My Monkey Mix.

Right now go to I, Splotchy for these as well as other great tunes.
The theme was "What's in a Word". All submitted songs must contain ONE word and it could not be a name or proper noun of any kind. Nor could it be a made up word.
Here is my selection (which can be downloaded at http://www.badongo.com/file/4250291

War - Edwin Starr.

Are we still at war? Why are we allowing it to be called a war? Even in elementary school the peacenicks broke through the noise of pablum to interject the term "Police Action" into our prepubescent vocabulary.
Whatever. This song is ALWAYS appropriate.

"War! (Good God) What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Say it again!"
I considered including Springsteen's brilliant and energetic live version, but Edwin Starr got it right in 70 and 37 years later.....here we are. He didn't write it, you know. I read somewhere that it was originally intended for The Temptations. Can't even imagine what that would have sounded like. This is how protest songs should sound; they should make you wanna shout but also have a nice dancy-jam feel.
WAR! It ain't nothing but a heartbreaker, War. Friend only to the undertaker.

RETRO VIDEO BONUS:


Stop! -Against Me!



Is it disco? Is it Punk? Did Electric Six have a collision with some drunk Joe Strummer wannabes? Yes, yes....and, well, sort of.
First off, lemme say that I LOVE the new Against Me! album, New Wave. I love it the way I loved last year's The Body, The Blood and the Machine, by The Thermals. It is punk, but accessible (just how I like my punk, with milk!) but also has something to say and, well, it just feels different.
In this case I almost wrote this song off as a catchy Pisco (or Dunk, take your pick) tune. Until I read the lyrics and realized what the dude is screaming about.
Stop! Take some time to think! Figure out what's important to you. Stop! Take some time to think! Figure out what's important to you. Stop! Take some time to think! Figure out what's important to you. You gotta make a serious decision.
All of our lives in waiting.
All of our lives traded for their roses and applause.
All of our lives dedicated to shoving it right back in their fucking face"


Against Me! is the latest in a long line of punk bands who get accused of "selling out" when they move to a bigger label in search of their dreams of coke whore groupies, limos and, yeah, enough coin to pay the fucking mortgage. Stop! isn't a call to anyone's arms, it's a call to Tom Gabel, singer and songwriter for AM! probably written at the edge of the bed one night, guitar in one hand and big-time record contract in the other.
Sign it! Sign it! Sign it, Tom! Make your dreams come true! And, while you're at it, give it a little beat so we can dance to it.
The more I listen to this album, the more I love it. It's relentless, simple yet, devastating in places. Ben Lee has already covered the entire CD as an acoustic offering on his site, and it's great, too.
Social Distortion, your heir apparent has arrived.

NEW VIDEO BONUS: My favorite cut from the albums is also the first single: White People for Peace



Sly - The Cat Empire



Sly is the only track I like off the Cat Empire's album. I bought it BECAUSE of that single and, it's not "bad", I don't want my money back or anything, but there is nothing as fantastic, groovy, sparkling, super sexy as "Sly".
Why, it's a pleasure to meet ya
You look like one incredible creature
Wanna treat you fine
Let's dance and grind
Get so funk inflicted
It's a crime
You're divine
You're sublime
And well ya blow my mind


Who hasn't felt that at some point in their lives? Who hasn't been at a club and met that girl who was just Miss perfect right now and didn't wish we could stomach the courage or even be able to pull of lines like this?
And the tune is just ridiculously catchy. I defy you not to put this on your ipod, walk outside on a sunny day in the middle of a city, say, Toronto, where I did this, and not feel like you wanted to skip across the street.

VIDEO BONUS:



Oceans - Paper Sun

My wife's best friend took us to see Paper Sun a few years back. He was close with the lead singer, Sally Smithwicke. A beautiful woman with a brilliant ear and voice, Sally's songs were often overshadowed by the band's desire to be the next Dave Matthews band. Their mistake, since she was always the genius. She and the lead singer finally divorced and she is off somewhere, hopefully making great music.
"Oceans" is one of those "songs from the sky" as my friend and former TBS rhythm guitarist/current lead guitar for The Honeysuckle Jones revivial, David used to say. "Songs from the Sky" are eloquent pieces of perfection that seem to just appear. This songs feels like that to me. It's simple. It's a little outdated, probably would have made a better impression in the post grunge world ruled by Meredith Brooks and Paula Cole. But with lines that are open wounds like "You can throw me in the ocean and I will sink right to the bottom and make a better anchor to keep the boats at bay" I feel like the tune is timeless.



