onehundredandninetyeight

"We have maybe 15 songs with little bits left to record and a few more we want to get on tape... owen is coming here to record with us in early july and there is talk of recording a few songs with a full orchestra in budapest..." {more}

Feel that? That's anticipation.

Brakes & The Pipettes - Something Always (Jesus & Mary Chain)

Not Even Carrot Cake Can Save Us Now

No third album after all, it would seem. Oh, woe are we. It's a good thing I saw them live when I had the chance. But what about the new songs? They're good! Oh, no.

"Reader, we are to let thee know,
JJ72's body only lies below;
For could the grave JJ's soul comprise,
Earth would be richer than the skies.

JJ72 was born during an Easter many seasons ago; today it dies on the cusp of midsummer eleven years later.
Mark Greaney, Fergal Matthews & Sarah Fox wish to express their deepest and darkest gratitude to all of those with impeccable taste who helped and supported the band."

JJ72 - Wicked Games

Thanks to everyone for not deserting the blog over the last week, normal service will now resume. To show my gratitude, here's an Editors session on Xfm!
Tracklisting:
Bullets
Munich
Fingers in the Factories

Also, be sure and visit YANP to get some Final Fantasy videos. And stay tuned here, there's some good stuff coming up, an interview with someone I haven't been able to keep quiet about recently, and good sessions and whatnot, yes, and my 200th post, yass.
And, lastly, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it seems that Jeff Mangum announcement-of-return was a hoax. Shite and onions, as James Joyce said.

He Likes A Boy In Uniform

Im honour of the ever-approaching release of the Pipette's debut, here is a lovely live show from Leeds. I'm wondering whether or not the album will be a chart success or not - the songs are good enough, but they stand out a bit on the radio, in between Gnarls Barkley and The Strokes - this might work against them. Oh well, as long as they keep touring. Is it obvious that this is being written in a rush?
Tracklisting:

ABC
Dirty Mind
It Hurts To See You Dance So Well
Intro
Kitchen Sink
I Like A Boy In Uniform (School Uniform)
Tell Me What You Want
We Are The Pipettes
Why Did You Stay?
Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me

Download it here on Savefile.
Be sure to go here and grab a live show by Beirut in New York, it's great to hear the songs live, and there's plenty non-album stuff in there too.
And finally, since I may not post again for a few days, here's some Spencer Krug-related music for you:

Wolf Parade - I'll Believe In Anything (CBC session)
Sunset Rubdown - I'll Believe In Anything
Spencer Krug - I'll Believe In Anything (acoustic solo version)

AND!!!
My Brightest Diamond - Disappear

G - O - Exclamation Mark!

"In an interview with Pitchfork on Thursday, the band's de-facto leader, Ian Parton, revealed that the Team have just finished recording the single "Doing It Right", which is tentatively scheduled to be released in September. The track, which has been performed live a number of times and is described by Parton as "quite heavy on the 60s girl-group, Northern Soul kind of feel, Phil Spector-y, but with chanty vocals in it as well," will be accompanied by two B-sides. One of the B-sides is a cover of Sonic Youth's "Bull in the Heather (hear it on MySpace."
... The Go! Team plan to camp out in a recording space in Brighton beginning next week. When asked what direction the record will take, Parton replied that three tracks give an indication as to where the band is headed: the aforementioned "Doing it Right", a recorded version of the "Ladyflash" B-side "The Wrath of Mikey", to which the band plan to add vocals, and "Titanic Vandalism". The last track in particular is a potential "blueprint" for the new album, with its soundtrack atmosphere and "car chase" mood. "

Doing It Right (live)
Titanic Vandalism (live)
The Wrath of Mikey (live on NPR)

Related:
Interview with Ian Parton

Tall Ships Made of Snow Invading The Sun

Well, I have more My Brightest Diamond for you - that's her there, between Sufjan and Half-Handed Cloud, doing the most dramatic thing they could safely do on the tiniest stage in Hamburg. Anyway, before there was MBD, there was Awry, who, I am happy to tell you, make me even more anxious to listen to 'Bring Me The Workhorse' - because while it is very good, the newer material is certainly better. The more I listen to Shara's voice, the more I realise no one else can really sing. But I mean that in a good way.

