One Stupid Mop

We like music. You should too.

Mixtapes - Nothing Can Kill The Grimace

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Mixtapes are a four-piece pop-punk band from Ohio. I have no idea how I found them, but they are the poppiest anything I've held a weeks-long obsession with in years and not felt guilty about on any level.

The bands debut album, Maps, opens and closes with an acoustic track, so you're pretty much immediately thrown into the alternating male-female vocals don't always work out but make Mixtapes because it works, mostly because Maura Weaver's voice is suited to both an acoustic guitar and doot-kat-doot-doot-kat style punk rock.

"Nothing Can Kill The Grimace," the song that instantly convinced me how much I was about to listen to Maps, mostly covers not wanting to go out and get wasted for no good reason. Not that there's anything wrong with getting wasted, but tied to that is a desire to sit home and write. Personally, the two should be combined for ultimate effectiveness. That's me though.

Barely a year old, the band has put out Maps and a few 7-inch's. They also just signed to Warner Brothers. If it was any other major, I'd  be worried but Warner tends to let bands flesh out a bit before actually expecting anything. Man do I hope they don't screw these guys up cause this band actually has potential. They're even smart enough to keep their shots at Green Day good-natured instead of getting all bitter about it. Love it.

Buy Mixtapes debut album Maps at Shockhound.

PS My lesson of the day is that both me and Mixtapes mostly qualify as orgcore. 

Goldie - Digital (feat. KRS-One)

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This morning, while getting into my car, I had an epiphany: Why did I never start calling my Saturn "Goldie"? Lots of people have names for their cars, right? So, why not me? 

Putting aside the fact that my 2001 SL1 has nothing to do with the one-time "King of Jungle" as many referred to him in the late 90s. (Including Tricky, though I don't think he meant it as a compliment. That story can wait for another post though.) The truth is that Goldie is an innovator from both a production and label standpoint. His sound helped define a big part of drum n bass in the late 90s, and his label, Metalheadz, pushed like-minded producers. Also, Metalheadz had the coolest label logo in history.

To cut to the juicy bits of his Wikipedia bio: After putting out the legendary and darkly atmospheric Timeless in 1995. That album got him charting in the UK and he went global. He also went epic, and probably jumped the shark.

In 1998, the double-album Saturnz Return hit turntables and CD players worldwide. The second disc was filled with the sort of stuff Goldie staked his name on, and includes appearances by KRS-One (that's this track) and Noel Gallagher of Oasis (that would be "Temper Temper"). The first disc was a 60-minute largely orchestral but ultimately punishingly good drum n bass track called "Mother." I enjoyed it, but I imagine many thought the concept was preposterous. Those are probably the same people who think Zaireeka was bull shit too though and they don't matter to me.

Pounding beats and rolling, thundering bass lines. Mmmmm. If you didn't experience the electronic music scene in the 90s and early 00s, you missed out cause this stuff sounded great in wall-to-wall packed clubs. 

But my car is maroon. I don't know if it's right to call it Goldie, although I guess I could just tell people it's short for Golda Meir, cause she was tough as shit, kind of like my car. Yeah, that could be fun.

Radiohead - "Lucky"

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I pulled out OK Computer last night with the intention of setting up the epic 01 and 10 playlist. I haven't done it yet, but you can be sure I'll post some sort of explanation on some other website when I do. 

In the meantime, "Lucky" was the last song that uploaded to my mp3Tunes locker and every time I've opened the website today, that's the first song that played. Which means I've heard it at least four or five times in the last 12 hours. (Why I open and close the mp3Tunes tab on my browser so much is an entirely different story.)

Unlike "Paranoid Android," "No Surprises" or "Karma Police," nobody ever posts "Lucky." "Electioneering" was always my favorite track on OK Computer. Right now, it's got competition. Something about the mid-tempo mix of self-doubt, new confidence and begging for a savior appeals to me as we get to the end of another year. 2010 has been a good year, but I'm convinced there's bigger things around the corner.

It says something that an album I listened to obsessively for large stretches of the last 13 years can still reveal new things to me. Worship OK Computer the next chance you get.

Buy Radiohead's OK Computer at Shockhound.

