Listening Party: August 4

Minutemen: Double Nickels On The Dime- Always heard this cd was a good listen. Its on the Rolling Stone Top 500 of all time, Mike Watt is legendary and gets name checked as such over and over again, "Corona" is the Jackass theme song, etc. But, the first few songs didn't really grab me. I wasn't rolling my eyes or scoffing but I certainly had to drum up the desire to stick it out. But I thought, it was a double cd...there was bound to be something. It kept chugging along and slowly but surely my head started nodding more, I started laughing at some of the lyrics and then all of a sudden I'm listening to a song called "Jesus and Tequila" and I realize I'm in good hands.



Del Tha Funkee Homosapien: No Need For Alarm- I've always loved Del's voice and his style but sadly, didn't really get into him until I heard him on "Clint Eastwood." This cd is solid and has everything one could love about Del on it: from his lyrical prowess (I have to commend him for being an underground rapper that doesn't sound like he's sponsored by a rhyming dictionary) to his talent at riding a beat, to his vocal inflections...this cd has it all. Check out: "Catch a Bad One" (for that tension filled string beat), "Wrong Place" and "Miles To Go."



Tom Waits: The Heart Of Saturday Night- I don't know if its particularly wise to listen to 3am music in the afternoon...unless you crave that mood. I don't stay up as late as I used to (though I'm not sure why seeing as I was born strung up in night strings) so maybe I just need to connect with it sometime during the day, even if its at odd hours...What I think I'm getting at is that I need the mood and that certain stillness that comes with being by yourself, in a chair, or on the street, or laying down looking up, that cries out for music like this. And being that there are different shades of the man they call Waits, sometimes I think the one who speaks to me the best, is the late night piano player, probably alone at the bar, playing by candle light. I get it and I'm always a little surprised when someone finds a way to put music to it.