A Free Man

No, not Christmas. Christmas can bite me. I’m talking about the time for end-of-year Top 10 lists. I love a good top 10 list and have always wanted a venue on which to present one. When I was thinking of starting a blog, and this is true, one of the things that motivated me to get it together was that I would finally be able to put together a list of my 10 favorite albums of the year. Just like the magazines. Except nobody cares about mine.

Bit of a twist this year. Because of my loosely enforced boycott of the major labels, this year’s top ten list will be the Top 10 Albums from Unsigned Artists or Artists Associated with Independent Record Labels.* Catchy title, eh? I don’t want to give any press to the Big 4, so I’m going to focus on the little guys. Guys that may not get the attention of an R.E.M. or a Kings of Leon but may be making better music. Now, I don’t own every album that was released in 2008, so this list is really just personal favorites. I’ll feature one of my Top 10 every couple of days until the end of the month.

Christmas blows but I’m not completely opposed to the Season of Giving concept. I’m working on a repeat of last year’s musical giveaways and am hoping to scale it up a bit this year. So, stay tuned for some reader rewards that will hopefully give me a chance to say thanks to those of you that enjoy the music that you find here at A Free Man.

So, we’ll start off today with the Honorable Mention albums:

The Pharmacy - “Choose Yr Own Adventure”: I fell in love with this cheeky Seattle trio earlier this year. I’m a sucker for the harpsichord as well as Kinky psych-pop and The Pharmacy has both. Their debut LP is a Buy it directly from Don’t Stop Believin’ Records or download from .

MP3: The Pharmacy - “Black Ice Cream”

Motel Motel - “New Denver”: I get a load of music through my inbox, the bulk of which goes pretty rapidly into my trash. If something doesn’t make me sit up and take notice on the first listen then it rarely gets another shot. So, the unsigned bands that I feature on this site are the ones that make it to the second listen. Every now and again, one gets a third or fourth or fifth. One of those is Brooklyn’s Motel Motel. The album is kind of all over the place, but when these guys are good they’re damn good. Check out their debut LP, “New Denver” available from .

MP3: Motel Motel - “Coffee”

Cat Power - “Jukebox”: I love Chan Marshall. She is my rock and roll fantasy girlfriend. But her record company, Matador, has been heavy handed with bloggers. This is really a shame, because they’ve got some great acts in their stable. Matador, I’d like to be friends, really I would. But until you make an effort to be friendly to bloggers, I’m afraid I have to treat you as a Major label. At any rate, Cat Power put out one of the best records of 2006 with “The Greatest”, but this follow up pales a bit. It’s kind of a step backwards for Chan. Still pretty good, though and certainly worthy of mention. As Matador will send the sheriff after me if I link to a song from “Jukebox” here’s an excellent live version of”New York, New York”.

MP3: Cat Power - “New York, New York” (Live)

We Grow Up - “Night Kitchen”: There seems to be a real movement in music right now toward simple, almost primitive, melodic pop. I’ve got to tell you, this makes me happy. I ran across an unsigned Aussie band from right here in Adelaide a while back and was immediately enchanted. Their sophomore LP, “Night Kitchen” is just a joy to listen to and they’re surprisingly mature songwriters for a young band. They’ve signed with Half A Cow and “Night Kitchen” is available from the label.

MP3: We Grow Up - “Celia” 

The Mountain Goats - “Heretic Pride”: John Darnielle, the brain behind The Mountain Goats, has a discography stretching back to the early 1990’s but he just really got on my radar this year with the lyrically stunning “Heretic Pride”. Two of my favorite music bloggers are huge fans and convinced me to have a proper listen. Man, am I glad that I did. I’ve always been a lyrics man and Darnielle is a poet. Have a listen to “Autoclave” and if you like what you hear, you won’t be disappointed by the LP. Buy it from 4AD.

MP3: The Mountain Goats - “Autoclave” 

Bon Iver - “For Emma, Forever Ago”: Another folky, lyrical guy is Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. He’s making spare, slightly spooky and gently ethereal music that is perfect for lullabies, among other things. I have a bit of experience. But beyond its usefulness to parents, Bon Iver makes beautiful and subtle music and “For Emma, Forever Ago” (Jagjaguwar) is a treat. Buy the record direcly from the label. By the way, remember that name (Jagjaguwar) you’ll be seeing these guys again, they’ve got some fantastic artists in their stable.

MP3: Bon Iver - “For Emma”

Super XX Man - “Volume XII: There’ll Be Diamonds”: Must be something about the rain in Portland, because that city is home to some wonderfully wistful, lo-fi artists here at the end of the 00’s. The latest to make me long for the Pacific Northwest is Super XX Man. The musical vehicle for Scott Gerrard is prolific, with their latest “Volume XII: There’ll Be Diamonds” (Tender Loving Empire) marking their twelfth (or so) long player. It’s addictively and simply charming and is available from the band.

