Flashback Fridays #1

A new series comprised of music dug, then forgotten, remembered, possibly forgotten again, re-remembered, and now shared.

Throwback California band The Allah-Las have setup a radio series dubbed Reverberation where they string together crate-dug gems into 9 to 12 song capsules. Hard to find rarities, overlooked classics, the occasional unreleased Allah-Las jam, and newer treats from White Fence and Sonny Smith all flow neatly from one heady space into the next. This week they reminded me of how much I dig Robyn Hitchcock and The Soft Boys. More.

The Soft Boys - "Tonight"

Speaking of White Fence, Aquarium Drunkard's series The Lagniappe Sessions recently offered up a handful of spectacular covers from Tim Presely. The Nina Simone and Strange Boys cuts are great, but the real head-turner is Presley's redressing of the Gin Blossoms 90s pop-rock sound via "Allison Road." More.

White Fence - "Allison Road"

Michael Coomers of garage-pop project Harlem has announced a solo venture, Lace Curtains, and the first glimpse is a doozy: jangly guitars, an irresistibly upbeat high bass riff, catchy sectionalized tempo changes, and lyrics that namedrop the infamous Judas. Via.

Lace Curtains - "High Fantasy"

We Listen For You's record club recently turned me onto Homebuilding, the atmospheric debut LP from Roman Ruins, aka Graham Hill. Hill—an architect and occasional drummer for Beach House and Papercuts—has created an immersive and meticulously layered sonic playground ripe for long drives, big headphones, or a sunny afternoon alongside your turntable. Put this on and you'll dream your way up into the clouds. More.

Roman Ruins - "Mighty Love"

Digging back into Philadelphia's beyond excellent Shaking Through web documentary series, I got caught up in the session for hometown husband-and-wife band Reading Rainbow. In the past, I couldn't get bast the terrible choice of a band name. Luckily, the band agreed, and changed it to the much more visually fantastic Bleeding Rainbow. Now we can all enjoy thoughts of rainbows dripping blood along with the blissful harmony and pulsing organs of "Always On My Mind"—a truly perfect pop concoction. More.

Bleeding Rainbow - "Always On My Mind"

The Walkmen - "Heaven"

After 10 years of playing together as a band, The Walkmen are now set to release their sixth full-length record (or seventh if you count the Harry Nilsson covers record Pussy Cats) on June 5th. Heaven was produced by Phil Ek in Seattle and includes a brief guest spot by Fleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold, but if the newly released title-track is any indication, this is still the same old scrappy Walkmen. Though, as evidenced by all of the promo shots with Peter Bauer's coat-and-tie clad son and the motley crew of youngsters to your left, the guys have a bit more baggage these days as fully functioning adults and parents. Could that be the secret ingredient to the band's last two perfect LPs, You & Me and Lisbon? Having little ones? I can't remember a band that's ever aged like The Walkmen, where their best albums are coming five deep into their career. Here's hoping Heaven continues the streak.

Preorder Heaven directly from the band.

The Walkmen - "Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone"

As you may have noticed, I've got a thing for The Walkmen—and yes—I write about them quite a bit. The latest news is the fellas are releasing their 2002 debut on vinyl for the first time in a limited pressing of 1,000. The band's sound on Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone is often unpredictable, grand, and lush, which initially drew comparisons to the likes of The Cure and U2—a far cry from the minimalist 50s and 60s American rock informed palette of Lisbon, the group's most recent LP. Yet, Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone is still unquestionably a Walkmen record: from Hamilton Leithauser's howls to the thick reverberations of pounding drums, organ, and guitars, the young band expertly balanced sophistication and clarity with drips of confusion and chaos. The title-track, which I previously called one of the decade's most underappreciated tracks, is an especially invigorating and exciting song that to this day remains one of the band's best.

Pre-order the LP on 180 gram vinyl with a gatefold jacket directly from the band.

The Walkmen - "Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone" (from Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone)

Coke Weed: Garage Psychedelia from Maine

Bar Harbor, Maine's Coke Weed—who are apparently good buddies with The Walkmen— recently released their first full-length, the aptly titled Coke Weed Volume 1. While Coke Weed takes much of its musical inspiration from 1960s counterculture and rock & roll, it comes across as a sincere and authentic sound thanks in large part to the rawness of the production and recordings. Takes here are loose, jangly, and even unpredictable. The vocals in particular sound like they were all recorded in long single takes—no overdubs or cut and pasting—and that lends a certain imperfect charm to each track. The band describes their sound as psychedelic art garage, and that's not a bad fit, as along with the rawness there's an experimental almost free-form construction to songs. While "Not My Old Man" sounds like a Chan Marshall-led Velvet Underground roaring through soundcheck, "The Frizz" plays like the acid-tongued duet Johnny and June never recorded.

You can snag Coke Weed's entire album for free here.

