KELLER WILLIAMS: A TO Z

My first A to Z post at this new site, and maybe my last A to Z. These are a crapload of work! But no sacrifice is too great for this “job,” eh? But first, get ready for a rave review of KW’s upcoming release . . .

How good is Keller Williams? First, take the best parts of deep-think new-wave, like The Talking Heads, Laurie Anderson, and Thomas Dolby. Now, add two heaping tablespoons of Americana, a la The Grateful Dead’s country-style tunes or Fred Eaglesmith. Now sprinkle in pop and jazz for flavor, but make sure you get the hip-hop jazz (you know, the kind you’d hear from DJ Guru). Mix well, and you’ve got an artist who’s so good he defies classification. He’s a pure original.

Keller’s new release, Dreams, is a testament to the genius of variety. A simple, country-blues ditty like “Cadillac” sits between the borderline electronica single, “Celebrate Your Mouth,” and the ska-flavored “Ninja of Love.” Loose allegories based on food (“Cookies;” “Kiwi and Apricot”) are stored on the same shelf as the metaphilosophical, “Life.” I love this record, and I love this artist so much I’m giving you this site’s first A to Z.

Live, Keller is a jam-bander who clearly loves the Grateful Dead. For me, that’s not a problem. For you, don’t hold it against him. He eschews random musical wandering in favor of fast finger picking and celebrations of tightly written songs. And tons of covers, from rap to hillbilly.

Drop me a comment, lemme hear what y’all think….

A is for

American Girl (tom Petty)-Keller Williams

B is for an original, studio cut: Best Feeling-Keller Williams

B is also for another cover: Burning Down the House (Talking Heads)-Keller Williams

And the B’s don’t stop! B is for Black Peter (Grateful Dead)-Keller Williams

C is for another studio version, an original tune called Chillin’-Keller Williams

D is for Sultans of Swing (Dire Straits)-Keller Williams and Doin’ That Rag (Grateful Dead) into Down Under (Men At Work)-Keller Williams

F is for Funky Town (Lipps inc)-Keller Williams

G is for Gate Crashers Suck into Shakedown Street (Grateful Dead)-Keller Williams

G is also for Goof Balls-Keller Williams

H and J are for Jimmmmmmmmmi Hendrix! Wind Cries Mary (Jimi Hendrix)-Keller Williams

K is for Kiwi and the Apricot-Keller Williams

L is for Low Rider (War)-Keller Williams

It’s also for Love Bazaar (Sheila E)-Keller Williams. Remember Sheila? Bandleader of The Magic Johnson show?

M is for The Message (Grandmaster Flash)-Keller Williams

O is for Once in a Lifetime (Talking heads)-Keller Williams

P is for Prince! Darling Nikki (Prince)-Keller Williams

R is for Rapper’s Delight-Keller Williams. I used to cover this song myself, when I was in a band in college. That was not a pretty sight. Although I think I’m better looking than Wonder Mike.

S is for Stayin’ Alive (Bee Gees)-Keller Williams

T is for Tomorrow Never Knows (Beatles)-Keller Williams

U is for Up My Caddy-Keller Williams

V is for Moondance (Van Morrison)-Keller Williams

W is for Worthy-Keller Williams

Peace out! (Whew!)

INTERPOL RE-UP

Some folks had trouble with tracks 10 and 11 of the Interpol show I posted here. Please, in the future, if you like my blog, check in every day. I post every day, but links die quick for many reasons.

PDA-Interpol

Stella Was a Diver-Interpol

CIVIL WAR: BOOK 7

It was with eager anticipation that I ran home with issue #7 of Marvel Comics’ mini-series, “Civil War.” Issues #1-6 had been revolutionary. For one thing, they represented the first series of its kind to be grounded on Earth. All the prior “everyone comes together and fights” series, from Secret Wars (which brought us Spiderman’s black costume) up through D.C.’s latest Crisis (which killed Superboy and renovated The Teen Titans and the JLA), have cosmic storylines that are hard to follow and usually aren’t true to the overall spirit of the fictional universe. Other than Iron Man’s quick decision to embrace what seemed like a fascistic proposal that all superbeings register with the government (and the decision of the X-Men—who’ve lived underground all their lives and, in a future, have been the sole source of anti-Sentinel resistance—to stay out of the fray), the Civil War series has not compromised the integrity of Marvel’s characters and, more importantly, has not changed their personalities to fit the storyline.

