There are things planned, kids, there are, but today, my reserves are empty. So, I’m just going to hand you one of the greatest songs ever recorded. The haters of the ’80s can suck it: this song is badass.
Apparently, there was a disco craze in New York circa 2004. I’m glad I missed that. But I’m equally glad that Craig Wedren did not miss it. In the wake of the break-up of his band, the great Shudder to Think, Wedren was looking for something new to pour his considerable energy into, a fresh start. The new project, Baby – which also included Amy Myles, Alex Edinburough, Lee Mars (Nine Inch Nails), Brad Vander Ark (The Verve Pipe) and Charles Scott (Shudder to Think) – only lasted for one, self-titled album, but that one album remains a gem of exuberant, sexy dance euphoria.
You may have missed out on Baby’s album the first time around, as it was released independently and without the fanfare it deserved, but you can rectify that now as the album has been re-released this month. It’s great timing as Baby’s vibrant tones and lusty energy are perfectly suited to summer.
And if you did get in on Baby at the start, the re-release includes un-released songs and demos that you’ll want to get your hands/ears on.
Spinner is streaming the album, sans extras. You can purchase the big, fat re-release through Amazon and iTunes.
Maths monsters! This explains everything. Scottish trio We See Lights have returned to shoot sunshine into your earholes again. And your eyeholes! Here’s an enlightening video for us maths-challenged types, for the song “Hopeless at Maths” off We See Lights’ forthcoming album Bloody Twenties. Want it? Get it. Bloody Twenties is slated for release in the summer. We See Lights Official Website Got some worthy free music to start your weekend. A Tribe Called Red is a collective of Native DJs who mix samples, beats and pow wow music into something they have dubbed Pow Wow Step. When I first read about this, thanks to Rick Saunders, I wondered why I hadn’t heard about anyone doing this sooner. I’ve been a fan of pow wow music since I first attended the Great Mohican Pow Wow (where they let white people in) in my early teens. The highlight of any day spent at the Pow Wow was going down to the ring to watch the dancers compete as the thumping drums and otherworldly vocals set their rhythm. Pow wow music is, essentially, dance music. It may be more ceremonial than the dancing you see in a club on a Saturday night… but, on the other hand, from a sociological viewpoint, maybe it’s all one in the same. I was endeared to A Tribe Called Red as soon as I watched this video for “Electric Pow Wow Drum”, which includes clips from Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man. How frigging wicked is that? And there’s a whole album, also titled Electric Pow Wow Drum, free to download below. A Tribe Called Red @ Soundcloud The Feel Bad For You mix for June is here, babies. The FBFY corral of hard-working (just humor us) music bloggers, twitterers, avid listeners, and people pulled off the street have come together again to bring you aural pleasure. Pick it up. (For more information about the contributors – or to comment – check the FBFY site.) 1. Track: Blondie and Dagwood 2. Title: Clever & Quickness 3. Title: No Spare Parts 4.Title: “45″ 5. Title: PT Cruiser 6. Title: Head Above Water 7. Title: I Just Want You To Go Away 8. Title: Yesterday (Circa Summer 80 Something) 9. Title: Chain Chain Chain 10. Title: The Messenger 11. Title: Ready For The Axe To Drop 12. Title: Alone In Memphis 13. Title: Everything You Took 14. Title: Come Unto Me 15. Title: Sippin’ Sorrow 16. Title: Bring Flowers To My Grave 17. Title: Creakin’ Ol’ Bones 18. Title:1922 19. Title: Loser Neck 20. Title: Set On Fire 21. Title: Sweetness 22. Title: The Devil Ain’t Lazy I’m just going to say this up front: You can’t have a second line with a stand-up bass and a full drum kit. That being said, I’ve been up in the New Orleans vibe lately, so this rendition of the classic “St. James Infirmary” by Swedish group Second Line Jazzband is hitting me in my sweet spot. The clearly accomplished musicianship backs a soulful delivery by guest vocalist Daniel Lemma, and I like the way the structure of the song parallels the progression of a jazz funeral/funeral-with-music by moving along slowly and solemnly until they “cut the body loose” and dance down the road. Listen and download: Second Line Jazzband Official Website You all have no idea how happy this makes me. Download their new song, a cover of “See and Don’t See” by Marie “Queenie” Lyons, via the widget below. Meanwhile, I’ll continue marking off my jailhouse calendar until I get to see them in September. Stolen wholesale from Deep Blues: UPDATE! The good folks at SavingCountryMusic.com have set up a PayPal button for donations towards T-Model’s care. You’ll find it in the top right corner of their page. Thanks Triggerman! T-MODEL FORD HEALTH UPDATE via Roger Stolle: SEND DONATIONS DIRECTLY TO BANK: OR MAIL CARDS, CHECKS, ETC. TO HOME: photo credit: Lou Bopp Lee Bains (of the