Water All Around

"Water all around...never learn how to swim now." This site is devoted to great alternative music. Like "Swingin' Party" by the Replacements from which the aforementioned lyrics hail. These posts are intended to introduce visitors to bands that I believe deserve greater attention. If you wish to have an MP3 removed, email me at zotzedwriter@yahoo.com.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Tricks or Tunes

Halloween's right around the dark corner. Here are some tunes to get you in the “spirit” of things.

[MP3] Fountains of Wayne – “Monster House” EXPIRED
[MP3] Green Day – “Ha Ha You’re Dead” EXPIRED
[MP3] Hives – “I’m a Wicked One” EXPIRED
[MP3] Horrorpops – “Ghouls” EXPIRED
[MP3] Horrorpops – “Horror Beach” EXPIRED
[MP3] Horrorpops – “Walk Like a Zombie” EXPIRED
[MP3] Libertines – “Horrorshow” EXPIRED
[MP3] Pixies – “Wave of Mutilation” EXPIRED
[MP3] Pointed Sticks – “The Witch” EXPIRED
[MP3] Raconteurs – “Store Bought Bones” EXPIRED
[MP3] Radiohead – “Creep” EXPIRED
[MP3] The Rakes – “Terror!” EXPIRED
[MP3] Joey Ramone – “I’ve Got a Spirit in My House” EXPIRED
[MP3] The Ramones – “Pet Sematary” EXPIRED
[MP3] The Ramones – “I Don’t Want to Go Down to the Basement” EXPIRED
[MP3] The Ramones – “Howling at the Moon (Sha-La-La)" EXPIRED
[MP3] Rancid – “Ghost Band” EXPIRED
[MP3] The Specials – “Ghost Town" EXPIRED
[MP3] The Sprites – “George Romero” EXPIRED
[MP3] Ted Leo & the Pharmacists – “Ghosts” (Jam cover) EXPIRED
[MP3] XTC – “Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead” EXPIRED

Monday, October 09, 2006

Wreckless Eric

Well, this guy’s not gonna generate much traffic for the site, but what the hell. Wreckless Eric was a product of the great Stiff Records, which in the early punk years was responsible for such acts as Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Madness, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Any Trouble, Graham Parker, and the Damned.

While all of these acts bore the distinctive Stiff stamp, each had its own distinctive quality – and none was more distinctive than Eric’s. Think Tiny Tim for alternative music. The man made Bob Dylan sound like a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. However, if you can get past Eric’s vocals, you find yourself humming along to some really outstanding punk-pop.

Hear for yourself:

[MP3] Wreckless Eric – “Whole Wide World” EXPIRED
[MP3] Wreckless Eric – “Reconnez Cherie” EXPIRED
[MP3] Wreckless Eric – “Take the Cash (K.A.S.H.)” EXPIRED

Buy some Wreckless Eric for your record collection!

Friday, October 06, 2006

Five fer Friday III

[MP3] The Clash – “The Beautiful People Are Ugly” EXPIRED
Before it became Combat Rock, it was known as Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg – and this is a track that was nixed from the disc when the name changed.

[MP3] Pinhead Gunpowder – “Achin’ to Be”
EXPIRED
Billy Joe Armstrong’s side project covers the Mats.

[MP3] The Cult – “She Sells Sanctuary” EXPIRED
The only song I like by the Cult but I like it a whole bunch.

[MP3] The Avengers – “The American in Me” EXPIRED
Early American punk featuring the incomparable shriek of Penelope Houston.

[MP3] The Briefs – “Silver Bullet” EXPIRED
Clearly, the Briefs share my sentiments of Bob Seger.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins

What a delightfully wacky record. Jenny Lewis (whom I knew nothing of before stumbling upon her disc at the local library this past Saturday) offers a loopy look at the world through comic-tragic tales that leave you wondering whether to laugh or cry. Each of Lewis’s tales is brought to musical life by a kinda gospelly/kinda country indie pop and backed by the choir-like chorus of the beautifully voiced Watson twins.

Know what? I’m gonna make a quick trip to the All-Music Guide to see what I can find out about this Lewis lassie.

Okay. Back. It appears Lewis is the lead singer/songwriter for Rilo Kiley, an indie-pop outfit with three fairly well-received records to their name. This disc is Lewis’s first solo effort. They say and I quote, “Born in Las Vegas in early 1977, singer/songwriter Jenny Lewis is one of indie rock's treasured saints. Lewis' talent is a near match for classics such as Loretta Lynn and Petula Clark as well as contemporaries like Neko Case.” They then go on to give the disc a mere three and a half stars (why is it that AMG’s write-ups rarely jibe with their ratings?).

Well, forget AMG. You give it your own rating. Here are three songs from Rabbit Fur Coat by Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins:

[MP3] Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins – “The Charging Sky” EXPIRED
[MP3] Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins – “Rabbit Fur Coat” EXPIRED
[MP3] Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins – “Born Secular” EXPIRED

Buy Rabbit Fur Coat