A story:

Last week, I was killing some time before a comedy show and ended up in the Borders Bookstore next to Madison Square Garden. Since Barnes & Noble in Chelsea closed, that Borders is the closest bookstore to the comedy theater, so I end up there a fair amount. Anyway, as I walked in I recognized the music playing over the PA system as the song “Just” by Radiohead. “Wow,” I thought to myself, “That’s pretty cool.” Usually the music playing in the store is something a bit softer, like Jakob Dylan’s new album or something equally inoffensive and boring. Stuff that’s innocuous enough to not interrupt your browsing and buying.

So as I was walking into Borders, “Just” was just ending, and towards the end of the song, the final chorus dissolves into drums and one long note of screeching guitar feedback, before kicking into the solo. So picture this corporate bookstore, all the customers wandering peacefully from shelf to shelf, seeing what bestsellers are on sale this week, and it’s all interrupted by the sonic equivalent of someone screaming. The store is completely bathed in this loud, grating guitar feedback for five seconds or however long it lasts. This is par for the course in independent record stores, where the clerk will put on something completely unlistenable at a ludicrous volume (”Hello everyone, I’m Old Man Adam”), but it was kind of a treat to see in somewhere a bit more conventional. And while I realize that Radiohead, one of the biggest bands in the world, are no avant-guard German noise rock band, it was still a pretty great moment.

The cd being played was the new Radiohead Greatest Hits package that Capitol Records put together without the band’s consent or input. Even though I knew that fact, it was still cool to hear some really good music instead of the usual stuff. After “Just” came “Paranoid Android” and “Karma Police” and then another short moment of funny, as some intrepid and conscientious employee cut off “Creep” half a second before the line “You’re so fucking special,” and skipped along to the next song (appropriately enough) “No Surprises.”

So here’s the song in question, along with a pretty incredible cover of “Creep” by Prince, which also cuts out the profanity (the Purple One doesn’t use bad words anymore). Enjoy:

Radiohead - Just (Buy It)

Prince - Creep (Live at Coachella 2008) (Buy Prince music)

And the picture at the top of this post is a still from the video for “Just,” which you can watch here.

posted by Adam

Happy 4th of July everyone. Hope it’s a peaceful one, free of trouble, strife and rain. Even as a sometime-cynic and generally critical person, and despite all the problems we all have with it, I can safely say that I’m damn happy to be living in this country. Here are some fun tracks about (or slightly about) the good old U.S. of A, some reverential, some not-so-much, all great.

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Shake the Sheets (Buy It)

Patton Oswalt - America, the Retarded Trust-Fund Kid (Buy It)

Stevie Wonder - He’s Misstra Know-It-All (Buy It)

Spirit - America, the Beautiful/The Times They Are A’Changin’ (Buy Spirit music)

And here’s just a reminder that NO ONE makes a better cake of their flag than Americans. We’ve got our eye on you, Portugal…

posted by Adam

Similarly to some of Adam’s past posts, I discovered a borrowed song. Le Loup’s “Planes like Vultures” sounds EXACTLY like “Everything Means Nothing to Me” by Elliott Smith. Both songs have apocalyptic messages and Le Loup takes on Smith’s sweet-sounding approach to communicate something entirely negative. “Planes like Vultures” is the modern pop version of Smith’s piano piece.

Le Loup- Planes Like Vultures (Buy It)

Elliott Smith- Everything Means Nothing to Me (Buy It)

posted by Matt

The summer after high-school I played drums in a band called Vladband with two guys named Aaron (bass) and Vlad (guitar, vocals). The name was not a result of ego on the guitarist’s part, almost the opposite — Aaron and I thought it was funny and Vlad couldn’t think up something better. We rehearsed in Vlad’s basement, as his dad was a multi-instrumentalist and had all the necessary equipment, so none of us had to bring anything. For a drummer, that is a beautiful thing. Playing in the band was a good time that resulted in a studio recording of a song called “When I Come Over” which sounded better than something 17-year-olds would normally produce.

