YOUR COVER'S BLOWN

Yesterday for sport I was compiling a list of all my iTunes album art images that don't match the actual recordings to which they're attached.

Many of the missteps are pretty benign: a stock image of Bjork instead of the Debut cover, or the Still Cruisin' cover in place of Pet Sounds.

However, some of the combinations are just weird and random and awesome. Here's a list of my top 5 favorites.

5. John Cale, The Island Years (Disc 2)



John Tracy's shit is mellow. “Slow down,” he says, as he reclines against his guitar case picking out a tune. “Slow down,” says his laid-back black and white tropical shirt. “Slow down,” he whispers through his porn-star stache. John Tracy's shit is super mellow.

4. Various Artists, Like, Omigod! The 80s Pop Culture Box (Totally)



It's got all your 80s favs: Tainted Love, Let's Go to Bed, Too Shy, Nocturne #2 in E flat Major Op 9,2...

3. LCD Soundsystem, LCD Soundsystem



Um, WTF Soundsystem?

2. The Stone Roses, The Stone Roses



My first guess would have been that Stones Throe were a 90s metal band, what with the intentional misspelling and the implied umlaut. The shot of the neo-Goth Brooklyn Bridge behind sheets of rain lends that notion further support. Turns out they're some sort of blues combo...

1. Marvin Gaye, What's Going On



Because nothing says soul like Tiffany, Lisa, Jake, and Spencer, the Finalists of Star Search...

HE'S GOT A FORD CORTINA

There's something to be said for the first day of the year that you can roll the car windows down halfway and play Janie Jones at top volume.

You're a tease February, but I wouldn't have it any other way...

COOLER WEATHER IT'S NOT COOL TO SMILE

Random classic-rock thoughts for a Friday.

After the Gold Rush came up in a mix on my iPhone yesterday, as a blue Toyota Echo with the words “The Merry Maids” printed in pink block letters on the passenger door pulled up next to me at a light. And if a blue Toyota Echo with the words “The Merry Maids” printed in pink block letters on the passenger door could sing, surely it would sing After the Gold Rush...

I have very little use for live versions of songs in general, but Hang On To Yourself from the Ziggy soundtrack is a step up from the studio version. The less said about Arnold Corns, the better...

Moonlight Feels Right by Starbuck is noxious post-hippie piffle, but the marimba solo on the bridge is kickass...

Top 2 Songs That Contain Video-Game Sound Effects
1. Ivan Meets GI Joe, The Clash (Space Invaders)
2. The Logical Song, Supertramp (Mattel handheld electronic football)

Question of the week, from Lana: “Daddy, why does he have $26 in his hand?”

I've been infecting people with Popcorn by Hot Butter all week-- it's your turn now:

I DREAM OF GENIUS

OK, Apple, you decided to call it Genius. Not me.

If you’d have gone with something less presumptuous (like say “iMix” or “24 Algorithmically Related Songs in the Same Genre as the Song You’re Playing Currently”), then we would not be where we find ourselves today.

I’d keep the gloves on, and simply thank you for the added functionality.

But no. You had to go and call it Genius.

And so now I have to gripe.

My first complaint is likely not even Apple’s fault. But it is very annoying that Beatles’ songs cannot be incorporated into Genius mixes.

This is probably some fine-print directive from McCartney/Starkey/Estate of Lennon/Estate of Harrison.

Can’t have the unwashed masses curating and recontextualizing the sacred texts…

Well let it go, gang. You cannot fight this tide.

Secondly, I’m concerned with the tendency to beat certain tracks into submission, like an old FM radio DJ. I have 8,294 songs loaded up on iTunes, but I swear that one of the following titles shows up on every Genius mix I make:

Age of Consent, New Order
Teen-Age Riot, Sonic Youth
Just Like Honey, JAMC
Milk Man, Deerhoof
Papercuts, Broadcast

Now I understand that these songs are probably a pretty accurate genetic mapping of my library, but I would encourage the Genius to learn that there are indeed other songs that share similar strands of DNA.

Finally, trying to figure out why the Genius can find 24 songs related to The Emergency Kisses, but cannot find “enough related songs to create a Playlist” for Come and Play in the Milky Night is the kind of thing that keeps me up all hours…

IN CONCERT

I have tickets for the Titus Andronicus/Pogues show in March, and I just bought a couple for Danielson in April.

But so help me, if Jeff Mangum comes within two states of the District in the fall, I might just lose my mind...

