A 2fer post. First, a 2008 release I missed out on, but wanted to write a little something about. Tracy Shedd makes elusive pop songs that are simple and direct. Her ’08 release, Cigarettes & Smoke Machines, sounds like it’s title: A little raw, slightly nebulous, and perfect for poker. Check it out:

Never Too Late

Whatever It Takes

Not Giving Up

Also, check out a cool (and free) live session at her website.

Second, a blurb about the new record from Modern Skirts, “All Of us In Our Night.” It’s pop, for the most part, of the ‘90s “modern rock” variety, played well. As you’d expect from an Athens, GA, band. There’s something about it, especially “Like Lunatics,” that makes me keep coming back . . .

Like Lunatics

Soft Pedals

I thought the latest Rambo was underrated. It had terrific action sequences and incredible violence, plus Dexter’s wife.

Rachel Yamagata is a singer-songwriter/pianist from Arlington, Virginia (where I currently call home). Here’s a show where she teamed up with another, slightly better known singer/songwriter/pianist. A lad named Ryan Adams. Only Ryan’s on drums(!) Interesting for the novelty, but worth getting for the songs. Yamagata’s work is top notch.

A few tastes and a zip, as usual.

1. Be Be My Love
2. Parade
3. Paper Doll
4. These Girls
5. Would You Please
6. Sao Paulo Rain (Tom McRae cover)
07. Worn Me Down
08. Letter Read
09. Sunday Afternoon

\\zip//

Frank Turner’s sophomore album arrived at the end of 2008, so it will get consideration as a best of 2009 release. And deservedly so. This is one of the greatest albums I’ve heard in years. This is punk that doesn’t have to force a sneer or rely on powerpop. It’s rock that moves for resistance and change, rather than to comply with the standards of a bloated genre. For any more, all I can say is this:
It speaks with the brilliance of Bob Dylan but the simplicity of Billy Bragg.
It angers with raw rage like The Sex Pistols.
It growls for change like The Clash.
It inspires appreciation for the commonness of existence like The Kinks.
It finds musical complexity in simplicity like Johnny Cash.
It demands action and defies expectation like 1980s R.E.M.
It’s a masterpiece like Highway 61 Revisited, Don’t Try This At Home, Never Mind the Bollocks, London Calling, Muswell Hillbillies, Live From Folsom Prison, and Eponymous.

I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous

BONUS SONGS!

Old Clash Fan Fight Song-Billy Bragg with Ian McLagan

Belong-Patterson Hood (R.E.M. cover)

One of my favorite artists to hear live is Michelle Shocked. I’ve seen her at least three times, including when she went through her (regrettable) disco phase. Here, she’s acoustic and electirc with the The Tower Of Power for a horn section, from the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island, 1990. A few tastes and then a zip.

- Michelle Acoustic -

1. (Making The Run to) Gladewater
2. Memories Of East Texas
3. Worth The Weight
4. Over The Waterfall
5. Graffiti Limbo
6. Ballad Of Penny Evans
7. Die-In Protest
8. Anchorage
w/Tower of Power:
9. Sleep Keeps Me Awake
10. Too Little Too Late
11. God Is A Real Estate Developer
12. On The Greener Side
13. Silent Ways
14. It Must Be Luff
15. (Don’t You Mess Around With) My Little Sister
Encore:
Barefoot
What Is Hip (Tower of Power cover)
\ZIP FILE/

There aren’t too many women in modern rock with the kind of classic rock/blues chops of Erika Wennerstrom. She blows just about everyone off the stage, including Karen O. Ms. Wennerstrom has a desperate sensuality and wide range, that is as powerful on creeping barburners like “Witchy Poo” as it is on the long-player bluegrass lilt of “Had to Go.” These two songs illustrate the complexity and variety that marks the return of one of today’s best classic-sounding rock bands, The Heartless Bastards. Their new record, “The Mountain,” has lots of sprawling, jammy blues numbers, just like the rest of the band’s impressive catalog (I should know, I’ve got everything they ever did), but it also has a gentler side than what most fans may be expecting. There’s more finger-style banjo plucking, more of a rootsy, country, almost folk feel. And, of course, there’s Erika. The second-best female singer out of Ohio. (Sorry. Chrissie Hynde is still the title-holder, but at least she’s not a native.)

