I've written a good deal here about making mixes, and offered up several (want to sample my Favorite Singers anyone?), but I've never really brought up what it's like to receive a mix, or how I relate to the songs that I can directly trace to a particular friend.And since I've never really received the "I got a crush on you" mix (though there's one I kinda think/wished might've been close)
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Friends' mixes
The Hump Day Shuffle: 1994
1. East River Pipe - Axl Or Iggy - Shining Hours In A CanI think I came to this album about 10 years late, but it fight right in with that Flaming Lips/Modest Mouse/Wilco surge I was on. This song is on my Time & Space Lounge mix, right in between Clem Snide and Low. Great shimmering indie rock guitars, and it opens one of the best lines I've ever heard: "You thought you were Axl, or Iggy, but
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Anti- contest: signed Middle Cyclone
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Kevin at So Much Silence (who I just met after the Andrew Bird show a week back) points the way to a great new promotion from Anti- Records.The label's blog is celebrating one year, and has a fantastic giveaway: five signed copies of Neko Case's highly anticipated Middle Cyclone will be given away at random. To enter, simply leave a comment with your email address.A special bonus of every Neko
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Avetts do Bruce; Magnolia Electric added to tour
The folks over at BruceSpringsteen.Net have discovered that the Boss' "influence has broadened outside of the mainstream rock community." Gee, really? But despite the lame-as-it-can-get introduction, the whole notion of Hangin' On E Street is great.Musicians, from the frequently Boss-compared Gaslight Anthem to the rather unexpected Wyclef Jean (who's hardly up-and-coming, but anyway), sit down
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Mike Watt @ Plush, April 17
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This one isn't even showing up yet on the Plush calendar, but Stateside Presents has an April 17 listing for Mike Watt, the legendary, tireless and rightfully worshiped bass player for the Minutemen.I've never seen Watt play, and I finally heeded the advice of so many people and just a few months ago really started listening to the Minutemen, so I'm definitely stoked about this show.In November,
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Kelvin-Helmholtz Records artist showcase
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Artist:Blankets
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Album:In Robust We Trust
Tonight, Club Congress is hosting a showcase for artists on the local Kelvin-Helmholtz record label collective, which is releasing a new compilation album, In Robust We Trust.I caught up with David Lane, singer and guitarist for Blankets, to talk about Kelvin-Helmholtz and the new album.Blankets will headline the show, which also features Lazy Lungs, Caleb Christopher, Irregular Instrument and
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Band & album generator
Here's a meme I picked up from Facebook, and since the results in this particular case are pretty damn fascinating, I thought I'd share:Hardouin de Péréfixe de Beaumont - Reading Is Not Passive1 - Go to "wikipedia." Hit “random... Read More... Read More”or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:RandomThe first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.2 - Go to "Random
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Scott Scharf: Composer
One of my oldest and best friends is coming to town for the weekend, and what better reason than that to share some of his music.Scott Scharf is a composer living in Chicago, where he's working on his dissertation for a doctorate in music from Northwestern. He plays guitar and piano, but it's the realm of composing where he excels the most.A wildly creative and ruminative composer, Scott composes
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The Hump Day Shuffle: 1993
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1. Flaming Lips - She Don't Use Jelly - Transmissions From the Satellite HeartI clearly remember liking this song back in the day, marveling at how something so weird could be so cool and so catchy, simultaneously. And I actually had friends who were really into the Flaming Lips overall, not just this random hit. But I took probably another seven years before really catching up with the band.
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Avett Brothers in Tucson May 7
With a highly anticipated - and as of yet unnamed - new Rick Rubin-produced album scheduled for release this summer, The Avett Brothers are in good position to make huge waves in 2009.Today comes good news from both the band, who announced a big U.S. tour starting in April, and NPR's All Songs Considered, which announced The Avett Brothers will be one of their featured acts March 18 at SXSW. The
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Dylan's Gospel
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This is the first time I've posted a full-album link that I found elsewhere, but I came across an utterly amazing record today, a gospel band covering Dylan.The long out-of-print Dylan's Gospel comes from the group Brothers & Sisters of Los Angeles, and I'll be damned if I can dig up much, other than the fact that they put out this album in 1969. It was a five-piece band with a nearly 30-person
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Dan Bern's presidential agenda
Dan Bern would be a pretty radical president, and I'm pretty sure I'd vote for him with an agenda like he lays out in song.DOWNLOAD:Dan Bern - President (live)
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My walls
I thought I'd open up with a different sort of topic since it's an overcast winter Sunday here in the desert. This is primarily about my walls, but tangentially about music, since I couldn't avoid hanging posters about bands even if I tried.The posters, pictures, paintings and calendars that anyone throws on his or her walls are just about the most straightforward a statement of personality and
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Robyn Hitchcock talks 'Oslo'
Robyn Hitchcock and his new band, The Venus 3, have a new record out Tuesday, and Yep Roc has a short interview clip of Hitchcock talking about the inspiration behind Goodnight Oslo, his work with Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married and what it means to "celebrate the ghosts of the smoke age."Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey & Bill Rieflin have led Hitchcock on a new creative surge, starting with
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Andrew Bird @ Tucson's Rialto Theatre Saturday night
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The Noble Beast Tour hits town this weekend, as the violinist/whistler brings his new album to the faithful. Andrew Bird's rise has been about as steady as anything indie rock has offered in years, from small-time tours with Ani DiFranco to headlining theaters and legitimate chart success (Noble Beast peaked at No. 12 on Billboard). But despite the acclaim and recommendations from friends, it
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The Hump Day Shuffle: 1992
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1. Stone Temple Pilots - Wicked Garden - CoreI've been up and down on this album so many times over the years. I was big into it right away, for all the reasons any 13-year-old would dig a hard rock album that was blowing up all over the place. Then I grabbed onto the "copycat" backlash. Then jettisoned it from my collection all together. Then reacquired it, for old times' sake. Then listened to
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Odds & Ends
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Artist:captain's dead
I've got a few good recommendations for everybody from some of the other great blogs out there. First up is Captain's Dead, which has a live set that Neko Case played for KEXP in Seattle last month. The show has six songs from the highly anticipated Middle Cyclone, which Case will release March 3 on Anti- Records. My bet is this one will be even better than Fox Confessor and factor highly into
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Richard Buckner reissues
Richard Buckner is among the many musicians to have earned honorary Tucsonan status by hiding out here - under circumstances good, bad, extraordinary or unspeakable - and letting the desert calm sink in. This is a creative place - these Arid Madlands - and seekers seek it. They come in search of the strange and unusual, and without fail, they find plenty of it.Buckner came here to record his 1996
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Crooked Fingers & DeVotchka TONIGHT @ Rialto Theatre!
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I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the fantastic double bill of Crooked Fingers and DeVotchka playing down at the Rialto Theatre tonight.I'm going in new to DeVotchka, so this is really a Crooked Fingers / Eric Bachmann post. Tonight will be the fourth time I've seen the band, and lately I've been absolutely soaking up Forfeit / Fortune, easily one of the best records of 2008 and, along with
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The Hump Day Shuffle: 1991
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1. Bob Dylan - Seven Curses - The Bootleg Series, Volume 2I can't fathom why Dylan left this off The Times They Are A-Changin' album. It's a song of mystery and the sort of dreamy, psychedelic storytelling that characterized "A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall." Dylan's early songs had tremendous structure - here the entire song is rooted in numbers and counting (Seven Curses, of course). Any other
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