Music

came on as I rolled down the highway today. random 70s shuffle. not speeding at all, much

Forgive me if you've heard this one before…

Songs-Lou-Didn't-Write BONUS:

• The Kills - Wild Charms

!detroit@midwest.social ☆ !michigan@midwest.social ☆ !music@midwest.social

From-The-Packard-Factory-To-Kingston BONUS:

• Letter to the Editor [Official Music Video] (scroll down for di words)

Pure genius. The arriving menace…the distant thunder of the tribe coming up over the hill. Cinerama for your ears. Said to be played by producer/composer/musician Mark Ronson before recording sessions…

[…]Ronson still plays Dog Eat Dog to new artists he produces as an example of what their music needs to live up to. ^1

[…]he finds that song extraordinary and that he plays it before every session to get into the mood. ^2

When-Showbiz-Is-A-Dirty-Word BONUS:

• Adam and The Ants - Scorpios

Davis (or Miles, as the "truly hip" say) at this point of his career pretty much eschewed traditional compositional structure. With a swirling electron shell of sidemen and collaborators—in this performance, angular guitarist Pete Cosey and jazz great, drummer Al Foster—Davis, er, Miles transformed jazz's parry-and-thrust improvisations into rolling, lava-lamp clouds of mood. Many times, more times than it should have, it all gelled into moments of genius.

Just-For-The-Funk-Of-It BONUS:

• ~~The Clinton Family Singers~~ The P-Funk All-Stars: NPR Tiny Desk Concert

Free your mind…

Some second-wave OG from the WC hippity-hop non-stop I let the needle drop on the juicer, producer, the Tupac introducer…

RIP Shock G (AKA Humpy Hump).

If-You're-Dirty-Go-Take-A-Bath BONUS:

• Digital Underground - Doowutchyalike

Today's obvious choice.

Cowboy-Nation BONUS:

• Joan sings ☆Star Star☆

One of the best bands you've probably never heard of. And lookee here, you'd be hard pressed to find a more fitting band for ~~c/mucus~~ c/music@midwest.social as The M's are from Chicago, Illi-noise.

Here's the YouTube-generated playlist for Future Women, the album from which this song comes from:

• The M's @ YouTube - Future Women

If any of the tens of you reading this does have any information regarding the band, please don't hestitate to chime in! Thanks!

!detroit@midwest.social ☆ !michigan@midwest.social ☆ !music@midwest.social

Z Berg, daughter of famous studio musician/producer/A&R exec Tony Berg, meets Tennessee Thomas, daughter of legendary Attractions drummer Pete Thomas, and form a wishy-washy alt-rock outfit to little attention called The Like. Later, in 2010, they recorded with producers Mark Ronson and Alex Greewald the retro-pop gem Release Me…and it went nowhere. Undeservedly so.

Yeah, the premise of The Like's second incarnation certainly had next-to-no shelf life: the 60s styling of their look and sound could only last one album, maybe two if it had hadn't fizzled. But this album is chock full of of catchy, classically-styled hits, "all killer no filler" 2'50" born-to-be-45rpm-singles…and there's the rub! It shouldn't have fizzled! These are songs that The Ronettes wished they had in their repertoire! Ms Berg hones her songwriting skills—the entire album is either written or co-written by her—and her vocals. Her voice is wispy (that never stopped anybody in pop music before) but nevertheless there are moments during the album where she puts what seems very real emotion in her performance: her voice cracks just a hair during the "before I break your heart" triplet near the end of Release Me and it's hard not to imagine a tear forming in her eye while singing.

Lack of promotion? Bad timing? Too gimmicky? Who knows? The band broke up shortly after with each of the members going on to other projects, all still active in their careers as musicians and, in the case of organist Annie Monroe, acting.

Finally-A-Decent-Live-Mix BONUS:

• Release Me, live at The ICA, LONDON -- Sept 15 2010

!detroit@midwest.social ☆ !michigan@midwest.social

i don't dance. wish i did.

guitar is great

Is it?

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful.

Madison, WI's Honor Among Thieves, live at The Harmony Bar and Grill. Recorded by Steve Gotcher for the 105.5 radio show "Mad City Live" Halloween 1997. Some of the tunes were on the band's 1998 album, "Primordial Soup du Jour", but not this wild and crazy one.