On Rotation

You all know me and music – I love it, and I’m always in search of something new and awesome or, barring that, something that doesn’t totally suck. I have been on a search kick for the last week or so, and I haven’t come up empty handed.  I will turn over just about every rock and search every nook and cranny of the Internet in hopes of finding the next big thing.  Or the thing that nobody else will ever hear but me.

I used to make playlists based on the season, but I’m simply here today to offer you some stuff that I’m listening to right now that I’m in love with.  I like to think I have a broad range of tastes in music – everything from Rammstein to weird, indie techno to folk and back again.  Except metal.  Never could get into metal, and I’m not sure why.  Chalk it up to different strokes, I guess.

Bear in Heaven – “Deafening Love”

I would classify Bear in Heaven as an electronica band, although Wikipedia, knower of all things great and small, classifies them as indie rock/experimental synth pop.  In a nutshell, they’re a pretentious band that hipsters listen to.  I don’t know a single person who listens to them who couldn’t, at some point, have qualified as some form of hipster garbage, including me.  I don’t just love BIH, but they’re good.  This particular song is from their album Beast Rest Forth Mouth, which is a solid album.  Most of the songs are very listenable.  This one is my favorite, as I tend to favor electronica songs that have a dark, almost sinister feel to them.  If you like Boards of Canada, Ladytron, Goldfrapp, or any of those sorts of bands, you’ll probably enjoy Bear in Heaven.

 

Steven Wilson – “Insurgentes”

I have no idea where this guy even came from.  My friend Dave recommended this song to me randomly one day and, as is generally the case when Dave points me in the direction of music, I loved it.  It’s a really pretty, haunting song.  Relax and enjoy.

 

Bosco Delrey – “The Authority Song”

If you’re a True Blood fan, you might recognize this song from last season.  I hate that I even still think about watching that damn show; it jumped the shark a long time ago, but dammit, ASkars.  Anyway, if you didn’t know, John Cougar Mellancamp is the original purveyor of this song.  Both versions have great merit, but I really enjoy this cover.  It’s a fun song, and it’s a great jam for summer.

 

Hans Zimmer – “You’re So Cool (Theme from ‘True Romance’)”

If you call yourself a Tarantino fan and haven’t seen True Romance, you suck.  I’m sorry, but you do.  He wrote the script but didn’t direct it.  I’m convinced the character of Clarence is how Tarantino actually sees himself: a film and comic book buff who is a secret badass, irresistible to really hot chicks.  Anyway, the movie is fucking awesome, and I love the theme song.  It seems so out of place against the snow-clogged streets of Detroit when the movie opens, but it makes so much sense at the end of the movie.  And the ending is damn good.  Damn good.  Even if you never watch the movie, this is a great little jam for summer, with its steel drum and wooden xylophone.

 

Ali A$ ft. Samy Deluxe – “Zu Spät” 

If you don’t speak German or don’t just love rap, you’ll probably want to give this one a miss.  If you speak German and haven’t heard Samy Deluxe, that sucks, because he rocks.  He’s one of my favorite rappers, and I’ve been listening to him for almost 10 years.  This song makes me happy because it incorporates a sample of an old Die Ärzte song called, you guessed it, “Zu Spät,” which means “too late” in English.  I knew that old song before I knew who Samy Deluxe was.  Believe it or not, I downloaded it on one of my music search sprees back in the day when everyone and their brother had KaZaa.  Do you remember KaZaa?  Man, those were the days… Anyway, this song rocks my socks.  “Weck mich auf” is another Samy Deluxe song that makes a good starting point.

 

The Smiths – “Cemetery Gates”

I love the Smiths.  I know Morrisey is a cranky bastard, but we both hate the Queen and the royals, so we could talk, I think.  I’m kind of a cranky bastard too, and I have a soft spot in my heart for other people who can’t stand everyone else.  This is my favorite Smiths song, hands-down, but honestly, I love most of their stuff.  If you don’t get a little bit hard for Morrisey in the video for “The Boy with the Thorn in His Side,” you’re probably not human.  God, he was hot in that video.  I think I’m going to put both up because I love watching Morrisey in that video that much.

 

 

Butthole Surfers – “Dracula from Houston”

This is the perfect summer surf jam.  Also, he talks about learning to play the bassoon.  I play the bassoon!  That doesn’t seem like a big deal, but trust me, when most people don’t know what a bassoon even is, you get excited when it gets brought up in casual musical conversation.  We’re a rare breed.  And the song is just fun.

