Kathleen Edwards - Oh Canada (live)

Chromatics - My My Hey Hey (Into the Black) (Neil Young cover)

From Kill for Love (2012).

Etta James w/ Dr. John - At Last (live)

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Conway Twitty

The Kinks - The Kinks in Mono box set

If you think the 60s is an overrated decade for music - if you think that other than Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Velvet Underground, Cream, The Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, Fairport Convention, The Byrds, The Zombies, The Doors and Motown and Stax Records in general, the decade didn't much depth, you're probably not giving The Kinks enough credit. That, and you're an utter cunt.

You either already know or should know how metal owes its existence to Ray Davies' rhythm guitar on "You Really Got Me", while his brother Dave's solo on the same track gave birth to the "anti-solo" favoured by Lou Reed, Kurt Cobain and Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore among many others. If that's about the extent of your Kinks knowledge, this box set is ideal for you. I only owned The Singles and the reissue from several years ago of The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, so the prospect of six studio albums I didn't own plus four EPs on one CD and two rarities collections was one I couldn't pass up.

Even if you own nothing collected here, you're probably familiar with some or all of The Kinks' best known songs. The real value is in discovering the lesser known but equally essential album cuts; an urgent take on Elvis Presley's "Milk Cow Blues", the I-can't-believe-it-wasn't-a-single "Picture Book", and "Creeping Jean", a b-side which could have been a career-defining hit for a lesser band. Even some songs that were probably meant as throwaways will probably resonate with some people; "Harry Rag" is one such song for me. The EPs and rarities are slimmer pickings, but clear away the filler and you're still left with at least an album's worth of top shelf shit.

Money-wise, The Kinks in Mono is well worth it. I've seen box sets with half as much material that have gone for the same price. The Kinks never benefited greatly from stereo, and some of their late 60s material actually suffered slightly from it, so the mono-ness is a plus. Also, as an unabashed lover of CDs, I like the idea of being able to hold in one hand something that documents The Kinks' journey from amp tube slashing garage rockers to unrivaled social commentators and pioneers of the concept album.

Fugazi - 20,000 songs

I have decided to review all 830 or so shows in the Fugazi live series!

Actually, I won't be doing that. I changed my mind.

Top 30 Albums of 2011

30. Emmylou Harris - Hard Bargain


29. White Denim - D


28. Foo Fighters - Wasting Light

27. Burial - Street Halo EP

26. Melodie Nelson - Meditations on the Sun

25. Dum Dum Girls - Only in Dreams

24. Gorillaz - The Fall


23. Six Organs of Admittance - Asleep on the Floodplain

22. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

21. Fucked Up - David Comes to Life

20. Deerhoof - Deerhoof vs Evil

19. 50 Foot Wave - With Love from the Men's Room EP

18. Boris - Attention Please

17. Zomby - Dedication

16. The Pierces - You & I

15. Leader Cheetah - Lotus Skies

14. Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts


13. Gillian Welch - The Harrow and the Harvest

12. Gotye - Making Mirrors

11. Wire - Red Barked Tree

10. Cut Copy - Zonoscope

9. Radiohead - The King of Limbs

8. Alela Diane - Alela Diane & Wild Divine

7. Battles - Gloss Drop

6. Wild Flag - Wild Flag

5. Tom Waits - Bad As Me

4. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

3. Bill Callahan - Apocalypse

2. Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will

1. Boris - Heavy Rocks

100th post

I've traditionally posted youtube clips when I know this blog needs an update, but I can't think of one. So in honour of that, I'm celebrating my 100th post with 100 youtube clips!


1. Throwing Muses - Dizzy



2. The Sex Pistols - No Fun (Stooges cover, live at Winterland)



3. Robert Pollard - Window of My World (in-studio acoustic demo)



4. Laura Cantrell - Love Vigilantes (New Order cover, live)


5. Faith No More - Evidence (live on Hey Hey It's Saturday 1995)


6. Bad Brains - We Will Not (live)


7. Brak - Friendship is Like An Ointment


8. Dappled Cities - Answer is Zero (live)


9. Wilson Pickett - Mustang Sally (live)


10. Radiohead - How to Disappear Completely (live)


11. A Gun Called Tension - Gold Fronts


12. Etta James - I'd Rather Go Blind (live)


13. Eels - Novocaine for the Soul


14. Cat Stevens - Morning Has Broken (live)


15. Beck - Black Angel's Death Song (Velvet Underground cover for Record Club)


16. Michael Jackson - Beat It


18. Weird Al Yankovic - Eat It


19. Neko Case - People Got a Lotta Nerve


20. Duran Duran - A View to a Kill


21. Magic Dirt - Ice


22. Throwing Muses - Hook in Her Head (live)


23. Mansun - The Chad Who Loved Me (live)


24. Custard - (Feels Like) Ringo (live)


25. Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way (live)


