Gonzo on the air, 2/27

T. Rex-Jeepster
Wanda Jackson-Nervous Breakdown
The Detroit Cobras-My Baby Loves a Secret Agent
Clinic-Milk and Honey
Twin Sister-Lady Daydream
Sonnymoon-Soft Shoulders
The Beatles-It's Only a Northern Song
Deerhoof-The Merry Barracks
Florence + the Machine-Dog Days Are Over
Prince and the Revolution-Mountains (12" mix)
A Sunny Day in Glasgow-Fall in Love
Crystal Castles feat. Robert Smith-Not in Love (request!)
Siouxsie and the Banshees-Dazzle
Twin Shadow-Shooting Holes at the Moon
Radiohead-Lotusflower
Also-Unloaded
Ween-The Stallion pt. 3
The Ting Tings-That's Not My Name
Nancy Sinatra-Bang, Bang
The Doors-Queen of the Highway
Tapes n' Tapes-Desert Plane
Yuck-Operation
Faith No More-Last Cup of Sorrow
Mazzy Star-Fade into You
Portishead-Only You (live)

Bang Bang

No really, I'm trying to be productive on a Friday night. But in doing so, I was listening to Nancy Sinatra's classic How Does That Grab You? LP, which ends with this favorite, put to good use in Kill Bill.

Just because.

Poor video quality (due to the rip; this looks to be from the proshot Parade warmup gig at First Ave.), but what the hell. Still a jam.




Between the sudden urge to hear/see this and Pete's post about the excellent Makings of Rain dvd, I think it's time for me to dust off those Prince bootlegs.

Chromeo turns Conan into a Hot Mess

Gonzo on the air, 2/20

The Raveonettes-Aly, Walk with Me
Bright Eyes-Firewall
Mogwai-Mexican Grand Prix
LCD Soundsystem-I Can Change
Cut Copy-I Need You
Midnight Oil-Put Down that Weapon
Jessie Lea Mayfield-Blue Skies Again
Bird and the Bee-Polite Dance Song
Ducktails-The Razor's Edge
Thought Gang-A Real Indication
Was (Not Was)-I'm in Jail
Cee-Lo Green-Bright Lights, Bigger City
Robyn-Indestructable
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti-Can't Hear My Eyes
Gary Numan/Tubeway Army-Are Friends Electric?
Kraftwerk-Radioactivity
Time Hecker-The Piano Drop
Parliament-Funkentelechy
Gap Band-I Don't Believe You Want to Get Up and Dance (Oops)
NWA-Express Yourself

breakin' up is hard to do

Hot on the heels of the White Stripes' recent breakup, indie dance crew LCD Soundsystem is also about to hang it up. After only three albums, it's a little sad to see them go. But kudos to James Murphy for going out on a high note. Last year's This is Happening was one of my favorite discs of 2010, and retains its replay value after nearly a year of incessant playing. I'd like to catch the last run of shows in NYC (a series at Terminal 5, leading up to the grand finale at MSG), but I doubt I'll make it. Alas.

Murphy and co. stopped by the Colbert Report recently to chat and perform one of This is Happening's standout tracks, "I Can Change."

Gonzo on the Air, 2/13

Tennis-Baltimore
Stone Roses-She Bangs all the Drums
Dinosaur Jr.-Out There
Grinderman-Heathen Child
Johnny Cash-Rusty Cage
My Bloody Valentine-Loomer (request)
Phantogram-Bloody Palms
Cage the Elephant-Right Before My Eyes
Paul Westerberg-Things
Iron & Wine-Free by the River
Tame Impala-It's Not Meant to Be
Patti Smith-Gloria
The Damned-New Rose
David Bowie-Oh! You Pretty Things
Cut Copy-Take Me Over
YACHT-Psychic City/Voodoo City
Sly and the Family Stone-Loose Booty
Brick-Dazz
France Joli-Gonna Get Over You
Moloko-Party Weirdo
Yoko Ono-You're the One (Bimbo Jones remix)
oOoOO-PCKRFCRMX
Brian Eno-2 Forms of Anger
Autechre-Acroyear 2

"Fade into You"

There are two possible scenarios when I go the used cd store. 1) I have a list of specific titles to seek out; 2) I randomly poke around to find some treasures. I've noticed that each of these scenarios shapes what I walk out of the store with. In scenario 1, it tends to be more recent items. In scenario 2, I end up filling gaps in my collection. My most recent trip was the latter.

Among those discs that I should already have owned is Mazzy Star's breakthrough, So Tonight That I Might See. I always loved "Fade Into You" (their biggest hit, topping out at #44), and my college roommate hipped me to the rest of the album. At any rate, I finally got around to rectifying this album's absence in my collection.

"Fade Into You" is a sublimely beautiful song, undoubtedly one of my favorite singles of the 1990s. It also is one of those tunes that very quickly gets the memory machine churning out all of the personal and temporal associations you might have with the song. The album as a whole is quite good, and holds up very well in 2011. It was also the perfect aural driving companion on a rainy, gray Monday following a Super Bowl loss.

There were two versions of the video. Watching the black and white clip, my thought was "this is the one that I remember." Watching the color clip, I thought "Wait, I remember this one too." Hypothesis: both were in rotation on MTV that year, or at least on 120 Minutes.





And for good measure, here is a performance from 120 Minutes.

So long, White Stripes.

As announced via the band's official website, The White Stripes are calling it quits. I don't find this new particularly surprising, and although they're one of my favorite bands of the last decade, I'm kind of glad they broke up before allowing the quality of their material to deteriorate. Get while the gettin's good, as they say. Plus, it's become increasingly clear that while the White Stripes were once Jack White's primary musical outlet, the band has in essence become a side project, or one of many side projects (the Dead Weather, the Raconteurs, the production work, the Third Man label/shop, etc.). As much as I love the White Stripes, in a way it seems like Jack is at the top of his game when his hands are in various creative pots. At the very least, it's a more interesting situation.

I admittedly came to the White Stripes party a little bit late. It wasn't until my time in Iowa that I got heavily into their music. Ergo, that time and place in my life will probably be my dominant memory association with their music. At any rate, I think it was my growing interest in garage rock (and devouring the Directors' Label Series of video compilations)that led me to look beyond the White Stripes' singles, digging into their first three albums in late 2004. The following summer they released what I still argue is their best album Get Behind Me Satan. Man, I listened to that album at least twice a day every day in the summer of 2005. I was even more stoked when I secured tickets to see them in action at Minneapolis' Orpheum Theater that fall. I remember being incredibly impressed by (mainly Jack's) ability to utilize effects and playing style to make up for the obvious lack of overdubs - and it worked.

I'm sure Jack White will continue to not sleep and compete with ?uestlove for busiest man in the music business, and I'm sure his work will continue to be interesting. End of an era for sure, though!

Someday the band will inevitably release a compilation of music videos, and they've had some great ones. Here's one of my favorites: