Monday Music Roundup

I’m back from my aforementioned 20-hour dash through Wyoming, Nebraska, and back into Colorado. It was a spur of the moment thing, leaving me at the ranch/hostel place on the remote Wyoming border with nary a toothbrush at 10pm on a Sunday night. It was exhilarating to get out and see a part of the country I’ve never seen, simply because I wanted to see where the freeway took me on a full tank of gas. While on the jaunt, I listened mostly to my two Fuel For The Open Road mixes, and the twangy overtones fit perfectly on the county highways and prairies.

Here’s what else I might have listened to if I hadn’t left my iPod on the charger at home.

Future Rock
The Muslims
I’d seen a flurry of short posts about The Muslims in the blog world a few weeks ago, but they truly won me over when I read this great quote from the band that Bruce cited over on Some Velvet Blog: “We don’t know what the fuck we’re doing. And that’s why it sounds like The Velvet Underground. Because it has chords and my guitar is trebly. We like the E chord. It’s simple. None of us listen to math-rock. We tried it, but it didn’t work out that well. We’re not bad, we’re just not really good.” And AMEN, ain’t that humbling. This song is young and dirty and fast — what more could you want? The Muslims play Denver’s Larimer Lounge on May 2, with lots of other shows coming up as well.

Silver Lining
Rilo Kiley
This song is in no way new music, but it has risen to the tip-top of my playlists in recent weeks. I somehow glossed unfairly over Rilo Kiley‘s 2007 release Under The Blacklight after reading a few lukewarm reviews, and never realized the genius of this track until recently. Lame! I know. Well, it finally hit me, all handclaps and disco beats, and I was instantly won over by the stark confessionals from Jenny Lewis and sentiments I can appreciate. If perchance you also missed it like I did, for the love of Pete, take a listen and try not to love it, all the way down to those mellifluous closing gospel chorus notes. My song of the month (a perfect video too).

Sun Giant
Fleet Foxes
As I crested hill after hill of winter-bleached prairie grassland early this morning as the rising sun splintered across it, I listened to a bit of My Morning Jacket. One of the things I enjoy the most about their music is the way it feels golden and expansive, all sundrenched reverb and eerie harmonies. It’s easy to see why that same vibe would draw me effortlessly into this opening album track from Seattle’s Fleet Foxes. As you delve into the rest of their songs you do hear a bit more of the classic rock influences, but gorgeous vocal tracks like this sound like a perfectly-crafted hymn (“Our Prayer” by the Beach Boys, anyone?). Their Sun Giant EP is out now on Sub Pop/Bella.

Tick of Time
The Kooks
I’m liking where the Kooks are going on their second album Konk, out tomorrow on Astralwerks. They’ve tuned down a bit of the herky-jerky swagger of their first album an lapsed a bit more into the acoustic harmony vibe, and they sound terrific. Konk was recorded at Ray Davies’ studio of the same name, and was produced by Tony Hoffer who has worked with The Thrills, Beck and Supergrass. This is the last track on the album and they sound like they’re having fun.

Glad It’s Over
Wilco
I’m confused about this “musical companion album” to the excellent TV series Heroes, which is a show that messed with my brain. When watched in large doses, Heroes gave me the kind of vivid dreams I haven’t had since Alias when I dreamt that Rambaldi was trying to send me encrypted messages through run-of-the-mill neighborhood night noises. In any case, I don’t remember hearing Wilco on Heroes. Nor Bob Dylan, MMJ, or even Nada Surf. But look! Here’s a brand new Wilco track from that collection, catchy as all get out. The selections on this soundtrack are “inspired by the characters” in the show, and are pretty bulletproof in terms of the quality tunes & artists here.

Monday Music Roundup

“Won’t you wear . . . a sweater?”

We are requested by Mister McFeely to don a sweater of some sort this Thursday, in honor of what would have been Mister Rogers‘ 80th birthday. I think I’ll wear my green hoodie that I can zip up all the way, pause, and then zip it halfway back down. Man, I loved that (American kids) show when I was a tot. To this day, whenever I catch a rerun and he tells me that I am special, I believe him.

But seriously. Why was the postman on a childrens’ show named Mister McFeely?!

Tunes for the weekly grind:

Girls Like It Too
(new, live in Buenos Aires)
Jarvis Cocker
Jarv says that girls like it too, I only wish the audio here was a bit better so I could vouch for the girls in this equation. We’ll just have to take his word for it; he sounds like he would know. I like Jarvis because he always sounds a little smarmy, dramatic, and very Euro-metropolitan. This song also revives that fantastic stage whisper way he has of singing that makes you feel like he’s letting you in on a secret. Huge potential in this brand new song — it’s melodic with an arching, anthemic chorus — and the live rip isn’t half bad.

Snow in Berlin
Zookeeper
“Okay here we go,” warns the opening voice on this bright and effervescent tune from Austin, TX five-piece Zookeeper. The song melds horns with retro pop sensibilities, and feels like the anticipation in the sky the moment before the sun bursts out from behind the horizon. Another album art selection that falls under the conspiratorial hushed-whisper “I think they have problems” header, Becoming All Things is out now on Belle City Pop!. These guys played something like a dozen shows in Austin this last week, and hey! My beloved Dodge had them on his serious SIRIUS show back in December.