Happy - Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins



Jenny Lewis, the siren of Indie darlings Rilo Kiley, split off from them last year to make a solo record with country duo The Watson Twins. Every song on that cd is infinitely better than 80% of Rilo Kiley's previous stuff and 100% better than this year's Under The Blacklight, RK's attempt to sell out, sell big and be the next Fleetwood Mac. None of them were up to that task but on Rabbit Fur Coat Jenny made some of the most poignant and delicately disturbing music I had heard in a while. And it was Country.
"Happy" is the least happy song about one of the most pleasant states of mind. It's like it fell off the David Lynch soundtrack truck and some hot indie child actress in Silverlake picked it up.
"They warn you about killers and thieves in the night, I worry about cancer and living right, but my momma never warned me about my own destructive appetite."
Creepy. And poignant.

VIDEO BONUS: The remarkable "Rise up with Fists" video. Jenny's strangled melodies shine here with such alacrity. (Did I just say that?) And Sarah Silverman!




Fuel - Ani Difranco



When I was a music reviewer in the mid 90s I used to get packages every other day. Glorious packages filled with cds from all the majors and LOTS of minors. I preferred the minors. It was a national magazine and I wanted to help the little guys get as much exposure as I could.
One day "Out of Range" by Ani Difranco landed on my doorstep and after one listen, I was hooked. Nobody could touch the DIY folkie darling. She bristled and I swooned.
I followed her for about 4 more albums until every song started to sound the same. Then I lost interest.
This cut is not from that album, but, rather, from my other favorite Ani CD, "Little Plastic Castle". Not as cohesive as OoR, LPC is still great. And it has Fuel on it and Fuel has the line "People used to make records as in a record of an event. the event of people playing music in a room. Now everything is cross marketing, it's about sunglasses or shoes, or guns and drugs....you choose."
Fuck, yeah, Ani. Fuck yeah.


Boring - The Pierces



"Sexy boy. Girl On Girl. Menage a trois. Boring."

I don't know much about the Pierces. They're sisters, I think. I dig them in a way that i don't dig Tegan and Sara. They're darker. Meaner. But they sound like you would expect them to sell out, go electro pop and sell a million records. They remind me a little of The Murmurs (remember them? You Suck? Great fucking tune)But they aren't as folky-annoying. I have enjoyed every song on "Thirteen tales of Love and Revenge", so far. I bought it at Amoeba the same day as Against Me! to offset the testosteronie. It ain't bad.
The Pierces hit the style and (lack of) substance of their characters in this song. They sing it so blase and lazily I expect them to be dressed in couture bikinis, smoking reds by the pool at The Standard. They get it. They understand. Paris? Nicole? Every fucking diva/ingenue? Waste of space.
This song rings so true it's almost nauseating. Nauseatingly good, that is!

VIDEO BONUS:


Envious - The Hellacopters



I'm on a chick kick right now. But, that doesn't mean there isn't room for some good, old-fashioned, classic cock rock, right?
In the book "Sonic Cool: the Life and Death of Rock and Roll" which I recommend for the last two chapters only, Author Joel Harrington name drops a LOT of bands, many of which I had never heard of at the time. Like Anti-Seen. And Gluecifer. And The Hellacopters.
The Hellacopters are an offshoot of the Swedish metal band, Entombed, but the drummer and creator of The Hellacopters, Nicke Andersson, took it upon himself to resurrect the casket of 70's classic rock. The kind of kickass rock and roll made by Skynrd and Molly Hatchet and Springsteen.
I bought Supershitty to the Max and the liner notes castigated me for not caring enough about music because I bought it on compact disc. If I REALLY cared about the high and low ends, about the depth and breadth of the music I would have bought it on vinyl.
So, in an act of defiance I bought High Visibility on vinyl. And, dammit, what a fucking treat! It was the last "new" record I bought on vinyl, sadly. And I bought it 2003.
Blazing Piano, lead guitar licks from the school of rock Envious drives. That teeny bridge that drops into that lead solo....you just wanna air guitar to these guys. And then see them live. Because you KNOW they bring the rock.

