PJ Harvey - Love Me, Polly

I used to work across the street from this really shitty record store. It's dangerous for me to be that close to one every day, because I always end up pumping a ton of cash into any record store, no matter how shitty. Because I'm an idiot.

The one good thing about this store was that the owner would sell these "imports" that were actually just bootlegs he was burning en masse. I bought this one and it had a wicked skip and I took it back and he was, like, "Oh. Uh. We may be getting another copy in...uh...tomorrow. Sorry. You never know what you're going to get with these 'imports.'" Sure dude. Whatever.

But it's a decent live performance from Glastonbury circa '95. Includes some radio recordings as well.

Here's the tracklist.

1. Meet Ze Monsta
2. Working For The Man
3. My Naked Cousin
4. Telco
5. C'Mon Billy
6. Hook
7. Long Snake Moan
8. Me Jane
9. 50 Ft. Queenie
10. Goodnight
11. Walking On The Moon
12. C'Mon Billy (acoustic)
13. The Dancer (acoustic)
14. Harder
15. Long Time Coming
16. Send His Love To Me
17. Down By The Water

And here it is.

Mix Tape #25 - I Was Going To Call This 'Hey Ladies' But That Sounded Creepy So I'll Just Say It's A Mix Where All The Songs Are Women's Names...

This seemed like a good idea at the time, but, re-listening to it, I'm not so sure.

I am sure that this Tullycraft video is fun, though.



Anyway, here's the tracklist:

Side A
1. Spacemen 3 - Mary Ann
2. Unrest - Cath Carroll
3. Lee Hazlewood - Kari
4. The Damned - Melody Lee
5. The Quests - Jesamine
6. Slint - Carol
7. Tullycraft - Josie
8. Helium - Lucy
9. EPMD - Jane
10. The Wildebeests - Lucinda
11. Thee Michelle Gun Elephant - The Redhead Kelly
12. Redd Kross - Ann

Side B
1. Honor Role - Listening To Sally
2. Prisonshake - Molly London
3. Big Star - O, Dana
4. T. Valentine - Betty Sue
5. Crooked Fingers - Juliette
6. Patti Smith - Kimberly
7. Sebadoh - Kath
8. The Mummies - Justine
9. Kenny Rogers & The First Edition - Molly
10. The Cynics - Erica
11. Marvin Gaye - Poor Abbey Walsh
12. The Beat-Berrys - Carol
13. The Rolling Stones - Miss Amanda Jones
14. Descendents - Wendy
15. Sleater-Kinney - Jenny

Here.

Patti Smith - A Wing And A Prayer

Surprisingly crisp bootleg of live material from '76 and '79.

You can listen to Kimberly now, but you're just going to hear it again in two days anyway...



Here's the tracklist:

1. Horses/Hey Joe
2. Because The Night
3. 25th Floor
4. We're Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together
5. Privilege
6. Ain't It Strange?
7. Kimberly
8. Free Money
9. Pumping My Heart
10. Time Is On My Side
11. Free Money
12. The Boy I'm Going To Marry
13. Ask The Angels
14. High Over The Hills/Radio Ethiopia
15. White Christmas

And here's the link.

Scrawl - Misery (Someone Is Winning) b/w Just Plain Bad

Oh hey. Did you know I like Scrawl?

It's weird that two of their best songs never made it to any album. This was released on Bob Mould's "Singles Only Label" and it neatly encapsulates everything that made Scrawl so Scrawlingly good. "Misery" is a mewly mess and it makes me want to hug Marcy Mays. (Actually, I always kind of want to hug Marcy Mays).

And "Just Plain Bad" actually makes me bang my head like a dumbass during the bridge. Listen:



And get.

Mix Tape #24 - 1,000 Postcards From Montevideo

Back to randomness. Highlights: bluegrass Modest Mouse cover, Dutch folk with kazoo, angsty anthem to salted pork, Alley Oop on a handful of Vicodin, Bill Callahan being creepy, and the best song about the apocalypse ever.

Oh. And Joan Jett in a PVC catsuit:



(I fought the urge to post the [NSFW] video for that Add N to (X) song...)

There's nothing else to say really. Here's the tracklist:

Side A
1. Iron Horse - Dark Center
2. Add N To (X) - Metal Fingers In My Body
3. The Garnets - Indian Uprising
4. Elly & Rikkert - Kauwgomballenboom
5. Obits - Pine On
6. King Curtis - Memphis Soul Stew
7. Death Of Samantha - Roses Rejoice
8. Buck Owens - I've Got A Tiger By The Tail
9. Sonic Youth - Sunday
10. Tallulah - Bacon
11. Kristin Hersh - Vertigo (Live)

Side B
1. Friar Tuck - Alley Oop
2. Simple Minds - Up On The Catwalk
3. Joan Jett And The Blackhearts - The French Song
4. Mad Curry - Beauty
5. Rikkert Zuiderveld - Vreemde Vogel
6. Lambchop - Your Fucking Sunny Day
7. Kakkahätä-77 - Go-Go
8. The Mountain Goats & Kaki King - Black Pear Tree
9. The Super Eagles - Love's a Real Thing
10. Janeen Brady & The Brite Singers - I'm A Mormon
11. Kaleidoscope - Lie To Me
12. Bill Callahan - My Friend
13. Hazel O'Connor - The Eighth Day

Here.

The Morticians - She's Like Heroin

I'm really happy that the most downloaded album from this site is this one. The fact that this band didn't make it is a total head scratcher.

Here's their follow-up. It's a collection of demos, outtakes, and live stuff. So it's a way different experience than the studio effort. Muted and muddy and in some ways more personal. Long, compelling instrumentals and great covers. Just a perfect album. These people never wasted a note.

Here's a song:



And here's the rest.

Micronotz - Smash!

