Mirah - Joyride: Remixes - La Familia

So the central question posed by this song comes to my mind from time to time, of late particularly at roller derby after parties. I bitterly love the question's inevitable answer: no.

Okkervil River

I think Peter put me onto this band a while back. I didn't pay a huge amount of attention, but of late when their songs come up on my exquisitely crafted random playlists, I tend to get really excited and think "Hey, what is this?" and it's always them, and I think it's great. I need to actually sit and listen to an entire album and see what the deal is. Unless someone can just tell me what the deal is, in which case I'll probably listen to the album anyway.

POS - Audition

I saw POS a few years ago when he opened for Atmosphere.  At the time, I thought, "This guy is really pretty good."

Then he released Audition.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLMHPeibm2g

A punkrock drummer becomes an M.C.  He's part of Doomtree in Minneapolis, which mainly means you'll never know if he'll secretly show up and play as part of some random show.

From the 4th track, "Stand Up (Let's Get Murdered")
I ain't white, and there’s laws for that,
so I use color safe bleach at the laundrymat.
and deal with it, you see how my squad react,
we keep our hands warm with the damn patriot act.

The Hold Steady - Stay Positive

The Hold Steady is my current Favorite Rock Band of All Time.  Their previous album (Boys and Girls in America) is one of my favorite albums of all time, and this one is right up there with it.

Stuck Between Stations: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cem1ME-OvQ (from Boys and Girls in America)

Mobius Band - Heaven

I realized I loved Mobius Band about a week after they were in town. Synth + guitar indie rock.  The song "Secret Language" is among my current favorites. (It kind of sounds like if Interpol had looked out the window and decided it was really a beautiful day.)

Various Artists - I'm Not There Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

So I had been meaning to see this show, and then I heard about the soundtrack. It's for the most part a bunch of artists I'd normally listen to, except now they're covering Bob Dylan. I've been on a Bob Dylan kick the past couple of weeks, and I suspect this will carry it even further.

Weezer - Red Album

I loved Weezer's first album. Loved it.  Pinkerton didn't do it for me.  The Green album made me a little sad.  I've been sad about Weezer ever since.

The first track on Red made me believe again. The video for "Pork and Beans" is really nice.  This cd is solid; Weezer is back.

The Blow - Paper Television - True Affection

I'm not sure what it is about this song today, except that a couple of years ago I lost a longstanding argument with a dear friend about whether anyone was truly "out of my league." Sure, not everyone is for everyone, and there may even be broad based "types" to which and by which one may be attracted, but ultimately she convinced me that no one was out of my league, per se. This has since gone well for me. The end.

The Be Good Tanyas - The Littlest Birds - The Littlest Birds

My journey around the edges of country music continues thusly:
I first became familiar with this song as a Jolie Holland tune off the original 89.3 The Current sampler. I always kind of liked it, and was seriously intrigued by Jolie Holland. I listened to more of her stuff, but I always had the feeling that her best stuff was around the next corner, you know?

And then finally, years later, I discovered The Be Good Tanyas. I'd heard the name before (one of my all time favorite band names, not that I'd ever given them a listen) It turns out they're the band that launched Jolie Holland. It turns out on the Current album she was just covering her old band, and I finally found what I had been looking for all that time. Maybe she's like Garfunkel: a fascinating voice, but without the guidance of those who got you there, it's just not the same.

This apparently original and vastly superior version of this song makes me want to dance naked in the woods late at night, though preferably without much of a crowd.

Emmylou Harris

Occupying the space next to Alison Krauss on the edge of country music (and on the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack, a bit more literally) is Emmylou Harris.

Nick Hornby here (http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2003/01/13hornby.html) called her "the best harmony vocalist in the history of pop music," and in the context of Ryan Adams' Oh My Sweet Carolina, I can scarcely disagree. Lovely.

She demonstrates the same on a strangely-difficult-to-laugh-at version of the popularized-as-an-awful-junior-high-slow-dance classic "Love Hurts" with Gram Parsons, which according to Wikipedia was recorded the year before Nazareth's more famous (#1 in Norway! Thanks, Wikipedia!) version.

Anyway, she blends well at least. I'm less convinced by some of her solo stuff, particularly her unfortunate "No Regrets (Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien)," a mostly-English cover of the Edith Piaf song. Her French pronunciation deteriorates throughout the track until I find it unbearable.

Still, for all the bitchiness contained above, I think she's worth exploring. I'd like to hear her sing more hymns; "Wayfaring Stranger" is my favorite of her solo tracks thus far. Still, I suppose I say that about every artist, so take it for what you will.