Previously shelved versions from pop hipsters The Dandy Warhols.

TV and movie producers love the Dandy Warhols. For a long time, the only songs I ever heard from them were from soundtracks. ‘Boys Better’ is a good song from the Good Will Hunting soundtrack. ‘Bohemian Like You’ is a great song that was on half a dozen soundtracks (including Six Feet Under). ‘We Used to Be Friends’ is a good song from “Music From The O.C.” and the Veronica Mars soundtrack. “Sleep” was used in the Crazy/Beautiful soundtrack. The’ve had songs used on Clockstoppers, Stubbs the Zombie, and more, if you care enough to do some Googling. They write great pop songs. Nothing complicated or too challenging really, but appealing melodies and great ideas for lyrics. Anyway, I’ve liked a lot of the music of theirs I’ve heard on soundtracks so when I found the 2009 release “The Dandy Warhols Are Sound” at the library, I scooped it up like a $20 on the sidewalk.

If you already own "Welcome to the Monkey House," you may not want to spend the money, but between the two versions, I like this one more.

Once I looked at the song list on the album, I thought it was a greatest hits or something, because “We Used to Be Friends” is on this album and I know that song is many years old. It turns out to be more interesting than that. Back when the band was working on their 2003 release, “Welcome to the Monkey House,” the band members themselves were really pulling for a version mixed by Russell Elevando, a Grammy winning engineer who had worked with The Roots, D’Angelo, Alicia Keys, and Common among others. Capitol Records had other ideas and shelved that version in favor of a slicker, poppier mix created by Duran Duran’s Nick Rhodes. Eh, what would the actual band know about how their own music should sound?

Of course, the album spawned some hits and it was probably the right sound for the time, though the band wasn’t entirely pleased. Singer/Guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor said, “There are two different approaches to mixing. One is very slick and clean, and “Welcome to the Monkey House” fits more into that category. “Are Sound,” however, has a sneakier profile. It seems very lo-fi and earthy, but the fact is, it’s extremely precise.” I went back and listened to the originals. They are, of course, the same songs, so they’re not totally dissimilar, but there are differences.

I ripped four songs from “Are Sound.” Fans of the original release may find this one interesting as a curiosity. If you’ve never heard these songs, though, check them out. I will link to the originals on YouTube, but check out the Amazon samples of the new versions. I like them better.

• Burned – This replaces ‘You Come in Burned’ from “Monkey House” and I like the Elevado version more. It’s less sonically cluttered than the originally released version, highlighting the vocals more and giving you a little less atmospherics.
• Plan A – This version is less jangly and reverby than the original. It makes the vocals a little sweeter and gives the song a more intimate feel.
• We Used to Be Friends – As I mentioned, this song has been used on various soundtracks so there’s a good chance you’ve heard it, at least this version. It has a great sound, particularly the keyboards.
• The Last High – The two versions of this song are very close. If you aren’t familiar with the “Monkey House” version, give it a listen. It’s another broadly appealing pop song about regretting mistakes that killed a relationship.

I’ve ordered more Dandy Warhols and I’ll share some with you if it’s as good as I’m expecting.

http://www.dandywarhols.com/

Quirky and accomplished progressive rock from Crack the Sky

Years ago, my brother turned me onto a somewhat obscure band from Wierton, WV that flirted with fame in the late 70s but never quite broke through. They are called Crack the Sky and they played a quirky brand of progressive rock. I’d have to say the band they most remind me of is Phish but with less of a jazz influence. I make the comparison for two reasons. The topics they pick for songs are every bit as odd (take “Robots for Ronnie,” which is two parents deciding to buy “a stainless steel group of chums” for their son who is a loser). Also, the songs are full of complex bridges and disparate movements that are amazingly well played. Trust me, these guys are cool as hell and very accomplished players.

Still at it in 2008, 33 years after their debut.

I had a couple of their albums on vinyl years ago and one of their songs popped into my head the other day so I started going to back to find the old songs I loved. I thought they had broken up in the 80s, but discovered they are still at it and have released no fewer than 22 albums since their self-titled debut in 1975. This gives me a happy amount of work to do since I only ever heard 3 or 4 of their albums. I may have more to report down the road after I have delved a bit into their catalog, but for now I want to recommend a handful of songs from 2 of their early albums.

First, their 1975 debut “Crack the Sky.”

