SOUNDTRACK: RALPH’S WORLD-Peggy’s Pie Parlor (2003).
When my son Clark was born, Sarah and I made a conscious effort to find music for him (really for us) that wasn’t, well, Raffi. Not that there’s anything wrong with Raffi per se, but well, he’s kind of annoying.
In the 4 years since he was born, there’s been an awful lot of cool bands making kids records. And I’m all for that (sometimes it’s nice being in tune with zeitgeist). Although it is nice to hear one of the guys who started the whole movement. Ralph himself was a member of Bad Examples a fairly forgettable band, nowhere near as fun/clever as Ralph’s World.
This was the first Ralph’s World disc we bought. And it’s still in pretty heavy rotation (although, now, really, the kids just listen to what we listen to…maybe when they’re a little older and actually understand Decemberists lyrics, we’ll be playing more Ralph).
Ralph’s songs rock, they’re amped up and excitable, like a toddler. They’re simple, easy rock songs in a multitude of genres. He also mixes his own originals with covers and even a public domain track (“Yon Yonson”).
And so overall you get a disc that sounds like a children’s disc from They Might Be Giants, before They actually made children’s discs. (TMBG’s children’s discs aim a little younger). Ralph’s songs are whimsical and catchy, in the way of TMBG’s adult songs, although the lyrics skew more towards about 6 or 7.
If you don’t have kids you probably won’t enjoy these discs, although really all is takes is a silly streak to enjoy them when the kids aren’t around.
[READ: July 24, 2009] Clarice Bean, Don’t Look Now
My son has just started watching Charlie and Lola, a delightful show based on the books by Lauren Child. [And it has one of the single coolest theme songs of any show ever. Seriously. It’s fantastic. Here, listen.] When I mentioned that Clark was watching this, my friend Eugenie said, Oh, Lauren Child, of Clarice Bean!
I wasn’t familiar with Clarice Bean. And then, as coincidence will have it, I was showing a patron some books in the Ch section, and there was a Clarice Bean book. I grabbed it and only found out later that it is the last (or at least that latest) book in the Clarice series. Well, it’s a kids book, I thought, I’m sure I can join the series late and not miss anything. And I was right.
I was also surprised by how into this book I got.
Oh, and also how eerily appropriate it was that I selected this particular book while I’m in the midst of Infinite Summer. I figured Clarice Bean would be a nice relaxing thing to read in my Infinite Jest Downtime. But Clarice Bean starts out: Part One: Where does infinity end?
Seriously. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: THE REPLACEMENTS-Stink EP (1982).
The Replacements followed their shambolic Sorry Ma, with this little EP. 8 songs in 14 minutes. If you were going to check out one of these two releases, this is the one to get. If for no other reason than at 14 minutes it certainly doesn’t overstay its welcome.
SOUNDTRACK: WRFF 104.5 FM & WRXP 101.9 FM.
The CD player in my car died. I have been listening to the radio these last few days. At first I was a little 
excited at the thought of listening to these stations that I so recently discovered. But let me say, when working outside in the yard, you don’t mind what the stations are playing as much as you do when confined in a car.
I had read this short book about six months ago, but decided to read it again before posting on it. The second time through was a much more satisfying read for some reason.
SOUNDTRACK: PEARL JAM-Vitalogy (1994).
I always think of this as the “weird” Pearl Jam disc. Mostly that’s because the contents are certainly weird (in that it’s made up like an old book, including excerpts from the book in the liner notes). But also because it has some of Pearl Jam’s strangest songs on it, especially “Hey Foxymophandlemama, That’s Me,” easily one of the weirdest songs in their canon, and possibly the weirdest song on a major label. It’s 7 minutes of samples and scratchy guitars. And it’s more than a little creepy. The disc also contains “Bugs” an accordion-based rant about, well, bugs. and “Aye Davanita” a sort of Eastern chanting type piece.
SOUNDTRACK: FLAMING LIPS-She Don’t Use Jelly (1993).
This single contains three B-Sides: “Translucent Egg” is something of an instrumental version of “She Don’t Use Jelly.” It uses the same opening guitar riff, but it changes a few things along the way. The highlights though are the other two tracks: variants from Transmissions from the Satellite Heart. “Turn It On [Bluegrass Version]” is, as advertised, a stompin’ bluegrass version of that track (with help from the Butthole Surfers), and “******* [Porch Version]” is a solo acoustic version of “Plastic Jesus.” Probably not an essential disc, but the alternate versions do highlight the quality of the songs and not just the raucous effects on the main disc.
SOUNDTRACK: WOLF PARADE-At Mount Zoomer (2008).
This album made many best of lists of 2008. It is considered a side project of both Spencer Krug (of Sunset Rubdown) and Dan Boeckner (of Handsome Furs). I’d not heard of either band, but I was very intrigued by this disc and I’m so glad I got it.
SOUNDTRACK: YES-90125 (1983).
We had a snow day Monday, and since we were all home, I thought it would be fun to bust out some old records. As soon as the opening chords of “Owner of a Lonely Heart” crashed out, Sarah gave me a “What made you think of playing this?” look and then said “What made you think of playing this?”
SOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS-Waitin’ for a Superman [US maxi single] (1999).
This single contains the official stereo mixes of two Zaireeka tracks: “Riding to Work in the Year 2025 (Your Invisible Now)” & “Thirty Thousand Feet of Despair.” Unlike the downloadable homemade mixdowns, these were created by the band. The tracks are modified somewhat from the originals.
SOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS-Clouds Taste Metallic (1995).
Clouds Taste Metallic is a clear precursor to later Lips albums. The opener “The Abandoned Hospital Ship” even sounds like it could come from Soft Bulletin (in fact it sounds more than a bit like “The Sparks That Bled”). Wayne’s high voice is finally finding its range nicely. The chord progression is also great. The only thing that makes it sounding off the wall is the fuzzed out guitar solo (and the tubular bells, of course). “Psychiatric Explorations of the Fetus with Needles” returns to the fuzzy rock of old. On “Placebo Headwound” the acoustic guitar is back but it is buttressed by the wonderfully full bass sound that the Lips have started using (and will continue to use on the next few discs). “This Here Giraffe” is one of my favorite early songs: a loping bassline over a cute and catchy chorus (“This here giraffe…laughs”).
SOUNDTRACK: CITY AND COLOUR-Live (2007).
City and Colour is the solo project of Alexisonfire singer Dallas Green (get it?). I was really impressed by Dallas’ voice within the noisy metalcore of AOF. And I wondered what his solo stuff would sound like without the dissonance of the rest of the band. I saw this disc was available from 
I Just Read About That... 