DC's Car Tunes

Here's what's in Heavy Rotation during the daily commute:

Some Girls - Crushing Love
Juliana Hatfield, Freda Love & Heidi Gluck make believe they are DC's house band. Err, well maybe not, but that's what it sounds like to me. This should be on the radio. If you haven't heard Heidi sing yet, check this out. I suspect she'll be a "star" someday with her songwriting strength and voice. Several songs here co-written with Jake Smith from Mysteries of Life and the Vulgar Boatmen. Go directly to the song Magnetic Fields and you'll see why this is a top-notch group.
Human Television - Look At Who You're Talking To
I just found this at Luna. Imagine a mix of The Sea and Cake and Talking Heads. Jangly, bouncy guitar pop with cool bass lines. Roll yer window down, turn it up, and enjoy.
Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon
I saw this band on Conan or Craig Ferguson. Very cool. Lotsa hype in the media as well. This was an emusic.com selection for me this month. Hard to describe, a little weezer-esque (good weezer only), and also some Duckhills in there as well. You may not remember the Duckhills, yer loss. Worth checking out.
The Sadies - In Concert Volume One
OK, I'm a sucker for the Sadies. 2 cd live set with tons of guests. Most importantly Kelly Hogan and Neko Case and their lovely voices. Jon Spencer too. A great party cd.
Guy Clark - Workbench Songs
Available now on emusic.com. (If you haven't subscribed to this yet, you should. $10/month gets you 40 downloads. Their selection is fantastic as you can see from this new release.) What can I say about Guy? Both he and Townes Van Zandt's music pulled me through living in the cultural wasteland of Watseka Illinois. A new batch of songs and a Townes cover, the understated No Lonesome Tune. Bonus from emusic is a live recording of the Guy classic, Texas 1947. If you haven't seen Be Here To Love Me (TVZ documentary) yet, Guy's scenes are classics. They were best friends and his intro at Townes funeral is hysterical. Current favorite is the sweet Magdelene. Never sounded better.
Mysteries of Life - Beginning To Move
I'm a big fan of these guys. Every one of their cd's is a must have. The latest is no exception. Jake, Freda, Dale & Kenny have created another midwestern slice of life. Jake & Freda are moving to England in Sept 06, and the fate of MOL, Vulgar Boatmen and Some Girls is up in the air for now. Buy this and enjoy. Stop Thinking and Hard As I may Try are going to be classics.
Flaming Lips - At War With the Mystics
Hard to keep this out of rotation. Can't wait to see them live in St. Louis on Aug 26th with Sonic Youth. Yep, I'll be there!
Tim Easton - Ammunition
Jeff reintroduced me to Tim. I bought The Truth About Us when it came out and loved it. Remember Get Some Lonesome? I do. Well I didn't follow up with his subsequent releases. Ammunition is quite different, more in the folk troubador tradition, but the songwriting is just fantastic. Buy this as soon as you can. Another emusic.com selection for me.
Das Kapital - Denying the West
Catch the theme? Emusic review led me to buying this. Man is it good. Don't know much about them but comparisons to the Replacements always make me check someone out. Take a listen at emusic and see if you agree.
The Drams - Jubilee Drive
Another band I know little about. However they are currently starting a tour with Drive By Truckers, so I thought I better get hip to them. Kind of a more rocking Bottle Rockets, who I've never taken to. "Some will go willingly and some will kick and scream. Some will sleep the drunken sleep in hopes of happy dreams. Even the strong grow weak," from the Truth Lies Low demonstrates some cool songwriting. I hope to catch them with DBT in October at the Bluebird in Bloomington.
Brian Deer - Songs from Black Cloud Talk
Brian is a singer-songwriter from Indy who is currently recording a full length cd in Nashville. This ep has 3 songs and each one's a winner. They played at Midwest Music Summit at the Melody Inn during the Phyllis picnic. My first time to see them and I really enjoyed the songs. Brian should have long career in music based on what I heard. Also fun to see Bro Brett playing the bass.
Phyllis - Can't Talk at All (Demo)
The boys from Phyllis have been busy recording live to analog in their studio. Check out their myspace page for this goodie from the sessions. Brett sure can write a perty song. They have been opening with this the last couple of times I've seen them live and it absolutely rocks.

Musical Family Tree

Last Friday night, August 11, began 18 hours of rock and roll for yours truly. First up was the Musical Family Tree showcase at Locals Only. This show, among many others last weekend, was part of the 2006 Midwest Music Summit. I guessed right that Locals Only would be the place to be on Friday night. The lineup included many bands that created and have kept Indy's local music scene alive the past 15 years or more. Musical Family Tree is a website dedicated to bands from Indiana. The idea is to collect info and songs from the past and follow the songmakers into the future, a family tree. Its well worth checking out. Of course with good music comes good friends as well. It was great to see a packed house for the lineup. Highlights for me where seeing old favorites the Mysteries of Life (ending their set with Naive Melody by Talking Heads!), Phyllis (a short set marred by heckling patrons...thanks Pete), Gentleman Caller, John Strohm (Blake Babies/Antenna), and Vess Rhutenberg (Pieces/United States Three). I called it quits before the Vulgar Boatmen hit the stage at 1a or later. Interesting tidbit I learned from Matt Speake, VB guitarist, that a documentary is currently being filmed on the famous band. The story and the art is there for a good doc, hope it sees the light of day. Check out the live show posted on MFT (note the date 5/20/2006...Jeff & Keri's reception night!)


Saturday at 1p brought me to the Melody Inn and the 4th annual Phyllis picnic. Free music and free food! This year's lineup was a real winner. ESW (wild bass, adam white drumming his heart out, and keyboard/sax player!! freaky good), Mckel Vee Kel (another John Sheets alter ego....samples, Richard Nixon, and Television furiosity with Phyllis boys!! Fabulous, thanks Johnny, er McKel Vee), Brian Deer and the Achievers (wow, very good roots rock from Brian..Brett on cuntry bass fiddle and high lonesome harmony), Fuglees (you know em, you love em), Born Again Floozies (come on Joe, you do no wrong, a righteous set), and Phyllis. I've seen a few Phyllis shindigs in my life, this was the best one yet. The boys were dead nuts on it. Thanks guys for rockin us. Can't wait for the new platter. Check out a rough mix from the studio on their myspace page.