Enjoy the tunes. And thanks for stopping by Septenary. Please come back often and leave your specimen in the comments drawer.

For your pleasure here's the lyrics to the whole Hellcopters song:

Out of time out of tune
Born sucking on a silver spoon
Trying hard for the best
You don't come close but I can stand the test
Here's a hint here's a clue
I'm the wolf in the movie 'bout you
So pull a knife but I stand on it's edge
l'm the allegiance the one that you pledge

You wanna rise to the occation
But there's nothing to prove
You'll be two steps back
While I'm on the move
And it makes you feel

Envious - You can try but you won't nail it down
Envious - You turn it up but it don't make no sound
Envious - It's good looking at the first glance
But you' re so envious - And you don't stand a chance

You got the axe but I got the licks
I´ve got the drugs but baby you've got the ticks
You're a word not worthy a mention
I'm the teacher and you've got detention

You wanna rise to the occation
But there's nothing to prove
You'll be two steps back
While I'm on the move
And it makes you feel

Envious - You can try but you won't nail it down
Envious - You turn it up but it don't make no sound
Envious - It's good looking at the first glance
But you' re so envious - And you don't stand a chance

You pale in comparison
But what can you do
I admit it I look better beside you

You will cry as I laugh
You're a boy and l'm a man a half
You'll always be the ugly nothing and I the sweet real
I feel no pity but I know how you feel

You wanna rise to the occasion
But there's nothing to prove
You'll be two steps back
While I'm on the move
And it makes you feel

Envious - You can try but you won't nail it down
Envious - You turn it up but it don't make no sound
Envious - It's good looking at the first glance
But you' re so envious - And you don't stand a chance


HIDDEN TRACK VIDEO BONUS:
"No Song Unheard". When I heard this for the first time I thought, wow, these guys were listening to a LOT of Springsteen and, strangely enough, Joe Jackson. Do YOU hear it? I do. I love it.

Green Monkey Mix Volume 4 is coming!

No, it's not a colorful poolside umbrella drink, though it seems like it might be tasty and have a little kick. It's the virtual mixtape over at I, Splotchy.
Because I raised my hand afore many others who wished to be a part of it, you all get to bear witness to some super cool DJ Blogging. As The Hold Steady once said, "Most People are DJ's". Come on, you fancy yourself something a music programmer, don't you? Didn't you make a mix tape for someone back in the day? Didn't well all think that we were better program directors than the idiots at WDHA, WPLJ, KROQ, INDIE 103 or the like? Isn't that why we loved college radio when we were coming up? The promise of the freedom to foist one's personal musical taste on the hapless listener? Changing someone's mind away from Styx and Foreigner and showing him or her that REM was really where it was at. Or Replicas was genius. You get the idea.
Splotchy has had something of an epiphany. It's brilliant. Create a theme. Invite four others to submit a selection of songs to convey that theme. Host the tunes. Then allow Splotchers to download. All the while sending traffic to the contributor's site so they may explain their selections. Awesome!
Stay tuned because as soon as it goes up, so will my explanatory post, because there is nothing a musicologist enjoys more than explaining why he chose the tunes in the first place. (There. I have now employed variations of the word 'explain' three times in two sentences. Me write good.

