today's playlist

[das kranke Tier]

Portastatic, Be Still Please

That album has some pretty great moments, doesn't it? I must have listened to "You Blanks" and "Sour Shores" 40+ times this year.

I like "Getting Saved" a lot too--it's got that Springsteeny thing that Mac clearly loves going on and makes me remember when Superchunk used to close their shows with "Born to Run" back in the day (maybe they still do; last time I saw them, in 2002, they didn't).

I totally missed this, sorry guys.  YES!  It's the best (as far as just consistently a head-bobber) he's put out in a while.  And Whit, unfortunately they don't close with that anymore...which is a fucking bummer.  But I have seen them close with an incredible version of "100,000 Fireflies".

Man, I luv me some Mac MaCaughan!  Superchunk is one of my very favorite bands of all time.

[peacocks]

Michelle Shocked, Short Sharp Shocked

my mom used to listen to her a lot when I was little.  Michelle Shocked was a big part of the soundtrack to many road trips with my mom.

PS!  Portastatic does have a lot of good head boppin' tunes.  I saw them for the first time opening for JV a few years ago and the violinist really added something special to the whole thing, plus I danced my butt off.  Unfortunately the only ablum I own by them is Bright Ideas.

[das kranke Tier]

Joni Mitchell

God I love her...

[peacocks]

ack!  I murked part of that because I thought it was too list-y... but this is a playlist thread so, sorry?

Joni Mitchell is wonderful.  A few musicians I feel have helped shaped my personality and she is one of them (her song The Clarinet was the reason I chose to play clarinet in 6th grade for band).  I could only dream of being able to sing like that.

[das kranke Tier]

She's a ridiculously talented musician.

You need more Portastatic and Superchunk in your life, KB!

[auto-da-fey]

Peacocks, your mom sounds pretty cool. My elementary school car-ride-with-mom soundtrack was mostly Billy Joel and Randy Travis. I still love the BJ, but RT is puke-provoking. Though that "sitting around digging up bones" song, my brother and I always mistook for "picking up bums," and we sort of wondered what was up with that.

And dkT, agreed on the Superchunk. Though while they've managed to mature with dignity and grace, there is a certain oomph somewhat lacking from the post-1997 albums.

[peacocks]

I'm on it!  I feel I've been missing out on the superchunk for quite some time.

adf, my mom rules.  She likes matty pop chart and jens lekman now!

My playlist for the day is a Morrissey comp my friend made entitled MOZZERELLA.  Noting like a little mozz to lift the old spirit.  It's like a pat on the back.

[auto-da-fey]

Because I do love my mother, let me point out that today she listens to a lot of Steve Earle, so I'd say she's moved in a positive direction since the 80s.

[Andrew_TSKS]

Robotic Empire still exists?

dude, that label is HUGE now. torche is on robotic empire, so their label is getting namechecked in spin and stuff.

also, there's a catalyst record on robotic empire, so i feel a weird two-degrees connection to that label.

Peacocks, your mom sounds pretty cool. My elementary school car-ride-with-mom soundtrack was mostly Billy Joel and Randy Travis. I still love the BJ, but RT is puke-provoking. Though that "sitting around digging up bones" song, my brother and I always mistook for "picking up bums," and we sort of wondered what was up with that.

i thought it was "picking up phones". i figured that dude had ended up with a shitty job in a call center after his girl left him. in retrospect, that's a perfectly appropriate subject for a country song.

[RavingLunatic]

I still love the BJ.

Don't we all?

[auto-da-fey]

Bruce Springsteen, Magic
Magazine, Real Life
Emitt Rhodes, s/t

After three listens, it's pretty clear to me that Magic is not that great. For some reason "Girls in Their Summer Clothes" reminds me of late-90s Magnetic Fields, though. I didn't expect that.

[jebreject]

remember how they used to be robodog records? i think i like that better

[Andrew_TSKS]

that was a LONG time ago. they've been robotic empire since at least 2002.

[jebreject]

yeah, well, they'll always be robodog to me

(five years is a LONG time?)

[Andrew_TSKS]

most hardcore labels don't even exist for that long.

[jebreject]

okay, very true.

[auto-da-fey]

Man, a losing streak today:



I love the first three Iggy solo albums, but aside from a few semi-interesting spastic moments ("Loco Mosquito," "Dog Food") this does nothing for me, even despite the involvement of Bowie and Glen Matlock.



Again, a few good moments, but altogether one vast expanse of blandness. And then



the latest New Radiant Storm King album. These guys have consistently bored me to tears since I first bought the "Rocket Scientist" 7" a dozen years ago, and this continues the trend. I have no idea why I even have it, and I only listened to it so that I could move it from a "listen to" stack into a pile of stuff I would sell to a record store if I had the ambition.

I'm pretty sure I'd better put on something more reliable this evening.

[jebreject]

[Charlie Ll]

If I listened to music I would listen to Thunder Perfect Mind.  That's real good.

[auto-da-fey]

This is more like weekend-long playlist, but whatever, it carried me through some long-ass airplane flights.






The Spoon and Miranda Lambert I was hearing for the first time, and I gave them each several spins. Series of Sneaks I like a lot more than Girls Can Tell, which I still haven't gotten into since bitching about it several weeks ago. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend was good, but it seems pretty overrated here and everywhere else.

[ellaguru]

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend was good, but it seems pretty overrated here and everywhere else.

Aren't I the only person overrating it around here?

[auto-da-fey]

It's entirely possible. I could've sworn blucas was repping for it too, but it wouldn't be the first time I've imagined posts that don't exist.

Anyway, there are some really great tracks on the album, but as a whole it left me a little underwhelmed.

[lastclearchance]

It's entirely possible. I could've sworn blucas was repping for it too, but it wouldn't be the first time I've imagined posts that don't exist.

You are not imagining posts that don't exist.

[auto-da-fey]

Sweet--I know my LPTJ, I guess. I also agree with blucas re: title track.

[auto-da-fey]

I've been digging Sky Blue Sky, and since every review ever written about it appears contractually bound to compare it to Bread, I thought I'd check them out. My only Bread memories are of being bored by some songs on a tape my mom used to play while I was in early elementary school, so I was surprised to find the s/t debut fairly engaging, with some Byrdsy moments. But listening to it back-to-back with their second album was a bit much--the utter facelessness of it all began to grate on me until, four songs from the end and a few miles from home still, I switched on KROQ for some facelessness that was at least aggressive.