Happy Halloween

Trick or Treat.

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Bob McFadden and Dor - The Mummy

Halloween

Halloween is right around the corner so here's a slew of songs that will get you in the mood for some devilish delight. Trick or Treat.

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Screamin' Jaw Hawkins - Little Demon
Screamin' Lord Sutch - All Black & Hairy
Broadcast & The Focus Group - A Seancing Song
Otis Redding - Trick or Treat
Donovan - Hurdy Gurdy Man

Tom Waits - Bad As Me

 

Tom Waits has aged like wine, if that of wine was kept in a rusty lead pale with screws and razor blades at the bottom of it in some forgotten basement. What I guess I'm trying to say is Waits sounds better than ever. I bet Tom even surprised himself with the initial reception of his first record in seven years. First off, this album features superb instrumentation provided by Keith Richards, Flea, Les Claypool, and David Hidalgo from Los Lobos among many others. Waits was challenged by his wife and longtime writing partner to make this album as tight and compact as possible, no song was allowed to be longer than 4:26 long. This restriction is what I believe makes Bad as Me one of his most accessible records of his career. It starts with an explosion of fury with "Chicago" a scuttlebutt of a tune featuring blasts of horns and banjos while chugging along a runaway train. From there the album weaves through many different love songs that nod to all of the varying styles of Waits' career while still remaining fresh and new sounding. The album ends on a foggy "New Years Eve" in typical Waits fashion. I've always expected great things from Tom Waits but even I am surprised to how great Bad as Me is. 

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Chicago

Youth Lagoon

I present to you Youth Lagoon, a new rising star in the world of lo-fi indie pop. Their record, The Year of Hibernation is out now. I really enjoy the lead off track "Afternoon" It has a very "Hi-ho It's Off to Work We Go" feel to it with pulsing guitar and drums behind it. A great record to put on in anticipation of winter.

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Afternoon

Lana Del Rey

 

 If you follow music blogs or listen to Sirius XMU on the radio then this should be old news to you. Lana Del Rey might be this year's biggest success story. Here's a lady who was a struggling artist as her real name Lizzie Grant, realized that she was going nowhere so she decided to completely change her image. Her looks her sound, everything was reconfigured. She took on the name Lana Del Rey and recorded two songs and leaked those on the Web. With her sort of mysterious Nancy Sinatra appeal she was able to grab the attention of the Internet with the extremely popular "Video Games" and then bam! she has a couple of sold out shows at much bigger venues than someone with two songs should be playing and a record deal. A lot of people are arguing now whether her new found fame is the result of talent or a sheer publicity stunt. "Video Games" is a decent song but I happen to like the b-side "Blue Jeans" more. Take note artists, sometimes a less-is-more approach to your craft pays off. 

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Blue Jeans

For The Sake of The Song: Hawkwind - Hurry On Sundown

 

 "For The Sake of The Song" is a new periodical segment where I take a look at some of my personal all-time favorite songs, dissect them and try and show you their genius. 

I first heard "Hurry On Sundown" as a cover by the folk group Vetiver, I thought it was a pretty good song so I decided to check out the original version by 70s space-rock group Hawkwind and my mind was blown. Hawkwind started by David Brok in the early 1970s were famous for being one of the first groups to bridge the hippie and punk movement. Their albums were heavy sounding, after all Lemmy from Motorhead was their bassist for a time, yet their songs were often about science fiction and mysticism that attracted the flower children of London and other countries. Hawkwind are still around today having gone through an obscene amount of lineup changes and they rarely tour outside of Europe because, well they're not necessarily a household name. 

On their self-titled debut album Hawkwind introduce us to "Hurry On Sundown" a five minute jangly acoustic jam that just plain rocks. The guitar and harmonica play off each other quite well while the drums and bass keep this track jamming. The lyrics are fairly simple enough, they evoke a message of peace and anti-war. I am surprised to find that Hawkwind didn't ever do another song quite like this one, which is a shame because it is such a unique and soulful piece of music. I doubt you will find "Hurry On Sundown" on any critics lists, which is a shame because it is an oft forgotten gem of psychedelic rock. There's a reason that every time I deejay on the radio I always close my show out with this song, because you can't go much higher than this. 

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Hurry On Sundown

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Finally! After a four year hiatus and two recent cancelled appearances, one due to a shady mismanaged festival being cancelled, the other due to a hurricane I finally got to see one of my favorite bands of my high-school years, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. They played at a free block party right down the street from my apartment. The festival as a whole was okay, they really should have let Clap Your Hands Say Yeah headline, it took a long time for these guys to get to LA. With only a 45 minute set they kept it to familiar tracks from their first two records as well as peppering a few tracks from their surprisingly strong comeback record Hysterical, an album that features some really strong material with a much more polished sound. I managed to peek my head over the fence after the show and thank singer Alec Ounsworth for making the trip, he said they will be back soon. Who knows when that will be but they already have one ticket sold.

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Ketamine & Ecstacy

Yacht

I have seen Yacht twice now in the past few months and both times were a party that couldn't be stopped. I will always have memories of seeing them at FYF dancing like an idiot in front of my girlfriend and embarrassing the shit out of her. However, last weekend I got to see them on my own and while I didn't party as hard as the first time I got to really take in what these guys are about. Yacht are disciples of LCD Soundsystem and are even on the DFA label. Yet, they certainly have taken their own route to fame. While Yacht and LCD share common ground with infectious basslines, I feel that Yacht are influenced more by bands like The B-52's and Eurythmics, they are certainly a lot more synth driven. I have warmed up to their newest record Shangri-la quite a bit, it could certainly be called a concept album with their constant theme of futuristic society and what not, but it is certainly an album that will get you up out of your seat and dancing like an idiot. 

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Paradise Engineering

Feist - Metals

I am quite sure Feist doesn't need the Shiny Tops & Soda Pops' bump, but I blog about what I love and I am absolutely in love with Feist's new record Metals. It has been a long time coming from her sure to be classic The Reminder, and for all you audiophiles out there Metals is quite a piece of ear candy. There is so much texture to each one of these songs, whether they be the sweeping woodsy landscapes ("Caught a Long Wind") or the subtler instrumentation ("Get It Wrong, Get It Right"). My favorite track at the moment has to be the tension-filled staccato of "A Commotion." While this album doesn't have the guaranteed radio singles of The Reminder, it certainly is a top 10 album of the year for sure.

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A Commotion