Forgotten Maniacs

It was mid 1988. I was 9 months into my new life in los Angeles and about 6 months away from retreat back to the east coast. My apartment was a shared basement piece of ugly in West Hollywood, near the corner of Holloway and Sunset. I was a 30 second walk from one of my jobs at Book Soup. I was reminded of this as it was the store where David Duchovny's character held a reading in my favorite new show, Californication. It was also about a 10 minute walk from my other job, working the box office at The Tiffany Theater on Sunset, across the street from the strip mall where I was punched in the head by a homeless man when I turned down his request for a cigarette.
One of the actresses working on "How the Other Half Loves" and her husband and I had struck up a friendship. They were so excited for me because I had just gotten my first commercial agent and their best friend, Bryce, had bought a town house rental in New York with his commercial money.
Kristin was a niece of movie royalty and totally unaffected by her lineage and her husband was a keyboardist who played keytar in a rock band in the valley. A bear of a man, he had dreams of scoring movies.
Driving down Sunset after dinner at Hamburger Hamlet, Kristin, her husband whose name escapes me at the moment, and I were headed back to the theater. She was understudying Yeardley Smith and i was working the box office.
On the CD player 10,000 Maniacs, "In My Tribe" was playing. Specifically, "What's the Matter Here". I quoted my roommate to Kris and hubby: "Her (Natalie Merchant's) voice is like an instrument all its own". My roomie was right and we all agreed, there was something ridiculous about Merchant's voice. It was strong but comforting. And dead on.
In My Tribe was one of the soundtracks of that summer. It had just the right amount of jangle and pop, rock and aor. It was a summery treat with devastatingly wrenching stories in some of the songs. "Gun Shy", a reckoning between singer and her army-issue brother. "What's the Matter Here" was the Luka for the Indie set, the singer trying all her might not to get involved with a father that abuses his son. the cover of "peace Train" harkening whistfully back to a time of protest songs when protest songs were just coming back to vogue. Or the wannabe boho who sings "Hey, Jack Kerouac." I always thought that the Maniacs were too clean for their subject matter. They wanted to be Bukowski but were just unable to shed the happy. It's impossible not to sing along with this album. Impossible to forget the time it was created. A few years before grunge, when adult music ruled the waves. The post New Wave time that included Paul Simon's Graceland and XTC's Skylarking and REM's Life's Rich pageant all suggested that the kids had grown up and we were about to become adults.
That sentiment was crushed of course. It had to be. Every musical trend is crushed by the next.
In the meantime, I dusted this CD off and ripped it back to my computer. I never did that before because I assumed I had heard it enough and was done with it.
It was great to rediscover. The music and the time. When it came out, the "summer of love" was just about as old as this album is now. Seems like yesterday.

Saved by Zoe

(reprinted from Life with Zoe)



Another hotel room. Back in Vancouver this time. Itunes has chosen "Seperate Ways" by Journey and that seems appropriate. Not lonely, not really bored, I've culled enough watching and reading material for the trip. Trust me, 4 hours of Kevin Smith monologuing is more than enough. Beth just sent a bunch of pics that I will deposit on this page. Pics she took of Zoe on the porch. That's their thing; the porch. They love it. It's their time. Me, I haven't spent more than 5 minutes in the front portion of the house since the kitchen (read:my room) was completed. Beth and I were chatting when she had to go put Zo down for the night. It's not the first time that I haven't been there for the ritual but it cuts this time, for some reason. I often get melancholy when I travel. Because I do it so often and I do it alone. Vancouver is a great city, but I've been here more times than any other city I didn't reside in now and I've seen it. I've been there. And 90 minutes on an immigration line will harsh any travel excitement.

Billy Squier's Rock Me Tonite. I think that's why Billy imploded. Dude. It's toNIGHT. Sheesh.

I was recognized again. This time it was two women at the work permit cashier station. It wasn't a good recognition, though. It was the kind that middling tv stars must experience. When two strangers turn their backs to you, whisper and shoot glances over sunglasses your way. I know that look. I've DONE that look. It's a lonely feeling, I'll tell you. I wished I could crawl into my motorcycle jacket and wrap my shades to cover my entire face. Or better, I wished that the damned cashier would open another window and let me go on my way.
Oh, yeah, the pictures.
So, Beth sent these shots of Zo and I just got done adding them to a folder and had a good look.

Someday, Someway by Marshall Crenshaw. Did this ever feel fresh? It's like 1962 revisited. Ah, the ironic 80's. Tongue in cheek nostalgia
was so hip back then. Now it just seems like style-apeing.

Okay, Zoe. Yeah.
I've been feeling more and more tonight (tonite) like Zo saved my life. Not in the way that the doctors saved my life 10 years and 7 years ago. Not like Liz saved my life when she was alive and then at death. Not the way Beth did when she attached her clasp to my weird, world traveled chain. In a totally different way. And I should be able to describe it but I don't know that I have the patience to search for the words.

Julianne by Ben Folds. I should like Ben Folds more than I do. He's snarky and sardonic. But, you know what? He's too accomplished. His craftmanship outweighs his cheekiness.

