I Love Having Birthdays

Here's more info on the tracks found in my latest podcast, I Love Having Birthdays, a mix done for me this February by my incredible friend Jim.

1. The Johnny Depth "I Love Having Birthdays" Who doesn't love having birthdays? Not this guy. This is one of my favorite songs that Jim's ever recorded. He's got the built-in lo-fi from his four-track working for him on this, even though the vocals are a little squished. Then there's the rap/ skat in the middle section. And the iPod reference, just like in one of my first posts. Jim's got a dark side, and when it comes out in a song like this, it's pure gold.
2. Lady Sovereign "Love Me Or Hate Me" Oddly, this version has the "fuck you" censored. What the?
3. The White Stripes "Walking With a Ghost" I sit on the fence with the White Stripes. Jack White is clearly a brilliant performer and musician, both technically and technologically (I love the use of his pitch shifting whammy pedal). But as much as I dig me my messed-up, no bass, lo-fi bluesy garage noise bands (see: The Gories, Pussy Galore), I think what really ruins the WS for me is Meg White's GODAWFUL WEAKASS DRUMMING. I will post a track off an Upholsterers single soon, which finds Jack in the familiar two-person line-up, but this time with a real drummer. It freaking rocks. And no, I have not listened to the Raconteurs yet, nor am I particlurly interested.
4. The Coup "We Are The Ones" This track totally sounds like a cross between Vanilla Ice and AC/DC's "Big Balls," doesn't it?
5. Le Tigre - "Mediocrity Rules" Le Tigre kicks so much ass. Kathleen Hannah has got the best female punk rock vocals in the biz, hands down. No one else can anyone scream in perfect pitch like her (not, however, showcased in this song). This tune's off Le Tigre's first, damn near perfect, album. Unfortunately, I really don't care for their last effort, but I keep out hope for the next.
6. Gustavo Santaolalla "The Wings" From, I believe, Brokeback Mountain. Jim didn't tell me how this fits in to the mix, nor did I ask.
7. Low "Pissing" Low was one of those bands I heard lots about and never got around to, despite the fact that even Steve Albini recorded them once. Then I heard their Optigan-backed track off of their Christmas EP on my buddy Scott's podcast, and realized these guys rule. This song is no exception. Beautiful harmonies + meloncholic melody + dramatic build-up + lush guitar feedback = great music in my book.
8. Nina Simone "How I Feel" I vaguely remember Simone's cover of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put A Spell On You." I remember it being pretty good, although, really, how can you top the original? I mean, that song is just INSANE. I one of the few who believe that CCR's version of that song was patently wretched, even though Fogerty really screamed that sucker out.
9. Noonday Underground "Put You Back Together" Hm, driving 60's style beat, Peter Gunn guitar, and four octace Nancy Sinatra-esque vocals? OK, I'm in. I understand these guys are club darlings. I'll have to investigate further.
10. The Paragons "The Tide Is High" The original, although I'm sure you're much more familiar with that very famous version by, who else, Atomic Kitten. Some other band had a hit with this too.
11. Copycat "Fade To Pretty Vacant" As a freshman in college I was convinced that the Sex Pistols had the same impact on contemporary music as The Beatles. While there is some merit to the argument, I've since revised most of those opinions. I like the tasteful use in this song of Steve Jones' guitar riff and Lydon's original chorus. I also enjoy the perverse marriage of Mr. Rotten and cheezy 80's glamsynthpop. But that's the whole point, innit?
12. Tegan & Sarah "Walking With A Ghost" I assume the only reason for this song from the White Stripes catalog earlier and the inclusion of Tegan & Sarah at all was for the nice bookending of this mix.
13. Unknown "Love Me On The Wild Side" And again with tasteful bookending. Well played, Jim. I'm not familiar enough with 80's buttrock to know for certain, but the original "Wild Side" was Motley Crue, correct? Fortunately, this version of Lady Sovereign's song includes the all important F word. As foretold by the prophesy. I don't know what that means.

(Gonna Have A) Happy Birthday

Check out my latest podcast, (Gonna Have A) Happy Birthday. These are the tracks off of the birthday CD Jim, aka The Johnny Depth, gave me in 2006. 'Nuff said.

1. The Johnny Depth "(Gonna Have A) Happy Birthday" One of probably a dozen of great birthday songs from Jim. From 2006, this mentions Lisa and our bun in the oven, our not yet introduced to the world son, Cooper. Jim also references our former band, The Bad Days, of which I plan on posting a mix of our demo recordings. I'd point you to our website, but that's long since gone. Remember, the lo-fi sound quality of the song adds to the ambiance.
2. The Go! Team "The Power Is On" I wish these guys would come out with a new album. They satisfy so many of my needs: solid beats, lo-fi/ retro sampling, and girls singing double-dutch songs.
   
