ONCE March 2008 Mixtape

It is March already!! I hope you enjoyed the “ONCE There Was a Record Mixtape” that I put out earlier last week. Some thought that by putting that out, you weren’t going to get an official ONCE mixtape this month. Not true! I couldn’t possibly keep all this good music to myself. This was a weird month because lots of great albums came out this month and I had to do a lot of listening to catch up. But it was worth it. Among the goodies is a track by Jeff Healey who passed away this month. As well as new tracks by 90’s rock legends Silverchair, The Black Crowes and The Counting Crows (two crows [crowes]… that wasn’t intentional). Also don’t miss Kenny Rogers as a hippy! We also have the self-described satanic Everley Brothers (The Gutter Twins), an ivy league band and a dance group in hiding. There was so much music this month I had trouble deciding what to put on this one. So you can be sure I have already started working on April’s mix. Beware the Ides of ONCE!



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Track #1
Cadence Weapon
Afterparty Babies
“In Search of the Youth Crew”

This Canadian rapper is back with his third album. The album is dedicated to all the “Afterparty Babies”. Those babies who were conceived after a heavy night of partying and debauchery. Being conceived that way apparently touched him because he spends the entire album trying to explain this unique demographic of youth. It is a disco beat with a rolling lyric line that keeps you dancing. It ends with a great story told by his grandmother.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zL3Qeot5KvE – A live video of him performing the song

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Track #2
Silverchair
Young Modern
“Straight Lines”

The 90’s are back. They gave you the song “Tomorrow” in 1995 when they were just 15 years old and now they are back with a new album. The album was a few years in coming because of the singer Daniel John’s arthritis. But things are a little better for him now and the band sounds as cohesive as ever. Now approaching 30 the band shows the years of maturity on their backs. The songs are huge flowing arrangements that often involve orchestras. This song seems to equate a serious illness with love and the need to walk the straight line.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=jCjtcrAO5ws& – Official video for the song

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Track #3
Atlas Sound
Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel
“River Card”

Deerhunter frontman Bradford James Cox strikes out on his own with this beautiful ambient album with many different themes. The entire album was created using a software program and all the lyrics were recorded as they were on the first take. Makes for a very interesting album that seems to float as if it were a leaf on a stream of water. The song is based on a Puerto Rican short story called “There’s a Little Coloured Boy at the Bottom of the River”. The story describes a boy who falls in love with his reflection in a river, though he believes it is another boy. In the conclusion of the story, the boy jumps into the water and drowns.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=k64NZiZaruU – Official video for the song

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Track #4
The Gutter Twins
Saturnalia
“God’s Children”

And now we have the newest in Greg Dulli projects. The Gutter Twins are comprised of Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs, Twilight Singers) and Mark Lanegan (The Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age). With a dark delivery and boding lyrics they slither through each song on the album with intensity. This song starts out with a slow burn then develops into a five alarm fire with the help of staccato drums. They don’t put out videos and if you see them in concert it is almost completely dark.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpU1oA0NVak& - Performing On My Way To Canaan’s Land

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Track #5
The Black Crowes
Warpaint
“Movin’ On Down the River”

The Crowes are back with very much what you would have expected. A very southern tinged rocker with twangy guitars and wailing vocals. If you like them, then you will like this album. This particular track is a stand out on the album for me. I would love to see it performed live. Got a very bluesy vibe to it. Everything is going be all right brothers and sisters!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGRKkxoh_Q0 – Video for their first single off the new album, “Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution”

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Track #6
MGMT
Oracular Spectacular
“Time To Pretend”

This group is so cool! They have been called a dorm room experiment gone right. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew Van Wyngarden are from Brooklyn and make up the whole of the band. The album is like a wonderful soundscape of hums and pops with beautiful harmonies woven in between it all. This song touches on the feeling we all have when we get to a certain age and wish to go back and start anew and experience all the things that made our childhoods so much fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVnRzEjpUmE – Official video for the song (Think Lord of the Flies mixed with Peyote)

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Track #7
Kenny Rogers and the First Edition
The First Edition
“Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)”

The year is 1967. Kenny Rogers has yet to sail for the islands in a stream or take up gambling. But he is a hippie in a psychedelic rock band. The First Edition had such hits as “Ruby (Don’t Take Your Love To Town)”. They had multiple hits but ended up breaking up in 1974 after Kenny Rogers career kicked into high gear and the “First Edition” was no longer necessary. This song has a very spry Rogers singing smoother than his usual raspy self. It is every bit as good as any of the hits by the rock and roll legends of that time. And the video of him performing on the Smothers Brothers show is one of the more trippy things I have seen in a while.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ8k6fVe25k – The famed performance of the song on the Smother Brothers show in 1969. (the bed of tie dye!)

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Track #8
The Counting Crows
Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings
“Cowboys”

This album is really cranking up to be one of their better ones that San Francisco natives The Counting Crows have released in a while. It drops at the end of this month. But we have this preview of the album which features the Crows rocking harder than they have in a while. It is reminiscent of “Angels of the Silences” off of Recovering the Satellites. All the familiar characters that frequently pop up in their songs like the satellites, circuses and cowboys make their appearance yet again. Their myspace (http://www.myspace.com/countingcrows ) has several songs up from the new album just in case you’re curious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlqzpIUQyVs – Studio video of them recording the new song 1492

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Track #9
Jeff Healey
See the Light
“Angel Eyes”

This blind guitar virtuoso was at the top of his game in 1988 when this song hit the radios and stayed all year. Many a proms were built around this single that year. He also appeared that year in the Patrick Swayze hit, “Roadhouse” as the blind bar musician. This month he passed away from the same cancer that took his eyesight at the age of 2. He will be remembered as a gentle soul who battled his entire life to live the way he wanted to. RIP Norman Jeffrey Healey (March 25, 1966 – March 2, 2008)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYz_LHKrgDY – Official video for the song (check out the mullet!)

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Track #10
Wilco
Sky Blue Sky
“Hate It Here”

Chicago natives Wilco are back with their sixth album. This song illustrates the diversity of Jeff Tweedy. It has a almost upbeat and optimistic feel to it. But at the core of the song is a man that is mourning the mistakes he made and the special someone he ran away. Everything he does keeps him occupied just so he can await her return.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYLaWXjUr8A – Fan made video for the song

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Track #11
Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend
“Oxford Comma”

This New York band teased us last year with an short track EP. This year saw the first proper release of their career. The album easily so far ranks up with the best of 2008. The year is just beginning but it is going to be hard to beat this album. The entire album is great. They embrace what people are calling afro-pop. It describes the combining of African music with western classical music. Brings to mind the great Paul Simon album “Graceland” which employed a backing choir of African tribesman. You will not be disappointed with the album if you like this song at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq5D5_tRSog& - The song performed live in LA at the Echo.

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Track #12
Goldfrapp
Seventh Tree
“A&E”

The band that gave us the great dance song of “Ooh La La” in 2006 are back with album that is determined to be a stripped down effort with less disco pop as they had before. This album has acoustic instruments and lovely souring vocals. This song compliments the video for it better than any other video this year so far. It is a very sad song about witnessing an overdose and possible death because of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VPyso87fZU – Official video for the song (watch out for the living bushes!)