You are browsing the archives of 2007 November.

Today I’m going to make some people very happy.
Detroit Grand Pubahs - Sandwiches from Funk All Y’all (amazon)

I recently saw the movie The Commitments for the first time, and there’s a scene at a wedding where one of the characters is complaining about the terrible music that the band is playing. When the band takes a break, a drunk dude gets up and belts out The Proclaimers’ “Letter From America.” Although [...]

OK, so I’m going to name the self-referencing song category after the first track on Art Brut’s first album. [EDIT 7-24-08: Changed to "Mentioning Your Own Band" tag] Done and done. And oh yeah — hip-hop, you’re disqualified. Sorry.
Our first entry in this category is Motörhead. If you’re going to sing your [...]

I’m going to Vegas to see my parents renew their wedding vows. You should come! They’ll like you. They made me the music lover I am today, so cheers to them.
I’m back Tuesday. I may be away, but I’ll be thinking of you.
Gram Parsons - Ooh Las Vegas from Grievous Angel [...]

As someone with a lot of experience at (in the words of the immortal Craig Finn) “feeling out the 5:30 Folk Mass,” I was thrilled and delighted when my friends Ev and Ren D. turned me on to Jewish folk musician Debbie Friedman. It was like finding a parallel universe. This song is [...]

So the Art Brut/Hold Steady show was pretty motherflippin’ sweet. Do you know what those bands have in common? No, not shouty lead singers. I hadn’t actually noticed that. They’re both bands that sing about being in a band, which I love.
But The Hold Steady also mentions their own band name in [...]

Sometimes I can be so wrong. When I first got a listen to Junior Senior’s second album (it came out overseas in 2005, but didn’t get released in the U.S. until this year), I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I didn’t go for all the guests (folks from [...]

This song from former Arab Strap guitarist Malcolm Middleton makes me tear up just from the melody of the verses. Throw in the lyrics and you can forget aboot it.
Extra cheers for Mr. Middleton for his entry in this year’s race to be the #1 single in England on Christmas. On [...]

KMD has an interesting story. In 1991 they put out Mr. Hood, an album both political and humorous. During the production of their second album, their DJ was struck by a car and killed. I don’t know what direction they were originally going in, but KMD surprised a lot of people by [...]

Oh, man. I like me some Out Hud, but last week I was at a coffee shop and I heard this song, and it really blew me away. Some songs get even better outside your house.
Fun Facts: These guys were originally from Sacramento (Old Sac represent!) but moved to New York. The three [...]