The Friday Five: June 5, 2009
Friday Five : ˈfrī-(ˌ)dā,-dē ˈfīv : On the sixth day of every week I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five and drop a little knowledge and insight for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, sometimes there isn’t. Sometimes we have guest, but most of the time it’s just me. The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments.The Five:
Editor’s Note: It’s a busy day here in the Northeast but The Five is still playing in the background… here’s what is spinning with some twitter-sized thoughts:
Frente! – “Labour of Love” (from Labour of Love)
Aussie acoustic-pop act better known 4 their intimate cover of New Order‘s “Bizarre Love Triangle”. I actually like this record quite a bit.
Metallica – “Battery” (from Master of Puppets)
& now 4 something cmpletly difft! ive 2 admit that I dont listen 2 enough classic Metallica. I hold their present against their past glory.
ALL – “Hot Rod Lincon” (from Allroy’s Revenge)
Punk tribute to the Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen classic.
Prince – “The Arms of Orion (feat. Sheena Easton)” (from Batman)
Mama said if you ain’t got nuthin’ nice to say don’t say nuthin’ at all.
Johnny Cash – “A Boy Named Sue (live)” (from The Legend of Johnny Cash)
This 1 brings back memories of sitting the back of the family station wagon. Johnny, Waylon, Willie & the boys were always the soundtrack.
What’s keeping your day rolling?
Ick’s Pick (Week XXII): Ryan Bingham’s Roadhouse Sun
“Bad ass”. If I had to describe the new Ryan Bingham album in two words, those would be them. Show me a more bad ass release this year. You can’t. Because Ryan Bingham brings it on this album. A former rider on the pro rodeo circuit; hailing from Hobbs, New Mexico; the frequent cowboy hat: you’d expect a good dose of “country”. And there is, but mixed in with equal parts rock, blues, and roots.
I liken the album to Steve Earle’s I Feel Alright
, in the way it just chugs along with a freshness and vitality, an innovative blast of roots tinged-rock and roll, and quiet moments that dig deep into the soul. Two entities shape this album in a big way. The first is Ryan Bingham’s singing voice: tough, leathery, and twangy. The other is his backup band, the Dead Horses. I’ll have to look into how they cut these songs together, but they sound like the full band in studio. They must be a killer band to see live, and you bet your bum I’ll be the first in line when they come to Arizona.
Standout tracks for me right now:
- “Change Is” – a seven minute rocker with a brush stroke of psychedelia; the full band breakouts on this track make me think of the Black Crowes at their rocking-est moments.
- “Bluebird” – there’s a hypnotic quality to this bluesy rocker. The lyrics are dark, defiant, and fascinating. I’m still trying to figure out what the “Bluebird” refers to.I’m down on the river baby, but I’m stuck on the other side love,
From a rope my heart is hanging, water rises on a lonely soul,
And I’ll take my chances breathing, ain’t never gonna hold my breath,
Because I know if I stay waiting, my bluebird is gonna bleed to death.Read all the lyrics here.
- “Tell My Mother I Miss Her So” – from the title, I thought it would be a ballad, but what it is is an uptempo barnburner with a good dose of mandolin, banjo, and guitars.
Roadhouse Sun will be the soundtrack to many an experience this summer – a collection of songs so unique and impressive in their own right that my personal favorites will likely rotate for a while.
Buy Roadhouse Sun today, it’ll do you good. The Amazon MP3 Store still has their special version available for $3.99.
Paul Simon + Roots + Antibalas Horns on Fallon
Jimmy Fallon may be going through some growing pains as a late night talk show host (some of the interviews I’ve seen have their cringe-worthy moments), but with the Roots as the house band, every musical moment has the potential for greatness. Last week, the Beasties dropped in. Last night, it was Paul Simon’s turn, as he joined the Roots crew for “Late in the Evening”, with the Antibalas horns in tow.
The verses and choruses are fine, but the real magic happens in between, when the percussion and horns take over. Awesome!
Sirius/XM on the iPhone, finally!
For those of you who, like me, are iPhone users and Sirius/XM subscribers, our time has come. Thanks to Pocket Tunes Radio, we can now stream our favorite satellite stations direct to our iPhones. And yes, this includes Howard Stern, for fellow addicts like myself. There are a ton of other radio stations to choose from, but I’ll be using it primarily for Sirius/XM.
Nothing this sweet comes without a price, so if you’re interested, you’ll need to pony up $10.00 for the app, but it’s money well spent if you’ve been waiting for a way to listen to Sirius/XM on your iPhone (without jailbreaking it). Oh, one other little caveat – Sirius charges $2.99 per month now for streaming Internet Radio, so you need to be signed up for that as well. They charge by the month, so for the price of a cup of coffee, again – to me – totally worth it.
Check out Pocket Tunes Radio on
Check out the Macworld review of Pocket Tunes Radio (by NormSoft).
Listen: Steve Earle’s Satellite Radio (mp3) – from Washington Square Serenade
Dave Matthews Band: Live @ The Beacon Theater
Tonight Dave Matthews Band will celebrate the release of their new record Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King with an intimate show at the historic Beacon Theater in New York. The show will be broadcast live beginning at 9:00 PM EST on the Fuse network as well as online over at Hulu. Through a twist of fate (and the amazing detective skills of my better half) I will be in attendance tonight and will be sure to post a full review of the show as well as the new album in the coming days.
You can listen to the Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King in its entirety over at Pandora.
Buy Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King: Amazon
