The Not-Pop Jukebox

I'm a very tactile person, and today I've been thinking about the things that I have made such a strong impression on me that I can still feel them under my hands when I think of them. I can feel the texture of the bark on the trees that I climbed incessantly in my youth, my children pushing back against my skin when I was pregnant, the spring and squish of kneading dough while making bread, the crack that the spine of a brand new book makes the first time it's opened. I think that touch gets underrated as a sense, with so much focus on vision and hearing. Naturally, there has to be a not-really-related song to go with this sappy yammering, so I'm including Don't Lose Touch, something fun from Against Me! These are the fine folks who brought you Tonight We're Gonna Give It 35%, Those Anarchist Punks Are Mysterious, and Mediocrity Gets You Pears. They also help me to continue my recent trend of song names and bands that include punctuation. Musically, these guys aren't great shakes. Lyrically, they crack me up on a regular basis. I think that's plenty of recommendation for a Monday.

To say that We Have Band offers a sound reminiscent of The Pet Shop Boys would make me Captain Obvious, especially considering their cover of West End Girls, which was quite well done and essentially planted the flag of their influence on the peak of imitation being a sincere form of flattery. But anyone who's been alive for a couple of decades has heard the original so there's no point posting it and/or the cover here. Instead, let's try an original, something electro-synth enough to be 80s-like without being completely retro. I'd really like to post Honey Trap but the only video was a live version with less-than-optimal sound and lighting. Instead, try this, the official video for Oh!, the song that convinced me that the band had more to offer than a throw-back sound.

Let's try something a little different for today. I've been focusing pretty heavily on the rock/blues/ska end of the spectrum and very little on things like The Slew. For this fine Saturday evening, get your thing down and shake it, albeit rather gently, 100%. Here you've got the ex-Wolfmother rhythm section with a guitarist and a turntable pro named Kid Koala despite the fact that he's from Canada. Many of their songs are much mellower than this track, but they all share the tasty mix of rock, Led Zeppelin-style psychedelica, and modern record manipulation that make this one the best of the bunch. Have a listen and please let me know what you think.

Here's a song for all of you crazy folks who camped outside of some store at four in the morning to vie with the other nut-jobs for two great deals. I think you'll all have to Plead Insanity, and the good folks with WookieFoot are here to help you. I'm sure you're too wiped out to read a lot of blather, today, so just enjoy some good music and rest up for the rest of the holiday season.

Apparently I'm going with a disco-funk theme for my pseudo-Thanksgiving songs this year. If you've not tried to find a great song about stuffing then take my word for the fact that it's more difficult than you might think. Thus I've ruled that Kool & the Gang's Funky Suff(ing) may be a bit of a stretch but it's thematic and a great song, so you're just going to have to enjoy it. I've included a photo of the gang for extra funky flavor. I hope you all have a great meal today, whether you're celebrating Thanksgiving or just having a Thursday.

As a reward for being patient through my illness and waiting patiently for another post, I offer a song that you could pretend is related to Thanksgiving, since it has "turkey" in the title, but which is really an offering of delicious 70s schmaltz from the Ohio Players. Not only do you get the lovely, horn-filled, severely-dated slang of Jive Turkey, but halfway through it turns into a funkier, bluesier instrumental song just made for mellow grooving. It's practically a two-for-one special just in time for Black Friday. Have some jive turkey this holiday season, and wait until you see what I pull out of my hat for stuffing and potatoes! (I actually have no idea what that will be, so I can hardly wait to see myself!) For flavor, I've included this lovely shot of the band on-stage in 1973. It really puts the jive in context.

How about a classic hobo song about stealing some free time on a train, filled with awesome and harmonica. You'd like that? Handily, I happen to have one right here. Sorry for the scant post and for the fact that there's an even more rockin' version of But I Rode Some on Taj Mahal's . I'll have more to say tomorrow.

I still have the cassette single of Deeper Shade of Soul that I bought a couple of decades ago and I still know all of the words. I listened to the song a few times while deciding if it should be the Not-Pop song of the day, and I still think it's one of the best get-people-moving party songs to come out of the late 80s. I defy you not to tap something while listening to Urban Dance Squad ply this little number, if you can resist outright chair dancing. It's just got that kind of groove to it. I don't recall ever having seen the video for this song, back in the day (as they say), but it suits the feel of the song perfectly. If you missed out on the band 'way back when, take this opportunity to dance.

