Digital Noise Academy - Melting Inside

Fond as I am of this song, I'm even more fond of the concept. Digital Noise Academy is made up of the following people: Ken Andrews, Charlotte Martin, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, Sharky Laguana, Tommy Walter, Fernando Sanchez, and Jordon Zadorozny. The Noise Academy consists of them assembling songs in home studios, FTPing to a server, then another one downloads it and adds a track. Ken Andrews (Failure, Year of the Rabbit) and his wife Charlotte Martin are masters of the killer riff. This is a sign of many more badass things to come!

Download this song for free at http://digitalnoiseacademy.com/

Wake Up Song: Nirvana - Breed

Easily the second-most exciting song on Nevermind at first listen.

Beck - Jackass

This comes off much better live than I would have guessed.

The Raconteurs - Salute Your Solution

Yeah, this is going to be on this year's OBX Mix.

Spoon - Don't You Evah

I skipped out on a chance to see these guys this summer, I hope in the end I don't regret it.

Cover Songs Worth Examining: Faith No More - Easy

I remember seeing these guys open for Billy Idol at the Patriot Center and waiting for a punchline that never came.

Cover Songs Worth Examining: Seven Nation Army

Seven Nation Army has to be the best riff written in 20 years. A couple of gutsy interpretations here.

Black Grape - Dadi Wuz a Badi

Out of the dust (angel dust?) of the Happy Mondays came Black Grape in the early-mid 90s. And this was always my favorite song by them. Danceable and badass at the same time.

Carbon Leaf - Mellow Tone

I'm not a massive fan of Carbon Leaf, but the songs I do like by them, I really really like. Just now, walking down the halls of Shirlington House, one of me neighbors is blasting this song and it made me go looking for it. This is a homemade vid that's really interestingly done with some very creative elements.

Secret Machines - The Road Leads Where It's Led

Space rock shakes me to my core, and these guys are probably my favorite space rock band these days.

Mike Doughty - His Truth is Marching On

I don't know if anyone out there pulls chord progressions that snap me to attention any better than Mike Doughty does. Love the low sludgy bass.

Primus - Jerry was a Race Car Driver

I think I like this version even more than the original. Love the guy in the front with the orange wig for no particular reason.

Three Awesome Songs By Failure

Words can't express what a huge fan of these guys I am / was. The Tool-like sound and mix is not a coincidence, Ken Andrews, Failure's lead singer, collaborated and produced many of Tool's albums. Failure's cut from the same cloth, but I think they're more melodic. Enjoy!

Another Space Song

Frogs

The Nurse Who Loved Me

People in Planes - Last Man Standing

The official music video for a song by a band that is quickly becoming one of my favorites.

Stevie Wonder - I Wish

"Rob. Top 5 musical crimes perpetrated by Stevie Wonder in the 80s and 90s. Go. Sub-question: is it in fact unfair to criticize a formerly great artist for his latter day sins... is it better to burn out or fade away?"

MuteMath - Typical

Yes, this will be on this year's Outer Banks Mix, thus the tag. Quite possibly the first-ever band with a keytar that doesn't suck. Love the video.

Wake Up Song: Liz Phair - Extraordinary

I love love love love love love love love love love love love love Liz Phair.

Wake Up Song: Stratovatius - Bloodstone

It's rare when a cover is as good as the original. See the post for the original by clicking "wake up songs" below.

Fat Les - Vindaloo

Introduced before the 1998 World Cup, this has become one of the most common England songs sung on the terraces.

Rolling Stones - Happy

Keith Richards' compositions always kicked ass. He was a hell of a player before he died.

Garbage - Stupid Girl

There are few words in the English language that can describe the crush I had on Shirley Manson when this album and its series of videos came out.

Oasis - Columbia

Back in their early days, Oasis would roll awake in the early morning and yawn out tremendous tunes like this one. This is the one that helped them stand apart, because they rocked like mad, but they still had that groove.

Wake Up Song: Nirvana - On a Plain

Def Leppard - Run Riot

I watch a lot of soccer. And read a lot of soccer Web sites, most of them English. They love to say that a team that wins in a rout "ran riot" all over their opponents. And every damn time I read that phrase, this song pops into my head. So, in honor of Liverpool demolishing Man U Saturday, I present this little ditty.

