Death to False Monger mix

The Un-Herd Music has been inactive for a little while, thanks to the thief or thieves who broke into my house and stole my computer, along with a half dozen mixes I had ready to upload. Not sure when I'll get around to compiling them again, but I hope the scumbag thief is enjoying the samplers of Jon Spencer and Mott the Hoople, a family tree of Greg Cartwright, another two volumes of covers, and a few random sets. Fortunately, I'd already burned this particular mix to a CDR to test it out in the car. It passed with flying colors - and UHM is back up and running.

This latest addition to the ever-growing family of monger mixes is pretty similar in approach to all the others. This one's maybe a tad more Keef than Thunders - there's definitely a thread of classic rock that runs through a lot of it (and just so we're clear, that's classic rock in the sense of the Stones and the Faces, not the Moody Blues and Jethro Tull) - but as a mix it's still the sort of thing that you only throw on the player once all the married couples have left the party. Not that married couples aren't equally welcome (and likely) to get their serious drink on as anybody - it's just that when they do it usually leads to hamster fights and fisticuffs. Actually, now that I think of it, maybe cue this puppy up when they're still around. This is that scenario's perfect soundtrack.

Death To False Monger

1. Scott McCarl Go Down Swinging
2. Moneybrother My Li'l Girl's Straight From Heaven
3. Zachary James & the All Seeing Eyes Three Outta Five
4. Poison Arrows Hittin' It Hard
5. Kasey Anderson All Lit Up
6. Stacie Collins Don't Doubt Me Now
7. Skybombers Black Carousel
8. The Booze Down On Your Luck
9. Harlan T. Bobo Last Step
10. Watts Chaperone
11. The Adjusters Drinkin' Red Wine
12. The Dictators What's Up With That?
13. Ponderosa Old Gin Road
14. Jim Jones Revue Stop The People
15. The New York Vaults Get Back
16. The Blessings She Thinks She Loves Me
17. Hazy Malaze Satisfy The Jones
18. Young Fresh Fellows Sittin' On A Pitchfork
19. Bubblegum Screw Better Man
20. Two Cow Garage Burn In Hell
21. The Compulsions My Favorite Wine
22. Dax Riggs Living Is Suicide

Faves of '11 (Vol. I)

And it's already that time of the new year, wherein I offer up a mix of sparkling new tunes that have made my daily toil just a little bit more bearable.

Now, these mixes aren't necessarily meant as ringing endorsements of the albums the songs come from - they're really just a collection of single tracks that I like - but I can already promise that the records by Oh Mercy, Watts, Yep, Apex Manor, and Skybombers will be showing up in my quantum Best-of-the-Year list. As for the others, all I can say is that they all guarantee at least one outstanding track, as is evidenced here.

And, as always, this blog remains a Radiohead-free zone.

Faves of 2011 A

1. Oh Mercy Keith St.
2. Apex Manor The Party Line
3. Skybombers Love Me Like You Used To Do
4. Only Son The Same Two Places
5. Miles Kane Come Closer
6. Beady Eye The Roller
7. Nicole Atkins Cry, Cry, Cry
8. The Dozen Dimes Mean Little Girl
9. New York Dolls Talk To Me Baby
10. Watts The Times
11. The Insomniacs Yeah Yeah Yeah
12. Five O'Clock Heroes I Need You Around
13. Smith Westerns End of the Night
14. Ponderosa Pistolier
15. Ringside Should've Known
16. Lucinda Williams Buttercup
17. Yep Crestfallen
18. The World/Inferno Friendship Society The Politics of Passing Out
19. Frankie & the Heartstrings Hunger
20. David Lowery All Those Girls Meant Nothing To Me
21. The Baseball Project (w/ Craig Finn) Don't Call Them Twinkies
22. Telekinesis Gotta Get It Right Now

Review - Watts "On the Dial" (2011)

Whenever I start to lament the demise of modern music, a band like this will show up and kick my ass. Watts somehow wedge their tough rock 'n' roll in the same space between punk and power pop that once made the Replacements seem so necessary. Each song on On The Dial comes armed with at least a couple barbed hooks, and the band backs them up with the cool swagger of a 50s street gang. Singer Dan Kopko's rasp holds a similarity to Social Distortion's Mike Ness (but with a more advanced sense of both melody and humor), while guitarist John Blout's muscular, dramatic leads are concise and tuneful, and underneath it all the rhythm section of Craig Lapointe and John Lynch pushes every bar forward with a lurching, inevitable momentum. The band may be named after Rolling Stones drummer Charlie, but I'm going out on a limb and claiming they're paying similar homage to Mott the Hoople bassist Overend, because as much as these songs chug along with the Chuck Berryisms of a punked-up Stones they also revel in the hard-bitten romantic fatalism of the best moments of Mott (and now that I think of it, I may have to start a campaign to get these guys to cover either "Jerkin' Crocus" or "One of the Boys" - it might be a perfect fit). Smart enough to title a song "Sweetheart of the Radio", cool enough to cover Angel City (aka the Angels), and, godbless'em, brave enough to even try at all - Watts is a band after my own heart.

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