Robert Johnson. Love in Vain.

So the first time I ever heard this song was off the Stones 1969 release Let it Bleed--classic smoky Mic going at it and the slow sex build up of Richard's guitar for that sensual fever that they're so damn good at.  Here is the original, by Robert Johnson, and here is a great close your eyes and listen link to The Rolling Stones version.

The Heavy. Colleen.

Man, I just love this song, that's it, no explanation.  It was featured in the Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah movie Mad Money and was hard to track down at first because of its ambiguous name: Colleen.  Performed by the UK bank The Heavy.  Not sure who did this video clip but I really dig it, too.

Tegan and Sara. The Con.

Oh, dear.  Freakin Tegan and Sara, who doesn't love these gals?  I will run the risk of melodrama here and just be out with it:  their album The Con, released in 2007, is without question my number one ever ever ever break-up album, ever, and I speak from devoted experience.  The Con, every single song on it, played on repeat track after track in early 09 and walked me through not just one but two tragic back to back endings of intensely heavy love affairs.  And I still love to hear it and can even listen lightly, now!  I mean, come on, that says it all.  This is the title song off the album, a rich acoustic version.  To see the video for the same, go here.  And in the meantime, encircle me I need to be taken down...!

Steel Pulse. Rollerskates.

Oh my gosh.  I can't remember the first time I ever heard this song--growing up at the beach I feel like it was just one of those always on background jams.  It was this summer though that my friend Ben asked me if I knew the song Rollerskates to which I was like no--turns out I didn't know the real name of ...life without music...one of those quintessential reggae anthems by Steel Pulse, released originally on 1984's Earth Crisis.
Anyhow, imagine my pleasure last week when my old buddy Sky started sending all this reggae music over.  This was a recent intention of mine, to grow the reggae selection on my iPod, however that's subject matter for a different blog.  There's a way better clip of this song as far as video quality, but I like it live and wiley when the audience is singing along...

Grande Roses. A Place to Love.

Grande Roses "A Place To Love" from Robert Henriksson on Vimeo.

A Place to Love by the Grande Roses just sticks in my heart the way some love songs can.  It's one of those standing in the kitchen makes time stop a minute and me be still songs that seemed to capture a lot of stuff for me I otherwise couldn't say?  I went through a minor tryst with The National this summer and maybe that's why, this song from lyrics to melancholy sounds to me like something Berninger might do.  Visit the Grande Roses, out of Sweden, here and hang out a minute and be still with this clip!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Karen O.

So in keeping with the spirit of amazing female front woman.  I listened to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs It's Blitz so much in the background this summer that I associate the sound of them with salt and sun.  But let's talk about Karen O the sexy crazy-talented through and through rock and roller lead.  I love her.  I lvoe her presence, her lyrics and aesthetic, her mix of visionary whimsy (she's the one who did all the music for Where the Wild Things Are) not to mention her voice.  I think she's everything an artist can be.  

Sly & The Family Stone. Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)

If there was one album from my childhood in to preteen time that had the most influence on me (not the one I listened to the most, but the most influential...) it was Sly and The Family Stone's Greatest Hits.  By the time, at age 11 or so, that I got my hands on mom's record collection several of their songs were already familiar from radio air so what I distinctly remember is the first time I heard this song.  It felt right.  I didn't know it til recently but Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again) was originally released as a bonus on that record, and it quickly became my fave because of how true it resonated with me, and equally important: because of how the song was titled with its unique spelling.  This was an early prompt to me of the freedom within language of self-expression, silly as it seems.  But isn't that it anyway--what's so very great about this song, too... 

Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt. Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt.

These guys are probably my favorite discovery of this year.  They came my way with their song Snow Day via an indy compilation from my cousin's fellow and I just loved the song because it always made me so happy.  Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt it turns out are that crazy blend of bizarre performance art with multiple musicians-and-instruments-and-costumes-and-zaniness combo that is my absolute most enjoyable live experience.  It reminds me of the experimental stuff that was happening in music when music and me first fell in love.  This is their myspace, this is their web, this is their blog and this is a clip of them singing MJ to sheep, as an example of their ridiculous showmanship  and why I'm so starry with hearts in my eyes over them....

Indie Pages. Random Pop Links.

Indie Pages is a compilation project run by the founders of Jigsaw Records out of Seattle and I discovered the website last year whilst perusing the Internet looking for cut and paste style zines.  It's a dated website, with only four or so updates this year in fact, but my absolute favorite thing for most of last winter was clicking random pop link on their links page.  More than once I discovered awesome Indy bands or fanzines that way.  Jigsaw closed its doors this years but are still available on the Internet, still pedaling 7 inches and cassettes, still full of the Olympia-Tacoma-Seattle underground going against the tide (especially now) flavor that I love.

Bomb in a Birdcage. A Fine Frenzy.

A fabulous guy I used to date turned me on to A Fine Frenzy, which is actually the performing name of a really sexy singer/songwriter gal out of Seattle.  There's nothing more to say than I absolutely love, love love this song, What I Wouldn't Do.  It's so flippen catchy.  Off her 2009 release Bomb in a Birdcage, which happens to be one of the15 or so Cd's this year that I literally played start to finish over and over again whenever I got in my car.  HR people.  Highly Recommended.

The High Strung. Real Nice Boy.

I first heard Detroit's The High Strung play on Pandora.  The song was She's Not Even Mad at You, and from that first time on every single time it played I would stop what I was doing and listen.  Soon enough I found them on Myspace and started listening to them pretty regularly.  That was the beginning of my mild obsession with contemporary indie bands with that sixties pre-punk garage-band sound.  I love them.  This youtube clip is a great song off their 2003 release These Are Good Times.  They once did a library tour. That's right, public library gigs.  There's a nine minute you-tube video of them, in fact, playing the public library in San Fran.  BTW, according to Wikipedia, they left the van that they drove for that tour on the steps of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...

The Art of Sixteen Bars.

This movie left me in awe when I first saw it--with the same inside-kicking feeling that certain live music or the right poetry or late night conversations leave in me: totally inspired. Director Peter Spirer is a documentary maven in the hip-hop world, it's narrated by Meth and basically breaks apart the art and fundamentals of rap and hip-hop by interviews with various artists, big-name and other. My favorite part is Shock G talking about what made Tupac a great.  Here's a short clip with the ever prolific KRS-One, Nas and a couple others talking about writing rhymes.  

When I Was A Painter. The Breeders.

I didn't like the Breeders when they first came out--in fact I remember seeing them at Lolapalooza in 1994 and not sticking near the stage like I always did: indifferent.  I was more impressed by the riot grrrl garage sound and they were too produced for me, funny thing is I guess my young ears and unconscious mind compared Kim and Tanya to Frank Black too much. It wasn't until later that I really grew great respect especially for Kim Deal as a musician, and a woman, leading the way.  This clip is so good.  I love her voice, too.

Favourite Food. Tokyo Police Club.

Tokyo Police Club 's Favourite Food came on a an Indy Rock compilation someone gave me.  It's off their 2010 release Champ, and isn't nearly as dirty and Thurston-esque sounding as the earlier 2006 stuff I found to sample on the Internet.  But I like it alot, in this case bc his minimal entry made me notice the sparseness of voice and brevity in the lyrics.  I'll always be a poetry grl...afterall.