Sunday Shuffle #210

I hope everyone had a great Christmas yesterday - we certainly did. I did get some new music, though all in a physical form. Haven't listened to any of it yet but I will very very soon. Meanwhile, let's get the last Sunday Shuffle of 2010 going!

1. Destroyer/King Khan And The Shrines (2)

2. If You Let Me Be Your Anchor/Dawes (5)

3. The Ballad of Bjorn Borg/Pernice Brothers (4)

4. Moby Octopad/Yo La Tengo (1)

5. Without a Heart/Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings (7)

6. The Game Gets Old/Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings (8)

7. I Can See Your Future/Belle and Sebastian (8)

8. Chasing After Deer/Midlake (3)

9. My Pretend/Apples In Stereo (2)

10. Nobody/Shearwater (2)

Superchunked II

On Dec. 2 I took my first trip to the Metro in Chicago to see Superchunk for the first time (exactly 2 months after seeing The National in Indy). I came late to Superchunk, so late that they'd been on hiatus for a few years already and only doing occasional shows. During the months before their fantastic new album Majesty Shredding came out in Sept., I started hitting up their catalog and fell head over heels. When I found out they were coming to Chicago I just knew I had to go. I was not disappointed.

The members of the band are only a few years older than I am and they just had so much energy, particularly Mac McCaughan. He was jumping all over the place while ripping off great solos. Jon Wurster kept the beat going and Laura Balance was doing some pogoing while holding down the bottom end. Jim Wilbur plays it more cool but you could tell he was enjoying himself.

I had no complaints with the set list, a mixture of new songs and old favorites with some solid tracks from the middle years thrown in. I couldn't pogo for a whole song but I did some work on many many songs. You could see my head bobbing up and down during "Precision Auto" in a video shot by a guy who wasn't standing far behind me but it looks like he took it down.

The Metro is a cool place to see a show - it isn't a big room and the stage is up higher than everyone. I'd definitely go back.

It was an awesome night and one of the highlights of my 2010.

Set list:

Learned to Surf

My Gap Feels Weird

Punch Me Harder

Cursed Mirror

Crossed Wires

Rosemarie

Detroit Has A Skyline

Song For Marion Brown

Watery Hands

So Convinced

Digging for Something

Late-Century Dream

Hyper Enough

Slack Motherfucker

Everything at Once

Encore:

Driveway To Driveway

I Don't Know (Naked Raygun cover)

Precision Auto

Throwing Things

Sunday Shuffle #209

It's the last Sunday Shuffle before Christmas, which is hard to believe but here we are. Christmas music has been eligible for the shuffle the past few weeks but nothing's come up. Maybe today. I know for a fact that I'll be at my parents' house frosting sugar cookies this afternoon - a yearly tradition that I love.

1. What I Mean to You/Justin Townes Earle (5)

2. My Lovely Jezebel/Elvis Costello (5)

3. Changing Partners/Elvis Costello (1)

4. Philippians 3:20-21/The Mountain Goats (2)

5. Sunshine State/Superchunk (3)

6. Fallen Idol/Imperial Teen (1)

7. Islero/Crooked Fingers (5)

8. Won't Want For Love (Margaret in the Taiga)/The Decemberists (4)

9. Useless Switch/Portastatic (3)

10. Modern Art/Art Brut (4)

Sunday Shuffle #208

It's been a rough week and this upcoming one won't be much different. Music helps, though, so let's get to today's ten...

1. Play The Part/Little Joy (1)

2. Theme to Wendel Stivers/Spoon (3)

3. Sleepin In/The Morning Benders (7)

4. Floating Vibes/Surfer Blood (5)

5. We Can Work It Out/The Beatles (3)

6. Beautiful Machine Parts 1-2/Apples In Stereo (1)

7. You Don't Have To (If You Don't Want To)/Gentleman Jesse (3)

8. Linda Blair Was Born Innocent/The Mountain Goats (2) - 2 weeks in a row!

9. Nomenclature/Andrew Bird (2)

10. Gwen, Now and Then/The Broken West (1)

Sunday Shuffle #207

I'm in a work mode today, in part because I couldn't find the motivation to get much done yesterday. Accordingly, we'll jump right into the music...

1. 1 Samuel 15:23/The Mountain Goats (3)

2. Shame Shame/Sloan (1)

3. Northern Lights/Bowerbirds (1)

4. Black Hole/She & Him (4)

5. Linda Blair Was Born Innocent/The Mountain Goats (1)

6. The Angel's Share/Ted Leo & The Pharmacists (4)

7. Sensory Deprivation/Sloan (2)

8. I Fought Piranhas/The White Stripes (1)

9. What I Mean to You/Justin Townes Earle (4)

10. It Ain't Easy/Robert Forster (1)

Superchunked I

I have lots to write about Superchunk over the next month or so and to kick it off, here they are from The Current the other day.