MP3: Super XX Man - “There’ll Be Diamonds”

The Bell - “Make Some Quiet”: One of the unexpected, and pleasant, surprises of spending so much time in Sweden over the last few years was the discovery that Sweden right now is to melodious, beautifully crafted pop music what Florence in the 1400’s was to religious painting. There’s just an amazing number of incredibly talented pop bands coming out of the frozen north. One of my favorites is Stockholm’s The Bell, an heavily 80’s inspired trio. Their debut LP, “Make Some Quiet”, made some noise earlier this year and if you’ve got a taste for some of the darker music from the totally awesome decade it may just be for you. Check out my interview with Matthias Strömberg and if you like what you hear, buy their record from .

MP3: The Bell - “Do You Know How To Feel”

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* Independent means really independent. No boutique labels, no distribution deals (see Sub Pop).

Popularity: 15% [?]

Be forewarned, I’m a little pissed off today. So much so, in fact, that my hatred of the Florida Gators is going to have to sit the bench for a bit.

In the past week or so, the music blogging community has been thrown into a state of confusion and fear by a burst of heavy handed enforcement of the Digital  Millenium Copyright Act by Google, Blogger and Wordpress at the behest of the Big 4 Record Companies. This enforcement has manifested itself as the deletion of a number of posts that contain or contained links to MP3s of artists in their stables. In some cases, these links had already been removed by the author or had been posted with the permission of the artists before they signed with one of the big boys. Google and Blogger have sent threatening e-mails about copyrighted material without stating the material to which they were referring.

As a part-time music blogger, I initially found myself slightly confused - a feeling that has begun to make the transition to anger. It’s not clear to me where I stand legally. Is my blog going to be deleted because I posted a Jimmy Buffett song (putting taste aside). I blog about music and post tracks because I want to share my love of music. I want people to have a chance to hear the music that makes my heart race. Many people wouldn’t pick up the music that I blog about, because many people haven’t heard of the band. I like to think that, now and again, I expose people to a new band that they then come to love themselves. I like to think that, now and again, someone hears a band on my site and then goes and buys music from that band or goes to see them live. Yes, sometimes I post music without explicit permission but I always post a”Buy” link and encourage readers to go out and buy the whole album. I’ve been asked by record labels to take tracks down in the past and have always complied immediately and apologized. I may be a pirate in the eyes of Columbia, but I think that I’m a pretty well behaved pirate. The Captain Jack Sparrow of music piracy maybe.

I post music because I love music. I want people to support the artists that I love. I, and other music bloggers, are an excellent source of free advertising for the record industry. I don’t get anything back for this - except an occasional free record in the mail - I don’t get paid to give artists that I love advertising.

Well, the Big 4 should probably know that there is nobody angrier and more vindictive than a jilted lover. I would love to stand up and say “fuck you” to Columbia and the other record companies. I would love to give them directions to the orifice in which they can jam their DMCA. But. This blog is more than just a music blog - it’s a personal journal, it’s a baby book for Boy Z and it’s a way for me to remember this part of my life that at some point, as old age catches up with me, I will no doubt forget. I can not risk Bluehost deleting individual posts or my entire site because I’ve violated some bullshit American copyright law that they’ve decided to enforce, with the collusion of Google, in a draconian manner. My hosting company is in the U.S., thus (despite being 10,000 miles away) I am subject to American law.

So, the record companies win the battle. All of the MP3s featured on this site over the last year or so have been removed, whether or not I had permission to post them. I can’t remember and it’s not worth the risk. I will not post music on this site anymore unless I have explicit permission, in writing, from the artist and their record company.

However, they haven’t won the war. The record industry has been in decline for more than a decade. This is just the latest hail mary to save a dying industry. Like some of their other misguided enforcement efforts, this one attacks their customer base. I buy a lot of music, a good part of it from major record labels. I will not generally buy a record unless I have seen a review from a source that I trust or have heard a track or two from the album. Increasingly, I rely on fellow bloggers with similar tastes to help me make that decision. Here is a partial list, off the top of my head, of artists whom I’ve purchased records from based on other bloggers reviews:

• Cat Power
• Mates of State
• Sigur Ros
• Joe Henry
• Frightened Rabbit
• Moonbabies
• Kings of Leon
• Hem
• Great Lake Swimmers
• The National
• Jamie T.
• Jason Isbel
• The Hold Steady
• Portishead

And many more that don’t come immediately to mind. Well, no more. I will not buy any more music unless it comes from small record labels who have a record of being cooperative with and supportive of music bloggers. That’s unfortunate, as I will likely miss subsequent new releases from some of my favorite acts, but I think it’s time for some populism in music. And there are still used record stores.