Sticking with the theme of not-pop songs from very popular bands, I've found that an astounding number of people, astounding to me at least, are unfamiliar with this absolute gem from the "Abbey Road" album. Maxwell's Silver Hammer is a must for the collections of fans of bouncy, fun songs about psychotic murderers and yet this one seems to have flown under the radar for decades. On this fine, Friday night I give you a tune worth whistling as you get ready for your weekend festivities. If there's an unexpected knock on the door, you may consider checking the peephole, first.

Some of you may be well-rested and having a perfectly lovely day. This song is not for you, although you're obviously more than welcome to enjoy it. This one is for those of you who were up until 2:30 playing a video game and are having a perfectly wild and crazy day at work, running around as though your chair were on fire and you couldn't sit in it for more than three seconds at a stretch. This song is for people who need to keep moving to stay awake and keep up with the day. It's for people who want to tap their toes and enjoy some quality music with a Crazy Beat while guzzling the caffeinated beverage of their choice, to keep their respective minds off of the fact that they will have to wait another ten hours before they can go to bed. Just typing this has wiped me out, so if you'll excuse me I'll be off to run about until I am allowed to drop. Enjoy, and I hope your day passes a wee bit more smoothly than my own. In the meantime, please don't tell anyone I posted a Blur song. They may revoke my "not-pop" license.

So, The Muslims have become The Soft Pack, and they've got a new album out for your listening pleasure. If you're unfamiliar with The Muslims/Soft Pack folks, their sound is on the punk side of grungy, indie rock, with songs like Future Rock and Right and Wrong falling much farther on the punk end of that spectrum. From what I've heard, their new name hasn't changed the feel of the band much, which is all to the good. Of course, Grooveshark doesn't have the new album yet, but I was happy to find Nightlife, a great little rocker that I give a 92. It's got a great beat and you can dance to it (you American Bandstand fans will probably get that reference, but I fear the younger and non-USians amongst you may think I'm a dolt. That's okay. I am.) Actually, it does have a great beat, like most of The Muslims' songs, the sort of bouncy, "Whoops, I'm tapping my toes so hard I'm shaking the desk" sort of beat that makes you want to double-check that a song is on your play list. Try it hear for yourself!

Another day, another template. I decided that the one I had yesterday was too fussy and simply wouldn't line up the way I wanted it. This bright, shiny new one is almost the "good one" to the evil twin I used to have. At any rate, obviously I've not had much time for considering the good stuff playing in the background while I've been fiddling with the colors and layout of two different templates.

I have, however, been increasingly intrigued by Harlem Shakes. Upon first listen, I thought them too much noise and too little music, but I'm hardly one to rely upon first impressions. The more I hear from them, the more I like. Red Right Hands offers a good sample of their sound, a sort of electro-indie groove that I'm coming to quite like.

As you can see, I've squandered my posting time by selecting a shiny new template for The NPJ. I loved the old one but it was awfully dark. Please excuse the colors on the older posts, as they were designed to blend with the old design. I'll see if I can't update the templates on at least some of the more recent playlists so that they're not so glaringly mismatched. In the meantime, enjoy a somewhat-relevant (and always entertaining) song from Sparks. Please let me know if something looks wrong, doesn't work, or you otherwise hate it. Thank you!

One of my first posts here at the NPJ was about an earworm that I've enjoyed since my earliest memories: Secret Agent Man. I posted about three different versions of the song, but dozens of bands and artists have covered the song, some more successfully than others. Devo, in particular, stands out as a poor re-make. I've found nine versions to share with you today, including one from Bruce Willis (included purely for entertainment value), the aforementioned Devo cover, one from The Guess who, as well as Agent Orange, Brian Setzer (that one is pretty clearly a bootleg from a live concert, apparently one recorded underwater), and the ska cover from The Toasters about which I wrote in the original post. Of course I've included Johnny Rivers and The Ventures, for you oldies folks out there.

Lest you all begin to think that I have no appreciation for the finer points of classic rock, let me remind you all of this fantastic version of JJ Cale's Call Me the Breeze, wherein Lynyrd Skynyrd rocks the heck out of a fantastic song, with a bluesy piano solo and generally makes you think, "Dang, that was a great tune!" If you like this one (and can remember the days when microphones were on stands that you had to carry around with you, with wires that loved to trip up others), take a look at the Eric Clapton version with JJ Cale himself. That one's a great deal slower, but it's a lovely performance nonetheless. What more can I say about a classic than, "Dig that 70s hair, man"?

