When I Was 26, It Was a Very Good Year

This guy with the tambourine is how excited I get when I compile 'Best Of' lists

King Koopa’s Best of 2005 List:

Best First Date: November 10 at BW3, with the figuratively bowlegged "Elle". Keep your, “yeah, because it was Koopa’s ONLY first date for the year” comments to yourself, thank you very much. As I kicked her ass in NTN Trivia and told her all the reasons she shouldn’t get involved with a shady character like me, this is the song that would’ve been playing if we were characters in a movie: Acid House King’s “Tonight is Forever”.

Best previously-unreleased Bob Dylan song from the year’s best soundtrack: Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues (alternate take #5), from the soundtrack to Dylan’s Scorsese-directed documentary “No Direction Home”. Sorry, “Visions of Johanna (Take #8)”, maybe next year. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if I was forced to choose one musician’s catalog to listen to for the rest of my life it would be Dylan. Dylan’s my favorite American and the embodiment of what made this country great.

Best remix featuring beats derived from a GameBoy: Beck’s “Girl” (8-Bit Remix). People say Beck’s lost his sense of humor, but by releasing a four song Gameboy-beat remix album before the official album release, I’d say he’s at least retained a sense of playfulness. I guess Scientology still allows playfulness. Stay tuned to Koopa’s Hideaway for any change on Scientology’s rules regarding playfulness.

Best cover song by someone with English as their second language: PJ Pooterhoots, covering Hall & Oates, “I Can’t Go For That”. (PJ Pooterhoots also won this year's award for Best Solo Artist Name.) This song has always been a floor-filler, never more so than with Ms. Pooterhoots’ version. It’s irresistible. If you can hate on this track then you are hopeless and I feel sorry for your miserable soul. The singer sounds vaguely Asian, but I can’t really place the accent. She sounds pretty sexy though, in that Yoko Ono pre-Beatles-breakup sort of way.

Best song that I can’t understand a single word of: Dungen’s “Festival”. Technically, I purchased this Swedish import in mid-2004, but it wasn’t released in the US until this year. It just means I’m cooler than you, that’s all, and I shouldn't be penalized for my excessive coolness. Dude, you know I was into Swedish prog-rock like WAAAAY before you were. This album kicks Swedishmeatballass.

Best song about outer space: Edan feat. Mr. Lif, “Making Planets”. A swirling, psychedelic trip from the year’s most original hip hop album. This song makes me think of taking a midnight cruise on a summer night with a full-moon, nodding my head like a demented bobblehead, with cheesy grin plastered across my face.

Best album to tide me over until the next Flaming Lips album: The Earlies' "These Were". Sorry, Brian Wilson, SMILE just didn't do it for me as much as "These Were". Again, technically, I purchased this album in 2004, but it didn't get released in the US until 2005. Don't hate me because you wish you had my refined musical palette. Instead, enjoy this slice of Tex-Brit psychedelia: "Morning Wonder", by The Earlies.

Best song from the year’s best album: The album is My Morning Jacket's "Z" and the song is “Off the Record”. Yeah, I’ve got this song on 7” vinyl. That’s right. I know, it’s pretty awesome, huh. I’m like a cumulonimbus cloud of coolness and I’m raining all over you. Hope you brought an umbrella because the forecast is calling for continued coolness with a potential for extreme awesomeness.

Best record label to put out a totally crappy hip hop record: Quannum. And, the album is APSCI’s “Thanks For Asking”. I’m a Quannum ball-swinger, but this thing just didn’t cut it. It’s the first chink in Quannum’s armor. Don’t make me start swingin from Stones Throw’s balls, guys. Seriously. This album's sooo crappy, I won't subject you to any mp3s.

Best remix of a song featured in a Will Smith movie: Amerie, “One Thing” (Siik remix). Pure hotness. On so many levels. The remix isn’t as jittery as the original, it makes Amerie’s vocals the focus of the mix. Ah shibbies!

Best show I saw all year: Wilco in Kalamazoo. Jeff Tweedy just keeps getting better. He’s proved himself to be one of the best songwriters of his generation. This show rocked me six ways from Sunday. “Handshake Drugs” from Wilco’s new ‘Kicking Television’ live double album was one of my favorite songs from that show. The best part of the weekend was when I forgot to bring my ID and I wasn't able to drink at Bell's brewery. Tragicomical. In a typical Koopa-type way.

Best reminder that Michael Jackson used to be more than just a plastic-faced pederast: Team 9’s three way mashup of MJ’s “Scream”, Beck’s “E-Pro”, and AC/DC’s “TNT”. Me thinks he didn't write this song in that "dreaming tree" of his from the embarassing TV documentary he did.

Best new love song that sounds like a really, really old love song: The Band of Bees, “I Love You”. Break out the satin sheets and uncork a perfectly aged bottle of love tonight, hideawayheads. Pop this song in the boombox and get ready for romance, the likes of which you've never dreamed.

Best solo album by a member of Sea and Cake: Sam Prekop's "Who's Your New Professor". I'd say this is definitely one of the 5 best albums of the year. And, since this is my blog I'm going to go ahead and say that. While I'm saying things about Sam Prekop, I'd also like to say that the lead-off track, "Something" is my favorite song. There. I said it.

Best radio hit that never got played on the radio: Josh Rouse, “It’s the Nighttime”. This album got completely slept on. I really enjoyed it. You should too. Rouse may be a poor man’s Jeff Tweedy, but he’s well on his way to Tweedy-level consistency.

