"Lo-Fi Life"

58 min,18 sec

1. The Rats - "World War III"
2. Daniel Johnston - "Speeding Motorcycle"
3. The Scrotum Poles - "It Just Ain't Fucking Funny"
4. The Chameleons - "Seriocity"
5. No Age - "Everybody's Down"
6. Kurt Vile - "Breathin' Out"
7. Mattress - "Eldorado"
8. Guided by Voices - "Tractor Rape Chain"
9. Condo Fucks - "Accident"
10. Nodzzz - "Highway Memorial Shrine"
11. Beat Happening - "Look Around"
12. Grown Ups - "Quit My Job"
13. John Maus - "I Want To Live"
14. tUnE-yArDs - "Sunlight"
15. A Faulty Chromosome - "Them Pleasures of the Flesh"
16. Bratmobile - "Love Thing"
17. John Bender - "27B4 'Rainy Day Sunshine'"
18. Best Coast - "Sun Was High (So Was I)"
19. Japanther - "Bumpin' Rap Tapes"
20. The Intelligence - "The World Is A Drag"

Do You Remember Where You Were the First Time You Heard Guided by Voices?

I was sixteen-years-old, sitting in my living room watching Late Night with Conan O'Brien. I'd heard of the alternative lo-fi legends long before I saw what became their final television appearance. With that one performance, a fan was born. Their album Alien Lanes (Matador, 1995) remains one of my top twenty-five albums of all time:

The Dandy Warhols - "Genius"

My favourite Dandy Warhols song. "Genius," from their first album Dandys Rule OK? (Tim/Kerr Records, 1995), showcases the band at its song-writing best: perfect pace, depressingly self-effacing lyrics which Courtney Taylor-Taylor sings with just the right amount of emotion, all topped with a heart-wrenching climax. Every note is where it should be. "Genius" is definitely the most underrated Dandys song, at least amongst my friends.

I sometimes get frustrated that the Dandy Warhols haven't written a song nearly as good as "Genius" since "Big Indian" (my second favourite Dandy Warhols song) which came out eleven years ago. But "Genius" alone pretty much makes up for all of the Dandy's missteps.

I know to say
Things I never meant to
To seem a little more sane
'Cause that's what it takes

I can jive with that.

Rainy Day Music: M. Ward Edition

On the way to Tofino, British Columbia

Really, Transistor Radio (Merge Records, 2005) is a rainy-day album. It definitely made the drive to Torino in pouring rain a lot cooler:

This Is Like the Best Cover Art Ever.

Well, not really. Not even close, actually. But it's still really damned cool, mainly because it's Andrew Wilkes Krier (could I have expected any less from him?). The "Party All Goddamn Night" EP was released exclusively in Japan in March of this year. I haven't listened to it yet, but I definitely will soon, because I may be seeing him at the Rickshaw Theatre tonight. The show promises to be another sweaty, beer-fuelled mosh-fest of joy and, knowing Andrew's inclinations towards motivational speaking, inspiration. Party hard!

The Third Coming of Diane Birch

Since at least this past June, piano songstress Diane Birch has been working on her sophomore album, the follow-up to 2009's Bible Belt, in a studio in London, England. She's working with producer Dan Carey who's also produced albums by the Kills, La Roux, Lily Allen and Franz Ferdinand. Based on those artists and Diane's 2010 Velveteen Age EP, which consisted of covers of her favourite gothic post-punk songs growing up, I'm expecting her new album to sound pretty polished.

Until her new album comes out, fans will have to make due with an acoustic version of one of its new tracks "Diamonds in the Dust":

Rainy Day Music: The Kills Edition

"Your Hand in Mine, Vol. 1"

Finally, a competent music-player for my blog. Streampad doesn't seem to work on my blog anymore, and I can't make playlists with Streampad anyway. Enter 8tracks.

As I'd mentioned in a previous post, I was planning to start periodically posting playlists. Here's the first of my playlists following that announcement. The title is "Your Hand in Mine Vol. 1," and the theme is collaborations. Just click the player, and enjoy. It's that easy.


