MUSIC THREAD

And I liked Drag It Up better than Fight Songs.
When someone says "return to form" for the Old 97s, I expect them to mean the "form" from Too Far to Care.

 

Bad Gal Zero and I had front row seats for a Joe show a couple of weeks ago. We ended up moving back to about the tenth row after about five songs as we couldn't see Joe very well due to the positioning of his piano. We did have a very nice view of his crotch, though. His drummer was playing an entirely synthesized drum kit [save for the snare] and that was sort of odd from the front row. He's hitting toms and cymbals and they're not making any noise.
There was some confusion over the opening act. Ticketmaster listed the opener as Jesca Hoop. But the venue's site listed Mutlu as the opener. I checked out both artists websites. Jesca Hoop is quite interesting. She was the nanny to the children of Tom Waits. The samples on her website reminded me of Keren Ann. However, she did not have the Joe Jackson show listed on her website. Mutlu did have the show listed on his website. Too bad his music was horribly generic in a John Mayer sort of way. So BGZ and I made a point to arrive late so as to miss Mutlu's set [which we were successful in doing].

I picked up Jesca Hoop's CD. A few of the tracks are very generic alterna-pop and completely underwhelmed me. But I completely dig her when she goes into folk chanteuse mode.

 

Yeah, we got Mutlu too and were underwhelmed. At least he kept it short.

 

If you're into heavy sampling and mash-ups, the new Girl Talk album is available for the low, low price of whatever you want.

http://74.124.198.47/illegal-art.net/__girl__talk___feed__the__anima.ls___/

 

For fans of the Wu ... new RZA record drops Tuesday. Pretty good shit here:

http://www.myspace.com/rza

 

Last night a dream came true...I saw Tom Waits in concert!!! Best $105 I can recall spending in some time.

 

Jayhawks fans rejoice. Gary Louris and Mark Olson are making a new record together. I so can not wait for this. This year in music is getting better and better.


http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2008/07/mark-olson-and-gary-louris-talk-new-jayhawks-album.html

 

Great website

www.afropop.org

If you've always been curious about African music- from Africa, the Americas, Europe and elsewhere- this is a great place to learn the basics about genres and artists, hear some samples and open up a door to an amazing world of rhythm and sound.

 

Speaking of NPR shows, does anyone listen to Sound Opinions?

It's on Sunday nights here, so I rarely get to listen, but I've started downloading the podcast. Agree with Kot and DeRogatis (sp?) or not, and I know they each have fans and critics, it's a really good show.

I'm listening to this week's show now where they talk about the stuff they were wrong on.

 

I know it's received plenty of ink but the Willie Nelson/Wynton Marsalis album, Two Men With The Blues, is outstanding. Might seem off the top to be a strange pairing, but the song selection is great and Willie's voice really works in that setting. Highly recommended.

 

Anybody seen a show on Wilco's summer tour? The GF and I are heading to Cary, N.C., Friday for the show. Obviously, I'm pumped. Pretty heavy on Sky Blue Sky stuff, I assume? I really want to see "You Are My Face" live, and can only hope they open with "Via Chicago" like they did the only other time I saw them.

 

If you're lucky, you'll get to hear 26 songs -- with two encores, the second with a bunch of stuff off A.M. -- like I did on 9/19/07. They played five from Sky Blue Sky, and they started the show with "You Are My Face" and ended with "Spiders (Kidsmoke)."

I haven't been able to see them this year yet, but I'm hopeful they'll do some touring in the fall.