Best vacation of the year: My missions trip to Hungary. That ended up being my only vacation of the year, but it was worth every Forint. Here’s some totally sweet 70’s Hungarian garage rock: Skorpio Group, “The King With Shred Legs”. Don’t let the song title fool you, it’s all in Hungarian. And in case you had any intentions of learning Hungarian, be aware that the world’s top linguists still can’t decide what other languages Hungarian is related to. It's not Latin or Slavic-based. Their best guess is that it’s a descendant of some of the Scandinavian languages. Hungarian uses accents, weird letters and everything. Good luck.

Thanks to all the people who have checked out the site since I started this thing up last February. If it weren’t for all eight of my ravenous, insatiable fans, I wouldn’t be doing this. Thanks for stopping by and stay classy, Hideawayheads. King Koopa loves ya.

Frontin on Debra's Sister

DJ Reset - Frontin on Debra

I'm not going to win any DJ cred with this post, since this was technically last year's hot joint, but I've got a lot of time on my hands at work these days and I can't leave my Hideawayheads without this song for yet another year. Some music critic called this track the 'Song of the Year'...last year. Better late than never. It's a mashup/remix/blend of Beck's "Debra" & Pharrell Williams' "Frontin". To describe this track as "silky" would be coarse. Yeah, it's that smooth. I'd call it "dope", but it's much more intoxicating than the stickiest of the icky. Alright, fine, I'll call it "ill" and leave it at that.

Trading Spaces

Indie Folk:

• Kings of Convenience - Misread - Canadian folkies. These guys are part of a recent wave of good music coming out of the frigid hinterland known as Canada (along with Broken Social Scene, Feist). Ignore the fact that they're Canadian and that they don't exactly fit the theory described below. Canadians privately wish they were American anyway.
• Iron & Wine - Woman King - This dude is probably the best of the indie folksters out there. This song is from his latest solo EP.
• The Shins - New Slang (live) - The Shins could be the most popular of the indie-folksters. They're catchier than most. This live version is a little quiet, so just turn your speakers up all the way and it'll sound about right.

Electroclash:

• Midwest Product - When Doves Cry - Great song. Electro-stylee.
• Mahjongg - Hot Lava - A thumper of a tune. Great beat
• Tiger Tunes - Kirsten is a F'machine - F'n hilarious. This may be my favorite "electroclash" song.

Here’s a link to a fascinating article that makes a parallel between the record-low interests rates of the past 4-5 years and the decrease in the number of rock bands that use live drums. The author makes the case that the abandonment the suburbs and gentrification of urban areas has led to the rise of live-drum-less indie-folk and electroclash (which, honestly, sounds a lot like ol’ electronica with live vocals to me). I think it’s a really interesting theory, and it tweaks the part of me that needs to understand how and why things happen the way they do, the part of me that’s interested in the cause that produces a certain effect. I've been surmising for years that the suburbs are about 10 years away from being the new ghettos. We'll see. My high school economics class (taught by the brilliant, long-division master and singular personality, Mr. Dan Groff) really started me down this “cause and effect” path. From studying the stock market and economic theory, I learned that if you can sort through all the different variables, you can find a cause for everything that happens. Of course, that way of thinking usually works best when analyzing why something happened in the past, as opposed to predicting what will happen in the future. That’s why nobody has developed an accurate model for predicting what will happen with the stock market. There are too many ever-changing variables to develop an equation for prediction. So, the author of this article can’t tell you what’s going to happen to music in the future, but he has a pretty pessimistic view of the future of this country, so I would guess he’s not predicting another rise of boy bands in the near future. Probably socially-conscious music of some sort, eh? Who knows! That’s why this country needs music geeks like myself and this guy, because who else is going to argue about how the political/cultural landscape is going to affect music of the future? Somebody out there has to think about these things. But, that’s neither here nor there…read the article and appreciate the analytical genius behind the theory.

I hope everybody had a Merry Christmas and that you got to spend some quality time with the ones you love. My holiday weekend was spent staying up late with friends from out of town and waking up early to the exhortations of my nieces and nephews. I need a vacation from my vacation. I also encountered a mix cd project from one of the American Mastodon’s friends that has really inspired me to take my mix-making to the next level. The AM got it all started with this mix. I highly recommend it, and he might still send you one if you ask nicely enough. Then again, I could probably burn you a copy too. I’ve already got some good ideas that I’m starting on. Stay tuned.

Winter: Welcome To The Darkness

Curtis Mayfield - Right on for the Darkness

Willie Wright - Right on for the Darkness

Josh Rouse - Come Back (Light Therapy)

The above picture is Justin Hawkins of the English joke-rock band, The Darkness. The Darkness rock out in ways that make you bust out…laughing. The problem is that the laughing often drowns out the rocking. Personally, if I’m going to rock out, I take my rock with a pinch less irony. But, regardless, this post is not really about The Darkness with a big D, but about “darkness” with a little d. I just thought this was a really funny picture. People just don’t rock pilgrim hats, leather pants, and those keyboard/guitar things anymore.

