Salute to the Blue States, Vol. 2

All right, this just in Missouri goes for McCain. So here is the second volume of my Blue States tribute. Also, the video above serves as an extra salute to Ohio, who found its way in this election year (along with several other formally red states!). It is the Breeders doing a cover of GBV's "Shocker in Gloomtown". Oh, and yes, that's GBV peeking in the garage.

Salute to the Blue States - The Rest of the Country

01. "Super Hawaii" by Kincaid
02. "Come On! Feel the Illinoise!" by Sufjan Stevens
03. "California Soul" by Marlena Shaw
04. "The Girl From Washington" by The Windbreakers
05. "Portland, Oregon" by Loretta Lynn & Jack White
06. "New Mexico" by Johnny Cash
07. "Michigan" by Red House Painters
08. "From Wisconsin" by Wolf Colonel
09. "Christmas in Nevada" by the Willard Grant Conspiracy
10. "Minnesota" by the Mountain Goats
11. "Goin' Back to Indiana" by the Jackson 5
12. "Colorado Song" by The Ozark Mountain Daredevils
13. "Florida's On Fire" by Superchunk
14. "Ohio" by CSN&Y
15. "Iowa" by the Phoids
16. "Oh My Sweet Carolina" by Ryan Adams with Emmylou Harris

Time: 59:02

Download it here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/166991936/BlueStates2.zip.html

Salute to the Blue States, Vol. 1

Wow. I mean wow! It really was a Super Tuesday yesterday. It's the first time I've ever gotten up on the Wednesday after election day with an extra spring in my step. In honor of the occasion, I've put together the first of two Blue State compilations. As I write this, the nation still awaits confirmation in North Carolina (leaning slightly to Obama) and Missouri (leaning slightly toward McCain). Today's compilation will only feature the staunchly progressive North East states. To be sure, not all of these songs show the states in the best light, but I can vouch for the superb-ness of each song. Also, I did not take the time to sequence the compilation, but rather I decided to put the states in order of their loyalty to Obama (ie: 67% of Vermonters voted for Barack so Vermont leads things off, while Virginia's 52% has them bringing up the rear). Enjoy!

Salute to the Blue States - The North East

01. "Long Vermont Roads" by the Magnetic Fields
02. "Holiday in Rhode Island" by the Softies
03. "New York" by the Sex Pistols
04. "Massachusetts" by the Bee Gees
05. "Maryland Bridge" by John K. Samson
06. "Delaware" by The Damnbuilders
07. "Connecticut Fun" by Punkestra
08. "Maine" by John Linnell
09. "Pennsylvania is . . ." by Everclear
10. "New Hampshire" by matt pond PA
11. "New Jersey" by Red House Painters
12. "Virginia Way/Shenandoah Breakdown" by the V-Roys

Download it here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/160951103/BlueStates1.zip.html

Candy Apples & Razor Blades: Music for All Hallow's Eve - BaS 001

Okay, I'm a lazy ass. I started this blog over a year ago and this is really my first post. I figured Halloween was as good a time as any to submit my first compilation. A great theme which I had never tackled. I know what you're thinking: "Does the world really need another music blog?" The answer to that is unequivocally, no. So here's the deal, I'm going to post about one of these a month. I'll probably send out an email to give some of you the heads up (or maybe you can subscribe to this thing, I'm not sure). Feel free to share it with your friends, but hopefully this will stay under the radar. Just in case, here is the legal disclaimer (which I'm borrowing from one of my favorite music 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."

