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Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise
Wow. Stevens avowed mission is to create an album honoring every state in the union--why, I don't know.
However, it seems like the guy may be on to something: Illinoise is a brilliant gem of many facets, with sweet choral
sections with horns and strings to the most stunningly gorgeous song ever written about a serial killer, John Wayne Gacy,
Jr. I heard some strains from this album on the soundtrack to Little Miss Sunshine, and I expect to hear a lot
more soon.
Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Greendale
A recent favorite. Tough, tender, tragic tale of a cop killing in a small California coastal town, with
definitely some of Neil's best work ever. Intriguing storytelling-- sort of an aural crime novel, really, but with great dollops
of idealistic fervor tossed in for good measure. Really wonderful stuff, especially if you're a Neil geek. I haven't yet seen
the film based on this album, but I keep hearing good stuff about it.
Ghosthouse - Devotion
Blue Rose Records
Available at http://www.cdbaby.com
Headed by singer/songwriter Sam Lapides, this is a fine, asskicking collection of tunes. With strong production
and potent lyricism, Sam wrings powerful shit from deceptively simple songs: songs about regret, desire, pain and finding
one's feet again after losing one's heart. Sam's songs live in a world where men are permitted, even urged, to bare the hearts
on their sleeves without fear of judgement--and wouldn't that make the world a better place? "Devotion" will move
you in more ways than one. High point? a new testosterone-charged version of "Golden Hair," truly a Lapides magnum opus.
Whitman
McGowan - Caught in the Act
Little Records, 2003
I recently acquired this disc from Sir Whit, wordsmith
par excellence, and I haven't been able to rip it from my player since! A vastly entertaining, whirling sonic melange of spoken-word
thrillery comprised of deviant advertising slogans, imagery both potent and perverse, snippets of overheard conversations,
tales of alien-inspired sex and large smart slabs of witty social commentary. High points to these ears include "Admen vs
Madmen," "Deathstardiscosat," and a main McGowan faverave, "White Folks was Wild Once, Too." Proof positive of that last little
factoid lay embedded throughout this terrific recording.
Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs, parts
One and Three
I love this stuff! Pal o' mine Claypatch sent these cds to your humble narrator (although
I'm still waiting for part Two) while I was in the throes of mourning the old man--and they served as the perfect antidote
to the blues. Swell little deviant pop songs, bitchin' little nuggets of love, with the droll grumbling of singer/songwriter
Stephin Merritt sounding something like a fiendish mixture of the Flying Lizards doing hula music--or something. Much of it
sounded vaguely familiar--until I realized I'd heard some of this stuff in the movie "Pieces of April" (reviewed elsewhere
on this website)...Suffice it to say, these tunes will slap a smile on your face and shellac that bad boy to the front of
your head for good.
Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour of Bewilderbeast
An amazing
songwriter who does all the things I would do if I were an amazing songwriter. Is there a better recommendation than that?
Wesley Willis - Greatest Hits
An avowed schizophrenic whose music
makes you shake your head and go "yup---poor bastard". Played on a cheesy Casio keyboard (I've never heard anyone REALLY put
one of those monsters through their paces like WW), Willis sings bizarre and highly personal ditties about McDonalds, Batman,
and Santa Claus. Rock over London, Rock On Chicago! (RIP Wesley Willis 19?? - 2003)
Richard
Thompson - The Old Kit Bag
A longtime fave guitarist and singer-songwriter, I actually had the pleasure
of meeting Mr. T. at the old PicWood theater in West LA after a screening of "Stop Making Sense" in 1984. How the hell do
I remember these things (and poor Debs wonders why I can't remember to clean the catbox!)??
The ultimate Pop Song: "She
Said it was Destiny."
The Seeds - Greatest Hits
Well, other than the still-stunning
uber-bitchin' rant "Pushin' Too Hard," I've not come away overly impressed. I mean, how many songs can you write that just
go back & forth between G and F?
Guided by Voices - Alien Lanes
Some of the
most transcendent pop ever devised by man. I'm still in awe. I know nothing about this band, neither where nor when they came---but
I love that a lot of the stuff they recorded was in (God bless'em) MONO.
