Song of the Week 2

Back with my second Song of the Week here....doesn't even feel like its been a whole week, though....but the calendar doesn't lie.

So, I listen to my ipod all day at work. Constantly. On mostdays, it is what helps maintain my sanity in the lab. Well, for the past three or four days, you would think its filled with 4 GB of nothing but Modest Mouse, which is most certainly not the case. I know good and well the things on shuffle, but damn ipod.....mix it up a little. I mean, i like modest mouse just as much as the next guy, if not a little more....but shuffle means random. And I suppose playing an overload of Modest Mouse is just as random as occasionally playing it, or not at all....but still....

With that in mind, it only seems fitting to make a MM song the Song of the Week. Congrats mice. Instead of choosing something from the newest album though, how abouts I go back just a little further. I'm going to choose the first song that really made me realize I liked Modest Mouse, "Gravity Rides Everything". This is from their third album, The Moon & Antarctica, which came out back in 2000. Who knows where I first heard it....probably on some stupid commercial or something the way things seem to go these days....i don't remember.

Modest Mouse - Gravity Rides Everything

So, if you already like the song, awesome. Try to give it an extra listen this week. If you haven't heard it, give it a listen. Its easily one of my favorites.

Holla

RR

More lists...

I like lists, as do Amazon and Paste Magazine. Forget 10, they go 100.

Paste Top 100

Amazon Top 100


Both feature a plethora of albums that will probably show up on my Top 10.

As for my own list, I know who will be #1 and I can pretty much name my Top 10. The main thing is where they will all rank - still a month for movement.

BK

Madeleine Peyroux

Not a lot of guitar in these songs, but she'd look good holding a marching band bass drum

Two posts in one month for me is pretty unheard of, much less two in one day. Well, just like Bryan and his music and I and my music about food, here comes a binge of posts. This one is about some light jazz/blues that will calm you down after hazarding the wreckage known as the shopping mall. Don't come home until you get that Wii at a cut rate price, but once you're home, check out Madeleine Peyroux. She's got a sweet, smooth voice and a great ear for good music. She's certainly been around for a while, putting out here first disc in 1996, at the ripe age of 22. She's had a few more out since then and the 2004 release, Careless Love, has me looking for more. Get a load of these two tracks, then check out some new stuff at her website.

Madeleine Peyroux - Don't Wait Too Long: she covers a lot of songs, but this is an original, besides her voice, I like the organ

Madeleine Peyroux - You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go: a masterfully covered Bob Dylan tune

Buy it here.

AG

Top 5: Music-induced Food Binge

Gotta have a good harvest to bring in the grub.

The feast that is traditionally Thanksgiving has come and gone and we are all left pondering cold turkey and other leftovers. I propose, instead, that we turn a critical eye, or ear as it were, to a music-induced food binge. Masters of the Kraft, I mean craft, produce songs about love, happiness, eternal struggles, and, of course, food. So, what are your favorites? What gets you ready to grub?

AG

Off topic hilarity...

The following stuff has nothing at all to do with music, except maybe there is a mention of hippies and we sometimes, but not often, discuss music concerning hippies. In any event, I find it quite hilarious that Eric Cartman (not to be confused with Noog) introduced the Colorado starting lineup in today's CU-Nebraska game. Without further adieu, enjoy:

Offense:



Defense:



BK

Thanksgivings et al

Somethings I'm thankful for:

Let's get the old standards out there first and foremost:

My rents & company

Sly & The Family Stone :: Family Affair

My homeboys
You Am I :: Friends Like You

My pup

Ted Leo :: Me & Mia

Old rockers that get back together and still rock

Dinosaur Jr :: Been There All The Time

Great harmonies and catchy hooks, all in one song

Teenage Fanclub :: About You

Falling in love with songs from albums past that you had listened to a million times before

Wilco :: Outtasite (Outta Mind)

Bands from Ohio that rock with the amps turned up to 10
Two Cow Garage :: Camo Jacket

Navy, and everybody else, beating Notre Dame this year in football!

Centro-matic :: Mighty Midshipmen

USC Song Girls
Jeff Buckley :: Sweet Thing


Happy Thanksgiving, blokes

BK

Song of the Week 1

In lieu of kgb v2.0's First Birthday coming up this friday (Nov. 23, i believe) I'd like to start a new segment here. Each week, for what I hope to be the entire next year I'm going to post my Song of the Week. I suppose this will likely proceed like what once was Kendall's Six Pack.....except I'm only posting one and it'll only be up for a week (assuming I remember to take the others down). They will not be topical in any particular sense (meaning this weeks song will NOT be about Thanksgiving). Just a song I want to post, but for no other good reason than its a good song, and I've been listening to it a lot recently. And hopefully, by this point next year it'll be fun to go back and look at the years worth of songs.......maybe. We'll see.

There are a lot of good single tracks out there, which I can never find enough to say about to devote an entire post to, so hopefully this alleviates this problem and finds itself a worthwhile complement to my other posts as well as those of my fellow bloggers. So, with that said, let's get to it....kicking this "year" off:

Ryan Adams - Dear Chicago

Dear Chicago,

Your NL baseball team sucks.
Love, Ryan

So, you know how you've got all these songs you love, but for whatever reason you sometimes forget about some of them? Then, almost accidentally, you stumble upon these songs again and re-fall in love with them? Well, for me that song is "Dear Chicago" by Ryan Adams, and that stumbling occurred yesterday. Sifting around through some Ryan Adams lyrics I rediscovered this Demolition song, which I would've considered one of my Top 5 songs back in college. But, for whatever reason, I just stopped listening to it (the entire CD to be exact). Maybe its because there are certainly better Adams albums than Demolition, maybe not. Who knows?

