Musings of a Punk Rock Father

Mother | Tori Amos
A Mother Has A Hard Road | Killdozer
Mommy, Can I Go Out And Kill Tonight | The Misfits
Mama Don't Get Off | Jack Oblivian
Mommy's Little Anarchist | Crash Dog
Just Like Your Mom | Electric Frankenstein
Your Mama On the Rocks | Hewhocorrupts
Mother was a Vulture | This Et Al
Mommy's Little Monster | Social Distortion
Say Mama | Milkshakes
My Mom Still Cleans My Room | MxPx
If Mother Knew | Oblivians
My Mother's Only Son | Blindside
Mama Said | Metallica
Blame It On Mom [Live] | Johnny Thunders
Mom's In Rehab | Huntingtons
Send A Picture Of Mother | Johnny Cash
Mama's Boy | Ramones

One of the things I miss most about my previously held job at CitiMortgage was the CD club I shared with 2 of my co-workers. Well, just because I was laid off does not mean Citi should lay claim to my need for new music as well as my need for regular pay.

Thusly, I contacted the aforementioned 2 co-workers in an attempt to revive our CD club. The club basically involved the 3 of us deciding upon a theme for a compilation, or mix CD (which sounds so less romantic and elegant than mix-tape, but that's what happens when technology evolves - never mind that it is now the mix-USB flash drive, but I am getting ahead of myself), and then giving ourselves a deadline for producing, for the auditory enjoyment of the other 2 members, an album using that theme. I immediately hear back from one co-worker, but not from the other, although I know the other has far bigger fish or other sea creatures to fry, so I do not hold a grudge against him.

I suggested to my ex-co-worker a city comp, a mix-CD of songs that mention cities. We both excitedly got to work on this project. I like comps, mixtapes, whatever, because the blank audio format becomes a canvas upon which to paint with other artists music in such a way that it becomes its own creation. And I am excited that ECW (ex-co-worker, not Extreme Championship Wrestling) also enjoys making comps.

So yesterday I received a package from ECW. Unfortunately, it was not big enough to be a CD (see, if you remember the 2nd paragraph, then you already know the outcome - if you don't remember it, then you could direct your eyes above and ruin the end of the story for the 2nd time, it's just that you didn't remember ruining it the 1st time). I opened the package, and it held a cassette. See, this made me upset because ECW knows that I do not have the necessary access to a tape player. We have one in the Camry, which Melanie drives (although the other night she sent me out to Oberweis for some premium Conservative Republican ice cream, a trip which I used to blast a cassette with Articles of Faith and Bhopal Stiffs, a tape also made by ECW) and I have one under our TV, but which is not actually hooked up top anything. But I opened it and quickly realized that it was a cardboard tape, a fake, a fugazi, if you will (I just watched Donnie Brasco tonight, forgive me). Inside the fake cardboard cassette tape was a flash drive containing ECW's cities comp entitled "Topics in Audio History: Chicago, Vol. 1." Ambitious, no? See, he compiled 20 songs that all referenced Chicago. I was impressed.

Here, then, since I am actively listening to it, I present my compilation of city songs, dubbed "Downtown Shout Down," a title which is understood and funny only to a select few ex-co-workers. Included is/are the songs referenced.

