The Cobbs - Say You Never Knew Me

The Cobbs - Say You Never Knew Me

I posted a track from Zeppelin Sunday, and this song from The Cobbs sounds A LOT like a Zeppelin.

Mr. T Experience - Unpack Your Adjectives

Mr. T Experience - Unpack Your Adjectives

This song is new to me. I just heard it the other day and loved it, even though it's from 1994. When I first heard it I immediately thought about Schoolhouse Rock; I was about to embark on a quest to find other grammar or teaching related songs. But it turns out this song is in fact originally from Schoolhouse Rock! It even predates the Schoolhouse Rocks Rocks compilation, which featured indie artists covering Schoolhouse Rock songs.

The Doors - Roadhouse Blues

The Doors - Roadhouse Blues

In keeping with yesterday's theme, Roadhouse Blues is another favorite driving song of mine. Classic rock is perfect for the car!

Led Zeppelin - Rock And Roll

Led Zeppelin - Rock And Roll

If I post shorter entries in the coming days, it might be because I'm spending more time playing MarioKart Wii. I've been addicted to this game since my brother and sister and I battled it out on the SNES; the latest version for the Wii was released today, and I love it!

MarioKart, driving, home, all these thoughts got me thinking about good driving songs. I haven't regularly driven a car since I moved to NYC, and I really miss driving with the windows rolled down and the stereo blasting. My favorite driving song is Led Zeppelin's Rock And Roll. Anything by Zeppelin will do, but Rock And Roll is my favorite for the car.

A few years back Zeppelin licensed the song to Chrysler. While it was a surprise to hear any Zeppelin song in any commercial (they've famously resisted all these years), I felt extra betrayed hearing that song used to promote cars.

Thom Yorke - Reckoner

Thom Yorke - Reckoner

Thom Yorke, on the Jonathan Ross Show, performing Reckoner.

Kanye West - Good Morning

Kanye West - Good Morning

Good morning! One of the highlights of the Murakami exhibit was the video for Kayne West's Good Morning. The video features an assorted cast of cartoon characters from Murakami, including the bear featured on the album cover. I admire Kayne West: he isn't the same old gangsta rap, he writes about what he knows, and his lyrics are clever. This line from the song had me cracking up: "I'm the fly Macolm X, buy any jeans necessary".

Black Francis - You Can't Break a Heart And Have It

Black Francis - You Can't Break a Heart And Have It

We saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall over the weekend. The movie is hilarious, and the soundtrack is an interesting mix, from Belle & Sebastian to a Hawaiian version of Nothing Compares 2 U. Among these songs is this one from Black Francis (aka Frank Black, lead singer of the Pixies). His album Bluefinger came out last year, and while it was a good album, it seemed to pass under the radar. It was a welcome surprise during the movie.

Sahara Hotnights - Too Cold For You

Sahara Hotnights - Too Cold For You

Joshua Allen wrote a hilarious piece for the Morning News last week where he posits that the perfect pop song is exactly 2 minutes and 42 seconds long. The Listening Post follows it up with some interesting back story, and a muxtape of songs that clock in at 2:42.

I decided to take a look at my own music to see what comes in at 2:42. Allen might be on to something here; over 2 months of Song a Day posts, I've already had two songs at 2:42: Okkervil River's The Presidents Dead and Art Brut's Emily Kane. Emily Kane is just about as good as rock n' roll gets.

Buried among these songs was Sahara Hotnight's Too Cold For You. Sahara Hotnights are a Swedish band who were cast as the female version of The Hives. This song is a trip down memory lane. I loved it back in 2000 when it was on constant repeat, and then I forgot about it for the next few years, until right now.

And following the example from Listening Post, I thought I'd set up my own Muxtape of favorite 2:42 songs:

http://monsur242.muxtape.com

Enjoy!

David Elliot - Bring It On Home To Me

David Elliot - Bring It On Home To Me

A follow up to yesterday's She & Him show: the show was moved to the larger Webster Hall, and tickets from both nights were accepted. Zooey Deschanel was in fact sick; she avoided any banter and saved her voice for the songs. But for every crack or cough in her voice, she turned around and hit the high note. In between songs, she held up signs with handwritten thoughts like "Hello New York!", "Thank You" and "Hi".

They played M. Ward's Magic Trick as an encore. But their last song, a cover of Sam Cooke's Bring It On Home To Me, was magical. This song was also recently covered by Britt Daniel of Spoon for the Bridging The Distance compilation. But its the David Elliot version that I love the most. His song is from the Ali Soundtrack, the same album that has Al Green's cover of Sam Cooke's A Change Is Gonna Come. Elliot's version has much of that same call-and-response; I love the way he transitions into "Look! Listen! Let me hear you say YEAH!"

