the village buzz

i was turned on to today’s artist, jesca hoop, from an old friend back home, steven vega. he grew up down the street from me, and we did catechism and school together until i left town. he was also a drummer, but but he was way more serious about it. he’s got a dream job over at DW Drums now.

anyway, i totally dig jesca’s sound. today’s song, “Intelligentactile 101″ has a feel that reminds me of merril bainbridge’s song “mouth”. i liked it enough to buy the album. i have an amazon prime account, so i still buy cd’s instead of digital downloads. hell, i still buy and listen to vinyl.

if you like the song, grab the album here:

Jesca Hoop - Kismet

today’s artist is todd snider. i would imagine most music junkies and some critics already know about todd, but i think he still deserves a little spotlight for those who aren’t in the thick of the music thing. besides “horseshoe lake,” this is my favorite of his songs. the song is off the album “step right up.” you can pick up the album here: Todd Snider - Step Right Up

enjoy!

this is a song by one of my secret stash of favorite artists.. francis dunnery. i think what i like most about this song is that it’s about one of the most emotionally hot things that people find themselves in. breakup/divorce.. that kind of thing. this song is about the time afterward. when two people cease being angry with each other. when they are both resigned to the fact that it just didn’t work.
that is both a very good and a very bad day..

here is another oldie but goodie.. today’s song o day goes out to lancey who turns (cough cough) today!
some background on this song.. back when we were kids, this was the official birthday song. sure, most kids played the beatles, but this was just a little cooler. in the morning, we’d get up early, and call KROQ, and beg the poorman to play this for song for our friend.

the band was “altered images,” and for those of your SERIOUS dorks, you will remember her from the tv show Red Dwarf, as the lovely Kristine Kochanski. back in the days when i was in a band, you might remember that i dedicated songs and shows to “kochanski..”
well, now you know who kochanski is..
anyway.. happy birthday, lancey!

yesterday, i was driving home, and flipped on “the coffee house” on sirius. i had to do a triple take. i like to check in on this station to see who is doing what in the singer songwriter arena. i was floored when i heard a friend of mine, Mike Farley. for whatever reason, i am still shocked when i find out that other people recognize the brilliance of some of my friends.

i kinda discovered mike farley the dude and mike farley the artist at the same time. Mike, like most people with something to say (myself included), he is a multi faceted guy. we as thinkers, artists, and promoters, run through life, with a list of things we are feverishly trying to accomplish.. yet, at the same time.. we are just regular guys with too much on their plate.

Mike’s Music comes from those few seconds in the week where a scent or a song on the radio.. or the memory of a familiar voice can take you back to a space when you had time to think about life.. and be confused, intimidated, and awed by it.. a time when melancholy was something that was not only cool, but something we had time for.

today’s track is “Home for good…” a song i remember from the mike’s cleveland days. enjoy.

i was a big fan of the smithereens when i first heard them in high school on kroq. they had a few hits on the radio, but i always though that their best songs were songs that didn’t make it to the radio. at this same time, i had a huge thing for suzanne vega. the “luka” craze was in full swing, but there was a better track that she had done earlier with joe jackson. (i am getting off track here, and will probably post that song in a few days.)

during the 80’s unexpected duets really excited me (rememember iggy pop and kate pierson’s “candy”?). today’s track, a duet with pat dinizio and suzanne vega was the track on this album that i played over and over. i never saw the video until a few years after the song came out, but i thought it was good enough to make today’s song o day a video track. enjoy, and let me know what you think..

this is one of the bands i found when i was in the indie music business. millions of cd’s came to my desk every day. most of them were pretty feeble attempts to emulate whatever the kids were listening to at the time. once home pc recording became cheap and available, and every house in america got the internet, indie music became incorrigible.

every now and then, a gem would make it to my inbox.

uptown sinclair is one of them..

i would imagine they would be a hit if some radio station were to accidentally drop one of their songs into rotation.

not that it will happen any time soon.. ever.. but i hate the idea of these songs never seeing the light of day.. so check out today’s track, and go find a copy of their cd. you’ll put it on your ipod.

today’s song is from one of the bands i have had a secret crush on for alot of years.. the band is called the icicles, and they are from somewhere in michigan. you can always tell when i really like a band because i don’t really do any homework on them. over the years, when i was writing about music and bands, i tended to do alot of homework on bands before i wrote about them. i guess i was just curious as to who they were and what they were about.

with the icicles, it was different. i didn’t care. their music was pure, and told me everything i needed to know.

there was an episode of this tv show that i used to love called pete and pete. it has been way too many years ago to remember the exact details, but little pete found this song by a band called polaris he was obsessed with finding a song that he had heard only once. he sat on top of his roof with his krebstar radio, waiting for the song to come on.. night after night..

i was much the same way when the icicles first appeared on tv this christmas season .. in the commercials for target. even after spending good money on a digital video recorder just so i can dodge commercials.. any tv i passed, i would bend an ear to the commercials, hoping to hear the song.. even though i owned the cd, and had it all over my ipod.. i would text my brother in new york.. giddy that my secret band was embedded in tv.

today’s song is the called “ralphy rodriguez.” this album is always on my playlist for road trips. every time i hear this song, i think it would be so cool if this song was about one of the singers in menudo.. that would be the coolest.. anyway.. enjoy my secret pleasure..

i found this song on an album called “rogue’s gallery.” i saw a magazine article somewhere that mentioned the research that went into making this album. i guess a few curious souls dug into long lost manuscripts of pirate ballads and sea chanteys and hired one of the most interesting lineups of artists i had seen. the idea of a gang of music dorks huddled around a pirate’s chest of songs and stories arced my brain so acutely, that i ran to my computer and ordered the disc, sound unheard.

this song is the opening track on the album, and although i totally fell in love with this album, i am told by my friends that it is poop. i disagree.

i guess spending a huge part of my life as a music critic turned me into one of those weirdos who has to chase the dragon ever further down the hole. if that is he case, then so be it.

freak your ears out with this track, dammit.

i think gregory isaacs is reggae’s equivalent to backseat makeout music. i first heard his music when i was a little tyke, listening to KPFK. there was a show on saturdays called “sounds of jamaica” with miss wirewaist. i remember hearing this song, and thinking that it was the sexiest thing i had ever heard (besides sade’s “is it a crime?”), but i was a teenage boy at the time, and had alot to learn about what sexy even meant. at almost 40, looking back, i think i was further ahead than i gave myself credit for back then.

when i was a kid, i used to listen to “sounds of jamaica” every saturday, and record it onto cassettes, and carry those to school with me in my walkman. those tapes are long since lost, but i can still remember them. i couldn’t afford alot of blank tapes (i always used good ones like TDK SA’s), so i had to reuse them alot. one weekend, i bought a pack of three tapes, and just cycled them through the weeks.

over the years, miss wirewaist was like a friend to me, exposing me to music that i never could have stumbled onto on my own. you have to remember, there was no internet, no cell phones, and no myspace. in order to find new and interesting stuff, you had to get out and adventure.

thanks, miss wirewaist, for all the great adventures.