We are less than two weeks out from Halloween, so I figured I'd go ahead and post my annual volume of Candy Apples & Razor Blades, so that those of you who will be hosting Halloween parties this weekend will have some new tunes to impress your friends. [Edited to add: that was a joke!] Halloween also marks the official anniversary of Burn and Shine-- it turns two this year! It has been really fun posting my comps here, and those of you who have commented, I really appreciate it-- keep those comments coming! If you are new to B&S and would like to find the first two compilations in this series, please click on the "Halloween" tag at the bottom of this post.
Before I say a few words about the new Halloween comp, I'd like to call your attention to the following trailer for a new series which debuts on AMC on Halloween night called The Walking Dead:
It looks awesome, so if you can't watch it that night, be sure to set your DVRs! That's all I'll say about it, feel free to use the search engine of your choice to find out more as there is lots of internet chatter going on about it.
As for this year's edition of CA&RB, it was a treat putting it together. Some returning players from previous Halloween comps are Roky Erickson and the Misfits, of course. I imagine Burn & Shine will be long gone before I run out of songs by those two Halloween friendly artists. Superdrag makes their second appearance on CA&RB with "Take Your Spectre Away" from their split EP with the Anniversary. Helium, which was the very last band I cut when I put together my Matador @ 21 compilation earlier this month, makes their first appearance on any compilation here at Burn and Shine. And of course, there are several more Post Punk bands on here: Australia's Beasts of Bourbon, Boston's La Peste, Tulsa's Los Reactors, and Tucson's Green on Red. There are others that I'd like to mention, but I'll just finish by telling you that the compilation ends with a request. One of my faithful readers asked for "Halloween" by the Dream Syndicate via email shortly after I posted last year's comp. How could I resist?
Creepy Listening!
Candy Apples & Razor Blades Vol. 3: Still More Music for All Hallow's Eve!
01. "Superstitious" [1968] from the Monkees' Head 02. "The Witch" [1964], The Sonics 03. "Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)" [1990], Concrete Blonde 04. "Going to Hell" [1998], The Brian Jonestown Massacre 05. "Ghouls Night Out" [1986], The Misfits 06. "Ghost Ride" [2006], Nebula 07. "Wanna Be a Vampire Too, Baby [1994], Helium 08. "She's Wicked" [1985, Peel Session], The Fuzztones 09. "She is the New Thing" [2007], The Horrors 10. "Mommy's Little Monster" [1983], Social Distortion 11. "Zombie Boy" [2008], The Magnetic Fields 12. "Devil Song" [1988], Camper Van Beethoven 13. "Take Your Spectre Away" [2001], Superdrag 14. "Stake Thru My Heart" [1998], The Fiends 15. "Psycho" [1984], Beasts of Bourbon 16. "I Put a Spell on You" [1967], Creedence Clearwater Revival 17. "A Guide to the Worlds Most Fantastic Monsters" [2009], Hallelujah the Hills 18. "There's a Ghost in My House" [1967], R. Dean Taylor 19. "Black Coffin" [2009], The Fresh & Onlys 20. "Black Night" [1982], Green on Red 21. "Witching Stone" [2009], Black Heart Procession 22. "Be a Zombie" [1981], Los Reactors 23. "Haunt" [1986], Roky Erickson 24. "Better Off Dead" [1978], La Peste 25. "Halloween" [1982], Dream Syndicate
There was a time in the early/mid nineties when it seemed every other new release I bought was on Matador Records. I’m pretty sure that it must be the indie label which is most represented in my record collection. This past weekend, Matador celebrated it’s twenty-first year of existence in Las Vegas with an all-star cast of past and present bands. Last Tuesday, Matador released a fancy little box set to commemorate the occasion with all the proceeds going to charity. I figured I needed to do my own little tribute to the label, so I put together a Matador Sampler of my own.