3. Chow Nasty "Ungawa" I was shocked to discover that this is a) by a contemporary group, and b) the singer is a white dude. I honestly thought this was some old off-the-track R&B nugget, like from the "Savage Kick" comps, and I not so secretly still wish it was. Bitchin' song.
   
4. JJ Barnes "Chains Of Love" For a rockin' good take on this, check out The Dirtbombs' godhead soul song cover album, Ultraglide In Black.
   
5. Jon Auer "Gold Star For Robot Boy" Nice cover of a Guided by Voices song, off of arguably one of GbV's most accessible, if not best, albums, Bee Thousand.
   
6. Enon "Shave" This is what Jim's songs would sound like if he access to a well-equipped studio and session musicians.
   
7. Little Milton "Lovin Stick" Jim listens to a lot of good soul and R&B. I have concluded, besides talent, this is why he is such a good vocalist.
   
8. Marco & Rita "Golden Years" Mom? Dad?
   
9. Dick Rivers "Things We Said" Yeah, Dick Rivers. That's not his given name. Foreign versions of pop songs like this remind me of this terrible compilation I heard of Mexican garage bands from the 60's doing "Mother's Little Helper" and covers of other hits of the day. The best track was one that was sung in English, but the accent was so impenetrable that you would have never know it unless you were told.
   
10. Arctic Monkeys "Cigarette Smoke" There's a category for bands like these guys and, say, Franz Ferdinand, where I think they're decent enough groups, and have absolutely no interest in ever listening to them. Weird. This is a nice song, though.
    
11. The Monkees "No Time" Regardless if they played their instruments or not, The Monkees had a halfway decent catalog of songs, but that goddamn show of theirs overshadows any of that. Like "Porpoise Song." That's a nice trippy slice o' psyche.
    
12. Mark Lanegan "Clear Spot" Jim and I both went to Central Washington University in Ellensburg, WA, home of The Screaming Trees. At the time, they had just released their first LP, Clairvoyance, produced by one of my oft-mentioned idols, Steve Fisk, who was also local at the time, working out of his Velvetone Studios. Steve invited me over once to see the studio and played me a bunch of source material from his masterpiece, 448 Deathless Days. I was ga-ga like a little girl at her sweet sixteen. Anyway, our good friend Jena, (who was also The Bad Days first drummer) and Mark, singer for the Screaming Trees, were very much in love at the time. She's even mentioned by name in one song, and is in the thanks yous for at least the first three albums. Jim was always a big fan of the Screaming Trees and of Mark's solo work. You can't tell on this song so much, but Mark has one great damn voice.
    
13. The Catheters "Pale Horse" These guys played once under the name "The Cat Heaters." That is funny.
    
14. The Raspberries "Overnight Sensation" Is it my imagination, or does this remind you of Journey playing a Beach Boys song too?

Happy Days

Now I understand what's been going on over the couple months. I've been taking the bitter pill in the morning. No wonder they were so hard to swallow!

I'm turning over a new leaf, so to speak. I'm focusing more on the positive in my day to day and overall it seems to be working. My new attitude definitely has something to do with getting over the hump of recent tech tribulations. It's also why I've had the sudden spurt of blogging. (I was going to be all clever and say "blogasm," but then I Googled it and discovered I'm not the first kid on the block to think that one up. Rats.) Getting a podcast out finally was great fun, and more are coming. I mixed one down last night, in fact. Now I just gotta post it.

On the topic of goodness, have I mentioned my new library yet? Yes, as a Seattle denizen I consider the library to be mine, in part, and I'm doggone proud of the one I call home now. Well, home library that is. You know what I mean. I'm not living in the library. Anyway...

I used to frequent the King County Library nearest my house, but recently Seattle residents were prohibited from placing holds at KC libraries. Happily, the Seattle Public Library just reopened a branch a mile away from home. Up until this month I had never used the SPL, but I gotta tell you, as libraries go, it rules. My biggest fave is that it's totally self-serve. You pick your own holds off the Holds Shelf and check yourself out. You don't even have to scan what you're checking out, you just pile them up on a reader pad and the computer tells you what you got. RFID chips! It's like magic, and totally caters to my anthropophobia.

