Monday, December 15, 2008

The New Music

So, a reader of this blog (probably the only one) has asked if/when I'll be delivering a list of my favorite albums from 2008, as I have done in years past. The answer is Yes. Although it might not happen until after Christmas. There are several albums from 2008 that I never got around to purchasing (or even illegally downloading - sometimes I'm too lazy even for that!) so I've put 'em on my Christmas list.

I'm trying to cram in as much listening between now and New Years so I can have as much as possible to choose from when making my selections. I can tell you right now a few albums that will appear somewhere on my list are new ones from Dr. Dog, M83, and Bon Iver.

Once again, though, I feel like this year is a little underwhelming compared to the year before. This always happens. When will a year really blow me away with great albums?

Friday, November 21, 2008

Remember

The other day I was thinking about people I've known in the past but am not really close with anymore (Facebook has a way of bringing back the undead), and I got kind of weirded out. I remember things that people have told me, but this thought popped into my head: I don't remember anything I've ever said to anyone.

I'm not a very talkative person, and I generally keep my opinions to myself (except for when I complain to my wife about everything - she says I'm picky). But I'm not a complete mute, and I've certainly been able to converse well enough to amass a large number of close friends and an army of acquaintences. So why is it that I cannot really remember my half of any conversations?

What kinds of things do I talk about? What first-hand knowledge of myself have I given to people over the years? I have no idea. I think about ex-girlfriends or bosses or roommates and wonder if I really did ever speak to them? It is almost a guarantee that I did, at some point, talk to these people. But I don't remember any specific words or phrases, or even general ideas I tried to convey.

I do remember some specific conversation situations, but not so much the content. Is this common for everyone? Or is it just me? I'm not dumb. I'm not a victim of drug or alcohol abuse. I'm just kind of blank in spots? I dunno...

In other news: Gmail video chat is pretty freaking cool. The future is HERE! Go Bears.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

I'm voting for Obama

and I hope you do too.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

NL October

So, uh, congrats to the Phillies for winning the World Series. Their "long wait" is "finally" over. It's been SOOOOO long since the freaking Phillies won the Championship. 28 looong years...

As a Cubs fan, I spit on the "long wait" rhetoric. But I am glad to see the National League win. And although I liked the Rays, nobody likes a magical year where the worst team in the sport turns it around and wins it all. Nobody!

So now that baseball is done, we can focus on Halloween. And the election. And of course, football.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

One of these days...

One of these days I'll become a better blogger and write often enough to make it worth your time.

I bet you thought I was gonna say something about the Cubs.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Songs in my Head

Thanks for the shout out, Betty!

The song in my head right now is, "My Kind of Soldier" by Guided by Voices. I heard a new Robert Pollard song last night on The Big Beat and my wife and briefly discussed Guided by Voices (Pollard's previous band). She doesn't care for them, but I think that, once you whittle away some of the nonsense stuff, Pollard and GBV really created some of the best pop rock tunes of the 90's and 00's. They're not even in my top 10, but some of their songs are ridiculously good.

"My Kind of Soldier" popped into my head after hearing the Pollard song last night. It's weird how sometimes a song can trigger a completely different (or in this case, somewhat similar) song to start playing in your head. Ever find a song in your head for no apparent reason, and then after a while, you realize there is one part or phrase or note from the song that resembles some other song you recently heard, and that it's not all random?

Friday, August 15, 2008

I like music

Hey all.

Whatcha been listening to lately? I recently ordered a couple CDs from Not Lame, a website I would love to spend more time and money on, if I had surplus time and money. They CDs were last year's release by The Broken West (I hear they have a new one coming) and a CD by a band called Ness, which is not related to Mike Ness, but is pretty cool. I'd give more elaborate reviews but, a) I don't have time, and b) I need to give them more time to digest.

Also been listening to the new M83 "Saturdays=Youth" which is pretty good. At least a few songs really got my attention. The single "Kim and Jesse" has this easygoing warm eletrco 80's feel to it that, despite not really wanting to like, I can't help but submit to. I heard another song recently by local Chicago band Hey Champ that has the same kind of sound, although slightly more dancey. The video is cool, too. It all seems too hipster-ish to like these retro sounding tunes, but, hey champ, I like what I like, so screw it.