M. Ward - Poison Cup

M. Ward - Poison Cup

I'm really enjoying this new She & Him album, so much so that I've already posted their songs twice. Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward will be in New York City tonight playing the first of two sold out shows. Most of the attention on She & Him is focused on Zooey; while its easy to get lost is her eyes and beautiful voice, seeing M. Ward perform is just as much of a treat. Hopefully he'll play some of his solo material tonight. So instead of posting yet another She & Him song, I thought I'd post this song from M. Ward's Post-War album.

Edit: Oh big bummer, tonight's show has been canceled! That sucks, I was really looking forward to this. There's more info on the Bowery Presents website, and the comments on BrooklynVegan are shaping up to be very interesting, as always.

Basia Bulat - Before I Knew

Basia Bulat - Before I Knew

I don't know much about Basia Bulat, but I like her song "Before I Knew". And the landing page of her website is kinda random and funny.

Puffy AmiYumi - Your Love Is A Drug

Puffy AmiYumi - Your Love Is A Drug

We saw the exhibition of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami at the Brooklyn Museum today. The show was bursting with bright colors, happy flowers and odd creatures; it was a lot of fun, which isn't a word you associate with an art museum. If the show had a soundtrack, it would be the fun bubbly sounds of Puffy AmiYumi.

Grand Archives - The Crime Window

Grand Archives - The Crime Window

The Grand Archives are label-mates to Helio Sequence on SubPop, and their guitarist is also from Band of Horses. This song sounds like they're having a lot of fun!

Gnarls Barkley - Going On

Gnarls Barkley - Going On

Its not quite right to post two Gnarls Barkley songs in a row, but I felt a pang of regret the minute I posted yesterday's song. While "Run" is a great song, "Going On" is the song that I've had on repeat. I also love that he mentions "todo list" in the song; I wonder if Cee-Lo is a fan of Getting Things Done.

Gnarls Barkley - Run

Gnarls Barkley - Run

Other than the mega-hit "Crazy", the rest of the tracks off Gnarls Barkley's St. Elsewhere never really took hold of me. I'm enjoying the tracks off The Odd Couple, their latest album, a lot more. The first single, Run, has a lot of that same frenetic energy that made Outkast's Bombs Over Baghdad so much fun.

Dinosaur Jr. - I Ain't Sayin

Dinosaur Jr. - I Ain't Sayin

I don't know why, but this song has been running through my head for the last three days!

Grandaddy - AM180

Grandaddy - AM180

I recognized this Grandaddy song in a car commercial the other day. I found this pick interesting because its a shining indie gem surrounded by a sea of ethereal electronic beats on the 28 Days Later soundtrack. 28 Days Later works in perfect harmony with its soundtrack; I can remember walking out of that movie, going straight to Amazon.com, and buying the album. The song originally appears on Grandaddy's Under the Western Freeway.

Two Songs: The New Pornographers & Okkervil River

The New Pornographers - Adventures in Solitude
Okkervil River - Love to a Monster

The New Pornographers and Okkervil River started a joint tour earlier this week. As an added bonus, Charles Bissell from The Wrens is joining Okkervil River on guitar (following the departure of guitarist Brian Cassidy). This is one of the biggest indie shows of the year, unfortunately they aren't coming through New York City.

Adventures in Solitude is simply one of the most beautiful songs I've heard in a while. Love to a Monster is almost the opposite, a dark, direct and spiteful breakup song, eschewing any of the subtlety and despair of Hate It Here. It arrives at the exact opposite conclusion of Celebrated Summer: "I'll fight off the spring I don't want lovely things I don't want the earth new." Its not a kind song, but I admire its unflinching brutality.

Beach House - Wedding Bell

Beach House - Wedding Bell

Enjoying the new Beach House album!

Happy Soul With A Hook - David Cortez with The Moon People

Happy Soul With A Hook - David Cortez with The Moon People

Oliver Wang's Soul Sides blog is one of my favorite music blogs. Lately he's been writing a lot about Latin Boogaloo (including an article in The Nation); it was with this knowledge that we picked up El Barrio: The Bad Boogaloo over the weekend.

This CD features 16 outstanding tracks, but the one that caught my attention was "Happy Soul With A Hook" from David Cortez with The Moon People. Its a catchy punchy tune, and it's clearly the song Christina Aguilera sampled for her song Ain't No Other Man.