Be-Common ref Chicago
Cleveland Confidential (Real World)-Pagans ref Cleveland
Safe In New York City-AC/DC ref NYC
All I Can Do Is Cry -Mike Ness ref Kansas City
See Ya Later-The Boys ref Belfast
It's All Moving Faster-Electric Frankenstein ref NYC
Lexington Nightlife-Gas Huffer ref Lexington, Charleston, Concord
Imminent War-Living Sacrifice ref Jerusalem
Doomsday-Transplants ref San Pedro, Washington
Battle Crick-Bantam Rooster ref Battle Creek, MI
Love Kills-Radio Birdman ref Chicago, Detroit
Motor City Is Burning-MC5 ref Detroit
Wanted Man-Johnny Cash ref Kansas City, Cheyenne, El Paso, Pleura, Shreveport, Abilene, Albuquerque, Syracuse, Tallahassee, Baton Rouge
Spanish Fly By Night-New Bomb Turks ref Cincinnati
Gun Street Girl-Tom Waits ref Birmingham, Waukegan
Modern World-The Modern Lovers ref Boston
Idle Hands-The Murder City Devils ref Austin, Dallas
Goodmornin Da-The Tossers ref Dubllin
Bodies-Sex Pistols ref Birmingham, England
The Young Crazed Peeling-The Distillers ref Melbourne
The Strangler of Boston Town-Thee Headcoats ref Boston
Bangkok-Nomads ref Bangkok
Rip Off-Sham 69 ref London
Goin' Back to Tucson-Supersuckers ref Tucson
Normandy-Project 86 ref Normandy

1 U2 - The First Time
2 Half Pint & the Fifths - Orphan Boy
3 Syd's Dance Band - Never Again
4 Crime - Frustration
5 Johnny Wright - The World is Yours
6 Black Flag - Life of Pain
7 R.L. Burnside - Jumper On the Line
8 The Prescriptions - I Shall Punish You Severely
9 Nirvana - Turnaround
10 Murder City Devils - Bear Away

I had posted before about seeing They Might Be Giants performing on Blues Clues. Well, now I was just watching "Yo Gabba Gabba" with my son, and I saw a live performance from Supernova. I saw Supernova some 8-10 years ago at Fireside Bowl. If I remember right, they were on Amphetamine Reptile Records, who also were home to Helmet, Boss Hog and the Melvins among others.

A lot of you might know Supernova from their song "Chewbacca" on the "Clerks" soundtrack. I remember hearing that song live. I also remember that their schtick was similar to Man Or Astro-man? in that the band members were aliens. Supernova's schtick included a love of tin foil, and they asked that people bring tin foil to shows.

Weird.

Last night I saw the Bronx at Double Door, FOR FREE. If you haven't heard them yet, they are absolutely the best rock n' roll band around right now. The show was completely energetic. Vocalist Scott Caughthran has the coolest voice. He ran around the pit during "They Will Kill Us All (Without Mercy)" and didn't miss a note. I was blown away. Did I mention it was free?

The shame of it all is that the club was maybe three-quarters packed, but that probably had more to do with the fact that it was a mid-week show and the band went onstage close to midnight. But it was worth losing sleep for. They performed practically their entire catalog, which isn't difficult since they have only released two albums so far, both of which are self-titled.

A bonus was hanging with a couple guys I worked with before we were laid off. We used to talk about the Bronx every day at work, so it was a blast to see the band with them.

I haven't done one of these in a long time, mostly because I don't listen to music through iTunes. But I find myself sitting here listening to it on shuffle, so I might as well share.

Los Straitjackets - University Blvd
Ramones - Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World
Anberlin - Stationary Stationery
Beastie Boys - 3 Minute Rule
Mad Season - Lifeless Dead
Alice in Chains - Over Now
Makers - Texture of a Girl
Larry & the Blue Notes - Night of the Sadist
Nomads - Ain't Yet Dead
Rich Mullins - Jesus

Starts off with a great instrumental surf song. Interesting how things segue between Mad Season, featring vocals by Layne Staley, and Alice in Chains, featuring vocals by Layne Staley. The Larry & the Blue Notes tune is from the "Back From the Grave" comps put out by Crypt Records that showcases some awesome 60's punk rock. This random 10 goes out on a quiet acoustic demo by the formidable Rich Mullins.

I just saw They Might Be Giants doing their song "Clap Your Hands" from their album "No!" on Blue's Clues.

Weird. But so awesome.

I was just outside eating lunch with my son and daughter while listening to my iPod. Mae's "The Afterglow" came on, and my 2 1/2 year old son looked at me with an extremely serious look on his face and said, "This is a really good song, yeah," and nodded his head up and down. Then he began dancing in his chair.

