Many Happy Returns
New music from Antibalas and Kendrick Lamar, old favorites from the Only Ones, Panther Burns and Fleetwood Mac, and live previews from Shovels & Rope, Curren$y and Dirty Bourbon River Show.
This week's Spotify soundtrack features a number of comebacks, mostly good ones.
1. "Stars of Track and Field" - Belle and Sebastian: At my wife's suggestion. If there was a song about little gymnasts built like elfin defensive backs slipping, falling and failing to stick the landing, it would be here instead.
2. "Wild Pink in Super 8" - Rotary Downs: The band has been on hiatus while the recently married singer James Marler took a lengthy honeymoon. He's back and they play d.b.a. on Friday.
3. "Head vs. Heart" - Shoes: One of the great American power pop bands returns with a good new album, Ignition. Here's the lead track. Tomorrow I'll have an interview with the band's Gary Klebe about its history and return.
4. "Flew a Falcon" - Richard Barone: Out of nowhere, I was followed on Twitter by Richard Barone. Few artists show more of a debt to Marc Bolan, but I love musicians who aren't afraid to make their fandom clear.
5. "Sincerely" - Dwight Twilley Band: The title track from the Twilley band's debut, another great power pop album.
6. "Pin Your Heart to Me" - The Jacobites: This just sounds good next to "Sincerely."
7. "City of Fun" - The Only Ones: The Only Ones were claimed by punk and power pop fans.
8. "Shake Your Shit Machine" - Turbonegro: The Swedish perv rock band has worked hard to be outrageous, though always with an obvious sense of humor (usually in dubious taste). On the new Sexual Harrassment, this is the best I could find: a Kiss/Cheap Trick riff (yay!) with an overly elaborate way to say "ass" (ehh).
9. "Get It" - Buffalo Killers: Faux-'70s heavy rock with high profile fans (Chris Robinson, Dan Auerbach). From the new Cream-like-covered Dig. Sow. Love. Grow.
10. "Shake 'em Off Like Fleas" - Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band: The good reverend's voice is a little theatrical for me, but in this hard blues, he uses it as a percussion instrument.
11. "Where the Rio De Rosa Flows" - Tav Falco's Panther Burns: This fall, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art will host Falcopalooza. In the first week of October, the museum will install a show of Tav Falco's photography, show his films, and stage a show with the Panther Burns. Here he is from his debut album, Behind the Magnolia Curtain.
12. "Shank Hill St." - Shovels & Rope: This duo plays One Eyed Jacks on Wednesday with MyNameIsJohnMichael and Folk Family Revival opening.
13. "Wolfman" - Dirty River Bourbon Show: From Volume 3. They'll play Tipitina's on Saturday night with the Tin Men opening.
14. "The Ratcatcher" - Antibalas: This Brooklyn-based Afrobeat big band is back with a new self-titled album. The members lose themselves in the group groove, generally a good thing, though I sometimes wish I heard a singular artistic voice in the mix (even if I only hear it faintly).
15. "Swimming Pools (Drank)" - Kendrick Lamar: When Lupe Fiasco was recently in town, he identified Kendrick Lamar as one of the voices in hip-hop that excited him. Here's Lamar's new single.
16. "Sunroof" - Curren$y with Corner Boy P: From The Stoned Immaculate. On Wednesday, Curren$y will host Curren$y's Jet Lounge at the House of Blues' Parish.
17. "Tetris" - Doctor P: The British dubstep producer and DJ performs Tuesday night at the Republic.
18. "A Certain 'Je Ne Sais Quoi'" - Pet Shop Boys: I tend to like the Pet Shop Boys, and the EP starts with an Olympic-timed song titled "Winner." I'd like to find it more ironic since everything Neil Tennant sings is tinged with sadness and defeat, but the song doesn't have enough to it to make it compelling. They cover The Bee Gees' "I Started a Joke" as a tribute to Robin Gibb, but it seems a little obvious when you hear it. This track is the Pets at their most interesting these days, revealing their mixed emotions for a good, continental life.
19. "Airport" - The Motors: The sound of a British pub rock band finding a way to stay relevant in the face of new wave.
20. "Frozen Years" - The Rumour: More or less ditto. This was written by Graham Parker and features Bob Andrews on keyboards. Andrews has started a Kickstarter project to release his next album, Invisible Love.
21. "Family Man' - Fleetwood Mac: A Lindsay Buckingham song from Tango in the Night, including an invocation of Popeye in the chorus. Buckingham will play One Eyed Jacks on Saturday night.
22. "Cola Elixir" - Opossom: Summery psychedelia from the new album, Electric Hawaii.
23. "Re-Make/Re-Model" - Roxy Music: Last week, I watched The Roxy Music Story on YouTube. The band stays musically likeable until the end, but what's lost by Flesh and Blood and certainly by Avalon is the self-conscious desire to chart the future - of fashion as well as rock 'n' roll. Here you can hear them dress up a garage band idea that still sounds adventurous. Imagine what it sounded like in 1972.
24. "Don't Cha Stop" - The Cars: Evidence of Roxy Music's influence. In my interview with Shoes' Gary Klebe, he talks about how the success of The Cars' debut album caused Elektra Records to have higher hopes for the band's label debut, Present Tense.
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