When I was in high school and got my first alarm clock/radio, I swear that every morning when the alarm would go out and 100.7 WMMS would start playing on the radio, I heard one of these two songs. I have a soft spot in my heart for them even though they probably both represent the worst of late ’80s FM schlock pop. The Giuffria song popped up on the iPod today when I hit shuffle and it reminded me of high school.
Giuffria – “Call to Your Heart”
Foreigner – “I Want to Know What Love Is”
Always hard to pick a single “best” song of the first quarter but when picking something for the latest Contrast Podcast, I kept going back to Jason Lytle’s “Brand New Sun”. I was a casual fan of Grandaddy’s, own a few CDs but before a year or two ago couldn’t have named any of the band members nor would I have recognized the guys if they were walking down the street. But when given the opportunity to interview Jason for the next issue of The Big Takeover, I really dove deep into his new album – which comes out in May – and it’s “Brand New Sun” that I instantly picked out as a favorite.
Check out all the picks of various bloggers for “Best of 2009 so far.”
You can also download the podcast and listen at your leisure. If you like “Brand New Sun,” you can download it for free over on Amazon.com.
Jonesing for new music by The Breeders? The Deal sisters have released a new digital EP (Fate to Fatal) today that you can purchase at iTunes, Amazon.com, or through the Breeders’ website. There is also a limited run of vinyl copies (1000) that feature silk-screened cover art.
There are four tracks on the EP including “The Last Time,” feature guest vocals by Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees) and a cover of the Bob Marley and the Wailers song, “Chances Are”.
Here’s a video for the title track, “Fate to Fatal”.
One of my biggest regrets from this year’s SXSW was not being able to hear my good friend (and boss @ Donewaiting.com) Robert Duffy speak on the “Bloggers Are Now in Charge” panel. I was supposed to interview the Meat Puppets at the same time (it ended up not happening until the next day) so I missed out. But thanks to the folks at SXSW, they’ve made an MP3 available of the session so I’ll be loading it up on the iPod tonight and giving it a listen.
Other panelists for the session included: Glenn Peoples (Coofer.com), Justin Gage (Aquarium Drunkard), Bill Pearis (BrooklynVegan.com), and Janet Timmons (Out the Other.com).
Download it here.
Sometimes I live under a rock. Case in point – am I the last person to find out that House of Pain has essentially reunited under a new name? I was flipping through a March issue of Scene magazine (a free weekly from Cleveland) when I spotted an article that started off with a mention of former House of Pain MC Danny Boy. The deeper I read into the article, I discovered that Danny Boy put the old crew back together (DJ Lethal, Everlast) for a new project called La Coka Nostra.
La Coka Nostra’s debut album, A Brand You Can Trust, will be released by Suburban Noize Records on my birthday, July 14.
For now, check out a video for “That’s Coke” (and for all you watching at work or in front of the kiddies, this one ain’t safe to listen to in front of youngsters or co-workers).