Lastly, I've been sifting through the Smashing Pumpkins "Aeroplane Flies High" boxed set of b-sides from their "Mellon Collie..." days. I was a big fan of theirs at the time, but never got around to getting that stuff until now. There is definitely some crap on there (James Iha, I wanna like you, but your songs [and vocals] just kinda blow, sorry dude). But there are also some other really cool tunes. This is old news to anyone who already has heard it, but there is a track in there that is a compilation of like 25 minutes of riffs and snippets of songs that Billy and band had recorded at one time or another. Some are really cool (yes, I listened to the whole thing) and it reminded me that the riff-rocking songs are really what I loved about Smashing Pumpkins in the first place. Well, that and the drumming.

Monday, July 28, 2008

My Favorite Bands

A recent post on Gaper's Blog about Superchunk got me thinking about my favorite bands, and where I would rank Superchunk. I gave it a little thought and came up with a top ten. However, as with all opinion lists, this is subject to change. Also, no laughing.

1. Rush
2. Iron Maiden
3. Led Zeppelin
4. Teenage Fanclub
5. The Police
6. The Beatles
7. Radiohead
8. Superchunk
9. Sloan
10. The Boo Radleys

Runners up: Genesis, Dinosaur Jr., Smashing Pumpkins, Pixies/Frank Black, Swervedriver, Dead Milkmen

Looking at the list now, it's funny how many of these groups peaked in the 90's while I was in high school and college. Were those really the best years in rock? Doubtful. It must have something to do with the bond you make with music that surrounds you during your "coming of age" years.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Busy and Song in my head

Sorry again for the lack of postings. Been busy. Monday nights are softball, Tuesday nights are Darts (yes, I play competitive Darts. How many times do I have to say it?), Wednesday nights are band practice, Thursday nights are something, and then its the weekend. I don't really know what eats up my time, but there's always something. It's good though, right? It's healthy that I'm too busy to blog. I'm also too busy to go to the gym and too busy to not eat pizza and ice cream everyday. But that's...O-K.

Lately, I've had the following song in my head. I sang the opening lines to my wife the other day as romantically as possible. She was wooed until the call letters where she realized what it was...


Monday, June 30, 2008

Mix Tape - "Afternoon Delight"

I made a 70s & 80s light rock mix for a friend last week. I had been working on compiling a list of songs for myself that all kind of fit a certain mood for me. Generally 70's light rock songs that had a certain open stillness to them. I think I've discussed before how I'm slightly embarrassed to admit I like some of that old junk. But there is this particular sound of song that I wanted to build a mix around.

At some point, however, I decided to make the mix into something I could share with a friend, and at that point I realized that my original mix would have contained WAY too many ballads and not enough fun. So I changed it and to incorporate a larger selection of more upbeat numbers. I think the mix turned out well and I am planning to create a follow up. Here's the track listing (I interspersed some Anchorman clips here and there throughout the mix, to go along with the "Afternoon Delight" theme).

1. Starland Vocal Band - Afternoon Delight
2. Pure Prarie League - Amie
3. America - Sister Golden Hair
4. Paul Simon - Kodachrome
5. Boz Scaggs - Lido Shuffle
6. Orleans - Still the One
7. Jacksone Browne - Somebody's Baby
8. Ozark Mtn Daredevils - Jackie Blue
9. Climax Blues Band - Couldn't get it Right
10. Steely Dan - Peg
11. Doobie Brothers - What a Fool Believes
12. Fleetwood Mac - Gypsy
13. Bee Gees - How Deep is Your Love?
14. Chicago - If You Leave Me Now
15. Gordon Lightfoot - Sundown
16. Seals and Crofts - Summer Breeze
17. Rupert Holmes - Escape (The Pina Colada Song)
18. Jay Ferguson - Thunder Island
19. Pilot - Magic
20. Sanford Townsend Band - Smoke from a Distant Fire
21. Steve Miller Band - Dance Dance Dance

Thanks to Jason Hare's "Adventures Through the Mines of Mellow Gold" series for some of these songs.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Summer Concert Season

Dudes! Sorry for the lack of postings, but I've been busy! And broke! Too broke to blog! haha.