Here's a little indie-pop, new-wave-y, woo-hoo music for a Tuesday. The Bloodsugars have been through some staffing changes, but I have high hopes that their first full-length album will hold up to the strength of their EP, "BQEP" released in 2008. I'm basing that hope on the first single I've heard, Light at the End of the Tunnel, which you can enjoy at Static Television. I'm looking forward to hearing their Pedestrian Boogie, for certain. At any rate, if you're unfamiliar with The Bloodsugars, take a listen to Bloody Mary and a few of their other tracks, while you're at it, to get an idea of the sorts of energy and hooks they can sneak into a simple song. For contrast with Bloody Mary, try Uh Oh at Grooveshark, where they've got the whole EP.

Sometimes, how I got to a song makes as good a story as why I like the song in question. In today's case, I took my youngest to the clinic because of an earache (H1Nothing, thank you very much, just your basic ear infection). I failed to find a song about ears that I liked so I turned to songs about doctors. Suddenly, I was faced with two very different songs that have been favorites of mine since I was a child. Which to choose, and which version? Ah, the trials of music blogging!

Suddenly, I was distracted from Spirit in the Sky (Doctor and the Medics, lest you doubt that it fit my theme, although I was considering the Nina Hagen cover) and Little Feat's Rock and Roll Doctor by no less than three versions of Witch Doctor. I realized that I'd not heard the song for years, despite the recent passage of Halloween which, for some reason, used to cause this one to follow Monster Mash with annoying predictability. Some days, you just need a 50s novelty song to cheer up yourself (and your sick child). This is one of those days.

I have been debating what song to share with you all, today, but it finally dawned on me that what you need is to know the story of the Saturday Night Fish Fry.For those of you unfamiliar with the rock-and-roll pioneer, Louis Jordan, one of the inventors of the genre, this is a great introduction. It's also the best version of the song I've ever heard, particularly in comparison with the Eddie Williams original, which drags along with no fun whatsoever. Louis Jordan's cover makes me wish I'd been there, that Saturday night.

I thought I'd posted this one long ago, but a quick search of The Not-Pop Jukebox brought me no joy. I'm frankly surprised, because I've been enjoying Around the Bend for months, now. It's a bouncy, slinky, quirky little tune, sung by Mette Lindberg, whose voice gets on my nerves in some of the band's other songs but which suits this one beautifully. Actually, in Sunshine Coolin' she rather reminds me of Amy Winehouse, for whom they opened last year, but that doesn't hold true for this one. Perhaps if you crossed Ms. Winehouse with The Cranberries you'd get closer to the sound of most of their music. Most of their songs make me think Animal Alpha's song Bundy, so I'll have to post that sometime as well so you can see if they remind you of each other, as well.

Regardless of they sound, this is simply a happy song, great for singing at the top of your lungs in the car and for chair dancing on a crappy day at the office. Imagine my chagrin when I discovered that Around the Bend was used in an iPod commercial, which means that you likely have heard at least clips of it before. I'm hanging my head in shame, but I still like the song and I'm posting it anyway.

I'd like to thank CRPitt for introducing me to the Golden Silvers several months ago. While some of the songs on "True Romance" languish a bit more mellow than I'm wont to enjoy, you can find enough bouncy, synth-heavy, well-crafted songs to make the album well worth owning. Were I to nominate the top three songs on the album it would be the title track, True romance, subtitled True No. 9 Blues, the slightly mournful but ever-so-fun Magic Touch, and this song, Arrows of Eros, which was the first song I hear from them. The band is a combination of 80s sensibilities, a little doo wop, and a dash of indie style. If Elton John were to get a massive dose of up-to-the-minute sound, he'd be a part of Golden Silvers. That somehow doesn't sound as appealing as it should, but enjoy the song anyway and check out "True Romance" if you like this one. Thanks, Claire!

I think it's about time for a groovy little jazz standard. Today, let's enjoy Watermelon Man, from such diverse sources as Sly and the Family Stone, Woody Herman, Herbie Hancock, and Dave Benoit. Certainly, such a list would be incomplete without a fabulous version from Miles Davis and a wailing, horn-filled cover by Maynard Ferguson. Even Jimmy Smith has gotten in on the watermelon action and Julie London has some words to add to the the horns in her own version. (Note: the songs don't appear on the play list below in this order.) I didn't include the King Curtis version of this classic, as I just posted his Watermelon Man a few days ago. At any rate, enjoy the many takes on this jazz classic and drop me a note if I've neglected your favorite artist's interpretation.

While reading the Mashuptown interview with DJ Schmolli and I realized both that it's been far too long since I shared a mash-up with you folks and that I've never posted my admiration for his Falco-based tribute album, Falco re:loaded, which you can download in its entirety at the site linked through the title. You'll also find plenty of links there to videos that other fans have made, in addition to the lovely Nelly/Falco video for Mash Me Amadeus below.