Music Monday: The Kills, again

I haven’t done a Music Monday in a while, but I’ve still been listening to music. The problem (or at least, the problem as it pertains to Music Monday) is that I’ve mostly been listening to the same bands. However, just my luck, the Kills released a new album.

Okay… it’s not that new, since it was released on April 4th of 2011, but relatively speaking, that’s pretty new, especially when you consider that most of the music I listen to was made before I was even born.

That said, here are three music videos from the album Blood Pressures by the Kills.

Music Monday: The Foo Fighters

My favorite band of all time was Nirvana, so of course I’m a sucker for the Foo Fighters. They have produced some of the best rock hits and music videos since the 90’s.

Music Monday: Ten-Hour Drive Playlist

I just got home from a ten-hour drive from my parents’ house in Indiana back to my home in the South. My car can play mp3 CDs, so I can fit hours of music on one disc. Below is the playlist from the CD I burned for the trip and video for four highlights I haven’t covered in previous Music Mondays.

Styx – Come Sail Away
Peggy Lee – Fever
Devo – Girl U Want
The Cranberries – Zombie
The Kills – Fried My Little Brains
The Kills – Last Day of Magic
The Talking Heads – Psycho Killer
Beck – Venus in Furs (Velvet Underground cover)
The Slits – I Heard It Through The Grapevine (Smokey Robinson cover)
Franz Ferdinand – Eleanor Put Your Boots On
Franz Ferdinand – Call Me (Blondie cover)
Franz Ferdinand – All My Friends (LCD Soundsystem cover)
Biffy Clyro – Take Me Out (Franz Ferdinand cover)
ESG – What She Came For (Franz Ferdinand cover)
Peaches – Turn It On (Franz Ferdinand Cover)
The Kills – Sour Cherry
Terry Jacks – Concrete Sea
They Might Be Giants – Particle Man
Toronaut – Stayin’ Alive (Bee Gees cover)
The Stranglers – Golden Brown
The Beatles – Hey Bulldog
Joan Jett & Paul Westerberg – Let’s Do It (Cole Porter cover)
Busta Rhymes – Turn It Up
Busta Rhymes – Put Your Hands Where I Can See
Busta Rhymes – Gimme Some More
Busta Rhymes – Dangerous
Busta Rhymes – Do the Bus a Bus
Radiohead – The Bends (album)
Radiohead – Kid A (album)
Amy Winehouse – Back to Black (album)
Amy Winehouse – Frank (album)
Pink Floyd – Animals (album)
Queens of the Stone Age – Songs for the Deaf (album)

Music Monday: Amy Winehouse

Ain’t it a shame?

Vidivodo.com : amy winehouse - rehab   Etiket: amy_winehouse rehab

Amy Winehouse- You Know I'm No Good Vidéo celoutte sélectionnée dans Musique

Music Monday: David Bowie

Today’s Music Monday is dedicated to Heathen Republican, whose avatar is the cover of David Bowie’s 2002 album, “Heathen.”

Music Monday: Oasis

I was in high school from 1998-2002, and I had a few acquaintances whose favorite band was Oasis (mostly kids who wished they were British). I always liked Oasis, but I had gotten kind of burned out on how often some people I knew played their music. After almost 10 years, however, it’s safe to say I can easily enjoy their stuff again.

I’m even willing to forgive them for saying they were bigger than the Beatles, because by way of John Lennon’s comments, that means that Oasis thinks they’re bigger than Jesus. First time in a while I’ve managed to tie Music Monday into atheism… even loosely.

Music Monday: Jimi Hendrix

I know of no artist who more aptly personifies independence than Jimi Hendrix. So, on this Independence Day, enjoy the Experience.

Music Monday: Terry Jacks & The Poppy Family

Music Monday: Cat Power

I usually write a little blurb here, but I was busy all Monday and I didn’t even get this out in time, so I’ll just say: Chan Marshall is an amazing singer and songwriter, and I hope you check out her work.

Music Monday: The Decemberists

I first became aware of the Decemberists in 2005, when they released the music video for their song “16 Military Wives” on BitTorrent. This is still the software I use to get my music (off of the site isohunt… wink wink).

This is one of the few bands these days who produce their albums as complete, contiguous works of art. In fact, I think 2009’s “The Hazards of Love” is one of the most well executed concept albums I’ve ever heard, being on par with Dark Side of the Moon or David Bowie’s Ziggy years.

And how often do I get to feature a band that utilizes the accordion?

Music Monday: How To Destroy Angels

Usually, new bands don’t get a good reaction from Music Monday readers/listeners. I am going to go out on a limb and say this one might be different. How To Destroy Angels features Mariqueen Maandig on vocals, Atticus Ross, and some guy named Trent Reznor, who I’m assuming is only in the band because he’s married to Mariqueen.

With echoes of Reznor’s former projects like Nine Inch Nails always in the background, HDA (as all the hipsters are calling them) pressed into new territory with a female vocalist and a more pop-friendly sound. I expect to hear more of the short 6 song initial release from last year appearing in films, and I eagerly anticipate the release of the next EP, which is slated for release as early as the end of this summer.

