Hey, y’all. Matthew McConaughey here, fillin’ in for Mr. Mayor of Bootleg City this week. Cassanova gave me a jingle-jangle the other day and said, “Matty Mac, do me a solid and make a celebrity cameo in the BLC this week so I can cut out early for Labor Day. Surf, sand, sun, and sobriety — I’m all over it this weekend. Except for that last part, brother, knowwhatI’msayin’? Hahaha! Cool. Later.” (I did use the words “Labor Day.” The rest is from the mind of Matthew. —Ed.)
Hard to believe it’s been over a year since I last talked to y’all on Popdoze so Bobby C. could have another week off. I’m a big fan of Sugar Water(Stop it, you’re embarrassing me! —Ed.), so I was sad to see it move from entree to after-dinner mint on Bobby’s menu when he became mayor of Bootleg City last fall. But we all have to make sacrifices when we take on new responsibilities, don’t we?
Take me, for example — my son, Levi, is almost 14 months old. Can y’all believe that? Crazy. I can’t even remember life before he was born. Part of that’s because of the weed, but life really does change once you’re a daddy. And my wife, Camila, is expecting our second one by the end of the year.
Whoa, did I just say “wife”? Back up, y’all — that was a slip of the tongue. Camila’s my partner. My main squeeze. My colleague in baby raisin’. But not my wife. Neither of us are into that right now. Maybe one day, but we’re not like normal people — we don’t need the tax breaks, know what I mean? When you’re rich, money has no effect on love.
Last week marked the final edition of Tom Werman’s run on our Producers column and, in the course of his finale, he mentioned a special mixtape disc he made for his family and friends. Many readers replied wanting to know which songs he chose as his most indicative productions, the work he was most proud of. We’re hoping maybe to get Tom’s input for a future Friday Mixtape based on those requests.
But overall, it’s not a bad idea, is it? A mix themed not so much on a topic, artist or concept, but on the producer involved in the project gives insight to that producer’s choices, inclinations and “sound” and there hasn’t been a producer of recent time as prodigious as Brendan O’Brien.
His first high-profile job came with Stone Temple Pilots’ debut disc Core. After that he became Pearl Jam’s de-facto producer for life, starting with Vs., their second offering. He also mixed The Jayhawks’ Hollywood Town Hall and Soundgarden’sSuperunknown. Recently he has found himself behind the boards for Mastodon and Bruce Springsteen. Music fans are mixed on O’Brien, some believing he’s the quintessential producer of the ’90s into today, while others are put off by his signature ‘dry’ sound, lacking reverb and sparkle. This miniature capsule of a very small part of his output serves as an opportunity to decide for yourself. (more…)
I remember when the Dresden Dolls first came out. All my friends who knew my tastes told me I had to check them out, that I would love this duo. I’d ask what they were like and would get, “They’re a cross between goth and cabaret,” to which I’d reply, thanks but no thanks. It was totally a knee-jerk reaction but during this time, I was receiving a lot of promo material from a metal label that started focusing on the goths. After a month, I had a stack of CDs with black-lipped women moaning about the “exquisite death” and “sensual pain,” followed quickly by shrieks that could only be produced by someone giving birth to a schoolbus. Thank you and no, said I, to the Dresden Dolls.
Cut to three weeks ago. I’m in the local bookstore. It’s rather a liberal atmosphere there, meaning they’re not afraid to play CDs with the dirty words in them, so I’m listening as I rifle through the graphic novels section. It’s sounding pretty good, in fact. It’s piano rock, a super-sub-genre that’s been hurting lately. I was disappointed with the recent Regina Spektor and Tori Amos albums and the category as a whole often slides into Adult Contemporary blather about undying love or line after line of toothless affirmations. What was playing had, dare I say it, some edge left to it. I went to the counter and asked what it was.
“Oh, that’s Amanda Palmer. She’s from the Dresden Dolls.” Oops. “It’s been out for almost half a year now.” Double oops. (more…)
Some things just don’t go quite the way they’re planned. For instance, I was supposed to be over the moon and in love with U2’s latest album, No Line on the Horizon. While I’m not as down on it as I was when I heard the first single, “Get On Your Boots,” the thing got five perfunctory plays and has been shoved back into the rack ever since. Meanwhile, a friend slips me a USB flash drive and tells me (commands, more like) to listen to the album Moon Rock by Paul Steel. I know not of this Steel person, and the album cover seems to foreshadow something really, really cheeky. I’m not in the mood for cheeky lately, so the plan was to give the thing a run-through, give my friend the necessary thank-you’s and advise him I’m just not into albums that have Nintendo-like graphics for cover art (this means you, Architecture in Helsinki.)
Two weeks later and someone hasn’t gotten their flash drive back.
Moon Rock (2007) is the most addictive album I’ve heard in years, the picture of power-pop primacy, and it’s already a couple years old. Worse, it has not migrated officially from Steel’s native England yet, so the good folks at Not Lame Records are having a hell of a time keeping their imports in stock (you can buy it at Amazon.com as well.) It’s very much a case that as soon as like-minded listeners hear the recording, they’re prone to want to own it, only to find the process will be needlessly difficult. The equivalent of musical jonesing owes much to Steel’s mastery of the sugar-sweet hook, the fine art of subversion as the lyrics to the songs aren’t necessarily as straightforward as the sound advertises them to be, and that even though this was recorded at home by a nineteen-year-old kid it has a massive sound on it.