Twenty-one songs, all culled from what I think of as Matador’s Golden era: 1991-1999. Not to say that there aren’t some fine artists on the label these days, but these are the artists that made me fall in love with the label and kept me coming back for more. Limiting my choices to a nine year period was also an easy way for me to whittle down the number of possible tracks to 21. I did not include any tracks that are on the new box set, nor are there any tracks which may have appeared on the three previous Matador anniversary compilations: What’s Up Matador?, Everything is Nice, and Matador at 15. So this compilation will serve as a great introduction to the label for those of you unfamiliar, and will work nicely as a companion disc for those of you diehard fans who already picked up the box set.
Happy Listening!
Matador @ 21!
01. Yo La Tengo, “Stockholm Syndrome” [1997]. James McNew takes over lead vocals for this should have been a hit from Hoboken’s finest trio.
02. Silkworm, “Couldn’t You Wait” [1995, Marco Collins Session]. I love, love, love this version of “Couldn’t You Wait”!
03. Guided by Voices, “Little Whirl” [1995]. Since I’ve given you all the Pollard you need for awhile, I thought I’d let Tobin Sprout get the spotlight here. From GBV's second album for Matador, Alien Lanes.
04. Bettie Serveert, “Tom Boy” [1992]. As if the world needed another reason to visit Amsterdam?
05. Railroad Jerk, “Bang the Drum” [1995]. The Fall meets Jon Spencer on this romp-- you'll be singing along the first time through.
06. Chavez, “Unreal is Here” [1996]. Matt Sweeney has collaborated with a lot of talented people, but his best work might be the two albums released by Chavez.
07. Cat Power, “Say” [1998]. Backed by Australia’s Dirty Three, this is from my favorite Cat Power album, Moon Pix.
08. Cornelius, “Chapter 8 – Seashore and Horizon” [1997]. Keigo Oyamada (aka: Cornelius) creates interesting sound-collages and this one features the Apples in Stereo.
10. Superchunk, “Throwing Things” [1991]. This track was previously featured on Burn and Shine in video form when I celebrated North Carolina during Power Pop Month.
11. San Francisco Seals, “Winter Song” [1994]. Jangly guitars never sounded so good.
12. Pavement, “Elevate Me Later” [1994]. From my favorite Pavement long player: Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain.
13. Bailterspace, “Untied” [1995]. New Zealand’s finest super-group!
14. Spoon, “All the Negatives Have Been Destroyed” [1996]. People who don’t like the first two Spoon records are just plain wrong.
15. Come, “Half Life” [1996]. Four albums, all on Matador, is all we got from the collaboration of Thalia Zedek and Chris Brokaw. All of them worth tracking down.
16. Fuck, “To My Gurl” [1997]. You have to respect a band that would choose ‘Fuck’ as their moniker. Imagine pitching this band to any label, let alone one that was distributed by Warner’s at the time.
17. Teenage Fanclub, “So Far Gone” [1991]. B-Side to their fabulous “God Knows It’s True” single.
18. Guitar Wolf, “Fujiyama Attack” [1999]. The needles were most definitely in the red when this garage-stomper was recorded.
19. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, “Brenda” [1994]. Jon Spencer’s schtick has not aged well, at least not for me. For a brief moment there in early 90's, however, I really thought he might save Rock & Roll.
20. Belle & Sebastian, “A Century of Fakers” [1997]. Technically this did not get released by Matador until 2000, but since it was a reissue of a band already on the roster, I included it here.
21. Liz Phair, “Glory” [1993]. I recently listened to Exile in Guyville for the first time in ages. It still holds up.
Borrowed from one of my favorite Blogs, PowerPop Overdose:
Any links to anything on this blog are here either because it's something I own, ripped myself and uploaded or I found the links on the web. I do not host anything here in any manner. If you would like any of the links removed, drop me a line and I'll take care of it, ASAP.
When I first became obsessed with music, seventh grade, I became addicted to making mix tapes. This lasted for several years, even well into the age of CDRs-- I've probably fathered hundreds of mix tapes. I finally came around to CD burning technology, just when mp3s started really taking off, so I shifted toward mix CDRs. It took me awhile, but I eventually fell in love with my iPod. Playlists can be fun, but I still love making a good mix with a time restraint. That's why I decided to start this blog. I'll keep making my compilations and maybe even get a few people to listen to them. Thanks for stopping by.
