You've Got to Hear This!

Not much gets me from idea to blog these days—but Splotchy and his Green Monkey Music Project always rouse the challenge in me. Volume 18 boasts a cool theme, thanks to Allen Lulu: The Unheard Monkey Mix—bands you may not have heard, but should be listening to. We music freaks stopped working on the perfect mix tape and came up from the parents’ basements to play: Grant Miller, Zombie Barbara and Tim Russell, as well as Splotchy and Allen.

And me, of course.

I went local for this GMMP. Georgia has a rich music history—probably one of the strongest in the nation. It’s the home state of the innovators: James Brown, Ray Charles, Little Richard, and R.E.M. Otis Redding, Gladys Knight (who went to my dad’s high school), the Allman Brothers, Sam Moore (of Sam & Dave fame), The B-52’s all started in Georgia. Athens’ Elephant Six groups are among those changing what we listen to today. I could go on in all the major genres—country, hip hop, alternative.

But let’s get to the reason we’re here: Georgia music you should be listening to. Here are six of my favorite Atlanta and Athens bands.

The Whigs :: Right Hand on My Heart

The Whigs, from Athens, are finally getting much-deserved attention, so hopefully you’ve heard a tune or two. “Right Hand on My Heart” was my birthday theme song last year; Favorite Boy and I played it quite a bit during our Asheville jaunt. The Whigs also performed it on Letterman not too long ago. A most excellent rock song.

The Selmanaires :: Nite Beat

The Selmanaires are the pride of indie Atlanta, playing together since 2002 or 2003. I stupidly just missed their show a couple of weekends ago.

What The…? :: 7 Women (A Guy Can Dream)

What The…? is my favorite new discovery in a couple of years. Eskimo Bliss’s Kim introduced me to Lee, the band’s groovy guitarist gal, on Facebook a few months ago, and I was hooked. How cool is What The…? This Atlanta band has played the Cavern Club, kids! Be sure to check out their most excellent e-jukebox.

Beretta76 :: Hit Parade

I’m stretching it a bit with my local theme. Beretta76 is a Phillie band, not an Atlanta one—but guitarist Pete Rydberg grew up here. He went to high school with All Things Dan, and Dan turned me onto the band a few months ago. Damn good band. Hope they play some gigs down here in the near future.

The Good Graces :: Real to Me

I mentioned above that What The…? is my favorite local find of the last couple years—but that declaration must be shared with The Good Graces—Eskimo Bliss’ Kim's band. Kim, in fact, owns her own record label, Eskimo Bliss. (Cool backstory: Kim won a nice jackpot during a trip to Vegas, and used that cash to start the label.) We heard several of her bands recently at a label showcase, but The Good Graces is still my favorite. Kim sings, plays guitar, and writes lovely songs.

Tin Cup Prophette :: Speak or Spill Down

Don’t you love it when you go hear a favorite band and fall in love with the opening act? Tin Cup Prophette is my latest opening crush, starting last week's show for Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3. This Athens band has a distinctive, interesting, lovely sound. Karen and I rushed to the Variety Playhouse lobby to snag the CD/T-shirt combo after their set. Our beloved Scott McCaughey stood at the edge of the stage before his set to catch them; he seemed to like them a lot as well.

A shoutout here for CD Baby—the best online indie music store around—that carries Beretta76 and What The…?. CD Baby also has the best damn acknowledgement e-mail in the business:

Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.

A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure it was in the best possible condition before mailing.

Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved "Bon Voyage!" to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day, Tuesday, January 13th.

I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did. Your picture is on our wall as "Customer of the Year." We're all exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!

So. Click above. Download. Listen. Dance around your cubicle. Click over to Slotchy: The Unheard Monkey Mix for all six playlists. Buy their records and get ready to tell your friends “I started listening to them before they got big.”

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My Six Degrees of the GMMP: Boom Boom

I was thrilled with Splotchy recently announced the return of the Green Monkey Music Project. I love putting together mix tapes, but have been too busy the last six months to get back into the swing. When he offered those of us who’ve earned the highlight covered GMMP Master badge, I jumped at the chance to head up a mix. I wanted something challenging, something to make the fellow mixers think, a theme that would open up to different genres 1 and to just plain see how interesting the connections could be.

Lord, here I go again, sounding like a Kurt Loder wannabe.

And so I came up with Six Musical Degrees. Like the Kevin Bacon game, our GMMP musicologists had to connect six musicians, or songs, or covers. Splotchy has posted the track listing, and will soon have the files ready for download.