The Beatles - Everybody's Got Something to Hide, Except for Me and My Monkey

How could I go this long without a Beatles song? Shame. This one's a little-known rocker from the White Album.

The Housemartins - Happy Hour

What a cheerful little band writing happy little tunes. They're like the Bob Ross of pop music.

Wake Up Song: Beck - Jackass

It's actually funny, as I went looking for this song and only found live versions, I was disappointed. I didn't think it would translate as well to being played live as it does here.

Wake Up Song: Stevie Wonder - Sir Duke

If you need me to introduce this song and explain its greatness, then you're dead inside.

Wake Up song: Judas Priest - Bloodstone

Audio only. This is considerably better than yesterday's wake up song, which will remain nameless.

Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train

Since we've already got one guitar god on the blog tonight, had to add the boy wonder as well.

Van Halen - Romeo Delight

These guys were famously rip-roaring drunk during this show, and it shows. This is very sloppy, but they were so mighty that the crowd didn't give a damn. Listen to that roar.

Fishbone - Ghetto Soundwave

If I'm going to espouse the virtues of funk rock, I can't skip out on one of the pioneers of the genre.

Extreme - Get the Funk Out

Not bad, for a Michigan White Boy. Van Halen 3 and More Than Words jokes aside, Extreme actually had a tendency to kick ass from time to time, and funk rock is an underrated genre.

What is it with metal videos and dancing little people?

Wake Up Song: Boston - Feelin Satisfied

I have long maintained that bands named for places are bloated dinosaurs and have a sad tendency to suck. See: Chicago, America, Europe, Kansas, Asia. Boston is certainly no exception, though they have the gift of riff. This song actually completely sucks, except for the hook at the chorus, which is actually awesome (fast forward to 0:53 to hear it). But it's a wake up song, so I'm obligated to post it.

Wake Up Song: The Stone Roses - She Bangs the Drums

It's just about impossible to not feel energized when this song comes on. One of the all-time great kiss-off lines ever: "kiss me where the sun don't shine. The past was yours but the future's mine." was he talking to John Major? Phil Collins? Pop music of the time? Either way, this helped kicked the door in for Britpop to explode. Must have been an exciting time.

Cover Songs Worth Examining: Stevie Ray Vaughan - Voodoo Chile

God, there are times I really miss Stevie Ray. I hesitate to call this a "cover," since it's a nearly note-for-note rendition, but man, that dude could play.

Stereophonics - Check My Eyelids for Holes

Must wash off the 80s metal. No soap to cleanse the shame.

Blue Murder - Jelly Roll

Mentioning John Sykes below made me remember his spinoff Blue Murder. Apparently they put out several albums, but the only one I remember was this one. The first two thirds of this song almost make up for the pudding ending.

This is an impossibly awful video, too.

Whitesnake - Slow An' Easy

You know, before they became a punchline, and while John Sykes was a major part of the band's songwriting, Whitesnake actually put out some really cool tunes.

Wake Up Song: Duran Duran - A View To A Kill

Some days I hate my brain more than others.

Eels - Mr. E's Beautiful Blues

Audio only. AKA "Goddamn right it's a beautiful day."

Wake Up Song: The Format - First Single

Homemade video of a folky-acousticy song that came out a few years ago. I always liked the hook to this one.

Wake Up song: Beethoven - 7th Symphony, Second Movement

Absolutely, positively, indisputably the most powerful piece of music ever written. Performances of this in the 1800s were banned due to its power and majesty.

Big Audio Dynamite - Rush

Embedding the video is prohibited, but click on it to view it on youtube.

Blame Hilary for this one, she brought it up during the Cowboy Junkies show tonight.

Wake Up Song: REM - Don't Go Back to Rockville

Homemade video, with bonus Nightingale Song at the end.

Soundgarden - Rusty Cage

A lot of grunge music is starting to sound dated these days, but these guys and their music never age. Sometimes it's easy to forget what a tremendous band Soundgarden was.

Wake Up Song: Mika - Grace Kelly

Bouncy fun from a serious Freddie Mercury wannabe.