That being said, I will still post a song every day. Instead of reaching back into my iTunes library, I will feature the music of new artists who are unsigned or with small record companies who recognize the service that bloggers can provide. If you are a label or artist that would like to work with bloggers to promote your music, please do contact me.

Universal, EMI, Sony, Warner - you’ve bitten the hand that feeds you. Go to hell.

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Super XX Man is the latest musical manifestation of Portland based musician Scott Garred. His new record, “Volume XII: There’ll Be Diamonds”, is a joyful, pop-culture laden, lo-fi gem. Buy the latest Super XX Man LP directly from independent, blogger friendly Tender Loving Empire.

 

 Super XX Man - "What Lies Beneath" [3:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Popularity: 39% [?]

Teaching kids that were born the year I graduated from high school is sometimes a slightly demoralizing experience. I like to consider myself a relatively “cool” guy - down with the kids, so to speak. But nearly every day my students come up with some bit of slang that just mystifies it entirely. Clearly they aren’t as awed in my presence as they should be or they would be speaking in proper English. After all, I am a university lecturer. I  guess the sad fact is, that I’m just getting old. Verging on that stereotypical aging hipster that you generally find in “Modern Poetry” classrooms at liberal arts universities.

I haven’t been doing much of it lately (primarily because it requires more work than posting pictures of Boy Z or vitriol about the Sunshine State), but I do like to feature new music on this site. I tend to be pretty receptive to new music, and a lot of my favorite acts are made up of musicians that aren’t much older than my students. But a lot of times, and I cringe as I say this, I just don’t get it. Like emo, the much maligned musical and fashion trend that “these kids today” are inclined toward. Thing is, I don’t really understand emo, truthfully I don’t even know what it is.

The other day, Andrew at Concrete Circles posted a review of Joie De Vivre – a Rockford, Illinois emo band. Sensing an opportunity, I left a comment for Andrew professing my ignorance regarding the nature of  “emo”. This elicited an e-mail from Patrick Delehanty, Joie De Vivre’s guitarist, who politely (with the tone that one uses with aging aunties) offered to explain it to me. What a lovely young man.

Patrick was kind enough to sit down on A Free Man’s virtual couch to explain the emo movement in music to me and all my fogey readers:

AFM: I hate to put you in the position to be the spokesman for a genre, but what the hell is emo, really?

PD: There are a lot of misconceptions about what emo is. It’s supposed to music that’s emotional, which to us isn’t really a fair description. Honestly, that’s a pretty big umbrella to place over a genre. Almost anything that’s not a Top 40 single could, by this definition, be “Emo”. But we suppose that’s why the term is used so loosely to describe a band.

AFM: What are the roots of the genre? In your music, I hear a lot of the post-grunge bands of the mid-90s (Built to Spill, maybe a bit of early Modest Mouse or Yo La Tengo), but with a lot more dissonance and atonality. Who are the forefathers of emo?

PD: The roots of the genre go back to the mid-eighties. The term emo became synonymous with the whole post-punk movement (most notably the whole Ian MacKaye/Dischord records scene). The genre back then was quite different to the one most recognize now. It was a lot more raw, honest, and socially aware than the poppy cookie cutter stuff we see on MTV with the label. Later on, bands like Sunny Day Real Estate, Mineral, The Promise Ring, and Jawbreaker ushered in a more popular (and in our opinion: the best) version of what the genre should be. Now it seems to be taken over by things we always referred to as pop punk which seems a little ridiculous. We should also mention the whole screamo thing here… it’s a real shame that something so lame and fashion based was born from something so honest.

AFM: Another thing I don’t understand is why emo gets slagged off by the music press so much. Is it just aging hipsters like me who don’t get it? Or is there a legitimate beef?

PD: The music industry is very quick to judge all things emo (especially the more traditional style) as being whiny, pretentious, and drony. But, it always seemed more honest and meaningful to us than most “popular” styles of music. Emo music gets shunned by the press because it’s not trendy.

AFM: Do you bristle at the emo label being applied to your band?

PD: Not at all. Most people that like what we do either aren’t too put off by the label or have a firm grasp as to what real emo music was and still is; we’re happy to be influenced by actual emo, and we’re proud to write through it’s great influences.

AFM: OK, enough emo. Let’s find out a little about you guys.. How did Joie De Vivre come to be?

PD: Brandon, Chris, and Steve were in a band for awhile together, which broke apart in September 2007 and wanted to start something a little more traditional, along the lines with their styles. They knew Pat and Zach for awhile from other bands. It really wasn’t a difficult thing. Things fell into place pretty easily.

AFM: You’re a quintet from Rockford, Illinois with one EP under your belt. Where do you go from here?

