Warren Franklin and Count Your Lucky Stars Records released the official video for “You Get Weary” off of Warren’s 2nd release Your Heart Belongs to the Midwest.

Emo swoon? Or the "I'm gonna kiack your ass, bro!"? You decide.

In the interest of full disclosure; Warren Franklin is from Rockford, a friend and has been on the Sock Monkey Sound podcast on numerous occasions. One of our own can be seen in the group of chilled out onlookers looking quite plaintive and lovingly at Mr. Warren.

The Count Your Lucky Stars crew will be heading out on the road in March to play some shows in Austin for SXSW and heading out west after that to rock California. Check out more all that news at the Count Your Lucky Stars website.

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FREE: Subscribe to Andy & Reggie's Songs About Stuff and Things on iTunes to receive all episodes

“SOUL CRAYSEE”

Download Episode File   |  Or Subscribe to our show on iTunes to receive up to date free episodes.  Each new episode airs Mondays at noon, central time, on Rockford College Radio, and will repeat on RCR.  Each podcast episode will also be available to download for free on iTunes, and from the official show site, SongsAboutStuffAndThings.com.

Episode Summary:
2-20-2012  |  Presented by Rockford College Radio and Sock Monkey Sound
 ”SOUL CRAYSEE” is the 3rd episode of Andy & Reggie’s Songs About Stuff & Things Radio Hour.   Songs by Bill Withers, Sam Cooke, Baby Huey, Nina Simon, Cassius Clay, and many more artists comprise a brief rundown on the hosts favorite songs related to soul.  Thom Derby makes another timeless appearance to talk about his company’s soul.  Reggie gets upset at Andy for not playing a Prince song.  Special mashups of J.Dilla & Morgan Freeman, and Miles Davis and Richard Pryor.

Sam Cooke with Cassius Clay, March 3rd, 1964 (Photo by Michael Ochs)

Episode 3 Playlist:  SOUL CRAYSEE

1. Better Off Dead – BIll Withers
2. It Ain’t Nobody’s Business – Mississippi John Hurt
3. Over The Breaks (Mashup) – J. Dilla, Morgan Freeman & Mike Wallace
4. Ain’t Misbehavin’- Jell Roll Morton
5. Mighty, Mighty – Baby Huey
6. Greetings (This Is Uncle Same)- The Monitors
7. Soul Train (Intro) – Don Cornelius
8. Pushover – Etta James
9. You’ll Be Mine – Howlin’ Wolf
10. Diamond In Your Mind – Solomon Burke
11. My Ding-A-Ling (Live ’67, San Fran.) – Chuck Berry w/ The Steve Miller Band
12. Pan American Blues – De Ford Bailey
13. Just Between You & Me – Charley Pride
14. The Same Love That Made You Laugh – Irma Thomas
15. New York Girl / Black Power (Mashup) – Miles Davis & Richard Pryor
16. Gimi A Little Break – Love
17. Cu Cu Ru Cu Cu Paloma – Harry Belafonte
18. I Am The Greatest – Cassius Clay
19. I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free – Nina Simone
20. Keep Movin’ On – Sam Cooke

Episode 3 Credits
Produced by: Andy Whorehall
Written by:  Andy Whorehall & Reggie Railroad Reynolds
Song Selections by: Andy Whorehall, Reggie Railroad Reynolds
Guest Narratives:  Thomas Derby, Morgan Freeman, Mike Wallace, Richard Pryor, Cassius Clay
Voicemail Winner:  Thom Derby.
Episode Sponsors:  Kryptonite Bar, Sock Monkey Sound, Derby | Reynolds, Little Caesars Pizza in Loves Park, IL
Episode Shoutouts:  Little Caesars Crazy Bread and Crazy Sauce, Prince’s “Kiss”
Episode Thank Yous:   Sam Cooke

Official Show Site:  www.SongsAboutStuffAndThings.com

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R. Garcia Resurgens cover

DIY Synth-Pop from Atlanta, GA.

With both male and female vocals and long instrumental (electronic) sections, R_Garcia’s Resurgens (Nophi Records) is an interesting and varied record. The album opener, “Seawater,” is a fantastic electro-pop song and easily my favorite on the record. The vivid picture created by the lyrics is matched by a spirited and pulsating beat which together result in a very fun and sincere track.

Other standout tracks include the sweet and poppy “I Was a Feather” and infectious electronic number “Red Line to Shady Grove” (with vocals by recent SMS podcast interviewee NNXT). “The Year 100,000” flips the script and has a total late-70s punk vibe to it, a welcome and enjoyable surprise.

Resurgens traverses many different styles, which results in a record consistent in quality of production, but not necessarily in genre or style. This is actually a strength of the record; as it feels constantly inspired and surprising.

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In the spirit of a holiday that appeals exclusively to the females and others with gooey romantic sides (me included), I felt i needed to contribute with my list of Top 5 favorite Songs For Falling In Love.

Antonia — Motion City Soundtrack

It gets cold when she’s not around/I float until I sink and I’m swallowed up/It’s so cold when she’s not around/I wait for her to come home and tell me I’ll be fine

This song is exactly how I want someone to feel about me. I want them to take all the quirky, weird things I love about myself and put them in a song.

Konstantine — Something Corporate

I always catch the clock it’s 11:11/And now you want to talk/It’s not hard to dream/You’ll always be my Konstantine

Konstantine never fails to bring me to tears. Essentially, it’s more of a break-up song than a love song, but there is always love behind the pain of being torn apart.

The World Has Its Shine (But I Would Drop it on a Dime) — Cobra Starship

Before I met you/I used to dream you up in my mind/All I ever wanted/Was to be understood/You’ve been the only one who could…

This song is best enjoyed at 3 am when someone is serenading you. The hopeless romantic in me loves the idea of being the only one meant for someone else. I also love the feeling that you knew who you were looking for before you even found them.

Waiting for You — Showoff

When I see you smile/It makes me smile too/I can’t believe how far away you really are/Did you ever think for yourself /I can barely think for myself/One wish I had I used on you

This is my favorite song that no one’s ever heard. It plays on my eternal loyalty to those I love, both in friendships and in relationships. It’s very simple, but it means so much.

23 — Jimmy Eat World

You’ll sit alone forever/If you wait for the right time/What are you hoping for?/I’m here I’m now I’m ready/Holding on tight/Don’t give away the end/The one thing that stays mine

I debated with my friend whether this is really a love song. To me, this song means so many different things. It could be about finding the right person, but at the wrong time. It also could be about taking a chance on something that you know is right. Either way, it’s about love, whether you can hold on to it or not.
I could have included the obvious in this list such as Wilson Phillips “Hold On” for the broken-hearted, or Boyz II Men for the “freaky” or even “Lady in Red” for the true, old school romantic. However, I’ve never been one to do what’s expected of me.
You can always dwell on what we don’t have, or how our lives suck and we can’t find love. This year I’m at one of those rare places I’m happy with my life so I prefer to look on the brighter side. I’ve spent far too much time being bitter and jaded anyway.

