Fred Neil song

Fred Neil, although one of the most overlooked American folk singers of the 1960s and 70s, is probably one of my favorite from the era. I first came across him after reading a Bill Callahan interview in which the man behind the Smog moniker cited Neil as a major influence, as well as one of his preferential American songwriters (over Dylan apparently). I may or may not agree with Bill Callahan. Regardless, if you are a Smog/Callahan fan, Fred Neil is a must listen.

"Ya don't miss your water 'til your well runs dry."
Fred Neil - Ya Don't Miss Your Water (live)

Townes Van Zandt talkin' blues song

I said, 'Yeah I got a dollar but don't be a smart-aleck, I ain't gonna spend it on no Indian relic.'
Townes Van Zandt - Talking Thunderbird Blues

listen to blithe field

What: Blithe Field, solo project of Spencer Radcliffe. Glitch, samples, sparse guitar lines, tape hiss, minimalist.
Where: Athens, Ohio, Appalachian Hills, river valleys, town.
Sounds like: Fridge, Hood, Bibio (at times).

Listen:
Blithe Field - Ghost Riding The Whip
Blithe Field - A Spin In A Spirit Car
Blithe Field - Crushing

ashes into the sky

Here are a few songs from Benoit Pioulard's Précis. This album came out in 2006, so you may have heard these before. Précis has kind of resurfaced in my music catalogue. I've been listening to "Ashes Into The Sky" on a loop for the past couple weeks--can't really get over how it unfolds about a minute and a half into the song. Enjoy, or re-enjoy.

Benoît Pioulard - Triggering Back
Benoît Pioulard - Ashes Into The Sky
Benoît Pioulard - Patter

thorn in yer grip

If it wasn't before, Ecstasy of Saint Theresa is your new favorite Czech shoegaze band. When I think of shoegaze as a genre or movement one sound always comes to mind; this is the swirling guitars, orchestral samples and drifting vocals of My Bloody Valentine's Loveless . In 1989 Kevin Shields set out to make his masterpiece. Two years, 19 recording studios and a handful of defunct sound engineers later, Shields emerged with Loveless, one of the best albums of the decade and the seminal "shoegaze" record.

Go back a few years in the My Bloody Valentine catalogue and you will find a much different sound. MBV's first LP was 1988's Isn't Anything . Although some of MBV's distinctive sound stands out on this early release (most notably Shields's shifting chords played with the tremelo bar), Isn't Anything is in many ways the anti-Loveless. Loveless was recorded over the span of two years; Isn't Anything was made in just two weeks. Where Loveless is ethereal, Isn't Anything is raw--the guitars are bone-crushing instead of shimmering, the drums aggressive. Hell, some of it kind of sounds like a band from the Czech Republic called Ecstasy of Saint Theresa.

On Susurrate (1992), Ecstasy of Saint Theresa lays down shoegaze in the same grain as some tracks from Isn't Anything--bruising guitars, aggressive drums, everything blaring and percussive. But while Isn't Anything sounds a bit unsure, capturing a band en route to its full potential and defining sound, Susurrate shows a band taking this bone-crushing style of shoegaze and running with it--the result is stunning. I guess what I'm trying to say is Susurrate sounds like a better, more focused version of Isn't Anything's driving shoegaze--a better version of the best shoegaze band's first album.

So in this post I have:
a) mentioned a lesser-known shoegaze band only to write about the most obvious shoegaze band ever for two paragraphs,
b) succumbed to shoegaze elitism by measuring every shoegaze album against Loveless, and
c) written seriously about a pseudogenre, making indiscriminate use of the term "shoegaze".

...to the gallows. But hey, if you worked the late shift at a desolate hotel front desk you might start thinking about these things too.

Here are a couple of tracks by Ecstasy of Saint Theresa, all of them but "What's" from the aforementioned album Susurrate. Thanks to youcantgohomeagain for suggesting this band.

Ecstasy of Saint Theresa - What's
Ecstasy of Saint Theresa - Thorn In Yer Grip
Ecstasy of Saint Theresa - Ice Cream Star
Ecstasy of Saint Theresa - To Alison

there's a place around the corner where your dead friends live

Einstürzende Neubauten is an industrial/experimental band from Berlin, Germany. I really don't know much about them. Apparently they are known for playing custom instruments built from scrap metal and industrial tools. Here is a song by them I lifted from a playlist from grancategoria, a great blog run by a friend in Granada, Spain.

