Songs I Love: Justin Currie

Settle in and get ready for an epic journey. We are talking over 8 minutes here people. Like all epic songs it’s long but it seems to travel quickly. At the end of this tune it leaves you wanting more. More please. Please. I said please. Glorious lyrics and a great loping build and don’t get me started when the “claps” kick in. This song reminds me of that conversation you had a party. You know that chat that you were so in to it that you never talked/saw anyone else.

This song might just cure the world of ADD. Enjoy it all.

I am sure you know Justin Currie was lead singer of Del Amitri and if you didn’t go get some.

5 Comments »

Guest DJ: Jane JS

I love these posts. I love hearing what someone would play if they could have a radio station and play 10 songs. I love it. There is plenty of time and space so if you have 10 songs you’d like to play on the site just let me know.

Please listen to Jane’s 10 songs then leave a comment and let her know what you think. Thanks for the six pack of Maryland beer. That’s another thing I love but that’s different post.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

download

1. 21@ 12 by Hot Hot Heat
2. Let Go by Everest
3. Excuses by The Morning Benders
4. Crash Years by The New Pornographers
5. My Time by Minus the Bear
6. Bloodbuzz Ohio by The National
7. Factory by Band of Horses
8. Faster Than the Setting Sun by Fyfe Dangerfield
9. Closet Astrologer by The Ruby Suns
10. Hemingway by The Seascape

Jane on Facebook
Jane at Music Matters
Jane on Pop Matters

12 Comments »

Songs I Love: Locksley

Gotta love the “Oh Oh Oh Oh Ohs”. Gotta love the FUN and you gotta love songs with counting in them. Gotta love the call and response interplay. Gotta love the video. Did I mention the Fun?

These guys are from Mad Town Wisconsin but have been calling Brooklyn home for quite awhile now. I’m a Mid West boy and even went to college in Wisconsin. There is a soft spot in my heart for anyone from there but it goes beyond that though. They are brilliant live. They write great songs with passion. They give off a bit of an early Kinks/Beatles feel to them too. That’s a win-win situation. Did I mention they are amazing live? Go see their next show. You can thank me later.

I think this a quite good “get the weekend started” song. Your thoughts?

4 Comments »

Lost CD: The Replacements

The Replacements – All Shook Down

Lost CD…sadly I might argue a Lost Band.

Let’s start this thing off by saying if for some reason you don’t have all three of the holy trinity of ‘Mats CDs then you need to remedy that right now. It’s a perfect trifecta. “Let it Be”, “Tim”, and “Pleased to Meet Me” should be in each and every CD collection. Murmur by REM was released in ’83 and the ‘Mats perfection was recorded during that same time(’84 to ’87). Green came out in “88. How did REM get sooo huge while The Replacements watched the world pass them by? You might know the stories and if not search them out. There are some truly wonderful Rock N Roll stories. The Replacements really have no one but themselves to blame but that doesn’t change the fact that we have the chance to “do it right” now. If your favorite radio station plays more REM songs then Replacement songs something is terribly wrong. Call them. Email them and ask them why they don’t love music.

Ok enough of that little rant. So this is a Lost CD review and obviously I can’t pick one of the big three so I picked “All Shook Down”. It is basically the first solo Paul Westerberg CD. The CD sounds like an almost defeated Paul. I think by this time he knows that The Replacements should have and/or could have but didn’t. This CD is not classic sounding Replacements it’s the perfect ending that knows that it is an ending. It is full of med tempo rockers and low key acoustic numbers. It’s a good CD to listen to when the party has ended but you are not ready to call it a day. You want to hang on to the buzz and kick back with one last beer — or maybe two so that you can slowly pull on the beers and hear the entire CD. All I am saying is give Paul a chance.

Comments? I welcome them.
Enjoy it all
Bro

7 Comments »

Songs I Love: Cowboy Mouth

There are a myriad of reasons to break up with someone. The best and maybe the only reason is included in this tune. “She had to go cuz she didn’t know who Joe Strummer was”. Hell I’ve already taught my 4 year old who Joe Strummer was. Plus this couplet is right up there with anything, yes anything, Shakespeare has written.

“It’s not that she didn’t rock my casbah/It’s not that I couldn’t burn her London down/It’s just that she kept on disappearing/ whenever the Sandinista’s come to town” See or hear it at the 2:15 mark in the tune.

So life lesson number one. Know who Joe Strummer is or you can’t be a part of my life.