Let me know what are some of your favorite songs for falling in love in the comments below!

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The Seattle Times had recently labeled Damien Jurado as the godfather of the folk boom. As an artist who has spent around 17 years writing, touring and creating, it is only fitting that certain honors are bestowed. As a folk forger, Jurado has experimented with various recording techniques, different instruments, and different vocal sounds throughout the years. He had seemingly settled in a niche over his past couple records (St. Bartlett & Caught In the Trees), but Jurado again forces appreciators of “folk” music to remember these simple truths about folk music: It is about people and feelings. Feelings that make one dance, that force a tear, that make you tilt your head and wonder, “what was that?” And like the title track (Maraqopa) states, “All are welcome in.”

In something of a new path, Jurado and longtime friend and producer Richard Swift create a janky, Neil Young rocker, and trippy record. This is not all down to the embellishments of the ever creative and uncorralled Richard Swift, but possibly to the fact that Jurado is now the head chef in an institution he built. He knows the ingredients and knows what can, and will, work. But to create an exciting menu, he needs to have some pizzazz, some spiciness. Swift adds musical delicacies, intricacies and vocal harmonies (especially on “Working Titles”) on some tracks that Jurado has never used on a major release.
A song like “Nothing Is the News” is dissimilar with much of Jurado’s discography. It is bluesy, and convoluted with incoming sounds, much like our lives dealing with incessant streams of information. “Museum of Flight” could be the best Coldplay song ever, but they’re too cheap to write a song like Jurado has crafted. Long-time admirers of Jurado are still shown plenty of love as old themes of social stigmas, pain and nature are spotlighted. However, the difference between Maraqopa and other Jurado records is the recording process. Much like the differences from I Break Chairs to On My Way to Absence, there are noticeable differences in the vocal recordings, the focus on acoustic guitars, the addition of drums and synths.

Maraqopa asks to stand above the clouds, and lose oneself for a moment. Pretend folk music is one guy in a coffee shop, or the populist darling Bon Iver. Pretend its music that one can just listen to. It does not have to be analyzed like drug rock, or glossed over like pop; it can simply exist in time and space in conjunction with life. Jurado leaves you to live your life; he just wants to impart a couple of stories, a couple of feelings. He has few demands. He knows we’ll listen (repeatedly, too).

We are all mountains still asleep.

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I’m a little late on reviewing Wugazi, but the recent podcast featuring Ian MacKaye, a write up on one of this year’s most talked about mash-up albums only seems fitting.

I grew up listening to both Wu Tang Clan and Fugazi so their material is very familiar. In recent years I definitely listen to more Wu, but then again Ghostface comes out with a new album every six months and Argument came out when I was a senior in high school. Do the math.

Hip-hop and punk (well, post-punk or whatever the hell you want to call it in this case) constantly fought for my attention as an adolescent and still do as an adult.  When I first heard people going apeshit about how good of a mash-up this album was, I was skeptical. I figured if I really wanted to listen to Wu or Fugazi, I’d just throw on Repeater or 36 Chambers and that would be that. My experience with mash-up albums is that they’re usually pretty boring. Maybe I haven’t listened to enough of them, but I often liken a mash-up to watching the Wizard of Oz while listening to Pink Floyd. Sure, it’s kinda neat if you’ve taken a few bong rips but at the end of the day, I’d rather just keep each classic separate. Plus that kinda shit is for hippies and as Jack Donaghy once wisely quipped, “Never go to a second location with a hippie”.

A few of my friends had played “Sleep Rules Everything Around Me” while we were hanging out and I wasn’t too impressed. Therefore, I didn’t go out of my way to listen to the rest of the album.  A few days ago when I was asked to do a write up on it, I figured it wouldn’t kill me to hear what the buzz was all about. I listened to the album from front to back and was surprisingly impressed. The familiar verses from my favorite Wu-Tang tracks and the defining sound that Fugazi carved out go hella well together. Both groups undeniably had such a large impact on their respective genre so it’s appropriate that their music be weaved together so seamlessly.

Each track was a great amalgamation. I respect the hell out of the amount of work that had to go into making such a great sounding mash-up album. There were even a few verses from some of the more obscure Wu tracks that I had forgot about. One in particular was Ol’ Dirty’s verse from “Ghetto Superstar” off of the Bulworth soundtrack. In retrospect, it was a very well crafted verse and more than appropriate for the original track. When it first came out, I thought it was kinda cheesy, but watched the video when it came on because Mya was hot. It goes even better right along side GZA instead of Pras, that one guy from The Fugees who didn’t do anything after they broke up. Seriously, what the hell happened to that guy after The Fugees?

Overall, I really liked what I heard as I was listening to the album and it definitely showed me that mash-up albums can be great if done properly. The album is actually the brainchild of Cecil Otter, who is a part of the hip-hip group Doomtree from Minneapolis and Swiss Andy, who I’ve never heard of. My only gripes with the album is that I’m so used to hearing some of the tracks in their entirety that when the verses are different or some of Ian MacKaye’s lyrics are weaved into the track, my expectations aren’t met. “The Mystery of Chessboxin’” is one of my favorite fucking raps songs of all time. So, on “Another Chessboxin’ Arguement” when the chorus comes up and I expect to hear Method Man and instead hear Ian Mackaye, it’s a bit weird. Don’t get me wrong, “Argument” is a great song, but it just doesn’t seem right to hear that track any other way.

The tracks that most caught my attention were “Sweet Release” and “Shame on Blue”. If you even remotely like listening to either Wu-Tang or Fugazi, I’d recommend giving the album a listen.

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Ian MacKaye (Creative Commons)

On this episode we welcome Ian MacKaye, founder of Dischord Records, Fugazi, and The Evens. We also have a very special guest host; former guest of the show Mr. Brett Netson, guitarist for Built to Spill. The conversation centered around Ian’s history with Fugazi, the Fugazi Live Series, Dischord and his thoughts on music. It was great to get both Ian and Brett on the line and thanks to both of these gents for taking the time to talk with us. Be sure to check out the Fugazi Live Series at  Dischord.com as well as High Wild & Free with Brett Netson every Friday night at 10:00 pm Mountain time streaming live on RadioBoise.org

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Metroid (NES)

Beyond The Call Of Duty

In response to the… um, interesting Guinness World Record list of top 50 game endings, I was compelled to create my own list of what I feel are the greatest video game endings ever. The endings on this list vary greatly in tone and presentation. The modern games have lavish, movie-like production, while games from the 8-bit era may only be a few static screens and some text. Whether incredibly moving, humorous, shocking, or just plain bizarre, each ending selected for this list is definitely memorable to me in its own way.

A quick comment before we begin: obviously this list is flawed. It is comprised solely of my opinions and is by no means meant to be a definitive statement on the subject. In my 29 years, I’ve finished a lot of games, but not everything, and as a result, many games (and entire genres) are absent from the list.