"There's a place around the corner...where your dead friends live." This song makes the hairs stand up on my neck. Must get more Einstürzende Neubauten.

Einstürzende Neubauten - Dead Friends (Around The Corner)

don't fall in love

Well, it must be Ghostly Female Songstress Dream Pop Month of March out in the tobacco barn. Meet Still Corners, a London-based group that has recently signed to Sub Pop. Why is it that this dreamy brand of pop with haunting female vocals has been so prevalent in the month of March? The newly spring air is swirling, the world around us is burgeoning with green, blossoming with color; it can really be a powerful, emotional time...And I've got really bad spring allergies so it looks like I'm crying most of the time anyway. Yes, Still Corners is the perfect soundtrack.

"Don't Fall In Love" is about as ominous as music this poppy can get. The dark, two-chord sequence will chug along, you will hear Tessay Murray's voice, but you will not heed her warning. "Endless Summer" has changes reminiscent of Portishead's Third, and at 1:10 and 2:20 you might just lose it. "History Of Love" is flashing before your eyes. Yes, this is the good stuff. Listen and run along to your local record store and buy it.

Still Corners - Don't Fall In Love
Still Corners - Endless Summer
Still Corners - History Of Love

"Want to take you outside, want to show you the sky,"

After reading tweet after tweet about what was going on at SXSW I noticed one reoccurring theme, people were absolutely losing it over Sharon Van Etten. Having recently purchased my ticket to see Ms. Van Etten and the National at MusicNow, I threw on her most recent record Epic, grilled out and watched the super moon. No offense to the celestial occurrence or my ability to cook pork on the grill but giving Epic another listen was the highlight of the night.

Her songwriting is unapologetic in its honesty and vulnerability but nothing about the delivery makes her a victim.

Sharon Van Etten Don’t Do It

"But there's no love letters, waiting in my mailbox today,"

Gross Ghost Wicked Game

Out of my four entries on this blog, this is the second about Gross Ghost and the third about a band from North Carolina. There is a damn fine music scene going on down there and Gross Ghost is at the forefront of it. The last time I wrote about Gross Ghost I was writing based on other blogs and tweets from the band. This time I just called Mike Dillon and Tre Acklin and got the word straight from the ghost’s mouth.

Mike and Tre are roommates in Raleigh, NC and have had Gross Ghost going in some form or the other since 2008. In the past they had toured somewhat frequently with a former lineup, but have recently been focused on recording songs and immediately getting them out for free.

The bands associated with this North Carolina triangle scene are an incestuous bunch, but not in the catch a felony kind of way. Matt and Tre have played in Old Bricks and Americans in France and are contemporaries and friends with Wild Wild Geese, Veelee, Spiderbags, Last Year’s Men, Love Language and the Dirty Little Heaters. These are bands that reader(s) of this blog will be familiar with in the near future. The record labels responsible for supporting these bands are Odessa, Grip Tapes, Churchkey and Merge. And of course, the record store at the epicenter of spreading the word of North Carolina music is Gravity Records. Matt and Eric at Gravity have mastered the art of Internet promotion and are the reason I know about these bands, and therefore the reason you are reading about them. So go give thanks by buying records from them or at least go over to their facebook and show them some love.

Gross Ghost recently put out Wicked Game their second EP on Grip Tapes and it’s available for free at the bottom of this post. Grooving bass lines have as much do with Wicked Game as the beach drenched guitars and the percussion has taken a psychadelic jazz foot stomping turn and the end product is thriving because of it. The full length LP due out this summer is going to contain some of the tracks of these two EP’s plus some new tunes.

The band is going to switch its focus from recording when the new LP is done and hit the road this summer. There is talk of a Maysville, KY gig and the band is definitely doing Hopscotch in September.

“We are coming to rock, we’re coming to hang out, we’re coming to drink your beer and we are coming for your couch,” Mike, I know one town that is more than ready.

You Tell Me

Lazy Little Walk

Soft Focus

Tenements

Thanks to Jheri at Get off the Coast for giving me these to begin with

"you're a vast sky, you're a dead star"

Tamaryn

A ghostly female voice backed by walls of guitars drenched in reverb singing songs about cities, rain and unrequited love. I’ll take it. If Shakespeare were listening to music when he wrote Hamlet, it could have been Tamaryn. This is perfect music to drown to.

