Un-Herd Christmas 2012

I never expected these mixes to become an annual event, seeing as I'm generally a foot soldier on the front lines waging the War on Xmas™ (thanks Fox News), but the truth of it is I'm grateful for almost any yuletide music that takes me away from the execrable traditional tunage that assaults us from every angle once the last Thanksgiving turkey gets slaughtered on the altar of rising cholesterol levels.

Which means I've found another hour + of seasonal music that's actually worth listening to - all with an overt Christmas theme (if a sometimes less than rosy attitude towards such). So turn it up, make the kids and grandfolks cry, and good luck getting through these dark, noxious few weeks of forced sentimentality. Just remember: all good Christians will be back to cheering the execution of retarded prisoners, denying science, and assassinating doctors once January comes around.

Nobody's Supposed to be Happy - It's Christmas

1. The Barbecuties (It's Gonna Be a) Rock & Roll Christmas Party
2. The JAC Merry Christmas (Around the World)
3. Diamond Dogs Sweethearts for Christmas
4. Gruff Rhys Post Apocalypse Christmas
5. Cirrone Christmas Sun
6. My Marning Jocket Please Come Home For Xmas
7. The Genuine Fakes All I Want For Christmas
8. Roman Candle It's Christmas, Go On and Say Hello
9. Psychotic Youth Another Christmas
10. The Villas Little St. Nick
11. The Fleshtones Hooray For Santa Claus
12. The Sonics Santa Claus
13. Needles//Pins Armenian Christmas
14. The Yule Logs Christmas Lights
15. Randy Bochman Takin' Care of Christmas
16. John Moreland & the Dust Bowl Souls Christmas Lights
17. Mondo Diao Christmas Could Have Been Good
18. Joey Ramone Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)
19. Blue Skies For Black Hearts Maybe Next Christmas
20. Pat Todd & the RankOutsiders Christmas Day

Faves of 2012 (Vol. 3)

Life, huh? Mofuggah has a way of getting in the way of one's most honorable intentions (let alone the obsessive pursuit of compiling music mixes for no discernible reward), but also has a way of evening things out. Crunchy with the smooth 'n' all.

This has been another great year for music of the un-herd variety. Special shout-out to the Pilgrims, who showed up out of nowhere with an album so good it made me compare it to no less a legend than the Replacements. More ups, props, and whut-whuts to Mott the Hoople's Ian Hunter, who returned with what might be his best album since the 70s, and Tsar, who rose from the dead after a 6 year absence with their hyper-melodic brand of power pop/punk perfectly intact. And the rest compiled here - My Jerusalem, The New Electric Sound, Tim Rogers (You Am I's mainman), Divine Fits (Spoon's Britt Daniel with guys from Wolf Parade and New Bomb Turks), AC Newman (on a break from New Pornographers, with help from Neko Case), Rooni (aka Gustav Nilsson, and not to be confused with slick LA popsters Rooney), the Honeymoon Stallions (Sun King's Andy Goldberg's new band), Hot Freak Nation, OBN IIIs, Chelle Rose... well, hell, all of them - are making a strong case to show up on the upcoming Best-of-2012 list. That's the crunchy and the smooth. 'N all.

I'm Just Talkin' 'Bout Your Mama

1. Rooni Run (Into My Arms)
2. 1an Hunter Comfortable (Flying Scotsman)
3. Tsar Police Station
4. Lissy Tru11ie You Bleed You
5. Thee Attacks Stab
6. The Dirty Guv'nahs Good Luck Charm
7. The New E1ectric Sound Boston Shuffle
8. AC Newman Encyclopedia of Classic Takedowns
9. The Do11yrots Hyperactive
10. Tim Rogers One O' The Girls
11. Divine Fits Like Ice Cream
12. The Honeymoon Sta11ions It Never Ends
13. Dan Mira1di The Runaround
14. The Pi1grims American Eyes
15. Bare Wires Starting To See
16. My Jerusa1em Oh Little Sister
17. The Whigs Waiting
18. Hot Freak Nation Never Coming Home
19. The Peacocks Need a Break
20. Che11e Rose Alimony
21. Cowbe11 Hanging By A Thread
22. OBN 111s So What If We Die
23. Jim Jones Revue 7 Times Around the Sun
24. Titus Andronicus (I Am The) Electric Man

Re-Ups

Another batch of links brought back from the dead.

70s Glam Mix - the leaders and followers of the early 70s pre-punk glam explosion
Hidden Track Mix - y'know how bands try to hide a track on a CD? This mix exposes some of my faves.

Faves of 2012 (vol. 2)

Devil horns, bitches! Even at the Summer Olympics the people wanna rock out with their jocks out. And speaking of which, it's time for the next batch of my absolute faves of the year and this one features some of the most awesome new bands I've come across in a looong while.

In the upcoming weeks I'll try to get rave reviews up on the Pearl Before Swine blog for albums by Needles//Pins, Archie Powell & the Exports, Budokan, Nick Waterhouse, White Wires, Living Deadbeats, and a number of others - all of them easy candidates for end-of-the-year Top 20 honors - but in the meantime check out the tunes on this sampler and see if they don't make you wanna jump in water and synchronize your splashing with a soggy gal pal, devil horns held aloft. Or, y'know, some similar display of excitement.