A few months ago, I was listening to Eso-charis, which features somewhat growling vocals. He called it the Dino song, believing that a dinosaur was singing. Another time I was listening to an album called "Sideways Soul" by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and the Dub Narcotic Sound System. Two songs featured the word "banana" in the title and the word was used throughout each song. Aidan asked me, "Are these guys monkeys?"

Yet another time, I had an L7 album on and he told me, "That guy is screaming." I shrugged my shoulders.

"It's actually a lady, but close enough," I replied.

I've started a string of posts over at my Hint of Disaster blog (used only because my employer does not permit access to Brendoman) wherein I write about whatever album I listened to that day. Most of these (for the next several weeks, probably) I was made aware of by Kyle and Kendrick, so I must give them credit. A lot of the posts will be about artists I've never really listened to, and some will be about albums I've never listened to by artists I like.

I cleared everything off my iPod last night, and randomly loaded a new 1,044 songs onto it. Here's what it spit out this morning:

Paloalto - Pick Yourself Off the Beach
I got this CD, a CD single for "Fade Out/In," for free from Island/ Def Jam when I was trying to put out a compilation CD for a non-profit I was working with. Paloalto is very generic; imagine the most boring parts of U2 and Radiohead. They remind me a bit of Swervedriver (and any number of other early 90's shoegazer bands). This song puts me to sleep (in a bad way). This is full of parentheticals (isn't it?).

Compulsive Gamblers - I Call You Mine
I love all of the Oblivians related music. This is from a post-Oblivians release (as opposed to the pre-Oblivians Compulsive Gamblers material). This album is really great bluesy rock with earnest vocals and terrific rock n' roll.

Nirvana - Stain
I like the drums in this song, and the way they cut through the buzzsaw of guitars. I like that about pretty much all of Nirvana's songs.

The Donnas - Speedin' Back to My Baby
Back before the Donnas took themselves too seriously. I think this song was just as they were switching from the female Ramones thing to a more AC/DC type of sound.

Pere Ubu - Over My Head
From the live disc in their "Datapanik in Year Zero" boxed set. Seemingly as straightforward rock as Ubu is likely to get.

Cheap Trick - Oh Caroline
This is one of Cheap Trick's poppier songs. I've really become a Cheap Trick junkie over the years.

MxPx - Honest Answers
MxPx can churn out some fairly generic pop-punk tunes, and this is one of them. I like a lot of their stuff, but this is toward the bottom of the list.

Big Black - Bad Penny
Pretty much anything by Big Black is great. Pretty much anything by Steve Albini is great.

The Bollweevils - No Time
Fitting, since I am currently wearing my Bollweevils "Survive" t-shirt that I got in '94 or '95. The Bollweevils are one of my favorite bands ever.

The Modern Lovers - Dignified & Old
Jonathan Richman's terrific punk rock band. This is from the live album, "Precise Modern Lover's Order."

For Christmas, I bought Aidan They Might Be Giants' "No!" I had recently discovered that they, and a number of other indie rock artists, began working in what might be called "kid's music." Listening to the CD this morning with Aidan on our way to his grandma's house, I realized how wrong this assessment is.

I already liked the album. We listen to it at home, and he likes to dance and clap and laugh along to it. But usually there is too much going on to enjoy the music. Usually, we are also playing with toys or reading books or running into the furniture (at least Aidan is usually involved in those activities) to listen intentionally to the music.

But this morning as we drove, I got a chance to appreciate it on a whole new level. At first blush, the album appears to be simply silly kids songs. But as I listened, I heard great songwriting, lyrically and musically. Songs like the buoyant rocker "Clap Your Hands" and the mellow, dreamy "Where Do They Make Balloons" transcend mere kid stuff.

The album would certainly appeal to fans of They Might Be Giants, but I think it would also appeal to fans of bands like the Flaming Lips as well. I look forward to discovering more kids music with my son.