Finally, thanks to Chris and Kevin for your input and suggestions. I would have totally forgotten Cyber-Lip and Bad Dudes if it wasn’t for you Two Crude Dudes. 

50. The Conduit 2 (Wii)

49. Parappa the Rapper (PS1)

48. Vanquish (PS3/360)

47. Shining Force (Genesis)

46. Wing Commander III (PC)

45. Tekken 3 – Paul’s ending (PS1)

44. Dead Space (PC/PS3/360)

43. Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)

42. Cyber-Lip (Neo-Geo)

41. Street Fighter 2 – Zangief ending (Arcade)

40. Mortal Kombat 4 – Jax Ending (Arcade)

39. Bionic Commando (NES)

38. Golden Axe (Arcade)

37. Bad Dudes (NES)

36. ICO – Watermelon ending (PS2)

35. Final Fantasy XII (PS2)

34. Bayonetta (360)

33. Mega Man 3 (NES)

32. Resident Evil – Best ending (Gamecube)

31. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (PC/PS2/Gamecube/Xbox)

30. Chrono Cross -Best ending (PS1)

29. Phantasy Star IV (Genesis)

28. Tekken 3 – Mokujin (PS1)

27. Final Fantasy VI (SNES)

26. Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete (PS1)

25. Portal 2 (PC/PS3/360)

24. Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty (PS2/Xbox)

23. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)

22. Final Fantasy Tactics (PS1)

21. Silent Hill 2 – Dog ending (PS2/Xbox)

20. 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors – All endings (DS)

19. We Love Katamari (PS2)

18. Doom (PC)

17. Resident Evil 3 (PS1)

16. Phantasy Star II (Genesis)

15. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (3DS)

14. Shenmue (Dreamcast)

13. Metal Gear Solid – Meryl ending (PS1)

12. Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core (PSP)

11. Silent Hill 2 – Water ending (PC, PS2, Xbox)

10. Final Fantasy VIII (PC, PS1) – Despite the story in the game being a bit of a mess, FFVIII’s ending is incredibly satisfying. The excellent use of music and some of the most beautiful CG of the time combine to make this ending quite memorable.

9. Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox) – This borderline anarchic ending encourages players to turn off the TV and take to resisting any and all authority. The last moments of the ending even hint at a sequel, which sadly will likely never come.

8. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3) – An ending longer than many feature-length films, MGS4′s ending contains more plot and twists than most games in their entirety. It’s a lot to take in and somewhat exhausting, but wraps up nearly all of the series’ dangling plot points in a surprising and satisfying manner, which is no small feat for a series as complicated as Metal Gear.

7. Super Metroid (SNES) – The surprising and touching ending really begins during the last battle, and represents some of the medium’s best visual storytelling.

6. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories – Love Lost Ending (Wii/PS2/PSP) - I still remember my stomach dropping when the “twist” of the game hit, and thinking about it for days afterwards. Absolutely brilliant stuff.

5. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Game Boy) – Despite the primitive hardware, this bittersweet ending still packs a significant emotional punch.

4. Chrono Trigger – Developer ending (SNES) - The coolest of 13(!), this ending allows the player to walk around and chat with members of the “Dream Team” that created this RPG masterpiece.

3. Final Fantasy IX (PS1) – Classy and theatrical (literally), this is the high point of storytelling in the Final Fantasy series.

2. Metroid (NES) – It’s impossible to overstate how shocking and revolutionary this ending was at the time. In the mid 80s, human protagonists in games were simply always male (that is if the game even had a human protagonist). Naturally, players assumed that the entire time they were controlling Samus that it was a dude under that suit, but completing the game in under five hours revealed that Samus was actually a woman. Far from a mere twist, this reveal not only changed players’ perceptions of the game, but of the medium in general.

1. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2) – Utterly heartbreaking without being overly sentimental or emotionally manipulative, the end of Metal Gear Solid 3 adds an unforgettable layer of depth to Big Boss, the antagonist of the original 8-bit Metal Gear. Expertly crafted and packed with plot, heart, sincerity, and subtext, the ending of MGS 3 is simply the most profound ending to a game that I have ever experienced; a true reward for the journey.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2)

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Yummy!!!

As human beings, we often fixate on food and drink; heck, we even write songs about it and some of us love food in unnatural ways. Here are 6 music videos that feature food in some way; these songs are either about food, there is food in the video, or a food substance in the title. It’s just food.

1) Eat It – Weird Al

The quintessential song about food by Weird Al Yankovic.

2) Don’t Come Around Here No More – Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers

In this Alice in Wonderland inspired clip, there is muck drinking of beverages and towards the end The Heartbreakers resort to cannibalizm as Alice becomes desert. This one always disturbed me as a kid.

 3) Black Coffee In Bed – Squeeze

Two things to note about this song. 1- It’s a great song. 2- The video is horribly dated and doesn’t seem related to the content in the lyrics whatsoever, which is not surprising.

4) Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Deep Blue Something

I’m throwing this song in for my boy Patrick Delehanty. This song, video, and band are a shit sandwich. Enjoy!

5) Chocolate Rain – Tay Zonday

Did you know this song has over 75 Million views on You Tube? Seriously. This guys is the next James Earl Jones.

6) Sick, Sick, Sick – Queens of the Stone Age

Quite possibly the most disturbing clip on this list.Josh Homme and crew make a good hossenfeffer for this cold socialite.

What are some of your favorite songs about food? Tell us in the comments below.

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FREE: Subscribe to Andy & Reggie's Songs About Stuff and Things on iTunes to receive all episodes

“Heartache”

Download Episode File   |  Or Subscribe to our show on iTunes to receive up to date free episodes.

Episode Summary:
2-13-2012  |  Presented by Rockford College Radio and Sock Monkey Sound
 The 2nd episode of Andy & Reggie’s Songs About Stuff & Things Radio Hour.  15 songs about ‘heartache’ have been selected.  Thomas Derby returns to talk about America and heartbreak; he dedicates a song to his favorite I.T. guy, Sean Lippy.  Linda, Reggie’s ex-girlfriend, stops by to tell the world why she dumped Reggie.  We learn more about Reggie, Andy’s friend, and how and why he ended up in Rockford, IL in the early 1980s.  We also learn about where Reggie lived with Linda before she dumped him.  Song highlights include (you’ll have to come back).

It airs at noon, central time, on February 13th, 2012 on Rockford College Radio, and will repeat on RCR.  Each new episode will premier on Monday at noon, central.  Each podcast episode will also be available to download for free on iTunes, via SockmonkeySound.com, and of course, from here, the official site of the show.