My Brightest Diamond
Something of an End
Golden Star
Riding Horses (formerly an Awry song, but released under MBD on an Asthmatic Kitty compilation)
Disappear

Awry
Inconsistent
Brave Elephant
Drizzela

And, off topic, does anyone have an Oink invite? I think I'd really like one. Also, I'm going to Bristol for a week on Tuesday, and since I'm not bringing a laptop this time, I may not get to post, so if anyone feels like telling me about a great little band that everyone should know about, or has any weird literary or political ideas to get off their chest, write something or send in mp3s or something, and I'll post that. Otherwise it'll get quiet here.

Not Strictly Available In Prague In 1971

Following Will Butler's recommendations on music from communist Czechoslovakia in StG a while back, I set about looking for a song from a Heineken ad, involving adventurous young people running away from the secret police, not to foment revolution, but to drink super-rare Heineken. Mmm.
Anyway, the song that soundtracks the ad is pretty fantastic, and with a little help, I discovered that it is by a 70's Czech musician by the name of Petr Novak. 'Knihovna' has got the coolest bassline, and a pretty snappy beat, making it my favourite song out of the Eastern Bloc that I can think of. You really should hear it. And love it.

Knihovna
Hvezdicko Blyskava Piad
El Trobador Lirico del Siglo
Watch the advert here.

Also...
The Carrots have two new songs up on their MySpace, they're pretty good, but not downloadable.
If you remember Screech from Saved by the Bell, you can go here and help him save his house. If you want. Just buy a t-shirt.

Zusammenfassung

This post was going to be about how you could watch all your favourite kid's tv shows on YouTube for a nostalgia kick, but they've all been removed for copyright reasons since I saw them last. Now I'm in a bad mood. You can still watch the german intro to Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles here, but, alas, all the full episodes are gone. So I'll just round up some bits...

The new Razorlight single is here, and it's altogether pretty... good. I didn't like their last album at all, and remember leaving good pubs because they insisted on playing it, but this song ain't half bad.

Razorlight - In The Morning

Also, IGIF directed us to a musician by the name of ARMS recently, and they're absolutely right, he's pretty talented. Expect to hear more about him.
ARMS - Whirring

The newest guests at the Daytrotter studios are Sunset Rubdown, and it's an utterly amazing session, including a new song, and a reworked version of 'Shut Up I Am Dreaming Of a Place Where Lovers Have Wings'. Go get.

If you like Sunset Rubdown, you'll probably like Frog Eyes a lot too, so go here and get lots and lots of rarities - live mp3s, sessions and so on.
The Smudge of Ashen Fluff has a Juana Molina radio session, so get that too.
Berkeley Place is a blog as wonderful as it is underrated, so clicky.
Don't Pay For The Drinks is a new blog recording and posting indie gigs in Berlin and its surrounds, so go now and get Stars at Magnet Club. And very near Magnet is this little Italian pizzeria which makes the most delicious mini-pizzas for one euro, you absolutely have to try them. And then try the one on Warschauerstrasse, and tell me which is better, I could never decide.

Other things:
Psapp - Wet Box
Electric Soft Parade - Cold World
Grace Potter - Toothbrush and My Table
The Futureheads - Skip to the End
Okkervill River - Kathy Keller
My Morning Jacket - O is the One that is Real
Low - Step
My Morning Jacket - Lowdown
Patrick Wolf - Paris
Muse - Endlessly

My 200th post is coming up, so I might do something big for it. Or maybe I'll just have a quiet night in.
6 days.

Six Degrees of Sufjan...

... or other musicians and bands very worthy of your time that probably will not be heard but for this connection.

1. My Brightest Diamond



My Brightest Diamond is Shara Worden, who sings along with Sufjan on 'John Wayne Gacy Jr.' and is lead cheerleader (well, top of the pyramid) of the Illinoisemakers. She has an utterly amazing Nina Simone-esque voice - indeed when I saw her supporting Sufjan on his European tour (above), she opened both nights by covering 'Feeling Good', as well as an excellent version of Prince's 'When Doves Cry'. Her music doesn't really sound like Sufjan, and sounds pretty original, often creating an atmosphere of real tension. My Brightest Diamond's debut 'Bring Me The Workhorse' will be released on Asthmatic Kitty on August 22nd, making it an excellent choice for my birthday present this year.
See her MySpace for more info, and one more song.

