In Dreams I Melt With You

Wilco - Hell Is Chrome
Arcade Fire - Black Mirror
Islands - Humans

Vladimir Ussachevsky - Wireless Fantasy
The Dukes of Stratosphear - My Love Explodes
Olivia Tremor Control - Dusk at Cubist Castle
The Monkees - Daily Nightly
Idyll Swords - Escutcheon Ascent/Biza's Theme

Brian Eno - Alternative 3
My Bloody Valentine - I Only Said
Mogwai - Sine Wave
Les Savy Fav - Brace Yourself

Black Sabbath - A Bit of Finger
Nico - Lawns of Dawns
Liars - Be Quiet Mt. Heart Attack
Sonic Youth - In the Kingdom # 19

Grandaddy - Underneath the Weeping Willow
Bedhead - Bedside Table
Will Oldham - Apocolypse, No!
Animal Collective - In the Flowers

Ween - Captain
Windy & Carl - Traveling
Burial - In McDonalds
Andrew Bird - Unfolding Fans
M83 - Midnight Souls Still Remain

Sigur Ros - Meo Blodnasir
The Flaming Lips - Christmas at the Zoo
The Microphones - I Want Wind To Blow
The Stranglers - Golden Brown

Gastr Del Sol - Rebecca Sylvester
Edsel - The Good Celeste
Holger Czukay - Boat-Woman-Song
Godspeed You Black Emperor -

Oh! Delmarva, Here I Come! Right Back Where I Started From

In a little less than a week, Hott Mama, The Pow!erbot Team and I will be heading south on a journey through the Mid-Atlantic states and I'm horribly excited. Partially for the destinations along the way and certainly for the people we'll be visiting but I'm also frothing at the mouth to get hours upon hours of uninterrupted music listening. I love road trips and I love them most for their soundtracks. For me, the journey is an end in itself. I took a nearly cross country road trip with Listmaker years ago and we barely left the car because the point of the trip was to be inside with the stereo blasting mix tape after mix tape. I'm giddy just thinking about the upcoming trip and wonder if it's too early to start putting together the pile of cds that will carry us towards the Mason-Dixon line.

Embracing the Inner Beast

Years ago, indie popstress Mary Timony entered a magical chrysalis and came out on the other side forever changed. Early in her musical career she championed self empowerment and feminism through occasionally oblique yet always fascinating lyrics. After 1995's beloved The Dirt of Luck, dragons and faeries began to creep into her work little by little and critics started to wonder where this mystical obsession came from and why was she delving into the world of storybooks and fantasy. I can only assume that Ms. Timony had a choice at this point - give up the childish visions or dive in headfirst. Just looking at the song titles of her next full length album, The Magic City, shows she chose the latter. "Medieval People," "Lady of the Fire," and "Lullaby of the Moths" are the work of someone who took an infatuation and exploded it into a defining characteristic.

I am a witch - Helium

Neko Case has done the same with her newest LP Middle Cyclone. On this amazing album, Neko fully explores her dual loves of nature and animals. Again, you need look no further than the song titles to discover that she has chosen to almost singlemindedly follow her personal muse. "Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth" isn't her song but it as much of a thesis statement as anything else uttered on this album. She spells it out even more explicitly in "People Got a Lotta Nerve" where she plainly states that wild animals will eat you without a second thought and we humans are foolish for hoping or expecting anything different. Whereas Mary Timony uses fairy tales as a safe haven from the ugliness of modern life, Neko Case's songs are more like the Grimm Brothers' cautionary tales. Civilization has its many positives and negatives, it's true, but there's nothing quite as unpredictable or terrifying or beautiful as the natural world.

People Got A Lotta Nerve - Neko Case

In honor of Neko Case and poetry month, here's a wonderful poem by the fantastic and brutal Anne Sexton:

"Hog"

Oh you brown bacon machine,
how sweet you lie,
gaining a pound and a half a day,
you rolled-up pair of socks,
you dog's nightmare,
your snout pushed in
but leaking out the ears,
your eyes as soft as eggs,
hog, big as a cannon,
how sweet you lie.

I lie in my bed at night
in the closet of my mind
and count hogs in a pen,
brown, spotted, white, pink, black,
moving on the shuttle toward death
just as my mind moves over
for its own little death.

Follow Your Dreams. Go To School Naked

Roy Orbison - In Dreams 

The Everly Brothers - Sweet Dreams

Cher - Dream Baby

Stevie Wonder - Never Had a Dream Come True

Beck - Girl Dreams

Pavement - Passat Dream

Built to Spill - Made-Up Dreams

Dead Milkmen - Dean's Dream

T Rex - Dreamy Lady

The Magnetic Fields - Too Drunk to Dream

Olivia Tremor Control - Define a Transparent Dream

Guided By Voices - Ghosts of a Different Dream

Superchunk - Good Dreams

Pixies - Bird Dream of Olympus Mons

Weezer - Only in Dreams

Belle & Sebastian - You Made Me Forgot My Dreams

Tom Waits - Innocent When You Dream (78)

M Ward - Bad Dreams

Leo Kottke - All I Have To Do Is Dream

The Walkmen - Thinking of a Dream I Had

Will Oldham - Dreaming My Dreams With You

Wilco - Dreamer in My Dreams

Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan's Dream

The Apples in Stereo - The Silvery Light of a Dream (Parts I and II)

Dog Faced Hermans - Dream Forever

Broken Social Scene - Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day)

Neko Case - Dreaming Man

TV On The Radio - Dreams

A Fish of Cheese With the Head of Walt Whitman

April is poetry month and I wanted to kick it off with some brilliant, inspired lyrics proving that the musicians and songwriters and the true poets of our golden age. I didn't have anything set to post today but then I was playing Rock band 2 with Hott Mama (and killing it if I can be honest for a moment) when who should appear like a beacon on a foggy night? Dave Mustaine, a man sadly passed over year after year for Poet Laureate. Was he born in Canada or something for I can think of no other reason he has yet to receive this highest honor that all little heshers aspire to.

"Peace Sells" came blasting out of the teevee and we fumbled our way through it as best we could. I had never heard the song as I had vowed to never listen to Megadeth ever again after their ubiquitous mind-bender of a hit "Sweating Bullets" kept showing up on MTV back in the early 90s. I refused to give them any love even though they have some of the best album titles of all time such as Killing is My Business...And Business is Good! and So Far, So Good...So What? They tried to recapture this glory with 2007's United Abominations but without an ellipsis I just can't bring myself to care.

Well the song itself was pretty terrible, as I assumed it would be, but the lyrics were a sheer joy to hear. While I fake-drummed away and Hott Mama caterwauled along with Mr. Mustaine, I realised that Steve Albini is indie rock's Dave Mustaine. Here's the proof that they may have been separated at birth. 1. Both have odd, growly, speak-sing vocal styles. 2. They're both crotchety contrarians who always seem to be harshly judging all humankind, including their faithful audience members. 3. They both somehow come off as joyless and smirking at the same time.

Here's a sample of Dave Mustaine's brilliance when it comes to putting pen to paper followed by some audio samples of these long lost twins.

Peace Sells:
What do you mean, "I don't believe in God"?
I talk to him every day.
What do you mean, "I don't support your system"?
I go to court when I have to.
What do you mean, "I can't get to work on time"?
I got nothing better to do
And, what do you mean, "I don't pay my bills"?
Why do you think I'm broke? Huh?

Peace Sells - Megadeth

My Black Ass - Shellac