Wanting to learn more, I turned to Wikipedia, which credits the sample to "Hippy Skippy Moon Strut" from The Moon People. The band is the same, but the song is different. I thought I found a Wikipedia mistake, but this blog post clears up the mystery with an in-depth history (and I mean *really* in-depth, the level of research and detail is amazing) about the song and its variants, all the way up to Christina Aguilera.

The Teenage Prayers - I'm In Love Again

The Teenage Prayers - I'm In Love Again

The Teenage Prayer's Ten Songs album was one of my favorites of 2005. Now they're back with Everyone Thinks You're the Best. (Phew today was a long day, that's all I have for now!)

The Breeders - Bang On

The Breeders - Bang On

The Breeders new album, Mountain Battles, comes out today. The Breeders have been building a sparse, solid catalog of music which has drawn Kim Deal out of the shadow of The Pixies. While The Breeders are most popular for 1993's Last Splash and the song Cannonball, their second album Title TK (released 9 years later!) is great. Now 6 years after that, Mountain Battles is building tremendous buzz, and The Breeder's show in June has already sold out.

Hüsker Dü - Celebrated Summer

Hüsker Dü - Celebrated Summer

This was a weekend of sun and warmth and ice cream trucks; it was the first weekend that felt like Spring! Hüsker Dü's Celebrated Summer is my favorite song for this time of year; it highlights the sense of possibility ushered in by the changing of the seasons. But what I love most is the last line, which serves as a reminder that seasons change: "Do you remember when the first snowfall fell / When summer barely had a snowball's chance in Hell?"

Now I posted a Hüsker Dü song back in March, without making a connection with daylight savings over that weekend. Celebrated Summer is the only song I know that references daylight savings: "Somewhere in April time, they add another hour". Of course, the song is referencing the old daylight savings time, before the Energy Policy Act of 2005 moved it to March; the old daylight savings time would have been yesterday.

Two Songs: New Order

Laura Cantrell - Love Vigilantes
Frente - Bizarre Love Triangle

The opening lines of Laura Cantrell's song sounds vaguely familiar, and then it slowly dawns on you that this is a New Order song. I'm reminded of that other New Order cover from Frente which swept the nation a while back. Laura Cantrell's Trains and Boats and Planes comes out April 15th. [via Stereogum]

Jens Lekman - Your Arms Around Me

Jens Lekman - Your Arms Around Me

Jens Lekman's Night Falls Over Kortedala was one of my favorites last year. We saw him play back in November, and he put on such a fun show, we're going again tomorrow!

Buddy Guy - Baby Please Don't Leave Me

Buddy Guy - Baby Please Don't Leave Me

With all the Stone's talk yesterday, I forgot to mention that my absolute favorite performance was Buddy Guy joining the Stones for Champagne & Reefer. Guy's presence is intense, powerful, and magnificent. Here's a song off his album Sweet Tea from a few years back.

The Rolling Stones - Shine A Light

The Rolling Stones - Shine A Light

The first concert I ever saw was The Rolling Stones on the Voodoo Lounge tour at Soldier Field; and even then people were talking about how old the Stones were. Now its 2008 and the Stones are still touring. They are caricatures of themselves, their arrival as regular as the seasons.

With all their recent work, its easy to forget just how big and influential they were. Before Bigger Bang, No Security and Bridges to Babylon there was Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, and Exile on Main Street. I mean these guys were huge, with girls chasing after them! Martin Scorsese's new concert film Shine a Light restores that glory, and places the Stones in the context of their past. The film opens on Friday, we were lucky enough to get a sneak peak of it yesterday.

This film is back to basics for both Scorsese and The Stones. With his signature cuts and fast zooms, Scorsese's style accentuates the Stones' boundless energy. These guys are over 60, and they move without compromise; seriously, how is Mick Jagger still dancing for the encore! The Stones forgo their normal stadium setting for the more intimate Beacon theater. When this is all projected on IMAX, you feel like you are right there on stage.

But the film is more than just concert footage; past interviews frame the bands performance. This, along with some touching candid moments, peels back their superstar sheen and shows The Stones as just some guys hanging out having a good time.

Most importantly, this movie made me want to listen to more music and more Stones! I'm currently ripping my 15 year old copy of The London Years to MP3; I can't believe I haven't listened to it in the digital age. I feel that in all the talk about music today, about monetization, about copyright, this emotional connection is lost. The Stones are old? They've made an IMAX movie before? They are selling out? So what. They are making music, having fun, and I am too.

Sons And Daughters - Chains

Sons And Daughters - Chains

Glasgow band Sons And Daughters: a band of rough edges softened by Adele Bethel's voice. I like the interplay of her voice and the background vocals on this song.