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.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Saturday, December 10, 2011
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 RocksFriday, November 11, 2011
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)
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)
Labels:
too many
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Tom Waits - Bad As Me

When you're as bad as Tom Waits, you don't need to release an album every two years; the fans will wait. But how do you keep doing it when you're up to album number 17?
The answer, according to his wife, is don't fuck around. Get in the studio, record your songs and fuck off. 2004's Real Gone, Waits' last album of all new material, didn't exactly suffer from a paucity of ideas, but a glance at the album's running time of 72 minutes confirmed that not all of those ideas were any good. Not only were there too many songs, but the songs themselves were too long, something the skip button can't help with.
Bad As Me neither totally falls back on the tried and true nor labouriously tries to re-invent the sound Waits has been known for since his Island days, but rather varies the approach in subtle yet rewarding ways, particularly in its use of the studio as an instrument. Some past collaborators also liven things up with their welcome return; Les Claypool makes a few guest appearances, as do Marc Ribot and Keith Richards (sometimes on the same track!). Waits' son Casey also appears as part of his fathers percussive onslaught, and Flea makes his debut appearance for Waits.
To say that most artists' 17th albums don't sound as fresh as Bad As Me, or as brutal as it occasionally does ("Hell Broke Luce" - holy shit) is an understatement. Most artists' 4th albums can't manage that. Not only that, but it repositions Waits above almost any other musician out there, suggests that Waits hasn't finished dropping albums that will be part of any era's essential listening and reminds us that his fanbase is bigger than ever. It doesn't matter how long it is until his next album; they'll wait.
Friday, November 4, 2011
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About Me
- Tom
- Ever since I discovered I could tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi under double blind conditions at the age of 10, I knew my palette was sharper than most. Rather waste this gift, I offer this blog as a means to impart my culinary wisdom.
