Not all punk was serious or angry: here’s The Toy Dolls, who were insane live, a speedfreak’s dream. (The 1st song is dedicated to my NYC friends.)

After James Brown, their tracks have to be the most heavily sampled; some of you, I bet, will know snippets of melody from some other song. I’m regularly disappointed when I hear a Sly Stone riff and it turns out to be some song I’ve never heard and not the original.

“A pretty face / a pretty face / & oh what a gorgeous mind…”

(Apparently it was only the daughter of a preacher man who could ever reach her, by the way.)

I went to a Juneteenth celebration – yes, here in Appleton, Wisconsin – and one band did a bunch of familiar R&B; I don’t know if it’s age or what, but I have really started to love the soul side of things. Philly soul next week!

There’s new Gogol Bordello out!

Maybe you’ve had enough Franz Ferdinand, but I haven’t: I keep listening & then discovering my most recent favorite track (since it took me a while to listen to any other than “No You Girls”). So here’s the three most recent favorites: how can I not love a song that starts you don’t know the pseudonyms I assume…

& here’s a bunch more on www.playlist.com.

These two ladies have gorgeous voices. You might know Corinne Bailey Rae from her “I’d Like To” (which, imho, is one of the sexiest come on songs ever recorded), and Janelle Monae has a new CD out which sounds like it kicks ass.

Do take note of this bit of lyrics from “Sincerely, Jane:”

Teacher, teacher please reach those girls in them videos
The little girls just broken Queen, confusing bling for soul
Danger, there’s danger when you take off your clothes, all your dreams go down the drain girl

Sing it!

I’m not much into “music to do drugs by” but these two tracks have appealed to me lately: the Hot Chip has some New Order resonance, and Animal Collective – at least this track – strikes me as an odd combo of Paul Winter and Adrien Belew.

Taxes are due on Thursday, so why not two songs about cash?

There’s a cool list of songs about money, but I’d love to hear more from you. I’m thinking of The Jam’s “Pretty Green,” for starters. Others?

Paul Weller‘s still around & doing cool stuff, but ah, The Jam — in some ways the ultimate British band. Yet it’s just a short stroll from “Beat Surrender” to Philly Soul, no?

“Going Underground” is about as close as I got to a manifesto when I was 18. Much thanks to Hillary, Melissa, Chris, Peter, and my brother Joe = all of whom played some part in making a Jam fan of me. Hear more here.

I’m starting to teach Transgender Lives today, for the third time, at Lawrence, so this seemed appropriate.

To save you the time & trouble, here are the lyrics:

More…

A friend recently admitted, shyly, that he can’t seem to “get into” Radiohead and asked me what, exactly, I like about them. My first thought was “What’s not to like?” but then I said things about their unusual rhythms, the layers of sound, the density of the expression. Good lyrics. They are, in a nutshell, a lovely electronic tilt at a quixotic world. They’re also the first band Betty turned me onto; I returned the favor with Elvis Costello.

The first song I heard was the first one here, “High and Dry.” “No Surprises” was probably my next favorite.
“There There” is my favorite song in the world to dance to. Really. (Followed closely by “Idioteque” which seems to be one of Thom Yorke’s favorites to dance to as well.)
“Stop Whispering” is the perfect angry but exhausted song ever.

So, yeah. (There’s plenty more Radiohead I could add, but theoretically, at least, it’s one thing to double “two tunes” another to make it “Twelve Tune Tuesday.”)

Ah, David Garza: I discovered him years ago & he has been scratching my itches for a long while. His range is amazing, his love songs heart-breaking (or, happily, heart-warming) and his voice is hot hot hot. This is a decent sampler but there are a lot more styles he’s done; if you can find somewhere to hear a song called “One Drop” go do it.

Oh, how I love her. She nails that perfect mix of pop cheeriness with clever, cutting lyrics.

but when they bring me back to you
& tell you that I’m shiny new
the girl you see may not be me behind these eyes – anymore

Honestly, how can you not love a band that can work a kazoo unironically?

I found myself humming The Teardrop Explodes’ “When I Dream” out of the blue the other day, which reminded me of course of Julian Cope, who about 3 of you maybe remember, and hopefully this will scratch an itch for those of you who love 80s stuff that maybe you haven’t discovered yet.