Wake Up Song: The Fixx - Saved by Zero

Blame Roach for this one, we were discussing the awful Toyota ads from this fall and I idly wondered if this Fixx song by the same title was its inspiration. It's not their fault that this turned into the most irritating ad campaign of the football season!

Mike Doughty - 27 Jennifers

This is a new version of a song he did in 2005, and I like it a lot. One of my favorite lyrics ever is "16 Jens, 10 Jennys, and then there was her." This version's quite different from the original, and its video was shot with 27 girls actually named Jennifer. Pretty cool. Is it better than the original? Well, I just happen to have that one here as well in a homemade thing a fan made...

Envelopes - Sister In Love

This is one of those songs I like more and more every new time I hear it. Underground indie stuff makes me smile these days. DIY is not dead yet.

Foo Fighters - My Poor Brain

Audio only. This one hit me when I complained about my brain in the last post.

Dirty Pretty Things - You ... Love It

THREE CHORDS AND A CLOUD OF DUST.

I thought of this song when I dropped a pizza tray and it sounded just like the clatter at the beginning of this song. Somebody save me from my brain!

Fine Examples of Instrumental Rock

An underrated genre, this. I think every guitar wizard I grew up with dreamed of being Joe Satriani. Me, I wanted to be Stu Hamm. Hope you like these.

Joe Satriani - Friends

Stu Hamm - Linus and Lucy

Eric Johnson - Cliffs of Dover

Steve Vai - Bad Horsie

Mike Doughty - Looking at the World from the Bottom of a Well

I don't know if I could find for you any single song that's come out in the last four years that I like more than this one.

Stereophonics - Too Many Sandwiches

Thanks to Tom making me set my iPod on shuffle, I got this one stuck deep in my head early this morning. This is the kind of song that takes me 20 minutes to listen to because I'm constantly backing up to re-listen to bits and hooks and chord progressions.

Wake Up Song: On - Soluble Words

Homemade video, audio only. Ken Andrews, of Failure and Year of the Rabbit, had a side project called On in his early career that spawned some pretty cool minor-chord electronic music. This was always my favorite song from the first album, and thankfully someone has made a home video with it as the background music.

Dead Milkmen - RC's Mom

If the Dead Milkmen themselves hired consultants and paid $1 million in production costs, they couldn't have dreamed up a better video for this song.

Apologies

Note to self: be careful when posting Yahoo videos. The Pretenders video from a couple of days ago was causing the script error you were seeing if you tried to close this site. Pretty sure the problem is fixed now, but I had to kill off a couple of posts to get the problem fixed. We should be all good now.

Wake Up Song: People in Planes - Pretty Buildings

Another good one by a tremendous band. The more I dig into their collection, the more I like these guys.

A Trio of Van Halen Songs

Big ups to Steve, who turned me on to Van Halen Asteroids while at work today. Screamingly (pun!) funny. So it's time to shake off the cobwebs and get back to the whole reason I love Music in the first place.

WARNING: VERY MIGHTY

Hot for Teacher

So This Is Love

House of Pain (Demo Version)

Wake Up Song: Sigur Ros - Hoppipola

It's Icelandic and I don't understand a single word. But it has a very pretty piano hook. I've always liked this song, and I desperately hope the lyrics aren't about strangling family pets.

Wake Up Song: Jesus Jones - Move Mountains

Audio only. I guess I got this one stuck in my head after yesterday's Soup Dragons post. Took a little searching to find this song, and I came across a lot of other Jesus Jones tunes while doing so. I forgot how much I used to like these guys. Has it aged well? I dunno.

Wake Up Song: Soup Dragons - Pleasure

These guys were kinda-sorta like a Scottish Jesus Jones in the early 90s. I like the Blondie sample at the beginning.

Joe Walsh - Walk Away

Audio only. Apologies if I got this wrong and should have labeled this as the James Gang. Joe Walsh wrote some devastating hooks in the 70s, and this will definitely not be the last time he's featured here.

Wake Up Song: Sinead O'Connor - Mandinka

A couple of years before "Nothing Compares 2 U," there was this intriguing song by this unusual artist that had a better-than-average riff. If I recall correctly, this song was on 147 consecutive episodes of 120 Minutes.