38 min, 37 sec

1. Kid Cudi, Bethany Cosentino (Best Coast) and Rostam Batmanglij (Vampire Weekend) - "All Summer"
2. Jurassic 5 feat. Nelly Furtado - "Thin Line"
3. Mocky feat. Feist - "Just Need Time"
4. Battles feat. Kazu Makino - "Sweetie and Shag"
5. Slash feat. Iggy Pop - "We're All Gonna Die"
6. J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.), the Black Angels and the Dandy Warhols - "Breath Easy Single 1"
7. Gorillaz feat. Snoop Dogg - "Welcome To the World of the Plastic Beach"
8. Spank Rock feat. Amanda Blank - "Bump"
9. Janelle Monae feat. Big Boi - "Tightrope"

New Sharon Van Etten Track: "Serpents"

One of the more recent NYC-based artists garnering attention is New Jersey-born indie folk songstress Sharon Van Etten.

I saw Sharon live at Zulu Records many, many months ago for an acoustic solo in-store performance, and while I liked her set, she didn't sound overly interesting. "Serpents," the first available track from her upcoming third album Tramp, due February 7 on Jagjaguwar, is quite different from what I heard that day at Zulu though.

It's pretty obvious to myself that I like "Serpents" because it features members of two of my favourite bands the National and the Walkmen. Tramp was recorded by the National's Aaron Dessner who recruited several friends to guest on the album including members of Beirut, Wye Oak (one of two openers for the National's Vancouver shows next week), Shearwater and the aforementioned Walkmen. Sharon's dramatic Cat Power-like vocals (about a 99% resemblance to me) and instrumentation by members of two of my favourite bands make for a good enough combination for me to check out at least Tramp and, if I like it, work my way backwards in her discography.

Addendum: If Tramp is good, I'll also have a reason to stick around after the War on Drugs' set when they play the Biltmore Cabaret on March 24. I'd pay the $15 that show costs to see the War on Drugs alone; a good album by Sharon Van Etten would only sweeten the deal.

More Kurt Vile

Good music to do/think about nothing at 1:30 A.M. to:

Kurt Vile Fever

Come back to Van, please:

POP Montreal 2005: Broken Social Scene with Islands and Jad Fair and Lumberob

October 21, 2005
Métropolis
Montreal, Quebec

My first concert was Broken Social Scene at POP Montreal 2005. A friend of mine was going to Montreal to scout McGill, and another friend of ours - the biggest BSS fan I know - and I decided to tag along for the show. The trip was also my first time out of my home province Nova Scotia, so it was a pretty special trip, although it wasn't the last time I flew from Nova Scotia to Montreal for a concert (see a future Raconteurs recap which, coincidentally, also took place at Métropolis).

Three acts performed prior to Broken Social Scene that night: some lame-assed DJ, Jad Fair and Lumberob and the then-recently-formed Islands (the short-lived indie "it" band, Montreal's own Unicorns, had split up less than a year prior). The DJ was completely forgettable (as most DJs are to me), but Jad Fair and Lumberob were really flippin' cool - and interesting. Lumberob mutilated his voice, screaming and screeching over Jad Fair's layers of pedal-fed guitar-distortion to create insane wall-of-noise sound-collages. I don't think Islands even had any official material out at that point, but they were pretty good musically. Founding member/core songwriter/singer/former Unicorn Nicholas Thorburn was quite a dick though. I remember him having gotten pissy at the crowd for having been too loud during the "quiet sentimental part" or whatever he called it.

After Islands (and five hours after having arrived at Métropolis), it was time for the band I flew an hour to see. Broken Social Scene were in top form that night. Almost every member I could have thought of was there, including all the girls (Metric's Emily Haines, Feist and Stars' Amy Milan). The only exception was Jason Collett. The only reason he missed the show was because he was with his wife who was, as the band was playing, giving birth. Founding Scenester Kevin Drew actually stopped the show to call Jason via cell phone and got the entire audience to shout "PUSH!!!" over and over.

The only thing I wished we did differently that night was to have gone as close to the stage as possible instead of sit waaaaayyyyy the hell up in the balcony (at least we sat in the front row). Note the past tense, however: I used to wonder why the hell we decided to sit up in the balcony, but I've recently reminded myself that by the end of the night, we had been at the show for seven fucking hours. I don't remember thinking anything of it then, but, especially after going to shows all the time now and lately not even caring much to catch opening acts mainly in order to reduce wait time, I can't imagine standing for so long to wait for a headliner. Hell, two openers usually kill me, but then, I don't usually know who they are. At least I was excited for Islands, as unfamiliar as I was with them at the time, and thought Jad Fair and Lumberob sounded like they might have been good in the festival program.

