This may not be a revelation for some of you, but it surprised the socks off of me. Really, I’m sitting here barefoot as I compose this post. What I’d like to hear are your thoughts on the tunes, maaaaan. If you know who it is, keep your smartypants on long enough to let Townspeople share their thoughts. Then, when today’s Mystery Date is revealed, we’ll see if anyone else is as surprised as I still am.
For our Mystery Date this weekend I ask first, Are these gentlemen beardy enough to spend a Sunday afteroon contemplating snowflakes out of Mod’s picture window while stroking their beards? I certainly hope so.
These guys put out an album about 2 years ago that I play all the time, up to and including this very instant. Hopefully it’s something new you can get your head around and enjoy.
2k,
i really like these songs. i have no idea who made them.
but they singer’s voice sounds so familiar!
nice stumper!
art
The singer sounds just like the Husker Du dude to me. My preference is track one, but track two ain’t bad either. In general, good stuff!
Hey, Mod — I really like this series. It’s always nice to get some fresh musical blood running through these old wrinkly veins.
Oh, and that Mystery Date video is BOSS.
yeah…he has the breathless quality of bob mould, but it’s someone else. it’s KIL-LING me…i KNOW i’ve heard this shit before…probably while streaming college radio, and i probably liked it, but wasn’t able to find out who it was.
I’m glad you guys liked it. The band is Ladyhawk, and those are from their first album. March 6 sees the release of album #2 but they released a 12″ ep inbetween. Their blog is called The Eye of Ladyhawk with the killer tagline Drunk Canadians Express Their Feelings, Ruin Alternative Music. I found out about them at my favorite record store. They suggested them, I put on headphones, listened to three bars and bought the album immediately.
The new song is available here:
http://www.scjag.com/mp3/jag/idontalwaysknow.mp3
I love this early review they posted on their blog:
one early review:
“yawn…sounds like wolf parade. why bother?”
sweet.
check it out, tell me what you think.
The singer is Duffy Dreidiger. The songs I posted were My Old Jacknife and Teenage Love Song. The first, with all it’s hand claps and stuff is just infectious, isn’t it? The second just has hilarious lyrics. I love the opening line. Hopefully the new one is real good. The ep was kind of moody and I like these guys best when they’re fun.
This is good stuff, 2K. The first song definitely sounded like Bob Mould – if he knew how to make a record. The second song stretches in the vocals department, but the second segment of the song makes sense to me.
should’ve known they’re a jagjag band. they sound like one (in a good way).
that label is, like, the new…something-or-other.
speakingofwhich, 2k, how’s the black mountain album? i’ve heard mixed reviews from a mixed bag of folks…
Thanks for posting these tracks, 2000 man. Honestly, I thought it WAS the new Black Mountain album, so I’m glad that I was at least in the right ballpark, if not the right dugout. They didn’t make much of an impression me at first, but I’ll have to keep listening. Definitely not bad!
Y’know the label that’s never let me down so far? Alive! Records. I’ve liked everything I’ve heard on that one (but I like The Bloody Hollies the best).
I like the new Black Mountain a lot, too. It’s big and epic and druggy and it’s not always focused. I think if you liked the first one, you’ll dig this one. I might have changed the track order and made one of the bonus tracks or the sixteen minute Bright Lights the album closer. I don’t get the Zeppelin influence that the critics see (which is good because I hate them), I just really like how the quiet parts lead into big, crunchy riffing and ham fisted Jon Lord style keyboards once in awhile. So I like it and give it a big thumbs up.
Mr. Mod, vocally I don’t think Duffy will ever win any awards, but he sounds like he means it and that’s good enough for me!
berlyant, I think most people consider the song The Dugout on Ladyhawk’s first album to be the best song, so that’s an interesting choice of words. I didn’t pick it because if someone gets it, I think they should be able to say, “Wow, the songs I heard first aren’t necessarily the best ones on the album!” I hope it gets under your skin like it did with me. It’s a pretty good itch.
I really like the first song. Great drumbeat (used by Belle & Sebastian to great effect on “Boy with the Arab Strap”). I always like songs that have a pre-chorus: this song produces the right effects; shows the band knows what it’s doing.
The second song I like less. Still a good melodic hook, but it sounds like the singer is going for a drunken, melancholy Westerberg channeling Big Star teenage angst. I admire how high the band sets its goals, but doesn’t quite pull it off.
Am I the only Townsperson who was not already familiar with this tune and the artist behind it? Someone’s gotta be feeling something already.
Dude, everyone knows that’s Beefheart on his one single for Bang! Records. Blah, blah, backed up by Glen Campbell, Al Jardine and Daryl Dragon, featuring a young Randy California on guitar, blah, blah, produced by Kim Fowley, blah, blah. Come on, man, if you’re trying to stump us, you might get a *bit* more obscure!