Sunday Shuffle #205/206

It's my annual Sunday before Thanksgiving weekend double issue. Why a double? We'll spend most of next Sunday driving back home from PA, where we'll have had a great time with my side of the family. I wish all of you a very happy Thanksgiving as well.

1. Ballad Of Sire Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)/Yim Yames (4)

2. As I Rise/The Decemberists (2)

3. 36 Inches High/Nick Lowe (2)

4. Disney Time/Jarvis Cocker (2)

5. Crimson/Apples In Stereo (1)

6. River's Edge/Great Lake Swimmers (3)

7. Chesley's Little Wrists/Pavement (2)

8. We Are Underused/Pavement (4)

9. Here's Where The Strings Come In/Superchunk (2)

10. On My Way/American Music Club (1)

11. All I Got Is Me/Spoon (2)

12. Sallie's Heart Is Stone/Say Hi (1)

13. Blue Angel/The Love Language (9)

14. The Old Days/Dr. Dog (3)

15. Awkward Kisser/Telekinesis (5)

16. Baby's Coming Back To Me/Jarvis Cocker (2)

17. The Ghost Inside/Broken Bells (2)

18. I Know You/Sloan (2)

19. God, Please Let Me Go Back/Josh Rouse (1)

20. There Will Be No Divorce/The Mountain Goats (1)

Sunday Shuffle #204

Not much to say, so let's get right to the music...

1. Ruination Day/Gillian Welch (3)

2. Staples/Buffalo Tom (2)

3. The Royal We/Frankel (2)

4. Dress Me Like a Clown/Margot & The Nuclear So & So's (4)

5. Heavy and Hanging/Patterson Hood (4)

6. Way Out West/Big Star (6)

7. Videotape/Radiohead (1)

8. Big Light/Roman Candle (4)

9. A Long Time Coming/Sloan (3)

10. Rule of Three/The Lemonheads (2)

Sunday Shuffle #203

It's been a busy week for various reasons and this upcoming week will be busy for some of the same reasons. I hope everyone remembered to turn their clocks back last night...

1. January Wedding/The Avett Brothers (6)

2. I Will Kill Again/Jarvis Cocker (1)

3. Help Help/Mates of State (1)

4. Someday I'll Be Forgiven for This/Justin Townes Earle (1)

5. You Threw A Spark/Crooked Fingers (5)

6. White Collar Boy/Belle and Sebastian (4)

7. Station Approach/Elbow (3)

8. Chill Out/The Hold Steady (3)

9. The Lost Brigade/Ted Leo & Pharmacists (2)

10. I Know You/Sloan (1)

Sunday Shuffle #202

I hope the football games on my TV today are treats and not tricks. Happy Halloween to you all. Don't think today's ten will be very spooky but you never know...

1. Proud Mary/Creedence Clearwater Revival (4)

2. The Past/Teenage Fanclub (7)

3. Crumble/Dinosaur Jr. (5)

4. Calculating Bimbo/Belle and Sebastian (6)

5. You Are Free/Joseph Arthur (3)

6. Lucky One/Michael Penn (3)

7. Biology Tricks/Centro-Matic (2)

8. Take Heart, Sisters/Bowery Boy Blue (2)

9. The Salesman (Tramp Life)/White Rabbits (1)

10. Die Die Die/The Avett Brothers (1)

Heavy Rotation #13

Here are the albums I've been listening to a lot the past couple of weeks...

Belle & Sebastian/Write About Love - This is another band I was late on. I did pick up The Life Pursuit a few months after it was out and really liked it...but didn't dig back into the catalog. The songs on this album got quickly stuck in my head and that was just fine with me. I owe this one a more in-depth review and I owe it to myself to start grabbing their earlier work.

Bob Dylan/Blonde on Blonde - I pulled this out because there was a section on its making in Bob Dylan in America and kept listening because it's Blonde on Blonde. Don't know that I ever noticed the awesome drumrolls in "Sooner or Later (One of Us Must Know)" before. Gotta love the Robbie Robertson guitar on "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" too.

Ben Kweller/Ben Kweller - I pulled this out to play for the teacher I'm working with this year - she said she was into hearing new music and you don't have to invite me twice. She liked it a lot and I haven't been able to stop listening to it since. This is pure power pop goodness and performed entirely by Kweller. The way he harmonizes with himself on "I Don't Know Why" is awesome and there is not a dud track to be found.