Tamaryn is going to be at the Southgate House in Newport, Kentucky on April 5, 2011 with the Raveonettes.

Tamaryn “Dawning”

WE'VE GOT PROBLEMS

If you're one of the few who checks this blog, you may have noticed that some of the mp3s posted recently will not stream and are not available for download. Sorry about this, we are working on it and it should be fixed within the next couple days. Please do not give up hope. It is not easy running a blog from a tobacco barn. It smells like tar and dried leaves and the dirt floor beneath us, but it's worth it--because we are the ones from the imaginary river valley, who played air guitar on tobacco sticks; we are the ones who never got to have the no coast movement. REA Blog says hold on, please.

Blood Sausage: f*** you and your underground

Blood Sausage is a band from Brighton, England, that kicks ass. If you've ever seen Beavis and Butthead's critique of Pavement's "Rattled By The Rush" music video, you'll remember their tirade about Pavement's laziness: "If you're gonna be horrible at least kick ass, like, you know, Jesus Lizard. I mean, they suck, but they kick ass." Blood Sausage is a band that could've served for Beavis' comparison. Vocalist Dale Shaw will present his ramblings, tirades, whatever really over their bluesy punk jams. I mean, they suck, but they kick ass. This excerpt of the lyrics from "Billy Joel" will give you an idea of how Blood Sausage kicks ass:

"Through his various recorded works Billy spoke to me. He sang to me...
I remember one day I was sitting there watching Billy Joel live in Long Island on video. Someone turned to me, a close family friend, and they said: "Do you really like this man?" I looked at them and I said: "He's my hero." They were staggered by my sincerity. Then it all began to crumble. A woman entered his life. Turned his head, turned his life around. I could never forgive him really. It wasn't really love I felt for Billy. Though looking back it could have been. I was still hurt. Billy met Christie Brinkley. This changed him completely. From then on every song had traces of her through it. I couldn't understand it. What did she see in this ???. From that time, everything he did has turned to shit.

THERE IT WAS, IT WAS EVERYWHERE. UPTOWN GIRL, UPTOWN GIRL. EVERYTIME YOU TURNED AROUND YOU HEARD IT. HEARD BILLY, HEARD BILLY SLOWLY SELLING OUT, SELLING HIS SOUL. I COULDN'T TAKE IT. I NEVER FORGAVE HIM. IT'S LIKE A PART OF ME HAD DIED. IT WAS MY FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH MISTRUST AND CORRUPTION."

Blood Sausage - What Law Am I Breaking Now
Blood Sausage - Billy Joel
Blood Sausage - Fuck You And Your Underground
Blood Sausage - Knockout Drops
Blood Sausage - Static

from The Quietus: Slint Versus Radiohead: Continuum Bookends The Indie Rock 1990s

Check out this article about the two most recent additions to Continuum's 33 1/3 series.

"The wind will blow you back my way."

If I would have heard Durham, North Carolina's The Dirty Little Heaters when I was in high school I would have quit and formed a band on the spot. This music can only be categorized as rock n roll and it has the balls the size of the moon. Download this, go to churchkeyrecords.com and buy everything they have and the next time someone tries to tell you about some new band who plays a laptop on stage, put this on and slap them in the face with it. Thanks to Kyle at churchkey for allowing me to post and thanks to Missy and Stu for turning me on to this.

The Dirty Little Heaters Mexico Way

James Tate poem

Goodtime Jesus
James Tate

Jesus got up one day a little later than usual. He had been dream-
ing so deep there was nothing left in his head. What was it?
A nightmare, dead bodies walking all around him, eyes rolled
back, skin falling off. But he wasn't afraid of that. It was a beau-
tiful day. How 'bout some coffee? Don't mind if I do. Take a little
ride on my donkey, I love that donkey. Hell, I love everybody.

try Pia Fraus.

Pia Fraus is a shoegaze band from Estonia. Try their light and fluffy dream pop.

PIA FRAUS - Mute The Birds (Remix by Ulrich Schnauss) from superVHS on Vimeo.

Pia Fraus - Springsister
Pia Fraus - Doctor Optimism
Pia Fraus - After Summer
Pia Fraus - Mute The Birds

this is why events unnerve me.

Here is a collection of Joy Division covers. They range from idiosyncratic versions of Joy Division songs (Low's "Transmission", Hot Chip's "Transmission") to candid live covers of them (Pavement's 50-second "Disorder", Mark Kozelek singing "blah blah blah"). In compiling these songs I have learned that bands love to cover "Transmission", they really really love to cover "Love Will Tear Us Apart", and that Joy Division rules.