Cover Songs Worth Examining: Nirvana - Molly's Lips

Pay close atention to the chord progression of this song. That's right, there's just two of them, played over and over again. Proof that, in the right hands, the simplest works can be the most effective.

For comparison's sake, here's the original:

Cover Songs Worth Examining: Spiderbait - Black Betty

OH GEEZUS HELL YEAH THIS VERSION OF BLACK BETTY THUNDERS AND ROARS. IT'S SO DAMN LOUD I HAVE TO TYPE IN ALL CAPS TO MAKE SURE YOU CAN READ IT. TAKES THE RAM JAM VERSION OF THE SONG, SHREDS IT INTO LITTLE PIECES AND STUFFS IT DOWN YOUR EAR CANAL SO HARD THAT YOUR SINUSES ARE STILL CLOGGED THREE DAYS LATER.

The original, for comparison's sake:

Cover Songs Worth Examining: Kula Shaker - Hush

Kula Shaker put this one out a few years ago, a reexamining of one of Deep Purple's finer works. I have to say, I think I prefer the cover version, it has more of an attacking, relentless feel to it. For comparison's sake, here's the original (audio only):

George Harrison - What is Life

Audio only. Of all the Beatles' solo careers, George Harrison's is the most overlooked. The man could write a hook.

Wake Up Song: Curve - Coast is Clear

Back on the mend today, though I did wake up at 4:30 for no easily discernible reason. Today's wake-up song is by a long forgotten Britpop band who remind me a little bit of Garbage, with heavier beats and layered guitar tracks. Hope you like it.

Music for Sick Days

Yeah, I'm under the weather pretty good today, and I'm going back to bed after posting this. Just a miserable cold. Ugh. So here's a pair of good songs about being sick.

Matthew Sweet - Sick of Myself

Mudhoney - Touch Me I'm Sick

Stereophonics - More Life in a Tramp's Vest

Rock on, Kelly Jones. See my earlier note about huge there, unknown here.

Wake Up Song: MC5 - Kick Out the Jams

Forgive the afros and bell bottoms. They know not what they do. Straight up hard driving rock and roll from the Woodstock era. Forgive, also, the local Detroit TV show breaking in before the end. But this is the best version of the song I could find on YouTube.

Every now and then I'm happy with a song I wake up to. This is one of those times.

Human Radio - Me & Elvis

NOTE: embedding this video is forbidden, but you can click on it to go to the proper YouTube page. Please do, it's cool.

For some reason, whenever I get nostalgic for the 1987-1995 music time frame (in my mind, the greatest period of musicmaking in my lifetime), this song comes to mind. Gotta love a band with electric violin. Yes, they came long before DMB, shut up.

Earth Wind and Fire - Let's Groove

One of the marching bands played this song in front of the Obamas' review stand today, and it was driving me crazy trying to remember who it was who did it.

REM - It's the End of the World as we Know it, and I Feel Fine

Had to chase the wakeup song, and decided to post this as a dedication to the new president. Oh my, I feel fine. DAMN, I feel fine. It's the promise of a new day.

What? A promise of a new day?

Wake Up Song: Europe - Final Countdown

You wake up, you hear the phrase "final countdown to the inauguration," and you get a song stuck in your head that you prefer just slightly to rats digging in your ear canal and eating your eardrums. Sometimes I hate my brain.

Wake Up Song: Gary Wright - Love is Alive

Gary Wright is much better known for the song Dreamweaver, of course, and the picture on this video (the album cover) sure looks like a guy who would sing that song. but not this one. A retooled version of this, with better guitar work, would be pretty epic.

As with the Ratt song from a couple of days ago, I have no idea why this song is in my head this morning.

The Asteroids Galaxy Tour - Around the Bend

The latest iPod ad campaign uses this bouncy, heavy-rhythm, horn-section song. I dig it.

David Lee Roth - Sensible Shoes

Honestly, I have no idea whatsoever why I have this song in my head.

Cover Songs Woth Examining: Newton Faulkner - Teardrop

Just saw this guy perform a gutsy cover of Massive Attack's Teardrop on Palladia's V-Fest show. Isn't it cool? I really dig it. Don't know much about the guy, but I'll investigate.

