Neko Case - Middle Cyclone

So last night I had the opportunity to see Neko Case as part (all?) of the annual PDHVH Day festivities. I had yet to purchase this album, and had only heard a few of the songs. Still, I found these new tunes to be my favorites in the live show, which is really saying something. Of course, she didn't play anything off Tacoma-themed Furnace Room Lullabies, which I bought in CD form at the show along with Middle Cyclone. Man, this living in the TC thing is going to increase my spending on music by astronomical proportions. Perhaps ironic, as here I can listen to The Current free and easy, yet that seems to be what drives me to pay for great music and shows. Anyway, Neko Case = the loveliest, still.

Gram Parsons - Grievous Angel - Return of the Grievous Angel

Is this the best song I've ever heard? How have I lived til now without knowing this album? Read the damn heartbreaking story ( http://www.avclub.com/articles/week-7-gram-parsons-solo-years-life-hurts,26634/ ), and mourn / celebrate this life.

Gram Parsons - GP

So if by now you're not RSSing Nathan Rabin's Nashville or Bust feature at the AV Club ( http://www.avclub.com/features/nashville-or-bust/ ), I can't imagine what we'd have to talk about. Besides the opening Johnny Cash bits, this week's Merle Haggard was great, but I missed until today his entry on Gram Parsons' solo work. Holy fuck, this is the music my soul has yearned for since I was born. His vocal collaborator is none other than Emmylou Harris, and it turns out this is where she made her mark as the greatest harmony vocalist in the history of pop/rock/country music.

Listen to every musical example on here, and if your work internet blocks these things, burn down your office and live in freedom.
http://www.avclub.com/articles/week-7-gram-parsons-solo-years-life-hurts,26634/

Bob Dylan with Johnny Cash - Nashville Skyline - Girl From the North Country

I've been sniffing around this song for awhile, listening to some Dylan and Cash, even listening regularly to a cover by Conor Oberst, M. Ward, and Jim James. Finally I heard the Dylan / Cash version the day Bill DeVille played Johnny Cash on his Honey Do list on The Current. It fucking blew me away. I knew Oberst and the rest were covering Dylan, and I know everyone does that, but those guys do not in any respect hold a candle to the Dylan / Cash version.

I also notice that Nathan Rabin at the Onion's AV Club is doing a wonderful yearlong country retrospective (Nashville or Bust Week 3; also watch the Joni Mitchell duet), and I watched video of Dylan and Cash doing this song on Cash's TV show. Life-changing.

M.I.A. - Kala

I heard "boyz" a few times on the current, but thought it sounded like just some passing teen fad.  I became more intrigued when I independently ran across this amazon.com editorial review:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000TJ6CM2/ref=dm_dp_cdp?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1234414132&sr=102-6#productDescription

Now, I think I'm hooked.  I was pleased also to hear "Paper Planes" in Slumdog Millionaire.

"Weird Al" Yankovic - Straight Outta Lynwood - Close But No Cigar

I was listening to this song on an airplane ride, and it dawned on me that this song borrows so much (musical styling) from Cake, that it is clearly no accident.  I think I didn't notice at first because I listen to enough Cake that their sound is more of a genre to me than an artist's sound.

The Great Outdoors - Food, Booze, and Entertainment - If I Were a Car

I'd heard this song before, certainly, but as of last night I'm totally smitten with it. Yearning, plaintive harmony, in three, on the edge of country music, it's really obvious that I would love this song. And I do, so there.

Mason Jennings - Simple Life

Mason Jennings has released two albums since last I checked.  Simple Life and In The Ever are both solid albums, as far as I'm concerned.  They both have the same thing I liked in Boneclouds.  (Maybe that thing is Mason Jennings.)

Cloud Cult - Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes) - Journey of the Featherless

I've only heard this song a couple of times, but I just think it's fun.

Tilly and the Wall - O - Blood Flower

So I've been listening to the same random playlist for almost a month, and finally I was inspired to cull from it a disc's worth of awesomeness so I could hear these sweet tunes in my car etc. See my last.fm/user/atengwall for the whole list, but I figure I need to recommend a few of the songs that snuck up on me, in the good way.

Starting with this song. I think it's sweet. Annoyingly, though, it's mislabeled on yahoo music unlimited, the title switched with a somewhat less-awesome song called "Poor Man's Ice Cream." Excellent use of the tap-dancing-as-percussion in this tune, which I guess is kind of their thing.