The Look Back

Another lackadaisical week comes to an end.  Helping friends move and a lack of football are what we have to look forward to on this rainy Southern California weekend.  Enjoy the ambiance.   

Rena Jones – Photosynthesis

I became curious when I saw the genre listed as “Ambient”.  This normally isn’t the first genre I would pick to listen to on a Friday afternoon but I find this to be fitting so far today.  The cello and violin (both played by Rena) mix very well here and nothing is more than a simple transition into the next.  There is no struggle between pieces and yet there is a fair amount going on here that you may otherwise miss.  I’m also geeking out on this title and picturing the inner workings of a plant’s xylem and phloem working.  Who said I’d never need that 3^rd year botany class?

Why? – Good Friday

A bit of a buzz surrounds this guy/group right now.  Yet, I don’t see the typical Pitchfork/Stereogum as the main pushers.  Maybe some of the other 4.5 million music blogs are getting something on their own.  I really had no preconceptions about this when first playing it this week.  Talk about a surprise.  The genre is listed as “hip-hop” (but John Vanderslice lists all his digital tracks as the same just because he is indignant to the whole “label” deal and wants to be funny) and at first I said, NO WAY!  Then I thought Why Not? (get it?!) It reminds me like a hip hop Cake record with even more witty verse and a nice beat when you start to take it in on the second or third listen. 

Xiu Xiu – Under Pressure

Yet another take on this 80’s staple.  While not as extreme as the Blood Brothers gave us a few years back they do put their own spin on it to some degree.  Xiu Xiu is one of the more divisive bands within a group of music snobs.  There is really no middle ground to this group which is one of the reasons I picked this track off their new full length, “Women as Lovers”.  This really is a middle of the road song for them that I can’t see anyone absolutely hating.  That said, I also can’t say anyone would really get a good representation of what the band is really about with this track.  Thus it might be a horrible choice for the mix but I still like it and that is what really counts, right?

Hot Chip – Ready for the Floor

My favorite dance group of 2006 has a new record out!  Maybe now every indie bar in the world will stop playing “Over and Over” incessantly, disregarding how laughable that maneuver really is in relation to the songs meaning. So far this is my work album of the week.  Over and over again.

Jimmy Davis – You Are My Sunshine

Jimmy Davis was the governor of Louisiana for two separate terms Once in the 40s and then again in the 50’s.  I just wonder what happened in between?  I guess he wrote other classic country songs such as this.  Everyone has to have heard this but just take another listen to the lyrics.  Great, yet sad.  I think this caps off a pretty good emotional roller coaster of a mix.

The mother of all festivals (yes, bitch all you want mid-west and east coast kids) announced their lineups this afternoon. I will sadly be unable to attend, yet again, but I wanted to point out the biggest surprise and the biggest reason every reader here should attend. This man will be playing Saturday night:

DWIGHT YOAKAM!

You could say this week’s mix is brought to you by pedal steel and the number 8. (All but one song is the 8th track on their albums) Or you could just call this a well rounded and country influenced Friday Mix. Whichever you choose. I’ve sworn off the “blogging about blogging” post so I’ll just end with this, there are changes a comin’.

Jonny Greenwood – Proven Lands

The There Will Be Blood Soundtrack has gotten a LOT of publicity prior to the major release of the film. I finally had an opportunity to see it last week locally. (Yes, I was considering making the 45min drive up to LA to see it the week after Christmas.) While it did not take over the top spot in my “Movies of 2007” list it certainly made the top 5. The soundtrack really is a main character in the movie and this track is its climax and abrupt finish. Certainly worth the effort to pick up a copy of the full soundtrack if you end up seeing the movie. FYI, if you want to get a little more history on the real family that the book/movie were based on, hit up wikipedia.

Drive-By Truckers – Lisa’s Birthday

Pardon my ignorance on the pending release of their latest album, Brighter Than Creation’s Dark, as I had no idea they were even working on a new album until I saw that they were playing a few shows out here on the West Coast. I jumped on this and have been listening to the album constantly while toiling away on AutoCAD all week. This song jumps out as being very reminiscent of a 1973 country radio hit. Drinking, women and relationship problems are all expressed with a great deal of Southern swagger. I still keep mishearing him say “Michelle” rather than “Lisa” though. Odd.

The Mountain Goats – Lovecraft in Brooklyn

Dire straits-esque in some ways but still a nice departure from the rest of Heretic Pride and definitely 2006’s “Get Lonely”. Also, with great lines such as, “Some day something’s coming, from way out beyond the stars, to kill us while we stand here. Its store our brains in mason jars.” Get me to think about Cloverfield and what a great choice this is for 01.18.08. (You had to have seen Transformers in the theatre to get that. Dork alert is rising, I know.) All be it a stretch for the Cloverfield reference, I find this to be the song I keep coming back to on Heretic Pride. I also love the Marcus Allen reference as he is one of the first football players I remember watching with my dad during Raiders games in the mid 80’s. Nostalgia rears it’s ugly head here once again.

