CHIRP: The Chicago Independent Radio Project

Michael Bennett writes

Friday iPod/MP3 Shuffle -- Happy Birthday Janet Weiss Edition

She is one of the great drummers in all of indie rock. Janet Weiss has pounded the skins with, among others, Sleater-Kinney, Quasi and Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks. Whether negotiating the angular punk of S-K, the melodic odd pop of Quasi (where she was usually one of only two instruments on the track) to the proggier stylings of Mr. Pavement’s solo project, Weiss handles it all and makes it better. So let’s pay tribute to her on her birthday by grabbing your iPod or MP3 player, hitting shuffle and sharing the first ten tunes that come up.

1. Orchestral Manouevres In The Dark — Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans)(Architecture & Morality): One of many striking songs on OMD’s third album, which found the band really expanding upon its chilly, Velvet Underground inspired synth-rock style. This song builds a definite dark mood and then overlays a pretty keyboard line which sets up the wistful melody. The tension between this melody and the rhythm track is very compelling and makes for a great song.
2. The Fall — The Aphid (Cerebral Caustic): A peppy album opener from a very good ’90s Fall album. This album brought back Mark’s now ex-wife, Brix, into the fold, and this song sounds like it would have fit in with the material during Brix’s first era, such as This Nation’s Saving Grace. The band locks into a lurching groove and Smith declaims like he usually does.
3. Elton John — Fanfare/Chloe (The Fox): An early ’80s Elton John single. His days as a constant chart topper were over, but he was still putting out quality songs. This is a wonderful ballad with a killer hook. It stands up to the best of his classic ’70s work.
4. Stevie Wonder — If It’s Magic (Songs In The Key Of Life): Proof that this two album opus is Stevie’s ultimate masterpiece is how even lesser known tracks are brilliant. This is spare ballad that sounds more like a pop standard that Nat King Cole could have sung than a rock or soul song. Stevie is accompanied by a harp, which adds to the beauty of the track, and his singing is impeccable.
5. Eagles Of Death Metal — I Want You So Hard (Boy’s Bad News)(Death By Sexy): This Queens of the Stone Age spin off, with Josh Homme supporting his buddy Jesse Hughes is just plain fun. The music shares the buoyancy of QOTSA, but is rooted in ’70s boogie and hard rock, with silly lyrics that make it all the more fun. I would love for the Eagles to do a all-covers album of ’70s faves.
6. Laibach — Drzava (Anthems): I first got into Laibach when they did their amazing cover of Queen’s “One Vision”, complete with a spooky fascist propaganda style video. Because they were initially signed to Wax Trax in the U.S., they were lumped in with the industrial scene, and while their music shares some traits with those type of artists, it’s a bit different. The military and facist iconography permeates their music, and is presumably ironic. This is an instrumental with heavy electronic drums, excerpts of speeches and swelling choral vocals that pop in the background from time-to-time.
7. Madness — Disappear (Absolutely): A typical piece of music hall inspired pop from the Nutty Boys. Not one of their top tracks, but it is upbeat and is reasonably catchy.
8. The Marmalade — Reflections Of My Life (The Very Best Of The Marmalade): The Marmalade were a late-‘60s/early-‘70s British pop group who dabbled in whatever style would get them on the charts. This craven ecleticism managed to yield a lot of good records. Perhaps the best of those was this wide screen ballad that is akin to the more melodramatic sides of the Bee Gees and The Hollies. This song even was a hit here in the States, and one could easily hear this being amped up and cranked out by Oasis or Robbie Williams or one of those other ’90s Brit poppers.
9. Chris Hickey — Run (Razzmatazz): Hickey is a folk singer with a plaintive voice that is somehow matter-of-fact and emotional all at the same time. He writes very simple songs with smart lyrics that cut to the bone, because of that voice. Between his solo output and two major label bands he was in, he’s put out six albums in the past 25 years. Prolific, he is not. This song comes from his most recent album, which came out last year. Perhaps to combat his slow process, he made himself write and record a new song every day on a portable digital tape player, and then took the best of those songs and put them on this album. I hope he keeps doing it, as this is yet another excellent work. This song is so basic, with Hickey explaining he has to run away from some unspecified problem. He inserts little snapshot details of what’s going through his mind. The song is mid-tempo, but Hickey is intent and sounds like he really does have to split.
10. Tubeway Army — Listen To The Sirens (Tubeway Army): This is where Gary Numan first came to the public’s attention. He hadn’t let synthesizers fully take over his sound, as most of the songs are full of punky guitars as he sang his paranoid sci-fi tales. This song shows how he was transitioning, as the first verse is sung over a burbling keyboard and synths augment the thick guitar chords. This first album also shows that Numan really new how to structure a catchy tune.