Current Music Blog

1. Paul Noonan – Bell X1

Why:

2. Meric Long – The Dodos

Why:

3. Jeremy Greenspan – Junior Boys

Why:

Our intern Meredith’s top 3 songs in which despite the fact that nothing rhymes with “orange” songwriters still use the word:

1. “Orange Sky” – Alexi Murdoch

I recently watched the Sam Mendes/Dave Eggers movie “Away We Go” with John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph and about 3/4 of the songs in that movie were Murdoch’s, reminding me of just how much I love this song. I named dropped all those hipsters in the beginning of the explanation so it would be less embarrassing when I confess the first time I heard this song was on an episode of the O.C.. I only watched the first season, I swear.

2. “Orange Crush” – REM

One of my fave R.E.M. tracks of all time. I also like the soda. However, a quick “wikipedia” search of this song reveals that the song is actually an Agent Orange reference, not one to a tasty, fruity soft drink (of course it is). Also, a remake of this song by the Editors was used in an fourth-season episode of The O.C…yikes. I guess this is a recurring thing with these orange songs.

3. “Orange Shirt” – Discovery

Discovery is the new project from Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend and Wes Miles of Ra Ra Riot. “Orange Shirt” is the first song on their LP which was released this summer. It’s one of the cooler, more mellow tracks on the CD and, I’m happy to say, has never been featured in anything that also starred Mischa Barton.

My disdain for the major labels is well documented. The mass-produced, cookie cutter, bullshit “music” that major labels spoonfeed the masses sucks, and so do their new media business practices. Now that these two factors have lined up, it’s only a matter of time before the majors go the way of the dinosaur and Chrysler. This makes me very happy. Come, share my joy and passing anger, with my top three videos that can not be embedded.

1. Blur, “Country House“

I’m pretty sure Damon would be delighted for music bloggers to be able to embed this video and feature the song 14 fucking years after its release. And hell, that might even help the label move some units to a new, younger audience.

2. Ryan Adams, “Answering Bell”

Any song with a banjo in it is meant to be shared.

3. Weezer, “El Scorcho“

So now what the fuck am I supposed to post on half-Japanese girls’ facebook pages?

1. “Southern Man,” Neil Young
2. “Sweet Home Alabama,” Lynyrd Skynyrd
3. “Ronnie and Neil,” Drive-by Truckers

Here’s the short version of the story behind these songs. Back in the day, Neil Young saw all the clips of some really horrific things happening in Alabama (most these things were also happening all over the country, but it’s easier to demonize the South for racial problems. In the grand scheme/sham of news stories, that’s the South’s preconceived backstory/character. I could go on for hours about revisionist history that demonizes the South in order to alleviate blame and guilt among the rest of the country that did the exact same shit, but tried to stop it about 3 weeks sooner, but that’s an entire book, not a quick blog post), anyway, Neil he wrote a couple of great songs about it: “Southern Man” and “Alabama.” They’re both amazing songs and said things that needed to be said.

Then, Lynyryd Skynyrd went to Muscle Shoals, Alabama and recorded an album. You may not know it, but Muscle Shoals has produced some of the best R&B and Soul music in America. Little Richard, Wilson Picket, Clarence Carter, Aretha Franklin, and tons more legendary musicians recorded their with the house band. Everyone wanted to a piece of the Muscle Shoals Sound.

When Skynyrd was in town recording, Ronnie Van Zandt was blown away by how different the images you saw on the evening news were from what he saw. He saw a bunch of black and white musicians playing together, loving each other, and making beautiful music. That never made the news, so he wrote “Sweet Home Alabama” to show the other side of the story.

Flash forward 30 some odd years, and Patterson Hood wrote a song about the things I just typed, and addressed the supposed feud between Ronnie and Neal. That song is “Ronnie and Neil” and it’ll rock your fucking cock off while giving you a history lesson. It’s on Southern Rock Opera, which is mandatory ownership for any rock fan.

Yesterday our intern Meredith offered her top 3 covers done by Death Cab for Cutie:

1. “Earth Angel” (The Penguins)
2. “Free Fallin’” (Tom Petty)
3. “Thriller” (Michael Jackson)

Here’s their take on “Thriller”:

We relaunched current.com/music yesterday, with a fancy new format that is, at least a little, designed to show off the eclectic and sometimes ridiculous musical taste of our whole team. I’m collecting Top 3s from everyone—for just about anything they’d like to make a list about.

I went first:

Shana’s top 3 albums of 2009 (so far):

UPDATE: With a line of commentary each, sorry I was in such a rush this morning!

1. Music For Men (Columbia Records)
The Gossip

Has been in heavy rotation at work and—the true test—in the car since I first got a copy months ago. Lean, mean (but not in spirit, just in efficiency) rock and roll. Beth Ditto sounds like Dolly Parton here, but in a heavy, ’70s disco-rock way. This is a great example of how someone like Rick Rubin can help make a great band sound its very best—by getting out of the way and helping them clean things up.

2. Swoon (Dangerbird Records)
Silversun Pickups

The publicist played the first half of this for me and Davis back in March-ish, when we were first talking with them about Embedded. I liked “Carnavas” but wasn’t a huge fan. Then I heard, in succession, “There’s No Secrets This Year” and “The Royal We.” Fucking. Epic. I agree with Alex that this album stood the test of working on a piece about it for all this time. The night we premiered our episode I listened to it on the way home, just as loud and dark and delicious as the first play through.

3. Trio B.C. (Blackheart Records)
Girl In A Coma

Here’s another second album from a band that I liked but now absolutely love. Three kick-ass rock chicks from Texas with sultry songs that alternately seduce and stun you into screaming along. If we’d had a first dance at our wedding, I wanted it to be “El Monte.”

Coming soon from other staffers: “top 3 songwriters I’d marry for their lyrical prowess,” “top 3 songs more or less about the same thing,” “top 3 songs to drive fast to” and more.

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