Just Be In Love When You Scream That Song II

Just be in Love when You Scream that Song II

Here we go.

Violent Femmes - Johnny : I've been appreciating a bit more how good the Violent Femmes are since seeing Guster cover their self-titled debut on MTV2 last Friday. My first exposure to the band was during high school, sitting in a car with two other not-theater-type theater friends while they with great anticipation popped in an album. Like the whole environment of the evening and my relation with those friends, I remember the music being roughly defined, dark and still somehow poppy as hell. So, I've always had a considerable warm spot for the Femmes, but I don't think I ever delved too deeply with them. "Johnny" is a track I had never listened to. It has all the angry variations of emotion that Femmes are known for but in a song that pulls itself back into a simple eulogy every time it starts to break away.

Guided by Voices - Echos Myron : Honestly, I like it just because it's a catchy little lo-fi number; a toying melody against an electric wall of noise.

Elvis - (Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame : I've spoken my love for "In the Ghetto" before for its pure bizarrity. But before Elvis was overblown (or switched places with an impersonator), he was singing simple numbers that - so much more than his later efforts - delighted and shocked the world.

Josh Rouse - Love Vibrations : I'm saying "Love Vibration" even though I probably listen to "Slaveship" a bit more, because I feel like if you want to get to know Josh Rouse, "Love Vibration" is a very good place to start. Think Conor Oberst if he was obsessed with soul and could feel the human emotion of love. The album is appropriately titled 1972
, right before the 70s turned sour. (I think.)

Scott Miller and the Commonwealth - Any Song off Thus Always to Tyrants. : Alright. I know I broke the rules, here, but... If you have any love for rock, if you have any love for country, if you have any more love in you than Conor Oberst, you need to stop by your local music shoppe and nab a copy of Thus Always to Tyrants. Steal it if you have to. Scott Miller is not Radiohead. He's not obsessed with form and complexity. What he does is write a song that will hijack your brain and make you believe there is a guitar in your hands and a rock star in your heart. Perfectly crafted, perfectly delivered, perfectly captivating. Nothing more, nothing less. Yum!