Monday, June 20, 2011

The Sonic Parthenon Show – Episode 16: “30”

The Sonic Parthenon Show – Episode 16: “30”

SPS16.mp3

Soooo….this Sunday’s show is going to be about oh….five hours long. Sorry about that. But this is what happens when you turn 30. You lose track of time. We’re probably starting early - 6PM. Cheers.


Intro
“My Back Pages” by Bob Dylan

Set 1
“Beat It” by Michael Jackson
“Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr
“See Ya Alligator” by Bill Haley & the Comets
“Mack the Knife” by Bobby Darin

Set 2
“Saturday Night is the Loneliest Night of the Week” by Frank Sinatra
“I’m in a Hurry” by Alabama
“Jesus He Knows Me” by Genesis
“The Weight” by the Band

Set 3
“You Can Call Me Al” by Paul Simon
“Sometimes a Fantasy” by Billy Joel
“Dear God” by Sarah Mclachlan
“Under my Thumb” by the Rolling Stones
“I’m Going Down” by Bruce Springsteen

Set 4
“Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)” by the Jimi Hendrix Experience
“Gallows Pole” by Led Zeppelin
“Comfortably Numb” by Pink Floyd
“Things Have Changed” by Bob Dylan
“Shoot to Thrill” by AC/DC

Set 5
“Stop” by the Dirtbombs
“Black Math” by the White Stripes
“Superstition” by Blanche
“Walk Idiot Walk” by the Hives
“10 A.M. Automatic” by the Black Keys
“Out of the Blue” by Julian Casablancas

Set 6
“Mack the Knife” by Louis Armstrong
“Evil” by Howlin’ Wolf
“Mannish Boy” by Muddy Waters
“Payin’ the Cost to be the Boss” by B.B. King
“Cocaine” by Johnny Cash

Set 7
“Where in the Hell Did You Go” by Reverend Horton Heat
“Everybody Went Low” by John Hiatt
“Lonestar” by Norah Jones
“Let It Ride” by Ryan Adams & the Cardinals
“Wrecking Ball” by Gillian Welch

Set 8
“Judy is a Punk” by the Ramones
“Your Phone’s Off the Hook” by X
“Clampdown” by the Clash
“Teenage Kicks” by the Undertones
“The Kilburn High Road” by Flogging Molly

Set 9
“Hot Soft Light” by the Hold Steady
“Wolf Like Me” by TV on the Radio
“Apartment Story” by the National
"Looks Could Kill" by Camera Obscura
“Young Adult Friction” by the Pains of Being Pure at Heart
“Stadium Love” by Metric

Set 10
“I Can’t Stand Up for Falling Down” by Elvis Costello
“Frank’s Wild Years” by Tom Waits
“Mickey Mouse and the Goodbye Man” by Grinderman
“Poor, Poor Pitiful Me” by Warren Zevon
“Sex & Drugs & Rock n Roll” by Ian Dury
“I Love You Suzanne” by Lou Reed

Set 11
“Life During Wartime” by Talking Heads
“Alex Chilton” by the Replacements
“Keep on Knocking” by Death
“Cradle of Love” by Billy Idol
“Situations” by Slaughter & the Dogs

Outro
“Try a Little Tenderness” by Otis Redding

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Friday, June 10, 2011

The Sonic Parthenon Playlist: Spring 2011, Vol. 2

Songs (cont.)

Keren Ann - "My Name Is Trouble"
Keren Ann has always piqued my curiosity and I've always said "I'll get into her on a steady basis" but while that hasn't materialized, there was room for this charmer.

Buffalo Tom - "Guilty Girls"
Confession. I've never heard of Buffalo Tom before I heard this song. After learning my lesson (via a comp tape found on Ave A), I got all caught up. They've redefined themselves as they've regrouped, and now Buffalo Tom may have hit a stride with this Americana rocker, a perfect burst of rock n roll.

Anna Calvi - "Blackout"
Anna Calvi has a lot of buzz. This song is near justification. What else I've heard...total justification. I will let you know after the Summer.

Crystal Stilts - "Through the Floor"
A band I think I once vowed to dislike since I was sick of distortion pop and bands with Crystal in their name. Oops. This song is fantastic.

Generationals - "Ten Twenty Ten"
I didn't expect Generationals to come back after "When They Fight, They Fight" two years ago but boy have they ever with this peppy prance.

Porcelain Rift - "Tip of your Tongue"
A sweet sounding, slightly fuzzy pop song.

Shrag - "Tight in August"
I HATE the vocals on this song, especially the female vocal. At least the male vocal sounds like a less-over-feminized version of Fred from the B-52's. And yet - in spite (or because of?) the incongruent vocals - the song works. The composition is made for a radio hit and that organ is irrestible.

UNKLE with Nick Cave - "Money and Run"
You tell me how UNKLE sounds. All I know is, anytime that I hear Nick's vocals now, I immediately feel like Grinderman is surrounding me. That's a good thing, just so you know. It may not, however, be a good thing for YOU.

