On my radio - March 2010

Yeah, I know. MP3 players are great: they let you carry around your entire library and you can put them on shuffle. But I still like to load up my car with CDs to play in their entirety or revisit a certain band's bodies of work. Right now, four of the six slots in my car stereo are filled with best-of/singles compilations:

1. Rollins Band - Weightlifting. I never got to see Black Flag (except for the benefit shows for cats at the Palladium a bunch of years ago) but saw some key, early performances by the Rollins Band in the late '80s. Those dudes really worked it with the energy of punk rockers, virtuosity of a seasoned jazz combo, and pained vocals that referenced the blues. For some reason, I tuned out after The End of Silence. Most likely, Helmet and those other loud bands killed it for me. But I've been getting into Rollins' radio show on KCRW religiously, which has (1) piqued my interest in some of his later efforts that I missed out on--this one features raw outtakes of the Weight album, which I still haven't heard but has a killer lineup with Melvin Gibbs on bass and serious sax dude Charles Gayle--and (2) inspired me to get his first two Fanatic books, which feature "liner notes" to his radio show. All music reviews should read like them--short blasts of energy inspired by love of songs instead of long essays in which the write tries to prove how he or she knows about music and tries to place an album in historical, cultural, and artistic context after listening to it for a few days at most.

2-3. Ramones - Hey Ho, Let's Go! This is Rhino's first anthology of the crucial band that sold way more T-shirts than records. Of course I have all the albums with Dee Dee (will finish the CJ era one of these days), but this is still a great survey that is now on high rotation, as per Eloise's request. Wendy started listening to a Ramones/Joey Ramone cassette a couple months ago (I made it for her when we started dating) in her car, and our two-year-old daughter eventually started singing along. Her favorite songs at the moment: "She's a Sensation," "She's the One," "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?," "Rock 'n' Roll High School," and "The KKK Took My Baby Away." Once, when she was upset and I asked her what she wanted, she said, "I want the airwaves." Very proud--and very excited about the about-to-be-released new version of Rock 'n' Roll High School which is being released by Shout! "Do your parents know you're Ramones?" And what if Cheap Trick starred in the movie, as was originally planned?

4.-5. Fucked Up - Couple Tracks. I have to admit I'm just catching up with this group from Toronto, and this is the way to do it--kind of like how I got into the Buzzcocks through Singles Going Steady when I was in college or Superchunk through Tossing Seeds after graduating from college. While I'm dropping names, I may as well through in The Damned. Not that they sound anything alike, but they are bands with tough names that actually play really catchy, melodic music--albeit with a rough sheen. It's barely spring but "Summer Song" is already this summer's theme song and "Anorak City" is as catchy as "In The City," "Paradise City," or even "We Built This City" once you get past the D4-style vocals. So many great songs. I listen a few more bits and pieces every commute to properly digest all of them. Hoping they come back to L.A. soon, and wonder if one of them is part Asian or is of ambiguous ethnicity so I have an excuse to interview the band for the mag...

6. Mix CD - Every now and then I make mixes for friends in HK since they always say there is limited access to new music over there. (Dan, Prodip, Ryan--that means you.) This one has about an hour's worth of new or new-ish songs by Ted Leo, Brilliant Colors, Ty Segall, Reigning Sound, Surfer Blood, Strange Boys, and Quasi. The first and last bands are established ones that have been around for a while and you should already know, but are better than ever. The ones in the middle are mostly younger, and all have kind of a raw, garage-ish sound with various levels of girl group, lo-fi, R&B, pop, blues. Have to say that indie labels like Slumberland, In The Red, and Goner are really coming on strong these days, but so is Matador with the new Ted Leo, Fucked Up, and the mighty new Pavement comp, which is really cheap and worth getting on vinyl for cheap from the label even if you have all the albums. And High on Fire's debut on E1 and Pressure Sounds' repackaging of Santic's Harder Shade of Black are amazing (But just don't fit on the mix...)


Yeah, I know. I could listen to all this on a MP3 player, too, but my car isn't hooked up!