All cab, plane and car ride home the next day, fond memories of the night just passed still percolated in my head, the realization that "Holy fuck, I just saw Broken fatherfucking Social Scene!!!" still yet to sink in. The memory definitely became clearer and realer when I managed to download a recording of the show. Poor quality as it is, and as rarely as I thus listen to it, there could scarcely have been a better memento of that night in Montreal that I'll never forget.

For more photos of Broken Social Scene and Islands from POP Montreal 2005, click here.

Dear Imelda,

Release an acoustic album, please:

In Between Sleep with Kurt Vile

Two great songs to be half asleep to, when time doesn't seem to exist:

Welcome To the Club

Do you ever have moments when you're listening to an album, however often or rarely you listen to it - it's just kind of on in the background - and then suddenly, a lyric or melody or some other part of a particular song catches your attention, and then you have to re-start the song, regardless of how far you've already gotten through it?

I just had one (but not my first, hence "Welcome To the Club") such moment with American dream pop duo Azure Ray's "Trees Keep Growing" from their 2002 album Burn and Shiver (Warm Records). I almost never listen to this album, although I've had it for ever (its opening track "Favourite Cities" is one of my favourite songs which deserves (and likely will receive) a post of its own). I was actually giving it one final listen to decide whether I even wanted to keep it. Although "Trees Keep Growing" alone has not saved Burn and Shiver from being deleted yet, I have been pleasantly surprised by this track. How it has gotten past me all these years while "Favourite Cities" hasn't is beyond me.

As I typed all of this, I finally stopped repeating "Trees Keep Growing" and let the next track "A Thousand Years" come on, and it's quite good so far too. Let's see where the rest of this album goes.

From the Vault: "Pop Went Halifax, Part Three: Timber Timbre, Little Girls, Zeus, You Say Party! We Say Die! and Japandroids"

October 24, 2009
The Marquee Club
Halifax, Nova Scotia

Preface: Steve and I met up with a couple of friends of ours Alex and Chapin. Alex and Chapin had driven up to Halifax from our hometown that day to see Girl Talk.


Chapin came with me to the hauntingly spellbinding folk ensemble Timber Timbre at St. Matthew's United Church. This has always been a fantastic venue. We watched from the upstairs pews, as I always do [there]. They were really able to create a brooding, haunting atmosphere with nothing more than an electric guitar, floor tom, violin and sampler. At times, they filled the church with animal noises and sounds of rustling plant life, thereby turning the entire church into a rain forest mid-downpour. Mesmerizing. Also, I went to this show for free. I ran into a guy the night before who, because of some convoluted situation, couldn't go to Timber Timbre, so he gave me his ticket. Much appreciated, bud.

[Chapin and I] skipped the second/last act to reconvene with Alex and Cara. I was going to a different show, but I went with Chapin to where Girl Talk was playing so Chapin didn't have to look for a scalper alone. It was far away from where I was supposed to [have been], but I went with him anyway because I knew he wouldn't have been able to find a ticket, and contacting him to come to the Paragon would have been difficult.

Little Girls played first. They were pretty good but not as good as I'd expected - way more post-punk than lo-fi, and the lead singer (in particular) was pretty damned goofy. Knocking over equipment and spazzing out on the floor are fine and can really add to a show when you're not the opening band playing to a VERY dispersed crowd of at most thirty in a somewhat big venue. Instead, he just ended up looking histrionic and stupid.

Next up were Zeus and You Say Party! We Say Die!. While I hated all of the stuff I'd downloaded by both bands, both were actually, again, pretty good. YSP was really energetic and danceable. Krista, the person [with whom] I [stood], is the biggest YSP fan, so it was really awesome when singer Becky Ninkovic 1) put her finger on Krista's forehead, 2) came into the crowd right in front of us, 3) put her arm around Krista and sang into the mic together, and 4) crowd surfed right on top of us (I was the first person to catch Becky). If a musician I loved did any of that with me, I'd probably never go to another show because nothing could top that. So yeah, good for Krista.

Lastly (for the night and for the festival) were Japandroids. I'd looked forward to them the most (since summer), and they were the only band for whom I bought an advance [Pop Explosion] ticket. Well, they turned out to be a HUGE disappointment, but that wasn't their fault at all. The bar was closing, so they were cut off after only a handful of songs. Surprisingly, after we started chanting "Fuck this shit!," they were allowed to do an encore, houselights on and all. It was hilarious seeing the bar's people watch from backstage with "How long is their encore going to be??" expressions on their faces. Also, the crowd got super-rowdy and not in a fun Japanther way. I don't like it when a person's foot is jammed in my crotch, and she gets pissed when I move her foot.

