Business Insider (?!) loves Kleenex Girl Wonder!

Even more than they love Florence & the Machine (but not as much as Stephen Malkmus). I’m not sure why Business Insider is putting out a list of the best albums of the year, or why two-thirds of it are obscure, indie artists, but I’m not complaining because they put my brother’s band at #9:

9. Kleenex Girl Wonder, “Secret Thinking” — Criminally underappreciated, this gem from the band of indie lifer Graham Smith is sharp-edged punk-pop, with what are undoubtedly the year’s most stirring choruses. You will dance.

The Awesome Song I Heard Today Recap: 1-10

The first ten songs (plus a few bonus tracks) from my new blog, The Awesome Song I Heard Today. Tell your friends!

1. Fleetwood Mac, “Never Going Back Again”
2. Radiohead, “Paranoid Android”
3. Stevie Wonder, “Sir Duke”
Bonus: Heavy D & the Boyz, “Now That We’ve Found Love” (R.I.P. Heavy D)
4. Gang of Four, “Natural’s Not In It”
5. Bruce Springsteen, Born To Run
6. Johnny Cash, Rusty Cage
Bonus: Bush Tetras, “Too Many Creeps” (R.I.P. Laura Kennedy)
7. Los Lobos, “Bertha”
8. Pretenders, “Tattooed Love Boys”
Bonus: Sly & the Family Stone, “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” (Happy Thanksgiving!)
9. Donovan, “Season of the Witch”
10. Black Crowes, “Hard to Handle”

“One of my tenets as a musician is that there’s no absolute “taste hierarchy.” “Good taste” is culturally coded, so it’s not particularly instructive to point one’s finger at something and call it “bad art.” I find it much more interesting to examine something considered “bad” and see if I can’t transform it into something with artistic merit by changing a few conditions.”

Scott Bradlee on Nickelback. I strongly believe this, not just about this song (though I think I have admitted my love of this song in the past) but about music in general.

“Pop songs as false emotional advertising and ideology as everydayness are themselves grounds for inquiry. Unless you have an awareness of your views as political manifestations, you won’t believe you can change them.”

Jon King, Gang of Four.

Check out my new Tumblr, The Awesome Song I Heard Today!

“Despite the song’s title, no bells can be heard in the album recording.”
Best Wikipedia line ever.
With this book (as seen on p4k), it is not a matter of “want.” It’s a matter of NEED. I know Christmas is coming, but I may not be able to wait that long. D, C, B, A, A, F

With this book (as seen on p4k), it is not a matter of “want.” It’s a matter of NEED. I know Christmas is coming, but I may not be able to wait that long.

D, C, B, A, A, F

Best.

Guided By Voices classic ’90s line-up will release an album of new material in January 2012.

The cult, low-fi heroes - Robert Pollard, Tobin Sprout, Greg Demos, Mitch Mitchell and Kevin Fennell - have returned to the studio to record Let’s Go Eat The Factory. It will be this line-up’s first new LP since 1996’s fan favourite Under The Bushes, Under The Stars. The band have just completed a year-long reunion tour.

Let’s Go Eat The Factory will be released on January 1, 2012.

Hold Steady @ Metro 8/25/11

The Hold Steady Setlist Metro, Chicago, IL, USA 2011

“

We need to review the way society treats addicts, not as criminals but as sick people in need of care. We need to look at the way our government funds rehabilitation. It is cheaper to rehabilitate an addict than to send them to prison, so criminalisation doesn’t even make economic sense.

Not all of us know someone with the incredible talent that Amy had but we all know drunks and junkies and they all need help and the help is out there. All they have to do is pick up the phone and make the call. Or not. Either way, there will be a phone call.

”
From Russell Brand’s thoughtful eulogy for Amy Winehouse.