Zoe saved my life. Not saved, really. Because i wasn't dying. And she sure didn't replace Liz. No one could and that wasn't why we had her. My life has been imbued with a new sense of.....not purpose....not responsibility.....no....what's the word.....?

Mean to me - Crowded House. I loved that album. Reminds me of the year I moved to Los Angeles. I've been told that all the later Crowded House work is better but I've never dabbled. For me it was sublime. Enough that I didn't want anything else to supplant it's greatness.

The word.
Fun.
Peculiar. You know? Children are the great magnifier. I believe. When someone you know has a child their true self comes through as though blown up to movie poster size. If they were a little neurotic they are Annie Hall. If they were cold, they are an iceberg. I think kids are the truest and surest way to determine what kind of person one truly is. In Beth I have seen kindness and generosity exploded to proportions equaling that of a charity worker.
In me.....I have no idea. I know that I am even more aware of my mortality. But, that's nothing new and I'm no more of a fatalist than I was before. I'm sure someone out there can better describe my magnification.
For me, it's all about fun.

Do the Necronomicon from Evil Dead the Musical. Damn that show was fun. Derivative as hell. Not an original moment in it. It was probably more fun to say I saw and talk about than it was to see. No, wait, strike that, reverse it. It was more fun to see and, afterwards, talking about it made it seem better than it was.
But it was fun.

And that's what having Zoe around is like. It's just fun. Fun to watch her watching herself on the computer. Or straining to see the tv when I won't let her, even though she knows that the TiVo remote makes the magic box show it's pretty colors and sounds. It's fun to kiss her tummy and watch her smile even though it's tickling and that's a form of torture, isn't it?
When i put her to sleep I love to talk to her. The other night I spent 20 minutes feeding her and telling her about all the places I have lived since I was two. 22 places. Shit, that's a lot.

Round Here - Counting Crows. I always forget until i hear this song that I think it might be the most beautiful I've heard. And when it's over I've forgotten about it again.

22 places. from my parent's first apartments to New York, to LA to the desert, to this place we live in now. Our home. And it feels like home.
And I'm beginning to think that there isn't any reason Zoe's room couldn't ever contain bunk beds, y'know?

Rockin the ABC's

All the bloggie kids are doin it, so.....
Fave albums in alpha order. In this case, just what is on constant rotation on my ipod.

A- Green Day's American Idiot
Green Day restores rock as the sound of the day, a few hundred boybanders in matching sunglasses and t-shirts descend into reality show hell.



B- Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band's Born to Run
While The Thermals' The Body, the Blood and The Machine and The Hold Steady's Boys and Girls in America made a strong stab at this slot, the was THE album of the decade. Destined for time capsules, I'm sure.




C- The Fratellis' Costello Music
Too much happiness on one record.



D- Queen's A Day at the races
This is the truly great Queen album. Always in the shadow of Night at the Opera, vastly better.




E. Squeeze's East Side Story
A friend of mine's friend once said that I embodied the song "In Quintessence". It was probably an insult, but I loved having a song that described me. It's perfect. Though I could do without "Woman's World".




F- The Boomtown Rats' The Fine Art of Surfacing
Working class rock masquerading as new wave. Haven't heard it in a while? Go get it. Much more than "I Don't Like Mondays"



(Runner up: Roger Taylor's Fun in Space - Superfun ego weirdness)



(Double Runner Up: Martin Briley's Fear of the Unknown. Best unknown power pop album by a future songwriter for NSync)



G- The Knack's Get the Knack
In the world of great debuts, this is one of the greatest.




H- The Hellacopters' High Visibility
When it looked like Rock was dead, a bunch of Swedish groups were doing their best to keep it alive. The last new album I ever bought on Vinyl. In 2002!





I- Public Enemy's It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold us Back
The manifesto of Rap. Timeless and of it's time. Genius. Woe is us what hath come in its wake. And woe to you, flavor flav!




J- Queen - Jazz
No chance there wouldn't be more than one Queen album on this list. With every misfire there was a Dead on time, Bicycle Race, Fat Bottomed Girls and Don't Stop me Now.



Runner up: Nick Lowe's Jesus of Cool. He's cool. He's the Jesus of cool. And he may be the greatest single songwriter that side of the pond. Is he the british Randy Newman? Yeah, prolly.