Episode 2 Songs Playlist:  Heartache

1. For The Good Times – Al Green
2. End of The World – John Cougar Mellencamp
3. Simple Twist of Fate – Jeff Tweedy
4. Love Hurts – Roy Orbison
5. It’s Beginning To Look Like The End – Vince Chiarelli Jr.
6. Oh, The Divorces – Tracey Thorn
7. Homewrecker – Nick Lowe
8. Bad News – Kanye West
9. Make It Rain – Tom Waits
10. Ever Fallen In Love – The Buzzcocks
11. Breaking Up Is Hard To Do – Neil Sedaka
12. Lucille – Kenny Rogers
13. Over Time – Lucinda Williams
14. Minor Suite – Cameron McGill & What Army
15. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right – Bob Dylan (With Reggie, Linda, And Thom)

Episode 2 Credits
Produced by: Andy Whorehall
Written by:  Andy Whorehall & Reggie Railroad Reynolds
Song Selections by: Andy Whorehall & Reggie Railroad Reynolds
Guest Narratives:  Thomas Derby, Linda (Reggie’s Ex)
Voicemail Winner:  Thom Derby.
Episode Sponsors:  Kryptonite Bar, Sock Monkey Sound, Derby | Reynolds, The Diocese of Rockford, IL
Episode Shoutouts:  Homewreckers, drug addicts, cheaters, liars, alcoholics, Sean Lippy, and Linda
Premier Episode Thank Yous:   To Reggie, for having a mid-show breakdown; and to the show’s trio Reggie, Thom, and Linda for singing choral-esque harmonies on the outro track as a dedication to Andy.

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But that is just what I am getting at.  Whitney Houston’s death, much like Amy Winehouse and Michael Jackson, is not shocking by any capacity of the mind.  We are talking about artists that were openly admitting to being abused, both physically and verbally, being exhausted, feeling used, and taking in their dark moments.  And I am not trying to take away the fact that all of the artists were insanely talented, it was the only thing in size that beat their stardom.  But when you get to THAT level of fame, and the entire world is watching you, especially when you’re in the beginning stages of a comeback, or taking your final bow, we (the rest of the world) tend to forget that this is not like returning to work after being sick for a couple of days.

Imagine that, being called a legend while you’re alive.  Let that sink in for a few seconds.  Now, imagine every where you go there is a camera going off, someone yelling your name.  Imagine having your name being critiqued with everything move you are making.  Imagine having that word hanging over your head while you are trying to live your life- “legend”.  The entire world knows your name, your face, your family life, your details, and what you are doing at the exact moment.  People believe at that moment that they have the right to rip you apart because they gave you that title- they gave it to you.  People are weak, we aren’t made to take the entire world on our shoulders and carry it, trying to please everyone else in the process of our actions.

We beat the living hell out of Amy Winehouse, panning every single show she did as something that was horrifyingly bad.  Let me show you a video…

We take Whitney Houston’s 2010 shows as a comparison to that of her days of youth, and walk out on it…

I remember watching the videos of Amy Winehouse after her death, when she was doing a string of comeback shows.  It was obvious- she didn’t want to be there, and I don’t know if the fact that she was completely tore up was what made me feel that way, but watching her slur through songs, nearly falling with almost every movement, I can’t believe no one walked on stage and took her off of it.  I can’t believe no one cancelled that tour.  What is even more devastating is that those videos will be her legacy.

We are seeing this with Whitney.  Her legacy is going to be a series of YouTube videos that show her being walked out on, hitting bad notes, and all in the fear (of I am assuming her and obviously her record company, and as of Amy in her scenario) of losing money and fame.  We forget that these are people like you and I, that take on problems that only a very rare, chosen few will ever get the chance to even remotely comprehend.  While we have superiors in the form of a boss, they have millions of people, millions of dollars, and people pulling them in 89 different directions in one decision, watching them.  This isn’t shocking anymore that people are dying like this, especially those in positions of fame and exposure.

We see these people as strictly talent, and that’s fine, that’s their job to “entertain” us.  But we forget when we throw money at people that they aren’t that anymore- people.  We want perfection, we want flawless, we want to see ideal, and why?  Because we can’t achieve it ourselves- no one can.  Let me repeat that- NO ONE CAN ACHIEVE PERFECTION.  But you can bet when our money is involved, you had better be perfect, and not make one mistake.  We don’t care about the person standing in front of us anymore at that point- we care about our perceptions and how much we paid for it.  While I am not blaming our perceptions solely on the reason that these people have died- we definitely played a helping hand in how these people saw themselves, and why they were driven to this point.

While we remember Whitney Houston and the truly awesome talent she had (and don’t let your masculinity hide your appreciation for that voice, you’re an idiot if you do), and we state over and over again how true that statement is, let’s ease up on each other- fame or none.  Tragic and saddening, but let’s be honest everyone, it’s not surprising at this point, and it’s just as sad that that is a reality in reaction.  Cheers Whitney.

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Like a villain breathing down the neck of an unsuspecting victim, The Woman In Black comes that close to what a horror movie should be. Screenwriter Jane Goldman (who has writing credits for X-Men: First Class, Stardust, and Kick-Ass) adapts Susan Hill‘s novel about a city lawyer who is assigned to travel to the country to arrange the affairs of a haunted country estate. The material is then handed to director James Watkins, who does a decent job, but is seemingly hindered by his lack of directing experience. Credit for the movie being as good as it is goes to the casting director (Karen Lindsay-Stewart) and Cinematographer (Tim Maurice-Jones)

While the accomplished actors in the film give stunning performances given the material they had, this is a best role for none of them. The previews are capitalizing on Daniel Radcliffe to sell the movie. In a way, it was a positive. He gave a good performance, really. He copes well with a lack of dialog, making me think that he might be a good actor outside of his Harry Potter fame. However, every time he spoke all I could think was, “Oh, yep, that’s Harry Potter.”

Daniel Radcliffe in The Woman in Black

The setting is absolutely breathtaking. The estate is on an island in the marshes (conveniently) cut off during the tide. There is also (conveniently) fog, which adds to the creepiness of the run-down estate. The writers didn’t rely on dialog to move the story along, letting the visual aspects of the film carry the story in most parts. Rather than slow the story down, this was a strong choice to emphasize the loneliness of the characters and the isolation of the location.

At final count, there was one, single, lonely, jump-out-of-your-skin moment. It was a great one, but the single moment of fear didn’t permeate into the whole film. The story was generally interesting and kept me wondering where they were going to go next, even though it seemed incomplete.  There’s a whole backstory on why the house is haunted and why these strange things are happening. The movie touches on it, but that’s about it. It got on my nerves that I knew there was an interesting backstory and not know anything else about it. Overall, I was left with a feeling that they picked the wrong pieces to include in the movie.

I can’t shake the feeling that this movie could have been so much better. It had all the elements, they just didn’t come together in the right way in the right time. People will still go see it because, as my friend put it: “Yeah, but it’s Daniel and there are ghosts, so obviously I can’t not see it.”

This story has been a book, a play, a TV movie and now a major release. Maybe it’s time to just call it quits.

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of Montreal stopped by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday  Feb. 12 to perform “Dour Percentage” off their most recent LP Paralytic Stalks. You can buy the album on limited edition fuschia vinyl at the Polyvinyl website.