The Minutemen - "The Only Minority"

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I know that this week is the 25th anniversary of D. Boon's death in a van crash because one of the first articles I read this morning, I have no idea how this worked out, was Rob Sheffield's piece on RollingStone.com, "Remembering D. Boon and The Minutemen." So obviously I listened to What Makes A Man Start Fires on the way to work today.

If Boon were still alive, what would The Minutemen would be doing right now? Maybe Mike Watt wouldn't sound a little crazy in "I Need That Record! The Death (or Possible Survival) of the Independent Record Store," which anybody who has spent more than two hours in the same records on more than one occasion should see. It's likely they would have cut a path of influence similar to Sonic Youth, or maybe Fugazi. Hopefully they would have released a lot more music and toured more like the former than the latter, too.

In any case, the albums are still good. Download one you don't have.

Spoon - You Got Yr Cherry Bomb (Country Demo)

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Sometimes Spoon feels like a significantly cooler Steely Dan. The major difference, of course, being that Spoon is playing rock and roll and the dorks with a seriously cool band name are busy being snooty art school musicians. Britt Daniel is cooler than them. By cool, I mean he has the best quality control in history seeing as how there isn't a bad song on any of his albums. (Come on - prove me wrong.)

My hope would have been for a live album, or a collection of actual rarities, but in Bonus Tracks 2008-2009, we get a collection of demos with a few alternate versions that originally were posted for free download on the Spoon website. 

Most of the demos sound close to what appeared on Spoon's two previous albums, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga and Transference, and don't stand out all that much with one exception, and it likely has nothing to do the song itself except for one significant thing. "You Got Yr Cherry Bomb" is the best song on Bonus Tracks 2008-2009, no shock because it also is one of the best songs on either album it was actually released as part of.

I thought, when I saw it on the track list and then when I started listening to it, of The Rolling Stones. The only other time I can remember a band doing a country themed version of their own song is "Country Honk" so I couldn't help it. Just to be clear, I'm not comparing "You Got Yr Cherry Bomb" to "Honkey Tonk Woman." At all. It's just the only other time I can think of it happening.

Bonus Tracks 2008-2009 is not an essential album by any means but the differences on nearly every one of these are the differences between them being very decent songs and the great songs they turned out to be. It's at least as good as any of the last couple of Stones albums though, and that counts for more some people probably think.

Buy Bonus Tracks 2008-2009 from Spoon. (It's only $6.30. Totally worth it.)

The Rentals - Sweetness and Tenderness

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What's the difference between Weezer in 1998 and now? This song. I bet if Matt Sharp rejoined Weezer, you'd get the proper follow-up to Pinkerton within a year. The truth is, Rivers Cuomo needs somebody to tell him to stop trying to be cool and just write a song that he can actually feel.

I hate to harp on it, really, but this came up on my iPod on shuffle today and my first thought was about how great the Blue album and Pinkerton are. Whatever the fallout between Cuomo and Sharp was, it's a damn shame. At least we've got a couple good albums from The Rentals to go with the two classic Weezer albums.

White Lung - "Sleep Creep"

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I'm gonna keep this simple, and almost haiku-like: Female singer. Fast punk that's gonna grate on anybody who isn't into the obnoxious sound. Makes me wanna jump around and break shit, but in a good way. (What the hell is that supposed to mean.)

White Lung's self-titled, 11-track album on Deranged Records is a non-stop, don't blink or you'll miss it screaming freak-out. Once upon a time, the four women who are White Lung would be called Riot Grrrls, and maybe they still should be, but I'm just gonna call them punk as fuck. 

I don't know if it's true but, based on the record, I'm willing to bet they wouldn't think twice about beating your ass for laughs.

And that's the way it should be.

Download White Lung at Shockhound.

Bad Religion - "Avalon"

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As I sift through albums for that Top 11, and realize that it's been a really great year for music, it dawned on me that I never wrote a word anywhere - save a few tweets - about this year's album from Bad Religion, The Dissent of Man.

This is the first time I've listened to a BR album and had the thought that these guys are clearly getting old. Maybe it's because the lyrics are starting to sound more reflective and personal, or maybe it's because "I Won't Say Anything" and "Turn Your Back On Me" sound tired. Really, they should have been left off the album.