[After Japandroids finally reluctantly left the stage], the magic was over, and I caught a ride home with Alex and Chapin the next morning. Sweet tunes and reminiscing all the way home.

From the Vault: "Pop Went Halifax, Part Two: Ancestors, Devil Eyes and Japanther"

Ian Vanek of Japanther

October 23, 2009
The Seahorse Tavern
Halifax, Nova Scotia

Preface: I crashed at my friend Steve's place during Pop Explosion weekend. The weekend peaked on Friday, the day that would become the fourth best show of my entire freaking life (behind the two times I saw the White Stripes and the time I saw Les Savy Fav).


Pop Went Halifax, Part Two: Ancestors, Devil Eyes and Japanther

The show started with a hardcore screamo band called Ancestors. Maybe it was my previous summer of warming up to and even liking hardcore, scream-heavy music, but I surprisingly enjoyed them. Unfortunately, Ancestors probably spent more time setting up than actually playing. The singer into the crowd and started shoving people around (note: he only joined an already-moshing crowd), and pretty much right away, security shut them down. Well, that pissed off pretty much everyone, but the next band, Montreal barrage rockers Devil Eyes, lifted the entire room's spirits. This band was great - so energetic and just good, old-fashioned rock and roll. The best parts were 1) when the Chinese drummer sang their last song entirely in Cantonese (I never thought I'd hear Cantonese in a punk song (live)) and 2) when the guitarist smashed his guitar to bits. Unfortunately, I didn't get one of the several pieces he handed out to the crowd.

Finally ... FINALLY ... after all the smoke cleared and all the dust settled, the stage was set for another band I never thought I'd have gotten to see and the highlight of Friday night's show: Japanther. This was, without question, without hyperbole, the single greatest punk show and most energetic show I'd ever been to. I was three feet away from drummer Ian Vanek whom I told to make me deaf. I also got a bottle of water from him which I regretfully mindlessly left on the street. I've never been able to sing along to a band like that except, again, for The White Stripes. I left that show bloody and bruised. My knees were constantly shoved against the edge of the stage. I could barely walk afterwards, and I kept getting shoved really hard into the concrete wall. My arms and the back of my neck and shoulders were all scraped and bruised, and my neck was totally kinked the next couple of days. At one point, a guy suddenly turned around and spat beer in my and another guy's face, and I could not have cared less and just kept dancing. Obviously, the crowd was really rowdy, but it was one of those times when being rowdy was totally appropriate and only added to the experience.

I'd really looked forward to Japanther, but I'd never thought it'd have been THAT good. I didn't think it'd have been the highlight of the weekend, let alone of all of the concerts I'd ever seen.

After a fucking wicked night, Steve and I went back to his place, sweaty and smelly as all hell, and fell asleep with our ears ringing (it was the first time I had to wear earplugs). His roommate Kyle, who works in the restaurant above the bar, came down near the end of the show and said he'd never smelled the bar that bad. Needless to say, first on my agenda the next day was one of the most thorough showers of my life.

Post-Campus

I had a campus radio show for about a year-and-a-half with a friend, up until the end of summer 2010. Each week, our show featured a different theme. Making up these Halloween playlists as I go these past couple of years, as well as making a few mix-CDs for various friends, has reminded me of how much I like making playlists, especially within the contours of a theme or personality-type. Therefore, I've decided to start (or attempt starting) periodically posting themed playlists, each between sixty and eighty minutes in length (as was the length of my program and as is the length of an average CD-R). I had a lot of theme ideas I never got to suggest to my co-host, so maybe I can finally get around to them, whether by myself or via trans-continental online correspondence with him (and/or anyone else who may be interested). Stay tuned.

Corey Hart - “I Wear My Sunglasses at Night” < The Cramps - “Sunglasses After Dark”

I'll take the Cramps' "Sunglasses After Dark" over Corey Hart's "I Wear My Sunglasses at Night" any time:

From the Vault: White Stripes Album Descriptions

I wrote the following White Stripes album descriptions in 2007. :/ It's often weird reading back on old writing, especially when there are a lot of things one would have written differently whether in terms of content or even punctuation and grammar. I think I neglected to mention the White Stripes' second album De Stijl (Sympathy for the Record Industry, 2000) because the post I was responding to asked what these specific albums sounded like or which albums he/she should have gotten after De Stijl:


Their self-titled (first album), while not their most diverse work, is a solid and consistent rock record. It has its slow tracks here and there, but most of the tracks showcase their signature sound of short, sweet, driving blues-rock. Their sound isn't completely developed here, but it's pretty much The White Stripes at their barest of bones. This is also Jack's proudest work, according to himself.