Something of an End
Sufjan - John Wayne Gacy Jr.

2. Danielson



Danielson you probably already know about. 'Ships' is shaping up to be one of the best records this year, and everybody's talking about it, so I'll just inform you that he and his comrades/siblings sing on 'Greetings from Michigan' and leave you with mp3s.

Did I Step On Your Trumpet?
Nice of Me
Good News for the Pus Pickers
Things Against Stuff
Buy Ships

3. Rosie Thomas



Or, the mother of Sufjan's non-existent baby. Well, that's unfair, she's too good to be known only for that. Rosie Thomas is a considerably weird and very talented songwriter who will be releasing an album with Sufjan hopefully before the year is out. Her album “If Songs Could Be Held” is well worth your money, features a duet with Ed Harcourt, and will no doubt be picked up when her collaboration catapults her to indieblog infamy.

Pretty Dress

Sufjan on Rosie:
"Something you need to know about Rosie is that she's really weird and she's really funny. When she's not singing songs, she dresses up in a neck brace and wears broken reading glasses and delivers pizza as a dimwit named "Sheila Saputo." This is not the behavior of a normal person. So it's no surprise that she could pull this off, this imaginary baby. But the fact is, Rosie is not carrying my baby. As far as I know, we spent quality time in the studio, not in bed."

4. Ester Drang



To the left James McAllister, to the right, James Shoop, and in the centre, Bryce Chambers. Both McAllister and Shoop toured as the Illinoisemakers, and McAllister played drums on both 'Illnoise' and 'The Avalanche', making him the greatest drummer known to music. Ester Drang play music not too dissimiliar to MBD, but a bit heavier. They take a bit of listening to get into, but to quote Spin:
"Think Elliott Smith's seriousness (minus the sheer misery), Chris Carrabba's sincerity (minus the whining), and Imogen Heap's innovativeness (minus the cool name)."
That sounds good.

Come Back Alive
Valencia's Dying Dream

5. Half-Handed Cloud


I must confess, I am often frustrated by Half-Handed Cloud - trombonist with the Illinoisemakers and manufacturer of Christian electronicapop. For every amazingly catchy and emotive song like 'A Suit of Clouds To Ride The Skies' or 'I Got a Letter' there's a song that just alienates me by being... too Christian. It's not something I ever hold against musicians, unless they sing things like 'Kill a fag for Christ' or something equally wrong and stupid, but beginning songs by giving out about 'the unbelievers' just puts me off, despite the quality of the music. So I listen to 'Halos and Lassos' selectively, sometimes it's amazing, sometimes not.

A Suit of Clouds To Ride The Skies
I Got A Letter
Feed Your Sheep
Once, Twice, Seven Times A Werewolf

6. Marzuki

Marzuki Stevens is Sufjan's brother and, incidentally, an Olympically talented marathon runner. Marzuki, however, was an indie-folk band from Holland, Michigan, featuring Sufjan, Shannon Stephens and Matthew Haseltine - they released two albums on MS Records, both of which are now out of print, I think. The cover art to their second album, 'No One Likes a Nervous Wreck' was a painting by Sufjan called “Vic Chestnutt eats a microchip.”



Shannon Stephens and Matthew Haseltine are now busy doing different things with Asthmatic Kitty. Apparently the band were pretty popular with local students.

Marzuki - Mouse
Marzuki - Kissing the Ceiling
Shannon Stephens - I'll Be Glad
Sufjan - Holland

Related:

Sufjan Stevens - Year of the Dog
Sufjan Stevens - Jason
Sufjan Stevens - Lakes of Canada (The Innocence Mission cover)
Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About... Illinoise
Rare Sufjan
More live pictures from Berlin & Hamburg here.