For comparison's sake, here's the original.

Smithereens - A Girl Like You

No self-respecing fan of hard rock running a blog can deny having several Smithereens songs kicking around in his head from day to day. The best description of these guys I ever heard is that they're a cross between AC-DC and the Beatles. I love these guys.

Explaining the Radio Station References

A couple of folks have asked me about the WAVA, WHFS references in the labels under every post. Growing up in DC in the 80s, you had a choice of radio stations that clearly defined who you were in the social strata of West Springfield High School.

Q107 was the top 40 radio station. Sure, others came around later on, but their "Top 10 at 10" was a show that you were not allowed to miss if you wanted to hear what the hot girls were listening to.

WHFS was the "alternative" station. far and away the coolest station around, even if you didn't really understand what the music was about. Lots of the bookish girls I had crushes on listened to this station, and even if I didn't understand it, at least they played lots of REM and pre-Joshua Tree U2.

WAVA was the AOR station that was DC101's younger, brattier brother. It also eventually went Top 40 (and later became a Christian station), but for a few short years, it was the station to hear all the hard stuff that was too gritty for DC101 and had better reception than 98Rock out of Baltimore. If you watched Beavis and Butthead, Todd would listen to WAVA. West Springfield had a hell of a lot of Todds.

WCXR was the Classic Rock station that came along in about 1985 or so. I actually worked there for a couple of years between my first and second attempt at college. Classic Rock was a new format at the time, and was the most eye-opening format ever for me. Up to that point the only place you could hear the Beatles was on Oldies stations, and you never heard Jimi Hendrix, the Stones, or CCR on the radio until it came along. everyone loved it, and it was a unifying presence in high school.

So if you're confused about the kind of music you think you'd like, keep this in mind and click on the appropriate label on the right to find stuff you think you might like.

RESPEK

"Fire" Songs

Just came in from watching the smoke. The Arlington County Fire Training Academy caught fire tonight (irony!), and Shirlington House is enveloped in smoke as we speak. So in honor of our brave firefighters, I'm presenting four excellent fire songs.

After the Fire - Der Kommissar

Dokken - Into the Fire

Bloodhound Gang - Fire Water Burn

Ozzy Osbourne - Fire in the Sky

Fratellis - Chelsea Dagger

I discovered this song on a lazy Saturday afternoon with the now-defunct Mojo channel playing in the background. Downloaded it, put it on the 2008 OBX mix, and now it's in at least three commercials I've seen. I am a music god.

Gabriella Cilmi - Sweet About Me

Take Amy Winehouse, move her to Australia, subtract the drugs and the lunacy, and you'll send up with something like this.

Oasis - Lyla

Audio only. Don't Believe the Truth was a surprisingly good album.

Wake-up Song: Ratt - Lay it Down

Seems like every morning I wake up with a song in my head and I have no idea why. It's like acknowledging the bad dream you had last night. As screwed up as was, it's all yours and you have to deal with it.

As far as the song goes, I freely acknowledge that I grew up loving hair metal. As ridiculous as most of it is, there are still a couple of bands who could put a good riff together and Ratt was one of them. These guys cracked me up. They all hated each others' guts, but they were a lot better than most of their peers. Enjoy.

Manic Street Preachers - Stay Beautiful

THIS is what I mean about a song with a great hook! IRRESISTIBLE.

Tim Capello - I Still Believe

Song from the Lost Boys soundtrack, written and originally performed by The Call (see post below).

The Call - Let the Day Begin

Audio only. In the stint between my first and second attempts at college, this song was one of my friends' favorite drinking games. I'll let you guess how it was played.

The Pursuit of Happiness - Cigarette Dangles

These guys always blew the roof off the Bayou when they came to town. Just straight up rock and roll.

The Refreshments - Banditos

These guys are still cranking out stupid-fun rock and roll, though not with each other.

School of Fish - Three Strange Days

Buzzy guitar pop from Tampa, circa 1992. Woot.

Gary Young - Plant Man

Oh, why not?