What She Turned Into
Retribution Gospel Choir
The purest, most enthusiastic music-blog stop in my regular rounds easily falls to the guys at Said The Gramophone (for example, on Sam Cooke). They recently posted up this track that I’d never heard a thing about, featuring Red House Painter/Sun Kil Mooner Mark Kozelek producing music by Alan Sparhawk of Low, Matt Livingston and Eric Pollard. According to StG, “That means that [Kozelek] strode into the recording booth and turned the amps up. He turned them right up. He slapped Sparhawk across the face, tore Livingston’s shirt and punched a hole in Pollard’s tom. He glowered at them. Then he went back to the mixing desk and set the thing on fire. “Play,” he said over the crackles. “Play me a pop song.” It was going to rain that night, hard.” I mean COME ON. Yes. Listen, and it is exactly so. Retribution Gospel Choir has a full-length album out tomorrow on Kozelek’s Caldo Verde label.

Silence
Portishead
And so the first new Portishead album in 11 years begins with a crackly, mysterious transmission in what I think might be urgent Portguese, kind of like the french woman in Lost. The song crests, thrumming and unrelenting, mysterious and sexy. In short, all the things you’d hope for from these Bristol trip-hop pioneers. But what you didn’t expect was that they’d make you feel like a spy in the cold sleek streets of Berlin, rather than a beautiful blissed-out clubgoer. Third is out April 28, and Portishead is another fine band that’s gonna be at Coachella.

Young Folks (Peter, Bjorn and John cover)
The Kooks & Simon Wilcox
Resist it as you might (and I did try to resist initially), the whistling from the original version of this song was the catchiest thing on the radio in 2007. Sometimes I’ll be walking down the street on an especially sunny day and I want to whistle something; this does nicely (that or the Andy Griffith theme). Therefore when The Kooks covered this song with lovely Canadian gal Simon Wilcox and cut the pursed-lip magic, something else got lost in the transaction. It is still catchy and adds that cute brogue. From a recent free NME disc, the Kooks say “We tried to make it more of a rock’n'roll song, throwing a bit of Motown and doo-wop into the mix.” See what you think.

And hey, happy St. Paddy’s! Me and Sir Jameson plan to do a wee bit o’ celebrating.

Just a bunch of ab fab covers, thanks to Radio One

In honor of their big 40 year birthday bacchanalia, first BBC Radio One staged that Beatles coverfest back in July, and this week they’ve released an ace double-disc collection chock full of Heather’s Favorite Things – more cover songs! Radio One, Established 1967 pulls 40 hits (one from each year) and pairs them with often unlikely artists. Most of these are ones I’ve never heard before — Hard-Fi covering Britney Spears’ Toxic? The Fray take on R.E.M., Lily Allen does her best sassy Chrissie Hynde, Keane rhymes with Queen & David Bowie under pressure, Kasabian play the Specials. It’s fresh and fun for the most part; even if there are some horrific failures, I appreciate the relative inventiveness in the choices here –

Band On The Run (Paul McCartney/Wings cover) – Foo Fighters
This starts out pretty mellow and faithful to the original — all Laurel Canyon sunsets and lots of weed. But stay tuned to a 1:16 mark that made me yelp a little in delight when the Foos kick in with all their ferocious glory. I cannot wait to drive somewhere, fast, listening to this. LOVE IT.

You Sexy Thing (Hot Chocolate cover) – Stereophonics
As if Kelly Jones didn’t already strike me as enough of a wee sexy bastard, hearing the playful charm and come-on camp of this cover, where he sounds for all the world like he’s channeling his inner Rod Stewart, does it for me.

All That She Wants (Ace of Base cover) – The Kooks
The original version of this song evokes a reaction in me that is akin to stabbing a razor blade into my eye. Hate it, hate the Swedish ’90s pop of Ace of Base and have been subjected to this story-song of our unmoored heroine (trying to . . . get pregnant on a one-night stand?) way too many times. The Kooks, however, do elicit a few begrudging props from me for trying to salvage it, and doing so in a winsome way. But ugh — too little, too late. This song is beyond salvation.

BUY: Radio One, Established 1967

Straight outta Brighton: The Kooks

Following fast in the relative footsteps of groups like The Coral, whom I quite liked from last summer, The Kooks are 4 young guys from scenic beachtown of Brighton, England. My friend Chris from Manchester included them on a recent mix for me and they caught my ear.

Sportin’ that same fancy-pants accent that regularly propels British bands (especially ones whose names start with “The” lately) to moderate success stateside, The Kooks are fun jump-around listening for summer, with a bit more acoustic pop sound than some of the punk/new-wave bands preceding them of late. Pitchfork likens them to “the straightforward dynamism of I Should Coco-era Supergrass,” and Drowned in Sound says, “What they do is take girls and seaside and . . . well, that’s all you need really isn’t it?”

Their debut album Inside In/Inside Out has reached #3 on the UK charts (and doesn’t appear to be released yet in the US). Take a listen, I am sure you’ll be hearing more from these boys ’round these parts; they’re in the news today as the Rolling Stones just tapped them to open their Cardiff show.

Naive – The Kooks

Sofa Song – The Kooks

California – The Kooks (Wow! A Mason Jennings cover! Better than the original? It’s a song that wants to rock)

“Crazy“ - The Kooks (Gnarls Barkley cover, Live Lounge 3/30/06)