Music Monday: AC/DC

Few bands survive the death of their frontman, but the nucleus of AC/DC was always the Young brothers, Angus and Malcolm. When Bon Scott died in 1980 in a pool of his own vomit (because I guess no one was willing to dive him and save him), Brian Johnson took the over the microphone. Fans expressed no bitterness towards the new singer, and quickly embraced him.

So, on this Memorial Day Monday, I’ll be rocking out with a little assist from Australia.

Music Monday: Queen

I was barely 8 in November of 1991 when Freddie Mercury died. While the facts were fuzzy to me then, it was around the time Magic Johnson announced he had AIDS. These two events culminated in cementing my first impressions of the disease.

At the time, I didn’t know who Freddie Mercury really was, and it wasn’t until Wayne’s World came out a year later that I really appreciated Queen’s music. It was also around this time that I started recognizing “We Are the Champions” being played in every other sports movie and “We Will Rock You” at every sporting event.

Plus, it’s a great opportunity for a religious blog, since how many opportunities will I have to feature someone who had a Zoroastrian funeral?

Music Monday: The Raveonettes

I would describe this Danish rock group as The Velvet Underground with surf guitar. They are able to synthesize elements from every era of rock from the 50’s onward, and the result is what essentially amounts to a palatable Sonic Youth that is noisy enough to have an edge, but melodic enough for it to be bearable to listen to an entire album.

Music Monday: Busta Rhymes

I have guests at our house, so I just threw together videos of an artist I know little about, though I listen to his work and enjoy it enough to be able to pick some favorites and post them. No disrespect to Busta Rhymes in this regard, I am sure he has led a very interesting life, but I couldn't even tell you what his birth name is without looking it up, so I won't pretend to know.

The only thing I should add is that I recommend watching the videos on full screen, which unfortunately means going to the site it is hosted on. For some reason, his unedited stuff is hard to track down online. Enjoy.






Busta Rhymes - Gimme Some More by Mage-Li

Music Monday: Simpler, Softer Covers

The name says it all. These are cover versions (some you will have heard, some you won’t) which take some liberties with the instrumentation, tempo and volume to create a more mellow version of a previous classic.

Music Monday: Cross-Gender Covers

There is something about reversing the genders in a story that can cause one to look at it in a completely new light. These are songs which are given new life by a musical treatment from the other sex.

Music Monday: Fiona Apple

In these days of mp3s, customized playlists, and iPods that hold thousands of songs, not many people listen to entire albums anymore. The reason is obvious: pop music is full of one-hit wonders, flash in the pan gimmicks, and an overall lack of talent. People don’t put a lot of time into their music anymore.

Not so with Fiona Apple. She released three studio albums between 1996 and 2005, and her new album is set to be released this Spring. While she does have a label that may be dragging her down, trying to squeeze more radio-friendly tracks on her albums, she is also busy collaborating with other artists and performing benefits.

The time paid off, however, as all three of her albums are flawless. Even my favorite artists have songs that are okay at first, but make me hit “skip” when I’m listening to it in the car for the five thousandth time (I’m thinking of “tourette’s” on Nirvana’s In Utero). Fiona Apple’s work is all good. I haven’t heard a single song she’s done that I didn’t like.

In honor of her quality, I’ll be posting a higher quantity of her work.









*Bonus Track*

Music Monday: Sublime

In some ways, Sublime was vastly ahead of their time. In other ways, they were victims of the era in which they rose to fame.

Singer, guitarist and lyricist Bradley Nowell, bassist Eric Wilson, and drummer Bud Gaugh played their first gig as Sublime in 1988. Nowell augmented the punk sound of Wilson and Gaugh’s with ska, reggae and hip hop. Their first two albums flew under the national radar, but they garnered radio hits in the enormous California radio market and performed in 1995’s Warp Tour.

When the band went into the studio to make their third album, their back catalogue was beginning to sell nationwide. As the tracks for the third album were being mixed and pressed, the band embarked on a national tour. On May 25th, 1996, Gaugh woke up to find Nowell dead of a heroin overdose.

Their third album went platinum 5 times by 1999. Their blend of driving rock and hip hop set the tone for late 90’s rock, though the early exit of the heart of the band is reminiscent of the burn-out philosophy of the drug-addled grunge movement.

Music Monday: George Thorogood

Simply the most famous person ever born in Delaware (easily edging out Joe Biden), George Thorogood is best known for creating blues rock hits that are jukebox classics. His songs set the gritty biker-bar mood in hundreds of films. His covers of songs by the likes of Hank Williams (“Move It On Over”) and Bo Diddly (“Who Do You Love”) have eclipsed the originals in popularity.

Thorogood popularized simple, heavily distorted guitar riffs over a decade before they would reach their pinnacle of success (and over-use) in pop music with the grunge movement. For that matter, the blues roots of punk can be seen clearly in Thorogood’s lyrics, covering topics from being an outcast to unabashed substance abuse.

Unlike the burn-out nature of the punk and grunge stars, Thorogood shared a similar fate as that of the Rolling Stones, who he opened for early in his career. Decades after releasing his first hit albums, he’s still writing new material and touring.