Today is the first official day of winter, which means it’s the winter solstice, which means it’s the shortest, darkest day of the year, which means insomniacs will have no excuse for not being able to go to bed at a decent hour. (Interestingly, the winter solstice is also the biggest holiday for Wicca, a goddess/witchy type religion. That's cool and all, but there's something fishy about a belief system that isn't even as old as my parents, as this article in Slate points out.) The sun goes down super early and if the Hideaway gets switched to the Central Time Zone, as is being discussed, next year it’ll go down even earlier. That would be super. All so we can be on the same time as Chicago. Big whoop. For me, it will remove some of the confusion of going to a concert in Chicago, but that’s about it. I’m not a big fan of winter and all the dark evenings. Between the cold and the darkness, it kills my drive to go out and do things outside of the house in the evenings. I pretty much hibernate through winter. Christmas, President’s Day, and the thoughts of up-coming spring, those are the only highlights. New Year’s just means a monster hangover, that’s about it, oh, and the likelihood that I’ll fail miserably in my attempt at any resolution. Except my resolution to not do heroin. I feel confident that I’ll be able to keep that one for another year. Wait, does that resolution imply that I used to do heroin? I’ll leave that juicy implication open-ended, just for the sake of King Koopa’s blogular mythmaking… on to today’s songs:

I’ve got Curtis Mayfield’s original “Right on for the Darkness” and a shorter yet almost-superior version by a guy named Willie Wright whom I’ve never heard of outside of this song. It’s a socially conscious funky soul workout about doing whatever it is you do and letting other people hate on you if they wanna. “Playin’ on the clothes you wear/Laughing down at me/But I swear I just don’t care”Awesome percussion in both versions, more blaxploitation soundtrack-style orchestration in Mayfield’s. The last song is Josh Rouse’s “Come Back (Light Therapy)”, which uses the metaphor of craving the sun during a dark, dreary winter to needing your lover. It’s a great song from Rouse’s 70’s-style singer-songwriter album, 1972. Me likey.

Knocked Out Loaded

Bobby Rush - Bowlegged Woman/Knock Kneed Man

So, where’s King Koopa been all these weeks since my rowboating-with-robots post? Busy at work? Nope. Uninspired? Hardly. So, what then? Well, I’ve been making mix cds like a madman, but no longer for my hard-time-having buddy from before. Nope, these mixes have been for someone else all-together. Someone whose musical passions mirror mine, someone who loves a good mix cd as much as myself. Someone who possesses a yin to match my yang, a zig to connect to the end of my zag…figurative bowleggedness to accommodate my figurative knocked-knees.

Have a Merry Christmas, Hideawayheads. If you missed my Christmas party this past weekend, then you might as well have missed Christmas. You definitely missed getting a taste of some African moonshine, straight from a bathtub in Ghana. Talk about getting a fire in your belly! Whoo! Special thanks to D Friendly, my party's honored guest and moonshine-supplier, and to Buster Larkins for making it happen and getting his mom to babysit. Props, homeslizzles.

Rowboats for Robots

This post has nothing to do with rowboats, but everything to do with robots. That phrase just made me smile and when I searched Yahoo with that phrase in quotes, I found that it exists nowhere else on the internet. Now it does. You’re welcome, world. Don’t say I never contributed anything during my time here. "Rowboats for Robots" would make a great album title, but I’d make you pay me a million nickels if you ever used it. Intellectual property, baby. The economy of the future.

“But, why robots today?”, you ask. Because Buster Larkins alerted me to the fact that Beck has a new video out now for “Hell Yes”. It’s really awesome. It’s got really awesome robots. Four robots, in fact. It’s got four robots that nobody has ever seen before. Here’s what Beck’s website had to say about them: They're called QRIOs, so-called "dream robots" developed by Sony Japan as high-tech playthings for children. The QRIO can carry on conversations, adapt to a multitude of environments and - most importantly - mimic human movements, including complex dance routines. Currently, there are only four working QRIOs in the world. And all of them appear in the "Hell Yes" video.

My interest was sufficiently piqued. Then I watched the video. And, I had the same experience as a lot of people, apparently, according to the director: "Most of the people who have seen the video come away thinking that there's no way the QRIOs are real. They think they're like people in robot suits or something."

So, here’s the link to the “Hell Yes” video. And, below are two of my favorite robot songs. There are loads of great songs about robots. These two just get preferential treatment for being the two weirdest songs about robots that I’ve ever heard. Feel free to submit a favorite or a Top 5 or something. These could be the weirdest songs you'll find on this blog for awhile, so, if that's your bag, don't miss out on these two.

Andrew Thompson – We’re in Business (If you weren’t afraid of robots before, maybe you will be now. ‘You might think that they’re you’re friends/They’ll only kill you in the end/Never trust robots’)

TV on the Radio – Robots (These are the drrrrrty robots. Not as scary as Andrew Thompson’s robot, more horny. Robots getting freaky...nearly everywhere.)

I Like 'Em Feisty

There's just something about those Feisty types

Feist - Inside and Out

Feist - Mushaboom

Feist - Secret Heart

It’s autumn time and there’s electricity in the air around The Hideaway these days. Things are happening. And, it’s all because of this Canadian indie-popster chick I’ve discovered named Lesie Feist. She’s positively rocking King Koopa’s world. Outta nowhere, BAM! Sometimes you’ll just be going out for a walk and you’ll stumble upon a rare, beautiful gem. Sometimes that gem is actually a Canadian indie-popster named Lesie Feist.

Apparently, Miss Feist recorded this album in France, with a bunch of musically-inclined Frenchies. It’s definitely got a different feel to it, I’d probably compare it to the Nouvelle Vague album that came out this summer. Feist’s version of the disco classic, “Inside and Out” is stunning. Her voice is just REALLY doing it for me. Mmm mmm mmm! Best thing I’ve heard in awhile. “Mushaboom” is eclectic English-speaking French chanteuse pop at it’s most delectable. Handclaps, horns, tambourines, pianos, acoustic guitar…it’s awesome. “Secret Heart” is a cover of the Ron Sexsmith tune and the song’s melody has been bouncing around my dome since I first heard it. It’s catchy as hell.