LINES FORM ON MY FACE AND HANDS

This past Sunday was our wedding anniversary. I'll let Alice tell you how many years:



With all sorts of freaky, glammy love, Taeko...

BROADCAST

Last night I was in a Palo Alto hotel room. I was bleary eyed, just checking e-mail and the internet before I went to bed. I came across rumors that Trish from Broadcast was seriously ill, and at first it just seemed like cruel and pointless misinformation.

However, as time wore on, it became clear that the rumors were true. Then I woke up this morning, my fourth day away from home, and saw confirmation that Trish had passed.

Part of me hoped I would get back home to my own couch, flip open my laptop, and find no trace of this information. All the mournful threads would be gone, and in their place would be typically enigmatic plans for the future. New albums, new collaborations, new art...

But being home has not made this any less real. Trish is dead.

I am sad beyond measure, and my thoughts are with her family and friends.

Thank you for the music, Trish...

CORPOREAL

Dammit.

Get well soon, Trish!

YOU'RE GOING HOME

If you're a child of the '70s and can claim to be untouched completely by Baker Street, well then you're a liar or something worse.

RIP, Gerry Rafferty...

ANOTHER YEAR OVER

Winter break time-- I'll be back posting in early January.

Happy holidays to you and yours!

Peace.

SO FRESH, SO CLEAN

My iPod has been talking to me again...

This morning on my way to work, it served up Do It Clean by Echo and the Bunnymen and then followed with Keep It Clean by Camera Obscura.

iPod, do you think I'm dirty?

MUSIC FOR BOYS

No amount of year-end persuasion is going to convince me that The Suburbs is a good album.

I will admit, though, that Sprawl II is a larf.

I'm beginning to think I might have Win Butler issues...

I'LL TUMBLE 4 YA

Big ups to Sebastian for helping his team take first place at their gymnastics meet this past weekend down at William & Mary. He won three gold medals overall, including the all around. (Then I spent the first half hour of the drive home explaining that the medals are not really made out of gold.)

Here's his winning floor routine...

YOU AND ME

We got our iPhones this past weekend.

I downloaded a ringtones app, and it's like deep-fried crack to me.

I've made about a dozen or so. Right now my all-purpose tone is the first 5 seconds of We're Not Adult Orientated.



My dedicated tone for when Taeko calls is the opening of Du Og Meg:

She fell in love with a boy
Who spoke her second language
And who lived across the ocean
In the Evil Empire

Which is pretty perfect...

WHO MADE THE GRADE

A ONE-A TOKE-A OVER THE LINE

Over on the other blog, I'm about to drop a reference to Brewer and Shipley (worst tease ever, I know).

Which led me to this. Gail and Dale doing "one of the newer songs" on the Lawrence Welk Show.

Hang around to the end and hear Mr Welk call it a "modern spiritual."

Sweet Jesus...

SMOKE AND LIGHTNING

It took me quite a while to get around to watching Anvil: The Story of Anvil.

I tend to react snarkily to heavy metal of any stripe, from Black Sabbath to, um, Stryper.

But it turns out the movie has a lot to say about the value of friendship and family and dreams. It’s subtle in ways you might not expect.

Hell, by the time they got to Stonehenge (and they did, literally, get to Stonehenge), I was too caught up in the small-scale human drama to get tripped up by the large-scale Spinal Tappiness of it all.

I think the best thing I can say about Anvil: The Story of Anvil is that I rarely laughed…

BROKEN GLASS EVERYWHERE

My hip-hop history?

Well, I can rap about 45% of Rapper’s Delight. Probably deliver about 90% of The Message. And I'm familiar with varying degrees of PE and BDP. But not much beyond that.

I know Kanye West more as a meme-tastic media figure than as an artist.

But all this buzz about My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (10.0! A! *****!) has inspired me to take the plunge.

OK, accolades, plus a $3.99 price tag from Amazon.

We'll see how it works out...

KNOT MUSIC

So while the official release date for the new Stereolab was 11/16, apparently it was available on iTunes about a week prior.

The curious thing is that it’s not currently available for download from Amazon.

Which leads to the question: Does Apple’s business model really get micro enough to cut deals for windows of exclusivity with relatively low-end unit shifters such as Stereolab?

If so, I don’t know whether to lean toward outright awe or plain derision.

Fun fact: Sebastian took a quick look at this cover the other day and thought it was pretty cool that someone would name an album “Snot Mucis”…

ZING! WENT THE STRINGS

New Stereolab released? Check.

Beatles on iTunes? Check.

The musical highlight of my day? Here...