New Order - Ceremony
This song really doesn't count as a cover. It is just Joy Division playing Ian Curtis' song without Ian Curtis (RIP). It rules though and if you don't have it you need to download it.

And the covers...
Calexico - Love Will Tear Us Apart
Codeine - Atmosphere
Galaxie 500 - Ceremony
Hot Chip - Transmission
Jose Gonzalez - Love Will Tear Us Apart
LCD Soundsystem - No Love Lost
Low - Transmission
Pavement - Disorder
Radiohead - Ceremony
Red House Painters - Love Will Tear Us Apart
Tortoise - As You Said
Squarepusher - Love Will Tear Us Apart
Versus - Twenty Four Hours

Hardcore will never die, but you will.

Mogwai has a new album out called Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will. It's different. Dynamic shifts and repetitive song structure have always been a sure sign of a Mogwai record. These characteristics are still here, but the classic Mogwai sound isn't really what defines this record. Songs are still based on a recurring theme; but instead of suspending you in calculated drum lines until Braithwaite's Telecaster strings that theme together, Hardcore Will Never Die just kind of bombards you with it (see "Rano Pano"). This is also the most optimistic Mogwai album I've ever heard. And there are lyrics. I like it though. Hell, it's not like Mogwai has anything to prove.

Here are a couple tracks from Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will. If you don't make it to 4 minutes in "You're Lionel Richie", you are doing yourself a disservice. It is brutal.

Mogwai - "White Noise"
Mogwai - "Rano Pano"
Mogwai - "You're Lionel Richie"

Now run along to your local record store and buy it.

The sun smells too loud.

Mogwai has a new album. However, before I post anything from that I had to post this video. It is "The Sun Smells Too Loud" with a video edit of "Apache" by Tommy Seebach Band, whoever that is. For some reason the combination of this Mogwai song and the ridiculous music video is just mesmerizing to me.

5- The Sun Smells Too Loud.mp3
Oh, and just in case you were wondering...

Bullfight

Women has a new track. It is on a split 7" with Cold Pumas, Fair Ohs and Friendo. This band is really good. I think when you listen to their music Syd Barrett is looking down from the clouds smiling. One of my favorite things about Women is their erratic, trebly guitar lines--see two minute mark of "Bullfight". So good.

Women - "Bullfight"

Yuck, another lazy domingo.

I still can't decide if I like Sundays. Sometimes I enjoy resting on the seventh day. I'll relish in my last day of the weekend, take in some football, maybe do brunch. I might go to church, drink beer, do things that are done on Sundays. Sunday fun day. Still, sometimes Sundays are nothing but anxiety attacks and apprehension about plugging away at another week. Some days I'm sick and tired of a lingering football season, but don't want to watch Lord of the Rings on TNT either. Well friends, today is another Sunday during which I've erred on the side of perpetual nervousness. Yuck.

Yuck is a band from London. Their first LP is out right now on Fat Possum. You can check out a list of equipment they used to record the album on their website, which is pretty cool. Here are a couple tracks from it.

Yuck - "Rubber"
I am a sucker for bruising, distortion soaked guitars. This rules.
Yuck - "Get Away"
This one has more of a 90s power pop sound, which seems to be the direction of the rest of the album.

Sunday, fun day.

Vamos a la discoteca, Volume 2

Here is volume 2 of my disco playlist I started a couple weeks ago. I must say I'm happy to go ahead and get this one out because I'm getting a little tired of disco. But you should still listen to it. ps If you're upset that I left the Disco Biscuits out on both of these playlists then I hate you (and I hate your ass face).

1. Caribou - "Bowls"
The percussion on this is just amazing. I knew I was hearing music when I heard wind chimes on some suburban front porch--Dan Snaith brought my fake memories to life.

2. Destroyer - "Bay of Pigs"
You're not going to think this is disco until about...seven and a half minutes in. Dan Bejar said it himself though, this is an "ambient disco" track. It is long but give it a chance. Probably may favorite track way back from the year 2009. "Free and easy, gentle, gentle, the wind through the trees makes you mental for me. Nancy in a state of crisis on a cloud." That's the disco part.

3. Cut Copy - "A Dream"
I had this stuck in my head for a long time a couple of years ago so now you have to endure the same.