• She’s a Dancer – I wanted to start with my favorite. You know I’m a sucker for horns and though this song opens as a straight-ahead guitar rock tune the horns kick in toward the end. It’s about a guy who finally must admit he’s attracted to a transvestite dancer (“Alright. I like the way he moves.”).
• Sleep – It opens as a ballad, but gets more energetic. It’s pretty the whole way through, with great harmony vocals and beautiful acoustic guitar.
• A Sea Epic – Here’s an odd one about a sailor begging in vain for mercy not for himself, but for the captain, admiral, and ultimately the ship’s cook. It’s a stirring song of several different passages all of which are musically more serious than the funny lyrics.
• Ice – I don’t know how they remember all of the weird little turns of musical phrase they throw in the corners of songs like this. This song about doubt in relationships darts all over in a complex arrangement.
• Hold On / Surf City – The chorus of ‘Hold On’ has a bit of a halting feel to it, but I love the verses and ‘Surf City’ is funny and cool all the way through with lots of that 70s masturbatory soloing sprinkled in.

And from their 1978 release, “Safety in Numbers.”

• Safety in Numbers – Such a product of the times, but it has aged well, I think. I love the wide variety of feels they were comfortable in. This one is alternately oozy and anthemic.
• Lighten Up McGraw – The intro is cool and the groove they build after is a smooth rocker.
• Nuclear Apathy – This 8 ½ minute epic has a beautiful acoustic intro that patiently builds for 2 ½ minutes to a complex arrangement of alternating crushing rocker, delicate lullaby, and math rock.

The band has only ever had moderate success and has seen many line-up changes as guys have left the band, done other work, and returned. They’ve even had some success with their other projects (remember ‘Vitamin L’ by B.E. Taylor?) but they keep coming back to write and perform together. As I said, they never quite broke through, but they have put out some cool music. I hope you’ll enjoy these. I’ll let you know what I find out about the rest of their stuff I find.

(The Beatles + Jay-Z) x Dangermouse = Musical Genius / Legal Trouble

Today I want to recommend an album that you may have some trouble laying your hands on. You may well have heard of it because it was a big deal at the time and there was a legal battle and press coverage. Here’s what it is. In 2004, one of my favorite producers/performers, Dangermouse, took just the vocals from Jay-Z’s powerful Black Album and mashed it up with unauthorized samples from The Beatles’ psychedelic White Album to create an entirely new project: The Grey Album.

I got 99 problems and a cease and desist order due to copyright infringement is one.

The idea is pure genius and it is as cool as you think it is. Sadly, EMI, who holds the rights to The White Album, didn’t see it that way. Jay-Z had commercially released an a capella version of his Black Album for this exact purpose, hoping artists would take his raps and create mashups and remixes. EMI, on the other hand, had no such plans for their tightly held and valuable Beatles music. They had never given permission nor were they paid for use of the material so they served Dangermouse and retailers with a cease and desist order. Distribution was halted.

Copies are still available. You can get actual copies of the CD from Amazon for $50 and up, if you’re a purist. Or you can still find BitTorrent links or scan news groups. A protest called Grey Tuesday was organized on February 24, 2004 on which hundreds of websites hosted the album for free download as a form of electronic civil disobedience. Over 100,000 copies were downloaded that day and so there are still many copies floating around. You can find it if you really want it.

As for the music itself, it is unbelievable. Check out these 10 of the 12 on the album.

• Public Service Announcement – Beautiful samples from “Long, Long, Long” behind track #10 from The Black Album. Great opener.
• What More Can I Say – Dangermouse slows down “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and makes it sound like it was written to back Jay-Z. Amazing.
• Encore – Someone (not Dangermouse, I think) put together a video for this one using footage of The Beatles and Jay-Z. It’s kind of cool, but the song is better.
• Lucifer 9 – What else are you going to do with samples of Revolution #9 but make the weirdest song on your own album?
• December 4th – Again, Dangermouse makes the sample – this time the acoustic lick from “Mother Nature’s Son” –  sound like it was written for this rap.
• 99 Problems – So how’s this for random? The rest of the links to this album work just fine, but there is a note at the bottom of this one on YouTube that says, “This video contains an audio track that has not been authorized by all copyright holders. The audio has been disabled.” It’s too bad, too, because this might be my favorite track on the release. Samples from “Helter Skelter” back Jay-Z as he tells us “If you’re having girl problems I feel bad for you, son. I got 99 problems, but a bitch ain’t one.” A little nasty maybe, but it sounds like a funny song possibly written after a relationship went south.
• Dirt Off Your Shoulder – This is the hardest “Julia” has ever rocked. I don’t like the rap all that much, but the song is undeniably cool.
• Moment of Clarity – This one uses “Happiness Is a Warm Gun,” but the genius of Dangermouse’s use of the sample renders it hard to recognize. He creates a new rhythm with the muddy guitar and a new melody with the vocals.
• Change Clothes – Here some George Harrison weirdness – “Piggies” – and a little bit of “Dear Prudence” is turned into a great groove.
• My 1^st Song – The main Beatles sample is the “Can you take me back where I came from?” end of “Cry Baby Cry.” Dangermouse also uses “Savoy Truffle” and “Helter Skelter,” but I’m not sure I hear them.