Dexateens) and his new band the Glory Fires rolled out their debut, There is a Bomb [sic] in Gilead, this week. I dig this country-tinged southern soul track “Everything You Took”. You can download a full live show, from a March 23 performance at the Bama Theatre in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, just by clicking this link. You can also catch them on the road right now, including a stop at the much-loved Deep Blues Fest in Minnesota (the return of the original!) in late June. May 17 – Oxford, MS – Proud Larry’s Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires Official Website Much is said about the ’60s folk revival in terms of New York City and San Francisco, but the Boston-area scene, centering in Cambridge, is generally passed over. Enter this documentary, For the Love of the Music: The Club 47 Folk Revival. With current interviews and archival sights and sounds, the documentary traces the life of Club 47, which later became Club Passim, beginning with the fateful day that an unknown named Joan Baez auditioned for the once-jazz club, resetting the whole direction of the venue. The documentary, which includes not only interviews with such performers as Baez, Judy Collins, Maria Muldaur, Taj Mahal, and more, but also two previously-unreleased Bob Dylan performances at the club, will screen at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland on May 20 as part of the Ohio Independent Film Festival. Director Rob Stegman and executive producer/co-director Todd Kwait (who is a Cleveland-based lawyer and owner of Ezzie Films and Kingswood Records) will be on hand to introduce the film and take part in a Q & A session afterward. Want to go? We can help you with that. We have two pairs of passes to give away to the first two people (2 passes for each person) who comment on this post. Easy as that. The 19th annual Ohio Independent Film Festival runs May 17 through May 20 and will be presented at the Arts Collinwood galleries, with the headlining film “For the Love of the Music: The Club 47 Folk Revival” presented at the Beachland Ballroom (15711 Waterloo Road) on Sunday May 20 @ 7:30 PM. Program Admission is $10. Tickets are available for pre-sale here
We See Lights: Hopeless at Maths
A Tribe Called Red
Feel Bad For You, June 2012
Artist: Adam Carroll
Album: Lookin’ Out The Screen Door (2000)
Submitted by: toomuchcountry
Comments: This one is for all you June brides and grooms who want your new marriages to last. My suggestion is to put down that copy of 50 Shades of Gray and listen closely to Carroll’s lyrics of romance based on the couple from a comic strip legend.
Artist: River City Extension
Album: Nautical Sabbatical (2009)
Submitted By: @popa2unes
Comments: Formed in Asbury Park NJ in 2007. The band played an explosive showcase at last year’s SXSW; Newport Folk Festival producer Jay Sweet stumbled upon the gig, and later told Billboard, “This band, River City Extension, is ripping the paint off the wall.
Artist: The Rolling Stones
Album (year): Some Girls re-issue (2011)
Submitted By: Bowood
Comments: Jagger in hillbilly mode for this great road trip song from last years deluxe reissue
Artist: The Gaslight Anthem
Album (year): Handwritten (2012)
Submitted By: Gorrck
Comments: Single released in advance of the album. Thinking about actually getting the 45 on vinyl.
Artist: O. Children
Album (year): Apnea (2012)
Submitted By: tincanman2010
Comments: Sunshine. Music. Cruising. I said cruisING not cruisER. Oh well, rockin’ driving song so I’ll keep it.
Artist: Ryan Montbleau
Album (year): For Higher (2012)
Submitted By: Mando Lines
Comments: Ryan Montbleau’s new album was recorded in New Orleans with George Porter, Jr., Ivan Neville, Simon Lott and Anders Osborne. Ben Ellman (Galactic) produced. The majority of the songs (including this one) are Montbleau originals, but the record also has covers of Curtis Mayfield, Bill Withers and Muscle Shoals great Eddie Hinton. Great record.
Artist: The Lovely Bad Things
Album (year): New Ghost/Old Waves (2012)
Submitted By: annieTUFF
Comments: I just heard of this band a couple of months ago, so I’m still trying them on for size. But sometimes the best love song is an anti-love song.
Artist: Cory Branan
Album (year): 2012
Submitted By: TheOtherBrit
Comments: Cory finally got this album out and this ode to John Cougar is the perfect way to kick off summer.
Artist: Red Red Meat
Album (year): Bunny Gets Paid (1995)
Submitted By: Ryan (Verbow @ Altcountrytab.ca)
Comments: I’m constantly surprised at the numbers of bands I missed out on in the 90′s. Red Red Meat were straight outta Chicago, even touring with Smashing Pumpkins – yet I’m only just now finding out about them thanks to Tim Rutili’s current band (Califone). This is off of their recently reissued Sub Pop masterpiece Bunny Gets Paid – damn fine song if you ask me. Crank it.
Artist: Ray Wylie Hubbard
Album (year): Crusades of the Restless Knights (1999)
Submitted By: Rockstar Aimz
Comments: Killer song by RWH. This version features Patty Griffin on background vocals.