Coke Weed - "Not My Old Man" (from Volume 1)
Coke Weed - "The Frizz" (from Volume 1)

The Walkmen - "Agoraphobia" (Deerhunter)

In London last winter for Rockfeedback, The Walkmen played a few cuts from their stunning 2010 LP Lisbon along with a cover of "Agoraphobia," a track off Deerhunter's 2008 album Microcastle. Like much of The Walkmen's recent output, it's a sparsely decorated performance that makes all the difference in what's not played—those open spaces where it's just the groove, and as a listener, you're just along for the ride.

The Walkmen - "Agoraphobia" (Deerhunter cover)

The Walkmen's "Torch Song" and its Fats Domino connection

I recently chatted with the Walkmen's Peter Bauer for an article I'm writing for Malibu Magazine. He had a couple of interesting notes about the excellent Lisbon track "Torch Song" which I wasn't able to fit in the article, so here it is:

“We weren’t talking about it at the time, but it sounds to me sort of like the Velvet Underground’s “I Found A Reason,” which we really love. That song is basically a 6/8 Fats Domino song. We’ve probably taken more things from Fats Domino than anyone else, weirdly enough.”

Check out the differences for yourself:
The Walkmen - "Torch Song" 


The Velvet Underground - "I Found A Reason" 


Fats Domino - "Nothing New (Same Old Thing)"


If you've been digging on Lisbon like I have you'll enjoy Riff Raff's interview with one of their producer's Chris Zane, who spills the beans on the band's recording techniques.

The Recoys - "Shake Off Your Nerve"

When talking about the origins of The Walkmen, people often mention Paul Maroon, Walter Martin and Matt Barrick's previous group Jonathan Fire*Eater as an important source of musical style and sensibility. But Hamilton Leithauser and Peter Bauer were also in a band together, The Recoys, and while they didn't garner the major label attention lavished on Jonathan Fire*Eater, they did record a small but saavy collection of swinging and inspired rock and roll tunes. The group's out of print EP and a collection of songs destined for a future unfinished LP were released together for the Rekoys—a must have for serious Walkmen fans. You'll notice three Recoys' songs—"That's the Punchline," "The Blizzard of '93," and "Look Out Your Window"—were adapted and rerecorded by The Walkmen for Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone and the Calla/Walkmen split EP. Leithauser's distinct vocal posturing and rasp is certainly present on the harmonica blazing "Shake Off Your Nerve," another song that (sans harmonica) would fit neatly into The Walkmen catalogue.

The Recoys - "Shake Off Your Nerve" (from Rekoys)

The Walkmen - "Woe Is Me" (Live on NPR's World Cafe)

In regards to Lisbon, the Walkmen's excellent sixth full-length album, people love to rave about the track "Angela Surf City" as its roaring tempo is reminiscent of the band's most popular song to date, "The Rat." But for "Angela Surf City" to dominate the discussion surrounding the incredibly textured Lisbon is a shame, especially considering it's not even one of the record's best songs. Personally, I'll put my money on "Woe Is Me," whose syncopated clean-toned guitar riffs and sparsely articulated lyrics make it one of the year's most refreshingly delectable songs. Here's a cut of said track, performed recently for NPR's World Cafe. Eat up.

The Walkmen - "Woe Is Me" (Live on NPR's World Cafe)

The Walkmen - "Stranded"

The Walkmen have returned horns a-blazing in the first song off their forthcoming new record, Lisbon, out September 14th on Fat Possum. "Stranded," recorded live in the sutdio, finds Hamilton Leithauser in top vocal form matching the brass orchestra's delivery at every turn, recalling and expanding upon the best moments of the band's last LP, You & Me.

The Walkmen - "Stranded" (from Lisbon)

Breaking Bad: Music To Make Meth To

I've spent the last week watching the first and second seasons of the AMC television series Breaking Bad and I'm not particularly surprised at how much I've enjoyed the show—as watching people make, sell and get busted for dealing drugs has long been a favorite pastime (ie. Scarface, The Wire, Blow, Goodfellas, etc.)—but I have been blown away by the show's extraordinarily diverse and sophisticated music selection. Featuring current indie greats (Walkmen, TV On The Radio), 80s favorites (Wang Chung), jazz legends (John Coltrane), obscure reggae gems (The In Crowd) and plenty of soul, funk and dazzling Latin instrumental tracks, the palette here is absurdly broad—and it's all the more rewarding for it.

The Walkmen - "Red Moon" (from You & Me)

The In Crowd - "Mango Walk" (from Darker Than Soul: Music From Jamdown)

The Walkmen - "The Rat" (Live at Stubbs)

Hamilton Leithauser is up there with Tunde Adebimpe as one of my all-time favorite singers. His howling croon gives me shivers every time. Enjoy this live recording of "The Rat" by NPR's excellent Live Concert podcast. Download the entire set free here.

