Oh Brother!

6 May

Poor Michael Penn.  He’s the most overlooked one in his whole family.  Imagine this:  first you grow up with celeb parents (Leo Penn, Eileen Ryan) and then your younger brothers become huge (Chris, R.I.P.) and huger (Sean).  Then you fall in love and get married to a star.  (Aimee Mann)

It’s not like Michael was unknown of course.  His records always get a mass of critical raves, but in the scheme of things, well…’nuff said.

It’s really a good thing that fame is so unimportant.

Here’s one example of why those critical raves always happen:  “Me Around” from his third release, Resigned.  Lovely, no?

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Cinco de Mayo

5 May

¡Happy Cinco de Mayo, todos!

While I can’t offer you margaritas or luchadores, I can offer you something else Mexican:  a song by Julieta Venegas.  “Me Van a Matar” may sound familiar to you as it was used in the fabulous film, Amores Perros.  I first discovered her a while before that, on some Spanish radio station that was barely coming in.   I was driving and had to hope I had scribbled her name down correctly.  Thankfully I did.

She went on to have big Latin success, winning a bunch of Latin Grammys and other awards.  Basically, she’s one of those artists that is really well-known in that Latin niche but is not that much out of it.  And that’s too bad.  You should check her out.  Maybe even while drinking a little tequila.

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Let’s Go Baby

4 May

There’s a lot of slow, stagnant muck in my life right now and I’d love nothing more than to invigorate it all with some forward movement.  And so I present the universe with “Let’s Go Baby” by Robert Parker.  This song was actually the B-Side to his monster hit “Barefootin'” and while not all that dissimilar, I like it better.

But back to me.  I’m thinking that if everyone downloads it and plays it three times in a row this will somehow stimulate The Action to start already.  It’s possible!

C’mon, try it.  For me.  One – two – three – go!

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Cherry Blossom Time

3 May

I feel like I may have been overly pop focused the past few days, so thought I’d add a little complexity here with some Tindersticks.

“Cherry Blossoms” is from their second album and I find the mumbly and atmospheric story-song absolutely hypnotic.  The piano alone is so pretty but in conjunction with the strings, the dense moodiness is ridiculously evocative.  It’s magical and sad at the same time – and therefore mirrors my mood exactly.

Gorgeous available for download here.

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66….6?

2 May

Don’t you think it’s an unbelievable coincidence that the deaths of both Hitler and Bin Laden were each announced on 5/1?  66 years apart.  I’m sure if we put our collective thinking caps on, we can come up with another “6” to make it 666.  Plus, the other weird thing is that whole stupid “Mission Accomplished” banner by Bush was done on 5/1 as well back in 2003.  So very strange.

Coincidences aside, such a momentous occasion gets you not one but two downloads today.

First up, “Somebody Got Murdered” from The Clash’s seminal album, Sandinista!  I’ve always adored this song.  Wouldn’t it have made a better choice for a single than “Hitsville U.K.”?   The violence of the lyrics is such a great contrast to the poppy melody.  Love!

I couldn’t resist also posting “Killing An Arab” by The Cure.  Now, stop getting up in my grill.  That is not a racist posting, just an obvious one.  You all know already that it’s about Camus’ The Stranger.  However, since I didn’t want it to be too much of a lame obvious choice, I actually posted the John Peel Sessions version.  That works, right?

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Workers of the World Unite

1 May

Billy Bragg is a staple round these parts and there’s pretty much no date that would make more sense to post him than today, May Day.  He’s not only practically synonymous with activism and worker solidarity, but he’s also a damn great songwriter.

Here’s “Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards,” from the particularly amazing 1988 album, Worker’s Playtime.   It may not make you take to the streets, but I hope it makes you think a little bit.  He’s good for that.

Go on –  join the struggle while you may…the Revolution is just a t-shirt away.

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Saturday!

30 Apr

Let’s make this quick since we’re all dying to get outside today.  How about a completely infectious song for a lovely Springtime Saturday?   “Come Saturday” by the unfortunately named local NYC band, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart fits that bill pretty darn well.  I love their sounds of exuberance.

Seriously, if you just play this in combo with Smith Westerns “Weekend” posted awhile back, it will be 100% impossible not to have a great day.

Download.  Play.  Both in your ears and outside.  Now!

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They Did

29 Apr

A one-size-fits-all picture

If ever there was a day for a terribly romantic song, today would be it.  Here is just that: Hoagy Carmichael’s “Two Sleepy People” from 1938.

You know who was King in 1938?  None other than George VI!  You probably know him better by his given name, Colin Firth.  Or at least from my post on Margauxville a couple of months ago.   Life is just chock full of these little connections.

And, I’m not normally a GIF type gal, but this is one that is kind of perfect in every way.  To love.

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Major Rain Predicted

28 Apr

I’m dashing this off, super fast, before I bring my computer in for a little spa visit.  This means  I won’t have a computer till tomorrow afternoon!  I am sort of panicking already.  I’ll have the iPhone, of course, but I don’t have an iPad, so this is going to be an interesting day.  And night.  Wish me luck.  ‘Course what I’m really concerned about is that computer folks are not lying to me and I will be able to post tomorrow…

But before I go…the song!  Yes, the song!

The song for today is the extremely evocative “I Can’t Stand the Rain” by the great soul singer, Ann Peebles.  I actually can stand the rain – but only because it gives me the rather obvious chance to share this.

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Evil Scurvy Love

27 Apr

I’m a sucker for pop music, as you may have noticed.  There are a some artists along the way that I’ve adored who, for one reason or another, are totally overlooked by 99% of the population.  And I’m talking about the Pop Music Lovers population!  Weird.

Jonny Polonsky is one of those guys.  He’s a power pop singer who got a record deal in the mid-90s when one of the demo tapes he had sent around landed in the lap of The Pixies’ Frank Black.  No surprise that Frank had good taste, so he took Mr. Polonsky under his wing, did some demos with him and got him a manager.  Although a record deal materialized, the label was having problems of its own and the release just languished.  A couple more came out elsewhere over the years, but nothing has really made a dent.

I stumbled on the first record back when it came out and was kind of smitten from the moment I heard it.  I love “Evil Scurvy Love” and even though it’s not his most hit-single-y song on the record, it’s always the one I go to first.  Probably because I’ve never been one to resist evil scurvy love.  Enjoy!

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