A Kick In The Head Playlist 01/31/09

Playlist:
1. Ain't That A Kick In The Head (Dean Martin)
2. Noise Annoys (The Buzzcocks)
3. I Gotta Know (Wanda Jackson)
3. Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) (Beyonce)
4. I'll Walk Along (Dinah Shore)
5. You'll Never Walk Alone (Adicts)
6. We're Coming Back (Cock Sparrer)
7. Time Was (Duerme) (Xavier Cugat)
8. Cindy (Alternate Version) (Ricky Nelson)
9. Queen of the World (Claudette)
10. Yer Still Blue (The Slackers)
11. Sick Boys (Social Distortion)
12. That's Sabotage (Glenn Miller)
13. Harvest Moon (Jason and the Scorchers)
14. Police On My Back (The Clash)
15. Brazil (Helen O'Connell)
16. I'm Telling You Now (Freddie and the Dreamers)
17. Blueberry Hill (Gene Autry)
18. This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak For You)(The Isley Brothers)
19. Cyrano De Berger's Back [Rehersal Version] (X)
20. Sweet Lorraine(Glenn Miller (voc: Artie Malvin))

Looking Ahead from Freezing-Land

1. It is so darn cold in Maine.
2. Another radio show again, this time on Saturday 10-11 am EST. Hopefully, playlists will be posted here again.
3. Reel Big Fish concert review coming soon. Once I stop being lazy.
4. Possible an Andrew Bird concert review soon-like?
5. It is still so fucken cold here. So much snow.

In the meantime:

James Jean at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery

As you guys know, I really love James Jean's work (you might recognize his Fables covers)- it's beautiful, exquisite, and never lacking in some element that is both exciting and puzzling, especially the strange mix of innocence and sensuality found in the details.

He's got a show down in Chelsea right now, and a few friends and I braved the cold (complicated by my complete inability to remember streets) to go see it. If you're in the area (I don't have any info about other shows in other cities, sorry!- but you can see all the pieces at his website), I strongly encourage you to check it out. It's one thing to see his stuff online, another to be able to step right up to it and see all the strokes and detail, full size. Some of my favorites were Vanity and Willow Horse.

INFO

• 529 West 20th Street, 9E New York (between 10th and 11th Aves)
• Tuesday through Saturday, 11am to 6pm
• Til Feb 7

The Beard Revolution

I'm not a huge fan of beards (yeah, I'm talking to you, guy waiting for the L train), but I was recently introduced to Australian band The Beards, who, as they say in their song "Beard Revolution," are determined to bring the beard to the forefront of facial hair culture. With songs like "A Wizard Needs a Beard" and "It Only Takes a Fortnight" and "No Beard No Good,"a separatist bearded anthem, it's easy to see that these guys are hardliner beard proponents, and they spread the message with what they call "bearded folk rock." Their influences, listed on their myspace, include "ZZ Top, The Beatles (during their bearded era), Kram from Spiderbait, The Bearded BeeGee, Abraham Lincoln, basically anyone with a decent beard."

The songs are absurd and clever, and from the sound of some of the live tracks they have on their page, they sound like they put on a fun show. There are six songs available for listening on their page. My favorite is "Beard Revolution," with lyrics like "My friend Eddie's got no beard, he wants to grow one but he can't!" (poor Eddie) and "A Wizard Needs a Beard," which lists various groups required to have beards, including "bearded thugs."

• Listen to the Beards on Myspace
• debut album available at cdbaby
  

Pretty Cookies!

This photostream has been torturing me for the past ten minutes- scroll down to see one of my favorites ("cookies iced with pale pink almond royal icing and crystal sugar") and then check out the rest at her flickr page. The artist/baker is a lady in Philly whose favorite ingredients are "flour, butter, sugar, [and] love," and the cunning detail put into her creations is stunning. You can purchase the products at her store. And don't miss the amazing sushi cake!

"dripping with mantra-like positivity"

[*quoted from Billboard]

Who is Jason Mraz? A name I always heard and saw ads for, but knew nothing about. Despite the similar singer-songwriter surfer-wear laidback image, turns out he is not like Jack "destroy the world by making the most boring music ever" Johnson.

Rather he has had a fabulous single out for awhile, "I'm Yours." And even after C played it maybe 20 times in a row at one point during the Taiwan trip, it's still a good song. The melody is simple and infectious. The instrumental accompaniment is likewise unadorned and perfectly underlines Mraz's disarming vocals. All in all, a sweet little sunshiney feel-good anthem that I highly recommend giving a listen.

Of course I haven't checked out his other stuff. I suck. But enjoy this anyway, it has become one of my top songs in the recent past (yet another undefinable period of time at Noise Annoys, where relative time goes to die. . .)

• Jason Mraz - "I'm Yours"
• Check out the video where Jason Mraz goes on the best vacation ever or something
  
• Buy the single

Dawn Penn - You Don't Love Me (No, No, No)

Hey everyone, I hope you guys are having a great, fun, and safe start to the new year- almost back up on a regular schedule. I'm back in NYC (it's cold) (and the internet is working ! for now) and will be starting the semester soon, so I will have settled back in and broke out the old external HD and more regular posting will resume. As noted before, things are a little rough in the world of posting mp3 files, so the amount of actual albums posted will still be kept to a minimum, but stick around for more single tracks and links to vids.

I'm really glad that everyone enjoyed the Bing Crosby post, and I realized that, in spite of my deep deep love for Der Bingle, I haven't posted many of his non-Christmas albums. This is a crying shame, so I hope to post a Crosby album/collection of tracks real soon.

But for something a little different, here's Kingston-born Dawn Penn doing the now oft-sampled "You Don't Love Me (No, No, No)." I'm pretty sure this is the 1994 version (the song debuted in 1967.) Dawn Penn's vocals are hauntingly refined over a great beat, along with some brass interludes- perfect rocksteady fun for you kids. If you enjoyed dancing to the Sister Nancy track I posted awhile back, you'll have a great time with this one. Check it out!

• Dawn Penn "You Don't Love Me (No No No)"
• Video on Youtube

Taiwan

Hey everyone. I hope your holidays were awesome! I'm in Taiwan for two weeks, so posting is on a little vacation. The connection here is pretty touch & go, so I'm about to try to upload some pics and see if that works. Been very busy eating a lot, eating some more, (delicious pastries!) and getting my wisdom teeth out (tragic hold on delicious pastries!)