Death of a Salesman

(This post is mainly for Irish people and has no mp3s whatsoever)



I don't usually do political stuff, but I have it on very good authority that Charles J. Haughey, ex Taoiseach of Ireland and spectacularly corrupt politician in general, won't live past tomorrow. The Irish media is unofficially buzzing with it, though I haven't heard it on the news yet. I guess we'll see. He did some good, especially for the Arts, but he maintained a ridiculously extravagant lifestyle thanks to donations from businessmen - more than £8 million over an 18-year period, and he's kept out of various enquiries and tribunals due to sickness - he has cancer - though it didn't stop him holidaying and yachting and whatnot. He even owns one of the Blasket Islands.

And if you're interested in seeing where you stand politically in relation to others, this is the place for you.

{Update - Charles Haughey RIP, hit the news this morning. Maybe I'd be good at this sort of thing.}

Two Chord Songs

Taking inspiration from a Chalets song (obviously) I've begun paying particular attention to music recently, and found that two chord songs aren't that common. Oh, the amount of times I thought I had one for the list, only for the bastards to play a G major for the bridge! But never mind. I'm sure I've missed plenty, there's at least two on 'Gulag Orkestar', but there's some excellent songs here nonetheless. And next, I must find the song that has more chords than any other! Yes! It's probably a Radiohead song too.

The Chalets - Two Chord Song
Chords - A major and F# major (although technically they cheat a bit because there's a hint of F# minor in there but who cares?)

Death in Vegas - Girls
Chords - A major and D major

JJ72 - Formulae
Chords - A major and D major

Architecture in Helsinki - Do The Whirlwind (Live on WOXY)
Chords - C major and A minor

The Futureheads - Man Ray
Chords - Dm and B♭ major - better than any song on the new album.

Cathy Davey - Come Over
Chords - G and A - the third Irish song on the list is one of the best. She deserves everyone's attention for the intro here that just draws you in with its simplicity.

The Arcade Fire - Haiti (Live at Warfield)
Chords - G and Em - Have you noticed this song has the same drum pattern as 'Power Out', only backwards? And that 'Power Out' has almost the same rhythm as 'You Are A Runner And I Am My Father's Son' only much faster? Yup.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Let The Cool Goddess Rust Away (live)
Chords - D and G - bum ba bim bem bummmm - that's the bassline.

"Are you boys policemen?"
"No ma'am. We're musicians."

Six Degrees of Gwenno

Yes, that Gwenno, the Pipette that sings the spectacular chorus in 'Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me'. She has her own solo project! And has had it for some time now. Shockingly enough, she was once part of the Riverdance troupe, the crowd led by a Canadian (or American, but definitely not Irish) that showed the world that the Irish are so good at dancing they barely need to move their arms. There's a picture here of Gwenno in those days.
But anyway, Gwenno makes music with a friend of hers, James Chant that sounds spectacularly un-Spectorish. In fact it sounds quite Postal Service-ish. Listen!

Lime Chordial
Dance Alone

And you can watch a video here of her presenting a Welsh kids show, as well as hearing an mp3 of some of her older Welsh/Cornish language material (as detailed here.)

Now then, that James Chant chap has his own band, who make good music influenced by The Postal Service and At The Drive In, apparently. They are called Swipe, and they should also grace your stereo/media player. Download their stuff on their MySpace page.
As well as this, Mr. Chant is now playing alongside James Dean Bradfield as he jaunts along in his solo-ness, but I've nothing new from him for you, so instead, I'll tell you that if you go and sign up at Nicky Wire's new site, you get a preview from the album, a studio version of the song 'Daydreamer Eyes'. It's available for a limited time only. He's been insulting Italy (the entire country, not just the team), while Bradfield has been slating Nirvana:
“They (Nirvana) destroyed a generation of people - they gave them a gateway to an alternative world without getting a badge first and took them to that world which, at the end of the day, was just bad metal.”

Also!
- Watch The Pipettes perform on The Album Chart Show - perfect if you've never been lucky enough to see them live.
- See the video for Pull Shapes! It's quite good...
- See the clip from Return to the Valley of the Dolls that the video is based on - with added Pipettetry! Hurrah!
- And, if you fancy some more Muse, here's a nice remix of Unintended.

map of your head - another leak!

I'm just glad it's Muse.



