And honestly is anyone out there surprised? Here’s a sneak look at a track from Challenger, the upcoming New Pornographers release. Like all those NP songs we’ve come to love this has a super catchy hook and difficult to interpret lyrics. And like all those other NP songs I don’t care what it means I still think it’s awesome.
Sasha:
Ok enough of this emo nonsense and back to the good old-fashioned indie rock. And is there an old-fashioned indie rock band more emblematic of um old-fashioned indie rock than Pavement? Check out especially the song Rang Life from the album Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain for the lyrics:
“Out on tour with the smashing pumpkins
Nature kids, they dont have no function
I dont understand what they mean
And I could really give a fuck.”
Malkmus has claimed that the line was meant to be light hearted and timely (later live versions substitute the line with other band names like The Spice Girls). Apparently Billy Corgan of the Pumpkins doesn’t know how to take a joke. He threatened to drop the Smashing Pumpkins from the 1994 Lollapalooza lineup if Pavement was allowed to play.
MP3: Pavement- Rang Life
MP3: Pavement- Conduit For Sale!
Sasha:
Apparently there is an emo epidemic sweeping the nation! (or at least Utah) These kids wear black clothes and girl pants, be warned they are known to listen to sad music.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYyUT3lG96Q]
Seriously this is the funniest thing I’ve seen in awhile, they play The Emo Song by Adam and Andrew, which is a parody. The best part might be the emo fashions they show, jeans with bright flowers and fringe? A bright orange collared shirt? I also really like the part about the “seemingly innocent” Death Cab for Cutie song.
MP3: Patent Pending- Cheer Up Emo Kid
Buy:
Amazon
silverunity:
So as Sasha already stated, the Housewives spent the weekend stuffing their faces with cake and rocking out (aka starting a skanking circle in the middle of the dancefloor) at a good friends wedding. It was a cool wedding, and instead of having a dj, our friend just used his iPod.
There was one problem with this: The housewives (well, me and sasha at least) really wanted to hear some Journey this wedding, and he didn’t have any on his Ipod. So, since the song has been in my head all weekend, here is a live video from the 80′s of possibly the greatest anthem ever.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyObWy7npLI]
And A Family Guy Rendition… who doesn’t love this song?! And… guys… don’t ever stop believing… EVER!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ygLO64hVww]
All three of the housewives are going to a wedding this weekend so we’ll be too busy eating cake and cutting a rug to update the blog for a couple days. In the mean time here’s a little wedding mix dedicated to the happy couple!
MP3: Ramones- Oh Oh I Love Her Do
MP3: The Celibate Rifles- Let’s Get Married
MP3: Munch Munch- Wedding
MP3: Iron and Wine- Love And Some Verses
Buy:
Ramones, The Celibate Rifles, Munch Munch, Iron and Wine
silverunity:
Ok, so I’m not even going to pretend I know the first thing about indie rock in the US, let alone New Zealand. Sasha is the indie expert in this neck of the woods. I usually stay with punk and ska, which are far superior to indie any day (just kidding… seriously though.) Since I’m not usually a fan of indie rock, Motocade made a huge impression on me. I gotta say, they are the first indie band that I can actually listen to and *gulp* enjoy.
I listened to their song “My Friends” the other day, and I was instantly hooked within the first 5 seconds, probably because the riff sounds like some old school NES game that I use to play back in the day, (I can’t pinpoint it, if you know it, please for the love of
The chorus for Bomb Squad is also catchy as hell.
I welcome thee, Motocade, as the first indie band ever on my playlist.
(oh, and does anyone have a good answer to this posting’s title?)
MP3: Motocade – My Friends
MP3: Motocade – Bomb Squad
Buy Motocade
Sasha:
I was really excited when Wilco’s Sky Bule Sky came out but like other people I’ve talked to I ended up being pretty disappointed. Same thing happened when A Ghost Is Born came out. For some reason Wilco has never been able to hit me again the same way they did with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. That’s why I was so happy to get a copy of the YHF demos. It’s great to hear the transformation of so many songs I love and there are some awesome tracks that didn’t make the final cut to the album.
MP3: Cars Can’t Escape (Rhythm) (demo)
MP3: Heavy Metal Drummer (demo)
MP3: Kamera (demo)
Get the rest over at That Truncheon Thing
Buy Wilco:
Insound
Amazon
Sasha:
Moes Haven is a two man (Matt Farley and Tom Scalzo) band from New Hampshire. Much like Paleo’s 356 day song diary, in 2006 they recorded 30-minutes of music every day for a year. The best 16 songs from the project were released as the album “Victory is Ours! (For Now).” With their sense of humor and detail oriented lyrics they remind me of early Mountain Goats with a splash a twee pop. The album is definitely worth checking out with such songs as “Canadian Fisheries,” “Let’s Open a Deli!” and “Peter Bogdanovich Can’t Stop Talking About Orson Welles.”
MP3: Moes Haven- Let Me Tell You ‘Bout A Girl
MP3: Moes Haven- Double Agents Are Deceptive
Buy:
Moes Haven
Amazon
silverunity:
So I’ve posted before about how Good Riddance broke up, however, they announced a last show at The Catalyst in California on May 27th. If you are lucky enough to live near there (and that’s anywhere within a 200 mile radius…), this is your last chance to catch an amazing band.
They’ll also be recording a live album… so if you’re obnoxious enough, maybe you’ll be be on the CD. And since the mp3s on the other posting are no longer valid…
I’ll put up one more Good Riddance song. ~Sniff~ you’ll be missed ~Sniff~
MP3: Good Riddance – More Deplama, Less Fellini
Buy Good Riddance: Fat Wreck
Sasha:
As you could probably guess from my two previous Mountain Goats posts I love the Mountain Goats, they are easily my favorite band. Which is why I was so happy to see the start of an all Mountain Goats blog. Emotional Karaoke is a blog that discusses one MG song every day, the author only writes about the songs while listening to them (with an occasional addendum). So far he’s doing a great job, I especially liked his Quito and Standard Bitter Love Song #8 posts. So today I decided to give it a go, only write about the songs while they played. Here’s what I ended up with:
MP3: The Mountain Goats-Yoga
Like many of Darnielle’s songs Yoga is about traveling, or more precisely running away. The narrator is getting ready for a trip and we can already tell it’s not going to end well. The mood is apprehension and reluctance but with a feeling of inevitability so nicely summed up in the line:
“when you said it was real sure that there was nothing standing in our way
and the lie ran off and hid itself in the alleys all across Bombay.”
MP3: The Mountain Goats- Golden Jackal Song
In contrast this is a song about returning, swinging through town as Darnielle sings “like a shining new quarter.” This could almost be a song about redemption except for that line “the wicked impulses were dying but I couldn’t let them die” Which makes me think he shouldn’t have been coming back at all. Whatever relationship is being rekindled in this song chances are it should have been left dead. Like the Alpha couple and so many other Mountain Goats characters we can be almost sure that these two are doomed.