PD: We’re almost done with our first full length, tentively called “The North End”, we hope to have it done by the end of the year. And hopefully a tour this summer. Things are pretty difficult without a label and it’s hard to keep everything balanced. None of us have degrees and we all have terrible part time jobs so money is always an issue with us. It’s hard to book all your own shows (tours included) and still have a budget for recording and merch. But we’ll see where things go. We’ve been getting a lot a decent press lately and hopefully things will get bigger and better once we finish this record.

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So, there you go gentle readers. Check out a couple of tracks from Joie De Vivre’s latest EP. I’ve got to go and listen to some Dad Rock and work on this ear hair now.

If you like Joie De Vivre’s music, buy their EP, “The Ghost of Kennedy Hill Road” here.

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Images:

Emos

 

 Joie De Vivre - "Sundays" [3:55m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Joie De Vivre - "That's The Hot Part" [4:23m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Popularity: 43% [?]

With exams due, lectures to prepare and reports to write, A Free Man has not enough feet in too many camps this week.  My head’s all over the place and I’ve started posts about topics as diverse as sedition, mobile phones, Lyndon LaRouche and my bus ride to work. Instead, I’ve decided to harness all this disparate thought to make a seamless link between Jarvis Cocker and Wee Z.

Jarvis Cocker is one of my rock gods. I selected my last pair of glasses almost entirely because I wanted specs like Jarvis. Really. Like the Barenaked Ladies, Pulp brings me right back to the early days of my relationship with (stalking of) Dr. O’C. She turned me on to the Brit Pop pioneers, among other great bands I hadn’t heard. “Common People” has got to be one of their best and one of the best of the genre.

Almost as cool as Jarvis is Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner. If Star Trek isn’t enough for you, how about his bizarre foray into pop music with another four-eyed rock god, Ben Folds. Agnes, here’s another cover for you - Big Giant Head does Pulp.

Ben Folds is apparently collaborating on a new album with author Nick Hornby who wrote “About A Boy”. The film adaptation of his book starred Hugh Grant in the role of man-child Will.

Hugh Grant also starred as the rakish Daniel Cleaver in “Bridget Jones’ Diary”, a secret guilty pleasure. (”Bizarre what some men find attractive.”). His co-star in that film was Colin Firth.

Colin Firth played Harry Bright, a British banker, in “Mamma Mia”. And speaking of bankers…

 

 Podcast Video: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Jarvis Cocker - "Running The World" [4:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Pulp - "Common People" [5:52m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 William Shatner - "Common People" [2:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Popularity: 54% [?]

And I forget
Just what it takes
And yet I guess it makes me smile
I found it hard
Its hard to find
Oh well, whatever, nevermind…

In the summer of 1991, I was 19 and living in Tallahassee in a vermin infested house in the shadow of the Florida state capital. I was working at a local chain bookstore, making a half-assed attempt at an English degree from Florida State University and generally wandering aimlessly in a Gen X stupor. I was a man in search of a plan, in search of some sort of guiding force. I used to lurk around used bookstores, snapping up Beat poetry and novels, books on Buddhism, romantic poets, dense arty novels. But none of these seemed to apply to me in 1991, they were the voices of previous generations, answers for ancestors.

Then one night in September I slid a new CD that I had picked up into my stereo. And I heard the opening chords of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and my life changed. Within months, I dropped out of college (for the second time), quit my job, packed up my pick up and headed out across the country for the Pacific Northwest. I know that kind of makes me a cliché today, but it didn’t feel that way at the time. Nor was it as simple as that, but in the music of Nirvana I heard the voice of my generation for the first time.

Even if you have…
Even if you need…
I don’t mean to stare.
We don’t have to breed.
We can plant a house,
Or we can build a tree
I don’t even care.
We could have all three…

I didn’t find what I was looking for in Seattle. I had hoped that I was joining a youth movement, a la Berkeley in the 1960s. But it didn’t turn out that way, there was a musical scene for a few years but beyond that Seattle in the early 90s was nothing like Berkeley in the late 60s. In a lot of ways it was the anti-Berkeley. It was cold and dark. It was exclusionary. Love was expensive and potentially deadly. The drugs were harsh and lethal. There was no political or social movement, in fact that sort of thing was regarded with suspicion. Above all, it was not like a Cameron Crowe film. I stumbled and bumbled around for a few years and ultimately came back South, poorer and emotionally wrung out.