No, not the Wilford Brimley movies. I've been looking for a case for my iPod Nano for a while now, and none of them seemed to be what I needed. All I ever found were sport sleeves or arm bands, or the occasional "leather folio." I really wanted a case that could hold my iPod and some accessories. I was tired of worrying, for example, that my iTrip would fall out of my coat pocket, or that I would misplace my ear buds.

Melanie found a case on Apple's website called a Cocoon. I just got it yesterday, and so far it seems to be just what I wanted. It has enough room for my earbuds and iTrip, with a little room left over for the lanyard that came with it, if I wanted it in there, too. I don't know if I will have much use for it yet. Maybe if I use it while working out.

It's a larger case, for sure, but I care more about the extra compartment than about keeping it slim. Plus, I like that the case seems durable, whereas everything else I've seen seems merely cosmetic.

Just wanted to share my excitement!

My iPod gave me a rather diverse random ten this busy, crazy, hectic Friday.

Strung Out - Rotten Apple
Bad Religion - Faith in God
Tom Waits - Dead and Lovely
The Milkshakes - Pipeline
Minor Threat - Cashing In
Chevelle - Comfortable Liar
Tori Amos - Winter
Los Diablos del Sol - Wild Sound
Public Enemy - Hell No We Ain't All Right
The Hives - Antidote

Do these all seem like they belong in one person's collection? Do Public Enemy and the Tori Amos work side by side? Would the Milkshakes have toured with Minor Threat (or for that matter, would Thee Headcoats tour with Fugazi)?

I usually use my iTunes at home for my Friday Random Ten, where I fire up iTunes and see which ten songs come out. But I am at work, and only have my iPod. So let's see which ten songs are first up.

The Gun Club - Gonna Find My Baby
Nirvana - Turnaround
Mudhoney - Poisoned Water
Nirvana - Sappy
Dear Ehesus - A Woe
The Methadones - Ammunition
Nirvana - Dive (Demo)
Bad Religion - Eat Your Dog
Johnny Cash - Personal Jesus
The Tossers - Come Dancing

A lot of Nirvana songs, since I put my entire "With the Lights Out" boxed set on my iPod. Mudhoney in the middle of a Nirvana sandwich is pretty good eatin'. And I enjoy hearing Johnny's version of "Personal Jesus" follow Bad Religion. The Tossers aren't a bad way to finish off this week's list, either.

Today I listened to Tom Waits' beautiful, bizarre album "Real Gone." I hadn't heard it in a while, and this time I was particularly swept away by a song called "Hoist That Rag."

Well I learned the trade
From Piggy Knowles and
Sing Sing Tommy Shay Boys
god used me as a hammer boys
To beat his weary drum today

Hoist that rag
Hoist that rag

The sun is up the world is flat
Damn good address for a rat
The smell of blood
The drone of flies
You know what to do if
The baby cries

Hoist that rag
Hoist that rag

Well we stick our fingers in
The ground, heave and
Turn the world around
Smoke is blacking out the sun

At night I pray and clean my gun
The cracked bell rings as
The ghost bird sings and the gods
Go begging here
So just open fire
As you hit the shore
All is fair in love
And war

Hoist that rag
Hoist that rag
Hoist that rag
Hoist that rag

Waits sings this song with an urgency that sounds like his life depends on it. The song (and the whole album, in fact) makes me picture a somewhat cartoonish factory, with giant smokestacks spitting out balls of smoke while huge, grimy gears turn and turn. If you hear the album, maybe you'll know what I mean.

"Hoist That Rag" is either the quietest loud song I've ever heard or the loudest quiet song I've ever heard; it seems to exist somewhere in between. Or it could be the most beautiful ugly song I've ever heard, or the ugliest beautiful song I've ever heard. Of course, maybe I'm just in a mood to consider it the ______est _______ song I've ever heard, and it's all a load of hyperbole.