So let’s get to my six. I wanted to cross genres, to include some of my favorite covers and artists — and of course work in R.E.M. Let’s see where that got us:

John Lee Hooker: "Boom Boom"
I’ve always thought “Boom Boom” was one damn sexy song, and it’s one of my top five favorite blues classics. “I love to see you strut, up and down the floor / When you talking to me, that baby talk / I like it like that.” To quote Mr. Hooker, whoa, yeah!



Van Morrison feat. John Lee Hooker: "Gloria"
You can’t help but love the original “Gloria” by Them — but two covers are actually my favorite versions. This is one, from Van’s album Too Long in Exile (1993) — and, g*ddamn, is it sexy with Van and John Lee. My toes curl and I get a shiver up the back of my neck to the hairline whenever I listen.


Patti Smith: "Gloria"
And this is my other favorite version of “Gloria,” from Patti’s debut album, Horses. Love it when Patti snarls “Jesus died for somebody’s sins — but not mine.” I always play this song when I’m pissed off. It helps. Man, I remember when this album came out and I heard this song for the first time. I just stopped. Played it over and over and over before I could listen to the rest of the tracks. Sometimes I wish I were Patti Smith.


R.E.M. feat. Patti Smith: "E-bow the Letter"
Even if you’ve read just one or two Rolling Stone articles about R.E.M., you know that the much-beloved Michael Stipe always calls out Patti Smith as his biggest influence. So it was a big thrill for us fanatics when New Adventures in Hi-fi — a much-underappreciated album — came out and we heard Patti singing with Michael. R.E.M. doesn’t have many guest vocalists, so this was particularly powerful for us.

Hindu Love Gods: "Wang Dang Doodle"
What a thrill when two of your favorites come together. Throw in a drunken recording session, and you have music gold, my friends. My R.E.M. boys Peter, Mike, and Bill supported the beloved (and kissed) (and missed) Warren Zevon on his 1987 album Sentimental Hygiene. The foursome got a bit blitzed on beer, and started playing around with all sorts of songs. It’s not a stellar album, but it’s damn fun — and you gotta hear their cover of “Raspberry Beret.”

Warren Zevon: "Boom Boom Mancini"
Here’s a track from the aforementioned Sentimental Hygiene — bringing “Boom Boom” full circle. That’s Peter, Mike, and Bill backing Warren. Brilliant album; this is maybe the sixth-best cut on it.




Here are my six songs, mixed by Splotchy. Want the rest? Then head on over to Splotchy’s spot.

So. Enjoy. Debate. See what our other musicologists strung together. And visit their blogs, too.

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The GMMP Great Eight

Looks like we have a great eight for my GMMP challenge — those musically daring souls willing to connect six degrees of artists or songs:

• iSplotchy’s GMMP master, Splotchy

• Allen L

• Bad Tempered Zombie’s Barbara

• The Pop Eye's BeckEye

• Monkey Muck’s Dr. Monkey von Monkerstein

• The KatBox’s Glassmeow

• A Million Miles Away’s KS

• And me!

We’re waiting on a couple entries — then we’ll hit PLAY and roll this mix tape, with Splotchy and me posting everyone's six. The kids will be tracing their six degrees of musical brilliance on their pages, as well.

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Six Degrees of the GMMP

Now that Splotchy has resurrected the Green Monkey Music Project, he’s offered the GMMP masters the opportunity to helm our own mix. I’ve missed my weekly mix tapes (but still can’t find the time to put them together), so I’m grabbing this opportunity to semi-mix.

The theme: Six Degrees of Music

The idea: As with Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, you need to connect six degrees of musicians or songs. For example:

• The Box Tops: “The Letter” (Alex Chilton, lead singer)
• Big Star: “Kizza Me” (Alex Chilton, lead singer)
• Alex Chilton: “Make a Little Love”
• The Replacements: “Alex Chilton”
• The Replacements: “I Will Dare” (Peter Buck, guitar)
• R.E.M.: “Jesus Christ”

Your sixth-degree connections can be by musicians, or cover tunes, or whatever musical notes you come up with.

We need six people to monkey around with Splotchy and me. Are you up for the challenge? Leave a comment here, and start connecting your musical dots.

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The Power Pop Return of the GMMP

The beloved and musically brilliant Splotchy has resurrected the beloved and musically brilliant Green Monkey Music Project with the Power Pop Mix Tape. Having been undercover from the blogworld for several months (I’ve watched “Fringe” a bit much, haven’t I?), I nearly missed my opportunity to play. I begged Splotchy … bargained with him … offered cash bribes … and he finally relented.