The Long Winters/Putting the Days to Bed - This is another one I tried out on Katie (the teacher), though I'd been listening to it before that. I took it on my trip to Indy to see The National at the beginning of the month but didn't listen to it then. A week or so later I did and was hooked all over again. This is literate power pop at its finest and I can't wait until the new album comes out in early 2011 (I hope).

Old 97s/The Grand Theater Volume One - I spent some time listening to Rhett Miller's recent self-titled album and the band's last one , Blame It On Gravity, in the run-up to the new album's release on Oct. 12. I had to get myself prepared, you see. Anyway, I like the new one. A lot. I'm also excited that the current plan is for The Grand Theater Volume 2 to come out in May. I need to write more in-depth about this as well.

Sunday Shuffle #201

Back to the regular old shuffle today...

1. A Bite Out Of My Bed/The New Pornographers (10)

2. Border Guards/The Rosebuds (2)

3. Wait And See/Reigning Sound (3)

4. Snake Song/Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan (7)

5. A Slow Parade/A.A. Bondy (2)

6. Hello Darlin'/The Rosebuds (1)

7. Pour Me Up Another/Amy Millan (1)

8. Time To Die/The Dodos (3)

9. River's Edge/Great Lake Swimmers (2)

10. Sonnet 46/Roman Candle (4)

Sunday Shuffle #200

I have combed through the archives to pull up the dates of the other big episodes of Sunday Shuffle. Here is a quick recap:

#1 - Aug. 27, 2006

#50 - Aug. 19, 2007

#100 - July 27, 2008

#150 - Sept. 9, 2009

There have been some skipped weeks and double issues along the way but 200 is a pretty big number. This feature has been a constant for over 4 years now and is ingrained into my Sunday routine. And yes, there are long stretches where these Shuffles have been the only posts I've done...and I'm okay with that.

Enough with the talk - it's time to get to the music. I'm making today a double issue, so here's today's twenty...

1. Anonanimal/Andrew Bird (4)

2. Any Time At All/The Beatles (1)

3. Angela/Oakley Hall (3)

4. I Feel Better/Frightened Rabbit (1)

5. Kiss Yourself/Verbena (2)

6. My Punishment For Fighting/The Rosebuds (2)

7. Daisychain/Matthew Sweet (2)

8. Uncovering The Old/Dr. Dog (2)

9. Everywhere I Go/Lissie (4)

10. I'm Not There/Buffalo Tom (2)

11. Mole/The Mountain Goats (4)

12. The N.S./Sloan (1)

13. Nature's Wrath/The Budos Band (5)

14. I Will Sing You Songs/My Morning Jacket (2)

15. She Handed Me a Mirror/Elvis Costello (3)

16. Change of Time/Josh Ritter (4)

17. Shadows/Yo La Tengo (1)

18. Motion Suggests/Pavement (2)

19. Romanian Names/John Vanderslice (2)

20. Low Branches/Superchunk (4)

Sunday Shuffle #199

Today is 10/10/10 and to celebrate I'm going to do what I always do and write down the first 10 songs from shuffle mode on my iTunes. 10!

1. Faust Arp/Radiohead (2)

2. Lowdown/Tom Waits (1)

3. Reach Out/Sloan (3)

4. Pride of the Yankees/Patterson Hood (3)

5. I Wanna Know Girls/Portastatic (1) - an acoustic version

6. Better Things/Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings (8)

7. Most People Are DJs/The Hold Steady (1)

8. The Lady Vanishes/White Rabbits (2)

9. Rabbit/The Essex Green (2)

10. Angela/Jarvis Cocker (3)

Sunday Shuffle #198

I'm off to a later start than usual today because I was up late. Why? I drove down to Indy last night to see The National with my friend Trevor and some of his friends. It was a great show (more on it later) and great to finally meet Trevor face to face. It's also a football Sunday and I have stuff to do for English, so let's get to the music...

1. My World/The Thermals (2)

2. You Won't Let Me Down Again/Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan (7)

3. Who Makes Your Money/Spoon (5)

4. I Felt the Chill Before the Winter Came/Elvis Costello (2)

5. Dark as Days/Army Navy (2)

6. An Imagined Affair/Elbow (1)

7. Unison Falling Into Harmony/Great Lake Swimmers (2)

8. Runaway/The National (13) - perfect!

9. In My Younger Days/Eels (1)

10. Tuberculoids Arrive In Hop/Ted Leo & The Pharmacists (11)

Sunday Shuffle #197

I didn't get much done on my weekend to-do list yesterday and I want to watch football today even though my Bears don't play until tomorrow night, so we'd better jump right into the music...

