The Current Music Blog: December 28, 2007 Archive

The Stream 12/28/07

Posted at 8:35 AM on December 28, 2007 by Barb Abney (1 Comments)

Regina Spektor has covered Peggy Lee's “My Dear Acquaintance (A Happy New Year).”
Get it for free on iTunes.

Madonna has directed Filth and Wisdom, a film which will debut in February.

Nick Cave and his Bad Seeds will release Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! on March 3rd.

Today In Music History:
1921 - Johnny Otis was born.
1946 - Edgar Winter was born.
1950 - Alex Chilton was born.
1978 - Rolling Stone voted Some Girls by The Rolling Stones Album of the Year.
1978 - Chris Bell (Big Star) died in a car crash.
1983 - Dennis Wilson (Beach Boys) drowned.
2002 - Gary Glitter was deported from Cambodia after suspected sex offences.

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Live Blogging 12/28/07

Posted at 9:22 AM on December 28, 2007 by Barb Abney

11:40 a.m. The Good The Bad & The Queen
Damon Albarn speaks out about celebrity culture.

11:15 a.m. Jack Peñate
Here's the Rolling Stone piece.
More...

10:20 a.m. Sons and Daughters
Their forthcoming album, This Gift will be in stores next month. You can pre-order it now...

Song Of The Day Info - Heiruspecs (featuring Martin DeVaney)
Today on our Song Of The Day Podcast we're featuring local musicians Heiruspecs along with Martin Devaney on vocals with the tune "War Drums" from 10 Years Strong.
They dropped by last week for an in-studio performance with Mark Wheat.
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9:50 a.m. Local Music - Cloud Cult
They're going to release a new album on April 8th!
More...

9:40 a.m. Jason Isbell
He's playing The Varsity Theater with Will Hoge on February 6th.
More...

9:30 a.m. Local Music - Gary Louris
His new album, Vagabonds will be released on February 19th.
More..

9:20 a.m. Local Music - Jeremy Messersmith
He's playing a show at The Cedar tomorrow night.
More...

Do the Shuffle

Posted at 12:05 PM on December 28, 2007 by Tony Lopez (4 Comments)

"What do we want?"
"The Shuffle!"
"When do we want it?"
"Now!"

"Children of the Grave," Black Sabbath
When I was a kid, I found Ozzy Osbourne very strange. But who would have thought that nearly a quarter century later he’d be starring in a very warped (Master of?) reality TV series with his family? Now, that was disturbing! With its menacing riff “Children of the Grave” was not your father’s anti-war song! Here’s Sabbath live in 1974, with Ozzy’s signature maniacal clapping. And listen to the song alongside Blondie’s “Call Me.” You won’t be disappointed.

“Boplicity,” Miles Davis
Finally, jazz makes its first appearance on the Shuffle. To me, Miles Davis is the avatar of cool. In fact, this tune is from the 1949 sessions that were called The Birth of the Cool. It marked a new chapter in the history of jazz. The so-called “Cool School” wasn’t as aggressive as bebop, which was the dominant form at the time. On these sessions, Davis played with a nonet which included Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz and Max Roach. Gil Evans served as arranger. Here he is, over 40 years later, in 1991, playing "Boplicity" at the Montreux Jazz Festival, with Quincy Jones conducting the orchestra. Davis was dead less than three months later.

“Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” (Witmark demo), Bob Dylan
From Volume 7 of the Bootleg Series, “No Direction Home.” Genius.

“War,” Bob Marley & The Wailers
Another anti-war song, this time in a Rastafarian vein. The source for the lyrics is part of a speech given by Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia to the U.N. in 1963. The song is both a call for basic human rights and a tribute to Selassie, who was revered by Rastafarians and referred to as The Lion.

“Memory Lane,” Elliott Smith
Another in a long line of artists who have “What if…” as part of their legacy. This is from From a Basement On a Hill, released a year after his death.

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"My 3 Songs" for Friday

Posted at 1:58 PM on December 28, 2007 by Steve Seel

We've got another one today pointing toward our Top 89 of 2007 countdown, which is happening on New Years's Day. Trevor Brown of Zimmerman MN wirtes, "These are three of the best songs of 2007. And it just happens (they are all) bands that call the UK home. I love to play air guitar to these songs -- that's my daily workout in this thing we call winter."

1) Radiohead, "Faust Arp"
2) The Cribs, "Our Bovine Republic"
3) Editors, "Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors"

He concludes, "Whatever you do, get Radiohead to play Minneapolis/St. Paul this coming spring!" Oh, how I wish we had power over such things, Trevor -- but I suppose it's cool that you assume such omnipotence. We'll wish right along with you.

Guest DJ Set 12-28-07

Posted at 2:43 PM on December 28, 2007 by Mark Wheat (4 Comments)

Guest DJ Set end of year round up;

First order of business...Huge thanks to the man who supplies the first Friday of every month mix, DJ ESP aka Woody McBride!! He'll be spinning at Foundation TONIGHT. It might be your first chance to hear him live, but it also might be your last chance to go to the club as they are closing on Tuesday, to 're-evaluate their situation'. They are the only downtown venue that has booked touring DJs that we have featured on this segment, including Kaskade and Mark Farina. It's obviously still hard for a club trying to book progressive dance events to stay in business and we wish them well in what ever moves they make, will someone else pick up the slack?

In addition to Woody, we've also featured more local DJs this year than ever before;
Chuck Love, DJ Eve, Freddy Fresh, David Drone & Bryan Gerrard, ODdio, NyteOwl and Jason Heinrichs from Roomsa
and we'll continue to dig for more in '08...spread the word, or send us a set!

We also featured some of the biggest names in the DJ world...John Digweed, Tiesto and Paul Van Dyke.

We had compilation mixes by some of the bands we play ...Cinematic Orchestra, Hot Chip, Spankrock and LCD Soundsystem.

We discovered some new faves; Cafe Abstrait and Terry Lee Brown on our travels in Europe this summer

We revisited some of my fave compilation series; Stephane Pompougnac's "Hotel Costes", DJ Kicks with Booka Shade and
fabric with Cut Copy, Ralph Lawson, Marc Carola, Ellen Allien, Marcus Intalex, Ricardo Villaldos, and...

Ewan Pearson, tonight's featured artist in the review of the best sets of the year.
We played two parts, the beginning and the end, of his 'fabric 35' in August and tonight we complete it by playing the middle, tracks 6 thru 11.

New Years Eve at Midnight we'll play my fave set of the year in it's entirety...
Bob Sinclar's 'Soundz of Freedom' "My Ultimate Summer of Love Mix".
I love the positive vibe that courses throughout this mix, hopefully it will start the new year in the best possible way and adequately commemorates the 40th Anniversary of the Summer of Love.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

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