The upside/ downside of this for me is that opening a user-friendly and convenient library with a good selection of CDs and DVDs is like putting a free heroin bar smack dab in the middle of Junkietown. I've been copying listening to such a quantity of new music that I'm going to run out of room on my iPod money legally purchasing the albums I enjoyed. Dangerous, dangerous stuff.

BTW, don't think that this means I'll be any less cranky. I'll just be more cheerful about it.

Totally Without Feck

As promised, here's a brand spankin' new podcast of not brand spankin' new music, Totally Without Feck. I've been itching to post one for some time but, well, I'm not going to get into it.

I mixed this baby on Audacity, which was really my first time using that application for a soup-to-nuts mix. I used to use the now crippled Roxio Creator Classic for my transitions, then make a disc image and convert it to mp3 with Audacity, but this was actually way easier in the long haul. I had better control over the tracks and could edit them down as needed. As I get my chops down I'll start adding some effects and dialogue and such, like my ol' mix tapes, but with less hiss.

UPDATE: I had done a preliminary mix of this the other day and thought that I had messed up the levels, so I zeroed them all out and now the mix is really choppy, volume wise, particularly after that damned Hospitals song, which is apparently 10x louder than the Joy Division track that follows. I may remix and repost, time and family permitting. Sorry 'bout that.

Like I said yesterday, I got to more in queue for ya, so c'mon back, y'hear?

Here is the track list and useless commentary. Please, enjoy!

1. Throbbing Gristle "Hot On The Heels Of Love" Off the accessible Throbbing Gristle album, 20 Jazz Funk Greats. I don't know why nor do I really care, but this track imported as mono. It shouldn't be, but there ya have it. Go buy the record if you want your fancy "stereo separation," you elitist snob. Anyway, in mono it sounds like an unreleased Kraftwerk demo.
2. Killing Joke "Wardance" I love bands that can be this bombastic without irony and make it work, as opposed to astonishingly stupid bands like The Alarm. First two Killing Joke albums: priceless.
3. The Hospitals "Rock and Roll Is Killing My Life" Sadly, this Suicide cover is the best song off The Hospital's first noisefest. I trimmed a lot of crap off the start and end. You're welcome.
4. Joy Division "Warsaw" This version is much more rockin' than the one that appeared on JD's first release, An Ideal For Living. Not that Joy Division couldn't rock (see "Interzone" for example), but they make this song swing!
5. Tom Waits "Heigh Ho" My obligatory Optigan inclusion and a nod to my friend Scott's podcast, Fraidy Hole, which doesn't seem to be downloadable any more. Whassup, Scott?which, quothe Scott, "is still available here: http://files-upload.com/137140/FraidyHole.mp3.html." So go out and listen up.
6. Future Bible Heroes "Mr. Punch" From the (inexplicable) tribute album to comic book writer Neil Gaiman, Where's Neil When You Need Him? I'm ashamed to say I have yet to read a Sandman comic. Yet another Stephin Merrit "band."
7. The Magnetic Fields "Take Ecstasy With Me" Speaking of Merritt, this is an alternative version of this tune with former lead vocalist Susan Anyway and drums lifted right from 69 Love Songs' "I'm Sorry I Love You." Neat.
8. Klark Kent "Office Girls" I have a soft spot for typewriter solos. KK was Police drummer Stewart Copeland's cheeky solo alter ego. These are rumored to be rejected songs he wrote for the Police. While I love the fact he plays all the instruments, the Klark Kent stuff was ultimately not nearly as good as Copeland's perfect soundtrack for Rumble Fish. Then he began a lucratice career of making crap (i.e. soundtrack for TV tragedy The Equalizer).
9. Thee Headcoats "Help" Again with the covers, but this one is pretty unique. Hilarious and virtually unlistenable. Too bad you can't skip to the next track.
10. Metric "Wet Blanket" I assume Metric gets compared to Elastica in the press. That would be unfair as they have better songs and don't make obvious thefts from Wire, The Stranglers, and every other English post-punk band.
11. Blondie "Once I Had A Love (aka The Disco Song)" aka "Heart of Glass." I still prefer the drum machine and synthesizer hit we all know and love, but this has its own special charm.
12. Public Image Ltd. "Blue Water" Off the banished Keith Levene's unauthorized pressing of The Commercial Zone, which would eventually be re-recorded as This Is What You Want…, heralding PiL's rapid descent into mediocrity. I probably like this because it reminds me of "Careering,"my fave PiL song.
13. Cabaret Voltaire "Silent Command" Karl Stockhausen and Lee "Scratch" Perry's illegitimate love child.
14. Portishead "All Mine" You like John Barry? I LOVE John Barry!
15. Au Revoir Simone "Through The Backyards" Sweet pop songs from a trio of Casio-lovin' gals. The verse melody is totally lifted from Eno's "St. Elmo's Fire."
16. The Evens "All These Governors" Customary Ian MacKaye sighting. I probably picked this because it's the most Fugazi-ish song on the album.
17. Vangelis "Tears In Rain" From one of my top 10 movies.
18. Pixies "Into The White" - The Pixies apparently used this frequently as their closer. Total cop-out on my part but I don't care. It's a rockin' outro.

