No, this is not some racist joke about big dicks.  The ladies were talking about their Prez’s policy size.  Get your minds out of the gutters, people.

I’ve said on this site many times that The Foo Fighters are one of the top 2 working, touring rock and roll bands alive today.  (The other is Pearl Jam, naturally.)  Dave’s work post-Nirvana blows my mind.  Every album is consistent and classic, with the possible exception of “Echoes,” which for some reason didn’t hit me right.  I’ve paid tribute to Foo before, several times, but I’ve never homaged a little band Dave was in before he became a Foo.

Nirvana.

I heard an interview with Dave once, where the interviewer was, like me, not a huge Nirvana fan.  The interviewer asked Dave how he could have just laid so far back in the cut, since he’s clearly a brilliant songwriter and a fabulous frontman.  Dave said he learned to play drums just so he could play with Kurt Cobain.  He said Kurt was the greatest songwriter of his generation.

It got me thinking.  I don’t believe I’ll ever be a huge Nirvana fan–I like their hits, I love their MTV acoustic album, but I’m just not that into most of their albums.  But I do have to admit that they wrote some great stuff.  So I figured it was time for another serial post.  I did this with Rockers Who Rap and The Beatles and Neil Young, among others, and since the Foos are one of my favorite bands around, this seems worthwhile.  Plus, there are so damn many songs to choose from, particularly when you start with covers and then throw in Nirvana offspring and rarities.  Again, the focus here will be Nirvana.  But there will be many guests.

So, I hope you dig this.  Your comments are appreciated and welcome.  Z will be for Zipfile, so if you want to wait until the last post, you can get it all in one shot.

PART ONE: A to E

A is for:

• All Apologies-Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie (Nirvana).  I must start with Nirvana, being that they are the hosts of the posts.  And I think it’s so funny and ironic that Gibbard is the frontman for Death Cab, which is probably the least Nirvana-ish band around.

• Arms Wide Open-Dave Grohl (Creed cover) YSI.  I adore this snide, mocking cover.  But there was also a stellar version he did where he was singing to a stripper (“With legs wide open, under the spotlight . . .”) that I can’t find anywhere.  I heard it on Howard Stern once.  If any of you have it, I’ll trade any show I have, any boot I have . . . Just name your price.  I want this song more than I want life itself.  (Okay, not that much, but I’ve been looking for it for about 5 years.)
• Aurora (acoustic, live)-Foo Fighters.  Sometimes when Dave plays acoustic he gets kinda slow and lazy, but this version kicks ass.  Especially the guitar work.

B is for

• Bambi Slaughter-Nirvana.  (YSI) This is some kinda weird outtake or something.  I’m posting it because I really like the bassline, but it’s fucking freaky.  Anyone know who is singing on it?
• Smells Like Teen Spirit-Benevoto/Russo (Nirvana).  A live cover.

C is for

• The Cars!  My Best Friend’s Girl-Nirvana (YSI)

D is for

• Pennyroyal Tea-Brian Dolzani (Nirvana)
• Smells like Electro-Dsico That No Talent Hack.  A remix/mash thingie.

E is for

• Everlong-Flawless Escape (Foo Fighters)
• And E is for “End of this Post”!  Come back tomorrow!

One of the quickest ways to get my attention is to have the words “zombie” or “vampire” in your band’s name or album title. Doesn’t guarantee a review, but it sure don’t hurt. It also doesn’t hurt to sound different from the hundreds of other submissions I get, as long as you also sound better than most of those, too. Fellow Brooklynites Twin Sister accomplished all three of these modest goals, and more. Their EP, Vampires With Dreaming Kids, is available for free (can’t beat the price) and is far better than most EPs that’ll cost you.