I can see both sides of this argument. This mashup is almost an entirely new project and people want art like this to be made available on the grounds of free speech and freedom of artistic expression. This puts us on a slippery slope, though. What Dangermouse did here is complete deconstruction. He broke The Beatles’ music down to building blocks and made something new with them. Not everyone would, though. How close does it have to be to the original before it is simply ripping off an artist’s work?

Stephen Colbert appears to be on the side of the free speechers. In 2006, on the Colbert Report, he called for a mashup of “The White Album” and Christmas songs to be called “The White Christmas Album” and added, “Dangermouse, I know you’re watching.”

The Friday mix: My favorites from comtemporary blues-rock geniuses The Black Keys

I live in Cleveland, OH and I’m a big fan of the city. I lived in Denver for about 5 years, but I missed northeast Ohio terribly and came back. I love the emerald necklace of metro parks around the city. Cleveland is a great food town. Fall in northeast Ohio is spectacular. The Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. LeBron and the Cavaliers. I love it here. I think Cleveland gets a bad rap because a lot of the coolest stuff in Cleveland isn’t downtown and visitors don’t know how to find it. It’s a great place to live, but I wouldn’t want to visit there.

Some great musicians come from Northeast Ohio as well. Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders is from my hometown. Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo went to my high school. John Popper of Blues Traveler is from Cleveland. So is Tracy Chapman. Macy Gray is from Youngstown. Hell, Dean Martin is from Steubenville, which is at least central east. A couple of my recent favorites to emerge from northeast Ohio are Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, who together form The Black Keys.

The blues are alive and well, thank you very much.

Just two guys, but between Auerbach’s virtuoso guitar and soulful, powerful voice and Carney’s deft and appropriate drumming and superior production skills, they have a big sound that leaves no holes. More importantly, the songs are brilliant. They play old-school blues-rock but somehow manage to breathe vitality into one of the oldest forms of American music. The sound is raw, though the songs themselves are polished. If you haven’t heard them yet, their music is stirring and exciting when they rock out and gut wrenching when they’re playing a ballad. If you haven’t seen them, they are not to be missed.

Here is a sampling of some of my favorites from each of their albums, except “The Moan” from 2004, which I don’t yet have.

“The Big Come Up” was their debut, released in 2002. Check these.

• I’ll Be Your Man – This is track #3, but the first one on the album written by Auerbach and Carney and it’s my favorite on this album.
• Countdown – Another one penned by the Keys. The fun guitar riff is brightened even further by the spirited love song behind it.
• She Said, She Said – I’ve seen them do this Beatles classic live and they do such a great job you would swear they wrote it. Easily my favorite cover of this song.

They followed that release up with “Thickfreakness” in 2003. If you have never heard anything by the Keys, this is the album I recommend you pick up first.

• Thickfreakness – The guitar in this is so dirty Auerbach can never wash his hands clean. This is my favorite track on this release.
• Hard Row – The guitar riff and the vocal melody could each have carried a song by themselves. Together, they’re fantastic. Add to that a guitar solo you could saw logs with and it’s tremendous. I lied. THIS is my favorite song on this release.
• Hurt Like Mine – When there are only two musicians in your band, you have to fill all the holes yourself. I love the way Auerbach manages to play both lead and rhythm parts simultaneously in so many of his songs. This is a prime example.
• Everywhere I Go – A cover of the classic by Junior Kimbrough. Carney’s percussion work on this is steady, not flashy, but every note hangs on the groove he creates.

“Rubber Factory” – they are from the Rubber City after all – was released in 2004. While their style is the same, the songwriting continues to mature. We start to hear more multi-tracking and more carefully structured songs.

• Just Couldn’t Tie Me Down – I like the whole song, but I love the opening few seconds. The guitar riff intro gets clobbered by Carney when he comes in and the whole song rocks from there on.
• The Lengths – This was and I think still is the most beautiful song they’ve ever done. The guitar makes you want to weep right along with it.
• Grown So Ugly – Sick, sick cover of this song. It’s an irresistible song to begin with and they play the crap out of it.
• Stack Shot Billy – This crowd favorite was the one they chose to play on Letterman.

