DJ Shadow, Art Brut, PJ Harvey, Os Mutantes, The Cure, Voxtrot, Mi & l'Au, The Chills, Go-Betweens, Malcolm Middleton, Ad Astra Per Aspera, and Lesa Cormier.

Playlist:
DJ Shadow - unnamed track [2003]
Album: Diminishing Returns
This album is out-of-print.

The Chills - Pink Frost [1984]
7" single Flying Nun
Rereleased Kaleidoscope World [1993]
Buy their album here.

Ad Astra Per Aspera - Goodland at Night [2004]
EP: Cubic Zirconia
Buy their EP here.

The Go-Betweens - Cattle and Cane [1983]
Album: Before Hollywood
Buy their album here.

Malcolm Middleton - Loneliness Shines [2005]
Album: Into the Woods
Buy his album here.

Art Brut - Modern Art [2005]
Album:Bang Bang Rock & Roll
Buy their album here.

The Cure - Killing An Arab [1978]
Recorded John Peel Session Dec. 4, 1978.
Several EP's have been released of this session, but all are out-of-print. You can buy a used copy here.

Mi & l'Au - Merry Go Round [2005]
Album: S/T
Buy their album here.

PJ Harvey - You Come Through (live) [2004]
Recorded at John Peel Memorial "Keep It Peel" Dec. 16, 2004
No commercial release is available of this recording.

Lesa Cormier & The Sundown Playboys - Saturday Night Special [1972]
7" Single Apple Records
Out-of-print. But you can find this song on the compilation Morrissey: Under the Influence

Os Mutantes - A Minha Menina [1968]
Album: S/T
Buy their album here.

Voxtrot - Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives [2006]
EP: Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives
Buy their EP here.

Interview with Garrison Reid of IndieInterviews

Ramesh Srivastava of Voxtrot - Shayla (acoustic)
Recorded by Garrison Reid in Denton, TX April 21, 2006.
Get the MP3 here.

I had a very pleasant surprise this morning when a FedEX person rang my doorbell and woke me up. I had fallen asleep on the couch the night before and had failed to set any alarm. The package arrived a half hour before I was to be at work, so it had impeccable timing. Not only that, the package itself was a mix CD that a listener had compiled for me. After rushing to work, I threw the mix on and was treated with plenty of grand tunes including perhaps my favorite blues song, "John the Revelator" by Son House.
It's a very simple tune comprised of a soft clapping and a capella, but single-handily is one of the most powerful songs in the American songbook. Immediately it calls upon us vicariously fore we are Adam, naked and ashamed, answering to God with our sin upon our chest. Son House knew about sin. He was a spiritual man of sin, in battle with God. He murdered a man for which he went to prison and he quit music afraid that the blues was inhabited by the devil himself. Upon returning to music in 1964, he found a new audience and a new lust to play it.

This was recorded in 1970 long after many of the original greats were gone, but Son House wasn't and we are blessed with these later life recordings that are vibrantly full of fidelity. Son House died Oct. 19, 1988. It was my birthday. The blues at its best is a vicarious relish within all our sorrows to understand that our individual sorrow is not wholly our battle.

Please enjoy this song and may it conveniently help you out by getting you to work on time or something equally spectacular.

Son House - John the Revelator MP3

Thanks for the mix, Jamie.

Whatever the Captain says, do not swim in urine.

This week we have lots of new music by Sound Team, F*ck Off Machete, The Pomonas, The Kulta Beats along with great live session tracks by The Stranglers, Melt Banana, and Kid 606/Remote Viewer. Also awesome material by Piney Gir, The Sonics, Erma Franklin, Sister Gertrude Morgan, Kaleidoscope, and Melissa Swingle of Trailer Bride/The Moaners. And lastly, we take an extended look at the Swedish hardcore band Refused and their masterpiece 1998 album, The Shape of Punk to Come.

Playlist -

The Sonics - Strychnine [1965]
Album: Here Are the Sonics
Buy their album here.

Piney Gir - Boston [2005]
Album: Peakahokahoo
Buy her album here.

Sound Team - Movie Monster [2006]
Album: Movie Monster (Forthcoming release June 6th)
The band is kind enough to offer this song on MP3 at their site.

