5.31.2006

Stuff You Might Have Missed...

Here we go a aggragatin'...

Stereogum has "Bonnie Brae" by The Twilight Singers (Greg Dulli's post-Afghan Whigs act) off the Rescue Me Soundtrack (I don't watch it either, but I kinda wish I did)... Still making up my mind about the Afghan Whigs much less the Twilight Singers, but songs like this might just suck me in.

I Guess I'm Floating put up this interesting group of covers last week: Amiee Mann & Michael Penn doing the Beatles' "Two Of Us" (recommended); Damien Rice doing a cover of "Creep" by Radiohead (uh, no thanks); and Phantom Planet doing "Our House" by CSN&Y which is cool if you're a fan... glad it wasn't the one by Madness: Phantom Planet don't quite have the energy for that yet

My Old Kentucky Blog serves up way, way, way too many covers of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" (Jeff Buckley's is, of course, the only version you need to own); "Where Is My Mind" by the Pixies (who knew there were so many!); "Suspicious Minds" by Elvis; The Smiths' "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out"; and Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (can anyone do this song justice??) among a few others...

5.28.2006

Rosanne Cash Live

Rosanne Cash
Now I was never a Rosanne Cash fan. Her father? Yes. I always appreciated Johnny but am the first to admit his American Recordings really made me a fan. But Rosanne? No. I dismissed her as so much country. And I am the first to admit I was wrong.

Perhaps it's because I really appreciate so many singer/songwriters now, that I now see that quality in her. And I can't tell you how happy I am. Her latest, Black Cadillac (iTunes | Amazon) is just mindblowing. This is, by far, my favorite album of the year and I can't recommend it enough.

Now Rosanne could have gone and written an album about losing her parents (her father, mother & step-mother in a period of about a year-and-a-half), but she wrote an amazing album about loss and transformation. She never beats you over the head with the "my-parents-are-dead" theme, but make no mistake the songs are about the deep changes that life brings about and they are striking.

These MP3s are from her appearance on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic and are well worth your time and effort:
Black Cadillac
Radio Operator
God Is In The Roses
House On The Lake
The Good Intent
Hope Against Hope (from The Rules of Travel check it out on iTunes)
Burn Down This Town
Wouldn't That Be Loverly (cover)

5.26.2006

The Boys From County Hell...


The Pogues Are coming to LA!! I went to DC just to see them, but now they're coming out west in October: the 9 & 10th @ the Fillmore in San Francisco; the 15th @ the House of Blues in Las Vegas; and the 18th & 19th at the Wiltern here in La La Land! And I got tickets!

The Wiltern isn't the 9:30 Club (so few venues are), but who cares? The Pogues put on a f@#king great show and fun was had by all (Nancy, Bob, Bill, & myself)... and I think we can all vouch for the fact that Shane doesn't look half as good as he does in this picture (actually, he looked a bit more like Golem precious)

If I Should Fall From Grace With God
Thousands Are Sailing
More at iTunes

5.24.2006

The Perfect Ringtone

Hilarious, They Might Be Giants craft the perfect ringtone (mp3) (the kids love 'em!) for our times:
"Call connected through the NSA/Complete transmission through the NSA/Suspending your rights through the duration of the permanent war"
Perfect.

5.23.2006

Who Are The Buffalo Skinners?

So there are a lot of music blogs out there... why on earth would you want to start another one? Well, see my problem is I have 2 really bad habits: I love to collect music and I love to share it. Nothing makes me happier than a good cover song or a new track that I can't stop listening to. The problem is that, these days, there just isn't enough time to do both... but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna try.

It seems like most music blogs out there are by college kids with nice fast college Internet connections and lots of academic storage space, but... well, sometimes there's just more to share and sometimes there's less. And that's the thinking behind this music blog: to be an aggregator and present the best of the music blogs I keep track of and maybe remind folks of some great tracks they might have missed (or forgotten) over the years.

So where does the 'buffalo skinning' come in? Well, obviously the blog needed a cool music name and, after a few others were taken, I settled on the name of one of my favorite albums: The Buffalo Skinners by Big Country. Long forgotten and relegated to the 'one-hit wonder' status, they have always remained one of my favorite bands. So the first tune will be a live version of the Buffalo Skinners off 'Eclectic' a live mix of covers and original tunes. Enjoy the MP3, but explore their other songs over at iTunes... you won't be disappointed.

The Buffalo Skinners (mp3)
Big Country - Eclectic - The Buffalo Skinners