I’m posting this for the sole purpose of making sure my roomate Dave is never more than an internet connection away from hearing this song. He’s been known to get cranky when he can’t. It’s from Blind Melon’s second record, released just months before frontman Shannon Hoon’s fatal cocaine overdose.

I never felt that Blind Melon got a fair shake because they will forever be known only as the band that sings that “No Rain” song. Dave thinks about it like “No Rain” is a song from the radio. The stuff on Soup is actually Blind Melon. It’s the same way I think of “Creep.” It’s a song that’s generally associated with Radiohead, but real Radiohead is stuff like “The National Anthem.” Unfortunately for Blind Melon, their iron lung didn’t get a chance to sustain them long enough to make a greater impression.  So I’m going to try to do my part to share something else.  Also their cover of the Schoolhouse Rock classic “Three is A Magic Number” and, because I mentioned it, “The National Anthem.”

 Blind Melon - Vernie [3:16m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Blind Melon - Three is a Magic Number [3:14m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Radiohead - The National Anthem (Live) [4:58m]: Play in Popup | Download

I’ll admit that I don’t normally visit Stereogum.  It’s a great source of musical information, but it’s freaking overwhelming.  There’s a positive avalanche of content, most of which makes me feel like a bad person for having not listened to the Vampire Weekend album yet, refusing to buy into the National’s hypefest, and for my irrational hatred of Sigur Rós.  However I do subscribe to their newsletter and will float over there when something catches my eye (in this case their extensive Bonaroo coverage).  One article lead to another lead to me finding this video that I really want to watch but can’t because my computer at work (where I am) is not capable of showing moving things with sound.  So I thought I’d do the generous thing and, instead of filing it away (that is, losing it) somewhere in my email, I’d recycle the information and share it with you fine people.

The reasons that I think this video is interesting enough to save for later are these: I’m sure I should like Vampire Weekend, but I don’t yet; I’m baffled that people still acknowledge Andrew W.K.; and I grew up on Tom Petty.  These things come together with VW, a few days after their set at Bonaroo, playing Summerstage in New York (an event put on by Mr. Wilkes-Kier).  Having only one full album, well, here’s what Stereogum told me:

“Sometimes our sets are on the short side,” Ezra told the crowd. “We played at Bonnaroo where sometimes people play for five hours, and we just edged over one hour, and we were very proud of ourselves. We felt like we had to do something special and we were just in Florida so we thought we would play a song by probably the greatest human being who ever came out of Gainesville, Florida. Some people deride this guy, say that he’s like frat rock or whatever, but he’s a true fucking poet.”

I fully approve, and hope you’re looking forward to this video as much as I am.

[youtube su9dscd6lqs]

Also: Tour Dates!

Jun 21 2008 Popped! Music Festival - Drexel University - Philadelphia, PA
Jun 24 2008 Hove Festival - Arendal, Norway
Jun 25 2008 Accelerator - Stockholm, Sweden
Jun 27-28 2008 Glastonbury Festival - Glastonbury, UK
Jun 29 2008 The Eden Project - Cornwall, UK
Jul 1 2008 Tivoli - Utrecht, Holland
Jul 3 2008 Werchter Festival - Werchter, Belgium
Jul 4 2008 Solidays Festival - Paris, France
Jul 5 2008 Les Eurockeennes Festival - Belfort, France
Jul 6 2008 Main Square Festival - Roubaix, France
Jul 7 2008 Montreaux Jazz Fest / Miles Davis Hall - Montreaux, Switzerland
Jul 8 2008 Turin Spaziale Festival - Turin, Italy
Jul 10 2008 Alive Festival - Lisbon, Portugal
Jul 12 2008 Oxegen Festival - Naas, Ireland
Jul 13 2008 T in the Park - Kinross, Scotland
Jul 19 2008 Pitchfork Festival @ Union Park - Chicago, IL
Jul 20 2008 Rogers Picnic - Toronto, Canada
Jul 25 2008 Capital Hill Block Party - Seattle, WA
Jul 27 2008 Pemberton Festival - Pemberton, BC
Jul 29 2008 Pipeline Cafe - Honolulu, HI
Aug 3 2008 Splendour in the Grass Festival - Byron, New Zealand
Aug 4 2008 Metro - Sydney, Australia
Aug 6 2008 Prince of Wales - Melbourne, Australia
Aug 7 2008 Prince of Wales - Melbourne, Australia
Aug 9 2008 Summer Sonic - Tokyo - Tokyo, Japan
Aug 10 2008 Summer Sonic - Osaka - Osaka, Japan
Aug 22 2008 Reading Festival - Reading, UK
Aug 23 2008 Leeds Festival - Leeds, UK
Sep 13 2008 Monolith Festival - Red Rocks Denver, Colorado
Sep 17 2008 the Wiltern - Los Angeles, CA
Sep 18 2008 the Wiltern - Los Angeles, CA
Sep 23 2008 Rialto - Tucson, AZ
Sep 24 2008 Marquee Theatre - Tempe, AZ
Sep 27 2008 Austin City Limits - Zilker Park Austin, TX

All this jazz about Radiohead being opposed (and rightly so) to the release of a Greatest Hits comp has gotten me to thinkin’. Actually it was one of the comments on the NME article, but I would’ve come up with it eventually. If EMI wanted to do something that would sell, and be less blatantly offensive, they ought to have released a B-Sides & Rarities instead. Y’know, like Amnesiac. Anyone who likes Radiohead enough to be interested in this Hits disc is likely to have those songs already because, well, they are good songs. So it’s a rarities night tonight: the sexiest song ever written (according to Thom), the sexiest song ever written (according to me), a corrected version of an old song done live on French TV, an old song done for the radio with members of the Posies (not Pixies, I can’t stress this enough), a “No Surprises” b-side, a string quartet rendition of an OK Computer track, one of my favourite early songs live, and an acoustic version of Kid A’s closer. I think it’s a pretty balanced selection. And, because I like you, I’m throwing in a video of “Karma Police” live on Le Reservoir. That whole set is floating around YouTube, I recommend you seek ‘em out. [youtube onw96jFCHb4]