May The Force Be With You. Now Go.

I finally watched George Lucas' first feature film, THX 1138. I was surprised to find that it was actually good. I expected it to be a dull student art film, and while it was pretty cerebral (read: exposition heavy), I found it to be well paced and interesting. He even threw in a car chase at the end. Really.

The copy I saw was the recent reissue of the film, so of course George couldn't keep his mitts off the "Digitally Enhance" button. There was still that washed-out 70's film stock look, but the cityscapes had been beefed up (or so I assume) and he clearly enhanced or outright added a few critters and characters near the film's finale. No Jar Jar Binks, but I think a new monkey man or two may have been thrown in.

Speaking of Star Wars, I loaned a friend my copy of Revenge of the Sith and the animated Clone Wars series DVDs. We both agreed that the Clone Wars were the best of the batch since the original trilogy. But in George's defense, other than the acting, dialogue, direction, characters, and plot, the prequels were solid gold.

Seriously, Feel My Rock

Due to my seemingly endless string of technological roadblocks (latest target: Roxio, who decided to remove the basic features I used to enjoy on their previous releases with their new, "improved" Creator 9 software. WTF's up with that, Roxi?), I have not been able to post any podcasts recently. Well, I've finally leapt that last hurdle and will be posting three (count 'em, three!) podcasts soon. There is one new original mix and two really stellar birthday mixes from this year and last by my dear friend Jim. The fun thing about these mixes is the lead tracks on each mix are birthday songs addressed to me by The Johnny Depth, Jim's nom de home recording (mine being Linoleum Blownapart, and occasionally Nick Scrape). They're great, and I'm sure you'll like them.

I should have the next podcast up tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Home Security?

Awhile ago Lisa entered some give-away and was informed last week that we won a free home security system. A specialist would come out and talk to us about the program. Now, I've always felt safe at this house, mainly because it's a nice neighborhood populated largely by retirees, so there is a sort of built-in homewatch. But, I felt safe at our last house too, and it was located next to a meth lab. After the second drive-by shooting, we decided it was time to pull up stakes and get the hell out. But that is a whole other tale.

So, Saturday a very pleasant English expat named Alex shows up at our door at the appointed time. He was the sort of guy I wish I was. Intelligent, humorous, well-traveled, and congenial as all get out. We spent an hour chatting about painting, real estate, his past careers and travels, and our upcoming trip to England. I'm not the most loquacious soul, so I eventually grew weary of the chit-chat and steered the conversation to their system.

As we discussed security, break-ins, and the common burglar, it dawned on me that I had not verified this guy's identity. Out of the blue comes a call about a prize we won in a contest we didn't remember, and next there's this guy in our home telling tales about his former career in commercial real estate. Why is this man, who looks like he is of retirement age, pushing home security systems? I realize I have no way to gracefully validate if this he is who he claims to be, or if he even works for this security firm of which I have never heard. And here we've talked about the weak spots in our house, an upcoming trip out of the country, where I work and what we do, and my paranoia meter spikes to 10.

As it turns out, it's highly unlikely this fellow was an aged Danny Ocean. I asked all the questions I needed to understand the program fully and soon he was out the door. As Lisa and I debriefed afterward and I informed her of my neurotic concerns, I noticed he'd left his cell phone behind (which, I'll admit, I checked to make sure it wasn't on and listening). He was long gone and called later to see if he could come pick it up the next day. Between this event and my delusions of an electronic conspiracy, I'm feeling just a little foolish. But I'll remember to be a little more cautious next time. Just in case.

Oh, and if you're an online prowler, we have a security system. Every door and window has a trip sensor on it, the perimeter of our property is armed with motion sensors, and we have heat-seeking automated machine guns that will open fire in five seconds if you can't provide the proper voice identification and passcode. So don't screw with us and our sole electronic possession, a 13" 1980 Magnavox TV. With three channels. And no remote.