The performance itself was pretty darn cool. Check it out above. What do you think of it? Let us know in the comments below.

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Jake Orrall of JEFF The Brotherhood at the Kool Haus in Toronto on February 7, 2012.

Tuesday night in Toronto, rock was stripped and brought back to its utmost basics and faces melted at the mere sight and sound of it.

Guitar licks were fat and distorted, vocals were melodic swirls and snarls, and the drums pounded away.  And yes, that’s right, there was no BASS.

First up, guitar and drum brother duo, JEFF the Brotherhood was up.  All was black, then clouds of smoke poured from the stage and engulfed the audience.  A strobe light ignited and then the rock kicked off.

Lead singer and guitarist, Jake Orrall, was an absolute master of the guitar using swirling sound effects and fuzz.  He was also wearing a purple velvet blazer – the clothes matched the sounds!

Jamin Orrall JEFF The Brotherhood drums at the Kool Haus in Toronto on February 7, 2012.

Drummer Jamin Orrall was on count the entire set and when the duo went into long instrumental jams, his arms were nothing but blurs.

Although the band’s set was short, they made up for it with the quality of their songs and their delivery.  Jake was always getting close to the audience and occasionally swigging from his glass and Jamin got up to talk to the audience at one point.

The boys played their hits “Shredder” and “Bone Jam” and for their last song, Alison Mosshart from The Kills came on stage and the three musicians blew the roof of the place.

It was a great way to end a killer set.

Alison Mosshart of The Kills plays a brief guitar bit at the Kool Haus in Toronto on February 7, 2012.

The Kills were on after JEFF the Brotherhood and also played a great show.  But the main event for me was JEFF the Brotherhood – they played their hearts out and it was a billion times better than I had anticipated.

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The teenage quintet of SAUNA are not letting their landlocked lifestyle in Denver, Colorado stifle their predilection for wet reverb or Link Wray-like distortion, nor the graceless charm of twee. The Teen Angst Tape drips with jangly wonder and summer break blues.

Self-dubbed “no coast surf punx,” SAUNA is privy to the regional constraints that make its beach scene fascinations worth pondering. SAUNA playfully refute the regional issue by writing songs like “Beachball” and “Croctopus” that bring to mind beach parties and the toxic monsters that ruin the sun-soaked fun.

The Teen Angst Tape playfully reeks of the frustrating mess of pubescent longing and the hyperbolic dramatizations of young hearts in love written with the cheeky awareness of The Buzzcocks. Singer Molly Bartlett and bassist Ethan Hill pine for absentee lovers on “Please Don’t Go Away” and “Girl Like You”, while the deceptively glam-titled “Glitter Party” is less about feather boas and eye-liner and more about bathroom rendezvous and boom-boom. SAUNA get enough comments about being teenagers, to see the humor in being young and unstable.

To their credit, these are teens with refined taste. With only a year of expertise in their wake, SAUNA is beyond the fledgling state, having already opened for Tennis, Thee Oh Sees and The B-52s. Each band’s impression can be heard in The Teen Angst Tape, whether it’s a Dwyer-esque count off at the beginning of “Glitter Party”, which is a B-52s homage through and through, or following the pristine indie footsteps left in the same sands fellow Denver dwellers Tennis walked. SAUNA isn’t bashful in boasting its influences by sneaking a The Who “Boris The Spider” cover into the set or lending their expertise of Richard Hell & The Voidoids covers to a CBGB’s homage night at the Hi-Dive. SAUNA is not letting the Xs on their hands keep them off a stage.

SAUNA on Facebook
SAUNA on Bandcamp

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Toilet Kids title screen

Complete Shit.

When I was in Japan a few years ago, one of my earliest and most frightening memories was when I entered a public restroom and in the stall where the toilet should be, there was simply a hole in the ground. I initially thought that the hole was where a toilet had been removed. I later learned that hole was the toilet…

Toilet Kids is a very Japanese, fecal-focused scatological shooter released for the PC Engine (Japan’s name for the TurboGrafx-16) in 1992. The story begins with a young boy getting sucked into a toilet, which apparently is a portal to a third-rate Xevious clone where you shoot turds. It’s so bizarre and dumb that you can’t help but smile.

This is not fun.

But that smile won’t last once you start actually playing, as the game is absurdly difficult. The enemy placement is cheap with no real rhythm or reason. Like Xevious, you have enemies on two planes (sky level and ground), with a different button used for each. Due to the poor design of the game, it’s extremely difficult to line up your bombs for the enemies on the lower planes while avoiding the projectiles of the enemies on your level. Playing Toilet Kids is an exercise in frustration with no real reward, as the enemies and bosses are uninspired and the poo gag wears thin almost instantly. In the end, the only thing remotely compelling about the game is that it actually got produced.

The "Game Over" screen. Get used to seeing it.

Toilet Kids is the video game equivalent of the hole-in-the-ground restrooms of Japan: bizarre and funny for a moment, but ultimately not worth the effort required.

Toilet instructions posted in a Japanese restroom.

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Fresno, California band The Quiet Americans was formed in 2010 by songwriter Luke Giffen and drummer Eli Reyes. The Quiet Americans combine bright melodies and animal like drums with fuzzed out guitar squall. Sort of like Link Wray meets Dinosaur jr. filtered through an echo chamber. The six song EP Medicine is their first release and is out on local cassette collective Coattrack Records.

The Quiet Americans on Bandcamp
The Quiet Americans on Facebook

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Overall, I like the fact that these guys are thinking outside of the box when it comes to delivering something interesting for their fans to watch. OK Go are nothing if not ingenious when it comes to funding their careers as musicians and the best thing about this band when it comes right down to it is that their music is damn good as well. Check out all their videos and behind the scenes featurettes on the making of their videos on their You Tube page.

What do you think of the video? Let us know in the comments below.

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FREE: Subscribe to Andy & Reggie's Songs About Stuff and Things on iTunes to receive all episodes

“Armageddon”

Download Episode File   |  Or Subscribe to our show on iTunes to receive up to date free episodes.

Episode Summary:
2-06-2012  |  Presented by Rockford College Radio and Sock Monkey Sound
 The premier episode of Andy & Reggie’s Songs About Stuff & Things Radio Hour.  14 songs have been hand selected centered on the end of the world as we know.  NOTE:  R.E.M.’s “It’s the End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” was not selected.  Show highlights include songs by The Flaming Lips, Charlie Louvin, Jeff Tweedy, Mr. Lif, Harry Nilsson and many more.  Show narratives feature voicemail winner, Douglass Arthur Arbisi-Grobnik, and one of our premier episode’s sponsors, Thomas Derby.

It airs at noon, central time, on February 6th, 2012 on Rockford College Radio, and will repeat on RCR.  Each new episode will premier on Monday at noon, central.  Each podcast episode will also be available to download for free on iTunes, via SockmonkeySound.com, and of course, from here, the official site of the show.