I've got a lot of songs that have the "blues," so here's a random ten songs for you.

Bald-Headed Woman Blues Bassholes Blue Roots
Disappointment Blues The Hellacopters Payin' The Dues (Live Disc)
Blues X Man The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion Orange
Armageddon Double Feature (Love Sick Blues, No. 4) The Dirtbombs Horndog Fest
Aldedly Blues Gas Huffer The Rest Of Us
Signifying Blues (Extended Version) Bo Diddley The Chess Box (Disc 2)
Blues for Big Town John Lee Hooker The Complete 50's Chess Recordings (Disc 2)
We Hate The Blues The Delta 72 The Soul Of A New Machine
Titanic Blues Bassholes Blue Roots
Satellite Blues AC/DC Stiff Upper Lip

The billionth song, ”Speed of Sound,” was purchased as part of Coldplay’s “X&Y” album by Alex Ostrovsky from West Bloomfield, Michigan. As the grand prize winner, he will receive a 20-inch iMac, 10 fifth generation iPods, and a $10,000 Music Card good for any item on the iTunes Music Store. In addition, to commemorate this milestone, Apple will establish a scholarship to the world-renowned Juilliard School in his name.

“I hope that every customer, artist, and music company executive takes a moment today to reflect on what we’ve achieved together during the past three years,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Over one billion songs have now been legally purchased and downloaded around the globe, representing a major force against music piracy and the future of music distribution as we move from CDs to the Internet.”

I just think it's unfortunate that the download that won the young man all of that loot was from a popular bandlike Coldplay. I think it would have been great if the 1,000,000,000th track downloaded would have been something from the Hellacopters or the Reigning Sound.

Wow,I found this in my "to be published" postings, so I guess it never made it to my blog. So, here's last week's Random Ten.

This week, I sort my iTunes to include only songs with words like "boy," "girl," "man," "woman," etc.

Watermelon Man Gun Club Early Warning (Disc 1)
Poor Poor Girl The Dils The Dils (AKA Dils Dils Dils)
Bride Of The Elephant Man The Murder City Devils Thelema
Southern Girls Cheap Trick At Budokan (2)
Speed Girl Electric Frankenstein EF Live! On WFMU Volume 3
Bald-Headed Woman Blues Bassholes Blue Roots
Get Your Hands Off My Woman The Darkness Permission To Land
40 Boys In 40 Nights The Donnas Turn 21
I'm Looking For A Woman Bo Diddley The Chess Box (Disc 1)
Little Green Men Project 86 Truthless Heroes

So, I sorted the songs in my iTunes and created a playlist featuring song titles with colors in them.

AFI Bleed Black
From "Sing the Sorrow," an album I like a lot, even though I don't think it is very cool to like it.

Firestarter She's Red
A band featuring members of Teengenerate. This song is great, straight-up rock n' roll. Those Japanse punk rockers really know how to knock out some great songs.

Chrome Cranks Nightmare in Pink
From "Dead Cool," a great garagey rock n' roll record.

L7 Long Green
A slower, slightly heavy tune here.

The Bollweevils Vanilla Blue
The Bollweevils cover their heroes, Naked Raygun. I kind of wish the Raygun version turned up, but I love the 'Weevils.

Living Sacrifice Black Seeds
"Black" songs definitely make up more of this playlist than any other color, followed by "white." This is from the Barry Poynter mix, which wound up on the internet before the album was released, prompting the band to bring in new blood to re-mix the record. (The official version showed up at #32 on my random list).

Division Grey Awkward Nights
A friend of mine made a Chicago comp, and this was on it. I don't know anything about the band, but it's not really my cup of tea. I don't know that it's necessarily emo, but it at least heads there.

Pixies Silver
I love the Pixies, and I've only gotten their records in the last year. Shame on me.

Smashing Pumpkins Blue Skies Bring Tears
The only Smashing Pumpkins album I have, "Machina II," because it available online here. Don't worry, it's legal.