 

Autechre – “Basscadet (Bcdtmx)”

Autechre is a weird one.  I can’t decide if they fall into minimal techno, ambient techno, IDM, or what.  I guess it doesn’t really matter.  Like Bear in Heaven, they attract the same breed of pretentious hipster scum.  I think their earlier stuff is more accessible than what they put out now, which ventures a bit too close to blatant percussive noise music for my liking.  Some of my friends find that sort of music “challenging.”  I find it “annoying.”  I guess I’m not quite evolved enough, but I like to be able to enjoy music while I’m thinking about it.

Autechre is a weird one at any rate.  I think this particular song, of which there are three or four versions, all good, is danceable, but for me, it would also be good for background music, be it for driving or… leisure activities.  Allowing myself a moment of candor, this kind of stuff reminds me of hard nights out and in with some of my more avant garde friends in college.  It’s trippy without being psychedelic.

 

Dispatch – “The General”

I have never really gotten into the so-called jam bands like Phish, Dave Matthews Band, Dispatch, Guster, OAR, and the rest of their ilk.  I tend to find that either the music is good or the lyrics are good, but rarely do the two coincide.  If one or the other is truly amazing (and they rarely are), I’ll forgive the rest of it.  This one happens to have both, although I wish he wouldn’t speak the lyrics so much.

I had a buddy in college who was on the MU rugby team.  He freaking loved this song, and he played it on repeat for ages, and every time I hear this song, I still think of him and him wearing a Natty Light box on his head with eye holes cut into it.  The Natty Light Knight.  Maybe you had to be there.  Anyway, the song is good.

 

John Butler – “River Song (Busk Version)”

Yeah, I wrote a whole damn post on John Butler’s song, “Ocean,” and you know what?  I have played that song, not including rollbacks to listen to certain parts, over 100 times in the last month just on my computer.  No fucking shame.  I’m going to buy a damn 12-string guitar, and if it takes me 20 years, I’m going to learn that song.  I’m pissed off right now that I sold my six-string right before the baby came.  I could’ve been finger picking away this whole time… I knew it was a mistake at the time, but that’s another story.  Point is that I’m obsessed with John Butler – not his band, so much.  I’m obsessed with great guitar playing, and he ranks among my favorite excellent guitar players, probably alongside Kottke, although I think Kottke is more talented, overall.

There’s a “lost” John Butler tape (only tape) called Searching for Heritage.  He made about 3,500 copies in his busking days to fund his first studio album.  They’re basically impossible to find and sell for about $400+ when you do find one.  Thank God for technology.  I found all of the songs on YouTube, except for “Chicken,” and I probably just haven’t looked hard enough.  You can convert YouTube files into MP3s (legally), and I am now the proud owner of Searching for Heritage.  I would highly recommend sniffing it out, if you love 12-string guitar songs that roll along and are beautiful and scenic.  I chose “River Song” not because I think it’s the best, but because I just chose it.  All of the songs from that album are excellent, but if you’re already a fan of JBT, don’t go into it expecting it sound like them.  It sounds like “Ocean,” but not as good because, honestly, what is?

 

Geordie Adams – “Warren’s Clean Slate” 

You’ve never heard of this guy.  I don’t know him from Adam.  I found him and his song quite by accident.  I was reading a forum about learning the 12-string guitar (You thought I was joking about learning to finger pick that bad boy?  I learned the bassoon, dammit, I can conquer a guitar.), and he linked a couple of his own songs that he’d uploaded to YouTube.  I really loved this one, and yes, I converted it and downloaded it to my computer.  I’ve had it on repeat for a few days now, and I just really like it.  It’s rather proof, I think, that you don’t have to be famous or getting paid.  Anyone, anywhere can make great music that other people will enjoy.  I read an excellent quote a few weeks ago about books being like magic because it allows the reader to see into the mind of the person who wrote it, even if that person has been dead for centuries.  I feel the same way about music – you can communicate with someone you’ve never met before and on a most primal level.

I’m sure he’ll never see this post, but if he does, I dig this song like crazy.  If I ever lick the 12-string well enough to start laying down my own stuff, I hope it sounds half this good.  I’ll settle for sitting out on my porch (because I will have a porch, at some point) and driving the neighbors nuts with my mad stylings (or lack thereof).

 

Leo Kottke – “Pamela Brown”

This is not Kottke’s most technical piece, nor is it my favorite, but it’s what I’m listening to right now.  It’s more accessible than some of his stuff.  I think maybe Tom T. Hall wrote it, though.  I would generally say that if you aren’t into crazy guitar playing, Kottke won’t float your boat.  The time for great folk singers seems to have passed.  My folks love the likes of Kottke, Gordon Lightfoot, Pete Seeger, and John Denver.  Sometimes I think I was born too late.  Anyway, there’s some fun slide work in this song, and the lyrics are good.