Episode 1 Songs Playlist:  Armageddon

1. If The World Should End In Ice – The Handsome Family
2. The Man Comes Around – Johnny Cash
3. Earthcrusher – Mr. Lif
4. The Gash – The Flaming Lips
5. Bad Moon Rising – Creedence Clearwater Revival
6. Barstow – Jay Farrar
7. Highway to Heaven – Ron Banks & The Dramatics
8. Roll Me Away – Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
9. Eve of Destruction – Red Rockers
10. Great Atomic Power – Charlie Louvin featuring Jeff Tweedy
11. There She Goes, My Beautiful World – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
12. At The Bottom of Everything – Bright Eyes
13. The Final Countdown – Europe
14. I’d Rather Be Dead – Harry Nilsson

Episode 1 Credits
Produced by: Andy Whorehall
Written by:  Andy Whorehall & Reggie Railroad Reynolds
Song Selections by: Andy Whorehall, Reggie Railroad Reynolds and Jojo Wrinkles
Guest Narratives:  Thomas Derby, Douglass Arthur Arbisi-Grobnik
Voicemail Winner:  Douglass Arthur Arbisi-Grobnik (El Doug)
Episode Sponsors:  Kryptonite Bar, Sock Monkey Sound, Derby | Reynolds, Machesney Park Mall
Episode Shoutouts:  Trapper Shoeppe & The Shades, Butterburgers from Culvers, Pizza from everywhere, Cherry Vale Mall, City Of Rockford, The State of IL, United States, North American Continent, and special props to Stop-N-Go on North & South Main Streets in Rockford, IL
Premier Episode Thank Yous:   To Chris at Kryptonite for arranging the show, To Vince at Rockford College Radio for scheduling it in.  To Jojo Wrinkles for the last minute playlist assistance; and to Mister Meerasaké for judgmentally prescribing false therapy to address a creative condition that poorly doubts the characters within each of us.

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Lo-fi pop can be a tricky balancing act.  In the past it was exclusively employed by those who had no access to more sophisticated means of production.  Since the full takeover of digital recording, any asshole with a Macbook and a couple hundred dollars worth of microphones can make fairly polished music.  When a contemporary artists comes out with a unsophisticated, static filled sound, it almost always happens as a result of a decision to impart a murky, abstruse quality to the music. Maybe they’ve spent a great deal of time listening to lo-fi artists of the past or maybe they’re just not completely confident in the songs.  It often remains and intentional choice. Because of that intentionality, most lo-fi acts have to toe a pretty strict line of producing numerous pop hooks that are only slightly obscured by the murk of their style.  If they’re able to get that ratio right, it’s delightful.  If they fail, it becomes less so.

Here’s the fun part of this review:  Pinebocks is the music project of a former (I think) Illinois and now Texas resident named Corey Clifford.  I grabbed it out of a pretty big file of music submissions that Sock Monkey Sound writers share on Google Docs.  Pages and pages of people that were like, “Hi. Wanna review my music?” and then were (usually) met with a blanket of crushing silence because many of the staff members sometimes forgot that it exists or started watching Sherlock and didn’t for a while.   I guess I’m only speaking for myself with that last part.

Anyway!

I went digging through it a while back and found the following note:

Hi, my name is Cory Clifford and I have a musical project entitled Pinebocks. To describe my music, I’d say it’s a combination of Orange Juice and The Clean, and it could easily fit into NME’s C86 compilation.

I like all of those signifiers so I decided to have a listen.

Let’s first examine the claims made in Clifford’s self designation.  C86 this is definitely not.  The music is far to sparse and haunting to be confused for the relatively full and sunny sounds of early Pastels or Primal Scream.   This is much more rough shod music. The guitar sounds like Clifford found it in an abandoned basement and decided to record there instead of taking it home. There is a constant hiss and digital reverb makes it all bouncy and tinny. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing because it fits the actual songwriting and performances to a tee.  The Orange Juice comparison does hold up well as there is an obvious Edwyn Collins influence on Clifford’s demented croon.  It’s a cartoonishly sinister vocal style that is adds a sense of ironic comedy. That is very helpful because these songs are fucking dark.  “Flee,” finds a man having abandoned his roots and absconded south, all the while regretting his choices. He sings,

“I’ve never felt so bad about myself as I do now. I’m chronically cursed with a furl in my brow.”

and there is a real fun sense of hyperbolic jokiness.

I hope.

The sinister tone returns in the second song, “My Unfunny Valentine,” a dirgey ode to a dysfunctional romantic connection. Clifford goes at it like a Lynchian lounge act. The song ends with the repeated figure, “My unfunny valentine, you make life so asinine.”  Then I start laughing because I’m kind of fucked up.

Pinebocks are the dark side of Twee.  If you’re into that sort of thing, you’ll probably enjoy Flee/My Unfunny Valentine. Make sure to check out the Bandcamp page for other singles and EPs, or like them on Facebook if that is more your style.

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NNXT aka Jessica Gore

NNXT is Jessica Gore, an Atlanta based musician, songwriter, and producer who this week released her first single “DRNK TXTNG” via the new startup label DigSin. Jessica talks about the launch of the label, the Atlanta music scene, the melding of her DIY sensibility, love of pop music, and the challenges of being recognized as a female producer/engineer in an industry dominated by “the men”. Check out her website at NNXTMusic.com or Digsin.com to download the single for free.

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B.durazzo

When I first took a look at a video of B.Durazzo playing a beat live on two MPCs, I thought to myself, “Damn, this isn’t just some kid playing around with Fruityloops and a sampler. Dude’s talented.” Over the course of the video, Ben played each machine like it was a part of a larger instrument. This is something which defies the notion that most hip-hop isn’t “real music” because of the lack of live instrumentation involved in the creative process. Sure, The Roots have been playing live instruments for to make their music for years, but the vast majority of people that make hip-hop do not. Even the turntable has been questioned as a legitimate instrument but if you’ve ever watched a DMC level DJ, you can see that there really shouldn’t be much of a question. Is Ben using other people’s music to make his? Yes, but you could argue that any musician does the same through their influences. As they say, “There ain’t nothin’ new under the sun.”

Not only was watching Ben play interesting, but the beat which he composes is pretty ill. The instrumental has a haunting quality reminiscent of RJD2′s earlier work and that classic boom-bap feel that really gets your head nodding.

As I listened to each track off of Ben’s album, that reminscence of RJD2 was further reinforced. While he does remind me of RJ’s older work, it’s not in a way that is offensive or “biting” as they call it in hip-hop. Durazzo’s music has an intelligent sound that doesn’t need an emcee to make it interesting. Instead of making his music just a background for another person’s words, each track has a voice of its own. His instrumentals are laden with horns and flutes that carry each track from beginning to end and function to give the album a cohesive feel. The album could use a bit of diversity just to provide a break from the norm but overall, it’s a hella solid effort.