Back in late May, I took my wife to see Kanye West's "Glow in the Dark" tour, that also starred Rhianna, N.E.R.D., and Lupe Fiasco. It was a pretty fun show! For someone not that into hip hop and R&B, I enjoyed it a lot.

I missed out on BOTH the French Kicks and M83 the following week, and I'm a little bummed about that. Also, Anthrax played a small club gig (at Double Door) which probably would have been pretty cool. But later in the week, my band played our CD-Release show, and rocked enough to make up for missing those shows.

Then last week, things really started to heat up. I spent some dough to see Rush (my favorite band...yeah, so what?!?!) at the United Center. They were really good, as usual, although they played a TON of songs from their latest album. In fact they opened their second set with 5 new songs in a row. That was kind of brutal, not because they are bad songs, but because of the clustering...you gotta mix it up a bit. People get a little bored when they don't hear something they know.

Two days later was the long-awaited Iron Maiden "Somewhere Back in Time" concert. This one was advertised as a throwback show to their glory years of the 80's, including old stage sets and props, and most importantly, no new songs. Iron Maiden has maintained their status as an active metal band all these years, but their newer material just doesn't have the same spark. So the show with all 80's-era tunes was something very exciting for long-time fans. They busted out a lot of classics, including the 13-minute "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", which was definitely the highlight of the night.

The very next day, my band Kemman played again. I was super pumped up to play after just having seen my two favorite bands, however, the venue we played was rather disappointing, and it was difficult to relay my excitement into my performance. In short, we sucked, and split as soon as we were done. I hate to do that, since it's kind of good bandsmanship to stick around for the other bands sets, but we were just not happy campers at that point. Luckily, we're playing again this week to redeem ourselves.

Saturday I got to see the reunion show of one of my favorite 90's bands, Swervedriver. They gave off a very laid back vibe on stage, with almost zero talking between songs, but the music was pretty scorching. Great guitar work, although at times it was difficult to hear. Lots of effects pedals and stuff can sometimes cause the tones to get lost. But it was a great show, without a doubt.

This Thursday is the aforementioned Kemman show. We'll be playing at the new Bottom Lounge venue, which I've heard is bigger and better than the old location. Then on Friday I'm going to see 70's fusion group Return to Forever. I'm pretty psyched about that, since I've just recently gotten into them. Next Monday, Canadian rockers Sloan will be in town promoting their new album. Sloan puts on a great show every time, so I surely can't miss this one.

I'm gonna need an ear transplant if I plan to keep up this pace all summer. This has already been a lot of music. Plus Pitchfork fest in July, Lollapalooza in August, and in September, both My Bloody Valentine AND Helloween are playing on the SAME NIGHT. I've never seen either of them and I'm seriously torn over which one to go to.

I think this is my longest post ever. DUDE!

Thursday, May 29, 2008

My Band is Playing Tomorrow

We are called KEMMAN

FRIDAY MAY 30th, 9pm-ish
at the Underground Lounge
952 W Newport, in Chicago

just a few blocks from Wrigley Field, just east of Clark St.

There are two opening bands:
-Ian & the Astro Physicist
-The Psycho Kid
Kemman is playing last, so it's ok if you are a little late.

Also, we have new CD, and we'll be selling it at the show. $6. If you would like to buy a CD but can't attend the show, write me and we can arrange to get one to you. You can also purchase our CD from CD Baby, and you can download it from Amazon.com (and soon from iTunes as well).

And don't forget to check out www.kemman.com and
www.myspace.com/kemman

Friday, May 23, 2008

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Songs in my Head

The Cars, "Dangerous Type"

I love it when I can imagine a song in my head and distinguish all the different parts as if I'm really hearing it. Right now, I can hear the drums, the guitars, keyboards, bass and vocals all quite clearly. Yet I have not actually heard this song in probably a few months. The chorus is designed in such a way that it begs to be repeated, and on the record, the end of the song does repeat the chorus multiple times. It's catchy, but the downside is when the song is stuck in your head, it just repeats that chorus over and over and over... The brain can never find the end of the song!