Let’s start with “Dry Hump,” with it’s melancholy refrain “Pay me, any way you want to, Pay me . . .” It’s shoegazy, but there’s so much more. For one thing, the lyrics (seemingly about a booty call) are funny and sad at the same time, and beneath the atmospheric ambient keyboards and bassline, there are actually occasional guitar hooks. It’s space music that finds form within formlessness, rather than trying to tame it with a steady beat (see Mazzy Star) or devolving into sonic experimentation that lacks any kind of grounding (see any Grateful Dead drumspace). The latter kind of cosmic shoegaze usually leaves me cold—I can’t form an emotional connection with meandering sounds—unless it’s done exceptionally well (again, see Grateful Dead). Twin Sister manages to have structure in this song, so that it’s actually a song, with a beginning, middle, and end. It’s a perfect lead track, and it segues nicely into “Ginger,” which is still a little shoegazy, but less so. It’s a love song, of sorts, but still sad, and with a slow hook that could easily have been creeping behind Duckie right before he kissed Molly Ringwald. “Nectarine,” track three, is acoustic and, in brief, beautiful. If you just check out one song from this EP, you need to hear this one. It’s also the only song on the EP with a male lead. (Although why you’d stop at one is beyond me. Again, it’s FREE everyone. Free!) The EP closes with “I Want a House,” which features odd vocal inflection and, despite my recommendation of “Nectarine,” is far and away my favorite tune on the record. It’s simple, sweet, and incredibly catchy.
This is one of the best EPs of the year to date.

I Want a House

Dry Hump

Zip of all 4 songs on the EP

We Are Two. A funky demo, also available on the band’s site.

Another pop/rock debut from oh-eight that slipped by me!  Andrew Ripp makes straightforward ‘90s-style rock and roll, for fans of Matchbox 20 or the Eagles (with whom his keyboardist has performed).  In fact, it sounds a lot like Train, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  Especially when it comes to his crisp, just-ragged-enough vocals and the cranking organ on “Get Your Smile On.”  This is a well-produced, meticulously crafted record with songs that are well-written and easy to listen to.  I’m diggin’ it!

Get Your Smile On

BONUS COVER:

Hotel California-Ska Daddyz (YSI)

I am so stoked to offer this: A giveaway of Stevie Nicks’ new “Live In Chicago” DVD and “The Soundstage Sessions” CD, both scheduled for release on March 31 (preorder here).

Other than Crissy Hynde, Stevie Nicks has the most distinctive female voice in rock and roll, and her catalog speaks for itself: Edge of 17, Landslide, Rhiannon, Gold Dust Woman, Stand Back, Dreams . . . They’re all here, along with covers of Dave Matthews’ “Crash Into Me” and Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll.”  I haven’t heard it (yet), but I’m psyched to.

For New Yorkers who are free on 3/31 at 7pm, you can meet her in person at the Union Square Barnes & Noble Store.  For the rest of you, winning this prize is the closest you’ll get to her.  And here’s how: Drop a comment telling me your favorite Stevie lyric, and include your e-mail address (you MUST do this—I can’t always get it from the info embedded in your comment).  Winner will be chosen at random in exactly one week.  I will send the winner an e-mail asking for her/his address, so check your accounts in one week because if you don’t respond to me within 24 hours, I reserve the right to pick a new winner.

Here’s a few tunes to start you off . . .

Not Even Stevie Nicks-Calexico (YSI)

Go Your Own Way – Death Cab for Cutie w/The Decemberists (YSI)

Dreams-Fleet Foxes (YSI)

CONTEST CLOSED!  Winner was contacted by e-mail.

Bass.  Fuzz.  Power chords.  Muddy amplifiers.  No, not Pearl Jam.  But a little close.

San Francisco’s Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound is perhaps the most aptly named grunge psychedelia band in history.  Their music dismantles thought and frequently explodes.  It’s as heavy and raw as Motherlovebone.  Tough, muscular, but slightly retro, it’s the antidote to Coldplay.  The guitar solos rock, too.

“When Sweet Sleep Returned” is the band’s third record, but the first I’ve heard, so I can’t say if this one marks a change in their sound or is a particularly good example of it, but I’m recommending it for fans of hoarse shouting at clubs, bottled beer, barband blues, dark corners and car crashes.

Check it out:

Drunken Leaves

BONUS PSYCHEDELIC COVERS, MAN!

Pictures of Matchstick Men-Kasabian (Status Quo cover) (YSI)

Time of the Season (Zombies cover)-Twilight Singers (YSI)

Wild Horses-Rolling Stones and Eddie Vedder (YSI)

Again, not the biggest fan, but big enough.  And I love Dave Grohl.

Nirvana-February 1, 1992, from Melbourne, Australia.  Great quality boot.

01) About A Girl
02) Come As You Are
03) Breed
04) Polly
05) Lounge Act
06) Love Buzz
07) Lithium

unzip nirvana