To better illustrate that subversive quality, the album opens with the song “In a Coma,” wherein the protagonist has found and saved the woman of his dreams but, alas, he’s powerless to do anything about it because… wait for it… he’s in a coma. This could be one seriously morbid concept, so the fact that it’s carried off with the panache of an E.L.O./Knack mash-up and doesn’t wind up sounding horrid prepares the listener for one fun and strange ride. “Rust and Dust” is a piano-driven ballad that could have been taken straight from the Ben Folds Five’s debut album, except that the protagonist in this one is seriously obsessed with a former girlfriend. You don’t pick that up when, in the chorus, Steel sings “And God knows how I miss you and the times I could have kissed you,” but when he flips that line at the very end of the tune into, “I wish I never met you — you’ll be sorry when I get you,” you will get a cold-chill moment. I guarantee that. (more…)
DOWNLOAD THE FULL MIX HERE
Ever been dumped? Stings, don’t it? We know. Believe me, we at Popdose know. Last year, as Valentine’s Day approached, many of the Popdose staffers gathered to trade stories of being dumped. After our “boys and girls” Iron John weekend, we wrote our stories of heartache and woe, and like idiots we posted our pain for all to shake their collective heads at – my sob story can be read here and was penned when I went by the moniker “Py Korry.”
Yes, I know Valentine’s Day will be here in a matter of days, but sometimes you gotta be a contrarian and do a little something for those who have loved, lost and are still bitter they got dumped.
But never fear, dear readers: we here at Popdose won’t be pissing in the punchbowl on Valentine’s Day. We have something special planned where “the softer side” of the staff will be laid bare, shorn of any cynical edges.
Peter Wolf and his ex-pals from the band must have sent Adam Sandler a big bag of blow in the shape of a heart after he used this song to great effect in The Wedding Singer. Indeed, there’s a kind of cultural divide between those who know this song from when it came out in 1980 (and during the early years of MTV) and those who know it from the movie. But it doesn’t matter when you heard it first, because 10 seconds into the song, you know you’re hearing a classic. And, to be frank, if I didn’t lead with a “top of the hour cooker” like “Love Stinks,” my claim to bluntness would have been hollow.
Hard to believe it’s been over a year since I last talked to y’all on Popdoze so Bobby C. could have another week off. I’m a big fan of Sugar Water (Stop it, you’re embarrassing me! —Ed.), so I was sad to see it move from entree to after-dinner mint on Bobby’s menu when he became mayor of Bootleg City last fall. But we all have to make sacrifices when we take on new responsibilities, don’t we?
. After that he became Pearl Jam’s de-facto producer for life, starting with Vs., their second offering. He also mixed The Jayhawks’ 
and Soundgarden’s 
. Recently he has found himself behind the boards for Mastodon and Bruce Springsteen. Music fans are mixed on O’Brien, some believing he’s the quintessential producer of the ’90s into today, while others are put off by his signature ‘dry’ sound, lacking reverb and sparkle. This miniature capsule of a very small part of his output serves as an opportunity to decide for yourself. ![51vAbBb77TL._SCLZZZZZZZ_[1]](http://popdose.com/wp-content/uploads/51vAbBb77TL._SCLZZZZZZZ_1.jpg "51vAbBb77TL._SCLZZZZZZZ_[1]")
I remember when the Dresden Dolls first came out. All my friends who knew my tastes told me I had to check them out, that I would love this duo. I’d ask what they were like and would get, “They’re a cross between goth and cabaret,” to which I’d reply, thanks but no thanks. It was totally a knee-jerk reaction but during this time, I was receiving a lot of promo material from a metal label that started focusing on the goths. After a month, I had a stack of CDs with black-lipped women moaning about the “exquisite death” and “sensual pain,” followed quickly by shrieks that could only be produced by someone giving birth to a schoolbus. Thank you and no, said I, to the Dresden Dolls.
(1974)
(1999)
(1978)
(1977)
(1969)
(1999)
(1998)
(1981)
(1992)
soundtrack (1996)
Some things just don’t go quite the way they’re planned. For instance, I was supposed to be over the moon and in love with U2’s latest album, No Line on the Horizon. While I’m not as down on it as I was when I heard the first single, “Get On Your Boots,” the thing got five perfunctory plays and has been shoved back into the rack ever since. Meanwhile, a friend slips me a USB flash drive and tells me (commands, more like) to listen to the album Moon Rock by Paul Steel. I know not of this Steel person, and the album cover seems to foreshadow something really, really cheeky. I’m not in the mood for cheeky lately, so the plan was to give the thing a run-through, give my friend the necessary thank-you’s and advise him I’m just not into albums that have Nintendo-like graphics for cover art (this means you, Architecture in Helsinki.)
(2007) is the most addictive album I’ve heard in years, the picture of power-pop primacy, and it’s already a couple years old. Worse, it has not migrated officially from Steel’s native England yet, so the good folks at 