Adams reverberating guitar strumming in the background of his letter to his ex-lover (I suppose) has always been one of my faves and i'm glad its back in my rotation.

[Buy some of Ryan Adams 1,532 CDs, including Demolition, here]

Everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow and in case I forget to post (as a result of a Thanksgiving induced coma, possibly).....Happy 1st Birthday kgb v2.0.

RR

Perfection?

The New England Patriots are currently playing the game of American football better than I have ever seen it played in my entire lifespan of 27 years and 94 days. I, in no way, consider myself a Patriots fan (i prefer to root for the Titans and Bengals), but there is something oddly fascinating about watching them play football at they level they currently display.

They look like they are playing Division II College opponents every week and they are clearly playing legitimate NFL Franchises. Its remarkable. I mean, i want to see them lose as much as the next person, but at the same time, its fun to watch (even if Brady comes off as kinda a douchebag). They're currently averaging over 40 points a game and Brady and Moss are set to break practically ever single season statistical barrier laid before them. I mean....40 points is a great game for most teams....for the Patriots this season, its average. Oh, and if you're lucky enough to own one of these fellas in a Fantasy Football league, consider yourself blessed, and ride their wave of statistical gluttony all the wave to the playoffs.

I realize you don't come to KGB v2.0 for spot on sports analysis, but the Patriots are currently a level of perfection that we like to see here at RadioKGB. So, with that said, here are a few songs dedicated to 11 weeks of perfect American football.

The Patriots are determined to destroy anything in their path.....

Devendra Banhart - A Sight to Behold

Iron and Wine - Such Great Heights

RR

DBT News

This guy thinks Wife Beater is romantic

DBT is back ya'll with the release of their newest album, Brighter Than Creation's Dark, on January 22, 2008. We're talking 19 songs yo, 7 of which are Cooley songs and a couple by Shonna as well. In fact, you can read Patterson's thoughts on the album here. It will be a nice way to ring in the new year.

During The Dirt Underneath Tour, piano player Spooner Oldham sat in with the band. He is a legend of the Muscle Shoals music scene, having worked with practically any legend you can come up with. Near the end of the tour, DBT covered one of his songs I'm Your Puppet, a song made famous in the 1960s and covered by practically everybody. Kelly Hogan helps out with vocals and, as she says, this is about the only chance you'll ever get to make out at a Drive-By Truckers show. That is, unless you and your girl find it romantic to talk about beating each other and drinkin' whiskey.

Anyway, lots of the new DBT songs were road tested during the Dirt Underneath Tour, so you can dig through the Live Archive if you feel inclined. In my never ending quest to nurture my patience, I am planning to wait till the record hits stores. Maybe.

DBT -- I'm Your Puppet


BK

Duk Koo Kim

As you can see from the plethora of posts today, we are doing our best Ryan Adams' impersonation in terms of prolificness.

Tuesday, November 13th marked the 25th anniversary of one of the most controversial boxing matches in the history of the sport when Ray Mancini and Korean Duk Koo Kim battled in a 15 round match for the Lightweight championship of the world. In what was considered a slugfest, Mancini knocked out the Korean champion in the 14th round. The most memorable and unfortunate part of this fight occurred in the following days when Kim fell into a coma and died 5 days later from injuries sustained in the match. After the fight, boxing eliminated the 15 round fight.


What does this have to do with music? Well, it so happens that one of my more favored bands, Sun Kil Moon, led by enigmatic singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek, has a song entitled Duk Koo Kim. Although I did not know the back story of Duk Koo Kim until this week, it only added to the masterpiece that is Duk Koo Kim. Not for the faint of heart, the song meanders for 14 minutes (not coincidentally the amount of rounds Kim sustained punishment) through a range of emotions and scenes. At times desperate, at times hopeful, at times dreamy and ethereal, Kozelek masterfully takes the listener down this winding path while relating our own mortality to the sad and tragic death of the young champion. The music is virtually 3 songs in one. The first 5 minutes contain the lyrics of a desperate, hurting narrator that is facing impending death. As the songs continues, the next three minutes consist of a repeating chorus, a yearning for his one love to return just one more time. Around the 8 minute mark, the audible lyrics slip away and at around the 9th minute, the song changes again. This time it slows with the picking of acoustic guitars entering the forefront. A stark contrast to the first 8 minutes of crunchy and electric guitars, these acoustic guitars transition the listener into the calmness and tranquility of approaching death, similar to the experience of the coma that struck Kim. The remainder of the song moves from the acoustic guitars, slowly creating another jumble of sounds but this time with a more ethereal feel than the first 8 minutes. Finally, in the last 1:30 of the song, the music is deconstructed again, slowly trickling to bells at the 10 second mark with abrupt silence hitting at 5 seconds. At this point it seems that the narrator has left the dreamworld between life and death and finally entered death.

So yeah, it's safe to say I like this song alot. I'm not sure I know of any other song that consists of a more meaningful 15 minutes of music in terms of every lyric, arrangement, note seeming to have a purpose for being there.

Enough of my rambling. Here's the song for you to check out for yourself.

Sun Kil Moon -- Duk Koo Kim from Ghosts of the Great Highway [buy here]

For good measure, here's another great song off of Ghosts of the Great Highway. Believe me, you'll like it.

Sun Kil Moon -- Carry Me Ohio

In other SKM news, the band's website announced that their new album, April, will be released in, believe it or not, April. Woohoo!

BK