ZENFORMATION PLAYLIST 5/30/2006: Glam Metal Fantasies, Defining Old School, Etc...

RED RIGHT HAND
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Let Love In (Mute/Elektra, 1994)
For some reason, this song always reminds me of driving through Russell, Kansas - the birthplace of former senator Bob Dole.

Hey...don't look at me. No clue, really.

YOUR MOTHER WAS THE LIGHTNING
The Court and Spark, Hearts (Absolutely Kosher, 2006)
Just received the promo for this. Awesome country-rock ditty, a la Uncle Tupelo. One of the most promising acts I've heard out of the AK bullpen. [MP3 Here]

IN LIEU
The Icarus Line, Mono (Buddyhead, 2001)
Lord, this song is really five years old?

I've probably heard this song at least four million times. Still dig the Goth-ish, grungy sound of this track.

Note to the mallrat emo kiddies I always seem to trip over down in Colerain...

You know that depressed-but-really-cool, skinny-red-ties and black-paramilitary-shirt thing My Chemical Romance has been selling you? Um... you know it's not, like, original, right?

People have been ripping off the Quasi-Nazi, White Duke era Bowie thing for years...

CONNECTED FOR LIFE
Mack 10, Bang or Ball (Cash Money, 2001)
Okay, so the album was a bit overhyped.

It's still a well-crafted song. Plus, Ice Cube's a guest vocalist. One can't go wrong with Da Cube.

I must admit, however, that the older I get and farther I'm removed from the community where I grew up, the more and more I feel like that guy from Office Space when I make the morning commute listening to gangsta rap...

THE ROAD TO ROCK & ROLL
Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros, Rock Art and the X-Ray Style (Hellcat, 1999)
There will never be another Joe Strummer.

I'll probably go to hell for writing this, but I've always preferred the stylings of the former Clash frontman to a certain overrated Beatle, the dude who married some chick named Yoko.

KISS ME DEADLY
Lita Ford, Lita (RCA, 1988)
For those reading this who weren't pubescent boys in the late 1980s or early 1990s, Lita Ford was the absolute hottest of the Heavy Metal Guitar Goddesses during that time.

The woman was also one of the best female rock guitarists of the 80s, arguably one of the best all time.

A former member of the pioneering Runaways (which also featured a young Joan Jett), Ford is directly responsible for the nocturnal staining of more He-Man bedsheets than perhaps any other leather-clad vixen of the Glam Era.

SUCKER M.C.s
Run-DMC, Run-DMC (Profile, 1984)
Don't tell me 50-fucking-Cent is Old School, or that Tupac invented rap.

I will dig out a pair of laceless Adidas and put them straight up your saggy-drawers ass.

2WICE
Mission of Burma, The Obliterati (Matador, 2006)
Wow. MoB has been kicking around almost as long as the Ol' ZenFo Pro.

This track is from their latest...love the hard, driving drum intro. You don't hear those enough anymore. [MP3 Here]

ZENFORMATION PLAYLIST DEC. 6, 2005:Patti Smith AND... the Wu-Tang Clan?!?

1. Bonzo Goes to Bitburg - The Ramones, Animal Boy 1985
Johnny Ramone may have been a diehard Conservative, and apparently always hated this Reagan-bashing tune, but for some reason its always been one of my favorite songs.

2. After Forever - Black Sabbath, Master of Reality, 1971
I can't believe it took the rock snob voters at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this frigging long to vote in Sabbath, Lynard Skynard, and the Sex Pistols. "After Forever" is hands-down, my all time favorite Sabbath song. I liked Zeppelin, but, well, my brief Sabbath fixation scared the crap out of my parents, clergy, and teachers.

3. Yesterday is Here - Tom Waits, Frank's Wild Years, 1990
I once made fun of a friend who got dumped because he was so obsessed with a Nirvana song "Lithium" that he stopped in the middle of sex to turn up the radio. (The girlfriend dumped him as he apparently did this often.) Pretty sure I'd exhibit the same level of insanity regarding this song.

4. Triumph - The Wu-Tang Clan, Wu-Tang Forever, 1997
I miss the Ol' Dirty Bastard. Seriously.

5. One More Hour - Sleater-Kinney, Dig Me Out, 1997
Wow. Following up the Wu-Tang with S-K. Riotgrrl and hardcore rap....hmm. I could possibly remix the two...create my own Wu-Kinney or Sleater-Tang remix...hmm...

Nah. That would be too creepy.

6. Set Me Free - The Kinks, Kinda Kinks, 1965
I'm a grungy, heavy distortion guitar player. I like power chords. I like the sound of old analog effects pedals and tube amps. Can't go wrong with the Kinks after jamming for a few hours after work.

7. Between the Bars - Elliott Smith, Either/Or, 1997
Wow. This is like the third song from 1997. Tragic loss to the music world when Smith died. What is it about Popular Culture that sucks everything from a guy, and leaves him in such a sorry state that he ceases to want to live?

