here they are!
"Every Night Is Friday Night (Without You)" by Old '97s: "Alt-country" just seems to get a bit lackluster after awhile, as Wilco have demonstrated time and again with the more "experimental" side of their catalog. This time, the second best loved alt-country band, Old '97s, gets their Dramarama and Pixies on in this tune! Borrowing a beat from Dramarama's "Anything Anything" and chords from The Pixies' "Here Comes Your Man", fans of '80s "college rock" will probably take an immediate liking to this song! Rhett Miller and co. truly have a well-crafted, fun song on their hands with this one! As many of the best Lou Reed and T. Rex songs can demonstrate (this song sounds a little similar to both, in my opinion), any homage to "classic alternative" doesn't have to be unsteady "experimental" noise-fests a la Sonic Youth (even SY THEMSELVES had somewhat catchy tunes on occasion like "Kool Thing" and "Bull In the Heather") to get the crunchy, angst-y feel across to its listeners. This song is just 3 or so minutes of pure bliss and I love it!
"Father's Son" by Fistful of Mercy: Are "indie supergroups" a trend all of a sudden? It would appear so, with Monsters of Folk (Bright Eyes, My Morning Jacket, M. Ward), and Tired Pony (R.E.M., Belle and Sebastian, Snow Patrol). Let's now welcome the latest addition, Fistful of Mercy, onto the bandwagon, which features contemporary music connoisseur Ben Harper, indie-folk-rocker Joseph Arthur, and George Harrison's son Dhani. I don't know who out of the three of them leads this group, but in "Father's Son", it would most likely be Ben Harper, for its bluesy-folk sound that seems to be somewhat common in Harper's catalog. This mostly acoustic song is a fun, "clap-along" number that would be neat to sing around a campfire while toasting marshmallows and (as Buzz Lightyear of "Toy Story" fame once said) "delicious hot 'shmoes'"! I would also suspect that at least one (if not all) of the members of Fistful of Mercy have been listening to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, as this song easily reminds me of all the songs of theirs that have gotten attention on adult alt. radio stations ("Ain't No Easy Way", "Shuffle Your Feet", "Beat the Devil's Tattoo").
"Walk With Me" by Neil Young: Funny I mentioned Lou Reed and Sonic Youth earlier in this week's post, as this song kinda sounds like BOTH of them (particularly Lou Reed)!
Though this song is getting airplay on what appears to be the "softer" side of contemporary rock stations, don't let that fool you! This is one hard-rockin' song! (and it doesn't need drums or bass to back it up, either!) This plays out like an outtake from The Velvet Underground's second album (the one with "White Light/White Heat", among others), and specifically an awful lot like The Velvets' "I Heard Her Call My Name", a song with ear-splitting feedback which Lou Reed starts as a conventional rock song, and then pretty much destroys the tune of afterwards. Though Neil Young's "Walk With Me" doesn't go THAT extreme, it comes close. It, too, starts out as a "conventional" rock song, but about 2 minutes into it, things start to get a little weird! The final moments of the song just seem to be electric guitar feedback that doesn't know whether to be beautiful or noisy. What would you expect, however, with Young's latest album being titled "Le Noise"?!
