Remembering Michael Jackson, My Way

The loss of Michael Jackson this week, and thinking about all the great music the man made before succumbing to the weirdness of the megapopstar life, coincided for me with another event–getting my old Lego sets down out of the attic for my own kids to play with. So it is with that nostalgic frame of mind that I present my favorite MJ video making the rounds–a fully animated Lego version of the “Thriller” video:

Alt-Country From Another Country

So, with South America making the news this week for all the wrong reasons (the Argentina mistress of our dirtbag South Carolina Governor), here’s a great new clip of a song from Madera, a self-proclaimed “Alt-Country” band from Uruguay, of all places. It’s actually pretty good stuff, kind of like a spanish language Blue Rodeo.

Chris Pandolfi through the Looking Glass

There are a number of young instrumentalists in the fringes of bluegrass and new acoustic music who are reinventing the genre to their own liking, from Noam Pikelny to Matt Flinner, Chris Thile, and more; add Infamous Stringdusters co-founder Chris Pandolfi to the list with his second solo disc The Looking Glass, out now on Sugar Hill Records.

Without lyrics to catch a listener’s ear, the melody reigns supreme in instrumental music–just ask those sixties surf-rockers like The Ventures. Pandolfi’s chosen instrument, the banjo, at first may not seem that fitting of a vehicle for classic melodies, but just listen to the tone he achieves and the tunes he comes up with here.

Pandolfi’s compositional style varies from a more Bela Fleck-like style of acoustic improv featuring fast waterfalls of notes to a nearly classical frame of reference where the melodic themes repeat again and again in Mozart or Bach fashion. Regardless of the foundation, Pandolfi has managed to put forth the kind of instrumental album one can listen to not as background music but as a fully engaged participant in the cascading sounds coming forth from the players–in addition to Pandolfi, the disc’s pickers include Matt Flinner, Byron House, Stuart Duncan, , Jesse Cobb, Eric Thorin, and fellow Stringdusters Andy Hall and Jeremy Garrett.

check out some of the tunes here:
Chris Pandolfi Myspace

Barry Beckett, RIP

Barry Beckett Passes Away

The specifics are in the link above, but if you think you’ve never heard of Barry Beckett, I can promise that you’ve probably heard him. For a pretty good listing of his production work and the countless albums he appeared on as a keyboard player, check out discogs.com.

Beckett played on many of rock, country, and soul’s most important records as one of the “Swampers”, the Muscle Shoals rhythm section. Checking out his discography is like getting a history lesson in pop music from the last fifty years, and he’s played with everyone from Bob Dylan to Tony Orlando.

You can find lots of clips online which feature Beckett in some manner, but here’s a nice one just posted as a tribute to him:

Springsteen, Live in Stockholm

Just for fun, here’s a clip of one of my all-time favorite Springsteen songs, as performed live in Stockholm just a couple of days ago–being a rough audience video, it really captures the feeling of being in the “pit” for a Bruce show…

Mandy Moore Grows Up to be Amanda Leigh

I posted a clip here recently of the single from pop singer Mandy Moore’s new album Amanda Leigh and raved about how perfect a pop tune it was, without sounding like anything on pop radio. Well, the rest of the album’s out and it’s even more mature and frankly much better than even I expected.

Hard to believe Moore was once part of the teen pop scene that included Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears after listening to this. Look at that picture up there–her hair’s not perfect, or even blonde any more, and yet it’s impossible to take your eyes off her.

The problem, however, is that Moore’s label is promoting the album like she’s still going to appeal to the kids–through Walmart, no less. There’s a great performance and interview video up on Walmart.com that would get blogged about repeatedly if they’d convinced, say, Paste to post it. Moore’s as hip and ‘alternative’ now as any indie-pop chanteuse, and regardless of where she’s been I love where she’s going these days.

Here’s a clip–For the full video, click here.

Mandy Moore on Soundcheck from Lunchbox Studios on Vimeo.

The Great Columbia Mixtape, My Version

Here’s my list of songs that any denizen of the Columbia, SC music scene over the past twenty or so years ought to at least have heard once or twice. This was my part of the process that brought this week’s cover story in the Columbia Free Times (click here for the official mixtape list and clips of most of the songs)

Columbia Iconic Song List

Treadmill Trackstar, Shouldn’t I Take–One of a handful of songs on this list that receieved significant airplay on local commercial radio, this was their “hit.”

Bedlam Hour, Grey Sweater–The self proclaimed “Gods of Rock ‘n’ Roll Power,” Chuck Walker was also a pretty good songwriter, at least of punk anthems like this one about falling for a straightedge chick—“positive future in the grey sweater…”

Hootie, Hold My Hand – on this list for the sheer impact of the band’s success. Plus, it’s a simple, catchy tune that has stood up relatively well now that I don’t hear it ten times a day.

Glass Bead Game, Krishnamurti’s House—this quasipsychedelic pop band never released a proper album, but this song off of a demo recording is good enough that I can sing you the chorus now even though I probably haven’t heard it in fifteen years.

The Spell, She Doesn’t Care—Was Nick Pagan Columbia’s original punk goth rocker? I’ll leave that argument to those who were there, I just remember this snarling, stellar garage-rock song.

Lay Quiet Awhile(Greg Broom Version), Drowning But OK—Combine pretentious poetry and a punk-raised pair of brothers, you get art-rock with an edge.

