why i try to look so bad

Comet Gain - Why I Try To Look So Bad
and i try to look so bad
to not fit in your world
my pretty face is going straight to hell

comet gain is an nice band from the UK very much in the mold of gallaxy 500. this is from the album realistes, which is a good listen. i like comet gain. so should you.

Preliminary Mix - Sintake Vol 1

so i've decided to sketch out a volume 1 mix tape soundtrack to my mp3 autobiography. i'm still selecting a couple more tracks, but here's the (tentative) tracklist:

"Awe Toe"
By O. Graphical

1. Bad Religion - Fuck Armageddon... This Is Hell
   
2. Stiff Little Fingers - Suspect Device
   
3. New Bomb Turks - Tattooed Apathetic Boys
   
4. T.S.O.L. - Sounds Of Laughter
   
5. Minor Threat - Betray
   
6. Descendents - Suburban Home
   
7. The Germs - Communist-Eyes
   
8. The Misfits - Astro Zombies
   
9. Fugazi - Target
   
10. Screeching Weasel - Falling Apart
    
11. NoFX - Linoleum
    
12. The Queers - Live This Life
    
13. Face To Face - Disconnected
    

the song i meant to post earlier today

Cowboy Junkies - Mining For Gold

when my older brother moved out to college - literally, the day he moved - i moved into my own room (his old room) for the first time in my life. i was 15 and in the most bitter fight for independence that a preppy, sheltered teenage mind could comprehend. now it's worth noting that when my brother moved to school, he reinvented himself. billy left a lot of things at home that day - the day he became "will" - and i had to sort through some of those things as they were occupying MY new room. this included a good many records... the cowboy junkies "trinity sessions" being among them.

i remember listening to this record the first time and wondering what it would mean to me if i were 3 years older. and seeing as how i just gave some thought to Last Tracks the other day, it seems like a natural progression to think about "First Tracks"... This song, to me, is one of the most impressive lead off tracks i can think of. i fully realize there are better songs - songs with more thought and impact - that lead off a record, but this song IS the damn record. hell, it's the BAND condensed into a minute thirty one. not many lead off tracks can make that claim.

but the real reason i'm posting this song at all is because somebody asked me to. because somebody had a shit day. and when it's all ... just wrong? there's certain music that you can count on to make the uncomfortable feel right. old soul and R&B music usually fits the bill. but if what you really want is to just need to sink into the hell bath of life sometimes, cowboy junkies can get the water running for you.

Wednesdays

Billy Bragg - Levi Stubbs' Tears
With the money from her accident
She bought herself a mobile home
So at least she could get some enjoyment
Out of being alone
No one could say that she was left up on the shelf
It’s you and me against the world kid she mumbled to herself

When the world falls apart some things stay in place
Levi stubbs’ tears run down his face

She ran away from home with her mother’s best coat
She was married before she was even entitled to vote
And her husband was one of those blokes
The sort that only laughs at his own jokes
The sort that war takes away
And when there wasn’t a war he left her anyway

Norman whitfield and barratt strong
Are here to make everything right that’s wrong
Holland and holland and lamont dozier too
Are here to make it all okay with you

One dark night he came home from the sea
And put a hole in her body where no hole should be
It hurt her more to see him walking out the door
And though they stitched her back together they left her heart in pieces on the floor

When the world falls apart some things stay in place
She takes off the four tops tape and puts it back in it’s case
When the world falls apart some things stay in place
Levi stubbs’ tears...

If I Had The Right Equipment

The Movies - Right Equipment
if i had the right equipment
i could walk up the wall
i wouldn't fall

i'm trying to remember who it was i saw them play with... it was at the echo about a year and a half ago. maybe it was a french kicks show or something... anyway, i think it says something for the band that i WASN'T there to see that i only remember them from that night. they put together an excellent set that i can only compare to early modern lovers in terms of simple, well crafted music with subtle intensity.

Something For Something

Something For Rockets - Red In The Face

something for rockets is an LA based band of east coast transplants. the first time i saw these guys years ago they were playing the alterknit lounge at knitting factory ... and there were only two of them. this record was finished after they added barry on drums, but before they picked up jacque on bass - both moves really gave the music more depth, and more life. in addition to multiplying, the band has been improving. some of the songs have been around for a while, but they've gone through so many revisions you would barely recognize them.

the band works hard and it pays off when they play live. it's not the most complicated or concerned music, but goddamn it if an SFR show is not a party. their real gift is that they know how to make a room full of pretty girls dance. and i get the feeling that if you asked them, they might admit that was their whole goal in forming a band to begin with.

Movember Update

we'll here we are! midway through movember! time for an update, yes? how's your beard coming along? mine's working it's way around. by the end of the month, i should have a pretty sweet 'stache prancing across my face.

oh .... my ....

i'm honestly a little speachless ... chad vangaalen is playing the el rey, but he not the headliner. he's opening. for wolf parade.

Tuesday, Jan 3 @ The El Rey
Wolf Parade w. Chad VanGaalen

last tracks

The Rosebuds - Four Track Love Song

this is another of the records i picked up last week at amoeba. this cut is the last track on the album. i have a high regard for the "last track". as someone who makes a lot of mix tapes, the last track is you're final chance to say something - the moral of the story - or the punchline if you prefer. it's the final message of the whole and much like in film credits, the last title is a position of honor - reserved for a deserving and influential member of the cast.

this is hardly my favorite last track, but it fits the bill - the song is lyrically fairly week, but this is more of a cap to the 10 preceding tracks. this is primarily exit music, with a few pointed words for emphasis. similar to archers of loaf "bombs away" (all the nations airports)

so since i've slightly denigrated this song as a mediocre last track, i'll nominate some of the better last tracks i can think of with the help of my lovely assistant itunes....

silkworm - don't make plans this friday (firewater)
modest mouse - styrofoam boots/it's all nice (lonesome crowded west)

and i can think of at least one person who would nominate:
Pavement - fillmore jive (from crooked rain)