We're Gonna Do More Than That

1. Devin I Don't Think I
2. Archie Powe11 & the Exports Metronome
3. Chris Devotion & the Expectations Tell The Girl
4. Budokan Saint Joan
5. Natura1 Child 8 AM Blues
6. Gary B & the Notions The Surfin' Song
7. Riverboat Gamb1ers Loser Neck
8. Smash Pa1ace Living It Lonely
9. Hacienda Let Me Go
10. Mind Spiders Beat
11. The Successful Fai1ures Turn It Down
12. Imperia1 State Electric Uh Huh
13. Chris Richards & the Subtractions It's Something
14. Diamond Rugs Call Girl Blues
15. Nick Waterhouse Is That Clear
16. Cheep Time Another Time
17. Living Deadbeats Evil Hearted Blues
18. Turbonegro Shake Your Shit Machine
19. The Henry C1ay People Backseat of a Cab
20. The Hangmen Betrayed
21. The Roya1ty How I Like 'Em
22. Need1es//Pins Drop It
23. Mother's Chi1dren Don't Go Too Far
24. White Wires It's Been A While
25. Mean Jeans Don't Stop Partying
26. Zachary James Fuck For Tomorrow

Summer 2012

Got a feeling you're gonna have to nab this one fast, because I decided to compile it the old fashioned way, meaning it's full of tracks I like regardless of era, label, hipster cache or genre. Like all my summer mixes, these aren't necessarily songs about summer - just songs that feel like summer. It's pretty laid back this time out, and with any luck there'll be no artists annoyed to be on it. In fact, I'm hoping they'd download it themselves and feel pretty awesome about being included among such stellar tunes. But we'll see about that... like I said, get it quick.


Keepin' Summer Spirit Alive

1. The Feedbacks Keepin' Summer Spirit Alive
2. Fancey Rock 'n' Roll Rhythm
3. The Breakdowns Summertime Twist
4. The Aggrolites Feelin' Alright
5. Yukon Blonde Oregon Shores
6. Gizelle Smith & the Mighty Mocambos The Time Is Right For Love
7. The Semis Fun in the Sun
8. Pagliaro Lovin' You Ain't Easy
9. Nick Waterhouse Indian Love Call
10. The Ashes Somebody (Come and Shake Me)
11. Miles Nielsen The Grain
12. Electric Guest This Head I Hold
13. Audra Mae & the Almighty Sound Smokin' The Boys
14. The Long Beach Dub All-Stars Sunny Hours
15. Aimee Mann Charmer
16. Hans Rotenberry & Brad Jones Count On Me
17. Asa Why Can't We
18. Imani Coppola Raindrops from the Sun
19. Jet Electro Buckle Up
20. Mink Deville Spanish Stroll
21. The Stompers Coast to Coast
22. Jimmy Cliff Outsider
23. The Lordz Uh Oh
24. The Format Dead End

Re-Ups

Since the attack on the fine folks at MegaUpload there's been quite a few of my old links that led nowhere. I'm trying to re-up all of them, but it's just gonna take some time. It doesn't help that iTunes won't recognize the tracklist of any of the old mixes I burned to CD using iTunes - I mean, in a just world that sort of willful retardation should be the cause of a company going out of business and its chief executives getting nailed inside a burning outhouse. If Jobs was still alive I swear I'd punch him square in the meatpods for that.

Anyway, here's a batch of 'em:

Don't Call Me Honey - a mix of grrl group-ish groovology
History Lesson Pt. 1  - a mix of bands that went on to greater fame after a name change or personnel change
Shade and Honey - a mix of mellow tuneage for warm summer nights or, in a pinch, Sunday mornings
Faves of 2011 (vol. 3) - a seriously awesome mix of awesomely serious Un-Herd serious awesomeness
Wet Winter Holiday - a mix of melancholy power pop and punkamacallit

Twang Mix

Admission: I don't much care for country music. I've tried - and occasionally I've found an artist or a song I can get down with - but for the most part a two-step beat accompanied by a nasal twang will send me running for the hills. On the other hand, I totally love Gram Parsons, and a C&W influence never did any harm to the Stones, and it's pretty heretical to say anything bad about Johnny Cash.

So here's a mix that isn't country music, but it's about as close as I go. A lot of it might have been termed alt.country or country punk in earlier times, but really it's just good ol' rock 'n' roll - which was more or less created when white hillbilly music mated with black rhythm 'n' blues, so it's only natural some bands are gonna lean a little more one way or the other.

I'll put up a similar mix in the near future that even leans a little more in that direction (Country Monger).  In the meantime, I'm gonna try to re-up some of the lost links in the MegaUpload fiasco.  Also, keep an eye out for a 2nd volume of my 2012 faves (it's a goodie) and the annual summer mix (and day now). Cheers!

Let 'Em Run

1. Stewboss Time
2. Lucero Tears Don't Matter Much
3. Richard Buckner Jewelbomb
4. Drive-by Truckers Gravity's Gone
5. The Glossary Lonely is a Town
6. Tift Merritt Stray Paper
7. The Mendoza Line An Architect's Eye
8. Pat Todd & the Rankoutsiders Hell's Half Acre
9. Stacie Collins I Won't Do Ya Like That
10. The Cur Dogs Apology With Every Song
11. Sons of Bill Life in Shambles
12. Marah East
13. Go To Blazes All Wrapped Up
14. The Honeydogs Losing Transmissions
15. Carolyn Mark & NQ Arbuckle Too Sober To Sleep
16. I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch in the House Westboro Baptist Church
17. Tommy Womack Tellin' You What You Want to Hear
18. Neko Case Karoline
19. Deadstring Brothers Sacred Heart
20. John Moreland Good Book
21. Justin Townes Earle Baby's Got a Bad Idea
22. Maxim Ludwig & the Santa Fe Seven Stacy, C'mon