8. Housemate Troubles - MC Paul Barman, 12", 2000
I talked with a college student this morning who's about three unwashed dishes away from commiting sororiticide.

9. Ask the Angels - Patti Smith Group, Radio Ethiopia, 1976
Critics love Horses. And its a great album, so great it was recently rereleased. But my favorite song comes off this follow-up release.

Hump-Day Playlist 7/27/05

1. Hold On - Tom Waits, from The Mule Variations, 1999
One of my little sister's ex-boyfriends bought me this album for my birthday one year. One of my favorites.

2. Sexy MF - The Artist then Known as the Artist Formerly Known as Prince
A high school buddy of mine was obsessed with Prince. This song has been stuck in my head for about a decade.

3. Two of Two - The Operacycle

4. Rock and Roll High School - the Ramones
Who doesn't like this song? Reminds me of the fact that I was loaded through most of high school.

5. On the Prowl - The Gossip

6. Bring It On - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
I've been listening to the NC mid-1990s Best of in my truck for two days straight.

7. Cat's in the Cradle - Ugly Kid Joe
Okay, this was this two-hit wonder's No. 2 hit back in 1994. And its a cover of an already classic song. As much as I hate to admit it, I prefer this version to the original. I think its the overdubbed vocals and the heavier mood created by electric guitars.

8. Sucker MC - the Lordz of Brooklyn (Check out the Flash on the main site)
Everlast (of early 1990s House of Pain and solo acoustic rap-rock artist fame) has tried for decades to get his Italian American buddies airplay. This acoustic cover of an old RUN-DMC joint is about a million times better than most of the popular rap-rock stuff.

9. Hurricane - Bob Dylan

10. Love Me - The Cramps
Rockabilly from hell...well, NYC. This song always reminds me of driving around Baton Rouge at night for some reason...hmmm

11. Cop Killer - Body Count
Yup...the same song that led the first Bush, his monkey-boy VP Dan Quayle, and perhaps every soccer mom in America to attack rapper Ice-T, who now plays a cop on TV. Hey kiddies...wanna shock mom and dad? Don't join a band and sing about being angry that the cops won't let you skateboard at the mall. Wanna really piss 'em off? Write a song about seeking revenge over years of police brutality. They might try to pin the LA Riots on you too.

12. The 1913 Massacre - Woody Guthrie
One of the darkest tales of Depression-Era music, up there with Billie Holliday's Strange Fruit.

Saturday Cleaning Playlist

1. The Recidivist - Norfolk and Western
I've seen N&W twice live. Tony Moreno (the group's principle instrumentalist) is one of the most interesting guys I've ever met.

2. John Hardy was a Desperate Little Man - The Carter Family
I remember my great-aunt and her husband at the time, Clarence, playing this song on accordian and harmonica in my grandparent's living room when I was about 7. Clarence was a diehard, old-school Southern Baptist farmer and I don't think he liked this kind of music, but he played it anyway.

3. Me and the Devil Blues - The Cowboy Junkies
Ripped from the soundtrack of this Christian Slater flick, Pump Up the Volume, about a bootleg radio station and the true coolness of independent radio. This song is so mellow and haunting. Uneven soundtrack, but a few good songs.

4. Anarchy Burger (Hold the Government) - The Vandals
"America stands for freedom/but if you think your free/try walking into a deli/and urinating on the cheese." Nuff said.

5. Hunted by a Freak - Mogwai
Mogwai is one of those ethreal-sounding jam bands that has been a college-radio mainstay for a few years now.

6. Tale of Five Cities - Peanut Butter Wolf
One of the major reasons why rap music has been so lame lately, is there's no longer the element of experimental beats in the mainstream. Its all about being radio-friendly - about making Wall Street happier than Main Street. PBW is a bit of a throw-back to those days of Grandmaster Flash, DJ Lethal (pre-Limp Bizkit Fred Durst bitch), Scribbles, Jam MAster Jay, and Terminator X.

7. Edie Brickell (Sixtoo at the helm remix) - DJ Vadim featuring Slug
Such a simple loop. One stupid lyric about "running my toes through your pink sand" almost ruins the track, but its forgivable in place. Slug is a very talented MC with a unique style - but he has seems to have a tendency to get too introspective at times, so caught up that it comes across as self-absorbed.

8. They're Hanging Me Tonight - Marty Robbins
Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs is one of those trully legendary albums, pissing in the face of the concept of "genre". I've seen punk covers of "Big Iron," rock covers of "El Paso," and even a Tejano version of some of the album's songs.

9. Classical Homicide - Dalek
This song reminds me of what the Wu-Tang Clan would've sounded like if they'd performed as a Gregorian Chant outfit....backed by Nine Inch Nails.

10. Angel's Wings - Social Distortion
Off their latest album, Sex Love and Rock and Roll. Still trying to get the riff down.