, STP, Pearl Jam, Kongos, Queens of the Stone Age and The White Stripes.

      1. I've been trying to catch 93.3 to see what they're about, but the reception seems rather weak way out where I roam...a few miles west/north of 494...

        1. That seems awfully close to 93.7. You guys are in danger of accidentally getting a commute full of broseph.

            1. A broseph is your stereotypical frat bro. (Unless 93X has changed since I lived around there)

    3. Checked it out today while driving up and back to the cities. Enjoyed a fair amount if it. Even had two songs back to back that I'd had in the same order on my summer mix this year. That was neat.

  11. Speaking of The Goldfinch, Arvo Pärt's music was mentioned more than once, and now I'm curious. AMR, what would be a good starting point for checking out his music?

    1. That's in The Goldfinch?

      Instrumental:
      I'd start with Fratres on Naxos. Great value. Don't get thrown off by 7 of 9 tracks being the same piece, they're drastic reinterpretations of the same idea.
      Alina on ECM has equally great pieces, but the variation's more subtle, and it costs twice as much. I mention this because I think it's Daneeka's Ghost's favorite. But it's only two pieces and the last two tracks are just alternate performances of the first two tracks. (It may work better as an album.)

      Choral:
      I wholeheartedly recommend Theatre of Voices' De Profundis. It's the choral album I started with, so I may be biased, but a lot of the choral albums repeat some pieces, and I like these the best of the ones I've compared. Also, the title piece is great, pairing the vocals with an organ and subtle percussion. It might be my favorite.

      Remixed Choral:
      My own...

      1. Theatre of Voices recordings: "De Profundis":
        httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EFKCbMVLCc

        "Magnificat"
        httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiKNUma4dY0

        I've also overused "Ite Missa Est" (from the Missa Syllabica) on Mixtapes. (It's at 12:23). If you're interested in settings of the mass, check out the whole thing.
        httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4QV0WMxdHs

      2. That's in The Goldfinch?

        Yes, it's a book with the name of a bird (or more precisely, the name of a painting that depicts a bird) as its title that also includes multiple references to Arvo Pärt. You pretty much have no choice but to read it now. 😉

        Actually, if you are interested, I'm more than happy to lend you my copy.

        2. Upon further contemplation, I'm interested but make no promises on reading it.
          I've got my two most-recommended Pärt CDs here in my backpack to make the exchange.
          Question: American or Eurasian Goldfinch?

          1. Excellent! I'll start carrying the book tomorrow. I'm sure the whole Nation will be gripped by suspense, wondering how many days before our paths cross and the handoff takes place.

            The titular goldfinch was painted by Carel Fabritius, who was Dutch, so I would think it has to be a Eurasian Goldfinch.

  12. "Spiegel im Spiegel" and "Fratres" are amazing instrumental pieces. AMR is better versed in his choral/vocal works.

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnzWP5T6h-Q

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vO92REraUo

    1. As you can see, Pepper. DG and I have already sussed out our preferences.
      "Spiegel im Spiegel" is represented three times on Alina

      1. Wow, you guys are the best. "Spiegel I'm Spiegel" about blew the top off my head this morning. I'll definitely be listening to more of these selections.

        1. I first became aware of him when the Sundance Channel's Rectify used a snippet of his--Tabula Rasa: Silentium--during a particularly touching scene between a chaplain and a death row prisoner. (The full piece can be heard performed here.)
          httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpre0wzQybU
          I mentioned his name to my studio mate, who promptly brought in the Alina and Tabula Rasa recordings the very next day. Wonderful music to paint to.

          1. That guy in the hallway looks like Pärt.

            I don't think I've run across a single piece by any other composer now living that connected the classical "classical" with the modern (and meets my sensibilities) as well as everything Pärt has written since the late 70s. He hasn't rejected the old stuff like so many "modern" composers and which can make them hard to listen to (and keeps them from any crossover appeal), but he's not stuck with the cloying romanticism or bombast that keeps me from so many Classical composers. Stars of the Lid do a pretty good job of walking that line, too. I saw that on the tour off ...And Their Refinement of the Decline, their encore included a cover of "Fratres". That would have killed me.

            1. Okay, this may be crazy, but when you get old, I can envision you looking exactly like Pärt.

              1. While I must admit he shows a resemblance to my father without beard clippers (ten years ago, before Dad went Santa-white), when Pärt was my age and making twelve-tone, looked more like Rasputin*.

                * SelectShow

            2. He hasn't rejected the old stuff like so many "modern" composers and which can make them hard to listen to (and keeps them from any crossover appeal), but he's not stuck with the cloying romanticism or bombast that keeps me from so many Classical composers.

              Early in his career Part was actually a modernist (twelve-tone dissonant music) to the point that his music was banned by the Soviet Union. It's really hard to believe this is the same guy.

              httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7nY56molck

              Recommendations: Georg Frederich Haas. In Vain or Natures Mortes or any of his string quartets. He does "spectral music" which is close to Part's tintinnabuli although not as informed by sacred music.

              httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W1FbNmNwbw

              or David Lang (who did an arrangement of Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Match Girl with the Theatre of Voices (of De Profundis fame).

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