This remains true in book 7, but boy was I disappointed. I guess I’ve been trained to love a happy ending, which this doesn’t give us. But more than that, I never thought that Marvel—a company founded upon the principle that everything old must be broken and remade—would end the story by showing us that if these vigilantes would just register with the government everything would be okay. Within months, the world is on the brink of utopia. I know the House of Ideas will spend the next year or so breaking it all down and trying to rebuild the universe to something like what it once was, but absent global amnesia Peter Parker will never be a “secret” identity again. The charm of Spidey was the element of the average: A loving Aunt, an inept lovelife. They’ve slowly been “maturing” him, and the books haven’t gotten better as a result in my view. And the new Avengers are now a team of B-listers (including Ms. Marvel and The Sentry, not including Captain America, Hulk, Spiderman, Wolverine, which are Marvel’s flagship characters). Can they really be called “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” if nobody who doesn’t read comics every month can pick them out of a lineup?

There’s something to be said for D.C. It doesn’t change much: Superman is still wearing tights with a red S (although he did flirt with a Jesus Christ hairdo for a while). Batman still has a utility belt. Martian Manhunter is still lame. But this consistency is what allowed the generation before me to pass its love of the funnybooks down and share the experience. It’s what allows me to sit down with my little boys and read Justice League to them. If Marvel takes too much of that away, it runs a serious risk of losing touch with what makes comics so great. It’s not the violence. It’s not the new costumes or the revolutionary issue that kills a major character. It’s that, time and again, we get to see Spidey put on a rubber costume and punch out Electro while doing a bad stand-up routine. It’s the expected, not the unexpected, that we ultimately look for in our books.

So, Marvel, please don’t take that away!

THE INDELICATES

A former Pipette has a really cool new band with an awesome album cover.

Check ‘em out.

Waiting For Pete Doherty to Die-The Indelicates

Julia We Don’t Live in the 60s-The Indelicates

Burn All the Photographs-The Indelicates

JAE MILLZ-THE OFFICIAL MIXTAPE

One of the greatest still-pretty-underground-but-recently-signed rappers around.

Cop it.

P.S.: I am sooooooooooooooo irritated with HypeMachine and Elbows.  Neither of them pick me up when they should.  Anyone out there know of any other aggregators/crawlers I can sign up with to get more readers?  I’m not in this just for the numbers, but it’s frustrating when the few sources of promotion I have don’t pick me up!

SUCH GREAT POSTS, COME DOWN NOW

I remember when my shorty came home one day and said, “What’s that song about the freckle in someone’s eye that you always listen to?”

To my dismay, I discovered that Iron & Wine had covered The Postal Service’s fantastic hit, Such Great Heights, and sold the cover to M&Ms. We should all note that Ben Gibbard himself didn’t do this. I don’t begrudge I&W their $, I guess, but it was a sad example of a great song being mainstreamed too quick. There was a time when all the hot indie bands were covering it, and then it all just ended.

Anyone for Tears for Fears? “Shout, shout, this song is played out . . .”

I still dig it, though.

Such Great Heights-Postal Service (John Tejada remix)

Such Great Heights (Postal Service cover)-Ben Folds Live

Such Great Heights-Ben Gibbard (acoustic, live)

Rilo Kiley-Such Great Heights (Postal Service cover)

BONUS!

Anyone here a Metric fan? I know I am (was?). Where are they now? Is anything coming soon from them? I see they’re playing Virgin Festival…I hope that doesn’t mean they’ve gone RI double A on my ass….

Well, if there is or if there ain’t, I have a live show from August of ‘05 to share with y’all.

