Obligatory toe-picking music post.

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Relax, partisans and neopartisans: it’s the weekend, and time to chill out, crack open a Pabst, and listen to some music, new and old. What am I listening to? Well, shucks, I thought you’d never ask.

A little Norwegian electronica from Flunk‘s recent debut. It’s a deeply flawed album, but I’m a sucker for Norwegians. (Speaking of which, anyone know where I can find a copy of Supersilent’s “6”?)

Some old Godspeed You Black Emperor! (In a fit of utter silliness, the Canadian uber-left eleven-/twenty-/sixty-piece now wants to be known as Godspeed You! Black Emperor.)

Some Ice-T, O.G.

And, yeah, I’ll cop to still being on an extended G ‘N R kick. I’m about to start the Use Your Illusion cycle.

Now, what are you listening to?

22 thoughts on “Obligatory toe-picking music post.”

  1. I’m only listening to the dead at the moment:
    1. Johnny Cash’s “UnEarthed.” Spectacular. The release of his stuff with Rick Rubin which didn’t make it onto the American recordings Series.
    2. Eva Cassidy’s “Imagine” and “Live From Blues Alley.” What an angelic voice.
    3.Warren Zevon’s “The Wind” one of his better albums.

  2. Ryan Adams, Love Is Hell Parts One and Two (the depressed love-lorn music his label rejected; took the EPs and burned an album)
    The Von Bondies, “Lack of Communication” (Read a rave re their upcoming CD and the feud with Jack White, bought their first, then read White was arrested for beating the crap out of the lead singer. Ahh, Detroit.)
    The Everyothers (Miss Ziggy Stardust? They do too!)
    Kinky, “Atlas” (Funky twisted rock and roll from Mexico)
    Rod Stewart and the Faces, “Changing Faces, the Very Best” (Now that Rod is my mother-in-law’s favorite singer, I decided to go back to when he mattered. Great import best-of.)
    the dirtbombs, “Dangerous Magical Noise” (More great music from Detroit, MC5 division.)
    Lost In Translation, Soundtrack (First new Kevin Shields music in ages)
    Dud of the month: Phantom Planet (Rushmore dude leaves power pop band, power pop band becomes Strokes tribute band. Bad decision.)

  3. Oh, and Von. If you like Godspeed You Black Emperor, try Explosions In The Sky, “The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place”. Instrumental goods that fit the CD title.

  4. I’m on a Celtic rock kick myself at the moment…
    1. Mackeel, “Plaid” (their only album, alas)
    2. Great Big Sea, “Sea of No Cares”
    3. Young Dubliners, “Absolutely”

  5. Read a rave re their upcoming CD and the feud with Jack White,
    I realize that this may be unacceptably trendy of me, but I really do hate The White Stripes.*
    Rushmore dude leaves power pop band, power pop band becomes Strokes tribute band. Bad decision
    Ouch. (And I thought the Strokes were themselves a tribute band . . . .) Thanks for the suggestion re: “Explosions In The Sky.”
    I’m on a Celtic rock kick myself at the moment
    What is “Celtic rock”?
    von
    *OK, OK, Elephant had some catchy tunes. So it’s more a poseur hate than a real hate.

  6. Johnny Cash’s “UnEarthed.” Spectacular.
    That confirms it: After work, I take the Von-mobile (like the Batmobile — but smaller, cheaper, and with better gas mileage) to the local indepedently owned store, and purchase one (1) of said items.

  7. Von, agree re the Stripes. The pose ultimately defeats the music. That and the impossibly lame drummer. Which, I guess, is part of the pose.

  10. I am also listening to Great Big Sea at the moment, in anticipation of their upcoming swing through the New England area.
    So I’ll take a brief stab at “Celtic Rock”, at least in relation to GBS, though I think I’ve seen the Young Dubliners once as well.
    GBS is a band from Newfoundland who’s members were raised in a an Irish folk tradition and whose music is a mix of traditionals and modern pop songs, the performance of which is influenced by their roots. Amazing live shows. Saw them open for Guster about 5 years ago and just about our whole group bought their CD by their third song. Have become one of my favorites.
    So I guess Celtic rock would be rock grounded in Irish folk traditions, rather than merely Irish rock bands like U2 or Thin Lizzy.

  11. Good examples of “Celtic Rock:”
    Pogues
    Saw Doctors
    The Waterboys (on Fisherman’s Blues and Room To Roam)

  12. Good examples of “Celtic Rock:”
    Add to that (in varying degrees of fusion and crossover):
    1. Blackmore’s Night
    2. Brendan O’Donnell
    3. Phoenyx
    4. Flogging Molly

  13. Back in high school, I went on a foreign exchange trip to Japan, and while the trips out were fun, time at home with the host family was incredibly boring and intimidating. So I went out and bought Ice T’s OG and listened to it. . a lot. “You try to ban the AK. I got ten of em stashed with a case of hand grenades” Good times.
    Currently listening:
    Boards of Canada on perma-loop
    Massive Attack: 100th Window
    Return of the King OST: The Steward of Gondor (Pippen’s Song)

  14. Right now and today I am listening to (simultaneously! hooray!)
    “Mclusky Do Dallas” by Mclusky.
    “Queen of All Ears” by The Lounge Lizards.
    and Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band, “Trout Mask Replica.” There will be many lieutenants and commanders, but you’re the only captain in my magic band, Captain Beefheart.

  15. Wow, I didn’t realize so many Celts were a-rockin’.
    So I went out and bought Ice T’s OG and listened to it. . a lot.
    Yeah, Ice-T always was a guilty pleasure of mine.

  16. anyone know where I can find a copy of Supersilent’s “6”?)
    I’ll check Amoeba for you when I’m there Sat.
    I’ve actually been listening to Smashmouth’s first lately (I’m at work now). Aside from the tune that was all over the radio, the rest is funny funny stuff.

  17. I’ve been dipping back into the well of Scandanavian opera rock lately. Therion is one of my major guilty pleasures. Nothing invigorates the soul quite like hard rock with a choir section instead of a lead vocalist.

  19. For my road trip this weekend, the listening consisted in no small part of the Beatles (five people means you can do all the harmony parts and some instrumental parts).
    We also listened to “Chutes Too Narrow,” by the Shins, which has risen to the level of a dangerous addiction for me; I can’t go five minutes without telling Sir Thomas More we’ve had another failed attempt.
    Here and there we threw on selected bits of the new Strokes album and VU’s “Loaded.”
    But much of the ride was spent singing songs we remembered from school dances, including but not limited to Technotronic, Boys II Men, and Dee-Lite.
    I cracked open a Pabst or two this weekend, but only because we had run out of Miller High Life, the Champagne of Beers.

  20. RE: SUPERSILENT 6
    The computer said they had it but received it in May and that my search would therefore be in vain. And it was.
    They have a section for Supersilent, so I’ll out looking for it on the “upon entering Amoeba” start-up utility.
    Sorry.

  21. Really appreciate it Crionna. That album’s tougher to find than (insert depending on political preference): Iraq’s WMDs, the Democrats’ foreign policy position(s), Clinton’s ethics, Cheney’s soul.

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