Though I thoroughly enjoyed Kevin’s entry last week, and I sincerely thank him for stepping in and guest-writing my weekly Hodge Podge, I must say that it’s good to be back as king of all things TGIF. I’ve been back home in Chicago for the better part of a week now, and I think that I am almost fully recovered from my visit to Cleveland (I bet that picture makes a lot more sense now, huh). As such, I want to take a few minutes to fill everyone who wasn’t there, which would be, well, almost all of you, in on what you missed during our meeting of the Dicks. Hopefully you all caught the coverage of our Southeast Engine show as well as our quarterly reports detailing our favorite albums of the year so far, but there was plenty of other great stuff that went on behind the scenes that has not been covered until now. Besides arguing over our choices for the best releases of 2009, we also had some in-depth conversations about many other things, both music-related and otherwise. For instance, there was a heated debate over the worth of TV on the Radio as a seminal band (for the record, Brian hates them, Kevin is somewhere in the middle, and I am an all-out fanboy), a four-hour debate at 3AM about the true meaning of Radiohead’s “Fake Plastic Trees” (I’m not even going to get into this one because I barely remember it and I’m pretty sure it got out of hand), and, perhaps most importantly, what is the best flavor of burger shooter at Steak and Shake (this one took place on at least three nights). As you can imagine, it was quite a trip, and with that I will go ahead and get right into a few of the tracks that I have been listening to regularly over the last several days. Enjoy.
The first band up for today is The Green Pajamas, and after listening to their new single “Any Way the Wind Blow” and doing a bit of research, I am a bit ashamed of myself for not knowing about them before. As it turns out, the Seattle outfit has been together for nearly 25 years and has released a few dozen albums over that span. Originally founded by Jeff Kelly and Joe Ross in 1984, the band has seen several different incarnations through the years, with the current lineup featuring five members, including longtime contributor Eric Lichter. With the quintet about to release their latest album, Poison in the Russian Room, due April 28th on Hidden Agenda Records, the lead single has been on repeat for me since it first hit my ears earlier this week. The track is an absolutely exquisite example of acid folk at its best. Boasting a swaying rhythm throughout that you can feel almost as much as you can hear, “Anyway the Wind Blow” plays out almost like a psychedelic lullaby. With sweeping, hypnotic guitars set to a tender, almost angelic at times vocal arrangement, it is nearly impossible to listen without completely giving in to the music and swaying from side to side as it sweeps you away. According to Jeff Kelly, the song was written as a tribute to the Louise Brooks film Pandora’s Box. Personally, I haven’t seen the movie, but I’m sure glad that Jeff did. This is an incredibly moving song and it has me looking forward to the new album and getting better acquainted with the band’s back catalog.
The Green Pajamas – “Any Way the Wind Blow”
Buy The Green Pajamas at Insound!
This next song is a severely radical departure from the kind of stuff that we normally post around here, but at this point I feel like sharing it may be the only way to get it out of my head. I was actually first introduced to this track last week when I was in Cleveland and it came to me in a PR e-mail from World’s Fair Records. Kevin and I were sitting around talking about new music when it popped up in my inbox so I opened it right away and said, “let’s see if this is any good.” Suffice it to say, we cringed immediately, had a good laugh, and wondered why anyone in his or her right mind would have sent us something like this. It was so strikingly bad that I couldn’t help but play it again later that day. And then I listened to it again the next day. And I listened again the day after that. And then, on Saturday morning, Kevin walked down to the basement where I was staying and caught me playing it on my laptop. It was almost like having your mom walk in on you watching porn in terms of the shame factor, but Tiga’s new single, “Shoes,” is just so catchy that you can’t deny it, no matter how guilty you may feel. Now I am not claiming to be a Tiga fan, or to know anything about him/her/them for that matter, but I can say that “Shoes” serves a certain purpose and it serves it well. It’s a fun, catchy dance tune that will be right at home in a party environment or to listen to while getting ready to go out. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and you don’t have to think in order to enjoy it, which is exactly what I look for in a guilty pleasure party song. I can’t speak on the rest of the album, titled Ciao, because I haven’t really listened to anything other than the single, but if this is your kind of thing it’s probably worth checking out when it drops on May 26th. And if it isn’t you can just enjoy this track on its own. Whether or not you choose to tell your friends about it is up to you, I won’t judge you either way.
Today’s song from the vault isn’t really all that old of a track, but it is something that has been stuck in my head almost non-stop for the last few days, due in no small part to the fact that I recently caught the season finale of NBC’s Friday Night Lights earlier this week on my DVR. As you probably guessed, the track I am talking about is “Devil Town,” specifically the Bright Eyes version from his 2006 release Noise Floor (Rarities: 1998-2005). Its no secret that this song gained massive popularity from the TV series when they first used it at the conclusion of its first season, but the original version of “Devil Town” was performed by Daniel Johnston and has been around since 1990. I’m not going to go in to Daniel’s life story because I would be writing for hours and half of you would get bored, but if you are interested (and you should be), I suggest checking out his Wikipedia page and possibly even renting a copy of the acclaimed documentary about his life and battles with severe bi-polar disorder, The Devil and Daniel Johnston. After Johnston, the song was covered a handful of times by various artist spanning several genres; such as country act Starboard Skies, punk band Groovie Ghoulies, and the folky alt-country version by Bright Eyes that I am posting today. This Bright Eyes rendition is actually the one that Friday Night Lights producers wanted to use in the show, but when Conor Oberst refused to sell the rights to the song the network went out and hired singer Tony Lucca to perform a remake of the his interpretation. So, basically, the reference point for “Devil Town” for the majority of Americans is a cover of a cover created to promote a television show for a major network owned by one of the largest corporations in the world. Gotta love capitalism. Anyway, here is an mp3 of Bright Eyes’ cover that inspired the Tony Lucca cover, as well as a video of the great Daniel Johnston performing the original version of the song.