 Radiohead - Nobody Does it Better (live) [3:35m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Radiohead - Talk Show Host [4:14m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Radiohead - Fog (again) [live] [2:17m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Radiohead - Blow Out (acoustic) [3:23m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Radiohead - How I Made My Millions [3:08m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Section - Electioneering [3:15m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Radiohead - Killer Cars (live) [2:17m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Radiohead - Motion Picture Soundtrack (acoustic) [3:16m]: Play in Popup | Download

This is John Butler’s version of a classic cliche traditional Irish song, Danny boy. I like the song, but some don’t. He recorded it at Enmore Theater in Australia. I like the guitar solo towards the end. If you’re a faithful John Butler listener, you can totally tell that he’s playing it; he has a signature lick that he puts everywhere.

You can also pick up the mp3 at the forum.

Enjoy, and Happy Wednesday.

John Butler Trio | Myspazz

 Danny Boy - John Butler [3:51m]: Play in Popup | Download

As I’ve said before, I do mix tapes, and I do them well. However, I’ve been known to do a stupid thing or two in my day. Now you get to know about ‘em!!

Yesterday I was listening to a mix called Statistics version 3.1, which I’d made for the Girl about a year ago. The Exposure Box was still in full swing, obviously, as the track list seemed pretty close to an average episode of the E-Box, which means there’s some great music, but some decisions are not quite right for the situation. For instance, the Girl doesn’t really need a Mars Volta song in the middle of things. But that’s not what I’m here to confess. What I did that is horrible, I followed “Samson” by Regina Spektor, a very sweet song, one that’s special to me & the Girl, and the slower (better) version from Songs, with, of all things, Travis’ acoustic cover of “Baby, One More Time.” I didn’t realize the gravity of what I’d done until I was relaxing with the Girl, being all mushy during “Samson” and then…CHUCKLES!! Yeah, I screwed that right up. Learn from my mistakes, kiddies.

P.S. Something I didn’t even think of until just now is how superfluous “Baby, One More Time” was overall on the CD. I’d already used Damien Rice’s acoustic cover of “Doves Cry/Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You” and the Pictures’ acoustic “Milkshake.” So regardless of placement, it really was just one too many ironic acoustic covers for one mix. The more I think about this disc, the more rushed it sounds. Not my finest hour, but I did score a great transition going from “Gyasi Went Home” by Bedouin Soundclash to “If you Got the Money” by Jamie T. Try it yourselves!!

 Regina Spektor - Samson [3:53m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Travis - Baby One More Time (acoustic) [3:34m]: Play in Popup | Download

I was really late to jump on the Say Anything train. A friend of mine, maybe a couple of them, put “Alive With the Glory of Love” up on their MySpazz profiles back in the spring of ‘06, and I couldn’t get past the first 30 seconds of it. I thought, A band called “Say Anything” and a song about the glory of love, and an opening that screams of Bowie’s “Let’s Dance.”* 80’s pop culture reference, much? I was pretty turned off, even more so at the over the top second single “Wow, I Can Get Sexual, Too” which, I know, is supposed to be over the top, but it did nothing to change my mind. When, in fall of ‘07, Dave finally came across “Alive With the Glory of Love” and made me listen to all of it, I realized it’s a pretty good song, but left it at that for a few months.

Then, yesterday, I was walking home from work, listening to the Notwist (which, if you don’t know, is German lo-fi with little electronic bits, pretty far removed from Say Anything’s bombastic emo-pop swagger) and it struck me: I haven’t seen the music video for “Alive With the Glory of Love” yet. It’s probably pretty good, right? Maybe YouTube has some good live versions and stuff. So it’s strange that, when I did hit the YouTubes, I didn’t go straight to the official vid. Or a fan-made video, or a live performance, even. The first video I watched was Julia Nunes (pronounced ‘noons’) doing an acoustic cover of it for Valentine’s Day. That’s right, a girl with an acoustic guitar covering the song I wanted to hear. Good gracious it was good. So good, in fact, that I listened to her sing it again. And then checked out a few more of her videos before actually watching the Say Anything video. Then I went back to Julia’s for a while.

[youtube 3VS--sZ6zJM]

Her rendition of the songs was excellent because she seemed so in tune with the vibe of it. It could be read as a really depressing song, somber at best, as it’s about how a romance is affected by the holocaust (based on Max Bemis’ grandparents, who were holocaust survivors). But it’s not a downer, it’s about devotion even in the face of dire circumstances, and love actually prevails! Strange and refreshing from a genre that can be so cynical (more on Say Anything defending their genre later). Julia hits the song with an excited, positive energy that’s perfect for it.

So now I’m slightly hooked on Julia Nunes. She also writes her own songs and plays ukulele. And is capable of using editing software so as to not only keep her videos interesting, but also harmonize with herself, which makes the singing of a song like “Alive With the Glory of Love” much more effective. If you are also smitten with her, she’s got a CD available, too. It’s entirely possible I’ll post about her again.

*I know the opening of “Let’s Dance” is a reference to “Twist and Shout” but the Ferris Beuller’s Day Off reference to keep with the 80’s theme was more of a stretch.

Julia Nunes official | Julia on MySpace | Julia on YouTube

buy Left, Right, Wrong.