Tracklisting:
01 Intro
02 Succexy
03 The list
04 Slow night
05 Handshakes
06 Calculation theme
07 Combat baby
08 Dead disco
09 Credits

Cop it

LIVE STUFF BY THE RACONTEURS AND THE EDITORS

The Raconteurs
Liverpool University
October 25 2006

01. intimate secretary
02. level
03. 5 on the 5
04. together
05. it ain’t easy
06. store bought bones
07. bang bang
08. broken boy soldiers
09. hands
10. yellow sun
11. blue veins
12. heading for the texas border
13. steady as she goes

Part one

Part two

Editors – Live at The Paradiso 2006

1.Lights
2.Blood
3.All Sparks
4.Fall
5.Bullets
6.Find Yourself A Safe Place
7.Camera
8.You Are Fading
9.Munich
10.Open Your Arms
11.The Weight Of The World
12.Fingers In The Factories

Get it!

THE ONE A.M. RADIO

First things first: I’m a bit of a grammar nazi, although I try to loosen up for the blog. But the name of this band invites ambiguity, and I wanna know if it’s intentional: Are we hearing a band named drawn from listening to the radio early in the morning, or from the fact that the only boombox in their ‘hood can’t find an FM signal?

The music offers no answers. Nor do the liner notes. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

In fact, it’s hard to find much wrong with http://www.theoneamradio.com
The One A.M. Radio’s third album, This Too Will Pass. For one thing, how many musicians out there are making songs that are heavily influenced by Simon and Garfunkle, Donovan, and Jefferson Airplane? While it’s true that the 2000 decade seems to be shaping up to be the new 1970s, what with so much psychedic rock and garage bands, but I rarely receiving submissions that seem happy to invite comparisons to the softer side of the early ’70s. Their songs are moody, and their lyrics are reflective, but they’re never maudlin, twee or cynical. The refrain for “In the Time We’ve Got,” for example, calls: “You hide the city in you.” It’s a love song about loving someone–not about losing them. While “Cast Away” tells of being jilted, it’s not sentimental or corny.

The formula doesn’t always work–”Lest I Forget,” for example, creeps so slowly you forget it’s there and “Mercury” sounds like filler. But when the songs do gel, they’re catchy and wonderful. A solid album, worth seeking out. Especially if you like The Postal Service or The Stars.

in the time we’ve got-the one a.m. radio

TORTOISE, LIVE 5.29.04

I’m pretty new to Tortoise, but I like what I hear. I’m posting a live show by the band today, but I don’t have a setlist. I really like this show–the quality is great and the musicianship is exploratory.

As a favor, readers, can someone please post the names of the cuts in the comments?

THE INDUSTRY EATS ITS YOUNG . . . DON’T BE THEIR SOUS CHEF

Faithful readers know that I had a (very minor) run-in with the Recording Industry Association of America that led me to shut down the original corner I operated from.  My return here on wordpress has been of much smaller scale, and I refuse to promote any work published by a label that  is in the R.I.A.A.  With rare exceptions, I won’t even promote the live or independent work of an artist who has ever released an RIAA recording.  My rationale is that it’s just worth the threat of a lawsuit or the stress of cease-and-desists.  Also, the industry “protected” by the RIAA has made it very clear that they are interested in the help of bloggers.

Unless it suits them.

On January 16, The Aphilliates (DJ Drama, DJ Don Cannon, and DJ Sense) were raided and some of them were arrested for making mixtape CDs.  Let me say outright that I believe the holder of a copyright should be able to enforce that right.  I sided with Metallica during the old Napster furor.  If artists can’t rely on labels to promote and protect them, then they can’t hope to get rich.  If artists can’t hope to get rich, then . . .