In anecdotes about this time in my life, I’ve always relayed it as wasted time, my fucking around period if you will. But as I listened to “Nevermind” with my son the other day, I realized that this is an oversimplification. Tallahassee and Seattle in the early 1990s were a critical part of getting me to where I am today – Adelaide in 2008. What I was looking for during that time in my life was what I’ve found today. Like a lot of my generation, I knew that I couldn’t live the life of my parents. Their blue sky dream had been turned into a smoggy myth for us. A house in the suburbs and 2.4 kids and a lifetime job with The Company were neither available nor acceptable. I remember hearing of my Dad’s friends, the fathers of the kids I grew up with, being laid off from the company to whom they’d given the best years of their lives and for whom they’d dragged their families around the world. I remember the day that my Dad joined them. He had been a Company man for most of his life, but downsizing and outsourcing and all those words that have made it into the lexicon of our language over the past decade and a half meant that he found himself without a job and in his early fifties. I knew at that point, that even though I was floundering and failing, that my rejection of the path my parents took was a sound decision.

I think that’s one of the things Cobain was trying to get across. In his music, I hear a firm rejection of the Baby Boomers approach to life. But coupled with that is the angst and confusion and utter powerlessness of a man who doesn’t know have an alternate plan. He knows that the status quo is unacceptable, but can’t see the road less travelled. That is ultimately what killed him.

It is now time to make it unclear
To write off lines that don’t make sense
Love myself better then you
I know it’s wrong so what should I do…

Thankfully, I and most of the rest of my generation have found the road that Cobain couldn’t. I’ve accepted a lot of the status quo that I rejected when I lit out from Tallahassee. I live, regrettably and temporarily in the suburbs. I have bred. I have a family of my own and want, above all, the best for them. I don’t spend a lot of time fighting the man.

But, in many other ways I’ve opted out. I’m proudly not a Company Man. I’m working on my terms and when they cease to be my terms, can walk away and be OK. I’ve tailored my career to be what I want it to be and have taken advantage of the educational and career opportunities afforded me. I can work in my window office, I can work at home, I can work on the bus, I could probably work on the beach if I didn’t have a headbanging boy child trying to thrash my computer. I’ve opted out of that American blue sky dream to the tune of about 10,000 miles and a hemisphere.

Come as you are, as you were
As I want you to be
As a friend, as a friend, as an old enemy
Take your time, hurry up
Choice is yours, don’t be late…

A lot of people call Nirvana’s music angry, but Cobain wasn’t angry. He was, like a lot of us were at the time, frustrated, confused and frightened. That’s what you hear in “Nevermind”. Kurt Cobain never had a chance to try the alternate path that so many of us have taken. He opted out in a very final and ultimately cowardly way. In a lot of ways it’s a shame, because it is our time now. One of the reasons that I’m such an advocate of Barack Obama is that with his election, a member of my generation (in a broad sense) is poised to take real power for the first time.

This was supposed to be about Boy Z and Nirvana, but it’s not turned out that way at all. Boy Z liked “Nevermind” in the sense that he liked the time we set aside to bang along with that fantastic Novoselic and Grohl growling bass line. He detected the change in mood in his Papa and played along and drummed and thrashed things with his cricket bat. But Z likely didn’t hear the generational insurrection in “Nevermind”, he’s a bit young yet for that yet. One day, Z is going to see Nirvana as the music of his father’s generation – as dated and hackneyed. One day he’s going to reject my values and my path in life. He’s going to make his own choices based on his own experience. And when that’s the case, I hope I can remember this post and the way I feel right now. Find your way, Boy Z. Find your own way.

What album defined your coming of age, your great trip west?

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Nirvana’s “Nevermind” is available from .

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Image Credits:

Seattle in the fog

Further reading:

This post was partially inspired by this photo on Bluestreak’s excellent page.

 

 Nirvana - "In Bloom" [4:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Popularity: 69% [?]

The sunshine bores the daylights out of me.
Chasing shadows moonlight mystery.
Headed for the overload,
Splattered on the dirty road,
Kick me like you’ve kicked before,
I can’t even feel the pain no more…

My first memory of The Rolling Stones is one of profound dislike. I’m not saying that I was some sort of music snob child progeny, but the Stones songs that I heard on Top 40 radio and saw on MTV in the early 80’s just flat out sucked. Cap their sub-par 80’s work off with the absurd duet that Jagger did with Bowie in 1985 that MTV played the hell out of and I think my impression of the Stones as overrated and lacking in any real talent was a legitimate, if short-sighted, one. This was a band for graying, beer-bellied bikers with the tongue emblems on the leathers that periodically roared through my dank north Florida town on the way to Daytona, not for the discerning young Culture Club fan. (Yes, really. Regrettably.)

The source for this distaste was that I had very little exposure to the Stones’ earlier work. The only “oldies” that I listened to was the old records and 8 tracks that my Dad had and he preferred McCartney and Lennon to Jagger and Richards. Certainly I would have heard “Satisfaction” and “Gimme Shelter” on the radio, but they never resonated with me growing up - they just didn’t apply to my small town childhood.  And then you see Mick Jagger “dancing” in the streets in a bright mauve silk shirt on MTV and it’s pretty easy to dismiss The Stones as irrelevant.