Would I listen to it again? Hell yeah mos def I would. My favorte tracks are probably “Monkey Bars” and “Arsenal”. The drums hit hard as fuck in the intro of “Monkey Bars” and really set the tone for the track. ”Arsenal” just has that quality to it that makes you wanna do something ignorant, like paint graffiti or slap a Wal-Mart greeter. It’s rare to find producers in hip-hop who respect their craft enough to learn the tools of their trade like any other musican would. Unlike most producers, Brandon could even perfom this material live as the process of making it is pretty cool to watch and allows for improvisation. Overall, B.Durazzo has a sound that is well crafted and intelligent. You can listen to Ben’s album and also purchase it HERE.

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The Decemberists

The music industry and politics often overlap due to business interests, SOPA/PIPA, presidential endoresments; but rarely does a decision hit as close to home for a band as this one has for The Decemberists.

Accordions for the Cure

On May 3, 2011, it was announced on The Decemberists official site that Jenny Conlee had been diagnosed with breast cancer and would miss most of the band’s 2011 tour dates while recovering [Wikipedia]. The band started raising funds by selling “Team Jenny” t-shirts on their website shop and donating proceeds to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation. That changed today as the band released this statement via The Decemberists website:

The Decemberists are deeply troubled by Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s recent decision to cut off funding to Planned Parenthood, a vital resource in the battle against breast cancer. Providing cancer screenings to low income women is integral to the prevention and defeat of breast cancer and it is unconscionable that Komen should politicize this very important issue by bowing to the fear campaign being waged against PP by the right. We’ve decided to redirect the proceeds of the Team Jenny t-shirts and buttons away from Komen for the Cure. 100% of the net profits of these items will be instead donated to Planned Parenthood’s Breast Health Emergency Fund

Please help to support this essential institution. And, if you’ve supported the Team Jenny effort in the past, please write to Komen for the Cure via their site (http://ww5.komen.org/contact.aspx) or via twitter (@komenforthecure) and let them know that undermining women’s health for political reasons is unacceptable.

In a related story, the Komen for the Cure was hacked and changed to display this amazing message.

HACK YOU!

All this publicity has donations to Planned Parenthood soaring.

There you go. Rock and Roll!

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Episodes are centered around random subjects, objects– stuff and things, and songs.  This show was inspired by Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hourwhich ran on satellite radio from May 2006 to April 2009.  We look forward to educating and entertaining each new listener on our mission to the other world.  Anyone not along for the ride can tune into any American FM radio station (except for NPR stations and WXRT-FM Chicago, still 1 of the best) to hear the slow death of modern radio as we hear it now.  (How many times can you really stand to hear “Jeremy” or “Sweet Emotion” in one day?)

Andy & Reggie sat down with the show’s head writer in late 2011 to discuss a show centered on sharing the love of music combined with low-hanging fruit (subjects that peasants can grasp in one sitting such as the end of the world, heartbreak, clarity, vegetables, breakfast, and many other subjects that won’t stress out simple minds combined with music) and came up with a successive idea to supplement Mr. Zimmerman’s landmark satellite radio show. We take no shame in acknowledging the greats, but offer no apologies for respectfully ripping them off to carry on a new show, our way.

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Los Campesinos! at Metro | ©Shelby Mongan

The first birthday I had as a resident of Chicago was celebrated with tickets to see a band that I had just started listening to at a place I had never seen before. I was hooked on the music and the venue almost instantly. Fast forward two years and I was back at the Metro in Wrigleyville to see Los Campesinos! again. The Cardiff-based seven piece band are currently touring behind their newest album, Hello Sadness. Between a solid record, the fuel from lead singer Gareth’s break up with twee darling Rebecca Taylor (from Slow Club), and a band that is known for energetic live performances, the Friday night show promised to be something special.

Parenthetical Girls (with Los Campesinos!) at Metro | ©Shelby Mongan

Before LC! took the stage, I was treated to Parenthetical Girls as an opener. I had never heard of the band before that night, let alone listened to them, so I didn’t know what to expect. The band is inevitably from Portland and has been making music for about eight years. Their music was the perfect experimental indie pop appetizer to LC!, but I would have just as easly loved them as a main course. A nice touch to the set was the screen hung behind the band playing vague clips from various movies and videos. Vocalist Zac Pennington played the engaging frontman with a tendency for jaunts into the crowd. I found myself laughing along with his stage banter, a trait not necessarily required but certainly appreciated. All in all, I was quite impressed but not surprised to see a solid set from a seasoned band.

Los Campesinos! at Metro | ©Shelby Mongan

people, thanks in large part to their accents. On stage, though, LC! is anything but quaint. Even the slowest and most poignant of their songs are emphatic and full-bodied. There isn’t joy in their performance so much as there is energy. Each lyric is sung with as much emotion as it had when it was first written. It also doesn’t hurt that their catalogue as a whole, especially as their live staples, are characteristically danceable.

Los Campesinos! at Metro | ©Shelby Mongan

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When: Sunday, January 22, 2012

Where: Subterranean in Chicago, IL

Will this review be filled with familiar faces? Yes it will.

Here’s the deal with the Sunday evening shows that occasionally happen at small bars and clubs.  I’m tired, yo.  I’ve usually spent the previous two days burning candles in every direction with chain free, V.I.P. type bottle service celebrations of life and other peoples’ bodies.  I am a familiar face in various high end hotel lobbies.

What I’m trying to say is that I would usually prefer to spend Sunday on a couch, drinking tea from a mug that has my picture on it, and watching pretentious television or old PBS documentaries.

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Ten Thousand Saints cover

To Positive Youth, To Positive Growth.

Ten Thousand Saints, the debut novel by Eleanor Henderson, is essentially a story of three teens thrust into adult responsibilities. The novel takes place in 1980s Vermont and New York; a setting which is defined and made believable by the almost insane amount of subtle details in Henderson’s writing. Far from dry exposition, Henderson brings locations to life with seemingly inconsequential descriptors that add up to create a very real world, rather than a sterile or nostalgia-tinted one.

Equally well-developed are the characters in the story. You empathize and languish with not only the teens (Jude, Johnny, and Eliza) in the novel, but the adults as well. It’s a fairly somber (but not entirely humorless) tale of teenagers faced with death, pregnancy, broken homes, drug addiction, and well-meaning, but oftentimes incompetent and selfish parents. Without stable home lives, the teens find strength and belonging in the companionship of each other, religion (Hare Krishna), and a music scene (the burgeoning straight edge hardcore movement of the time).

Music is the one constant in Jude and Johnny’s lives. It gives them something to be inspired by, something to be a part of, but perhaps most importantly, something to do. The straight edge scene keeps the boys clean and distanced from their drug-addicted pasts. However, as with any extreme belief system, there is a darker side to the “positive” straight edge movement the teens become a part of.

On the surface, members of the youth crew appear to be paragons of virtue, but beneath there is judgment, dishonesty, prejudice, and violence. How the characters attempt to reconcile and rationalize what is both literally and figuratively tattooed on themselves is maybe the greatest struggle in the novel.