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The Sonic Parthenon Playlist: Spring 2011, Vol. 1

A little bit different for this recap of the passing season.

Albums
Airborne Toxic Event - All at Once ("Changing" is by far the stand-out on what may prove to be a sophmore slump record for a band that has exploded.)
The Lonely Forest - Arrows (as of right now, my album of the year - except I didn't think to put this in the list when I first published it, and I forgot to play them as I intended on last week's Sonic Parthenon Show.)
The Low Anthem - Smart Flesh ("Boeing 737" sounds like nothing else as their road of a record.)
Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Belong (the title track and "Heart in Your Heartbreak" rule the roost but overall the Pains have asserted themselves as one of THE bands of the era. They're in this for the long haul.)
The Strokes - Angles ("Taken for a Fool" is great. "Under Cover of Darkness" could be the single of the year. Everything else is essentially dreck. Letdown.)
Tv on the Radio - Nine Types of Light (With each record, TVOTR not only improves but makes the case that they may be the band we cite first and foremost for this generation of music, the way we cite Nirvana).

Songs

4 on the Floor - "Junkie"
Boat - "Forever in Armitron"
The Dogs - "Dance More"
Manhunt - "Just in Time"
A quartet of rockers that I've grouped for simply being straight-up rock n roll. "Junkie" is straight out of the playbook and "Just in Time" sounds like the stepchild of Dinosaur Jr (only missing of course the solos).

Usonia - "It's Your Night"
Starfucker - "Bury Us Alive"
A pair of dance numbers for that warm weather groove. There are two more that I just started listening to that will be around for the summer recap. Dirty Vegas on the Sonic Parthenon Show?! Anything is possible...

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Sunday, June 05, 2011

The Sonic Parthenon Show : Episode 15 – “The Island of Misfit Toys”

The Sonic Parthenon Show : Episode 15 – “The Island of Misfit Toys”

SPS15.mp3
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmc73qaiHt1qhppato1_400.jpg

Intro
“Representing Memphis” by Booker T. Jones (featuring Matt Berninger & Sharon Jones)

Set 1
“Where Was My Brain?” by Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
“I Don’t Mind It” by Screaming Females
“Obsessed With You” by X-Ray Spex
“Me and the Devil” by Gil Scott-Heron

Set 2
“The Devil and Maggie Chascarillo” by Lucero
“Do You Remember?” by Sweet Apple
“Nowheres Nigh” by Parts & Labor
“No Direction” by Longwave

Set 3
“Guilty Girls” by Buffalo Tom
“Crossed Wires” by Superchunk
“Changing” by the Airborne Toxic Event
“Heart in Your Heartbreak” by the Pains of Being Pure at Heart
“Record Store” by Gold-Bears

Set 4
“Smash It Up” by the Damned
“Public Image” by Public Image Ltd
“Lost in the Supermarket” by the Clash
“Don’t Go” by the Ramones

Set 5
“Earthquake Heart” by the Dirtbombs
“What’s Going On?” by Marvin Gaye
“Revolution Get Down” by the BellRays

Set 6
“Looking for a Love” by the J Geils Band
“Rosalie” by Thin Lizzy
“Three Button Hand Me Down” by the Faces

Set 7
“Walk With Me” by Neil Young
“Bless This Mess” by David Bazan
“If I Had a Boat” by Lyle Lovett

Set 8
“Oh No!” by Marina & the Diamonds
“Intuition” by Lonelady
“Treat Her Like a Lady” by the Temptations

Outro
“Take Me Home Tonight” by Eddie Money (featuring Ronnie Spector)

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The Dirtbombs; Dennis Coffey @ The Bell House

The Dirtbombs; Dennis Coffey; the Step Kids
@ The Bell House
Brooklyn, NY - June 4, 2011


Remember when the Dirtbombs played New York every few months? Yes those were indeed the days. Certainly those were the days for this particular publication. But nowadays the Dirtbombs come around only ever so often. Here came that sound again, but affixed to a new record, a techno-covers LP called Party Store and a new bass player, Chris Sutton, thereby creating Line-Up Number 20.
The first half hour of the set was devoted to the new, and admittedly challenging, record. The conversion of digital music to analog instrumentation is an impressive feat to pull off but if this isn't your thing then it can wear on you. The second half of the show was, at Mick called it to the crowd, "the hits". A quick mix of songs from the other LP's and their treasure trove of singles - driven forcefully by both the change-up from playing Party Store and the long time since the last time playing live - felt very, very right.


Mick smiling about something as the Dirtbombs return to Brooklyn (maybe it was being subject of the first Sonic Parthenon-taken photo at a concert in several years).

Motor City session man Dennis Coffey played some very cruising funk, soul, and jam Jazz with his large band. Made for driving a big car down a big avenue and cool all the way. This is not a style of music I hear live very often but it's certainly something to love each time.

The Step Kids out of Connecticut play some tripped-out psych soul and funk, aided by visual effects. The more sludgey stuff wasn't for me but the faster and more pop stuff reminded me of a good night on the old Soul Train with Don Cornelius.

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