Gary Numan - Telekon
A guilty pleasure harkening back to the early 80's and days wallowing in the hot Southern Italian sun slathered in Air
Force-issue baby oil. Something about this album still grabs me. Sir Gary made weirdass mechanical pop that just oozed under
the skin and propagated there. It's evidently never gone away.
LA Radio: What Sucks and What Doesn't
<<<<<What Doesn't Suck Too Badly in L.A. Radio>>>>>
UPDATE
4/6/08
The greatest, most wonderful update I could possibly add here is that I don't listen to LA radio any more at
all thanks to my terrific Zen Vision M unit, 60 spectacular gigs of actual music--almost 11,000 songs as of
this writing. So what do I need radio for? It's changed how I listen to everything. So if LA radio puckers up and dies, I
won't care, or even notice. Ha!
KSUR-AM, 540 and 1260
Okay, keeping up with changes in LA Radio is like trying to grab a handful
of mercury. While this station definitely had our ear while it played standards (Cole Porter, Elle, Frank, Tony B, and so
on), it has since shifted format and gone straight to Oldies. But---not the stale oldie format currently being done
to death by KRTH 101 (they gave up the proper "oldies" mantle years ago)...Rather, we hear "new" oldies, songs from
the 50's and 60's that aren't heard all the time elsewhere, and many that haven't probably been heard by anyone
since, oh, 1957 or so. Excellent, excellent. Keep it up, folks.
Update: Apparently "excellent, excellent" was too much pressure---the good folks at KSUR folded like
a cheap deck of cards and returned to the Sinatra-esque genre they started out with. Nothing wrong with that, so much, but
I'll sure miss that doowop!
Indie 103 FM
Apparently those bastards at ClearChannel have decided to throw us persnickety
elitist whiners a bone and have begun "Indie 103" (yeah, right), out of Orange County, which plays some pretty bitchin' stuff:
lots of Marley, Clash, Specials, Elvis Costello--as well as stuff for Bridgette and the young'uns, like Postal Service and
Mars Volta. Nice thinkin', gang...now if you could only just UP THE POWER so we dweebs in LA can actually hear it static-free,
we'd all be set!
Update: Since I wrote the above paragraph, almost two years ago, I've become a more
regular listener to Indie103, and have become increasingly impressed with how tightly they've held to the punk-rock ethos
they started out with. Although the signal is still a little weak (much better on my new car radio), Indie has become a strong
cultural addition to LA radio.
Jack-FM 93.1
Hmm! Someone here is thinkin'. They did away with the tired old "classic-rock" formula (you know, mostly arena bands
from the 70's) and, in an apparent bid to replicate the iPod experience, are mixing up genres, decades, and styles in a pretty
original way. In any given hour, you might hear Clapton, Prince, the B-52s, Springsteen, Earth, Wind & Fire, Aerosmith,
the Cure, and Green Day all in a row. It could actually make one rethink what rock'n'roll really means.
With a smartass attitude and minimal yak & commercials, it could go forever.
Air America KTLK
Finally, those AA folk figured out how to get themselves on the LA airwaves after a false start last year. And even though
they can be just as histrionic and loudmouthed as any of the right-wing nutjobs populating 90% of talk radio, it sure
is nice to hear something different. Not always better, but definitely opening up the conversation.
A Fair and Balanced Look: What DOES Suck in L.A. Radio
Ohh, I could go on for hours.
KFI 640AM
Rush, Dr. Laura, those dopes John & Ken...I swear, if they didn't have the degenerate
brilliance of Phil Hendrie on their roster, there'd be no hope. Still, as it stands: Right-Wing Purgatory.
UPDATE: Well, they knocked Hendrie off into some timeframe where nobody hears him anymore and replaced
him with yet another brash conservative loudmouth, KFI has descended further into the depths of Right-Wing Hell. If
that's what you were looking for, guys, nice job. I barely listen anymore.
KRLA 870AM
Dennis Prager,
Michael "Ignoramus" Medved, Hugh Hewitt and the aptly named Michael Savage.....Need I say more? THE TENTH CIRCLE of RIGHT-WING
HELL.
Update: None needed. Still sucks.
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