White Blood Cells is probably their most accessible album. It was their breakthrough album, afterall. It contains Fell in Love with a Girl, Hotel Yorba, and Dead Leaves - all of those familiar singles which launched them into the mainstream. As a whole, it's probably not their most consistent work. It kind of drops off, during the last four or so tracks, but it's still a White Stripes record, if you savvy.

Elephant is probably their most "sophisticated" album. It has a great balance of soft ballads, hard-rockers, (a few more) blazing guitar solos, and it's the first to feature Meg on vocals. This is also where Jack's lyrical aptitude really starts to shine through, and it continues on through their latest album. The balance of diverse tracks and The Stripes' ability to blend them all into a such a cohesive work gives Elephant a great all-around album feel. It's possibly The White Stripes best work, to date.

Icky Thump is also pretty diverse, insofar as it hearkens back to sounds that came out of or were prominent on their older albums (such as certain organ and guitar sounds). Not to mention The White Stripes stray further from the aesthetic of the number three (guitar, drums, vocals) - so far as to include (surprisingly successful experiments with) trumpets and bagpipes. To some, the hearkening back to old sounds is a bad thing, because they say The White Stripes have started to repeat themselves. However, I think they've managed to take most elements from their older albums, experimental and non-experimental alike, and refine them to their very best (odd percussion times, the use of mic distortion effects, etc).

A lot of people consider Satan The White Stripes' worst album, because it strays the furthest from their sound. Guitars were largely replaced by piano, and this is where they really started to break their own rule of the number three, with the inclusion of mandolin and marimba. The album is one big experiment and is the reflection of a frustrated man/artist. The time leading up to and during the album's recording was a tough time for the band (more specifically, Jack): things were going wrong in the studio (you can hear a tambourine stand or some other piece of equipment topple over in "White Moon;" the tape on which "The Nurse" was recorded was cut incorrectly and had to be re-pieced together); Jim Diamond was suing The White Stripes over production rights to their first two albums; Jack just went through a break-up with Renée Zellweger; his hand was still recovering from surgery after his car accident; and of course, he was still dealing with the whole episode with Jason Stollsteimer from The Von Bondies. All of these events served as the inspiration of the album's theme of broken trust (hence the title, "Satan" being all of those people and events "getting behind" Jack and allowing him to move on with his life and work). Satan is, subtly (and sometimes not so subtly), their most lyrically bitter and harsh album, but I think the band was able to turn their frustrations into something great. Definitely, IMO, their most under-rated and under-appreciated album.

Another thing that makes Icky Thump great to me (especially as a reflection of the band, at perhaps their best, overall) is that it's a complete rebound from Satan. The band is definitely rejuvenated, on Thump, after a prolonged hiatus with other projects (The Raconteurs and Loretta Lynn). Jack's personal life also took a turn for the better, during the time between albums (a marriage, a couple of kids, and a relocation from Detroit to Nashville will do that). I don't know much about Meg's personal life, but she also moved out of Detroit (to California). Overall, Jack and Meg were happier with their new lives, new loves, and new environments, and, most of all, the band was happier and eager to get back into the studio.


Note: The White Stripes' 2003 album Elephant (V2/XL Recordings, 2003) did not feature Meg's first appearance on vocals - only her first appearance on lead-vocals.

Magnetic Fields Can Be Heroes Too

Last month, a friend and I were talking about the Magnetic Fields, a genre-bending English band I'd liked in high school but completely abandoned a few years ago. My friend is still a big fan, and after he described the differences between several of Magnetic Fields' albums, specifically the fuzzy, "punkier" Distortion (Nonesuch Records, 2008), I decided to re-investigate Magnetic Fields starting with that very album (I'd only ever had the Fields' triple-album magnum opus 69 Love Songs). My YouTubing, vis-à-vis my decision, brought me to Magnetic Fields' 1996 cover of David Bowie’s song "Heroes." And what a fucking cover it is:



I'm mainly posting Magnetic Fields' cover of "Heroes" not only because it's awesome but because of this user-comment:

"… the drone and aimlessness and monotony are what make this an excellent cover. Bowie's version highlights on being a hero, but this version flips it on its head and focuses on 'just for one day.'? What do you have before and after? The monotony and drone of your everyday life.”