Coming soon I'll have pictures of the finished, furnished basement. But until then, I leave you with these words, "She's a lot like you, the Dangerous Type. She's a lot like you. Come on, hold me tight."

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Basement 2: The Other Room

Previously, I posted some pictures of the "band" room, where my friends and I had painted some crazy designs. Since then, I've been working on painting the living room area. I had to scrap my original plans and improvise a little bit, but I think everything turned out pretty neat. Check out the pictures below. Carpet and furniture arrive on Thursday!





Thursday, April 24, 2008

KEMMAN CD IS DONE

Hey! My band recorded a CD a year ago and we finally got the finished product delivered today. We are all very excited since this is our first real release after many, many years as a band. We don't have a record label; we're just doing all of this ourselves. And I must say, it ROCKS! If you are interested, please visit the band website (www.kemman.com).

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Songs in my Head

I had a two hour conference call beginning at 9:00 this morning (made it to work on time for once!), and throughout the whole thing, I had the Kink's "Victoria" stuck in my head. Easily my favorite Kinks song, "Victoria" has a nice bouncy beat, a simple melody and an even simpler chorus: 1. Sing title of song 2. Repeat.

The only other noticeable song to enter my head today was the "Five Dollar Footlong" song from the Subway commercials. That song is certainly doing it's job. I got a Subway sandwich today (not a footlong) and inside the bag was a 3x5 ad promoting their $5 regular footlongs. But when I look at the ad (I hung it up in my office cube), I don't even see the words, or comprehend their meaning. When I look at it, it sings to me, "Five......five dollar......five dollar foot-long!!"

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Band Room Final Pics

Finished up the painting in the "band room" and I'm pretty pleased. I might do a little more detail designing on the pole in the middle of the room, but not until I've finished painting the rest of the basement. See the pics. In the 3rd pic, the dark color to the left of the box is brown, not black. The same brown is seen in the last picture as the stripe in between the thin yellow stripe and the thicker red stripe.




Thursday, April 10, 2008

Basement Paints

The contractors finished the band room Friday, so Sunday we started painting. Basically forever, I have wanted to paint a room with some interesting designs, instead of your average solid-color walls. Finally I had the chance to do that with this room. My friends and bandmates helped out, with everyone kind of taking ownership of a wall or section. We are almost finished and had a lot of fun doing it. Here are some pictures of the progress.








Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Update!/Songs in My Head

Holy smokes! It's been a while since I've posted, eh? Sorry to keep you waiting. News on the basement: it's almost done. Well, almost done being constructed. Then there is the furniture, flooring and painting (not in that order). I've started painting one room already, and I'll post some pictures soon. I enlisted the guys in my band to help me out (since it will be the Band room), and we're doing lots of interesting designs and things instead of your standard solid-color walls. I was up until 2:00 a.m. last night working on a mini-masterpiece on one section of wall.

We listened to some Husker Du, Megadeth, and defunct local punk band Oblivion while painting on Sunday, and busted out some Superchunk last night. But for some reason the song in my head right now is "F.M." by Steely Dan. I take a lot of heat from my wife for guiltily digging the Dan and Fleetwood Mac and some of that smooth 70's rock. I can't help it. The polished hooks just sink right in.

Anyway, look for some more basement photos soon.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Basement Progress Photos

Some people were asking about the progress on my basement remodeling. Again, I must admit that I have done NONE of the work, other than clear out all the crap that was down there before the contractors began. Below are some photos.








Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Songs in my Head

I'm busy working on a project at work. Right now I've just e-mailed what I believe will be the final version to a co-worker for their approval. So while I wait for their reply, I'll tell you what song has been in my head this morning: "All Over the World," by the Pixies. I haven't listened to the Pixies in a few months, at least, so I don't know why that song popped up. I was just discussing with my friend about how the Pixies were once one of my most favorite bands, and at one point not long ago, I listened to them regulary. But once I finally saw them live about 2 years ago (which was great), their albums started to lose a little of the mystique and appeal. Something about the simpleness of songs was exposed, where the record had me convinced it wsa more complex. I still like them, quite a bit, but they've faded just a little in my desire to actively listen to their records.

I've had the opposite happen often, where a live show gets me interested in a band. Has a live concert actually diminished your appreciation for a bands albums?

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Songs in my Head

Right now the song in my head is "I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock & Roll)" by Nick Lowe. It popped into my head as I was reading the Popdose Guide to Nick Lowe at Popdose.com. LOTS of interesting (both good and bad) music information over at Popdose - check it out.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Basement Screams



I'm doing work on my basement. Well, no. That's not true. I'm paying someone else to do the work. And I'm really excited about it.


p.s. I'm typing this sitting next to my dog and he stinks. Ugh.


Anyway, the contractors have been working 9-5 for the past 2 weeks and have framed out the new rooms, hung the doors, and routed the electrical work necessary for the new lights. Today I came home and peeked down there to see the first bits of drywall on the ceiling. As far as I can tell, these guys have done great work and I am so pumped to have the finished rooms!!

Friday, March 7, 2008

Fun Bar

Today I brought my lunch to work. A turkey sandwich, some baby carrots, a banana and some yogurt. Pretty healthy stuff.


But in the morning I remembered that I didn't have a spoon to eat my yogurt, so I went down to the cafeteria in my building to get one. I passed through the food stations to see what was cooking (literally). Roasted chicken, some fish, nice smelling soups... the usual. Then I saw this unique dessert.














It was labelled "Fun Bar," and it did, in fact , look very fun. It was a piece of chocolate cake, covered with marshmallows, a few chopped peanuts, and colorfully topped off with some dark chocolate M&M's. (I took the photograph after my first bite - it did not have a missing bite when I bought it.)


I was so excited, I nearly forgot to get a spoon before going back to my desk to wait. I was raised to eat my dessert after my meal, but it wasn't quite lunchtime yet. Despite not being hungry, all I could think about was food. My lunch was going to be so exciting now that I had a Fun Bar! So at 11:30, a full hour before my usual lunch break, I retrieved my lunch from the office fridge and devoured it, setting my sights on the Fun Bar.


But tragedy struck. A phone call. From my boss. With the chocolate and marshmallows just inches from my face, I was forced to have a real conversation about "important business"- seemingly miles away from everything a Fun Bar represents. After several agonizing minutes, I was finally able to hang up and take my first bite -


Meh.


It was really just OK. The cake was good, the marshmallows were good, but you know, I think I just prefer them seperate. I kept thinking the cake should've had a more sugary topping (like a usual frosting), and the marshmallows' soft texture was diminished by the spongey cake. But despite my less-than-ecstatic taste buds, the Fun Bar WAS very fun. It was a child's dream food and it made me feel silly for a while.


PS. The song in my head today is "Taxman Mr Thief" off of Cheap Trick's first album.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Songs in My Head

"Falling Slowly," the duet by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova from the film Once. I still have not seen the film, although I've heard only great things about it. I first heard this song performed live on the David Letterman show, and it intrigued me. Last night it won the Oscar for best original song in a film (beating out THREE song nominations from the film Enchanted). Since watching them perform it again on the Academy Awards broadcast, I haven't been able to get it out of my head.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Oh, Sports.


A strange thing happened last night in my personal wide world of sports. I watched a Drake University men's basketball game for the first time since I graduated from there 10 years ago. They were on TV last night playing conference rival Bradley.


I never paid much attention to college sports when I was IN college, and really only started getting into the men's NCAA hoops tournaments a few years ago. But this year Drake is actually good. They are ranked 16th in the nation and are poised for their first tournament bid in over 20 years. So when I saw that they were on TV, I decided to watch.


