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Song of the Day
Song of the Day: “The New Nathan Detroits” by Braid
02 years ago
My mid-1990′s nostalgia continues with “The New Nathan Detroits” by Braid. In hindsight, they were very influenced by Jawbox, but that doesn’t diminish their greatness — in fact, I wish bands still made this style of post-punk indie rock today.
Song of the Day: “Alpha Omega” by the Mountain Goats featuring Owen Pallet (Final Fantasy)
02 years ago
I was actually at this show — and it was incredible. Here is John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats with Owen Pallet of Final Fantasy performing the Mountain Goats classic “Alpha Omega.” It gave me chills at the show, and it gives me chills now.
Song of the Day: “Oh Messy Life” by Cap’n Jazz
02 years ago
Guys, before emo became a national embarrassment, it was an underground movement to take punk rock into more personal territory. I was a huge and unapologetic fan of the second wave emo scene in the mid-1990′s, which was spearheaded by a great band called Cap’n Jazz. Cap’n Jazz would break up and form the genesis of the Promise Ring, Joan of Arc, Owls, American Football and a shit ton of other great bands. Chicago, Illinois was the epicenter of the scene, and produced more great records than any other city from 1995 – 1997 or so. Apparently, Cap’n Jazz played a surprise reunion show last night. Here’s a song from it.
Song of the Day: “Cousins” by Vampire Weekend
02 years ago
Ah, Vampire Weekend. Who ever thought I would be a fan of a bunch of Ivy League preppies influenced by African pop music? Nonetheless, here I am. All I can say is that they’re a million times more interesting than the last group of prep school phonies, The Strokes.
Song of the Day: “So Sick” by Unrest
02 years ago
Ah, Unrest. So idiosyncratic, such unlikely indie rock heroes — it’s hard to believe now that they were written about in big glossy magazines as “the next big thing.” I’m not sure if this is a “real” video, but it was directed by Mark Robinson of Unrest. The star of the video, John Masters, would later go on to be in the band Metropolitan. I believe we exchanged messages on the old rec.arts.music.indierock forum back in the early 1990′s.
Song of Day: “Love of an Orchestra” by Noah and the Whale
02 years ago
It’s been over a year since their last record, but Tina is finally a fan. I always was. This is a fairly lush and interesting departure from their first record:
Song of the Day: “In a Name” by Tsunami
02 years ago
Once upon a time there was a band called Tsunami that inspired a generation of young people (myself included) to release and sell their own records. Tsunami’s Jenny Toomey and Kristen Thomson were both in the band and ran the legendary Simple Machines label, which was second only to Dischord in its influence on the D.C. music community. In the early 1990′s there were many, many women involved in indie rock and punk — a trend that has sadly declined into the oughties, as few significant female-led bands remain. Tsunami may be forgotten today, but they were important trailblazers.
Even today, my podcasting work and Tina’s various design endeavors are influenced quite strongly by the example of Jenny Toomey.
Tsunami were on Lollapalooza’s side stage and were interviewed in a variety of publications. Jenny Toomey would later go on to be a member of Grenadine (with Unrest’s Mark Robinson), Liquorice (with Dan Littleton from Ida) and would release two solo records under her own name, as well as contribute vocals to other projects (including “Deep South” on the Promise Ring’s classic LP, Very Emergency).
In one of the few videos available of Tsunami online, here they are playing “In a Name” at Ft. Reno in 1992:
Song of the Day: “I’ll Believe in Anything” by Wolf Parade
02 years ago
This is a song that I listened to A LOT when my girls were just born. The video didn’t actually come out until some time after.
Song of the Day: “Information and Belief” by June of ’44
02 years ago
One of my favorite bands of the 1990′s, June of ’44 created the “boat rock” craze in indie rock that pulled in about a bazillion bands that no one but me remembers. They began as a Rodan offshoot that was a bit too heavily influenced by Slint, but ended up writing better songs than Slint. I can’t describe how much I still miss them.
Song of the Day: “Actor out of Work” by St. Vincent
02 years ago
Oh, if only I’d been able to see St. Vincent open for Andrew Bird last year. Unfortunately, I’ll have to content myself with this amazing video for the best song on her last record.