Blackalicious = Scrumdiddliumptious

The following could possibly be an excerpt from a dream of mine. I rarely remember my dreams, but it's conceivable that it might go something like this:

Gift of Gab: "Koopa, you know what?, you the man!"
Me: "Nah man, whatever. How could I possibly be the man when everybody knows YOU the man! Please. Don't play like that. Would the man be known to wear tapered leg jeans to work on casual friday because they were the only clean, non-ripped pair he had? No, of course not. The man is someone who would record a rap song where he goes through the alphabet making rhymes with each letter and speeding up the tempo till he's blastin' like an AK-47 by the time he reaches Z."
Gift of Gab: "Well...yeah, you're right Koopa, that track was pretty dope, and, you do look kinda goofy in those jeans. I suppose I am the man. But, you still the coolest, aiight? Tapered leg jeans and all!"
Me: "Hey, thanks bro. I'm won't argue with the man on that one. I'm gonna take my cool ass to TJ Max and pick up some new jeans, but I'll catch you later."

Blackalicious - World of Vibrations

Blackalicious - Supreme People

Blackalicious - Automatique

Recently, a good friend needled me with the accusation that I “swing from Quannum’s balls” during a music debate we were having. (Blackalicious is on the Quannum label, along with DJ Shadow, Lyrics Born & Lateef the Truth Speaker, Lifesavas, Poets of Rhythm, and some others) That's true to a certain extent, but it's only because I've got a genuine connection with the music. Quannum's dope, they put out great music that's usually right up my alley. Then, about a week later, my friend starts bugging me to burn him a copy of the new Blackalicious album, The Craft. Of course I’ll burn it for him, ya know, but it’s like ‘Yo, who’s swingin’ from whose balls now, bro?’ Gotcha…We were having a debate about local bands around Indy and how I think Indy’s music scene is lame and getting lamer. The debate started because The Patio is closing. audible sniffle [little tear trickles down King Koopa’s cheek.] Somehow the debate changed from how The Patio’s closing would cut down on small-to-medium national touring bands coming to Indy, to the quality of the local music scene around here. See, small-to-medium national touring bands are my bread and butter. I’ve never been too impressed with the bands around Indy. Indy has a lot of punkish-type bands and some hip hop groups that are still in their diaper stage. “Punk” is a nice way of saying the band is still working on their musical chops and their songwriting skills, at least in the opinion of this observer. You can’t write 2 minute punk songs for your entire musical career. There’s a reason punk bands always end up “selling out” and changing their sound. They’re maturing as musicians. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of great punk songs out there, but punk is also a very simplified style of music that doesn’t require as much depth or complexity as other music styles might. I’m just telling ya how I see it here. The point is that I don’t see the quality of Indy’s local music as being even remotely comparable to the groups that used to come to The Patio, like all the guys from Quannum, for instance. It all boils down to personal preference and what I’m listening to from week to week, month to month, but the idea of going to see more local bands to make up for the loss of The Patio just isn’t cheering me up. I’m hoping that the Music Mill and Radio Radio pick up the slack and bring in those Patio-type bands, but we’ll just have to see what happens.

Back on the farm…today, I’ve got a bunch of cuts for you from The Craft, the new one from Gift of Gab and Chief Xcel. Gift of Gab is one of my favorite rappers, he and Mos Def hold the top spot in my mind depending on the weather that day. I’ve seen him in concert several times, the first time was when he opened up for Ben Harper. Then it was part of a winter festival in Chicago with Karl Denson, Saul Williams, and Nikka Costa (one of the “coolest” shows I’ve seen). Next it was when the entire Quannum label went on tour (best hip hop show I’ve seen). Last time was when he came around with Lateef to The Patio last year. Dude looked kinda ill that night, he had to sit down for parts of the show. I credit Blackalicious’ mindblowing epic “Alphabet Aerobics” with starting my on-again, off-again love affair with hip hop. My college roommate James Yeo got me into their “A to G” EP driving around in his little space pod of a car, going back and forth to the furniture store we "worked" at. I’d never heard anything like it. Anyway, this album is really very solid, probably better than Gab’s solo album from a couple years ago, but it’s not quite as epic or impressive as Blazing Arrow, their last album together. Xcel’s beats and production are sick as hell and underrated, as usual. My favorite track is “Supreme People”, it gets me jukin and jivin anywhere I hear it…shower, car, office chair, wherever…it’s a party starter, people mover, ass shaker. If you download by "World of Vibrations" and "Supreme People" you'll have the album opening dyanmic duo rap medley. I highly recomend. "Automatique" is a sexy, slow-burner of a track. Hotness all around.

Dude, It's Friday. Cover For Me.

I drove into a burning ring of fire. I went down down down and the flame went higher. IT BURNS! BURNS! BURNS!, THE RING OF FI-YAH!!! WHOOO!!!

Tom Jones - Ring of Fire

Ray Charles - Ring of Fire

This Kid Named Miles - Ring of Fire


It’s “Cover For Me” Friday and today I dust off my “Covers” series that used to be oh-so-popular on Koopa’s Hideaway. I would’ve brought this series back sooner, but I was worried about damaging my blogular integrity by conceding to popular demand and revisiting this series. I felt kinda like how the Hanson brothers must feel when they get pressured to sing “MmmBop!” at every show. I had to wait until my audience at large had forgotten about my seminal, groundbreaking covers series, and THEN bring it back blow your mind all over again.