My opinion about The Stones started to change the first time that I saw Lawrence Kasden’s “The Big Chill”, or more precisely, listened to the soundtrack for that film. “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” is used so effectively in the funeral scene of that film (yes, that’s the kind of teenager I was) that I was inspired to go and check out more of The Stones’ earlier work. I bought the double cassette “Hot Rocks” and never thought of The Rolling Stones in the same way again. I can still remember the feeling that “Satisfaction” inspired the first time I really heard it in my late teens. That raw frustration, rebellion, absolute disdain for “that man”. The Stones were punk before punk was even an idea in Joey Ramone’s teenage mind. That rock and roll swagger of Honky Tonky Women” and “Street Fighting Man” that seemed cliched to me in the early 80s got me through the bulk of my 20s. From that greatest hits collection, I dug into Jagger ad Richards’ back catalog and some of the the obsessive, darker, introspective stuff from those late 60s and early 70s records hit home for me in my early 30’s.

‘Cause all you women is low down gamblers,
Cheatin’ like I don’t know how,
But baby, baby, there’s fever in the funk house now.
This low down bitchin’ got my poor feet a itchin’,
You know you know the duece is still wild.

Now, “Let It Bleed” is my favorite Stones album, but it’s not the one that the iPod chose on my Friday free day with Boy Z. Instead we got what is generally considered to be their best record, “Exile on Main Street”. This behemoth, upon its release in 1972, changed The Stones from just another 60’s rock band to THE rock band of the 1970s.  changed rock and roll on its release in 1972. So much so that whenever a band crosses some sort of critically established threshold, this is the album evoked as a comparison. For example, “‘Being There’ is Wilco’s ‘Exile on Main Street’” or “With ‘Brighter Than Creation’s Dark’, the Drive-by Truckers have recorded their ‘Exile on Main Street’”.

And it is a magnificent album. It’s a rollicking, seemingly endless trip - like a drunken summer afternoon riding around in the back of a pick up truck. It’s hot, it’s dirty, it’s fuddled. The boogie piano and mellow slide show this band at it finest - borrowing elements of country, soul, rhythm and blues, even jazz - to make a new kind of rock and roll.

Listening to “Exile on Main Street” with my son on Friday, listening through his virgin ears, I heard a song like “Hip Shake Boogie” for what it must have been at the time - a redefining of rock and roll. The subject matter of the song…

…I wanna tell you ’bout a dance
that’s goin’ around…

…is bog standard rock, is in fact how rock and roll started out a couple of decades earlier. But the way that The Stones come at it would have been all new at the time, the dirty boogie sound that they were employing and Jagger’s grumbling, lackadaisical vocals.

Z was indifferent to the music, but did like my singing and hip shaking. He’s more of a fan of dance than music right now. I’m a little disappointed that hes’s not up shaking his own hips yet. Particularly since Chris’s daughter, who is younger than Z, is all over the interwebs with her dancing. But hey, it’s not a race, right?

Right?

I do think that The Rolling Stone have held on for far too long. I also think that they’re the McDonalds of rock and roll, a universally recognized franchise with that damn tongue logo ubiquitous. And I think that they haven’t made a really good album since “Goat’s Head Soup” in 1973 (maybe 1980’s “Emotional Rescue”). But all that aside, the Rolling Stones changed rock and roll for the better in the late 60’s and early 70’s and some of those albums -  “Let It Bleed”, “Sticky Fingers”, “Their Satanic Majesties Request” and “Exile on Main Street” - are among the finest ever made.

Z, most likely, is never going to see the depressing spectacle is The Rolling Stones today and I’m a little envious of that. He’ll be able to pick and choose from their back catalog, ignoring “Dancing in the Street” and “One Hit To The Body“. Hell, Z may even think of The Rolling Stones as they would like to people to think of them - as the greatest rock band the world has ever seen.

Let this music relax your mind, let this music relax your mind.
Stand up and be counted, can’t get a witness.
Sometimes you need somebody, if you have somebody to love.
Sometimes you ain’t got nobody and you want somebody to love.

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The Rolling Stones’ “Exile on Main Street” is available from Amazon.

 

 The Rolling Stones - "Shake Your Hips" [3:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Popularity: 65% [?]

(For those of you who, inexplicably, couldn’t give a toss about college football, scroll down for some non-sports related fun and public humiliation. )

Lot of controversy on A Free Man lately, so I’ve decided to ease into something we can all agree as the weekend nears - the supremacy of my almae matres’ football teams*. Both the Universities of Georgia and Missouri are in action again this weekend, so the Free household will spend an Australian Sunday morning hunched over the computer keeping up with what’s happening on the gridiron half a world away.