Plus, the musical nerd occupying most of my soul was highly offended over a power pop mix tape without a single Big Star track — considered to be THE power pop group. And I worried that some of you may not be familiar with Big Star — a sad, sad thing. So let’s spend a few moments in music school.

Alex Chilton started his music career as lead singer in The Box Tops, which evolved from a band he started during high school in Memphis. The band scored with blue-eyed soul classics such as “The Letter,” “Cry Like a Baby,” and “Sweet Cream Ladies.” Alex was 16 when he recorded “The Letter”; next time you listen (which you can do as you read this, if you click the link below), remind yourself he was a kid.

Chilton joined Chris Bell’s Big Star in 1971. They recorded three brilliant albums — #1 Record (1972) Radio City (1974), and Third/Sister Lovers (1978) — none of which sold well. BUT. Big Star was a big influence on some of the best groups in the 1980s, including my beloveds R.E.M. and The Replacements. Chris Bell was killed in a car accident in 1978. Alex Chilton now performs solo, and also has reformed Big Star with Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow.

But who wants to read when music’s dying to play? Here are my GMMP Power Pop selections:

The Box Tops :: The Letter

Big Star :: Don’t Lie to Me

Big Star :: September Gurls

R.E.M. :: Jesus Christ

Alex Chilton :: Thing for You

The Replacements :: Alex Chilton

Cheap Trick :: In the Street (That 70s Show theme)

The Posies :: What’s Going Ahn

A mix tape for me is like a bag of Lay’s Potato Chips — I can’t havee just eight. So here are a few more Big Star songs and covers, to give you a hint of their influence:

Big Star :: Kizza Me

Afghan Whigs :: Nighttime

Jeff Buckley :: Kanga-Roo

Wilco :: Thirteen

Yo La Tengo :: Take Care

I hope I’ve sold y’all on Big Star, that you're dancing in your chair and singing loud enough to bug those sitting near you.

And welcome back, Splotchy’s Green Monkey Music Project!

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The Day the Music (Really) Died

It’s with a sad heart that I direct you to the final Green Monkey Music Project. Blog diva BeckEye mastered this mix, a musical battle of the sexes. I was too late tossing my hat into the ring, but I wasn't missed. The tunes choices are fantastic. I urge you to check it out.

Green Monkey Music Project, we hardly knew ye.

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Easy as 1-2-3

There’s another great Green Monkey Music Project over at Splotchy’s place. I got to play this time — and I earned my GMMP Master Badge badge in the process. If only I could get that Making a Fire badge, too …

This mix is a fun, elementary one: alphabetical tracks. Herr Splotch asked the contestants to pick a geometric to get our ABCs.

I wound up with Z — last, but certainly not least. I whined at first (how many songs beginning with Z can you think of?), but in minutes I had thirteen tracks. I decided not to take the easy “Ziggy Stardust” route (although my Wilco and Bauhaus covers are pretty cool, and one can never go wrong with Bowie).

I narrowed it down to what I think are five cool Z tunes:

• R.E.M.: Zither
  
• Brooklyn Funk Essentials: Zurna Preserve
  
• Guided by Voices: Zap
  
• Stan Getz feat. Astrud Gilberto: Zazueira
  
• Young Marble Giants: Zebra Trucks

Show of hands for those surprised to find an R.E.M. track among my Zs? Anyone?

Here’s a bonus that didn’t make the cut:

• Louis Armstrong: Zip-a-dee-doo-dah

If I had read Splotchy’s e-mail more closely, I would have known I was on the hook for just one track — but who could cut any of these beautz?

Click on over to check out the As through the Zs.

Show of hands for those who love Splotchy and GMMP!

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One Isn’t the Loneliest Number After All

Another Great Green Monkey Music Project

The Splotch, who seems to be as obsessed about music as I am, is back with the Green Monkey Music Project — volumes four and five in this increasingly popular series. I was lucky to be tapped for my list of eight for Volume Four. The theme and rules this round was tough; Splotchy is a one damn task-mastering bitch when it comes to these themes. And I love him for that.

Green Monkey Music Project #4: What's in a Word? All songs must have a title consisting of only one word. The word can't be a proper noun (a person's name, a place — if it has a capital letter, it's a no-no).