Howlin' Wolf The Red Rooster
The Random Ten ends with a great blues song.

I have received a couple of compilations from Kyle, such as a 2-disc set of Flaming Lips songs and a single disc volume collecting Kyle's favorite Beck songs. In return, I sent him a disc of Project 86 songs, whittled down from the massive 2 disc set that I had previously put-together (I thought 2 discs might be too much screaming for Kyle's taste).

But I started thinking, "What do I have that might be more up Kyle's alley?" Then it came to me: Pere Ubu. I had the now out of print 5 disc Pere Ubu collection that spanned from 1975 until 1982, and included a live album and a disc of rarities from the likes of Suicide and Rocket From the Tombs.

So, utilizing a couple of websites (mostly because I don't know enough about Pere Ubu to know what is "essential Ubu"), I created a disc that is, if not ncessarily the "best of Ubu," then maybe the most important.

I present this tracklist just in case there are some Ubu fanatics out there that might have a different opinion on what the tracklist should include. I have already burned this one for Kyle, but I may change it up for future compilation give-aways.

30 Seconds Over Tokyo Datapanik in Year Zero 1975 6:25
Heart of Darkness Datapanik in Year Zero 1975 4:48
Final Solution Terminal Tower 1975 5:01
Nonalignment Pact The Modern Dance 1977 3:21
The Modern Dance The Modern Dance 1977 3:32
Life Stinks he Modern Dance 1977 1:54
Caligari's Mirror Dub Housing 1978 3:54
Thriller! Dub Housing 1978 4:43
I, Will Wait Dub Housing 1978 1:49
Drinking Wine Spodyody Dub Housing 1978 2:48
Ubu Dance Party Dub Housing 1978 4:51
The Fabulous Sequel New Picnic Time 1979 3:09
Small Was Fast New Picnic Time 1979 3:35
Make Hay New Picnic Time 1979 4:08
Kingdom Come New Picnic Time 1979 3:16
Go The Art of Walking 1980 3:39
Misery Goats The Art of Walking 1980 2:42
Rounder The Art of Walking 1980 3:26
Birdies The Art of Walking 1980 2:32
The Long Walk Home The Song of the Bailing Man 1982 2:39
Stormy Weather The Song of the Bailing Man 1982 3:22
Thoughts That Go By Steam The Song of the Bailing Man 1982 3:50

Here's what allmusic.com has to say about the period I've compiled:

Pere Ubu emerged from the urban wastelands of mid-'70s Cleveland to impact the American underground for generations to follow; led by hulking frontman David Thomas, whose absurdist warble and rapturously demented lyrics remained the band's creative focus throughout their long, convoluted career, Ubu's protean art-punk sound harnessed self-destructing melodies, scattershot rhythms, and industrial-strength dissonance to capture the angst and chaos of their times with both apocalyptic fervor and surprising humanity. Named in honor of Alfred Jarry's surrealist play Ubu Roi, Pere Ubu was formed in the autumn of 1975 from the ashes of local cult favorite Rocket From the Tombs, reuniting Thomas (aka Crocus Behemoth) with guitarist Peter Laughner; adding guitarist Tom Herman, bassist Tim Wright, keyboardist Allen Ravenstine, and drummer Scott Krauss, the group soon issued its debut single, "30 Seconds Over Tokyo," on Thomas' Hearthan label. The follow-up, "Final Solution," appeared on the renamed Hearpen in early 1976, and resulted in a series of live dates at the famed New York City club Max's Kansas City.

