The Sad Bear

January 27, 2010

#003

A weekly sampler of what we're listening to (new and old), and what we think you might like, too.

{LISTEN TO THEM ALL}


NO DOUBT -- "Just A Girl"
On Tuesday afternoon I heard three different No Doubt songs on three different radio stations in the span of 30 minutes (and, curiously, they were on three different kinds of stations: the Waynesville "contemporary music" station, the Rolla college/ freeform station and the Jefferson City alt rock station). Luckily, this one was the third one they played, my favorite of theirs and the best. It brought back some heavy middle school nostalgia. I'm not sure if No Doubt is undergoing some sort of great popular re-assessment (I'm guessing no... I can't even remember the last time I heard a whiff of Gwen's solo career, much less with the band), but listening back to it again, I found Tragic Kingdom to be solid (if a tad dated). And, most importantly, that main guitar riff in "Just A Girl" still thrills me a bit when I hear it. It's that badass, and nearly perfect with the spirit of the song.


BUILT TO SPILL -- "Liar"
I would not have liked Built to Spill a couple years back but their brand of jam rock is part of my palette right now. They're like Spoon in at least one regard: their brilliance, for me, is hard to pinpoint. No one thing stands out -- not instrumentation or vocals or lyrics -- but I've fallen in love with at least two songs per album on the three I've heard.


EIFFEL 65 -- "Another Race"
Not my favorite song on this particular album, the first CD I ever owned, but it's definitely been great to listen to while driving to and from court lately. I associate a few things from childhood to this album...maybe the oddest being The Hardy Boys series. I read several of those books while listening to this album at night. Weird. And if anyone is curious, my favorite book in that series is #2 The House on the Cliff.


BRIAN ENO -- "Here Come the Warm Jets"
I discovered Brian Eno through his Berlin Trilogy collaboration with David Bowie, particularly the song "Warszawa", which was chiefly written by Eno. Here Come the Warm Jets was released three years prior as Eno's first solo album (he is known for his prolific collaboration with artists such as Robert Fripp, John Cale, and David Byrne.) On this album, Eno treats the lyrics as little more than free-associative footnotes to a largely instrumental affair, with at least one song "written in less time than it takes to sing". The albums Another Green World and Discreet Music head in a more ambient (but not quite avant-garde) direction where Eno's classical influences become more clear, but Warm Jets and Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) are best described as art rock presented in the glam sheen of the time. I can think of more interesting Eno songs to share, but this is one of the most accessible and is the one that kicked off my Eno pursuits.


HANGGAI -- Unknown Song (I don't know Mongolian.)
Awesome band. That's all.


WOLF PARADE -- "Kissing the Beehive"
I think it's their best work. It's the last track on At Mount Zoomer. The last section before the noise jam (shown in the video) is absolutely phenomenal. It shits on Apologies To The Queen Mary.

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR: Peter Dering
A friend in Virginia, Peter works at a coffee shop near Chase and Tony. The shop is called "Mugshots," and is conveniently located just down the street from the county's circuit court. Peter enjoys music, film and anthropology.

COLD PUMAS -- "Jela"
This song is like a giant machine gun shooting Aderal at crowds of ADHD children running up a grassy hill fighting to be the first to jump into the sun.

Labels: mid-week mixes, music

by JHitts at 1:17 AM |