More music picks for your whenever-you-damn-well-need-them. If you like what you hear, use the links provided to snag it for yourself from Amazon. Doing so through us gives us kickbacks, and those help pay for stuff like more bandwidth. And also so we can buy more music.
No one should be surprised that I dig Maison du Malheur (“House of Misfortune” if Google Translate is to be believed)–out of The Netherlands they bring horns to the table, as well as a sound their press kit says is “Dust Bowl Depression Era Jump Jive Blues.” So very accurate. And this guy’s voice is fantastic. Seriously, this is something I could see Tom Waits happily listening to while drinking. The song in question is “Blue” from their album Wicked Transmission. Very recommended. Your best bet for snagging it is their Bandcamp page.
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Another live track, this time from the band Low, which has been around since the early 90s. I appreciate the fact they’re making a decent amount of sound for a three-piece, and that while they seem mellow, they’re also very earnest and intense. This song, “Just Make It Stop,” is from their album The Invisible Way, which hit back in March. (Amazon: CD/MP3, MP3, Vinyl/MP3.)
Paul McCartney was in this band called The Beatles. Then after that, he fronted a band called Wings. Kids, ask your parents. And we can go round and round about Paul solo vs. Lennon-McCartney, and whether or not Wings was a band or a solo project that just happened to have a name on it…or whatever. Me, I just think Sir Paul always knew how to make a lot of fun rock songs. From stuff like “Silly Love Songs” to his brilliant method of combining several song snippets to make one medley-esque track (“Band on the Run”–see below–sporting the most famous example, methinks), it’s pretty much all excellent stuff that needs a revisit. All the better that the concert film Rockshow has finally hit home video in a restored, good as any 1976 concert film has a right to be, thirty-song format. It’s never been seen like this before and seriously, the video is quite good but the audio’s fantastic. Sure, it’s missing some things (my favorite song is “Uncle Albert”, for example–not here) but for the fan who wants to catch McCartney in his heyday, this is the surest way to do it. Hopefully, Eagle Rock will have it out on CD at some point as well. (Amazon: Blu-Ray; DVD.)
The well-named Saturday Looks Good to Me got my attention with this track, “Break In.” And initially, this seemed like yet another case of me finding a band I dig (this one sports wicked horns) and finding that they’ve broken up. But I read further and discovered they reformed last year and this song is from their new album, One Kiss Ends It All. A large group, it makes me happy to hear them making what seems to be a lot of noise. (Amazon: CD; MP3; Vinyl.)
Yes, The Naked and Famous have their new album about to hit–but what’s hit in the meantime is their Remixes & B-Sides album. And some of the reworkings from Passive Me, Aggressive You are damn good. Quite possibly my favorite from the lot is this “Quiet Mix” of “No Way.” Quiet yes, but just as intense if not moreso. (Amazon: MP3.)
Lastly, the band Grandfather with their track “Metamorphosis.” I don’t know about you, but this has a bit of the Incubus feel to it–and that’s not a bad thing. It leans more to the rock side of Incubus than the Bungle-esque side of things, but nothing wrong with that. The way the sound just opens up in the chorus has a nice, chunky thing going on. It’s from their album In Human Form. Free for download from their site.
