Aiight y'all, I've updated the songs in the BlogRadio, so take an aural gander, and, as always, feel free to discuss the selections in the comments to this or any post.
Howevs, since the radio doesn't do a great job with tracklists, I wanted to break down the songs to give you a better idea of what you're going to hear. And if you haven't tried the thing yet, you really should, it's slick. Again, click on the "pop up" button if you want to launch the player in a new window which you can keep open while you surf to other sites, or work offline.
Alison, by Slowdive. This is the first track from Slowdive's excellent shoegazer album "Souvlaki." It's more structured than many of the subsequent tracks on the album, but still brilliantly demonstrates the sweeping, buzzing, shimmering guitar effects they are capable of. If you've never thought that electric guitars can be beautiful, listen to this song. It may take a few listens, but it's worth it.
Jesusland, by Ben Folds. Ok, obviously Ben Folds is cashing in on a
cheap election-era joke, but at least he doesn't make the track overtly political. It's from his
new album, which is more "mature," in both the good (songwriting) and bad (songs about his kid) senses. He pontificates tiresomely and unoriginally on the allegedly heart-stopping irony of modern Amerikkka, with "crosses flying high over malls" and walking through suburbia and never seeing another soul. Yeah, ouch, Ben. But what saves the track is his falsetto and piano playing, which hasn't been as sharp since "Army."
Atmosphere, by Velvet Crush. The Velvet Crush are the best alt-pop band from the 90s that you've never heard of. Remember there was that brief, shining moment in about 1994-5 when actual good music was getting played on the radio? Before it gave way to some of the worst music ever recorded (Third Eye Blind, Dishwalla, Everclear, etc. etc.), there was a time when radio played what I liked to hear. I remember walking into computer class one morning in high school, after hearing a VC song on the radio, and saying to my friend Adam Helt that Velvet Crush was going to take over the planet. Never happened, obvs. But it should've.
Feel Flows, by The Beach Boys. Well, not the real Beach Boys. Not the incarnation you're thinking of, who sang "Help Me, Rhonda" and "God Only Knows." No, this was 300-pound-Brian Wilson-era Beach Boys. The Super Furry Animals put this song on their
glorified mix tape, and you can sure see why. This is one of the coolest tracks the post-Brian "Boys" put out. But it helps if you don't think of it as a Beach Boys song. It was on the 1971 album "Surf's Up," which also contained...
Surf's Up, by Brian Wilson. This version, though, comes from the finally-released lost pop masterpiece
Smile, but Carl Wilson did an admirable job, in retrospect, with the 1971 version. The 2004 version is superior in terms of recording quality, but also because Wilson adds the soaring "a children's song" line (at about the 3:10 mark) to usher in the singularly beautiful coda. AMG said this song was more an "experience" than a song. Astounding.
The Boys Are Back In Town, by the Mountain Goats. Not a band I usually like, but the Mountain Goats won me over on this track. The track comes via Annie, and was recorded for some Dutch radio sesh. It starts out with a fairly laconic and monotonous cover of the familiar song by Thin Lizzy. But at some point Darnielle just busts into a rendition of R. Kelly's "Ignition (remix)." It's entirely unexpected, entirely inappropriate, and entirely hilarious.
Billie Jean, by Neil Finn. Another cover from a European radio session, but this time Neil Finn (of Crowded House, Split Enz, and a distinguish solo career) takes on the Michael Jackson classic. Being that the song is as close to canon as is possible in pop-culture saturated America, it's a bit disarming to hear such an earnest version. But Finn makes us realize what a great song it actually is. It's musically quite complex, and lyrically one of the most paranoid songs you'll ever hear. Damn cool.
Sacrifice, by Sinead O'Connor. One last cover, this the most improbable in its inclusion because of its origin. O'Connor's version of "Sacrifice" makes you realize how badly Elton John fucked up this song, how wholly he missed the point. This version nails the song's attempt at quiet dignity as solidly as John's overblown, shiny, bombastic fanfare completely misses it. It's great when covers pull something out of the original you never caught before, and forces you to re-evaluate the orignial. Like when Travis covered Britney's "Baby One More Time," or Finn's "Billie Jean."