Tom Jones’ reworking of the Johnny Cash classic, “Ring of Fire”, is a 60’s go-go/mod version that would earn a hearty “Yeah, baby” from Austin Powers. I’m willing to bet every time Tom played this song in concert that he got showered with even more women’s panties than usual. Truth be told, it’s a kickass version and you’ll wonder why you ever thought Tom Jones was lame. Next, I’ve got Ray Charles doing a sexy, soul-filled rendition. It’s a rollicking romp and the bass line just bumps along as Mr. Charles bares his soul and reminds you that he’s been through that doggone burnin ring of fire and came out the other side with the scars to prove it. Then, to close out my Ring of Fire trifecta, I’ve got an old school reggae and r&b version (think Jackie Mittoo) by This Kid Named Miles, leader of the Breakestra collective. This song came on a new-ish 7” vinyl single with “Funky Reggae” on the b side, by a mysterious fellow who goes by the moniker Bumps Jackson (I'm pretty sure this is actually alias-happy hip hop producer Madlib, since his name is really Otis Jackson). And, there’s your obscure vinyl reference for the week. Have a great weekend hideawayheads, I’m going back to the country to enjoy a weekend of bonfires, parties, and country cruises.

So You Wanna Be a Mixologist

You think this looks easy, huh? Well...it's not. OK? As you can see, I'm kinda busy right now or else I'd explain it to you. Just...take my word for it, alright...You think it's just throwing a bunch of stuff together and "mixing it up", don't you? I can tell. Well, if that's all there was to it, I'd be out of a job now wouldn't I? Maybe when you grow to appreciate it, I'll try and tell you what it is I do and all the processes I have go through. Until then, quit bothering me and let me get back to work...geez.

So, I’m still making mix cds for my hard-time-having buddy. I made this one on Saturday afternoon/late-night. It’s almost exclusively from my vinyl collection, except for three of the nineteen tracks. I started with the idea of “country-politan” music, but with a sometimes-funky, sometimes-melancholy twist. Then, I broke one of the cardinal rules of mix-making by including two songs by the same artist back-to-back. Nobody’s going to give me any awards for a super obscure mix, but that crap only matters to record collecting geeks like me. Since this mix isn’t for me or another record collecting geek, who cares? Most people probably don’t think about stuff like this when listening to a cd, but I’ve read (and seen) “High Fidelity”, and I know that there are lots of rules. Check out my rule-breakin, straight off the wax mix below. I'll add links to various songs as time allows.


1.Kris Kristofferson – Sunday Morning Comin Down (down & out country, the best kind...)
2.Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra – Some Velvet Morning
3.BB King – Chains and Things
4.My Morning Jacket – How Could I Know? (b-side of ‘Off the Record’, literally)
5.Paul Simon – Slip Sliding Away
6.Dr. John – Walk On Guilded Splinters
7.The Band of Bees – Punchbag
8.James Taylor – Mud Slide Slim
9.Curtis Mayfield – Stone Junkie (live from ’72 Newport Jazzfest)
10.Curtis Mayfield – Pusherman (live from ’72 Newport Jazzfest)
11.Bobby Womack – Harry Hippie
12.Bobby Womack – Nobody Wants You When You’re Down and Out
13.Johnny Cash – Wanted Man (live from San Quentin prison)
14.Bob Dylan w/ The Band – When I Paint My Masterpiece (live)
15.Neil Diamond w/ The Band – Dry Your Eyes (live from “The Last Waltz”)
16.The Band – Ophelia
17.Elvis Presley – Tryin To Get To You (from “The Sun Sessions”)
18.Elvis Presley – Blue Moon (from “The Sun Sessions”)
19.Bob Dylan – Meet Me in the Morning

Ps – On Sunday night I went to see My Morning Jacket here in town at the Vogue Theater. It was Fenomenal. I spelled "phenomenal" with an ‘F’ because it was so F’n great; great F’n show on the same F’n level as their great F’n album, “Z”. You may have heard me gush about it a couple weeks ago. Best album I’ve heard all year, best concert performance I’ve heard all year. Don't sleep, hideawayheads.

Tears of a Clown

My search for clown pictures made me wonder: Is there anybody out there who actually likes clowns? I hate clowns. I'm not sure why it took me 26 years to realize that, but I hate clowns. Then again, I have read Stephen King's "IT", so that probably doesn't help.

Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - Tears of a Clown

I'm in the midst of compiling a couple mix cds for a good friend of mine who is going through a hard time, so that's where this song is coming from. He asked for some melancholic, thoughtful, meditative type songs. Some of my all-time favorite songs fit that bill, but it's not the type of mix cd that I usually make. So, it's been kinda fun to go back through my collection and pick out some of these songs.

Tears of a Clown is particularly special because the upbeat, pulsing music perfectly balances the "sadder than sad" theme of the lyrics. It was originally written by Stevie Wonder as an instrumental. Only later did Smokey Robinson add the lyrics and record it with the Miracles. Two of the all time greats contributing to the same song, no wonder it's so perfect. In fact, this song is about as close to perfect as you can get. (Flexing his lyrical muscles, Smokey even references an Italian opera.) Enjoy this piece of musical brilliance:

Now if there's a smile on my face
It's only there trying to fool the public
But when it comes down to fooling you
Now honey that's quite a different subject
But don't let my glad expression
Give you the wrong impression
'Cause really I'm sad, oh I'm sadder than sad
Well I'm hurt and I want you so bad
Like a clown I appear to be glad, ooh yeah

Chorus
Well they're some sad things known to man
But ain't too much sadder than
The tears of a clown when there's no one around
The tears of a clown when there's no one around

Now if I appear to be carefree
It's only to camouflage my sadness
And honey to shield my pride I try
To cover this hurt with a show of gladness
But don't let my show convince you
That I've been happy since you
Decided to go, oh I need you so
Look I'm hurt and I want you to know
For others I put on a show

[chorus]

Just like Pagliacci did
I try to keep my surface hid
Smiling in the crowd I try
But in a lonely room I cry
The tears of a clown
When there's noone around

Now if there's a smile on my face
Don't let my glad expression
Give you the wrong impression
Don't let this smile I wear
Make you think that I don't care
Cos really I'm sad

Go Colts!

