(A reminder: Tune in tonight at 10pm PST to hear Mark from Music.For-Robots and myself go mano a mano for what’s sure to be fine musical joust.)
Anyone remember the movie Judgment Night? Yeah, me neither. The soundtrack’s a different story. It paired up Sonic Youth with Cypress Hill, Dinosaur Jr. with Del the Funky Homosapien, and Teenage Fan Club with De La Soul. Two great genres that go great together: indie rock and hip hop.
The album’s really burned in my mind however because back when the album hit I’d just been promoted to Music Director at a commercial alternative station, and a young, eager radio promotion rep at Epic Records, Stu Bergen (hi Stu!), attempted to cut his aggressive promo teeth by yelling at me for an hour demanding my station report Epic’s “single” in heavy rotation or something. Back then playlist reporting was all theoretical because there was no way for anyone to tell exactly how many times a radio station played a song, but Stu was out to impress his higher-ups, and impress them he must have ’cause he’s been breaking bands, taking names, and running promotion departments for Island Def Jam and Columbia Records (and here I sit blogging away…). I don’t even remember the fate of that Judgment Night track, but I do remember Stu and I breaking bread at Smith And Wollensky’s, A Steakhouse to End All Arguments. And end them it did. Stu and I have been pals ever since.
Now that I’ve bored many of you to tears, and awakened a raging midnight snacking, back to Clearlake: between this remix by Nobody and the recent remix of Against Me! by Mouse On Mars, I sense another remix trend bubbling among the indie rock world. I’m sure there’s plenty more out there. Use the comments to let us know about your recent favorites.
And yes, I realize I’ve said absolutely nothing about Clearlake. More demo tracks from their forthcoming album are available here.
My inner zen master wants to say of their latest release, Birds Make Good Neighbors, “the delicate sound of falling leaves coupled with the ominous sounds of the approaching winter.”
Two bands in my heavy rotation right now: Beat Happening and Lync. With our late autumn here, until the cold hit this morning, what better songs to celebrate the warmth than those of Beat Happening’s “Indian Summer” (and the excellent cover of this song by Spectrum, aka Sonic Boom of Spacemen 3) and Lync’s lovely album These Are Not Fall Colors, also on K Records many years ago. Plus, Calvin Johnson, indiedom’s Barry White (for the baritone, not the love songs), founder of K Records, member of Beat Happening, the Halo Benders, and Dub Narcotic Sound System, is playing in town tomorrow night with 
I thought I’d impress the lady and take her up to L.A. to see a 
Drew is from Columbus, Ohio. He draws comics (Toothpaste for Dinner) and makes music (Dog Traders). You probably already know that. Prior to Jason B.’s suggestion, I may have been the only American of my particular demographic to have slept on Drew’s wicked ballpoint funnies. I may be in broader company by saying I’d never heard his sandblasted garage pop either. But that, too, has changed and I’m a better man for it. Drew’s distant, mumbled vocals remind me at times of J. Mascis or Michael Stipe on REM’s circa Murmur. His lyrics are as odd, clever, and compelling as you would expect from the man who brought you 
The genre above says “pop,” but you might as well call The King of France “smarty-pants rock,” that vaunted category whose forebears include the Talking Heads, Frank Zappa, They Might Be Giants, and Jonathan Richman. Singer/guitarist Steve Salad played around Minneapolis with Deformo and the Kelley Deal 6000 before moving to New York City. Michael Azerrad has written acclaimed books about Nirvana and the ’80s indie DIY movement, and he lays an awfully good backbeat. You may think that it’s no big deal to make something that’s both smart and entertaining, but I’m sure Azerrad the historian can list a multitude of bands who didn’t get the subtle differences between smarty-pants rock and I’m-gonna-kick-your-ass-you-freakin’-nerd rock. “Mexico” proves The King of France get it, with its rollicking piano, generously subtle rhythm and Salad’s quirky rhymes about life’s missteps played out as if they were a road trip of shame. It’s “Highway 61 Revisited” for the grad-school set. Hey, even they need to rock sometimes.
Josh emails the Suggestion Box with word of his humble little band and humble little label. He flatters us with how much he likes 3hive (which will move you up on my playlist, btw) and ends with, “considering what you’ve posted in the past I don’t think it’s stretch to say that you might like what we’re doing.” Let’s see…The Notes and Scratches’ raspy, writerly country pop sounds like early Tom Waits channelling Ben Gibbard. Nope, no stretch at all. In fact, while Joe and I swapped shifts this week I feel confident posting this on his behalf. And mine. And probably Jon, Sean, and Shan’s. Clay, well, I’ll let him speak for himself. These tracks are from the debut album, Uh-Oh, which drops November 18. Support our troops, y’all.
What’s in a name? Well, first of all, it’s the most important step in forming a band. There’s making lists and researching and polling and arguing; it’s more intense than naming your child. Our cat is actually named what was the #2 (hence, losing) name on the list for the last band I was in. Second, it’s gotta be something that’s gonna catch your target audience. You know, ska bands incorporate the word “ska” into their names, metal bands use words linked with death, and whatnot. So the name is going to be descriptive. The Arrogants, however, really don’t follow that. Based on the name, the casual reader would think they were a British glam band, when in actual fact, The Arrogants play delightful pop, some bouncy, some happy, some folksy. Although perhaps that’s their secret; it’s takes a little cockiness, some arrogance, to make pop this good. Their new album You’ve Always Known When Best To Say Goodbye features 23 songs, and their previous two albums are available for free download from their site.
Yet another Internet moment — Juliana Hatfield has a new album out, Made in China, and while I was checking out the buzz about it on her website, I remembered and looked for the Blake Babies, and their website said John P. Strohm is releasing a new album soon. His website had these MP3s, full of nice psychedelic pop with a touch of country, from his two late-’90s albums, Vestavia and Caledonia. And if you like what you hear, more info about his new album (including demos and other downloads) can be found at 
Cat Power’s been napping. By the time her new album, The Greatest (not a greatest hits record — boy I’m sure her label friends will tire quickly of repeating that mantra), hits stores in January three years will have passed since her last album. Not bad really. The space between her last albums lasted about four years. I should cut her some slack. The wait is always worth it. This time around she taps the Memphis soul scene for her backing musicians, with, among others, Al Green’s boys, Teenie Hodges (who co-wrote “Take Me to the River” with Green) on guitar, and Leroy “Flick” Hodges on bass. Judging from the small sample offered, Chan Marshall may be on her way to creating a timeless work of art.