Let's look on the bright side though: "Only Rain," "Resist Stance," "Meeting of the Minds," "The Day The Earth Stalled" and even "Cyanide" with it's country-ish solo courtesy of Tom Petty guitarist Mike Campbell. They're all good. And there are several more too. "Won't Somebody," one of the bonus acoustic tracks on the expanded re-issue of New Maps of Hell, is given good heft in its plugged in form.

The thing about the entire album, taken as a whole, is the sound of a band slowing down. I don't think they're settling, despite the fact that this should have been a 12-track album with three or four great bonus tracks. If this isn't the last Bad Religion album, and I sincerely hope it's not, this could be a transition album. I don't know what they're becoming, but there might be an interesting next step. Or they'll just put out another BR record they we all expect them too.

Which brings me to "Avalon." This was one of two songs on the album, "Only Rain," being the other, that really floored me. "Resist Stance" and "Won't Somebody" had long been out there, but continued to floor me. But I digress.

No regrets is one of the longtime themes that, along with the ideas of thinking for yourself and questioning everything, Greg Graffin returns to over and over. On "Avalon," Graffin is pretty solidly suggesting you stop looking over your shoulder and keep searching for it, whatever it is. That's an important message from a guy who has managed to pursue knowledge and experience like few others in punk rock. Henry Rollins comes close, but without a doctorate, he comes up short.

I say it with every new Bad Religion album, and I'll say it again with this one - if you're not already a fan this one probably won't be the one to rope you in. There's a reason they've stuck around though, and whether it's the oozin' ahhs, Brooks Wakerman kicking the beats or Graffin and Brett Gurewitz keeping their Mick-and-Keith streak alive, it's never too late to love the best band in punk rock.

Buy The Dissent of Man at Shockhound.

P.O.S. - Get Smokes

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P.O.S. is from Minneapolis, and is on Rhymesayers, so my first thought was Atmosphere. I'm not comparing. Just saying that I had a standard before I heard a lick.

"Get Smokes," like several other tracks on the 2009 album Never Better, blew my mind. P.O.S. can rhyme. Fast. But combining his lyrical skills with production that is beyond just good sampling was the real surprise. Who expects not just a Fugazi reference, but a sample, on a hip hop album? 

P.O.S. sounds like the best of Def Jux if it was produced by team of one X-ecutioner and one of the guys from Coldcut. What kills me is that there are beats on here comprised of drill'n'bass-style rolling drums, simple click tracks, Kung Fu-soundtrack style jazz and straight up turntablism - that's just bad descriptions off the top of my head - and P.O.S. rips shit up on every single one of them.

P.O.S.? Not so much.

Download Never Better by P.O.S. at Shockhound.

Modest Mouse - "Missed The Boat"

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I heard this song on the radio yesterday. ON THE RADIO! It bothers indie elitists, but Modest Mouse getting huge was a great great thing and the reason should be obvious to everybody who ever loved them.

Isaac Brock, with the help of the rest of the band, is a brilliant songwriter. It doesn't matter if you're talking about the catchy songs or the wordy songs or even the more spaced out songs that have peppered recent albums. The world deserves to hear them, and since the label hasn't messed with what they do, despite what haters may think, it means that people get to hear the cynical and complicated hopefulness that draws everybody to them.

Signing to a major label was the right thing for Modest Mouse to do. The Moon and Antarctica is one of the best albums of the last decade, and the two albums after it, Good News For People Who Love Bad News and We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank, aren't far behind them. Again, despite what the indie elitist haters who just don't want anybody to like the same bands as them may say.

"Missed The Boat" has a hook to it - a hook that caught me from the first time I heard it - but it isn't the upbeat stuff that got the band all over MTV and whatever radio stations claim to have played them. Sometimes, I think Brock is inside my head, which is at turns both the-world-is-beautiful filled with hope and the-world-is-shit filled with angst. The lyrics to this song are so mixed up that you can't possibly think he's just an artist boiling it down for his art, which the good songwriters never do. Here's the hook from this song:

Oh, and we carried it all so well
As if we got a new position
Oh, and I'll laugh all the way to hell
Saying, "Yes, this is a fine promotion"
Oh, and I'll laugh all the way to hell

Damn I love this band.