TGIF Hodge Podge – Radio Dick + The Dead Weather + Birdmonster

I want to start off today, which happens to be the second consecutive Friday the 13th in case you haven’t noticed, with a quick story that I have been wanting to share for a little while now.  As you are probably aware, one of the single greatest things about being a music geek/snob is the rare occasion where you get opportunity to show off your exquisite taste to a group of your friends (and sometimes a few random strangers).  It’s those fleeting moments that make all of the time spent searching for and listening to interesting music seem completely worthwhile in an incredibly self-indulgent kind of way.  For me, one of those moments popped up just last weekend.

I was out celebrating a friend’s birthday here in Chicago when, after hopping around from bar to bar for several hours, our little group stumbled upon a joint that was literally completely empty.  Despite being located on a busy street crawling with bar goers on an unseasonably warm Friday night, we walked in to find not a single patron (or bartender, for that matter) in sight.  We were just looking for a place to grab a quick drink while we plotted our next move, so once a bartender appeared we decided we might as well enjoy the lack of chaos for a moment and indulge in a glass of whiskey.  The only thing really bothering me about the situation at that point was the fact that the bartender was blasting Nickelback, but I figured since we were the only people in the bar I could convince her to turn it off and find something that didn’t suck so hard.  It was then, when she mentioned that she was playing her iPod and suggested that I put mine on instead, that I decided we would be sticking around a bit longer than we had originally intended.  Now I just had to pull together a quick playlist; easier said than done in such a situation.  I wanted to assert my superior musical repertoire and include some eclectic stuff, but I also wanted my friends to enjoy it as well without me having to explain to them exactly what the f*@k they were listening to.  And I had to do all of this on the fly while extremely intoxicated.  In any event, these are the 20 songs I came up with (in no particular order, since I played it on shuffle and was way too drunk to possibly remember how it actually played out):

The White Stripes – “Hotel Yorba” ++ Vampire Weekend – “A Punk” ++ Blitzen Trapper – “Wild Mountain Nation” ++ Harlem – “Witchgreens” ++ TV on the Radio – “Dancing Choose” ++ Gaslight Anthem – “Old White Lincoln” ++ The Libertines – “Can’t Stand Me Now” ++ Rolling Stones – “Tumbling Dice” ++ Wolf Parade – “Shine a Light” ++ Raconteurs – “These Stones Will Shout” ++ Colin Meloy – “Engine Driver” ++ Harlem – “South of France” ++ Broken Social Scene – “Almost Crimes” ++ Okkervil River – “Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe” ++ Neutral Milk Hotel – “Two Headed Boy” ++ Guns n’ Roses – “Nightrain” ++ TV on the Radio – “Wolf Like Me” ++ Radiohead – “Let Down” ++ Crooked Fingers – “Modern Dislocation” ++ My Morning Jacket – “Evil Urges”

In a bit of a news update, I want to be sure and mention the new Jack White project that has been floating around the interwebs over the last 24 hours called The Dead Weather.  They have been mentioned in quite a few blogs already, but if you haven’t heard about it yet or haven’t had a chance to check it out I strongly suggest you do so immediately.  As a fan, I worship Jack White the way a fat kip worships Oreos, and the two songs that I have heard so far have not let me down.  I have been on record as saying that if I had a uterus I would have Jack White’s babies, and while that is certainly a bit of an overstatement I do think that he is one of the greatest musical geniuses of our generation.  His abilities as a guitarist, songwriter, singer, producer, and performer have been well documented through his work with The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, and Loretta Lynn; but in his role with The Dead Weathers we are exposed for the first time to his talents as a drummer.  In fact, Meg may want to take a few notes from him in that department, as he is shockingly proficient on the skins based on the two songs floating around so far.  The rest of the band consists of Alison Mosshart of The Kills on vocals, Jack Lawrence of The Raconteurs on bass, and Dean Fertita of QOTSA on guitar. They made their debut earlier this week at the launch of the new Nashville offices of Jack’s record label, Third Man Records, playing an exclusive set for a lucky group of 150 who also walked away with a 7” featuring the lead single “Hang You Up from the Heavens” with a cover of Gary Numan’s “Are Friends Electric?” as the b-side.  No word on whether or not these guys plan to stay together for a full-length album or possibly a tour, but I for one am hoping that they do.  Check the video of the single below and then head over to YouTube where you will find the Gary Numan cover as well.

Buy The White Stripes at Insound

Get The Raconteurs at Insound

Find The Kills at Insound

As I promised last week, we are going to make a weekly tradition of knocking the dust off one of the forgotten gems from our music past and breathing some new life into it by sharing it here.  This week the band is Birdmonster and the track is “Resurrection Song”, my personal favorite tune from their 3-song self-titled 2004 EP.  Some of you may remember the phenomenal hype that surrounded this EP when it first hit the blogosphere five long years ago, resulting in Birdmonster becoming one of those bands that was huge in the indie community long before they had even officially released any material.  As I recall, I was able to collect all three tracks rather easily from a handful of blogs that I was following at the time and fell instantly in love with this band.  They were full of raw, frenetic energy and that energy shined through brightly on all three of the stellar tracks from that EP.  What was unfortunate is that I had to wait two years for the follow-up to those three tracks, when they self-released their first proper album No Midnight which, while great, never captured my heart the same way that EP did.  A lot of that had to do more with the way I remember listening to the songs than with the music itself though, and that is why I am bringing it back now.  So join me in setting the dial on the rock n’ roll time machine to 2004 and going back for another helping of Birdmonster the way I remember them.

Birdmonster – “Resurrection Song”

Pick up Birdmonster at Insound