Judybats - She Lives (In a Time of Her Own)

these guys had a run of minor success making bizzarro world pop music. Kinda like the 1990s version of Fountains of Wayne.

BoDeans - Still the Night

Audio only. Yes, they did more than the theme to Dawson's Creek. Or whatever the hell show that was. A fine, fine Milwaukee product producing some serious pop masterpieces.

Dada - Dizz Knee Land

"I just flipped off President George" is thankfully no longer a timeless line.

Mary My Hope - Wildman Childman

These guys were about four years too early for the breakout of grunge. A hidden gem in the back of my CD collection.

Nirvana - Jesus Don't want Me for a Sunbeam

The electric version of this blows away the acoustic one on the unplugged album. My favorite moment is when Dave Grohl plays so hard the cymbal stand collapses.

Stone Roses - Fools Gold

Audio only - full, nine-minute version. Simply legendary. Watch for I Am the Resurrection coming a little later.

Van Halen - Black and Blue

Audio only. I'm putting this in for the benefit of the Flying Rote Brothers.

Jim Noir - Eanie Meany

Can't find the remixed version that Adidas used in its World Cup ads in 2006, but this is still solid, hook-laden pop.

LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk is Playing at My house

Another discovery thanks to Subterranean. The guys dressed as the VU meter make this video

Sons of Butcher - F*ck the Sh*t

54 seconds of why hard rock kicks ass.

Brandston - Earthquakes and Sharks

Audio only. As far as I could tell, no music video exists for this bouncy, fun pop song. Some dude took it and put its audio over a Vanessa Hudgens video. And, after watching it, I find that I don't really mind all that much.

A Guy Called Gerald - Voodoo Ray

Audio only. Don't say a word about this being house music. This song almost singlehandedly brought about the Madchester / Britpop explosion in the early 1990s. I missed it, because I was seriously into grunge, but it's better late than never.

World Leader Pretend - Bang Theory

Another band who I'm not sure even exists anymore. They hit from New Orleans just before Katrina hit. I know they played some benefit shows just after, but if they've done anything since, I don't know.

Failure - Stuck On You

How these guys never broke big is beyond me. Ken Andrews, the lead singer, does more producing than performing now, but he left an archive of tremendous tunes. Look for their (original) version of The Nurse Who Loved Me coming soon.

Van Halen - The Full Bug

I'm including this for two reasons: (1) it's the MIGHTY FUCKING VAN HALEN and (2) I was at this concert. Capital Centre 1982, baby! It was Heavy Metal Parking Lot two years too early.

Interpol - Untitled

Every time I hear the opening to this song, I stop and say "goddamn."

Secret Machines - Nowhere Again

Discovered these guys on Subterranean in 2005 or so. They are long overdue for a new album

People in Planes - Last Man Standing

Saw these guys open for the Stereophonics at the 9:30 Club. Their newest CD has some awesome freaking tunes on it. Check them out.

Oasis - Step Out

You know, when you get past all the bluster and bullshit, Oasis writes some awesome freaking music.

The Clash - White Riot

I specifically put this in here to see if I could get Keith to notice. Is that pandering? This is a clip from the movie Rude Boy. I wonder how much overdubbing was done on this, it sounds phenomenally good.

Stereophonics - Moviestar

I equate the popularity of the Stereophonics with Styx in the 70s. Hugely, massively, powerfully popular on one side of the Atlantic and virtually unknown on the other. Personally, I love these guys, and I think they're making the best music of any current band that I'm into.

Test Post

Welcome to my little corner of the Web.

I am a music snob. A terrible, incorrigible music snob. But not as bad as CJ. Or Roach. well, maybe. I am constantly arguing with Jill over the merits of good bands that she's never heard of and trying to encourage her to see shows like the Sterophonics or Secret Machines.

(I contend that she's the music snob, because she only listens to like-oh-my-gawd POP-ular stuff, but that's an argument for another day.)

I hope to use this site to broaden horizons, and to be broadened by many of you as well. If you've ever felt that thump in your chest when a hook reaches out of the speaker and grabs you, or ever taken 10 minutes to play a three minute song because you keep backing up to hear that segment just after the bridge, then this is a site that I bet you'll enjoy.