4 Comments »

Songs I Love: The Whigs

It’s Friday. It’s upbeat time so for the “Songs I Love” post I’ll stay with a driving song again. I played this song in January and even back then I was calling it a top ten song of the year. I still feel that way. Plus my 4 year old loves this tune. She’s a rocker she is. Enjoy The Whigs “In The Dark”. What do you think?

No Comments »

Cool Band on a Warm Night

It’s too hot in my house to sleep, so I figured that I’d share what I am crazy about music wise at the moment. (This is Megan for all those wondering)

For the last six months, I have fallen hard for this band called Cold Cave. They sound like a gloomy New Order with shoegaze tendencies (listen to the song “Life Magazine” and you’ll understand what I mean), but mostly the term dark wave comes to mind when I listen to them. It’s dark and energetic. You might actually want to get up and dance!

I’ve known about this band since early 2008, because I’m a huge fan of the man who started the band as a side project. I’ll put it this way – Wes Eisold is a genius. He’s a poet (it’s impossible to get a copy of his limited-released book Deathbeds) and is the former lead singer of two amazing, brutal hardcore bands. His first band was originally called American Nightmare but then had to re-title themselves as Give Up the Ghost. Unfortunately, they broke up in 2004.  From 2002 until the band’s demise in 2007, Wes was also in the band Some Girls. If you want to hear a total musical 360, after you check out Cold Cave, go check out his old bands and be prepared to be shocked.

Back in the spring of 2008, I heard a few of demos by Cold Cave and was impressed, but at the time it all sounded too gloomy and was lacking something melodically. I figured “Eh I’ll keep this band on my radar for later.” The year 2009 was a musical blur for me and I forgot about the band until January 2010. I heard a few songs from their debut album and was surprised. It wasn’t like my mind was blown, but I fell in love.

With that in mind, here is the video for the album-titled track “Love Comes Close.”

1 Comment »

Most Downloaded

We’ve been listening to 220 shows worth of NEXT. Let’s just say I average 13 songs played in my hour. 220 times 13 is 2,860 songs. Holy balls….Hopefully you have found a new favorite song or two since we’ve begun this musical journey.

I am usually working forward. I am always looking at the next Next. In fact, sometimes people ask me what was on last week’s show and I can’t think of a single song because I’m already getting next week done. So I’m taking a quick, unscientific look at NEXT. I have my favorites but let’s look at the most downloaded shows out there. What are the kids into? What are your favorites?

What are the most downloaded shows?

Number 5: Week 214

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

download

Number 4: Week 212

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

download

Number 3: Week 211

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

download

Number 2: Week 208

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

download

Number 1 Downloaded show is Week 205

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

download

Looking over that list I see mostly current shows. Dig back and enjoy some of the older shows too. Like week 185 or Week 180. Also interesting is there is only one “Best of Show” on that list and that would be show #1 week 205. Maybe my “best of’s” aren’t the best?

Discuss. Enjoy.

4 Comments »

Christmas in July?

Greetings! I’m Megan and a new contributor to the website. To get things started, how about I introduce you to something new in music.

If you’re a fan of The Cure, MGMT, Radiohead or Deerhoof, then The Christmas Lights might be your NEXT favorite band.

Their music is biting, experimental electro-pop full of swirling synthesizers, pounding beats and four-part harmonies. (Add a little funky guitar here and there too) To describe their sound as weird is accurate, but it’s strangely good and refreshingly different. Let’s just say Pitchfork is now kicking themselves for not catching on first.

The band hails from the small town of my Frostburg, Maryland. This past winter they toured with post-hardcore, alternative rock darlings Circa Survive and were featured in an issue of Alternative Press. Currently, they’re about to release their second album called Bad Machine.  And just this week, a dear friend of mine from high school who is in the running to become MTV’s first ever Twitter Jockey has been promoting them.  Maybe my friend John can get this quirky band on the airwaves (now wouldn’t that be refreshing!).

Here is the video for one of my favorites called “Show Your Teeth”, which is off of their first album Walk Like a Human.

This afternoon the band released the video for the much anticipated new single called “Getting Born”. Let’s just say, the video is skull-tastic!

4 Comments »

Songs I love: Blood Red Shoes

One of my favorite “driving songs” of 2010. It’s Blood Red Shoe’s and their song “Light It Up”.

I am a big fan of duos that make a lot of noise. Plus you gotta respect a singing drummer. Especially one that rocks this hard. I am quite sure that this tune will be included on a lot of end of year lists or it should be. What do you think?

2 Comments »