Vlad’s family was (and still is, presumably) Ukrainian, which I discovered one day when I was absentmindedly whistling while setting up for rehearsal. A lot of the time, I’ll start whistling whatever tune is in my head without even realizing it. I’m pretty sure I look ridiculous when doing it, but I’m a better whistler than I am a singer (somehow, I don’t understand how these things work), so it works out pretty well.

“Hey, don’t do that,” he said, explaining that there’s a Ukrainian superstition about whistling. Something about upsetting the spirits of the house or building wherever you are. At least once a week, I’d catch myself whistling sometime during band practice and feel kinda bad about it.

So now you know that. Don’t ever say hahamusic never taught you anything!

This is one of the songs I was whistling this week:

The Stanley Brothers - Angel Band (Buy It)

And this song has whistling of the recorded variety:

Otis Redding - Sitting on the Dock of the Bay (Buy It)

posted by Adam

I’ve mentioned this before, but one of the awesome things about this blog (and I would assume most blogs) is that I can see who is linking to our site, and then follow those links to see who has been visiting. Most of the time, it’s just people looking for a picture of “ska” or “muse” or “amy winehouse crazy hair,” and that’s cool. I feel a little guilt pang, since we haven’t posted anything about ska, Muse, or Amy Winehouse’s crazy hair in a really long time, but it’s okay. Because every once in a while, we’ll get a link from somewhere cool, or at the very least interesting.

A recent example: I was checking the blog today, feeling low for not posting in a while (the last thing I posted was almost a month ago), and I noticed that we had been linked on a Facebook page. I’ve got a Facebook profile, so I followed the link, which took me to an event page. For the unfamiliar, on Facebook you can tell your internet friends about upcoming events and invite them and make comments and all that good stuff. The event page that linked to the post below (Matt’s link to the new Sigur Ros single and video) was from an event where some folks in Toronto invited some friends to a nude beach party (the Sigur Ros video is a bunch of naked folks running around). So a very sincere and not at all sarcastic or mocking WELCOME to the Toronto nude beach party-ers! And thank you for reading, our naked neighbors to the north! Oh, and if you do end up barbecuing, please remember to be careful. Maybe an apron, just for safety’s sake.

Other business! Both Charlotte and I, like the good internet people we are, have updated our Muxtapes! You can find them over to the right, under Contributor Muxtapes, and listen to them back to back for a double dose of streaming awesomeness.

And for the just-because-iveness of it all, here’s a great song I’ve been listening to a lot recently:

Husker Du - New Day Rising (Buy It)

If you listen to it loosely enough, it does sound like they’re saying “nude a rising” so that’s something I guess …

posted by Adam

Sigur Ros wants you to know that they can have fun. Their new album “með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust” which means “with a buzz in our ears we played endlessly” will be released June 24th in the states. You can download their first song, “gobbledigook,” and get this- the song is all of three minutes and sixteen seconds. The cooing is cut down to a mere three-second burst. If you still don’t believe this album is lighter, read that Jonsi will sing a song in English and then go watch the new video for “gobbledigook,” filled with hippie skinny dippers.

Download “gobbledigook” and stream the video here.

posted by Matt

I have a vivid memory of sitting against the front of the couch in my parents’ living room, watching Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros perform “Johnny Appleseed” on Conan O’Brien back when their album Global A Go-Go first came out. I wish I could tell you that I instantly fell in love with the song and was converted to fandom on the spot. But no. “Meh,” I thought to myself, “It’s okay I guess. I thought this was the guy from The Clash. This should be more punk.” I could not have been more wrong. Subtlety is not a crime, High-School Adam!