1. The Trouble With River Cities/Pela (1)

2. Take Good Care of the Poor Boy/Sloan (2)

3. Don't Say A Word (Hot Chicken #2)/Yo La Tengo (1)

4. Bandits/Midlake (1)

5. Fat/Archers of Loaf (1)

6. Bunny Ain't No Kind Of Rider/Of Montreal (2)

7. Someone I Can Be True With/Sloan (1)

8. Trash Talk/Reigning Sound (1)

9. Wild West Love Song/Marah (1)

10. Saints/Army Navy (3)

Sunday Shuffle #196

I have lots to do today and that doesn't include all the football I want to watch. I also have a couple posts I want to get to this week and ideas for more but we'll see what happens. For now, let's get right to today's ten...

1. June's Foreign Spell/Spoon (1)

2. Something for You/Pernice Brothers (9)

3. Broken Window/Arcade Fire (1)

4. Into the Open/Heartless Bastards (1)

5. Production City/The Whigs (1)

6. Cast Iron/Superchunk (6)

7. Sonnet 46/Roman Candle (3)

8. Blind/TV On The Radio (2)

9. Whenever We Finish/Two Hours Traffic (1)

10. When We Were Alive/The Thermals (4)

Sunday Shuffle #195

Today is the first Sunday of the 2010 NFL season and I can't wait. While I do love baseball, I also love football...and my White Sox are pretty much done for as far as the playoffs go this year. I don't necessarily have high hopes for the Bears but we'll see. I also love music, so let's get to some...

1. Straight Shooter/Reigning Sound (2)

2. Take Good Care of the Poor Boy/Sloan (1)

3. And Your Bird Can Sing/The Beatles (2)

4. Weary Arms/Crooked Fingers (3)

5. Twin Peaks/Surfer Blood (6)

6. Backseat Sweetheart/Two Hours Traffic (1)

7. Market Girl/Headlights (2)

8. the most important words (ps 80:5)/The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers (4)

9. It Ain't No Fun to Me/Al Green (4)

10. Re: Stacks/Bon Iver (1)

Heavy Rotation #12

It's almost mid-September and time to take a look at what I've been listening to the last few weeks...

Isobell Campbell & Mark Lanegan/Hawk - How have I ignored this combination before now? Wow. The sweetness of Campbell's voice paired with the weariness of Lanegan's is a winning combination on songs like the torchy "Come Undone" and the driving "You Won't Let Me Down Again," which also features a great little guitar solo from former Smashing Pumpkin James Iha.

Delta Spirit/History From Below - The song taking up the most headspace the past few days has been "Bushwick Blues" but the rest of the album is just as entertaining in its mix of folk and rock and solid lyrics. This is my first time with this band as well.

My Morning Jacket/Evil Urges - I don't know that I ever really embraced this album when it came out. I loved Z, which was my introduction to the group, and this one...I don't know. I liked songs for sure but the whole feel just felt off. However, I'm rediscovering it now and liking it more than I ever thought I did. I think we'll get a new one next year too.

The National/Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers - I grabbed this from eMusic a couple years ago and played it a few times. For some reason, it didn't scratch the same itch as Boxer or Alligator. Lately? Hell yeah. I think it was the version of "Lucky You" from their Daytrotter session a few years back that made me go back to it. Thanks, Daytrotter! Of course, the fact I'm seeing them three weeks from tonight might have helped too.

Superchunk/No Pocky For Kitty and Superchunk/On The Mouth - These are the remastered versions put out a few weeks ago. I'd never heard these albums - a fact I will probably talk about after Majesty Shredding is released on Tuesday. Until then, suffice it to say I'm enjoying them and "Throwing Things" is one of my new favorite songs.

Tokyo Police Club/Champ - Unlike a lot of people on the internet, I was a big fan of TPC's debut album, Elephant Shell. A big fan of all their work, really, so I was eager for this record to come out. It felt a little off to me after the first listen or two but I've finally plugged into it and can't get the songs out of my head. It still feels like they're an unappreciated band these days. Maybe that's what happens when you have early music blogger mythic status?

Sunday Shuffle #194

It's been a busy week, which explains the lack of posts this week. I had intentions but you know how that goes. Hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend!

1. If A Song Could Be President/Over The Rhine (3)

2. I'm So Glad She Ain't Never Comin' Back/Cracker (1)

3. Embassy Row/Pavement (4)

4. A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger/Of Montreal (1)

5. Cue The Elephants/Bishop Allen (1)

6. Strange Overtones/David Byrne & Brian Eno (4)

7. Farewell To the Pressure Kids/Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew (1)

8. Don't Come Back/Mary Weiss (2)

9. Black Hole/Gentleman Jesse (3)

10. Here Comes the Phantom/The Clientele (1)