Friday (Midday) Music Open Thread

for not backing me up on the fact that Beth Gibbons is a frighteningly good (emphasis on frightening) singer. Thus, I have no choice but to YouTube it up a bit.

Sour Times (relatively sweet singing)
Cowboys (sinister)
Silence (lonely singing)
Over (blending all three)

I heard she collaborated with Annie Lennox on something a while back, which is not in the least bit surprising, though her particular brand of strange is more introverted and has a lot more going on under the surface.

Just saw these guys at the Black Cat in DC and was quite to very impressed with how they sounded live. Their debut album – “Broken Side of Time” – is most excellent.

but Al Jourgenson is a ridiculously talented dude. I just heard a song from one of his side projects – 1,000 Homo DJ’s, covering Black Sabbath’s Supernaut. It kicked my ass and I can’t stop listening to it.

Not that this is a surprise but YouTube commenters are idiots. Trent Reznor did not sing this song, at least not this version.

“Old College Try”. Now I’m giving them another chance. I just love that song to death.

Tom Waits’ version of Danny Says by The Ramones a lot lately. What cover versions do you like more than the originals?

sir.

WOW

It’s been a lot of fun watching them get big(-ish) over the past few years.

Current musical obsession: The Antlers. The album “Hospice” is depressing as all hell, but it’s outstanding.

Ever had a band that blew you away with the first song you heard by them, enough to make you buy the album it came on, then realized that song was almost entirely different from most of their work, and still loved them anyway?

That happened to me with The National. I ran across Abel (which I hear was originally styled as ballad) one night randomly watching MTV2, then went out to buy Alligator and heard Secret Meeting come on, and loved them all the more.

Drop the World – Eminem/Lil WayneLost Hawks – Andre Nickatina
Oakland Blackouts – Heiroglyphics
3030 – Deltron

Dogs Die in Hot Cars – Somewhat Off the Way

I like the soundtrack from American Gangster.

but I feel that Days of the New’s second album is an underappreciated gem. After Travis Meeks fired the rest of his band following their crappy first album, he completely shed the post-grunge wanking and made something a lot more musical:

The Weapon & the Wound

This band called the Mary Onettes (oh my, a clever play on words!) on the radio a week ago. They’re a wonderful Swedish band that decided they wanted to update and play music in the vein of The Smiths, Echo and the Bunnymen, and The Replacements.

The singer really channels The Moz on a lot of songs and they have some beautiful lyrics, if anybody likes the above three bands, I’d recommend checking them out.

My favorite genre of music fluctuates monthly so I’m on my Indie Pianist/Singer and British singers right now and here are some songs:

Hush if you Must – Brooke Waggoner

You Give Me Something – James Morrison

But nobody knows them. Check them out here. They’re great live and good folks too.

The Weight – Gillian Welch and Old Crow Medicine Show

I think Gillian Welch and David Rawlings are awesome. They combine perfectly with OCMS for this piece. As far as I know, this concert is not available in any form except the video snippets such as this that have been posted at various places on the web. Love watching Gillian perform this piece. She looks as if she is totally enjoying the moment.

“The David Rawlings Machine”, which is much the same group as shown in the video, will be at the Showcase in Seattle Sunday night. I would be there, except that’s Valentine’s and my wife doesn’t really care for concert venues much, so we have other plans.

I am really into Shabazz Palaces and the new Beach House album that was mentioned above. I have also been rediscovering my love for Pete Doherty’s work. Down in Albion, released when he was with Babyshambles, is sloppier than some of The Libertines stuff but that carefree attitude is part of what makes the album work for me. If only the man wasn’t such an addict.