Our weekly (or however often) roundup of this week’s discoveries and old faves. Usually it’s friends of mine or just music I like. Now including “liner notes” to help guide you through this journey and hopefully introduce you to some new, great music!
THE SHINS –YOUNG PILGRIMS
When I worked at CFRU 93.3 FM, our music director gave me a mix CD with this on it. She also made it so there were around 5 songs per "track" as she did not want to let you control the sequencing too much. Anyway, I've loved this song ever since and sometimes I sing it around the house. Some of the parts are pretty high so I've gotta be warmed up to do it but I really dig the melody.
THIS MAD DESIRE –SO WHAT OH WELL (COCAINE IN THE LIMO)
I wrote this back when I was working at CFRU. I went on a tour of Europe and Canada playing vibraphones for my friend Barzin. I wrote Paris of Love based on my experiences in Paris on this tour and then this one was based on our gig in New York City at the Knitting Factory. What was unusual about this gig was it was an entirely different band than I had played with in Europe and I had never met any of them before the drive to NYC. In that band was Nick Zubeck, who figures into today’s playlist fairly heavily. He was playing lapsteel and my melodies were often in parallel with his so it was a bit surreal playing all these songs with a band that played slightly differently. Anyway, we were on the third floor playing with a band from California and I came to realize that there was a burlesque show put on by the Suicide Girls on the main level. Naturally, my curiosity was piqued and before long, I was with a bunch of Suicide Girls in a limousine where they were all snorting cocaine. It was too rock and roll for words. I then co-opted one of the girls into my nightly routine of having someone bring me drinks onstage. Nick, for what it’s worth, played a great show!
CHRIS ALTMANN –RENAISSANCE MAN
I've met Chris a few times. I'm actually more friends with his wife Alysha. She interviewed me at their house one time for her radio show. Anyway, he's a great musician and has some great tunes. I hope we get to work together at some point.
ANDIE LOREN –SOMEONE I DON'T WANT TO BE
I admit to not knowing much of anything about Andie but Nick Zubeck is on this track playing lapsteel, I believe. As mentioned, Nick and I played some gigs together in our friend Barzin's backing band. At any rate, I'm looking forward to finding out more about Andie as this song is great and there's a chord change right out of Jeep by T. Rex. I'm going to grab my guitar and figure this out tomorrow...
MUTEMATH –ARMISTICE
From New Orleans, Mutemath is now Paul Meany's solo project but over the past 20 years, they have released some very cool music. I'm always into it. The grooves and rhythms are often very intricate and complex.
BLACKOUT ORCHESTRA –FLOWERS
Lo-fi art-alt-rock-post-pop-rock from Toronto. That's a mouthful! We were both featured on the Save Toronto Music Venues compilation CD which came out during the pandemic. They put out sensitive and melodic tracks not unlike this one. There's often a real sense of vulnerability in the lyrics.
BLKBIRD –WHEEL OF FORTUNE
I just made her acquaintance through Indie Week. I don't know where she's from but she has opened for Scott Weiland and... Slaughter! She's got a great voice.
SLAUGHTER –EYE TO EYE
And this is one of my fave tracks from Slaughter. For those that don't know, this band is Dana Strum and Mark Slaughter's band that they formed after quitting the Vinnie Vincent Invasion in the late 80s. Now the backing band is also Vince Neil's band. I always liked this track.
RESKINNED MUSIC –THE BED YOU MADE
Another Indie Week acquaintance and this time from Michigan! I dig his voice and the whole vibe of this track. It's melodic and a bit industrial.
WORLDWITHOUTFEAR –HEART
Philip and Allyson Scott are an electronic music duo (with vocals) from St. Louis. I have always liked the idea of St. Louis partly because I have family there and also because I always was interested in the St. Louis Blues hockey team when I was a kid. This track is pretty long but that's ok. I kind of get lost in it and I really like the vocal. There's almost a Bono-ish sense of passion and parts of this make me think of The Acorn and other bands I liked in the 2000s.
SOUL COUGHING –HOW MANY CANS?
In the last playlist liner notes, I was talking about how I saw Low at Lee's Palace in Toronto one time and they were opening for Soul Coughing, who I thought were incredible. They closed with this song that night although it was still unreleased.
DA FINGAZ –SHE'S A SUPERHERO
I'm working on a track with Marcus but let me tell you, he has been releasing a ton of music lately. This one is an actual song and not instrumental though. Cool track!
CIGARETTES AFTER SEX –PISTOL
Dream pop from El Paso. This music reminds me of the music I used to play with Barzin, who I mentioned earlier.
BARZIN -JUST MORE DRUGS
Since we are talking about Barzin... this song was his main focus track on the tour I did and I’m pretty sure we played it every night. I played vibraphones on that tour and our live arrangement of this song was a bit different but I always liked the lyrics.
LORELEI -PUSH ME FURTHER
I don't know anything about Lorelei other than she worships Lana Del Rey and appears in my TikTok feed every day. This track is very well produced.
KRISTINNR –LIFE OF LUXURY
So my Icelandic friend Jon I mentioned last liner notes that I ran into in Toronto just before the Soul Coughing/Low was somehow involved with this act a long time ago and I guess the singer has finally posted this historical release to streaming services after all this time. Jon, not being a musician, reports that he played the tape recorder!
SEBADOH –RENAISSANCE MAN
This is one of the greatest songs in the history of ever. Trust me. You’re going to love it! P.S. I do a cover of Brand New Love by Sebadoh from their classic Smash Your Head On The Punk Rock on my upcoming Secret Covers V1.
And with that, this wraps up this week’s playlist. Hope you enjoyed it!!
If you like this playlist, please share it and follow these artists. Music is the fuel that fills our soul.
If you are an artist that would like to be included in the future, reach out anywhere and I’d love to check out your tunes!
Yours in music,
Mac