Huh. It's weird to me that these guys aren't getting more internet love. To me, they really stood out from the herd of 80's punks. They were raw and speedy, but the singing and lyrics were a lot more emotive than most. Not quite emo [thank God] but I think stuff like this [unfortunately] paved the way. Some tasty bass licks, too.

Did I just say "tasty bass licks?" I should stop typing right now.

Here's their cover of "I Got A Right:"



And here's the rest.

Mix Tape #23 - Roadtrip

I recently took a three hour road trip and, me being me, I packed 26 CDs. I am such a dork. Of course I only listened to three (Scrawl, KMD, and the excellent Holding a Dream comp). When I got home and went to put them away, I thought it might be fun to take a song from each and throw them together for a mix. And it turned out ok!

It's mostly the usual suspects, but there's a couple of surprises. That Marsha Hunt track is pretty killer. Oh look. Someone just uploaded a really cool Marsha Hunt video. Let's watch it.



That was nice.

I think the most important lesson contained within this mix is that when you have the Barbara Walters speech impediment, you really shouldn't add "Cry Me a River" to your oeuvre.

Anyway. Here's the tracklist:

Side A
1. Mclusky - Rock vs Single Parents
2. Le Tigre - Deceptacon
3. Barbara Manning - Scissors
4. Galt McDermot - Lady, You Look Good to Me
5. Th' Faith Healers - Sparklingly Chime
6. Quarteto 1111 - Dona Vitoria
7. Renegade Soundwave - Biting My Nails
8. The Flesh Eaters - Impossible Crime
9. Tindersticks - City Sickness
10. The Cynics - Get My Way
11. Gene Latter - Holding A Dream
12. Kimya Dawson - I Like Giants
13. DJ P - Hotel California vs. The Shining

Side B
1. Barbra Manning - Straw Man
2. Betty Davis - Ooh Yea
3. Eleventh Dream Day - Two Smart Cookies
4. Claudine Longet - Cwy Me a Wiver
5. Marsha Hunt - Somebody to Love
6. K.M.D. - Subroc's Mission
7. Soundation - Tricky Dicky
8. Vashti Bunyan - 17 Pink Sugar Elephants
9. L ed Z eppelin - Celebration Day
10. Willy Hoffmann - Coconuts
11. Dinosaur - Raisans
12. Barbara Ruskin - Pawnbroker Pawnbroker
13. Scrawl - Come Back Then

Here.

Bastards - You Didn't Give A Damn About The Exploding Man Because You Killed Him

Oh cool. No one's uploaded this.

I'm so thankful for hardcore because it encouraged several great bands to up the ante. Of course, there's a fine line between great shitnoise with a real grasp of compelling rhythm and riffs and, well, just shit.

Bastards were on the correct side of that line for me. They were from Germany, and, to quote Vince, you know the Germans always make great stuff. Member or members went on to form [the seriously great] Janitor Joe and [the seriously crappy] Gnomes of Zurich.

I've used this track to peel paint off of things.



And you can hear the rest here.

Mix Tape #22 - My Neck's Stiff. My Head Hurts.

Music's making me sad. The new MF Doom album is completely phoned in. The guy from Hot Snakes and Drive Like Jehu started a new band that sounds like the old bands minus everything that made them interesting. I finally listened to the second Evens record and didn't like it. Every time I try to find something from this decade to like I fail. Well. Except for Wooden Shjips.

[Seriously...if you have any suggestions for modern stuff I might like, PLEASE let me know].

So, I keep retreating into decades-old oddities and that's mostly what informed this mix. It gets kind of loud toward the end. Sorry. Also, I didn't mean to put Peggy Sue in there twice, but, eh, sounded good.

"Ba-Di-Bi" is the theme song to a softcore movie from Italy about swinging nursing students. I don't think I'll be seeing that...



Oh. And in the interest of full disclosure, I notice I included a BUNCH of tracks from this guy's mix. Which is great. Big fan of that site.

Anyway, here's the list:

Side A
1. Chris Brokaw - I Remember
2. Peggy Sue - That's A No No
3. Peter Thomas and Donna Summer - Black Power
4. FM Knives - 16 DOA
5. The Moments - I Can't Help It
6. Arcwelder - Never The Same
7. Piero Umiliani - Green Valley
8. Big Boss Man - Sea Groove
9. Vampires' Sound Incorporation - The Ballad of a Fair Singer
10. Paul Nero - This Is Soul
11. Coachwhips - Yes, I'm Down
12. Ike & Tina Turner - Whole Lotta Love
13. DOOM - That's That
14. Roberto Pregadio - Bi-Di-Bi-Da

Side B
1. God - Rockin' Marky
2. Barney Wilen and His Amazing Free Rock Band - The Fool On The Hill
3. PJ Harvey - Yuri-G
4. Peggy Sue - Down In The Boondocks
5. Edan - Fumbling Over Words (Battle)[Team Teamwork Remix]
6. Railroad Jerk - Clean Shirt
7. Frankie Laine - Wanted Man
8. The Evens - Get Even
9. Guy Pedersen - Bass In Love
10. The Make Up - Pow! To The People
11. Nashville Pussy - First I Look At The Purse
12. The Hard-Ons - Race Track
13. The Raincoats - Don't Be Mean
14. Death - Politicians In My Eyes

Here.

Connie Francis - I'm Gonna Be Warm This Winter

I just got back from Portland. They have really good record stores there! And I spent too much money on music! As usual!

All the stuff I found'll be worming its way into future mixes, but this thing was hands down my favorite find...IT'S CONNIE FRANCIS SINGING IN JAPANESE. Well. All but two songs. But still. 18 SONGS. CONNIE FRANCIS. JAPANESE.

Here. Hear how awesome that is:



And then grab it.