26. The Cranberries - Zombie


27. Devo - Freedom of Choice (live)


28. Boris - Missing Pieces (live)


29. Britney Spears - Toxic


30. Midnight Oil - Sometimes (live)


31. Fugazi - Margin Walker (live)


32. Iron and Wine - Sodom, South Georgia (live)


33. Soundgarden - Jesus Christ Pose (live)


34. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On/What's Happening Brother (live)


35. Warpaint - Undertow (live, acoustic)


36. Beck - Master Song (Leonard Cohen cover for Record Club)


37. Devo - Through Being Cool


38. The Clean - Tally Ho


39. Paula Abdul & MC Skat Cat - Opposites Attract


40. Boards of Canada - Dayvan Cowboy


41. Radiohead - Talk Show Host (live)


42. Sonic Youth - The Diamond Sea (live)


43. Gang of Four - What We All Want (live)


44. The Triffids - Wide Open Road


45. King Missle - Detachable Penis


46. Jeff Buckley - Eternal Life (live)


47. Gotye - Somebody That I Used to Know


48. Laura Veirs - Through December (live)


49. Boris - Korosu


50. Neko Case - I Wish I Was the Moon (live)


51. Owen Pallett - Fantasy (Mariah Carey cover)


52. Johnny Cash - Cocaine Blues (live)


53. Garbage - Vow


54. Aphex Twin - Windowlicker


55. Alice in Chains - Would? (live)


56. St. Vincent - Cruel


57. Mogwai - Travel is Dangerous (live)


58. Paul Simon - You Can Call Me Al


59. ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - Relative Ways (live)


60. Cream - Sunshine of Your Love


61. Mercury Rev - Young Mans' Stride


62. Dean Stockwell - Alphabet Song Rap from Quantum Leap (soundtrack version) - audio only


63. Hunters & Collectors - Talking to a Stranger


65. Madonna - Into the Groove


66. Regurgitator - Miffy's Simplicity


67. Guided By Voices - My Kind of Soldier


68. The Roots - Here I Come (live)


69. Led Zeppelin - Kashmir (live)


70. The Magnetic Fields - I Don't Want to Get Over You (live)


71. Mission of Burma - That's When I Reach for My Revolver (live)


72. Belly - Super-connected


73. Depeche Mode - Everything Counts


74. Rebecca Black - Friday


75. Slint - Good Morning, Captain (live)


76. The Clean - Anything Could Happen


77. Mazzy Star - Fade Into You (live)


78. ESG - UFO (live)


79. OFF! - Jefferey Lee Pierce/I Don't Belong (live)


80. The Breeders - Cannonball


81. Tom Waits - The Piano Has Been Drinking (live)


82. Neneh Cherry - Buffalo Stance (Top of the Pops)


83. Wild Flag - Black Tiles (live)


84. Mercury Rev - Chasing a Bee


85. B.B. King - Why I Sing the Blues (live)


86. Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc. (live)


87. The Church - Reptile (live)


88. Funkadelic - Maggot Brain (live)


89. Not From There - Sich Offnen (live)


90. Sonic Youth - Kool Thing


91. Echo & The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon


92. Brak - The Metalhead Song


93. The Happy Mondays - Kinky Afro


94. Deerhunter - Nothing Ever Happened (live)


95. Iron & Wine - Naked As We Came (live)


96. Nirvana - Radio Friendly Unit Shifter (live)


97. The Clash - Charlie Don't Surf (live)


98. R.E.M. - West of the Fields (live)


99. Gillian Welch - Revelator (live)


100. Super Furry Animals - Sex, War and Robots (Wauvenfold mix)