- pimcnulty

Fuck, that is a cool interpretation. Being able to see music or any piece of art that way, whether through my own perspicacity or someone else's, is why I love analyzing art sometimes. If I could make (and back up) such observations about music, I'd definitely try to make a living out of doing so. For now though, I'll resign myself to blogging about music, however insightfully or not, in my spare time.

Sia Live at the Commodore Ballroom

August 19, 2011
Commodore Ballroom
Vancouver, British Columbia

Originally, I wasn't sure if I was going to go to Sia. I was thinking about going to the far cheaper (and far closer) Mister Heavenly on the same night or going to neither, but a friend of mine bought a ticket for me as a belated birthday gift, so I definitely wasn't going to say no.

Sia was a good show, even though I was asleep for or at least nodding during much of it. That was because I'd gone to the show straight from work. Having to stand (and partially sit) through a lackluster opener didn't make it easier to stay awake either.

My only complaints about Sia were that she was too chatty, and she tried too hard to be funny. I knew she was quirky and chatty, but after a while, I just wanted her to play her fucking songs. It also didn't help that most of her jokes/banter revolved around dick-, vagina- and sex-jokes and that she seemed to have dropped those words just to get cheap laughs; crowds are often pretty easy that way.

Enough about the bad though. If I remember correctly (the show was two-and-a-half months ago), she played every song I wanted to hear, including "Little Black Sandals," "Academia," "Playground," "Death by Chocolate," "The Girl That You Lost To Cocaine," "Buttons" (actually, I think she only played one of these last two) and even "Breath Me" from one of my favourite television shows of all time Six Feet Under.

For more photos of Sia live at the Commodore Ballroom, click here.

The White Stripes - "Hand Springs"

I've always visualized the lyrics to this song written out as a story rather than line by line, as lyrics are usually written. Thus, I've taken it upon myself to add punctuation and separate the lyrics into paragraphs where I deem appropriate:


"Hand Springs"

I took my girl to go bowling downtown at the Red Door, after an argument I started 'cause I thought she didn’t like me anymore. I can't help it: sometimes, I feel pitiful, and of course, she's so young and beautiful.

I bought us two glasses of Coke; that's her favourite, and I wanted to make up for earlier. But I dropped her glass, and it broke, so I just gave my glass to her.

She laughed, and so did I in our lane. Then, she went to the vending machine to buy a candy cane, but right next to that was a boy I knew with a spring in his hand playin' a country pinball machine called "Stand by Your Man." I saw him talk to her, but I stayed in my lane and played my game steady and was thinkin' of a day when I'd be too old to throw a ball this heavy.

But I guess I'm young now, so it's easier to knock 'em all down. Then I looked and saw her say to him, "You really hittin’ that ball around." And he’s lookin' at her the way I did when I first met her: I can see in his face white flowers and cups of coffee and love letters.

I was sorry to interrupt their game, but I went and did it anyway. I dropped my red bowling ball through the glass of his machine. I said, "Are you quick enough to hit this ball, Mr. Clean?" I was scared to lose her, so I couldn't help being mean.

And that ended both of our games. I said I was sorry, but my girl left with him just the same. I thought how much I hate when love makes me act this way. I was bent over a broken pinball machine in a bowling alley, and I threw it all away.

Well, isn't it all just a big game?

High Rotation

Cover art of Go with Me by Seapony (Hardly Art, 2011)

A.K.A. the most-played/my favourite tracks of the approximate week listed in order of when I started listening to them recently. This inaugural edition features new songs by Mazzy Star, Jack White and the Black Keys. As usual, click the song-titles to listen. (Note: this is only a compilation of the stand-out tracks I've been listening to lately and deem worth sharing, not literally my most-played tracks. If I wanted to share those stats, I just would have kept my Last.fm account):

1. Blur - "Song 2" - I had a random urge to listen to this song. I think I moreso just had an urge to listen to a short, punchy song with a crunchy riff and randomly thought it'd been a while since I'd heard "Song 2." Surprisingly, I didn’t have it in my iTunes. Anyway, it's strange how I've liked this song since fourth grade (give or take), but I didn't know the lyrics until last week.