Is there a cooler team symbol than the Colts horseshoe?

Gram Parsons - Wild Horses

My Colts are still the only unbeaten team in the NFL. Call me crazy but, I'm predicting a Cowboys vs. Colts Super Bowl. Wild Horses couldn't drag me away from that game, hence the song of the day. Edgerrin James was running around like a wild horse last night, too. (140 yards and 3 TD's?!) The Rolling Stones and The Sundays would go on to cover this song but Gram's version remains the superior one. But then, Gram's versions were usually superior to everyone else's.

Rock For the Non-Mulleted, Non-Indie

Rock is like a box of chocolates

Blackrock - Yeah Yeah

Who says you can’t dance on a Monday morning? Certainly wasn’t me and it certainly wasn’t this morning. I got into the office this morning and decided that the perfect compliment to two crappy cups of overpriced 0.25$ office coffee was a little Blackrock. That’s right, hideawayheads, rock wasn’t always just for the mulleted and the indie among us. I’m talking about ghetto rock, black rock, funk rock, soul rock, or whatever label you wanna give it. (And, no, I’m not talking about Fishbone, Funkadelic, Living Color, Thin Lizzy, or that mohawked fellow from INXS’ Rockstar.) Mos Def ambitiously attempted it on his last album, but people were hatin on him and that album didn’t get the attention it deserved. People weren’t ready for that album. Andre 3000 came with some radio-friendly rock and people slurped it up with ladles and spoons. There used to be a time when rock of all colors and styles was blanketing the airwaves. But, you probably think that you already know all this, don’t you? You’re probably wrong. See, I'm telling you stuff that you "know" but you don't "know". My not-so-profound-or-groundbreaking theory on knowledge is that the only way to really know something is to experience it. Then, you REALLY know it, ya know. I don’t know. But, what I do know is that my knowledge theory goes counter-intuitive to our internet age. (Let me know if you know what I mean, or, if you already knew all that, you can let me know that, too.)

Blackrock is a pretty ungoogleable, little-known funk/psych/r&b group from the late 60’s and early 70’s. I downloaded the mp3 from Fluxblog, who picked it up off the out-of-print bootleg comp, “Chains + Black Exhaust”. And, no, it’s not one of those anonymous, boring James Brown or Meters soundalikes, thank goodness. “Yeah yeah” is a freakin jam. Funky piano, bangin drums, soulful guitar. Great guitar riffs. And, as an educational tool, they let you know at the beginning of the song exactly what you’re about to hear. Black rock. Dig it.

Funky Friday - Muppetstylee

Funkadelic = The Muppet Band on Acid?

Funkadelic - I Wanna Know If It's Good To You

Funkadelic - Can You Get To That?

It's almost the weekend and I'm in a Friday-type mood today. If you know me well, you know that I've got the funk pumpin through my veins. White blood cells, red blood cells, a couple T cells, some plasma, and funk. After years of contemplative study in the temple of funk, reading the old scrolls and listening to the old records, I've come to realize that the lyrics in a funk song can be about anything. They can be happy, angry, funny, melancholly, political, sad, or simply nonsense. But, through it all, it keeps a funky beat that you're meant to dance to. So, funk music could be said to be a model for how to get through life. No matter what's goin on, you just gotta keep dancing along. As the theory goes, if we can all get together, pretty soon the whole place will be groovin. As the cracked-out George Clinton (my favorite Clinton) said, "Free your mind and your ass will follow." I think it works vice versa, too. Which brings me to today's posts...it really doesn't get much funkier than Funkadelic. Both these songs contain some of my favorite hip hop samples and I'm sure you'll recognize some of the beats from other songs. These two tracks capture the Funkadelic collective on a moonless night, at the crossroads of funk and psychedelia, right after their midnight meeting with the devil. If I had to describe what Funkadelic used to be like, it'd be something like, "Think of The Muppet Band, except instead of being puppets, they are a bunch of black dudes, operating on copious amounts of psychedelic drugs."

New Feature: Grab Bag Wednesdays!

I'd say this fellow is pretty mad, in the mental sense, for bees.

The Band of Bees vs Madlib - Chicken Payback (Madlib Remix)

I think I need to start posting more randomly, not just mixes and great new albums. I need to get back to posting great songs, or rare songs in this case, just for the heck of it. And, I think you deserve it, hideawayheads. You've earned this Madlib remix of this great Bees song. (As you may recall, I posted the original version of this song in my blogular tribute to the animal kingdom several months back. Nobody downloaded it then. Now you want it. But, you can't have it. Such is life.)

Here's a link to a site that contains a link to the "Chicken Payback" video.

It's Pronounced, "Soof Yawn"

Oh yeah, dude's a Christian too. He went to my alma mater Calvin College's rival, Hope College in Holland, Michigan. Surprisingly, I don't think he's Dutch.

Sufjan Stevens - Decatur, Or, Round Of Applause For Your Stepmother!

Sufjan Stevens - Chicago

Sufjan Stevens - Casimir Pulaski Day

I've been sitting on this post for awhile, but now seems as good a time as any since I'm discussing the Album of the Year already...

