What We're Listening To Wednesdays - 05/27/15 Edition

Fran - The Roots / Here I Come & Rival Schools / 69 Guns:

I am taking my kids to The Roots Picnic this weekend.  I have been prepping my kids for it all week.  In honor of this upcoming event I give you this as my pick.  Coincidentally, this would also be my choice for my "Up To Bat" music should I ever make it into Major League Baseball.

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For the past couple weeks the staff at My Music, My Concerts, My Life have been trying to force feed me Faith No More (Except Scott.  Thank you Scott).  At the same time they have been withholding Rival Schools.  How can this be?  It reminds me of very early Goo Goo Dolls.  I think it's time I start doing employee evaluations.

Gita - Canned Heat - Going Up The Country:

As far as I'm concerned, Canned Heat are always a good idea. I've been listening to them obsessively when I was younger and now I'm always extremely happy when I stumble upon their music. Every time I hear Going Up The Country I want to take a road trip in my Chevy pickup (although I don't own one). Oh, and the high tenor voice is icing on the cake! This song makes me want to go out and burn some energy. Or joints.

Joel - Quicksand / How Soon Is Now? & Brutal Truth / Zodiac:

We've all heard this classic by The Smith's.  Truly one of the best songs of the 80's and it still holds up today.  This is a great, post-hardcore version of the song.  It's well done and definitely does the original justice.  Quicksand was an awesome band.  Do yourself a big favor and check out the rest of their stuff.

This song was originally done by Melvins.  I absolutely love the original, but I like the spin Brutal Truth puts on it.  Especially the vocals.  This guy's voice sounds like marbles in a garbage disposal, but in a good way.  Enjoy

Stephanie - Jason Isbell / 24 Frames:

I hate it when I have to give Fran credit for shit, but he's turned me on to a few pretty great acts.  Both of them are from Alabama.  I live in Alabama.  Fran lives in New Jersey.  Go figure.

Jason Isbell used to be the guitarist for the band the Drive By Truckers, which I never really liked.  I really didn't like Jason's debut album as a whole but "Cover Me Up" is a masterpiece and is on my Sleep playlist.  His new album doesn't drop until July but I absolutely love the first single from it.  "24 Frames" is a feast for a lyric whore, which I am.  24 frames is the number of frames in 1 second of film, for reference.

"You thought God was an architect.  Now you know He's something like a pipe bomb ready to blow."

Mind blown.  Here's what poetry sounds like:

Cathi - Koop / Koop Island Blues & GWAR / Horror of Yig:

Though I’m not a follower of acid jazz, “Koop Island Blues” is easily one of my favorite songs of the past couple years. I stumbled upon it on a YouTube playlist maybe two years ago and have been listening to it ever since. I was surprised to learn then that Koop has been around since 1997, making a unique brand of acid jazz that’s more than just an amalgamation of jazz, hip-hop and house dance. What makes them true innovators is that Koop builds their music by blending thousands of samples and overlays, reworking short clips of sound and music into masterpieces. Released in 2006 and sung by Norwegian chanteuse, Ane Brun, “Koop Island Blues” is a sexually frustrated torch song, smoky and suggestive with a corresponding video that thrills like a sexy French indie short. Enjoy!

And simply because Fran has his "at bat" music up there—here's my signature walk-out song for when I'm signed to the UFC. I once told GWAR lead singer Dave Brockie that this would be my UFC walk-out song and he asked, "What's the UFC?" He then went on to tell me that Al Jourgensen was a big fan of this song. Big Al knows what's up, so listen to see what you're missing if you're not already listening to GWAR. This song makes me want to crack skulls!

Scott - Luscious Jackson / Daughters of the Kaos:

I spent two days this past weekend watching 23 live Death, Black, Thrash and Doom Metal bands at Maryland Deathfest. And while that was freaking awesome (look for something about the experience here at this fine site at some point), one of my favorite moments of the weekend was driving to Baltimore with my old college friend and listening to Luscious Jackson's first EP In Search of Manny. While I've never been a rap/hip hop fan (I mostly even hated the Beastie Boys...I know, sacrilege), I loved this record. And so did my friend. In fact when this EP came out we both (and another good college bud) all bought it on a whim during the same Christmas break, completely independently from suggestion. I have to admit I haven't listened to it since I was in college (the 90s), but this record totally holds up today. And for that, I raise up the horns for "Daughters of the Kaos."

See You When The Needle Drops!!!

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