MORRISSEY – OUIJA BOARD

The lead singer from the Smiths created a whole slew of poppy dance tracks during the birth of the Alternative music era, (think around 1988). They were odd of course because the man who wrote them was really odd too. This one centers around a lonely soul trying to contact his dead friends in the afterlife. I didn’t know there was a video to go with this one. It was most likely created to support shows like MTV’s 120 Minutes and to fill in the airtime slots from 12 AM to 4 AM.

THE DAMNED – I THINK IM WONDERFUL

Eccentric and brash. That was the tone of the time when this came out, (1982 I think… or somewhere abouts). This really summed up the whole timeframe for me as punk rock was going thru its twists and turns. Every once in a while a track would pop up like this that would show optimism, selfish intent, and an over all good feeling. It was hard to contain oneself when this came on. Ah… the sheer joy of it.

DURAN DURAN – ALL YOU NEED IS NOW

Forget trying to find this on the radio on any station. I found it while digging around upstairs in the mighty Wazoo Record shop on State Street, ( Ann Arbor). These guys are still highly thought of even though you don’t see them much on MTV. Actually MTV hasn’t seen much of MTV either come to think of it. Coachella featured them recently and Duran Duran has been touring quite a bit. So here is the message of this song. No matter what you are going thru all you need is this very moment in time. No matter how big you were in the 80’s, (we were all big in the 80’s weren’t we?) all you need is now. Take a closer listen to this song and think about the time that you are in. You are all you need.

BADLY DRAWN BOY – YOU WERE RIGHT

Damon Michael Gough is a one man musical marvel. He is a multi instrumentalist from the UK who goes by the name Badly Drawn Boy. This introspective song reminds us that, “Sometimes It is hard to love someone til the day that they are gone”. This song travels through misery, relationships, dreams and things that could have been. In this song he meets Madonna and has to turn her down because he is still In love with someone else, (all while he was married to the Queen).

Be thankful for where you are. No matter where you are in your journey of love, life and the everyday experience of being you.

SLEEPY KITTY – DON’T YOU START

I found Sleepy Kitty at 8 AM in Chicago at Riot Fest. They were playing one of the smaller stages. I was instantly drawn to them. This song tore out my heart and made me cry. I don’t know exactly why because I couldn’t understand a word she was even saying. The tones and the melody just grabbed my heart and shook it vigorously. It brought me to my knees and I kept my eyes fixated to the stage while the band delivered the song.

Sleepy Kitty is an amazing 2 man band out of St Louis, via Chicago. They were self described as an art project. You will see prints being made and then actually used in the animations of their videos. That is impressive and worth mentioning. These guys are the real deal.

THE BETHS – UPTOWN GIRL

The Beths can be found on Sirius Radio on the ALT channel. They also did a some private inhouse sessions for National Public Radio. You can find all of this band footage on Youtube. They have been pretty busy and have been releasing a lot of new material. The Beths have a really good drummer and pop sensibility and back up vocals.

THE SHINS – NAME FOR YOU

I found them on CBC Radio and immediately liked them. I know they are from New Mexico and they have been on Saturday Night Live. Other than that I can’t tell you much about them. Canadian Broadcasting has a rock music show for about an hour every day and you have to be holding your breath to catch it on a loyal basis.

The hour seems to shift and the airtime gets broadsided with news, and sports, politics and world news. As if that’s not enough the station is bombarded with classical music. Catching any kind of pop music on the channel is a tricky task in itself. On those rare moments I will sometimes jot down the name of certain bands that I find interesting.

THE ALVVAYS – MARRY ME ARCHIE

This band hails from Canada and features lead singer Molly Rankin who delivers soulful and heart felt lyrics. The video for this also picks up on that and creates a really fresh and joyful experience. I found them on CBC radio during the rush hour drive. They have something really unique about them and were featured at the MoPOP Festival in Detroit on Belle Isle two summers ago. I was able to get some of their other material and was surprised at I heard.

WEEN – DOCTOR ROCK

Recorded live at the VIC in Chicago during the glorious days of excessive spending and ludicrous living. I seriously never thought those nights would ever end. Ween has continued to deliver incredible albums for over 20 years and even broke up at one point. But the response for them to get back together and play as a band was overwhelming. Ween commanded the stage again at Riot Fest for a three day rock festival. Gene Ween took a bit of a hiatus to unleash his man love for Billy Joel in a strange limited engagement run. These guys always over deliver and trample over every music genre there is.

SAINT MOTEL – BORN AGAIN

This popped up on the ALT Channel on Sirius Radio. They come from Los Angeles and have been described as dream pop and indie prog. Very little has been written about them. I was able to find some discography about them that goes back to 2007.

SONGS FOR SLIM –
THE REPLACEMENTS

I’M NOT SAYING

Minneapolis’s own The Replacements are back with a collection of songs for bandmate Slim Dunlap. “Songs For Slim” was recorded and the proceeds were forwarded to Dunlap who suffered a stroke. This track was covered by NICO and fits into the Replacements odd groove however so nicely. Its a perfect fit.

Singer and songwriter Paul Westerberg has a serious ear for the Alternative Rock songbook and is quite literate. He is a scholar of sorts of garage rock and can usually finagle his own quirky style into a classic narrative.