Missouri’s got another easy one this weekend, hosting MAC powerhouse Buffalo. The way that the Tigers’ offense is clicking right now, however, I’m pretty sure that they could beat the Buffalo Bills, nevermind the Bulls. I’m looking forward to seeing what Mizzou can do in a couple of weeks time when they go over to Lincoln for a big game with the Cornholers. This one will be a walk in the park: Missouri 66, Buffalo 13.

Now, Georgia. The Dawgs failed to whelm on Saturday against the Gamecocks of South Carolina. They ground out a win in Columbia but have to travel across the country this week for a rare appearance out west against the Arizona State Sun Devils. Arizona State looked a lot scarier last week before they completely laid an egg against a lesser opponent, but it’s still a dicey game for the Dawgs. Three keys for a Bulldog win in Tempe:

1.  The offensive line has got to figure it out. We have one of the best backfields in the country, but if they keep getting crushed because their line falls apart there’s not much they can do.
2. Special teams. If you regularly give the opposition the ball on the 40, they’re going to be able to score regardless of how good your D is.
3. D backs. Come on guys, S.C. got 271 yards in the air and they aren’t particularly good. ASU’s Rudy Carpenter is 5th in the country in passing. The secondary absolutely must get it together.

It’s a late kickoff on Saturday, which means that I get to sleep in on Sunday for a change. Internet radio only, kickoff at 9:30 a.m. Sunday Adelaide time. I think Arizona State will make this a game, but the Dawgs pull it out on the road: Georgia 24, Arizona State 17.

Finally, two of my least favorite teams are head to head this week as the Marsh Skinks creep out of Gainesville up into the Smokies to face the Hillbillies of Tennessee. If only it were possible for both of these teams to lose…

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Speaking of karma, it’s about time for some more link love. Here are five bloggers who have been on their game lately:

1. One of my old timey blogging buddies, Not Afraid To Use It has taken things to a new level lately with a serial set of posts about  a cancer scare and the medical and personal repurcussions thereof. Her writing is just raw emotion. Fantastic. Start here and follow the story along.
2. Music blogging is a tough gig. I’m not the best at it, which is one of the reasons that you just see an occasional music post from me. It’s just not very rewarding as you don’t get a ton of comments. You’ve got to be something special to get your readers involved. Well, from the wilds of inner city Glasgow comes an amphibian to show us all the way . Toad of Song, by Toad is a master of getting feedback from a notoriously reticent audience. See this post about Neds and this one on Calexico as an example of Toad at his best.
3. Everyone and their bloggin’ grannies posted about 9/11 on 9/11 and fair enough, it’s a big day if your an American. I tend to be suspicious of this day, because I think that the Right has been using it for political gain since it happened. But three bloggers really got to me, got past the cynicism that’s built up in me about this day in the seven years since. You may not want to think about it again, but I’ve got to give People in the Sun, Nitro Vista and Formerly Fun kudos for very different, yet very powerful 9/11 posts that didn’t make me want to click away as soon as I saw that it was a 9/11 post.
4. New discovery of the week: a fellow Floridian, a fellow expat, a fellow dweller Down Under - check out Florida Girl in Sydney. I’m still going through her archives, but am enjoying what I’m reading.
5. I hesitate to point you here because I’m cringing in anticipation of what is no doubt going to be a hefty dose of public humiliation. Maggie, damn her, gave my name to Brian as a potentially willing victim for his Fug Mug Friday this week. For some reason, I agreed to participate and sent Brian two photos that really shouldn’t see the light of day. I’m not sure which he chose, so I’ll be as surprised as you. Check Brian’s site and see if you can figure out which Fugly is your underwhelming correspondent.

Have a great weekend!

Hurray, hurrah! Mizzou! Mizzou!

Go Dawgs ! Sic ‘em!

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Wilco’s Being There, perhaps their finest, is available from .

 

 Wilco - "Hotel Arizona" [3:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Popularity: 100% [?]

A couple of bands from my old home of Athens, Georgia have been on repeat on A Free Man’s iPod this week and I’d like to kick things off with them. First is Dead Confederate, a five piece that may be single-handedly redefining the sound of ‘Southern Rock’ as The Drive-by Truckers did before them. These guys are making dense, guitar driven music that owes more to Kurt Cobain than to Duane Allmann. Dead Confederate released their debut LP, “Wrecking Ball”, this week. Check it out on . Thanks to News from Space for bringing these guys to my attention.

MP3: Dead Confederate - “The Rat”

I’ve got to give a nod to Bop at Catfish and Cornbread for turning me on to the second Athenian act of the week, The Whigs. It took me the longest time to realize that when referring to this band people weren’t talking about some pared down, reformed Afghan Whigs. But, this trio definitely takes some inspiration from the early 90’s so it’s not that far a stretch. Check out their second LP, “Mission Control” on .

