Go Away

what is this crazy thing?

I don't post random songs enough. Usually there is too much new stuff out there to bother with old and random stuff. And let it be on the record that I honestly think that perhaps two of you out there will download any of these songs [as opposed to the average of five].

Today's theme: rain. What else, as the biggest rain cloud in the history of history takes its fucking time crossing overhead here in Madison.

Smokey Robinson "Tracks of My Tears"
It's definitely, by far, without a doubt, my single favorite Smokey song.
Smokey Robinson "Tears of a Clown"
It's definitely, by far, without a doubt, my other single favorite Smokey song.
Silverchair "Tomorrow"
Silverchair had a tune called "Acid Rain", or at least I coulda sworn they did. For some reason I don't have it. Relive my bedroom and the cockpit of my 1986 Pontiac 6000 by rocking out to one of the tunes that was played most in both places.
The Great Mundane "Collecting Rain"
Chicago's TGM performed laptopily here in Madison, at my favorite little place Natt Spil. Sadly, although I planned on attending, the two-fisted combo of working at 0630hrs Sunday and the night before's three hours of sleep damned me from going. This song is b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l, in all it's chillistic hip hop -ness and electronic tinkering. Don't let these silly words fool you. Download it! And then visit MundaneSpace.
Thom Yorke "And it Rained All Night"
One of the best songs from one of the best albums of 2006 by one of the singers from one of the best bands.... ever.
Juana Molina "¡Que Lluvia!"
Juana captures my heart every time I listen her. If you haven't heard me say it before, think Jose Gonzalez, but female and sometimes with a keyboard and electronic whimsyness.
Cloud Cult "No One Said it Would Be Easy"
Mr Cult and his band and the painter lady will be here in Madison tomorrow night performing. I've seen him/them/her twice already, and I loved every minute of it. Sadly, I'll instead be geeking out to this guy, also in Madison:
Bon Iver "Wolves (acts I and II)"
Nothing else to say about this man. Listen and love, my friends.. listen and love.

Peas peace, y'all.

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Is it Chinese New Year?

That's what it was the last time I heard fireworks on a day I normally don't associate with loud booms and frizzly lights. Only, at least from my block, the lights can't be seen. I hope that they're exploding underneath the clouds/fog somewhere.

I'm using this blog tonight, as I did just about everything else-- Facebook profile updating, MP3 directory re-organizing, espresso machine cleaning, the list goes on-- as an escape from homework. I don't have any amazing new music to share. Nothing too crazy happened to me this weekend. I can't even think of much to say. That's how bad it is. I want to tell you of an epiphany I had or great moral I learned or that I thought of the greatest movie or television idea, but none of those are true. It was, indeed, a pretty boring weekend for me, Chinese New Year or not.

Alright, so since I don't have anything new to give you, I'll give you something old. In the spirit of nearing the end of this [Western World] year, and the possibility of the end of the Chinese Year [although I really don't think it was, and I'm too lazy right now to multi-task and go look, so I should really just let go].... and the desire to sort out some of my favorites of the year, I'm giving some tunes that hopefully you have not yet completely forgotten about. They'd most likely make my Top 100 of 2007 list, if I ever made one.

El-P [feat Chan Marshall] - "Poisenville Kids No Wins", from I'll Sleep When You're Dead*
Wanna know what I like best about this song? The end. The instrumental at the end is like an entirely different track, and I love it. I also love Cat Power's chiming in during the chorus and her vocal stabs here and there elsewhere. I try and I try but just can't seem to like much more of El-P's stuff, which apparently puts me on the edge of the hip hop community, because people seem to really like him. Does it say anything that the two tracks I really love off I'll Sleep have guest appearances? By "rock"-ers, no less.
*InSound says this was a 2006 release; they're so wrong.

Cloud Cult - "Chain Reaction", from Meaning of 8
Wanna know what I like most about this album? The beginning. If you claim to know me, or have read some of my RDD/shshdh ramblings, then you know I like album intros-- rather, I appreciate really good ones. That's one thing that draws me into Cloud Cult-- each album has a brilliant intro, whether it's an instrumental track devoted to doing the opening work or [as in the case of "Chain Reaction"] it's an elongated instro of the first track. Every time I hear this song it puts me back into the Orpheum Stage Door's little space where I saw them play it [as an encore?] back in the spring. The best moment: the entirety of the drumless strumming and vocals of raw emotion that starts at the 1:30 mark. Shivers, people.

The Tough Alliance - "Something Special", from New Chance
I think I sent this out to RDD/shshdh'rs when I had first heard it in the summer. I played it a couple dozen times in the first few days I heard it. All of the stuff I've heard by them is pretty solid. Swedish boys doin' good pop with a shadow of chill and a sprinkle of electronic coating the whole package.