Laughner's longstanding battles with drugs and alcohol forced his exit from Pere Ubu in June of 1976; within a year, he was dead. The group continued on as a quintet, with bassist Tony Maimone signing on in the wake of Wright's move to New York, where he joined the pioneering no wave band DNA. In the wake of their third single, "Street Waves," Thomas was approached by Mercury label A&R exec Cliff Burnstein, who convinced the label to form a new imprint, Blank Records, for the express purposes of signing Pere Ubu; their debut LP, The Modern Dance, was issued in early 1978, and although the record made little commercial impact at home or abroad, its manic intensity and dark impenetrability proved profoundly influential on countless post-punk acts on both sides of the Atlantic. The follow-up, Dub Housing, was even better, pushing the band to further extremes of otherworldliness, but already the cracks were beginning to show, and upon completing 1979's New Picnic Time (working title: "Goodbye"), Ubu disbanded. Although the group re-formed months later, Herman opted not to return, and was replaced by Red Krayola mastermind Mayo Thompson.

The Art of Walking followed in 1980, with subsequent tours in support of the record heralding the increasingly pop-centric sound which would distinguish later Ubu projects; a live record, 390 Degrees of Simulated Stereo, appeared a year later. Krauss was replaced by drummer Anton Fier for 1982's Song of the Bailing Man, but as before personal and creative differences began taking their toll and Ubu again disbanded; while Maimone and Krauss reunited in the group Home and Garden, Thomas continued the solo career he'd begun with the 1981 effort The Sound of the Sand (And Other Songs of the Pedestrians), a collaboration with guitar virtuoso Richard Thompson.

I think Kyle, who shares my appreciation for artists as diverse as Godspeed You Black Emperor and Johnny Cash, may appreciate the avant-garde sensibilities of Pere Ubu.

This Train I Saw the Light
This train handles Hank Williams' classic with reverence, while putting their own spin on it at the same time.

Landos 45 Trailer
This band essentially sounds like the Bollweevils, due to Daryl's distinctive vocals.

L7 Moonshine
Not one of L7's better albums, but I put it on from time to time. I honestly thought they had broken up after Hungry for Stink, but then I found this (The Beauty Process: Triple Platinum) and Slap-Happy in a used bin.

Cheap Trick Can't Hold On
From the far superior double disc re-release of their Live at Budokan album. It includes some of their heavier numbers, while the original mostly stuck to their more pop-oriented songs.

The Dirtbombs Shake!! Shivaree
Mick Collins of the Gories and Blacktop has a fantastic voice. One of my favorite songs from him is Blacktop's "Mojo Kitty."

Dogwood Everything Dies in Time
I really like this album, "More Than Conquerors." It's overtly Christian, but they avoid being cheesy.

Neil Young Words (Between the Lines of Age)
I picked this up at the recommendation of my friend Jeremy. I think the only song on "Harvest" that I really, really like, though, is "Are You Ready For the Country?" I love his soundtrack for "Dead Man" though.

The Dishes Remote Control
The first time I saw this Chicago band, opening for the Red Aunts at the Empty Bottle, I wasn't too impressed. Then I heard this, their debut album, and was blown away. They are a great garage-punk band.

This Train The Way It Sounds
We played this song during a photo montage at our wedding.

Pleae tell me once again that you love me
That you love me
It's not that I could doubt you
I just love the way it sounds

The Huntington's Mom's in Rehab
They are almost a Ramone's cover band, but I love the Ramones, so it's okay.

I'm pretty dissatisfied with this week's list, save for the Tom Waits track, so I don't really feel like commenting. I will mention that the Hellacopters, like the Nomads, are a hard-rocking group of Swedes that you should check out if you've never heard them, and hearing the Teengenerate track makes me pine for the days that they were still together.

Oh, and look at the last track. Very dissappointing.

The Black Angel's Death Song - Danceteria from the Born to Lose soundtrack
Hellacopters - Gotta Get Some Action Now / Soulseller from Payin' the Dues Disc 2 (Live Disc)
MxPx - Elvis Is Dead from Let It Happen
Teengenerate - Plastic Man from Get Action!
Tom Waits - Make It Rain from Real Gone
The Damned - Plan 9 Channel 7 from Machine Gun Etiquette
The Distiller - I Understand from Sing Sing Death House
Nomads - Rockin' All Through the Night from Showdown!
Smoking Popes - Don't Be Afraid from Get Fired
The Misfits - Wolfsblood from Earth AD

Demon Hunter - A Broken Upper Hand
I cannot believe how often they show up on my random ten. God must be punishing for something by making you guys think I listen to them all the time.