The Walkmen - "The Rat" (Live at Stubb's in Austin, Texas on March 17, 2010)

Digging For Covers: Songs by Leonard Cohen

Johnny Cash - "Bird On A Wire" (link fixed!)

Nina Simone - "Suzanne"

The Walkmen - "Passin' Through"

Serena Ryder - "Sisters of Mercy"

Vandaveer - "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye"

Rufus Wainwright - "Chelsea Hotel, No. 2"

(Art by Ben Kehoe)

Looking Back: Jonathan Fire*Eater

Before the Walkmen were the Walkmen, they were Jonathan Fire*Eater; before the scorching screams of Hamilton Leithauser's vocals, there were the frenzied slurs of Stewart Lupton's. A lightning bolt of musical tenacity and originality, Jonathan Fire*Eater took the unusual path of shunning mainstream success, lasting only a year into their contract with Geffen Records before disbanding. But they live on nevertheless—in their recordings, the sounds of the Walkmen and Lupton's Child Ballads.

Jonathan Fire*Eater - "Give Me Daughters" (from Tremble Under Boom Lights)
The Walkmen - "We've Been Had" (from Live Session EP)
Child Ballads - "Cheekbone Hollows" (from Cheekbone Hollows)

10 Most Underappreciated Songs of the Decade

1.) Josh Ritter - "Thin Blue Flame" (from The Animal Years)

Nearly 10 minutes in length, Ritter's masterpiece is a "Stairway to Heaven"-caliber achievement with Jimmy Page's guitar licks exchanged for 700-plus words of poetry. Traversing a war-torn world and a host of Shakespearean, Biblical, and science-oriented images, Ritter finds solace in a ray of hope: "So I stopped looking for royal cities in the air / Only a full house gonna have a prayer."

2.) The Walkmen - "Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me is Gone" (from Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone)

With Hamiltoin Leithauser's Thom Yorke-like howls and the thick reverberations of pounding drums, organ and guitars, the Walkmen lay their claim on the world of popular music with their first post-Jonathan Fire*Eater album: mature, esoteric, and unpredictable.

3.) M. Ward - "Vincent O'Brien" (from Transfiguration Of Vincent)

It's hard to choose from M. Ward's catalogue: there's not one false step. However, this slow rollicking build-up of muted guitars, drums, and a riffing piano is one of the artist's most immediately convincing, due largely to its poetic simplicity: "He only sings when he's sad / And he's sad all the time / So he sings the whole night through / Yeah, he sings in the daytime too."

4.) Marah - "Round Eye Blues" (from Kids in Philly)

A pre-9/11 war song that escapes for moments into the imagery of a hard working James Brown and Little Richard and the rhythm of "Proud Mary" and "Sittin' On The Dock of the Bay." The Bielanko brothers have never sounded so soulful and harnessed their love of Springsteen so sincerely.

5.) Peter & The Wolf - "Safe Travels" (from Lightness)
Set by a chorus of sighing voices and the light-hearted up-stroke of an acoustic guitar, the song's tone is an otherworldly one—simultaneously eery and soothing. With the addition of Red Hunter's calm near-spoken word voice, it's also impossible to forget.

6.) Exploding Hearts - "Sleeping Aides and Razorblades" (from Guitar Romantic)
Power-pop makes its triumphant and convincing return with the debut from this tragically short-lived Portland quartet. Here, the band delivers one of the all-time great break-up songs: "Well, I felt so bad when I heard that song / You know it's been such a long long time / It's a little offbeat and it ain't in tune / You know, it's just like this heart of mine."

7.) Tangiers - "I Wanna Go Out" (from Never Bring You Pleasure)

From the furiously fast thumping of drums to the tightly delivered power chords and slurred vocals, everything about this Tangiers song screams "release!" Whether you're carving down a wave or a concrete mountain, speeding down the coast or hurriedly throwing back a few, this is the song you'll want playing.

8.) El Ten Eleven - "My Only Swerving" (from El Ten Eleven)

For an entirely instrumental duo, Los Angeles's El Ten Eleven is remarkably expressive. Never more so than this cinematic blend of tremolo-infused riffs, popping double-bass notes, synthesized arpeggios, and orchestrated crash of cymbals.

9.) The Fruit Bats - "When You Love Somebody" (from Mouthfuls)

With the constant thud of a bass drum and smile-inducing hand claps (think The Beatles' "Two of Us"), this organ-built 60s-tinged pop song is treachorously addictive and often prone to repeated listening. If there's one reason to start listening to the Fruits Bats, it's this.

10.) Martha Wainwright - "Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole" (from Martha Wainwright)
This song may be directed towards Wainwright's neglectful father—folk singer Loudon Wainwright III— but this passionate stranglehold has the strength to kick more than one ass. And ass-kicking has never sounded so righteous and brutally poetic: "I will not pretend / I will not put on a smile / I will not say I'm all right for you / When all I wanted was to be good / To do everything in truth."