Artist: TV Smith
Album (year): Useless – The Very Best of TV Smith
Submitted By: Simon
Comments: The only redeeming feature of this weeks Jubilee celebrations for me has been the various media articles and TV programming on the BBC revisiting punk, not that it ever really went away – which brings me to this months song choice from a guy who’s continued to record solo and in various collaborations after the punk band he fronted split in 1979, prompted by one of the aforementioned BBC Rock-docs here’s a track from the The Adverts front man TV Smith http://www.tvsmith.com/
Artist: Austin Lucas w/Glossary
Album (year): none
Submitted By: Bryan Childs (ninebullets.net)
Comments: This, I assume, will be on Austin’s next album.
Artist: Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires
Album (year): There is a Bomb in Gilead (2012)
Submitted By: @philnorman
Artist: The Mavericks
Album (year): Suited Up and Ready EP (2012)
Submitted By: Trailer
Comments: Bad ass song. Glad they’re back!
Artist: Pearl Woods
Album (year): Eeny Meeny Moe!
Submitted By: BoogieStudio22
Comments: An old R&B tune, from a ripped LP that I recently acquired (quality’s not great). Just plain fun!
Artist: Jake Klar
Album (year): Jake Klar (2012)
Submitted By: Slowcoustic
Comments: Some great twangy singer songwriter “alt-country” from this new-to-me artist. The 7 track album is even a free download on his bandcamp page: http://jakeklar.bandcamp.com/ Highly Recommended.
Artist: Michael Dean Damron
Album (year): Nah Death, Im’a Comin’ For You (2012)
Submitted By: Romeo Sid Vicious
Comments: Mike D. has been getting me through a lot as of late and this track is the one I queue up the most at the moment.
Artist: Shooter Jennings & Last False Hope
Album (year): Outlaw Radio Compilation vol. 2
Submitted By: Adam Sheets
Comments: Based on a Stephen King novella.
Artist: The Riverboat Gamblers
Album (year): The Wold You Feed (2012)
Submitted By: erschen
Artist: Magnolia Mountain
Album: Town & Country (2012)
Submitted By: Corey Flegel (This Is American Music)
Artist: Micah P Hinson
Album: … And The Pioneer Saboteurs (2010)
Submitted by: Lord Summerisle
Comments: I am baffled as to why this man is not huge. Probably my favourite artist of the last 10 years in terms of consistency. Every album is great.
Artist: Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys
Album: single (1948)
Submitted By: April @ Now This Sound Is Brave
Comments: I get a kick out of the fact that this song is essentially praising Satan’s work ethic. And, of course, since it’s Bob Wills, it swings. The mellow-voiced Tommy Duncan provides the vocals.
Second Line Jazzband: St. James Infirmary
SECOND LINE JAZZBAND (w. DANIEL LEMMA) | “St James Infirmary” (2012) by birdswillsingforyou
Ladies and gentlemen, the triumphant return of the Afghan Whigs…
Give: T-Model Ford
Hi y’all. I just talked to T-Model’s wife Miss Stella. As many of you know James “T-Model” Ford has unfortunately suffered another stroke over the past week. He is to undergo angioplasty and start physical therapy “soon.” Since the medical bills are adding up, and he is currently unable to work/play, the Ford family is seeking donations to help with expenses. At 91 years old, T-Model is one of the last Delta bluesmen of his generation. He’s also a heckuva tough old dude, and as he sings, “Nobody Gets Me Down!” Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers, and send him a little something if you can. (Red Paden is also talking about trying to put together a blues benefit for T down the road, so stay tuned on that.) Thanks.
James Ford
Routing# 084205708
Account# 4700445890
Planters Bank
424 Washington Ave
Greenville, MS 38701
PH: 662-335-5258
FX: 662-378-4429
James Ford
443 South 7th Street
Greenville, MS 38703
Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires: Everything You Took
May 18 – Little Rock, AR – White Water Tavern
May 19 – Batesville, AR – Lucero Family Picnic w/ Lucero, Shooter Jennings
May 24 – Mobile, AL – Alabama Music Box w/ Nightmare Boyzzz
May 25 – Tuscaloosa, AL – Green Bar
May 26 – Athens, GA – Caledonia Lounge
May 27 – Atlanta, GA – The Earl w/ Glen Iris / Dirty Souls
June 21 – Louisville, KY – Zanzabar
June 24 – Rock Island, IL – Daytrotter Session
June 26 – Madison, WI – Mickey’s Tavern
June 27 – Milwaukee, WI – Quarter’s Rock’n’Roll Palace
June 28 – Minneapolis, MN – Palmer’s Bar
June 29 – Bayport, MN – Deep Blues Fest
Giveaway: For the Love of the Music: The Club 47 Folk Revival