In 2006, the Black Keys released an EP called “Chulahoma.” All 6 tracks are covers of Junior Kimbrough songs, so it isn’t a typical Keys album and doesn’t seem to follow the path of their evolution. The sound is more raw and closer to their first album. I particularly like 2 tracks.

• Keep Your Hands Off Her – Auerbach has such an easy, relaxed hand on this song.
• Meet Me In the City – I like the North Mississippi Allstars version maybe a bit more, but it’s such a cool song that I have this take on my iPod too.

Also in 2006, the Keys released a regular studio album, “Magic Potion.” Not my favorite release, but it still had a couple real gems.

• You’re the One – The pretty vocal melody plays nicely with the guitar riff in this quiet tune. If you’re at a show, this is when you go get a beer, but I love to hear it come up on random in my car.
• The Flame – This is one of Auerbach’s oozy, simmering tunes. It sounds like 3:00 AM to me.

“Attack and Release” came out in 2008 and I was thrilled. For a two-piece, the Black Keys’ sound has never been thin, but they invited a few musicians to join them in the studio, including Marc Ribot. The result was fantastic. You can hear keyboards, backing vocals, flute, and I think even strings. I ripped 9 of 11 songs on this release to my iPod. People should start with Thickfreakness, but I think this is their best album.

• All You Ever Wanted – A little Hammond organ rounds out this great melody.
• I Got Mine – This track would be right at home on their first album. It will rock your face.
• Strange Times – This track got picked up for inclusion in Grand Theft Auto IV. I wouldn’t have thought their songwriting could improve, but it did.
• Psychotic Girl – More amazing songwriting. I wonder who she is. Check out the lyrics.
• Same Old Thing – This one gets me shaking my head and drumming with my hands.
• So He Won’t Break – Another great song. I can’t wait for their next release. “Attack and Release” will be a tough act to follow.

Another thing I love about The Black Keys is they’re proud of having come from Akron and make kind of a deal out of it. Go Zips! The official Ohio state drink is tomato juice, so enjoy this mix with a Bloody Mary. Have a good weekend.

Funny but accomplished glam rock from .357 Lover

A little bit of Phish, a little bit of Queen, a little bit of Elton John in a duck suit.

Musically, these guys are very tight and the humor works. It’s so much humor, in fact, that it almost comes out as novelty music. Still, it has some really good moments along with some fearless weirdness. Read the review at AltSounds: http://hangout.altsounds.com/reviews/113482-357-lover-diorama-of-the-golden-lion-album.html

Deep and varied rock with ambient roots from Apse

Often boring album covers mean boring music. Not this time.

These guys come from a tradition of ambient and “shoe-gazer” rock. They’ve had a lot of line-up changes, though, and each new incarnation plays more mainstream and accessible music than the last. Their new album, “Climb Up,” is a strong effort. Check out the album and read my review on AltSounds: http://hangout.altsounds.com/reviews/113466-apse-climb-up-album.html

Hit or miss rock and electronica remixes from Ape School

So Ape School (aka Michael Johnson) released a self-titled album in April. A few months later, he released this album full of songs from that album that have been remixed by collaborators. Some of the new versions are really great. Some are only interesting as before and after studies. Check out which ones I recommend at AltSounds: http://hangout.altsounds.com/reviews/113373-ape-school-remixes-ep.html.

Oh, and watch this video from the original album:

The Friday mix: more of my favorite female artists

I know more than one musician who admits he got into the business to meet chicks. More than 2, in fact. Sure, they like music and performing, but the #1 reason they started performing was to meet girls. So, why do women start performing? To meet guys? That hardly seems necessary. Most likely, they do it simply to play their music to people. I’ve read interviews with female musicians who say they can’t imagine doing anything else. I like that.

Continuing on with my multi-part series of my favorite female musicians, here are the letters K and L. If I recommend a video, make sure you follow the link. There is some great stuff from YouTube today.

1. k.d. lang – Love’s Great Ocean
   Lang used to do really goofy country music.  Thankfully, she left that behind to become more of a torch singer. Some artists do their best work when they’re sad and lonely. Lang writes the best songs when she’s in love.
2. Kami Lyle – Boys
   Honestly, this is the only Kami Lyle song I have, but I love this loungy song. It reminds me of Rickie Lee Jones.
   