Black Mountain – Queens Will Play

In the Future is my first OiNK like discovery of 2008. I’ve heard a lot about their previous work but never took the time to seek out some previous material. When I got this album I knew what a lot of the fuss has been about. I’m not sure how a band with as classic a sound as Black Mountain hasn’t gotten to make the jump to a more mainstream following. This album is out on Tuesday so we’ll see how it is taken by those great gents on modern radio. (You know, the place everyone hears great music.)

Johnathan Rice – The Ballad of King Coyote

I posted the title track from Johnathan’s excellent EP, We’re All Stuck Out In The Desert, last summer. I missed the full length release, Further North, and just had a chance to listen to it. While the majority of the album could be aptly titled, “Johnathan Rice and Jenny Lewis Present: Further North” this track is one of Johnathan’s solo vocal tracks. It hits on several of my passions in music and thus running themes here on the Friday Mix. Steel guitar and witty dialog about Southern California. So fitting to my taste I’ve put this song in place of my usual country music pick of the week. Although you can contend that Drive-By Truckers are more country than Southern Rock, especially on the track listed above.

The Christmas decorations have all been retired to the garage. I will now have many restless nights thinking about my poor Christmas candles melting together in the blazing heat come July. (Please pray for the little Santas and Christmas trees.) It’s also the end of the first full work week in a little over three weeks. I got through it thanks in large part to Brendan hooking me up with some very tasty Waffles. Everyone else will get a little taste in this weeks mix as well as mixes the rest of 2008.

DJ Earworm – United State of Pop

Interesting idea for a mash up. Combine the 2007 year end top 40 chart songs into one giant mash up. I have to admit, it is definitely an earworm that I have listened to a few more times than I care to admit in the last week. It’s also a challenge to try and pick out the various sequences from each of the songs that I honestly have probably never fully heard. PS. That damned Umbrella song is infectious.

Busdriver – Casting Agents and Cowgirls

Talk about a song with a lot of words. I’ve heard about Busdriver for years now but it took until I saw his name come up on a couple year end lists to finally download something and take a real listen. There is so much good stuff in this song that you really do need to sit down and listen a few times to get all the innuendos and (not so)subtle jabs.

Michael Cera and Ellen Page – Anyone Else But You

Please go out and see Juno. Ellen Page is outstanding and Michael Cera is again George Michael, a part he plays so well. The writers of the movie have stressed that the soundtrack really would be something the characters would have listened to and I fully agree. This song comes as the credits roll and is sweet without giving you any kind of a tooth ache. Heart felt sentiment rolled up in a song that is neither overly simple nor complicated.

The Grizzly Owls – Rifles & Hemlines

The music itself hooked me with this song and, to a lesser extent, this group. I definitely get the old cowboy music feel which I still find in sharp contrast to the old country music I write about so often here. I picture old Pecos Bill cartoons and campy Disney cowboy movies. Jenny A’s voice is a little grating at times, especially on the track, “I Am a Child of the Dust Bowl” where she drools on and on with the chorus and intro, but I find the music itself helps the record along. If any other bands are out there reading this and are debating a name for themselves, please take these words to heart; DON’T TAKE THE FIRST NAME OF A POPULAR INDIE BAND AND COMBINE IT WITH ANOTHER RANDOM WORD!

Kenny Rogers – Gambler

Kenny freakin’ Rogers! How have I gone 6 long months without posting this staple of 70’s country music? I’m really hoping I can pick up a few new readers in that vaunted males 25-50 degenerate poker playing/watching demographic with this song. Stop watching Rounders for 3minutes and 28 seconds and take a listen to where the “sport” has come from. Random Kenny Rogers trivia, Mr. K. Rogers was voted “Favorite Singer of All-Time” in 1986 by USA Today and People magazine readers. Best singer of ALL-TIME! Dude beat out the long haired kind in that Beatles band!

Sorry I missed last Friday’s post. I was in Paso Robles/San Luis Obispo enjoying time away from the OC with my family and Heather’s family. It was a great escape and has energized me to create my best of 2007. I have done a “Best of 20XX” since 2005 but I have always narrowed it down to fit on a CD (or two as the case was in 2006). This year I went big and piled on my Top 50. It was a very interesting musical year for me that saw me start and, sadly, end my OiNK account with the rest of the world. I can only hope 2008 will bring me as big a surprise as Okkervil River did in 2007.

Notes:

1. These songs did not all necessarily come out in 2007. I tried to hold it to ones that did but there are a few I had to add which very much defined my musical tastes this past year. I’ve added an “*” to those non-2007 songs.

2. I’ve kept the “reviews/comments” to one line or less. You’ve all likely heard more coherent ramblings on numerous other blogs about all of these songs with the exception of 3-5 tracks. Many comments only make sense if you are a close friend. Sorry about that lameness.

List (with downloads) after the jump.

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I’m very political but I don’t like to shove it in anyone’s face.  I’ve voted in every election I could since I was 18 but I do not recall ever hearing a Republican or Democrat say this;

“You came together as Democrats, Republicans and independents to stand up and say that we are one nation, we are one people and our time for change has come.”

This was spoken by Barack Obama tonight in Iowa.  I very much doubt I will be voting for Mr. Obama as I do not feel either party truly represents my political stance but I very much appreciated this quote.  Definitely something I could never see McCain or Hillary saying after winning the White House, let alone Iowa.   Oh how I loath the two party system.