MP3: The Whigs - “Hot Bed”

Moving west from Athens finds Omaha’s Tilly & The Wall. Apparently these guys performed on the premiere of the new 90210, but I’m not holding that against them. Gorgeous harmonies and sugary sweet vocals from this co-ed quintet. Their latest, “o” is out and available from .

MP3: Tilly and the Wall - “Alligator Skin”

Old Crow Medicine Show will always remind me of a couple of weeks that I spend in Ithaca, NY doing some field work. I stayed with a bluegrass banjo player who introduced me to a number of great contemporary bluegrass acts, including this tight Nashville outfit. They’re one of the best bluegrass bands around. You can pre-order their upcoming LP “Tennessee Pusher” here.

MP3: Old Crow Medicine Show - “Caroline”

Fuzzy guitar from the Pacific Northwest is nothing particularly new, but Seattle’s Moondoggies mix it up a bit, bringing in a little Midwestern twang a la Jayhawks. I’ve been listening to this one over and over this week. Their debut, “Don’t Be A Stranger” is out and available from .

MP3: The Moondoggies - “Changing”

From the other side of Fortress America comes Brooklyn’s Forest Fire, a quirky, shambling collective that evokes late night sing-alongs. If that doesn’t sound like a ringing endorsement, have a listen to this one from their latest, “Survival” (Catbird). It’s dead catchy in that charmingly slack way that appeals to aging Gen X-ers like your underwhelming correspondent.

MP3: Forest Fire - “I Make Windows”

My current troubles with avian antagonists may have made me perk up a bit when Caw! Caw!’s e-mail came chiming in, but it was their music that really made me sit up and take notice. This Chicago is making loose, swirling punk inspired music and have an EP due out next week. I’ve got no purchase info, but check their MySpace for updates.

MP3: Caw! Caw! - “Organisms”

Last but not least this week is Delta Spirit, a California act that’s been getting some well deserved attention here in Oz after their visit here this winter. These guys are making slick, but compelling power pop. Check out this track from their latest, “Ode to Sunshine”. Sing it and bring some to South Australia, boys .

MP3: Delta Spirit - “Trashcan”

Popularity: 67% [?]

Annie Savoy: What do you believe in, then?
Crash Davis: Well, I believe in the soul, the cock, the pussy, the small of a woman’s back, the hanging curve ball, high fiber, good scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, overrated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days. Goodnight.

I had intended to start yesterday’s post with a  kind of statement of things I believe strongly in, the point being that I did not want to argue about the merits of evolution again. A sort of personal manifesto. The post was getting fairly unwieldy, though, so I killed it.

But I’ve been coming back to the list since then and I actually like it a lot. NPR listeners may be familiar with one of my favorite of their programs, “This I Believe”, on which average people read an essay about their core beliefs. One of these days I’m going to write a proper “This I Believe” essay. But until then and with apologies to Edward R Murrow, Michael Stipe and Crash Davis, here is what I believe.

1. I believe in Karma, The Golden Rule, reaping what you sow, however you label it. You get back what you give out.
2. I believe that a civilized society has an obligation to look after its poor, its weak, its sick. I believe that, unfortunately, government is the only entity that is imparial enough to be capable of doing so.
3. I believe that through some bizarre twist of fate I’ve ended up with the most wonderful woman on the planet as a life partner and the mother of my child.
4. I believe that we can explain the incredible diversity of life on this planet without invoking the supernatural. I believe in Muller’s Ratchet, Mendel’s Laws, Occam’s Razor and Darwinian Evolution.
5. I believe that I am as happy as I make up my mind to be.
6. I believe that my son is as close to a perfect expression of humanity as you’re likely to find.
7. I believe that a world without music would be a world in which I would rather not live.
8. I believe in a personal god of my own understanding.
9. I believe that every person has a fundamental right to choose their own path in life. To make their own choices about their bodies, about where, how and if they worship, about what they read and say, about what they do behind the four walls of their home. I believe that their right to choose their own destiny stops when their fist hits my face.
10. I believe that it’s getting better all the time. A little better all the time.

And…

I believe in coyotes and time as an abstract
Explain the change, the difference between
What you want and what you need, there’s the key…

I believe my humor’s wearing thin
And change is what I believe in
I believe my shirt is wearing thin
And change is what I believe in…

I believe in example
I believe my throat hurts…

What do you believe?

——————-

R.E.M.’s “Life’s Rich Pageant” is available from .

 

 R.E.M. - "I Believe" [3:50m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Popularity: 83% [?]

I’m working on a science post, but here are some photos from Z’s big party this weekend to tide you over…

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Athens, Georgia’s Of Montreal  “The Sunlandic Twins” is available from

 

 Of Montreal - "The Party's Crashing Us": Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Popularity: 51% [?]