4. Phoenix - "If I Ever Feel Better"
Guarantee you won't understand any lyrics in this except for the chorus. It's one of those things where you could make one of those really lame youtube videos with spoof lyrics text. Like I said, you'll understand the chorus. If I ever feel better :(

5. Memory Tapes - "Bicycle"
I don't know, I could dance to it. Soft synth, hard synth, soft synth, hard synth.

6. Faunts - "Feel.Love.Thinking.Of"
Not really as disco but still a little dancy. And infectious.

7. Broken Social Scene - "Hotel"
Groovy bass line. Sleek, looks like a Mexican sun.

8. LCD Soundsystem - "Disco Infiltrator"
Obviously. James Murphy rules.

9. Lykke Li - "Dance Dance Dance"
Acoustic disco. Disco that produces oxymora.

10. Disco Inferno - "New Clothes For The New World"
Just because I'm trying to make people listen to more Disco Inferno.

11. Bibio - "Jealous Of Roses"
Bibio is a sound artist. Vintage recording equipment, experimental recording techniques, found sound, etc. Really cool.

12. Here We Go Magic - "Tunnelvision"
I've loved this song since the first time I heard it.

13. Starfucker - "German Love"
This doesn't really seem that disco now that I think about it but it ended up on here and I don't feel like changing it. Sounds kind of like a happy version of a Pinback song sequence. German love, I'll give it to you.

14. Geggy Tah - "Whoever You Are"
Silly song that you may recognize from a Mercedes commercial from like 10 years ago. Really silly.

15. Pistol Disco - "Pool"
LISTEN TO THIS SONG. I don't know much about this band but this track is cool as shit. Buy their record.

16. Of Montreal - "Id Engager"
Bonus track, suggestion from The Great Gazoo.

David Berman has a blog now, says Pitchfork.

Pitchfork Media has reported that David Berman of Silver Jews (one of my favorite bands) has started a blog called mentholmountains. Perhaps one of the most literary rock 'n roll figures of my generation, David Berman can't really sing worth a damn but he sure can write. I'd say you'll eventually take away plenty of nuggets of wisdom if you regularly check mentholmountains.

Here is a video via Pitchfork of Berman reading some of his poetry. Top ten redneck moments: there aren't any.

Wild Nothing's Gemini is really good.

I've finally gotten around to listening to Wild Nothing's Gemini (2010), a glistening collection of dream pop that is a recipe for nostalgia. Wild Nothing's label, Captured Tracks, calls it a "texturally rich glo-pop album that could come only from the young at heart." I'm not old by any means but listening to Gemini makes me feel younger at heart, and I'm not going to fight that. Here are a couple of tracks from the album, which you can buy via mail order from Captured Tracks. Or even better, you could pay a visit to your local record store and pick it up.

Wild Nothing - Bored Games
Wild Nothing - Chinatown
Wild Nothing - Gemini

U.K. Post-Rock of the Day

Here is a track from a band called Butterfly Child that I know very little about. Information on the world wide interweb about them is sparse at best, and there aren't a lot of downloadable releases. I do know that they were born out of the post-rock movement in Belfast in the early 1990s. This track really is a gem. That swirling synth melody is the wind that just stripped all the trees of their leaves--it's always late autumn when you listen to this song.

Butterfly Child - Lunar Eclipse

Wish List: Slint's Spiderland by Scott Tennent

33 1/3 is a series of books about famous albums, usually seminal works in their respective genres. Albums that the book series has covered range from Radiohead's OK Computer to Reign in Blood by Slayer. Slint's Spiderland is the latest addition to the 33 1/3 books, "A thorough history of Slint, and the Louisville scene that surrounded the band, leading up to and focusing on the creation of their masterpiece, Spiderland."

Yes.

Spiderland is one of those rare records that just stops you in your tracks after your first listen, and you know life is going to be just a little different thereafter. I remember the first time I listened to it a couple of years ago it just kind of froze me...What the hell is this? Spiny, skeletal guitars teeter around the bleak, dry drum lines, sucking you in only to spit you back out in an uproar of pawnshop distortion pedals howling. Scary. Spiderland changed my notion of what an album could be, challenged my understanding of rock composition, and completely transformed my understanding of how to use a guitar in that composition. Equally compelling is the lore surrounding the album--not duly appreciated (or even noticed) until 15-20 years after it was released, there is much legend surrounding the making of Spiderland. Slint's members came from various niches in the gritty Louisville punk scene at the time. It is said that some of them were institutionalized during different stages of the making of Spiderland. The black and white photo of four kids' heads hovering above a lake was taken by none other than Will Oldham. Anyway, Scott Tennent did the research and he knows a lot more than I about it all. Get the book, I know I'm going to.