And the band is touring with one of my favorite bands of 2008: The Gaslight Anthem. Guys, if you’re reading this, I’m begging you to roll through D.C. I’d kill to see that double bill.

The Mountain

Older and equally great HB tunes:

All This Time

Runnin‘

(Don’t miss bonus covers after the tour dates!)

Tour dates (bonus mp3s after the dates):

01.30.09 – Young Ave Deli – Memphis, TN *
01.31.09 – Martyr’s – Chicago, IL *
02.03.09 – Great Scott – Boston, MA *
02.04.09 – Maxwell’s – Hoboken, NJ *
02.05.09 – Electric Factory – Philadelphia, PA +
02.06.09 – Terminal 5 – New York, NY +
02.07.09 – Terminal 5 – New York, NY +
02.10.09 – Gravity Lounge – Charlottesville, VA *
02.12.09 – Bottle Tree – Birmingham, AL *
02.13.09 – Government Street Grocery – Ocean Springs, MS *
02.14.09 – Last Concert Café – Houston, TX *
02.28.09 – Hailey’s – Denton, TX *
03.15.09 – The Pageant – St. Louis, MO
03.16.09 – Liberty Hall – Lawrence, KS
03.17.09 – Cain’s Ballroom – Tulsa, OK
03.18.09 – SXSW – Austin, TX
03.19.09 – SXSW – Austin, TX
03.20.09 – SXSW – Austin, TX
03.21.09 – House of Blues – Houston, TX
03.23.09 – Lyric Oxford – Oxford, MS
03.29.09 – Mr. Smalls – Pittsburgh, PA #
04.02.09 – Turner Hall – Milwaukee, WI #
04.03.09 – The Bottom Lounge – Chicago, IL #
04.04.09 – Varsity Theater – Minneapolis, MN #
04.07.09 – The Warehouse – Calgary, AB #
04.08.09 – The Starlight Room – Edmonton, AB #
04.10.09 – The Plaza Nightclub – Vancouver, BC #
04.15.09 – The Boardwalk – Sacramento, CA #
04.16.09 – Slim’s – San Francisco, CA #
04.21.09 – The Clubhouse – Tempe, AZ #
04.24.09 – Gothic Theater – Denver, CO #

* Heartless Bastards headlining
+ Show with The Black Keys
Show with Andrew Bird
# Show with Gaslight Anthem

BONUS COVERS!

(Completely unrelated!)

I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide (ZZ Top)-The Meat Puppets

Up the Junction (Squeeze)-Lily Allen

Raise ‘em up if you were disappointed by 8 Diagrams! Anyone not raise their hands? Then you don’t know shit about Wu Tang Clan. I’m happy to say, though, that The Razor, a cornerstone of New York’s most talented collective, hasn’t lost his skillz. Released on the independent Wu Music Group, Afro Samurai: Resurrection, is the second soundtrack to the groundbreaking Anime series. Cartoon Network has done some great things with music, and this is yet another. Not a traditional soundtrack, the album contains fully formed songs and fantastic rappers. There’s “You Already Know,” which features Kool G Rap and Inspectah Deck; “Blood Thicker Than Mud,” which samples Sly Stone’s “Family Affair;” Whar w/Kool G Rap, Tash, and my personal pick for the most talented Wu banger, Pretty Toney, who goes by Ghostface Killah on this track; and a key spot by Rah Digga, Bitch is Gonna Get Ya, which really shows off this underrated female rapper’s ability. And best of all: No useless snippets.

This is the best rap album of the year so far. It’s early in 2009, only January, so it’s easy to say this, but don’t take it too lightly. There’s a lot of strong, classic-sounding Wu on here.

Whar-Kool G Rap, Ghostface, Tash, and RZA

Classic Wu:

Wu Gambinos-Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Method Man, Rza & Masta Killa.