By winning my annual contest of the year's best lyrical couplet crafted to rhyme with “Decatur”, (Steven A. Douglas was a great debater/But Abraham Lincoln was the great emancipator) Sufjan Stevens cemented a high-ranking place in my Album of the Year list. Maybe I love his album "Illinois" because I’m usually a sucker for things that are clever for cleverness sake. (“Decatur...” is essentially a lyrical test to find things to rhyme with Decatur.) Maybe I love it because I’ve been reading about Abraham Lincoln lately. Maybe I love it because he has super long song titles like, "A Short Reprise For Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, But For Very Good Reasons". I don’t know. Whatever the case, Sufjan Stevens has crafted another state album (after “Michigan”) and this one knocked me outta my socks. A musically and lyrically diverse album, it’s also a well-executed and well-conceived concept album. See, it’s an album of songs all about Illinois, hence the Steven A. Douglas and Lincoln references. Exceedingly clever. And tender. It’s an album of tender songs by a tender man. In the vein of Bob Dylan’s “Only a Pawn In Their Game”, Stevens included a song about John Wayne Gacy, the psychopathic clown. I dare say it’s about as tender a song about a psychopathic clown as can be written. Usually, I don’t go for albums with overly emotional/tender themes (see: anything Conor Oberst has done), but this album broke right through that and blew my mind. There’s so much depth to each song, and it’s such a beautifully arranged album. I think it’s something that Brian Wilson would be proud of musically, and lyrically it’s much more grounded and real than anything Wilson ever wrote. It’s ultimately a studio album and would require a decent-sized orchestra to do the songs proper justice in a concert format. That would be a fine concert, though. Fine, indeed…Check out his interview in The Onion.

Album of the Year (and, no, it's not the long-lost Sisqo studio album you've heard so much about. Wrong-wra-wrong-wrong-wrong.)

My Morning Jacket - Off the Record

My Morning Jacket - Lay Low

The following is a series of events and proclamations that are sure to change your life from this moment forth:

1) Yesterday, My Morning Jacket’s newest album, ‘Z’, came out and I purchased it, eagerly. 2) In a kickass attempt at rewarding their fans they included a free 7” record to go along with the cd. The record-collecting geek in me ("is there any other part?", you might sarcastically wonder...I say, "Screw you" for even potentially wondering that.) loves them already. 3) After thoroughly enjoying their previous record, "It Still Moves" I was really looking forward to this album. 4) At the time this post went to press, I have listened to the entire disc about 5 times in a 24 hour period, I have no reservation in declaring that ‘Z’ is the Album of the Year. (I'm issuing a pre-emptive "move over" order to The Darkness' upcoming album, "One Way Ticket To Hell...And Back!") 5) Seriously. 'Z' is really flippin' great. 6) I’m not trying to pull anything over on anybody, this album is really that good. 7) Alright, you wanna know who the competition is? It’s better than Beck’s “Guero”, Sam Prekop’s “Who’s Your New Professor”, Lyrics Born’s “Same Sh!t Different Day”, Sufjan Stevens’ “Illinois”, both Iron & Wine’s EPs, Josh Rouse’s “Nashville”, and it’s beating out Edan’s “Beauty and the Beat” by an eyelash. 7) I’ll be going with my older brother (Duke Koopa) to see them at The Vogue theatre on October 23 and I can hardly keep from dropping a hot, steamy load in my shorts at the thought of how great this show is going to be. 8) The show at The Vogue will cost you a scant $15.

Download the tracks and get ready to have your cornhole rocked six ways to Sunday. Then, leave a comment and go to the show at The Vogue with me and my bro on Sunday, the 23rd. (If you didn't get around to downloading "Wordless Chorus", the opening track on the album, the link is still active in my "Last Good Day of the Year" post.)

Enjoy the rest of your day, hideawayheads.

Update 10/12: In case you need affirmation of this album's greatest beyond The American Mastodon and myself, this week's The Onion gave the album a rave review: "It's both rare and marvelous to hear a good band make its first really great album...The record is undeniably the work of My Morning Jacket—all grandeur and pounding heart—but Z's take-a-shot spirit is bound up in the nutty, insanely catchy "Off The Record," which stacks up a stolen surf riff, a reggae rhythm, lurching vocals, and an extended, spacey coda. At first it sounds too wild and beastly to be any good, but the hook is as infectious as freedom, and around the third time through the song, doubts dissolve. If it takes some time to adjust to, it's only because it's hard to recognize a classic right away."

Sure Fire Traffic Grabber: New Fugees, "Take It Easy"!

Lauryn's still on my Hotty Top 5

I've been somewhat eagerly awaiting this reunion for awhile. Hip hop reunions have a dubious history. But, The Fugees used to be great, so you never know. Everybody loves Lauryn Hill and she's always been the best part of the Fugees, but Wyclef has done some pretty goofy wacktracks since Fugees broke up. Pras, he just dropped off the face of the earth seemed like. So, without any further ado, download this brand spankin new track and tell me what you think of the new Fugees. I'm gonna hold off on my opinion until I get some posting action on here. (Traffic around the site has been down lately so this is my attempt to get people buzzing around here again.)

The Fugees - Take It Easy

The Last Good Day of the Year

So, I'm finally getting back into the swing of things, sorry it's been so long since the last post. Music just hasn't been on my mind like it usually is. But, I'm back with another mix cd that I compiled for fall and just stuff that sounds good right now for whatever reason. I just spent the weekend in a wedding (my 8th wedding tux rental, in case you're keeping track at home) up in my old stomping grounds of Grand Rapids, Michigan and it was an absolute dream of a weekend, ideal really. The leaves are just barely starting to fall from the trees and the weather was perfect. I drove around my old college town, past my old houses, old hangouts, old memories. I met the hottest, hardest partying cop/bridesmaid I've ever seen, a blond chick with a rockin body and, presumably, handcuffs on her person at all times. I danced like a man possessed. I flirted with bridesmaids. I partied with old friends I hadn't spent time with or seen in years. I had the best weekend I've had in awhile.