2. Eagles of Death Metal - "Wannabe in L.A." - I came across this song on a friend's Facebook page. I always knew EoDM rocked, but this song is just pure awesomeness. Also, I usually hate cheesy videos, but EoDM are so cool, I actually like theirs. Death by sexy indeed!

3. Mazzy Star - "Lay Myself Down" - Santa Monica shoegaze/dream folk group Mazzy Star are back after an essentially fifteen-year hiatus with "Lay Myself Down," the B-side to their Common Burn single, their first release since 1996's Among My Swan LP. I was never a huge Mazzy Star fan (except for their cover of Arthur Lee’s "Five-String Serenade" which I first heard the White Stripes cover), but I really like "Lay Myself Down." I thought such was strange, because I'm not a big Mazzy Star fan, but then I realized why I like the song so much: it's a damned country song, at its core.

4. Jack White - "Love Is Blindness" - Already discussed here.

5. Seapony - "Always" - Seapony really deserve a post of their own; they're just some of the best stuff I've ever heard. They sound like they're straight out of the 80s, with their lush, airy pop, post-punk drum-fills, watery guitar-hooks, reverb and twee-pop sweetness/simplicity/wholesomeness. I first heard this track on a friend's blog, and I just HAD to get rest of the album Go with Me (Hardly Art, 2011) immediately, which led me to the next track on the list.

6. Seapony - "Dreaming" - The opening track on Go with Me.

7. Plastic Flowers - "Drive Me Home" - I'm not usually into washed out, electronic-tinged pop, but I like the slightly sombre, spacey quality of "Drive Me Home" a lot. The song evokes a feeling of nostalgia for nothing in particular. I don't know much about Plastic Flowers though, because there are at least two acts named Plastic Flowers. I haven't really bothered looking into which Plastic Flowers is which.

8. The Chameleons - "Serocity" - Are you noticing a theme between this and the last three songs? If the song isn't actually from the 80s (as the Chameleons track is), it at least sounds like it is. I just love Mark Burgess' off-kilter vocals.

9. The Black Keys - "Lonely Boy" - Like "Song 2," I've had this song on repeat for up to an hour at a time. Got me finally listening to a lot of the Black Keys' older albums again which I hadn't done in a long, long time.

Halloween Playlist 2010

Featuring the Cramps

1. Queens of the Stone Age - "Burn the Witch"
2. TV on the Radio - "Wolf Like Me"
3. The Dandy Warhols - "Hell's Bells" (AC/DC cover)
4. The Cramps - "TV Set"
5. The Cramps - "I Was A Teenage Werewolf"
6. Robert Johnson - "If I Had Possession Over Judgment"
7. Abner Jay - "St. James Infirmary Blues"
8. Nine Inch Nails - "With Teeth"
9. Japanther - "The Gravy"
10. Joy Division - "Atrocity Exhibition"
11. The Gun Club - "For the Love of Ivy"
12. The Gun Club - "Cool Drink of Water"
13. The White Stripes - "The Union Forever"
14. The Dead Weather - "Old Mary"
15. Beat Happening - "Black Candy"
16. Beat Happening - "Knock on Any Door"
17. Beat Happening - "Nancy Sin"
18. Beat Happening - "Zombie Limbo Time"

Halloween Playlist 2011

Featuring Messer Chups

Just click the song-titles to play:

1. Acid Witch - "Witchtanic Hellucinations"
2. The Flesh Eaters - "See You in the Boneyard"
3. Karen Elson - "The Ghost Who Walks"
4. The Fembots - "Theme from A Radio Play"
5. Aluminium - "The Hardest Button To Button"
6. The Deadly Snakes - "I Can't Sleep at Night"
7. The Deadly Snakes - "There Goes Your Corpse Again"
8. Xander Harris - "I Want More Than Just Blood"
9. KUKL - "Anna"
10. Wanda Jackson feat. Jack White - "Funnel of Love"
11. The Kills - "Ticket Man"
12. Joy Division - "The Eternal"
13. The Cramps - "Zombie Dance"
14. Gary Numan - "Metal"; Nine Inch Nails - "Metal"
15. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - "Dead Flag Blues"
16. The Black Keys - "Strange Times"
17. Beat Happening - "Black Candy"
18. Messer Chups - "Vincent Price Bible"
19. Messer Chups - "Tremolo from the Crypt"