   I suppose some of them DO get into music just to meet guys. Or chicks.

3. A Felicidade (Happiness)
   Karrin Allyson is a jazz singer and pianist from Omaha Nebraska. I’m not sure how she came to speak and sing in English, French, Portuguese, Italian, and Spanish, but she does so brilliantly. The New York Times says she has, “a feline touch and impeccable intonation,” which is a really great description. I guess that’s why they earn the big bucks. This one is from her 2008 release “Imagina: Songs of Brazil.”
4. Kate Bush – Running Up That Hill
   Bush is an odd and eclectic musician and producer and some of the stuff she does loses me entirely. However, some of it stands the test of time, like this 80s classic.
5. Kate Nash – Birds
   Nash hasn’t been on the music scene long. Her first album came out in 2007 and promptly went platinum in the UK. Her melodies are pleasing and her lyrics are incredibly honest, sometimes to the point where they sound a little odd, like this one. ‘Nicest Thing’  is a better song, but it’s so heartbreaking I didn’t want it to be the first song of hers you ever heard.
6. Kidneythieves – S&M (A Love Song)
   Free Dominguez leads this industrial rock band. I love women that truly rock and Dominguez is one of them. This song will put hair on your chest.
7. KT Tunstall – Black Horse & the Cherry Tree
   If you’ve heard one song from Tunstall, this is probably it. I am linking to this live version from Later…with Jools Holland because it was her breakout performance and it will knock you out. This is just one of her cool songs, by the way. For example, check out “Hold On.”
8. Laurie Anderson – From the Air
   Chicago beat poet and performance artist Laurie Anderson wins the distinction of being the weirdest performer in any of my Women mixes. This is just a clip of one song from the brilliant 1982 release “Big Science.” Go out and find a copy of this disc today. It’s funny, beautifully played, and still crazy hip. Fun fact: after many years together, she and Lou Reed got married in 2008.
9. Lauryn Hill – To Zion
   I already mentioned Lauryn Hill as part of the Fugees in a previous mix, but her solo album, “The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill” is worthy of a second mention. This song explains her much lamented departure from pop music, to some degree.
10. Lena Horne – Stormy Weather
    Harold Arlen didn’t write this song for Lena Horne, but he should have. Watch this video to see how lovely she was in 1943 and how wonderfully she sings this song.
11. Letters to Cleo – Here & Now
    OK, so I think this is a nostalgia piece for me because of where I was in my life when this was on the radio. It’s a cool song, but I don’t know anything else by them and the band broke up in 2000. Kay Hanley sings a good one here, though.
12. Lily Allen – Smile
    Love, love, love Lily Allen. She writes such great melodies and the lyrics are smart and funny. She seems very genuine, generally, and is a hilarious evil bitch in this great song.
13. Linda Lyndell – What a Man
    Here is another artist by whom I have only one song. This one is an insanely good old school soul song.
14. Lisa Mitchell – Neopolitan Dreams
    This song is Feist-esque in its simplicity and its appeal. I love the use of glockenspiel in the background. This is a strangely compelling video.
15. Liz Phair – Uncle Alvarez
    One of my all-time favorite female artists. I could have chosen anything at all off of “Exile in Guyville,” but instead went with this great song from “Whitechocolatespaceegg.” She lost a lot of fans by striving unashamedly for commercial success and money, but she is undeniably a talented songwriter and frankly, I like to get paid too.
16. Luscious Jackson – Deep Shag
    I mentioned LJ front woman Jill Cunniff last time, but this is the best work she ever did. This is from the 1994 release “Natural Ingredients.” This album has lots and lots of great music and was years ahead of its time. This is probably my favorite song off this release.

Enjoy with a trusty beer or something else social. Have a good weekend.

Knockout acoustic pop from The John Butler Trio

I know it's just a Rorschach but I swear I see a man's face.

So I was at the library and I found “Grand National,” a 2007 release by The John Butler Trio. His is a name I have heard but I was unfamiliar with his music. I have probably even heard some of his stuff, given the kind of music he plays and the kind of people I hang out with. Still, I didn’t know what to expect. I love that, though, so I picked it up and brought it home.

Well, after my first time through the disc, I kind of thought maybe John Butler was an up-and-comer. The melodies were fresh, the lyrics were edgy and politically outspoken, and the album was all killer, no filler. It turns out, John Butler Trio has been at it for over 10 years and “Grand National” is their fourth LP (they also have 3 EPs). JBT plays uplifting acoustic pop with depth and melodic appeal. Even when the subject of a song is heavy, the joy of the music is irrepressible.

