Shonen Knife - Pop Tune

Shonen Knife = happiness, so enjoy some happiness.

Wet Leg - Chaise Longue

Thanks to WFMU for playing this and Ed for sending it to me independently. Great stuff.

"Would you like us to assign someone to worry your mother?"

Rancid - If the Kids are United (Sham 69 cover)

Thanks to Dylan for reminding me about this cover by Rancid:



I'd forgotten about this, because someone had borrowed all of my Give 'Em The Boot CDs a long time back and never gave them back. So I need to track them down again.

And of course, because Matt Freeman, they kicked up the bass line a lot on this one.

Angelic Upstarts - If the Kids are United (Sham 69 Cover)

I was listening to the Angelic Upstarts recently, and found this:



I love the original, I like this cover, too. And thanks to the Dropkick Murphys for reminding me about these guys the other day with one of the records displayed on their video wall behind the band as they played.

Klaatu - Calling Occupants of Interstellar Craft

One of my favorite prog songs is this one, Calling Occupants of Intersteller Craft by Klaatu:



This song feels like such a clear connection the band's name - as if calling out to the pilot of the spacecraft from The Day the Earth Stood Still.


I first encountered this song as a cover on The Langley Schools Music Project. Next I heard the Klaatu version, and then finally the version by The Carpenters.

The Carpenters:

The Langley Schools Music Project

Oh, and trivia - the owl sound at the beginning is one of the band members blowing across a half-empty Labatt 50 shortie's open top.

Rancid - Live at Randall's Island, 1998

This is most of Rancid's set from July 1st, 1998, at the Vans Warped Tour.

I'm out there, somewhere, off to stage left (and to the back left of that VANS tent. I was up against a barrier, and basically got ground against it during that big circular mosh pit during "St. Mary."

It was a brutally hot, dry, and dusty day. I was literally sneezing out and coughing up dust for days after this . . . we'd laughed at the people we saw wearing masks. Next outdoor show I go to on a dry field, I'm bringing a dust mask and a hat that covers my ears. I spent the day in the sun and dust and drove us all home exhuasted and dehydrated, for this one little set.

Still worth it. I don't regret going. It was the first time I heard "Hooligans" live, and the first time I heard them cover Jimmy Cliff's "The Harder they Come," ever. I hadn't heard "The Brothels," either, but subsequently tracked it down.



Not great video, not great sound quality, but I've never seen any other footage of this set. Sadly it cuts off while Tim climbs up the amps on stage left.

The Ventures - Wipeout (Live in Japan, 1966)

Here is an outstanding live version of Wipeout:



That's some excellent drumming.