The Tip Jar

Here Come the Cars- David Kilgour

2005-06-23T18:07:00.000-04:00

I got this record, "Here Come the Cars" by David Kilgour (The Clean, Great Unwashed) in 1992 or something and I still listen to it. Just has a beautiful sound- so warm and bright. The way the acoustic and electric guitars blend creates a great resonance, and a nice plaintive mood perfect for lying around on a sunny day. Love the tunes, too- very simple, melodic and washy. Kilgour's made many solo records, I also like "Sugarmouth" and some of "A Feather in the Engine". But this one is a gem all the way through.

Take advantage of the WFMU archives!

2005-03-31T21:10:00.000-05:00

WFMU are back in business for another year, after raising over $800,000 in 2 weeks!
Not only is WFMU, by far, the BEST radio station that has ever existed that will play anything (well that the FCC doesn't fine, but we can't really control that) at anytime, they have, for at least 4 or 5 years ARCHIVED almost EVERY show that has aired! BUT WAIT! Most of the DJs are good about keeping playlists of their shows so you can see what was played. BUT THERE'S MORE! You can not only listen to shows, you can search bands that have been played since they've been archived! ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION?!! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS? You can think of any band mentioned thusfar in any of these posts or that you want to hear and search them and chances are some DJ, most likely, MANY DJs have played a song by that band. And you can go right to that playlist, hear the show and fast forward to the song you want to hear. And sometimes, you can click right on the song on the playlist and your Real Audio Player (or whatever you use) will go right to it!
Here's how to do this..
First go to
http://wfmu.org/searchcentral.html
Than go to the Artist/Band Browser option and just type in what band you are curious about.
The results will show what songs have been played by who and when and give you a link to them!
Never leave your home ever again!
Happy Hunting!

Galub's records of the week- 3/31/05

2005-03-31T09:13:00.000-05:00

The first of many (I hope) installments of the best thing(s) I've listened to this week.

The Mice - "For Almost Ever Scooter" (Scat)
- This is an insanely energetic, great power pop comp. of a band from Cleveland that existed in the mid to late 80's. The main songwriter, Bill Fox, later made 2 (at least) solo records for SpinArt I believe that sound good, though more Dylan-influenced and less Buzzcocks.
The songs on this CD are brilliant- extremely well written, structurally taut and concise, melodies to die for and some serious carnage is done with tight harmonies and blazing guitar and drums. And it's all done in a way that sounds fresh and undated. More bands of today could only hope to be half as good as this band was.

The Fighting Brothers McCarthy- "ladies and gentelman"
- I was walking down the street in Austin at about 1 am a couple of weeks ago during SXSW and I heard these gloriuos harmonies coming from a random street corner. I was engrossed for the rest of this great local band's set. The harmonies, sung mainly by two brothers, are blended so well (guess it's a genetic thing) and most of the songs are top-notch pop with great arrangements. I had to buy the CD AND the T-Shirt! And the CD is quite enjoyable. You can hear MP3s on their site at
http://www.fightingbrothersmccarthy.com

Kirsty McColl - "Free World" (song from "Kite")
- Great voice, great song, intelligent, classy lady, she died too soon. All of her CDs are in the process of being reissued- get 'em!

Laura Veirs- "Ether Sings" (song from "Carbon Glacier")
- This song has been in my head for two and a half weeks now. Great writing, THIS is songwriting that Nellie McKay could maybe learn a few things from if she wasn't stuck in her self-absorbed bs clever/cute act. She may be fooling most of the media but she ain't fooling me.

Joanna Newsom - "This Side of the Blue"
- If you can't stomach her voice.. get the fuck out of my blog! Have you ever heard of Bob Dylan you wusses?!
Listen to this song and be moved if you dare!

RIP Paul Hester (Split Enz, Crowded House)

SXSW 2005

2005-03-24T22:52:00.000-05:00

Bands I saw

The Trashcan Sinatras- great band, third time seein' em! They work so well together. Great songs, great harmonies, great jangle geetar..

Mark Hanson- Minnesotan on Kill Rock Stars- high voice, the sound was too bad to really tell what the fuck was going on, though his voice was interesting, I had to leave after a while cause of the venue.

GBV Tribute- poorly organized but fun tribute to GBV involving some 20+ bands each doing a song or 2 from GBV. Best I saw were the Silos with John Dee Graham doing "As We Go Up We Go Down" and The Rogers Sisters doing "Hot Freaks" Robert Pollard was in the house! I hi-fived him!

Futureheads- Great band! "Chairs Missing"-era Wire meets "Drums and Wires"-era XTC and a little Undertones for good measure. Not nearly as good as any of those bands, but good stuff, even though it does get a little repetetive.

Bloc Party- Yuck! Help! Awful band- at least live! To their credit (I guess) I've heard the CD is much better. Stay away from this next big thing and hold onto those post punk records from the 80's.

The New York Dolls- GREAT set by David Johanson, Sylvain Sylvain and other non-original members. A lot of fun, trashy and funny!

Ian Hunter- Nice, solid show by former Mott the Hoople frontman. Highlights being "I Wish I Was Your Mother" w/ Alejandro Escovedo and "All the Way From Memphis" and of course "All the Young Dudes" Graham Maby played bass!

The Panda Band- An unexpected surprise. Walking down the street, heard em from the Irish Bar and I went in to find this really good Aussie band (from Perth) playing good rock with melody and humor.

Gyroscope- same place, another Western Aussie band, so-so, loud but not "loud" if you know what I mean..

Wolfmother- Yet another Aussie band, this time from Sydney. A trio that sound like a mix between Sabbath, Blue Cheer and ELP (when the bassist plays organ) This was great! Nice arrangements, great guitar playing and cool songs.

The Nightingales- Influential UK band from the 80's back! only caught 3 songs, sounded great! I think Robert Lloyd wasn't too into the crowd..

The Fighting Brothers McCarthy- GREAT GREAT power pop from Austin. Amazing harmonies, great songs, guitar playing. Again, just walking down the street and heard this great sound. So glad I happened upon them.