F*ck Off Machete - What's the Signal? [2006]
Single: What's The Signal
Buy the single here.

Kid 606 vs. The Remote Viewer - Ask Me About Gift Ideas [2000]
Recorded for John Peel Session May 3rd, 2000.
No Commerical release, but you can download it here.

Melt Banana - Zip Zero [2005]
Recorded live for BBC One Music Dec. 08, 2005.
No Commerical release, but you can download it here.

The Stranglers - Hanging Around [1977]
Album: Live at The Front Row Festival, Hope & Anchor Pub.
This album is Out-of-Print.
But I'm hosting a few MP3's here.

The Pomonas - Bank Art [2005]
EP: Jubilation
Buy their EP here.

The Kulta Beats - Replication Bomb [2006]
Album: Replication Bomb
Buy their album here.

Erma Franklin - Piece of My Heart [1967]
Shout Records 7" / Rereleased: V/A: Soul Sides: Vol. 1
Buy the comp. here.

Kaleidoscope - Hang Out [1968]
Album: Kaleidoscope
Rereleased - V/A: Peace, Love, & Poetry: Mexican Psychedelic
Buy the comp. here.

Melissa Swingle - Amazing Grace (Played on a saw) [2005]
Field recording from the film Searching For the Wrong-Eyed Jesus.
This version was taken directly from the film, but there is a soundtrack album that supposedly contains the song.

Sister Gertrude Morgan - Take My Hand, Lead Me On [1970]
Album: Let's Make a Record
Buy her album here.

Tanghetto - Blue Monday [2006]
Soundtrack: La Mujer de Mi Hermano
Buy the sdtrk here.

Jack Kerouac - excerpt from The Beat Generation
Boxset: The Jack Kerouac Collection
Buy the boxset here.

Refused - Summerholidays Vs. Punkroutine [1998]
Album: The Shape of Punk To Come
Buy their album here.

Refused - New Noise [1997]
Recorded live Jan. 30, 1997, Popstad, Galaxen, Umeå, Sweden.
No commercial release available.

Refused - Tannhäuser/Derivè [1998]
Album: The Shape of Punk To Come
Buy their album here.

Actually, it was very laid back as Eugene Hutz, Sergey Ryabtsev and Yury Lemeshev of the band stopped in at All Things Considered to talk and have a small acoustic set yesterday. Regular visitors/listeners of The Yank Sizzler know that I'm absolutely rabid about Gogol Bordello. Did I mention they are the best live band playing today?

Make sure you head on over to NPR's website and check out the full set and interview, especially the unaired parts of the interview as they are more interesting than the stuff that made it to air.

As a treat, here is a MP3 of "Greencard Husband" played acoustically for the NPR session. For some reason they decided not to play a song about lesbian roommates on the air. And here I was positive that NPR was more progressive than that.

Enjoy it everyone,

Michael


The photo was taken by someone I don't know of. But they deserve any credit for it.

Hey remember that crappy song by the Reel Big Fish?  Way back in 1998 i was at a really boring music festival with an odd commercial lineup that was
Pharcyde (headlining)
Everclear
Reel Big Fish
Wilco
and Incubus

and I was arguing with some guy who insisted that Sublime sang the above mentioned song. When RBFish sang it, he did not apologize.

So goes life, and so go musicians who write a catchy little diddy for some company.

A day or two ago, the blog Thighs Wide Shut put up the Jack White jingle he wrote for that certain soda company, you know, the one with the polar bears and the Latin American union-busting death squads.

It reminded me of the great minds that have shelled out talent for various products and in addition to Jack's "What Goes Around", there is also the infamous Ween / Pizza Hut team-up that created "Where's the Mother-Fuckin' Cheese". Interestingly enough, PH passed on the song, even the clean version.

And of course, there's Mick doin' it for Rice Krispies.

Hundreds of others have done it too, but those are the ones that come to mind right now. Rest assured I will probably be sued for suggesting that some soda company is connected with hired thugs who murder people.

That said, I still respect Jack White and still really love a lot of the music he creates. The Raconteurs new material is pretty good.