7 of the 13 songs on this release are worthy of a recommendation. Check these out.

• Better Than – If you have heard one song off “Grand National,” this is probably it. Its catchy-as-hell hook made it the single and as a result they made a cool video.
• Good Excuse – Butler encourages privileged white boys who think they’ve got it hard to “take a step outside and see what’s shakin’ in the real world.”
• Gov Did Nothin’ – Here’s some of the political content I was talking about. The title refers to the Hurricane Katrina.
• Funky Tonight – OK, this is a funny video about a guy sitting in a business meeting who gets this rocker in his head and can’t sit still.
• Nowhere Man – This is a simple and light song, but it’s very pleasant and I like the chorus.
• Losing You – So here’s an example of a song with a sad subject that is still uplifting somehow. The guitar part is so beautiful and the vocal melody is pretty. Just a man and a guitar, but he makes it sound so rich.
• Groovin’ Slowly – I’m not sure what I would need to write about this one, since the title pretty much says it all. This makes me think of a cross between G. Love and Bob Marley.

Reviews I have read of this album by fans of the band say this is a bit of a departure. Less outspoken, more radio-friendly. Fine with me. Still, I will have to go back and check out the rest of the JBT catalog.

http://www.johnbutlertrio.com/

Ripping old school rock from Podunk

I owe a lot of my love of music to my brother, Gary. I am almost 3 years younger than him so growing up I listened to whatever he thought was cool. Early on, that was Kiss (hey, those first few albums were great). He turned me onto Queen (thanks, bro), Red Hot Chili Peppers (in 1987), and Lenny Kravitz (so I saw him touring on “Let Love Rule”). Gary taught me to sing harmony to ‘Nowhere Man’ by The Beatles when I was 9. When I was 10, my brother was given his first guitar from a stranger at my aunt’s church who said God told him to buy Gary a guitar. He went on to become a career musician and lives in Texas now.

Since he moved down there, our musical tastes have diverged somewhat. Gary has played in a wide variety of styles but being in Texas, one gets immersed country and southern rock. He likes that stuff a little more than I do. I love hip-hop. Gary not so much. Still, living near Austin, where every barista, carpenter, and cubicle denizen has a night job with a band, he hears all kinds of great music in many styles and still passes stuff along to me. Bob Schneider of Ugly Americans is one of my faves that Gary turned me onto. Soulhat, whom I have not yet written up but will, is another. Gary has a great natural ear that he has honed through years of performing, writing, and producing so when he sends me something, I slap on the headphones and check it out.

He'll be out in a minute.

For my birthday this year, Gary sent me “Podunk,” the 2002 release by Podunk. I had never heard of these guys before, though this is their 4^th album. I was a little scared, since I felt a band named Podunk from Texas has a high potential to suck. They are not what I was expecting. Podunk plays old school rock ‘n roll influenced by AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, King’s X, and Bad Company. The guitar work isn’t virtuoso, but totally solid. The bass and drums don’t break new ground, but lay down bedrock for the band. The songwriting is excellent and that’s more than half the battle right there. What really jumped off the disc at me was the vocals.

Lead singer/guitarist Jason Touchette has a flat out amazing voice. Incredible. I compared Podunk to Bad Company and Touchette is why. Throughout the disc, he constantly reminded me of Paul Rodgers. That is high praise indeed, because I think Rodgers has one of the best voices ever in rock ‘n roll. Touchette has great range, can sing sweetly and screech with equal facility, and throws vibrato at any note at will. He also picks interesting vocal lines to accompany the instruments.

I ripped these 5 tracks from the 11-track release.

• Creeper – Power chords and ripping riffs from the guitar are driven by the pounding percussion. Touchette wails this one with heart.
• Closer to Free – The verses are cool, but the big fat harmonies in the chorus are undeniably appealing.
• By Yourself – This is kind of a standard hard pop song, but the production manages to capture great energy in the studio and again, Touchette has some shining moments in this one.
• Damn Good Day – I am reminded of Screaming Trees by the guitar riff in this one. “Everything is beautiful. It’s a damn good day to die.” Hmm.
• Mockingbird – This track makes me think of Chris Cornell (probably THE best voice ever in rock ‘n roll) and features some of the best guitar work on this disc.

It is unclear to me whether the band is still active. This 2002 release was their last album. Their website, www.podunkrocks.com is defunct, but their MySpace page is active. The last login was in November, but I can’t find a new update. Anyway, they have 3 other releases I get to go back and dig up. Woo hoo.