But, I digress. This latest mix I made, it originally started out as a psychedelic folk rock mix, but I realized I didn't have as much of that stuff as I thought I did. So, I filled in the holes with some songs from different countries. Peruvian Beattlesque pop, Nigerian funk folk, Brazilian soul rock, French chanteuse rock pop, Burmese psych surf rock...it's all there, baby! I think it all works together really well as a mix, too, sort of a globetrotting, aural taste-testing. It's just some joyful, melodic tunes that exist for their own sake, not to change anything or make you think or make you dance or make you sad, just good music. That's just about exactly what I need right about now, something simple and good...And, since I haven't been posting up new tunes in awhile, and because I'm in a good mood, I'll post up a bunch of the songs from this mix. Enjoy the hot eats/cool treats, hideawayheads.

Harry Nilsson - Gotta Get Up
The Band of Bees - These Are the Ghosts
Jon Brion - I Believe She's Lying
The Coral - Shadows Fall
Antonio Carlos E Jocafi - Kabaluere - (Brazilian tune that was jacked by Chali 2 Na & NuMark)
The Kinks - Victoria
Beta Band - Dry the Rain
Cousteau - The Last Good Day of the Year - (I think this was on a car commercial awhile back)
My Morning Jacket - Wordless Chorus - (Beautiful tune from MMJ's forthcoming album 'Z')
Loretta Lynn w/ Jack White - Portland Oregon
Bongos Ikwue - Woman Made The Devil - (70's Nigerian tune about women & the devil)
Lashio Thien Aung - You Got What You Got - (Burmese psychedelic pop from the 60's)
Jon Brion - Walking Thru Walls - (the background vocals crack me up everytime)
Sea and Cake - The Argument - (pre-solo Sam Prekop)
Francoiz Breut - La Fin Du Monde - (a French chick making good use of handclaps)
Paul McCartney - Monkberry Moon Delight
Velvet Underground - Who Loves the Sun?
We All Together - Children
The Hassles - 4 O'Clock in the Morning
Weldon Irving - Morning Sunrise
Love - Everybody's Gotta Live

The Flood

First off, I apologize for the last post. I posted it as soon as I heard about the levees breaking in New Orleans, not fully realizing what that was about to cause. It seems flippant to me now. But, I deal with tragedy like anybody else, I gotta find a way to vent my feelings. I feel the need to write something about this and express my feelings through someone elses songs (skip straight to the bottom of the post for the songs that are helping me get through this.)

Like everybody, I've been totally waylaid by the flooding in New Orleans and the fact that this tragedy has gotten worse by the day. At least during 9/11 things got relatively better after the initial event. The after-effects of this natural disaster have taken me by surprise. Unfortunately, it's also appeared to have caught the government that is supposed to take care of tragedies like this by surprise, as well. That is a fact that I have a hard time getting my head around. It's unforgivable. I think that this is horrible, on-going event is going to be a tipping point in coming to grips with the big questions connected to it. Why are poor people the hardest hit by tragedies like this? Why are most of the poor people in New Orleans black? Why haven't I heard anybody attacking the poor leadership being shown by Louisiana's female governor? Why are the reports of violence in the city creating impressions that the city is a war zone or a dangerous jungle instead of a human disaster area? Is it because some of the people arrested for the violence are black? Why is violence in the city slowing down the aid that is supposed to be coming there? Why are police and the public so worried about looting when people are dying from lack of food and water? (Because the police have been so worried about looters, there are more people that are dying from lack of food and water. Who cares about material stuff and stealing at a time like this?) Why have white looters been depicted in some media outlets as looting "food and supplies" while black people are shown hauling off vaccum cleaners and tv's?

Some people are becoming very angry about this situation. I can understand that, but I simply don’t share the feeling. Being angry is a way to cope with what has happened and it’s never done much for me. I think right now people are entitled to feel however they wish and do what they have to in order to get by. Blaming people is a way to feel more secure and provide an outlet for frustrations and unanswered questions. But, blaming our leaders who should be protecting us doesn’t make me feel any better about all this. I wish it did because I’ve got a lot of questions weighing heavily on my mind right now. As a man of faith, I feel the only effective thing I can do right now is pray. I need to ask God to help the neglected people left stranded in New Orleans. I will give of my time and money, too, but right now I need to pray. But, why did God allow this to happen in the first place? How can his plan for this world use anything so horrible for any kind of good? Don't listen to anybody who tells you that they have an answer to why God allows this to happen. Of all the Godliest men I’ve ever talked to or heard speak, they’ve all acknowledged that we simply cannot know the God's reason for allowing suffering and trials like this. Of all the big questions connected to this tragedy, this is the biggest: “Why?” To still believe in a God who will allow devastation like this is the definition of faith. In the Bible, Job was tortured through the end of his days because God allowed Satan to test his faith. Job was hugely successful and prosperous until God allowed Job’s family to be wiped out and for his crops to be destroyed. Then he developed painful sores over all of his body. But, through all of it, Job maintained his faith. When he refused to give in the Satan's testing, it became all that he had. It wasn’t until Job died that he found out the reason for it all. And, Job is the quintessential example of the power of faith in the Bible. No one could’ve told Job the reason for it all while he was still on earth and don’t let anybody tell you they know why God allows bad things like this to happen.

Spiritualized - Lord, Can You Hear Me? - this one brings tears to my eyes. Nothing as powerful as a song like this coming from a guy who once named an album, "Taking drugs to make music to take drugs to"...

Curtis Mayfield - Here But I'm Gone - the tendency for me to slip into escapism during a time like this is powerful. Reality is too real sometimes, ya know? Curtis recorded this entire album on his back in the studio, paralyzed. It's from his last album, New World Order. He would die a few years later.