Then what, exactly?  Then we’ll miss out on Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys, Hannah Montana, and every other band that was assembled solely to make money.  Okay, no great loss (IMHO) there because that sort of temporary, trend-based art will always find a market.  But we’ll also miss out on the later work of folks like Bob Dylan, Roger Waters, and, yes, Metallica: Folks who have earned access to ears and equipment that struggling artists can’t hope to reach.  This is important if genres are to grow and become mainstream, and being in the mainstream is important.  If Lil Jon or Lil Wayne stayed local, New Yorkers would never have heard crunk.  If the Beatles hadn’t crossed the Atlantic, the world of music would be drastically different today.

In order for hip-hop to become mainstream, the industry entered into an unspoken agreement with folks like the Aphilliates.  Now, though, that Dedication 2 outsells Wayne’s label release (because it’s better, frankly), the tide has turned.  In recent years, mixtape DJs have grown fat and the labels have grown jealous.  Hip-hop, always characterizing itself as an outside culture, gained popularity in the 90s and was forced to struggle with label-made gangstas and entire MTV blocks devoted to them.  Recently, mixtapes featuring locals and unknowns have risen to reclaim the outsider status of the culture.  Folks like Papoose, Lil Keke, and Saigon are bringing the game back even when NaS insists it’s dead.

And the RIAA can’t stand it, so they’re cracking down.  The mixtape DJs who used to receive special leaks from the labels themselves are now being punished for their efforts.  The guys who broke 50 Cent, T.I., and Weezie are being arrested by the representatives of the very guys who they made famous.

Next, they’re coming after us.  Bloggers, like myself, do what we do for love.  That’s it.  I don’t get paid, and I don’t get press.  I’ll never be bought up by Rolling Stone.  But the RIAA is perfecting web-crawling robots to identify content in mp3 files, true Terminators on seek-and-destroy missions that will kill indiscriminately.  They won’t care if you’re leaking whole albums or just posting a few tracks.  They won’t care if the PR folks sent you the material (as they did for DJ Drama), or if you discovered it yourself.

They’re only interested in one thing: Money.  Which is funny, ’cause I think the reason that they’re making less money is because all they’re trying to do is make money.  Not music, and certainly not musicians.

So the next time you’re going to shell some of that out to buy some new tunes, consider the source.  Forget the Fall Out Boy and buy Bloc Party.  Skip the new Bruce Springsteen and buy the first two Hold Steady! Albums.  Dump Coldplay and jump on Middle Distance Runner.  Forget Ludacris and Fiddy, and pick up one of Loosie Records’ new joints.

And the next time you’re thinking of posting on a band, check who they run with.  I’ve been noticing that more and more sites are having trouble with their links.  The RIAA’s crawlers are out there.  Don’t be one of the doors they knock on.  Don’t help them make money.  Be like me: Revel in the fact that multi-zillion dollar acts are tanking.

Buy independent!

And, more importantly, blog independent!

BLOC PARTY NEEDS NO HELP FROM ME . . .

But they’re gonna get it anyway. I’ve had Weekend in the City for quite some time now, but I haven’t been able to listen to it much because of all the submissions I’ve been getting. At my first pass through, I didn’t love it. I thought they’d slipped a bit. But on repeated listens, I like it even more than their earlier stuff. I hope to God they don’t sell out and go major label: I like them where they are. Small, scrappy, but with a pure, produced sound that’s as good as anything The Glimmer Twins, Steve Lilliwhite, or Just Blaze can do–as good as any major label producers. And Kele Okereke’s voice has gotten better–he’s able to stretch in the slower numbers where I used to find him a little flat. It’s much more R&B, much more hipsway, much more Roxy Music . . . Much more better. I love this album. Best of the year (so far).

The only complaint I have is that every distributor (Best Buy, emusic, etc.) seems to have their own special edition with b-sides. This isn’t a way to reward your fans, guys. But you can find most of these cuts on the blogosphere. I’ll throw a couple your way today.

Bloc Party – Hunting For Witches (live 1.22.07)

Bloc Party-The Prayer (Phones Metal Jackin’ Mix) (pw: berkeleyplace)

We Were Lovers-Bloc Party

Bloc Party – ‘The Prayer’ (Para One remix)

Bloc Party- The Once and Future King