• Friday Five

    Ickmusic’s Friday Five: January 25, 2008

    January 25, 2008 /

    Friday Five

    On an average week, most of my Friday afternoon is spent resisting the urge to count the minutes until the weekend and getting the last of my work done before ‘unplugging’.

    I also find it’s the day I’m most likely to hit ‘shuffle’ on my iPod / iTunes. You can learn a lot about someone through what they’ve got in their music collection and I figured that I’d share the first five tracks (and some thoughts, anecdotes and defenses, you know in case a Spice Girls or N*Sync track comes up) with all of you.

    Feel free to add your random ‘Friday Five’ in the comments and be honest! We all have those guilty pleasures…

    Here are this week’s tracks:

    1. Cyndi Lauper – The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough (from Time After Time – The Best Of)

    I’ll make a admission here, I never loved “The Goonies”. I don’t look back fondly or reminisce over the ‘Truffle Shuffle’. That said, I always kind of liked this song. It was a top 10 hit for Cyndi in 1985 and I recall it getting more than it’s share of airplay.

    2. The Clash – The Guns of Brixton (from London Calling)

    I was a late-comer to The Clash. I connected with the singles (“Rock the Casbah”, “London Calling” and “Should I Stay or Should I Go?”) when I was younger but it was not until my early Twenties when I picked up the London Calling CD that I really understood how influential and amazing they truly were.

    3. The Toasters – Too Much Happening (from New York Fever)

    Before the late 90’s ska explosion there was The Toasters. The first and the longest running group in the third wave of ska they embodied the ‘rude boy’ image to me. Being a short train ride from NYC I’ve had the opportunity to see them live many times over the last 15 years and they always put on one of the most energetic shows I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

    4. N.W.A. – Straight Outta Compton (from Straight Outta Compton)

    How do you go from Cyndi Lauper to Ice Cube in less than three tracks…? I remember exactly where I was the first time I heard this record, sitting on the long bus ride home a friend had copied the cassette from his older brother. We sat and listened. From the first verse to the very end this was like nothing we’d ever heard before and I was hooked.

    5. Pantera – Walk (from Vulgar Display of Power)

    Re! Spect! Walk! ‘Nuff said!

    So what comes up in your shuffle?

  • Nudges

    A Nudge in the Right Direction

    January 25, 2008 /

    null

  • Rock

    Stoned in Belgium: Brussels Affair

    January 24, 2008 /

    This, my friends, is the Stones in arguably their finest form. They were touring in support of their latest album, Goats Head Soup, the follow-up to 1972’s Exile on Main Street (a tough album to follow!). Mick Taylor absolutely shredded up the stage with his lead guitar work. You’ll hear it all first hand in this great quality show.

    This was intended to be an official live album, but in the early 70’s the Stones were still bound to to an agreement with their former record label (Dekka/ABCO). So the first post-Dekka official live album didn’t come out until ’77 (Love You Live), seven years after they left Dekka.

    One of the great musical memories I have are the years in my late teens when I was discovering the Rolling Stones catalog, particularly their albums from the 70’s – and even more particularly – the greatness of Exile and Sticky Fingers. So to come across a show like this for the first time is really a treat.

    And if you’re a young ‘un or just new to the Stones, fasten your seatbelts…

    The Rolling Stones
    Brussels, Belgium
    October 17, 1973

    Nov 17, 2011: The show is now officially available on StonesArchive.com.

    1. Brown Sugar
    2. Happy
    3. Gimme Shelter
    4. Tumbling Dice
    5. Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
    6. Dancing With Mr. D
    7. Angie
    8. You Can’t Always Get What You Want
    9. Honky Tonk Women
    10. Midnight Rambler
    11. All Down the Line
    12. Rip This Joint
    13. Jumping Jack Flash
    14. Street Fighting Man

    Goats Head Soup (click cover)

    Exile on Main Street (click cover)

  • Hip Hop,  Video

    Help Take Hip-Hop to the Super Bowl

    January 24, 2008 /

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64JGSpSSqnE 450 400]

    Internet buzz can take you a long way, maybe even to a 60 second clip during the Super Bowl. That buzz is reaching a fever pitch for the New York based Indian influenced Hip-Hop act Nivla Feat. P.Oberoi. The crew is one of three finalists for the chance to win a record deal with Interscope Records and more importantly 60 seconds of premium air-time during the Super Bowl. Mixing traditional Indian melodies over slick beats and a flow that just does not stop the group stands to bring a breath of fresh air to a by in large stale Hip-Hop scene.

    You can place your vote at www.crashthesuperbowl.com

    Buy: “Be Easy (Koi Naa)”

    Link: Official Site | MySpace

  • Indie,  Laid Back

    Jumping on the Band (of Horses) Wagon

    January 23, 2008 /

    I’m late to the Band of Horses bandwagon. I guess my inclination is to shy away from the darlings of the indie critics and hipsters. Well, I made a mistake for not checking these guys out earlier. Since the beginning of the year, Cease to Begin has been on regular rotation over here in the House of Ickmusic. Lead singer Ben Bridwell’s voice is the key for me – gentle and soothing.