The song is not just okay — it’s amazing. It re-entered my life yesterday via someone’s Myspace page and I’ve been playing the song non-stop since, getting goosebumps every time I hear it. The variety of instrumentation more at home in folk or traditional music (mandolin, flute and fiddles among them), the soaring vocals, the typical Strummer lyrics — the line “If you you’re after gettin’ the honey, then you don’t go killin’ all the bees” has been running around my head all day today. It’s a deadly combination and it’s got me eager to get the album — listening to the follow-up Streetcore (Strummer’s last album, finished after his death in 2002) for the hundredth time, while still great, just isn’t cutting it tonight.

So please, learn from my mistakes: Don’t be like High-School Adam — Listen and enjoy.

Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - Johnny Appleseed

Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - Johnny Appleseed (Live “Synth Version”) (Buy It)

posted by Adam

VS.

Point:

Here’s the deal, sweetheart. If you leave me and go out with another dude, I will track you down and murder you. No joke. Not kidding around. I’ll put that on a record, so EVERYONE knows. You’ll never turn a corner or open a door without wondering if I’m waiting around it or on the other side ready to make you sorry you ever met me, let alone left me.

The Beatles - Run For Your Life (Buy It)

Counterpoint:

Eeeesh. Boy, was I an asshole. Yeah, can you kind of just forget all of that other nonsense?

John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band - Jealous Guy (Buy It)

VS.

Point:

The American attitude is one of domination, as long as they don’t have to get off their couch to have it. Americans are obsessed with guns, movie stars, cars, religion and being right, to a degree that is severely unhealthy to themselves and the rest of the world.

David Bowie - I’m Afraid of Americans (feat. Trent Reznor) (Buy It)

Counterpoint:

F that noise. I just wanna dance.

LCD Soundsystem - North American Scum (Buy It)

Anybody have any others? Drop ‘em in the comment box! Also, be sure to check out the video for that Bowie song here, it’s one of my favorites.

posted by Adam

Happy May Day, working readers! Consider this a quick reminder that the unions got us five-day work weeks and health plans and paid vacation and everything good like that by fighting hard for them. So as a tiny tribute to the Worker’s Holiday, here are some tangentially-related and some actually-related party tracks:

Aretha Franklin - Chain of Fools (Unedited version) (Buy It)

Lee Dorsey - Yes We Can, Pt. 1 (Buy It)

Joe Turner - Chains of Love (Buy It)

Eric B. & Rakim - Paid In Full (Mini Madness - Coldcut remix) (Buy It)

Sam Cooke - Chain Gang (Buy It)

The Coup - Lazymuthafucka (Buy It)

posted by Adam

Adam: That Death From Above 1979 album is really good by the way. I listened to it for two straight days.

Charlotte: I really like them, I need to get that somehow. The album art looked so cool I might get it on Lala or something. I kinda hesitate to like them too much now that they’ve split.

Adam: Haha, why?

Charlotte: What if I love them? What if they’re all I want in a band and they’re gone?

Adam: Then you’ll always have that one album to remember them by. Those 11 moments of pure joy.

Death from Above 1979 - Going Steady (Buy It)

Charlotte: To weep to. And all the heartbreak that follows.

Adam: Does that extend to bands who have multiple albums and have broken up?

Charlotte: Yes, if they are not dead now.

The Clash - Atom Tan (Buy It)

Adam: So you’re left in a constant state of pining for a reunion tour?

Charlotte: And crappy rarities and bootlegs that I overpay for.

Adam: Like who? Pavement? I can’t think of too many other broken up bands at the moment.

Charlotte: Um, Whiskeytown. tried to fill that void with Ryan Adams. There’s maybe a few more, but not many. This is more hypothetical. It’s a little heartbreaking.

Whiskeytown - Empty Baseball Park (Buy It)

Adam: Haha, you might have a hard time finding a rock band that is stable enough to not break up. Stable enough, plus interesting.

Charlotte: There are lots of bands that stay together until the bitter end! I’m having a hard time thinking of bands that don’t. The fucking Replacements are still around and they only have two members left. Rocknroll means never saying die!

The Replacements - I Will Dare (Buy It)

posted by Charlotte and Adam