Poignant and purposeful, Ten Thousand Saints challenges the reader to join the characters as they question their convictions, whatever they may be. In this sense, it’s a truly punk rock novel, yet written to be relatable and accessible to any reader. You don’t need to have grown up on Minor Threat and skateboards to enjoy the book, but it definitely helps.

P.S. As I was reading, I was constantly getting songs stuck in my head. Some of the songs were overtly mentioned in the book, others simply because of the subject matter. Think of the following playlist as a fan-created mixtape companion to the book (which should be copied to cassette for maximum effect).

Side A

Slayer – Show No Mercy

Misfits – Violent World

Black Flag – Six Pack

Fifteen – Front

The Hold Steady – How a Resurrection Really Feels

Side B

Minor Threat – Straight Edge

Youth of Today – Youth Crew

Warzone – Don’t Forget The Struggle, Don’t Forget The Streets

Project X – Straight Edge Revenge

The Hold Steady – Barely Breathing

Against Me! – I Was A Teenage Anarchist (Acoustic)

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El Oso performing on Radio Milwaukee 88.9's 414 Music show

Jim Hanke, Jeff Grabowski and Jasen Kinart of the band El Oso sat down for a performance and interview on the Radio Milwaukee 88.9 show 414 Music to promote Saturday’s January 28 concert for the Pablove Foundation at Turner Hall Ballroom. You can stream or download the show at the Radio Milwaukee website. Do it NOW!

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I legitimately had this poster on my wall for years.

I was a strange child in middle school.

Like so many of my pop culture obsessed friends, the roots of my current interests grew early. I had all the form and grace of a quarter Japanese potato who was far too interested in classes. While the other seventh grade girls were dipping their toes into the dating pool for the first time, I was bonding with the Prince and rolling my Katamari around like my twelve year old life depended on it. (If you don’t get that reference, your childhood had a PlayStation 2 sized hole in it.) Needless to say I didn’t exactly fit in, and I felt it was only right for me to look at alternative culture for somewhere I belonged.

In suburban mall culture, if you are looking for alternative, look no further than Hot Topic. I wish I could say that the dimly lit chain store ushered in a period of devotion to The Clash, The Sex Pistols, and The Ramones. Unfortunately it actually meant the growth of my obsessions with bands like Good Charlotte and Yellowcard. (Green Day was my only saving grace at this point.) My fixation on these bands was in no way ironic. Their liberty spikes and male eyeliner spoke to me, and I loved them for it.

Running parallel to my love for all things Warped Tour and studded belts was my love for musical theatre. Seeing professional theatre was a religious experience for me. There was a period in my life where I listened to the soundtrack of Rent at least once all the way through daily. Combine these two worlds and you get a remarkably strange thirteen year old.

I will offer a disclaimer here that there were good foundations at work at that time in my life. Thanks to my parents, my two biggest influences when I was a kid were James Taylor and Frank Zappa. One of the first dates my parents went on was to see Little Feat live, and my dad has been attending blues festivals regularly as long as I can remember.

Nevertheless I dove into a combination of cheesy musical theatre and what can only be considered bad pop-punk. This was a hefty chunk of my foundation as a tween.

I spent many years ashamed of my musical heritage. I could willingly admit to being a Spice Girl fan when I was eight, but any reference to my pseudo-punk phase was spit with distinct scorn. I was not proud. I’ve recently gone so far as to turn off my last.fm while taking a trip down memory lane and listening to Fall Out Boy.

But why? Where does my shame come from? Why do we feel ashamed of the things we loved, and even of the apparently shameful things we love now? I’ll come out and say it. I’ve listened to Ke$ha more times than I’m necessarily proud of. I’m a sucker for the pop beats. Why do I feel embarrassed about that? I don’t think my love for deliciously awful music takes way from the so-called good music that I love too.

There seems to me to be a perpetual need to validate my tastes. Listening to “good” music is more than just statement; it serves as my credentials. Appearance is more important than the preference itself. In the world of carefully crafted internet profiles taking the place of real life first impressions, it all makes sense. The prepackaged list of my favorite bands is carefully crafted not just to reflect what I love, but to act as a perfect snapshot of my personality. It’s meant to clue you into to who I am and to whether or not I’m worth your time. God forbid I commit a faux pas and admit loving Hellogoodbye to a music snob.

Honestly, though, I’m finding it more and more exhausting. I’m much more interesting and certainly more complicated than my iTunes play count. Yes, it’s more difficult to explain, and yes, it may be a challenge to see how I blend deep love for Bon Iver and LMFAO, but I’m sick of apologizing. I’m proud of the “Riot Girl” tank top I wore in support of those good ol’ Maryland punks. I’m proud of still knowing all the words to all of A Chorus Line by heart.

Shame and irony are so 2011.

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The fine folks over at Consequence of Sound posted this sweet video this week, along with upcoming tour dates, by former Sock Monkey Sound podcast guest Into It. Over It. (a.k.a Evan Thomas). Just a dude walking down the street singing directed by Jordan Welker.

Pick up the album Proper via the Into It. Over It. website or No Sleep Records online store, Evan will love you for it. At the very least he will like you quite a bit.

Into It. Over It. 2012 Tour Dates:
01/25 – Columbia, SC @ New Brookland Tavern *
01/26 – St. Augustine, FL @ Cafe 11 *
01/27 – Gainesville, FL @ Double Down Live *
01/28 – Orlando, FL @ The Social *
01/29 – Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade *
01/31 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada *
02/01 – Beaumont, TX @ Antone’s *
02/03 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom *
02/04 – San Diego, CA @ House of Blues *
02/05 – West Hollywood, CA @ Troubadour *
02/07 – Santa Ana, CA @ Yost Theater *
02/08 – San Luis Obispo, CA @ Downtown Brew *
02/09 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill *
02/10 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge *
02/11 – Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern *
03/09 – Lancaster, PA @ Chameleon Club ^
03/10 – New York, NY @ The Gramercy Theatre ^
03/12 – Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Downstairs ^
03/13 – Ottawa, ON @ Ritual ^
03/14 – Toronto, ON @ Annex Wreckroom ^
03/15 – Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick ^
03/16 – Cleveland, OH @ Peabody’s Down Under ^
03/17 – Chicago, IL @ The Bottom Lounge ^
03/18 – Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club ^
03/20 – Denver, CO @ The Marquis Theatre ^
03/21 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Club Sound ^
03/23 – Boise, ID @ The Venue ^
03/24 – Seattle, WA @ El Corazon ^
03/25 – Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre ^
03/27 – San Francisco, CA @ Slim’s ^
03/28 – West Hollywood, CA @ The Troubadour ^

* = w/ Chris Conley, Matt Pryor, Anthony Raneri, and Ace Enders
^ = w/ The Wonder Years, Polar Bear Club, Transit, The Story So Far, A Loss For Words

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