Not a bad guess, Hrrundi! Brave, sarcastic, but incorrect.
I bet Buskirk knows this one. He’s probably got a bootleg version of just the vocals.
Sounds like the highschool band that after a some lineup changes and marijuana became The Yardbirds.
Somewhere between The New Originals and Thamesmen.
I know what this is, so I won’t say too much, other than agreeing that hvb’s guess is a good one.
I knew you’d be hip to this, BigSteve. Wonder if Geo and Dr. John know.
Good call by Sammy as well. Nice to see at least two Townsmen willing to place their stones on the table.
The One-ders?
I don’t know who it is, but it reminds me of the Turtles. Great vocal harmonies at the end.
The One-ders and The Turtles are GREAT guesses…but incorrect. There’s some Six Degrees of Separation regarding The Turtles.
E. Pluribus Gergely?
Not Plurbie, but I bet he’ll be as surprised as I was when I found this track.
The Great 48, Diskojoe – don’t tell me you guys don’t know this.
I didn’t listen to the MP3 before your comment, Mr. Mod, so I thought it was a Kinks song, but after listening to it, it’s not. As Arlene Francis would say, is the group from the SoCal area circa 1967? Is Chip Douglas involved in it in some way?(It’s a great song, by the way)
Diskojoe, the band is from SoCal. I believe the recording is from 1966. In credits I have researched, Chip Douglas does not show up as a band member, producer, or contributor.
Well, going back to Arlene Francis mode, now that we narrowed it down to 1966 SoCal, is a showbiz personality involved, say like Burt Ward, Mickey Rooney, Jr., Butch Patrick or Jerry Mathers? Or is there a Zappa involvement in any way, shape or form?
I have no idea what this is, but the singer shows no promise.
Diskojoe, I could be a dick and ask you to choose one of your questions, but I’m feeling too good about life today. I’ll take on both of your fine questions:
1) Although there’s not involvement of a previously established showbiz personality involved in this recording the band’s leader has genealogic ties to showbiz and he and his bandmates would end up acting around the time of this recording.
2) There is Zappa involvement in at least one recording by this band, but I don’t think he is involved in this particular recording.
You’re very close.
db, I’ll play you the a capella take next and you’ll change your mind about the singer:)
Is it Micky Dolenz?
This is fun. I checked and Feb/March 1966 is the recording date. Zappa was not involved in this recording. The singer is (or would become) one of my favorite singers ever. No, not Micky Dolenz.
It’s not Micky, but damn if some of this band’s songs don’t sound like The Monkees.
Keep trying, Rock Town Hall. Don’t let a few Townspeople do all the heavy lifting!
One more hint: the sound of this band is much less heavy than you might expect from the band leader’s future works.
Glad you’re digging this from the sidelines. How cool do you feel right about now, BigSteve? I envy you.
Meanwhile, I’m relieved that this isn’t one of those cases where one of us thinks we’ve stumbled onto something no one else has heard only to find out that it’s the artist’s second-most well-known song.
Think about the Townspeople I assumed would know this beside BigSteve: Geo, Dr. John, Diskojoe, dbuskirk, The Great 48… I should note that in The Great One’s case I assumed he’d know it because he knows everything there is to know in rock but Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band album.
I don’t have a full profile on the Townsperson yet, but I bet Telewhacker’s going to have a “V8” moment when the Mystery Date is revealed.
Sorry about that Mr. Mod, but I had a couple of thoughts at the time.
OK, how about Lowell George & Factory?
No need to apologize, Diskojoe. I was joking about the dick part. Those who know me know that I can’t help being one now and then:)
YOU HAVE GOT IT, MAN! Well done. Weren’t you the Townsperson who posted the link to the F Troop episode with them?
Stay tuned for more!!!
No, Mr. Mod, I wasn’t the Townsperson who posted the F Troop link. I made a wyld guess, using the Beefheart thingie that HBV posted & remembering how Little Feat got together.
Mod says:
“db, I’ll play you the a capella take next and you’ll change your mind about the singer:)”
Hey, you’re the one who got me into this “vocals only” kick with that fascinating David Lee Roth only take of “Running With the Devil”. There’s a vocals only version of Ready For the World’s “Oh Sheila” I’ve been digging lately as well.
The nether regions of the internet have been a boon for my curiosity about bootlegs, cutting down my time hunched over card tables and boomboxes at record shows (it’s never been my favorite way to spend a Sunday, loading out at a Days Inn all-purpose room).
It’s amazing how some of my favorite moments of musician’s careers are things I’ve discovered over the last few years, on “unofficial” recordings. It further lowers my respect for the “wisdom” of the major labels.
Man, I knew I heard this tune before and I just figured it out. The Chesterfield Kings “I Cannot Find Her” is the same song with minor lyric changes.