The Misfits - Wolfsblood
Remember my top ten albums list? How the Misfits were number 1? Yeah, this is the album I don't like so much.

The Dils - Poor Poor Girl
This CD has like four good songs, from a couple 7" records, then the rest is filled with poorly recorded songs like this one.

Electric Frankenstein - EF Theme
Melanie and I got on our first fight when we were dating at an EF show. Steve Miller threw me the mic during one song and I sang about half of it. Mel was not impressed.

Bollweevils - Dysomnia By Design
From an early 7". I never get tired of this band.

Dead Boys - Hey Little Girl (Live)
This album is contending for one of the latter spots on my top ten albums of al time. It is a classic punk rock record.

Crash Dog - Progress
A Christian hardcore band with a lead singer named Spike Nard who begins this song with the whole "the rowers keep on rowing" bit from "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory." This is a fantastic hardcore album.

The Damned - Looking at You
I forgot how good some of these songs are until I just listned to this.

Elvis Costello - This Is Hell
I bought this because it was $4 at a used record store, and I actually like the album quite a bit. It's a bit different from the rest of the stuff on this list. Maybe it's a breather before a really heavy track...

Electric Frankenstein - My Distraction
This is from the "Crush! Kill! Destroy!" demos from 2004. Every song on this album is a punk rock/ metal masterpiece.

I'm just a little behind schedule on things, but I'm running iTunes through its paces anyway. This week's is a pretty good mixture, at least as far as my collection goes, with the exception of repeating a band.

Damned - Noise, Noise, Noise from Machine Gun Ettiquette
I only reallty like the first three Damned records, "Damned, Damned, Damned" being the best. But this record has some decent songs, the most-well known probably being "Smash It Up," well-known because of the Offspring cover for the Batman Forever soundtrack.

Alice in Chains - Nutshell from Jar of Flies
Jar of Flies isn't my favorite AIC recording, but "No Excuses" is a god song.

New Bomb Turks - Tattoed Apathetic Boys from Destroy Oh-Boy
Every song on this record is good, as is the case with all Turks records. I also have a cool 7" where the Devil Dogs cover this song and the Turks do a medley of some Devil Dogs tunes.

This Train - She's a Rocket from The Emperor's New Band
I love the rockabilly/ punk rock/ swing/ country sound of This Train. They may be the best band you've never heard, and probably the best Christian band you've never heard.

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion & Dub Narcotic Sound System - Calvin's On a Burner from Sideways Soul
A great collaboration between Jon Spencer and his raucous Blues Explosion and Calvin Johnson and his rag-tag rock group that dabbled in rap and raggae. Johnson's near spoken-word vocals collide with the Blues Explosion's instrumentation for a weird, brilliant record.

Pegboy - Hardlight from Strong Reaction
This is probably one of the top ten best records to come out of Chicago. With songs like the above as well as "Field of Darkness" and "Superstar," it has become practically a classic and essential punk rock record in the Windy City.

Electric Frankenstein - The Perfect Crime (Live) from Annie's Grave
I'm pretty sure Annie's Grave was a rcord of EF throwaway tracks just to help them get out of their deal with Victory, but an EF throwaway is better than most bands' final album selections. This live track closes out the album.

This Train - Magic Bean from The Emperor's New Band
See above.

Public Enemy - Yo! Bum Rush the Show (Remix) from Bring the Noise 2000
I will say it again: This b-sides and remix album (available for download on www.shutemdown.com) is a fantastic set of tracks.

The Humpers - Soul Surgeon from Positively Sick on 4th Street
The Humpers are always a fun ride. I really can't differentiate one album from the others, but I love all of the albums I own from this band.