They lost. Just their 3rd loss all season. But I'm still hopeful they will secure a seed in the tournament and maybe even win a few games.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Songs In My Head

Today, I'm internally rocking to "Love is Like Oxygen" by Sweet. I don't have much to say about the song, except that it's kinda cheesy yet kinda irresistable, like most Sweet songs. What an insightful chorus lyric:

Love is like oxygen
You get too much, you get too high
Not enough and you're gonna die
Love gets you high

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Running with the DLR

You guys have probably heard this already, it seems to be all over the internets right now. But in case you haven't, check out David Lee Roth's isolated vocal track from the Van Halen tune "Runnin' with the Devil." Turn it up loud and enjoy!

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Songs in my Head

"Here Comes My Girl" by Tom Petty is stuck in my head today. I've never considered myself a Tom Petty fan (so whiney!), but I do find myself liking some of his older hits. I could understand really not liking Tom Petty if the only material you knew was from Full Moon Fever to the present. (When Petty performed at the Superbowl this weekend, my friend claimed he'd never heard "American Girl" before. My friend is 31 years old. How can you have never heard that song?) A partial reason why I've grown to like some of these songs is due to a Tom Petty tribute CD called "You Got Lucky" that came out in the mid-90's. It features mostly indie-rocks bands doing some interesting deconstruction of older Petty tunes. They are not all great, of course, but I like the mix, with the highlight being Fig Dish's cover of "Don't Come Around Here No More."

Friday, February 1, 2008

February


Feb.1 - What's up, people? Anyone else snowed in today? I shoveled a few inches last night, falsely believeing the snow had stopped for good. This morning there was another 6 inches or so. My dog could barely force himself through it.

I think he's grumpy today - normally he would dive in and roll all around in it, but today he barely had the motivation to pee and come back inside. I think he already went back to sleep.

So, today begins February. What a crap month. At least I'm in a good mood today. Maybe it'll carry through.

What have you got going on this month? Anything fun?

Monday, January 28, 2008

The Songs in My Head

"Three of a Perfect Pair" by King Crimson. I really dig some of those 80's King Crimson albums, especially songs featuring a odd-time guitar riff repeated over and over. I like "Discipline," where the guitar riff is repeated on one guitar, and a second guitar will play the same riff, but drop a beat each time so that it seems out-of-time with the first guitar. Then after several cycles of playing "off," each time getting one beat further apart from the main riff, the second guitar eventually lines up with the first one so they are in unison again.

I think I just took a whole paragraph to announce I'm a nerd who likes math rock.

Friday, January 18, 2008

2007 Mix CD

After several weeks of fussing with it, I think I've finally put together a 2007 mix CD that I can live with. I want to post the list and burn a CD of it now before I change my mind AGAIN about certain song choices or sequencing.

To put this mix together, I started with a list of over 40 songs that came out over the past year and (slowly) narrowed it down to these 19 songs that will fit on an 80-minute CD. My main rule was "one song per band," but of course, rules are meant to be broken, and the band Stars appears on this mix twice.

Most of these songs are my favorite selection (or the best mix-friendly selection) from their particular album, but a few tracks are simply singles I enjoyed from albums I have not yet obtained. If you're interested in receiving a copy of this mix CD, post a comment saying so.

Artist - Song Title
1. Spoon - The Underdog
2. The New Pornographers - Mutiny, I Promise You
3. Deerhoof - The Perfect Me
4. Of Montreal - Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse
5. Stars - Take Me to the Riot
6. The Besnard Lakes - On Bedford and Grand
7. The Clientele - Carnival on 7th Street
8. The Sea and Cake - Up On Crutches
9. The Shins - Phantom Limb
10. Smashing Pumpkins - Doomsday Clock
11. Dinosaur Jr. - Back to Your Heart
12. Kaiser Chiefs - Ruby
13. Air - Once Upon a Time
14. Radiohead - All I Need
15. Arcade Fire - No Cars Go
16. Wilco - Side With the Seeds
17. Adam Franklin - Birdsong
18. Stars - My Favourite Book
19. Low - Murderer

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Brit Box: On and Off

You've probably skipped ahead and looked already, Ken, but here are the actual songs that made it onto the Brit Box comp. Looks like you got about half right.