Well, I thought this would be tough — but I had twentysomething songs in the folder within five minutes. The tough part was whittling it down to eight. I cut some great tunes — by Young Marble Giants and Young Fresh Fellows, Liz Phair and Aretha Franklin, The Replacements (sorry, Haahnster) and The Ramones, Oasis and Zevon, even Automatic Baby (half R.E.M./half U2) singing “One” — but I think I have a strong eight in my hand (as is the Cup's wont, alphabetized for fairness):

The B-52's: Topaz

David Bowie: Fashion

The Clash: Clampdown

Magnapop: Garden

R.E.M.: Stumble

Sonic Youth: Incinerate

Squeeze: Tempted

Johnny Thunders: MIA

Why are you still here? Click over to check out Green Monkey Music Project #4 to check out what the other kids submitted. That’s where I’m headed; there are some excellent songs to download. And tell Splotchy I said hello.

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Absorb … Like, Totally

If you’ve read this blog just twice, you know I never miss an opportunity to write about music, obsess about music, muse about music. So when I saw that fellow shy-avatarist Splotchy was starting The Green Monkey Project — sure to be quite the intelligent music discourse on Blogspot — I waved my virtual hand and joined the cool kids at their table. The other players have street cred (at least on my street): Bad Tempered Zombie and Monkey Muck.

The first Green Monkey Project assignment: Total Absorption.

What Splotchy wanted were the songs that totally absorb us. You know the ones — those songs that keep you driving ‘round and ‘round the block until the last note fades on the radio station, even though you have the album, and the CD, and the MP3 at home. You just gotta listen.

Being a product of the rocker 1970s and the new-wave 1980s, I was surprised that most of my songs lean toward the mellow. Here’s my list o' ten (well, okay, eleven):

R.E.M.: Radio Free Europe
Show of hands of those surprised by this first choice? Anyone? “Radio Free Europe” has been at the top of my must-stop list since Mitch Easter helped the boys rework it in 1983. I wish I could write the sentence that conveys the joy, the thrill every time I hear the song. It’s that magical summer of 1983 again, with Renae and Simeon and Shawn. I heard it at 4:20 this morning, and danced my absorbed ass all over the room.

Lyle Lovett: Friend of the Devil
I love this Grateful Dead cover (from the Deadicated tribute album). Lyle’s version is hauntingly perfect, and it brings back a very lovely memory. And that’s all I’m going to say on that.

Michael Stipe feat. Chris Martin: In the Sun
Here I go again with “lovely” and “haunting”; I need a new music-criticism thesaurus, don’t I? But maybe it’s those qualities that absorb my attention. This is the best Michael has sounded in years; his voice is honest and beautiful. I agree with Peter Buck that Stipe has the best rock voice out there today, but he can really nails the ballads. I have played this song over, and over, and over again for an hour straight … and I think I’m gonna do that right now.

Nina Simone: Feeling Good
Pure sex. Every time I hear it, I want to put on my highest-heeled black pumps, sheer black nylons, and slink across the room. Slowly. Nobody out-sizzles Ms. Nina, especially with this one.

Oasis: Champagne Supernova
The Gallagher brothers have written and recorded many songs that stay on my top 250 list, but this is the one that gets the most love and replays. I can never turn off the car when it’s playing — not even at 5 a.m.

Neil Young: Philadelphia
If there’s blood cursing through your veins and hearing this song doesn’t chill said blood, then you may not have a soul. I cry. Every. Damn. Time. I hear this song. My dad once heard me playing it and commented that it was a sad, lovely song; if you knew OM’s taste in music, you’d be impressed.

Nanci Griffith: Morning Song for Sally
Jerry Jeff Walker penned the loveliest, saddest, short-story-in-a-song evah. This song needs no video; the film in my head is unbeatable. Those five minutes rip my heart out every time, and Griffith’s voice is the perfect match for the song. Another song that has been replayed an hour straight. I’ve never been able to find Jerry Jeff’s version of this; anyone want to share?

Al Green: Love and Happiness
“Something that can make you do wrong / Make you do right.” And then that “heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey” that nobody can pull off like the Reverend. My shirt starts slipping off the shoulder on that "heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey”; I can’t help myself.

The Replacements: I Will Dare
Whenever I’m stressed or sad or blue, I put this on and dance around the room. The song makes me damn happy. How can you not love a song with “How young are you / How old am I? / Let’s count the rings / Around my eyes”? And that guest guitarist? The kid’s gonna be big one day.

Brothers Johnson: Strawberry Letter 23
This cover of the Shuggy Otis tune has been one of my very favorite songs since it came out in 1977 (my senior year in high school). I generally stop mid-sentence and lose my spot in reality when I hear it played in a store, or in the car, or at home. And, of course, I have to move my shoulders. Because I’m a funkster, y’know.


Pop over to Splotchy’s spot to see the full mix. And gimme another assignment, DJ Splotch.


COMING UP:
My review of Monday's Rufus Wainwright/Neko Case show!

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