I love Muse, but they've only had one album of four that had really good album art. That would be Absolution. By the way, I prefer Origin of Symmetry, although I don't mind this new Franzy change in direction, it's actually pretty refreshing. Have a listen, and decide just how great this album will be. I'm thinking: wonderful.

{Knights of Cydonia}
{Take a Bow}
Sorry. Listen to them here.

Have a nice b-side - Eternally Missed

Buy it here.

The Unnecessary and Completely Arbitrary Blog Awards!!

Since I have less time to spend on the blog these days, I thought I'd inform you of some of the other blogs worth a visit. And what better way than a ridiculous and unnecessary award ceremony? Visit them! Go forth and download!

Best Motto/Profile/Thingy:
Dreams of Horses - Uh oh hotdog!

Best for cross-market appeal:
Veritas Lux Mea
On a typical day, Goose will write a post of 20,000 words, tackling major issues in politics, recent entertainment news, sports headlines and intellectualism, as well as music. He'll make the best president ever. Just vote for him.

Best Blog I Don't Really Understand:
Stars on Fire/ Museocology

Best Blog With A Black Background:
You Ain't No Picasso

Best Blogger Who Talks Like He Has A Black Background:
Dodge - runnin' da shiz at My Old Kentucky Blog. He's got enough good mp3s and contests to pull it off, though, especially his great series gathering covers of different songs.

Most Sorely Missed Blog:
Nominees: Me You, We Two, Welcome to the Midwest, Against The Grain
Winner: Me You, We Two. Because she had the best taste before I knew she had the best taste.

Nicest Design:
Funtime OK - upside down is good.

Best Blog Takeover:
Bows + Arrows/Tinos + Tinos

Best Post On Blogs:
Mike's post on Empythree Bloggus.

Best Blog written in a foreign language (English):
Nominees: DoCopenhagen, The Sad Pandas, Friday Night
Winner: Friday Night
Because I speak German. And it's good.

Best 'Old' Blog:
Nominees: Said The Gramophone, Stereogum, Fluxblog
Winner: Said The Gramophone
For the best writing - especially when he wanders into excellent short stories about people and clouds and such - and great music from great people we would never hear about.

Best 'Middle-Aged' Blog:
Nominees: Gorilla vs Bear, My Old Kentucky Blog, You Ain't No Picasso
Winner: You Ain't No Picasso
He introduced me to Page France. That's reason enough. GvsB has come a long way, though.

Best 'Young' Blog:
Nominees: Cable and Tweed, B(oot)log, Rbally
Winner: Too early to tell. But Maybe C&T.

Worst Most Awfulest Blog:
No. I'm not that mean.

If you were left out, don't be sad, I have really bad taste, it probably doesn't mean anything. If you feel you've been miscategorised, well, complain! And remember, this is really all about the fact that the best thing about all these blogs is that they're all different.

Sex Pistols - My Way
Sufjan - Dear Mr Supercomputer

Proper posting begins again soon.

The Ten Best Songs of 2006 {so far}

I'm not a big fan of making best-of lists before the year has even ended, but since there's a good chance that some of these songs won't make it on to a top ten then (what with the Joanna Newsom, Muse and perhaps Arcade Fire albums a-coming) I thought I'd lavish some praise on them now, in list form.

10. The Carrots - Beverly
Technically, it's not of 2006. It hasn't even really been released yet. But just because the Carrots are unsigned doesn't mean this song doesn't belong on this list - it's an unbearably catchy piece of hip-swinging music pie.

9. Sufjan Stevens - Pittsfield
As I've said before, I think this is the highlight of 'The Avalanche', and though the album itself is nowhere near as good as Illinois or Michigan, this song turns up in my head at least once a day.

8. The Pipettes - Because It's Not Love (But It's Still A Feeling)
I couldn't decide which song from their album to post, but this one just beats 'Sex' and 'Judy' by virtue of the line: "Dance! And we move a little closer..." Why did no-one think of that before?

7. The Rakes - The World Was A Mess But His Hair Was Perfect
Well, this hasn't been released either, apart from soundtracking a Dior Homme fashion show. But this short version of the song is probably the best thing The Rakes ever did - their second album is shaping up to surpass their debut in every way. Plus, they were the first band I interviewed in person, so I've got a soft spot for them.