Oasis - Live Forever
The Smiths - How Soon is Now?
The Cure - Just Like Heaven
Suede - Metal Mickey
Pulp - Common People
New Order - Regret

Echo and the Bunnymen - Lips Like Sugar
The Stone Roses - She Bangs The Drums
Ned's Atomic Dustbin - Grey Cell Green
Teenage Fanclub - Starsign
The Verve - Lucky Man
Elastica - Stutter

The Boo Radleys - Lazarus
Supergrass - Alright
Swervedriver - Duel
Stereolab - Wow & Flutter
James - Laid
The Charlatans - The Only One I Know

Here is a press release that lists all of the songs in the boxed set.

Some of these are kind of surprising, as some really big hits by these bands were left off. But the most interesting thing about the list are the bands that are not represented at all. Ken brought up XTC as one example, but there are many more.

The press release claims the collection to be "...78 U.K. performers spanning the last 15 years of the 20th century" and containing "U.K. INDIE, SHOEGAZE, AND BRIT-POP GEMS OF THE LAST MILLENNIUM." It's possible certain bands were not included because they were on major labels and not independents. Without doing any research (as easy as it is to research things on the Internet, I'm not going to bother for this post), I find it hard to believe that NONE of the songs on this comp were released on major labels.

Plenty of one-hit wonders and little known acts (to me, anyway) are included, so why then, are bands like XTC, Slowdive, Belle & Sebastian, Simple Minds, The The, Pet Shop Boys, Psychedelic Furs, Depeche Mode and even Radiohead NOT on this comp?

Friday, January 11, 2008

Brit Box

I referenced the "Brit Box" boxed set in my previous post, and how the Blur song choice struck as me as a little odd, given some of their bigger hits were passed over. Let's take a look at some of the other artists on this comp. With some of the artists, it's easy to guess the song because it was their only big hit (see The La's "There She Goes.") But other's such as Oasis have had numerous hits. Which one would you choose?

We already know which Blur song is on there, but, without looking, what song from the following bands would you expect to be a on compilation boxed set? Post your guesses in the comments.
Oasis
The Smiths
The Cure
Suede
Pulp (I always used to get Suede and Pulp confused)
New Order

What about...
Echo and the Bunnymen
The Stone Roses
Ned's Atomic Dustbin
Teenage Fanclub
The Verve
Elastica

Or these?
The Boo Radleys
Supergrass
Swervedriver
Stereolab
James
The Charlatans

Thanks to Ken from Gapers Blog for the idea for this post. I'll do a follow-up post with the actual songs in a day or two.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Songs in My Head

Right now the song in my head is "She's So High" by Blur from their album Leisure. It reminds me that there is this boxed set that was released last fall called The Brit Box which features 78 songs by 78 different British artists from the last 15 years or so. I don't have the set, but I wound up winning a one-disc 18-song sampler of it from an online radio station contest (woxy.com). As you'd expect, the sampler (and the full boxed set) contain a lot of Brit-Pop and Shoegaze tunes. Most of them are what I would consider the big hits of the era, but a few are more obscure.

The Blur song chosen for the compilation is "Tracy Jacks." Not a bad song, but I don't remember it being a single or getting much attention when it came out. Could be that it was a much bigger hit in England, or it could be that I just missed the boat on that one. Or it could be the only song the Brit Box compilers could get the rights too? But I kind of think that "There's No Other Way," "Girls and Boys," or "Chemical World" would be better selections for a British hits collection.

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Sorry

Sorry for the lack of posts.

Sorry for not finishing my 2007 Songs Mix like I said I would. I was having a hard time deciding on just one song from some of the bands, and now that I think I have it narrowed down, I still need to sequence them into a good flow.

Already since posting my 2007 Albums list, I've obtained a few more 2007 albums (The Shins, Baroness, and um...the Eagles). So eventually we'll see some revisions in the list, but for now, it stands as-is.

Hope you all had a good holiday season. Now comes the part of winter that pretty much blows.