Lay Quiet Awhile (Danielle Howle version) Time Won’t Help—Hard to pick one song from the Danielle years of this band, this one’s been covered by other bands so it wins.

Danielle Howle, Sitting On A Big Front Porch—The Tantrums recorded an electric version, but I’m still partial to the original bare-bones acoustic take which marked the first officially released recording of Ms. Howle.

Danielle Howle and the Tantrums, She Has a Past—The only time this band got some radio airplay, and it was with the odd time signature of this vaguely Eastern-sounding riff.

Don Bravado, More to Life—A classic slab of sing-along pop-punk from veteran local punk rocker John Sease, his finest song.

Ultraviolets, Annabel Lee—Brent Lundy’s been through more band incarnations than coeds, but he’s written some great songs along the way.

Sourwood Honey, All My Relations—One of the classics from the first full length put out by this band featuring the late Chris Conner.

Blightobody, Party Snout—Seeing the band perform this live on Conan O’ Brien’s show has to rank among the more surreal local music moments of all time.

Crossfade, Cold—or, How To Make a Platinum Album in Your Garage. Great, great song that took a long time to hit but when it did, it hit hard.

Jebel, SCUD—Quirky doesn’t even begin to describe the off-kilter rock of this much-missed band.

Rear Window, Father Tried—The best local replication of the country-pop Hootie vibe, whether that’s what they were going for or not.

Bachelors of Art, Love is Dead—Another band that could have multiple songs on this list, this was from the later, more metal-sounding CD of the same name—the one and only release on the Manifest record label, by the way.

Glam Dogs, Nowhere to Run—Ray Jicha channeled his demons better with later groups like New Jack Rubies, but the unhinged glam rock of this song and its obscene chorus make it his most rock ‘n’ roll moment.

Douglas Chay, I Like Vegetables—Odd, this Chay fellow. Like Daniel Johnston, another largely unsung musical savant, Chay makes the mundane melodic.

Magnetic Flowers, Mark Pyritz Goes to Mexico—The sheer abandon with which this band plays, especially on this road trip anthem, is inspiring.

Benedict College Choir, Say The Word—As good as any mainstream mass choir, this was recorded on the tail end of the choir being named tops in the country two years in a row.

American Gun, American Gun—The theme song from Columbia’s best alt-country band.

Drew Bunting, Deaner and the Schwinn—A personal favorite from a guy who went on to work for the Episcopal Church, part of this was used as a commercial for a local bike shop.

Capital, Luckiest Man in the World—Best hit song from a local band that never became a hit song.

Captain Easy, Love in a Gun—not only did this band produce both Josh Roberts and Ryan Monroe, it also gave us left-field pop gems like this.

Crash Cadillac, We Are the Gamecocks—Best Carolina song ever.

Daylight Hours, Only one Juliet—Sentimental favorite from the ex-courage Riley frontman’s excellent solo disc.

Dead Agent Caper, Goodfriend—Before the Thirsties, there was this band, and this hooky cross between R.E.M. and the Police.

F 13 louder, faster, harder shorter—The title says it all, doesn’t it?

Hickry Hawkins, The NRA Took My Cousin Away—combining country and punk never sounded so redneck, or so right.

The Headnecks, Cornbread Rolls or Mixed—included for its tribute to local institution Lizard’s Thicket.

Midnight Society, Tears of a Woman—Ernie Franks was known as a pretty slick guitarist with this band, but with this soulful pop tune he showed some songwriting chops, too.

Isabelles Gift, Mosquito Machine—Another band where it’s hard to pick one song, this one has the band’s trademark combination of headsplitting riffs alongside a nearly pop hook.

Love Apple, Winnie—Weezer clones? Maybe, but Rivers never wrote a song as cool as this one, about the girl in the Wonder Years TV show.

Psychotoy, Fish Bottle Eye—For a brief time one of Columbia’s most popular bands, this was typical of Dale Simmons’ combination of psychedelia and hard rock.

Nylon Mustang, Nashville Girl—I know nothing about this band, but WUSC had a copy of this early cowpunk song which I played numerous times.

Silers Bald, Got Me Smiling–one of the biggest bands in Columbia for a few years, and they were a Christian pop-rock band.

New Music From Elvis Costello

Secret, Profane, and Sugarcane is the name of the brand new album from longtime critic’s darling Elvis Costello, who has gone through more artistic permutations in the last decade than Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen combined. Costello has returned to a country-folk vibe for the first time since the classic 80’s album King Of America found him exploring American forms of country and roots music. Luminaries like Jerry Douglas and Bryan Duncan backed up Costello in a swift three-day session to produce the album, and that spontaneity shows in the offhand, playful nature of the tunes. Check out this clip from Newsweek, of all places, with Costello playing a solo acoustic blues called “Sulphur To Sugarcane.” He gets bonus points, btw, for mentioning South Carolina in the lyrics.

UPDATE:
Universal Music Group and Elvis Costello are teaming up for a great cause. On the UniversalMusicStore.com they are auctioning off a signed Elvis Costello guitar where 100% of the proceeds go to City of Hope. The City of Hope is dedicated to finding a cure for cancer as well as other life-threatening diseases. The auction will run until Monday, June 15th.

Link to Auction:
Signed Elvis Costello Guitar