Here is the last track (probably one of my favorite songs of all time), "Good Morning Captain." Never heard a guitar sound like that...It will give you chills.

Don't forget about I'm New Here.

Gil Scott-Heron's I'm New Here came out in February of last year. It is often easy to forget about a record when ten months pass before you start to think about the best music of the year. That's why I hope you didn't forget about I'm New Here. One of my favorite's of 2010, this collection of blues songs and spoken word performances makes up the first album in 16 years for Gil Scott-Heron. It is also a welcome departure from the stylized "indie" records that have become as prevalent as a 7.5 on Pitchfork. Scott-Heron offers sober reflections on society and self with a backdrop of bleak compositions and sinister beats. I'm New Here is real. Get it.

Here is the video for the title track (which is actually a Smog cover).


"The Crutch" might be my favorite track on the album.

Download Bridal Party EP

Bridal Party's Gorilla's Skull EP is available for free download on their website
. It is glitchy, drone lo-fi that does the same thing to you as drinking cough syrup. Listen to "The Light Holds."

Destroyer has a new album

And it's called Kaputt. Here is the title track.

vamos a la discoteca, part 1

This is part 1 of a couple playlists I'm going to post with the theme of disco. I don't know if it's because I'm cooped up on an island in south Florida where the mean age is 60 and there are 3 bars to choose from that close at midnight on a good night...but, I just want to dance! (wait, do I even dance?) No, I don't really dance much, but I can still bob my head and have a grand old time. Whether it's a pulsing 4/4 beat, a groovy bass line, the fact that it's a Bee Gees cover or that it has the word "disco" in the name, all of these songs are strung together by a common disco thread. That's right, it's time to party.

1. Twin Sister - "All Around and Away We Go"

2010 track, impetus for idea to make disco playlist. If you haven't heard this yet I guarantee you will listen to it 20 times a day for the next week.

2. Feist - "Inside and Out"

Remember when I said something about a Bee Gees cover? Feist takes you back to 1979 and nails it.

3. TV On The Radio - "Golden Age"

Funky palm-muted guitar line, soulful falsetto vocals. Have you ever thought that it might be the coolest job in the world to be the one white guy in TV On The Radio?

4. Yo La Tengo - "Last Days Of Disco"

The last days of disco isn't the only thing this one is mourning. "and the song said 'don't be lonely.' it makes me lonely." Yo La Tengo rules.

5. Jeremy Jay - "Love Everlasting"

Slow disco.

6. Todd Rundgren - "I Went To the Mirror"

I put this on here because this whole Todd Rundgren album (Something/Anything?) is like a tragic disco played at half speed. It's all really beautiful.

7. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - "Round and Round"

This song has been stuck in my head since I heard it for the first time. So catchy. "And I'll back you up as your front man."

8. Disco Inferno - "In Sharky Water"

For everyone who thinks Animal Collective is so damn innovative and is the best thing since sliced bread...Yeah, they may have forgotten to listen to Disco Inferno. Disco Inferno rules.

9. Pylon - "Danger"

album: Gyrate Plus. Pylon's dance-punk will get you moving faster than any disco beats.

10. We Have Band - "You Came Out"

Since this was supposed to be a disco playlist.

11. Kylie Minogue - "Can't Get You Out Of My Head"

Yeah I know, sue me, but I can't get this song out of my head. I remember being about 12 or 13 and not being able to get the video out of my head either...That video is the devil.

12. Phoenix - "Too Young"

This song makes me feel like I'm Bill Murray and I really can't think of a better reason to listen to a song.

13. My Disco - "Antler"

Just like Kylie Minogue, My Disco is from Australia. I guess that's about the only thing they have in common. This is off a split 7" with Louisville band Young Widows.

14. Yelle - "Jogging"

Not really sure why I put this on here. I guess it is because Yelle just fascinates me. It's like a musical trainwreck that you can't stop listening to. I do kind of like that the little drum machine part in the beginning sounds like "jogging". Whatever, disco.