6. Islands - Swans (Life After Death)
I was a little disappointed by the Islands album, I thought it was nowhere near as good as The Unicorns' work. But you wouldn't know it by this song, an epic piece which really kicks it off.
This is the one truly essential track from 'Return to the Sea'.

5. Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds (live mp3)
I was in love with song when it was called 'Illusion Song', and I'm still crazy about it now. The best song on an album full of great songs, it sounds so massive and inspiring it could cure a fear of flying.

4. Beirut - Postcards from Italy
This was the song that got Beirut started on his blog-buzz trip, a lovely mix of indie chord structures and Eastern brass. Lovely Lovely Lovely.

3. Sunset Rubdown - Stadiums and Shrines II
Mindblowing, mildly psychadelic and utterly epic stuff from Wolf Parade's caught-voice singer, with this song as a perfect introduction to the New Weird. This song could be the musical expression of being at the centre of a fireworks display.

2. Cathy Davey - Sing for your Supper
If you know everyone else on the list, you probably don't know Cathy Davey. But that's okay. Just listen to this song, and think about how great life is, and being in love, and how you really only need these three chords - G major, C major and E minor. Two major and one minor. A bit like life really.

1. Destroyer - Rubies (live mp3)
Beautiful simplicity stretched out over nine minutes, with some great stream-of-consciousness lyrics. It doesn't have to make sense when it sounds this good. A near-perfect song, from a near-perfect album.




Honourable Mentions:
My Brightest Diamond - Something of an End
Sufjan Stevens - Dear Mr. Supercomputer
Rademacher - It Really Shouldn't Matter
Danielson - Did I Step On Your Trumpet?
Cold War Kids - Hospital Beds

We'll see what's changed by the end of the year. Possibilities for new entries include 'Be a Woman' by Joanna Newsom, 'Burning Bridges, Breaking Hearts' by the Arcade Fire and possibly 'Nude by Radiohead. It could happen.

thieves + sunshine

Okay, I know I'm posting less, but I'll try and fix that, I'm just busy with work and all, and dealing with very determined nine-year old shoplifters. I'm considering using this recording to deal with it, it gives people under twenty headaches (as my brother will testify) and doesn't affect anyone over that age. I'll just make a cd with this mp3 on repeat, and see what happens. Too many kids are trying to steal from us these days.
Anyway!
The video for James Dean Bradfield's new single is here. I'm starting to look forward to his album, but not half as much as I'm looking forward to the leaking of it, which will probably be soon. Also, you can watch Nicky Wire at the Guardian's Hay Festival here.

You can watch all your favourite episodes of Itchy & Scratchy here. They have the best titles; 'Bleeder of the Pack', 'Flay Me to the Moon' etc. Genius.

Music + Videos + Such:

N.W.A. vs The Chieftains - Compton's in the Dingle - even better than it sounds.
Xn - Vito's Ordination Song (Sufjan cover)
Sufjan Stevens - The Dress Looks Nice On You (Alex O'Nan remix)
Muse - Knights of Cydonia (live video)
Arcade Fire - Bizarre Love Triangle (New Order cover video)
Manic Street Preachers - Freedom of Speech Won't Feed My Children

And finally, a question. Is Lily Allen as good as everyone says? I haven't really had time to listen to her yet, so I think I'm way behind.

{anti-conservative songs that are also likely to appear on an indie-type blog}

Busy work plus lazy me = less posting.


1. Arcade Fire - Haiti (CBC session)
Interviewer: I know your wife's family is from Haiti and escaped, I guess, during the Duvalier regime. There's a song called "Haiti" on the album. Is there a story about her family escaping?

Win Butler: Well, she had a bunch of family members who got killed during that period. They were kind of in the intellectual class and they were the first to be... even as recently as five years ago, even post-Duvalier, I was reading about this, some Ton Ton Macoutes went to a school, a university, and killed a bunch of kids. They had a group that was against the government... but Regine's great-uncle was an ambassador from Haiti to a bunch of countries. He was a doctor and he actually gave up his practice and went to Cuba to train with Castro, to learn army stuff to try and attack, to go back to Haiti and try to liberate it. And the whole thing just fell apart. They got there and one of them told a priest what was happening, and the priest told the police and they got stopped. It's just kind of been like that forever.