Back to the blog. This was harder than I thought it would be. I tried to strike a balance between songs that sounded like Halloween but still had some sort of lyrical connection. It's interesting how most of the really creepy Halloween songs are really long. I shied away from those, adhering to my nearly die-hard, compilation rule of "no songs over five minutes". Anyway, I think I'm finally happy with my first Halloween comp:

Candy Apples & Razor Blades: Music for All Hallow’s Eve

01. “I Walked With a Zombie” by REM (3:10) - No Halloween comp would be complete without a Roky Erickson song. This one has two!
02. “Hey, Hey We’re the Gories” by the Gories (2:08) - These guys should have been bigger.
03. “Bad Things” by Jace Everett (2:44) - I confess, I LOVE the new HBO series True Blood, and I had never heard this song until I saw the opening credits the first time-- sue me.
04. “Ghost Rider” by Suicide (2:33) - This might be the creepiest song on the comp.
05. “Evil Eye” by Ash (3:30) - This one doesn't sound creepy at all, but it's a nice slice of Power Pop with some good Halloween imagery.
06. “Wicked Annabella” by the Kinks (2:42) - Perhaps the darkest song in the Ray Davies canon.
07. “I’ve Been Riding with the Ghost” by Songs: Ohia (3:21) - From the first album I ever bought by Jason Molina-- he's actually got several titles that would fit future Halloween comps.
08. “Halloween” by Siouxsie & the Banshees (3:42) - I considered several "Halloween" songs for this comp, and Siouxsie's is by far the best (apologies to the Misfits, Dead Kennedys, Sonic Youth and Mudhoney).
09. “If You Have Ghosts” by Roky Erickson (3:08) - Here's the second Roky track.
10. “Demons Are Real” by Guided by Voices (0:49) - Robert Pollard was born on October 31st, so it would be criminal not to include GBV-- oh and, Happy B-day, Bob!
11. “Skeleton” by Elf Power (2:09) - Top five song for me of the current decade.
12. “Halloween Girl” by Blue Ash (2:49) - A Halloween love song? As the current GOP VP candidate would say: "You Betcha!"
13. “Walking on My Grave” by Dead Moon (3:03) - Plenty of songs to choose from these Pacific Northwest garage rockers.
14. “Hayride to Hell” by the Hoodoo Gurus (3:17) - One of my favorite Aussie bands.
15. “Ghost Town” by the Specials (3:41) - Horns never sounded so ominous in pop music.
16. “Where Evil Grows” by Gore Gore Girls (2:49) - A cover, written by the same guy that wrote "Seasons in the Sun" (Terry Jacks). I've never heard the original, but I love this version.
17. “Vampires & Failures” by Grandpaboy (3:32) - I personally think the current decade has been much kinder to Paul Westerberg than the nineties.
18. “She’s My Witch” by Kip Tyler (2:19) - This song smokes and it's from the 1958!
19. “Attack of the Ghost Rider” by the Raveonettes (2:33) - From their very Jesus & Mary Chain-ish debut.
20. “Skeleton Man” by Frank Black & the Catholics (3:11) - Another 80s icon that has had a very good run this decade.
21. “You Must Be a Witch” by the Lollipop Shoppe (2:50) - The band name suggests bubblegum pop, but it's straight up American Garage Rawk.
22. “Skulls” by the Misfits (2:01) - I could only pick one.
23. “Do the Vampire” by Superdrag (3:40) - Home state heroes, from their underappreciated sophmore effort.
24. “Where the Wolf Bane Blooms” by the Nomads (2:16) - Very spooky little tune from an eighties garage rock revival band.
25. “Graveyard” by Chad VanGaalen (3:52) - I've been sort of obsessed with Chad VanGaalen over the last few weeks since I got a copy of his new record-- this one is from Skelliconnection.
26. “Demons” by Yo La Tengo (2:19) - YLT have put together quite a body of work, and much of it has an eerie feel to it. This is an early example.
27. “Dance with the Ghoulman” by the Fleshtones (2:24) - Long live the Fleshtones! They kind of ripoff the Chocolate Watchband's "Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love In)."

Here's a link if you'd like to download it:

Candy Apples & Razor Blades: Music for All Hallow's Eve

Oh, and as will always be the case, this thing will fit nicely on an 80 minute CDR, and my format of choice is usually m4a. I welcome any comments and would certainly love to hear what your favorite Halloween songs are.

Cheers.

First things first . . .

Okay, I've taken the plunge. I wanted to set this up so that I could start doing a podcast. Now I just have to figure out how to do that. Stay tuned!