K- Adam and the Ants' Kings of the Wild Frontier
Best. New Wave. Album. Ever.



L- Joe Jackson's Look Sharp
This list is decidedly latter day 70's. Alas, that was the time of my musical life. But, this is hard to argue with. Perfect pop rock confection.




Runner up Mika's Life in Cartoon Motion What a hit this would have been 30 years ago. As it is, it just makes us happy all the time it's on.



M- Royal Crown Revue's Mugzy's Move
I was at Hear Music (Before Starbucks descended) and this was staff recommended. I bought it. Then I ahd a heart attack. I think I listened to it every single day fo recovery. Then I promptly learned how to swing dance. Saved my life, it did. Truly an honor when Scott Steen, the trumpet player for RCR came to see my band.




N- The Kleptones' Night at the Hip Hopera
Mashups can be really tricky. This one was released about 2 or 3 years ago. 20 or so cuts of Queen music with rap lyrics mashed on top. Unbelievably great.




Runner up: The Vapors' New Clear Days. It's much much more than that one Japanese tune.



O- Ani Difranco's Out of Range
Out of the DIY 90's emerged Ani. I was one of the earliest tubthumpers for this cd when I was reviewing for Home Theater Tech magazine. "Just the thought of our bed makes me crumble like the plaster where you punched the wall beside my head." Who writes lyrics like that? Brilliant!




P- Weezer's Pinkerton
I bought the story that this follow up sucked. Then I bought it. 7 years later. Blew my mind. easily the best in Weezer's ouvre. And enough to make one go out and buy Rentals cds, since it was Matt Sharp's influence on this record that forced his ouster from Weezer.




Q- Queen's Queen II
Holy crap, that's a lot of Queen on my ipod. This is one of the great unheralded albums of the 70's.



R- Jenny Lewis Rabbit Fur Coat
Damn you, Jenny Lewis! I don't want to like country! Fuck, this is tasty stuff. Too bad the new Rilo Kiley is pretty crappy.



S- Everclear's So Much for the Afterglow
Art Alexakis may write the same song over and over again, but on this one he got it right every single time.




T- Throttle Back, Sparky
He he he.....What can I say?




U- The Libertines' Up the Bracket
The Libs wrote some great songs. They always sounded like they were about to fall apart and implode. They did. But not before they put out two great albums.



V- Violent Femmes
Recently voted by a bunch of musicians that I know as the definitive album of the 80's. I have to agree. I think the influence is far reaching into Indie. It's really the godfather of that movement. Plus, it has the distinction of being the first album to go gold while never charting once. Go College Radio!




W- Rick Springfield's Working Class Dog
I know, I know. I was a Rick hater too. Then I bought this on vinyl for my wife. I played it one day and couldn't believe what I was hearing. It's crisp. It's sharp. It's smart. It's POWER POP defined.




X- X's Wild Gift
Fuck you, letter X. I played this album so much when it came out you could hear the other side coming through.





Y-Public Enemy's Yo! Bum Rush the Show
The only "y" album I own. So what, you know? This is street Rap at it's best.




Z- Cherry Poppin Daddies' Zoot Suit Riot
I can't stand any of their ska music, but I love their swing. Go figure. This is one great tossback to an amazing era.

Harry Skywalker and the Deathly Star

From This Recording:

Antmusic!

Glutton for punishment am I. Glutton for punishment AM I!

After the fun I had doing the Idiot's Guide to Queen last month over at JefitoBlog, I thought I would tackle one of the other musical artists whose work I a)know completely and b) has inspired me. So, I chose the estimable Adam Ant. The quintessential '80s pop star. Punk turned glam turned actor turned has been turned psychopath.
On Tuesday morning, or so I have been told, at www.jefitoblog.com you can come bear witness to the greatness that was Mr. Ant.

I am especially proud of this one inasmuch as Adam was the first artist whose music I already loved and Liz came to discover on her own. (Well, sort of, I mean, I was playing it in the car) She dug him, had a poster on her wall, and bought me the box set.

So, go over to Jefito and take a gander and let me know what you think.

Update: Yep, it's up. Now it belongs to the world. Go here for your adam ant love. (The links will only work for a week, so get the Antmusic while you can!)