15. French Kicks - "Close To Modern"

This one satisfies the groovy bass line condition. Right around the two minute mark this one will have you singing along even though you can't sing falsetto like that. Infectious, "disco."

download playlist vamos a la discoteca, part 1

Gross Ghost Lip City

Gross Ghost recently released Lip City, a 3 song EP for free via Griptapes. Finely produced and appropriately textured, Lip City is the perfect soundtrack for a hundred summer afternoons that have already happened and hopefully some yet to come. Mike Dillon seems to be the brainchild behind Gross Ghost. I say "seems to" because I just read that on the internet and I can cite to no reliable authority that Mike is a brainchild. However, if he wrote these songs, which I think he did, brainchild is an understatement. Special thanks to Matt at Gravity Records in Wilmington, North Carolina for turning me on to this.

Lip City download

looking lost in chinatown

I originally wanted to do a list of the 10 best tracks entitled "Chinatown". Unfortunately I couldn't gather enough tracks with the name. Even if I could complete a list it would be with a couple of cheap imitation chinatowns that i found scouring the worldwide interweb for "tracks entitled chinatown", chinatowns that i didn't care to listen to and neither would you. So i've expanded the scope of my list to consider tracks named for all things China in addition to ones named for Chinese enclaves in major metropolitan areas. However, chinatowns are still the focus here, and I tried to keep as many of them on the playlist as possible. here it is.

10. "All The Way To China" by James Figurine

James Figurine is yet another moniker for the musician behind Dntel and Figurine. This track is lifted from his Mistake Mistake Mistake LP, and it is your typical light and airy electropop China.

9. "China Grove" by Doobie Brothers

Classic rock China, goes well with Budweiser.

8. "Chinatown" by Thin Lizzy

From the album Chinatown (I know, chinatown overload). This is your standard brute rock chinatown. The guitar solo gets really annoying and kind of kills it though. "Living and dying down in Chinatown."

7. "A Chinese Actor" by Califone

Califone is a really good band out of Chicago. Drone-rock chinatown.

6. "Chinatown" by Do Make Say Think

This is Chinatown to listen to on rainy days or long drives…days when you're floating, days when you remember too much. Minimalist post-rock chinatown.

5. "Chinatown" by Wild Nothing

Chinatown is pretty much the only thing I know about this band. 2010 Chinatown.

4. "China Girl" by Iggy Pop

Co-written with David Bowie, Iggy Pop's version appears on his 1977 album The Idiot. When he sings "I'm feeling tragic like I'm Marlon Brando when I look at my China girl" i get chills down my spine. Iggy Pop chinatown, tragic chinatown.

3. "Chinatown" by Destroyer

From his upcoming album Kaputt, more 2010 chinatown. I've always had a weak spot for Destroyer, and like a lot of his tracks it took more than one listen for this one to really grow on me. However, once you decide you like it the hazy melodies stay lodged in your head. Dan Bejar can really place you on an emotional rollercoaster--he's seamlessly snide and impassioned. There is drunken schmaltz in one line and balladry in the next. There is regret in Destroyer's chinatown. His chinatown is sentimental when it knows it should not be. It is a classy man in a seedy establishment. There is sadness in Destroyer's chinatown, but not too much…because hey, it's only life. "I can't walk away at all in Chinatown." Destroyer's is a heady chinatown.

2. "China Steps" by Women.

I only recently discovered these canadian art-rockers--one of my big music revelations of 2010. "China Steps" is from Women's Public Strain (2010). If you don't have both albums by this band, get them. Women's china has a pulsing bass line and shifty, trebly guitar jarring through it. Make noise-rock stew out of Deerhunter, No Age and Deerhoof and you get Women. Damn it, how did i miss this band for three years?

1. "Chinatown" by Luna

"Chinatown" is the opening track on Luna's 1995 album Penthouse. Luna rules, Penthouse is a great album, and Dean Wareham is cool as shit. His chinatown wins. I got the idea to look into other artists' chinatowns while listening to Luna's chinatown; and, we may have learned that there are other chinatowns out there, but when I think of the song "Chinatown" I'm thinking of this one. When Wareham sings "looking lost in Chinatown" I'm pretty sure I'm right there with him, meandering around with the shimmering, lazy Fender guitar sounds. Message to other chinatowns from Luna's "Chinatown": "you can't be lucky all the time." Luna's chinatown is superior.

How do you like your chinatown? Download and decide.