It's All About Tomorrow

One Hundred Fifty-Ninth:

Artist - The Nation of Ulysses
Album - Plays Pretty for Baby
Released - 1992
Label - Dischord
Genre - Punk Rock

Tracks:
Side One
N-Sub Ulysses
A Comment on Ritual
The Hickey Underworld
Perpetual Motion
Machine
N.O.U. Future-Vision
Hypothesis
50,000 Watts Of Goodwill
Side Two
Maniac Dragstrip
Last Train To Cool
Shakedown
Mockingbird, Yeah!
Depression III
S.S. Exploder
The Kingdom Of Heaven Must Be Taken By Storm

What The Nation of Ulysses has is beyond 

talent.

Smashed instruments

Smashed faces

Smashed lives

They've been accused of the works, yet

this same five are soft touches for

has beens...

and to pay the tab for the youth

revolution, The Nation of Ulysses puts

on  some of the most fabulous one-

nightgers in the history of show business.

Gangway kids, from Washington D.C., the

five foolish lambs who came cool - 

The Nation of Ulysses! - J. Blake (Chicago)

I wanted to do something out of my comfort zone and when I pulled this record, the first thing that I thought of was, "the name of this band sounds so familiar!"  Even though I read some of the songs and what the sleeve contents contained, I still didn't have a clue, so I played it anyways.  Pretty impressed by their sound, The Nation of Ulysses reminds me a lot of...Fugazi in a way.  As I was listening, my roommate came in and gave me a little Wikipedia lesson on the members of this band.  Apparently the drummer is now the guitarist in Ted Leo's band and is brothers with the drummer of Fugazi.  There's the connection.  But regardless of what we can compare them to, I was impressed with this record.  The second album by The Nation of Ulysses, Plays Pretty for Baby is full of all kinds of emotion that make this album unmatchable by any band.   Solid drumming, distorted guitars, pure punk at it's best.  The band having a life-span that started in the late 80's into the early 90's, they have had much influence on many artists today.

Enjoy!

No Power, No Problem

One Hundred Tenth pick:

Artist - Elvis Costello
Album - This Year's Model
Released - 1978
Label - Radar
Genre -New Wave, Punk Rock

Tracks:
Side One
No Action
This Years Girl
The Beat
Pump It Up
Little Triggers
You Belong To Me
Side Two
Hand In Hand
Lip Service
Living in Paradise
Lipstick Vogue
Radio Radio

I've always been a fan of Elvis Costello, since about high school, and when I found his album, I was so happy.  Not only does this record contain some of the best songs, but it's also the second album Elvis Costello released with the Attractions.  Pump It Up and Radio Radio are favorites of mine and the pop/jazz type sound that displays on this record is extraordinary.  Plus his solid framed trademark glasses reels me in.

Enjoy!

Delayed

After a 8hr shift at work and a 3.11 bike ride, I came home to no power.  Before I got home, I knew I didn't have power because my roommate called me to let me know it was out as well as the neighbors.  I figured it was just a quick fix, but LITTLE DID I KNOW that it would be off until almost 11:00 p.m.  It's been a while since I sat in a house for more than an hour without power.  I cleared my mind, read the rest of The Walking Dead comics Robbie let me borrow and the whole time I thought about how bad I wanted to play my one hundred ninth pick.  So here you are, a day late but NOT an album short.

Artist - Pretenders

Album - Pretenders

Released - 1980

Label - Sire Records

Genre - New Wave, Punk Rock

Tracks:

Precious

The Phone Call

Up The Neck

Tattooed Love Boys

Space Invader

The Wait

Stop Your Sobbing

Kid

Private Life

Brass In Pocket

Lovers of Today

Mystery Achievement

Let's spin this review a little differently here.  I'm a love of music and all things sound (if it is to my interest).  One of my favorite movies, Lost In Translation, has a part where a group is in a karaoke room singing and of course Brass In Pocket is being sung by Scarlette Johansson's character Charlotte.  Anyway, when a friend of mine mentioned that he wanted me to learn the lyrics for karaoke on 8/18, I had to rummage through my records to see if I had the Pretenders and I did.  So this is dedicated to my Seattle friend Patrick.  Come August 18th, we will sing this and drink.  

Enjoy!

Shock Me, Shock Me, Shock Me with your Ways

Sometimes I sit and think a lot about my day, the things I did and the things I want to do at the moment.  So when I asked Kevin to pick out an record for me because I was drained, he picked this one.  I do have a little confession to make though, I TECHNICALLY listened to it yesterday after my one hundred third pick. It was so good I wanted to listen twice, so here's to you, my one hundred fourth pick.

Artist - Wire

Album - Pink Flag

Released - 1977

Label - EMI

Genre - Punk Rock

Tracks:

Side 1                                       

Reuters

Field Day for the Sundays

Three Girl Rhumba

Ex Lion Tamer

Lowdown

Start to Move

Brazil

It's So Obvious

Surgeon's Girl

Pink Flag 

Side 2

The Commercial

Straight Line

106 Beats That

Mr. Suit

Strange

Fragile

Mannequin

Different to Me

Champs

Feeling Called Love

12 x U

The debut album by Wire, Pink Flag is your best kept secret.  Out of the hundreds of vinyl records at my disposal, this one was on rotation to pick, but I kept pushing it back.  Then, the other day, I was so tired from work and running that I had my roommate pick out a record for me and he picked this one.  When I heard Mannequin, I fell in love.  You know, like those songs you hear for the first time and they just make you feel a certain way.  There have been a few songs that I felt like that about, one being Nirvana's Verse Chorus Verse.  So that being said, I gave this record TWO listens I liked it so much.  What's not to love about a punk rock band from London.

Enjoy!

Everything In Between

It's Saturday, it's Robbie's birthday and he requested that I showcase No Age - Everything In Between, so here it is:

Released 2010, Label - Sub Pop

Tracks:

1. Life Prowler

2. Glitter

3. Fever Dreaming

4. Depletion

5. Common Heat

6. Skinned

7. Katerpillar

8.  Valley Hump Crash

9. Sorts

10. Dusted

11. Positive Amputation

12. Shred and Transcend

13. Chem Trails

We had the pleasure of seeing No Age live in January of 2011 and never have I ever felt so much pain in my ears the next day.  The show was phenomenal and I even moshed when I requested that they play Boy Void (from their 2007 album Weirdo Rippers).  Just a drummer and guitarist (and newly added keyboardist), No Age can put on one hell of a show with their towering wall of amps that is usually displayed behind Randy Randall.

One of my favorite songs on this album is Common Heat and Life Prowler, but all are relatively as good as my favorites.  I would definitely recommend this album.

Girls Rule, Boys Drool

Staying on the girl pattern here for maybe the next few days, I'm debuting Vivian Girls' Share the Joy.  If you don't already know, the name Vivian Girls comes from the author Harvey Darger who based a manuscript called  The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion (which is a whole other story).  This three piece from New York graced us with their musical talent in 2007 and are still presently together, although Katy Goodman has a side project.
Here is the lovely no. 5:

Released April 2011 (Third Studio Album), Label - Polyvinyl Records


Tracks:
The Other Girls
I Heard You Say
Dance (If You Wanna)
Lake House
Trying To Pretend
Sixteen Ways
Take It As It Comes
Vanishing of Time
Death
Light In Your Eyes


I've had the pleasure of seeing Vivian Girls live last year at Emo's in Austin and they were great.  I hope, if you do decide to listen to the vinyl records I post, you'd take a listen to this one.