2. Thom Yorke - After The Goldrush (Neil Young)
I saw Neil Young live a few years ago (for €105) playing a solo acoustic gig and it was amazing, he justed rolled along swallowing up drunk clapping hecklers and ignoring Bono who sat over there and tapping his feet and bobbing his neck and explaining the songs and Greendale and Grandpa and then he played this song but he changed the lyrics to "Look at Mother Nature on the run/ in the twenty-first century" and still wow.

3. Graham Coxon - Time for Heroes
{The Libertines - Time for Heroes}
The WOMBLES (White Overalls Movement Building Libertarian Effective Struggles) are a loose Anti-Capitalist group in London that dressed in white overalls with padding and helmets at protests, mimicking Tute Bianche a group active in Italy.
They should not be confused with the British animated children's television characters, The Wombles from whom they drew their name, white color, and environmental consciousness.

4. Johnny Cash - The Mercy Seat (Nick Cave)
Capital Punishment is a bad thing.

5. Final Fantasy - Song Song Song (live)
"Women need to persevere in finding their own artistic language by raising their middle fingers both to male critics and also their predecessors" said Owen Pallett. Not very conservative.

6. Manic Street Preachers - Revol

Mr Lenin - awaken the boy
Mr Stalin - bi-sexual epoch
Kruschev - self love in his mirrors

Brezhnev - married into group sex
Gorbachev - celibate self-importance
Yeltsin - failure is his own impotence

Revol revol
Revol revol
Lebensraum
Kulturkampf
Raus raus
Fila fila

Napoleon - childhood sweethearts
Chamberlain - you see God in you
Trotsky - honeymoon, serenade the naked
Che Guevara - you're all target now
Pol Pot - withdrawn traces bye bye
Farrakhan - alimony alimony

Revol revol
Revol revol
Lebensraum
Kulturkampf
Raus raus
Fila fila...

Revol

7. Neil Young - Impeach The President
"When I think of the war, I think of Flight 93. I wonder if Neil Young and Pink are going to go see that. I wonder if they would accept free tickets from me.
I also commend to them the recent tapes of bin Laden and Zarqawi and Zawahiri. They continue to promise to kill us, as many of us as possible.
In fact, Zarqawi promised just a day or two ago that the worst is yet to come.
Wonder if they listen to Neil Young and Pink? Doubt it.
Think they would spare Neil Young and Pink while they killed the rest of us because, after all, Neil Young and Pink are against war and want peace?
If Zarqawi and bin Laden are against Bush, they must be against war, right?
You might think so if all you listened to was Neil Young and Pink" Foxnews.com

8. Billy Bragg - Waiting for the Great Leap Forward (live)
I know fuck all about Billy Bragg.

9. The Doors - Five to One
"They've got the guns, but we got the numbers. Gonna win, yeah, we're taking over."

10. Rage Against The Machine - Killing in the Name of
Oh, don't act so shocked.

11. Manic Street Preachers - ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayitsworldwouldfallapart
Images of perfection, suntan and napalm
Grenada, Haiti, Poland, Nicaragua
Who shall we choose for our morality
I'm thinking right now of Hollywood tragedy... repeat to fade.

Conservative Revolution Rock!

Yup. The 50 greatest conservative rock songs - as decided by conservatives. You can see the list here, with all the half-hearted justifications. The Sex Pistols, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones... Apparently, a song can be conservative even if the songwriter didn't mean it that way - even if the band is the fucking Clash. Here's the top five:

1. The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again
2. The Beatles - Taxman
3. The Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil
4. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama
5. The Beach Boys - Wouldn't It Be Nice

And it gets much, much worse, with Rock The Casbah at number 20, Blink 182 at 17, and Kid Rock at 49, a family-values man if there ever was one.
Anyway, predictably enough, I'll have a fine list of anti-conservative (it's easier than saying liberal or leftie or whatever) songs up later, or tomorrow, because we know the left has all the best songs. I probably won't make fifty, cos I'm a bit lazy today, so if you have any suggestions, leave a comment, or mail me, or sing it really loudly and punch someone in the face.