    The album is top notch from start to finish, but it’s this track – the finale – that I could literally put on Repeat for a day straight and never tire of it.

    Band of Horses – Windows Blues (mp3)

    Buy: Cease to Begin

    Links: Official Site | MySpace

  • Miscellaneous

    LastFM takes it to the next level

    January 23, 2008 /

    If you’re here, you love music. And if you love music, you should be on LastFM – a free social music networking site. Especially with this morning’s news…

    LastFM, which CBS bought last year, just announced a major deal with all four major labels, and thousands of indie labels, that will allow you – the music fan – to go to LastFM, and listen to any song you want, in its entirety. Pretty sweet, if you ask me.

    Okay, so what is LastFM? What all does it do? I turned a few friends on to it over the last few months who had never heard of it, so there are probably bunches of you fine people out there who don’t know about LastFM. So here goes…

    The first thing you want to do is sign up for LastFM. It’s free.

    The next thing you’ll want to do is download their software (PC or Mac, it doesn’t matter). What the software does is it ties in to your music player, whether it’s iTunes, Winamp, Windows Media Player, whatever – and keeps track of the music you listen to.

    When you go to your profile page, you’ll find “charts” of the music you’ve been listening to, your top artists, your top songs, etc. Pretty sweet in itself. But that’s just the beginning. This is where the networking part comes in to the picture. Based on what you’re listening to, it shows you other LastFM members with similar interests, and displays them as your “Neighbors”. You can check out their profile pages to see what they’re listening to. You can send them invitations to be your “Friend” too. Friends can send recommendations to other friends, send private messages, etc.

    Then there’s the Recommendations feature. By just typing in an artist, LastFM will start playing full tunes of similar artists – a great way to discover new music. It’s pretty sweet. I know this sounds like an advertisement, but it’s not. I’m a music GEEK, and this is music geek heaven, in my opinion. And now that they’ve made a deal with virtually the entire music industry (refreshing to see), this takes LastFM to another level.

    Just think, any song you want to hear – in its entirety – for free. I am GEEEKED!

    So check out my LastFM presence. If you sign up, send me a friend invitation. The more, the merrier!

    Pete’s LastFM Page

    That was my LastFM pitch.

    Next Up: I have a ton of friends who still visit web sites one by one to check them out. This cannot stand! So coming soon… “Bloglines, Google Reader, and RSS Feeds: Get Fed!” or “You Still Check out Web Sites One by One? WTF?”

  • Rock

    Nobody Knows (including me)

    January 19, 2008 /

    One of the neglected bands in my life has been Faces (and Small Faces before them). But thankfully, they keep popping up from time to time, reminding me to get my act together. Wohlman included this great track in one of his most recent transmissions (if you haven’t listened to one, you need to. Your musical horizons will expand). It’s a Ron Wood / Ronnie Lane composition that was included on the Faces album First Step. It was the first record after the breakup of Small Faces, and actually reads “Small Faces” on original pressings of the album. The lineup was Rod Stewart, Ron Wood, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagen, and Kenney Jones.

    This song has been around as long as I’ve been alive fercryin’ out loud (since 1970), and I heard it for the first time y-e-s-t-e-r-d-a-y. Great song, I recommend earphones. You’ll hear old Rod in one ear, and who I’m assuming to be Lane in the other. Am I right on that one?

    Faces – Nobody Knows (mp3)

    BUY

    Official Site of Faces

  • Folk

    On the Town this Weekend with Todd Snider

    January 17, 2008 /

    Well, crap in a basket and call me Pappy, it’s almost Friday! And hey, Todd Snider is coming to town! If you’re in the Phoenix area, and you’re free on Sunday night (a long weekend for MLK Day), join me, the wife and some friends down at the Last Exit Bar & Grill in Tempe. $15 to see Todd Snider? I’ll take it….

    I’m looking forward to seeing him. He’s a singer/songwriter from Nashville (originally from Portland, Oregon) with a sharp, witty sense of humor – a performer sort of in the same vein as John Prine. His debut was on MCA way back in 1994 – Songs for the Daily Planet. Seven other studio albums have followed, all the way up to his latest, 2006’s The Devil You Know.

    Quality entertainment, folks. Check out a few tunes.

    Todd Snider – Combover Blues (mp3) – priceless lyrics about getting older… [from Peace, Love and Anarchy (Rarities, B-Sides and Demos, Vol. 1)]

    Todd Snider – All My Life (mp3) – a nice love song – [from Happy to Be Here]

    Todd Snider – Enough (mp3) – one of my favorite rockin’ harmonica solos along with Bruce’s “Promised Land” and Steve Earle’s “More Than I Can Do” – [from Step Right Up]

  • Bruce Springsteen

    Girls Love Winter

    January 16, 2008 /

    The Boss

    The third single from Magic has hit iTunes with some bonus goodies. For $3.00 you get “Girls In Their Summer Clothes (Winter Mix)”, “Girls In Their Summer Clothes (Live)” (which features a great sax break and a hell of a sing along) and the video clip. Well worth the price of a grande non-fat vanilla latte for a little summer love in the midst of winter.


    Bruce Springsteen - Girls In Their Summer Clothes - EP