Cover Of The Week: Tool does Led Zeppelin

Tool is one of my favorite bands, and it finally dawned on me that their stellar cover of Led Zeppelin's "No Quarter" is perfect for this weekly feature. Tool's version comes in at 11:00 long, and is every bit as amazing as one would expect from a band that holds itself to an extremely high standard of quality in the studio.

Tool - "No Quarter"

Buy Tool's music here.

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Check out previous Cover Of The Week posts by clicking the "Cover Of The Week" label below and the link on the right side of the page under "Return To Oblivion".

B-Side Of The Week: Stereophonics

Stereophonics recorded a bunch of b-sides during the sessions for their first three records. This week's track comes from the sessions for JEEP, their third studio effort. "Surprise" is a top-notch Phonics tune that could've easily been included on the album.

Stereophonics - "Surprise"

Buy Stereophonics music here.

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Check out the archived B-Side Of The Week posts by clicking the label "B-Side Of The Week" below and the link on the right side of the page under 'Return To Oblivion'.

Monday MiniMix: Steve Albini Recordings

MiniMix (noun)
Def: a ten to fifteen minute mp3 containing a mix of songs which often share a loosely common theme

I'm a big fan of many of Steve Albini's recordings, so I thought I'd feature a few for this week's minimix.

Monday MiniMix 10-15-07

Check out previous MiniMixes by clicking the label "Monday Morning MiniMix" below.

Cover Of The Week: Soundgarden does The Stones

Soundgarden released a ton of covers as b-sides early in their career. This cover of the Rolling Stones' "Stray Cat Blues" is on the "Jesus Christ Pose" singles as well as on their SOMMS EP.

Soundgarden - "Stray Cat Blues"

Buy Soundgarden's music here.

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Check out previous Cover Of The Week posts by clicking the "Cover Of The Week" label below or the link on the right side of the page under "Return To Oblivion".

Brandi Carlile Is Amazing

Brandi Carlile totally rocked my world a couple of Monday's ago when she played the Electric Factory in Philly. The setlist was a dream, as she blistered through a ton of old favorites, as well as a bunch of new tunes and a couple of covers. At one point she did a new song called "How These Days Grow Long" completely unplugged - though it was hard to hear it from where I was sitting it was an awesome concert moment. Gibb Droll's guitar soloing during "Folsom Prison Blues" was phenomenal, and Brandi's set-ending rendition of "Hallelujah" was so good that it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Though I don't have a recording of the Philly gig (yet), a bunch of the songs are up on YouTube and I came across a great version of a new tune called "Love Songs". Also, I did happen to find this set from May when she played the Avalon in Boston streaming on Live Nation's website.

Brandi Carlile
Boston
May 2007

The Times They Are A-Changing
Late Morning Lullaby
Follow
Until I Die
Closer To You
Have You Ever
Losing Heart
Josephine
Turpentine
My Song
Downpour
The Story
What Can I Say
Hallelujah

Download the show here.

Don't forget to pick up Carlile's new live CD, Live At Easy Street Records along with her other CDs here.

Matthew Good: Radio Performances

I mentioned briefly on Monday that I'd seen Matthew Good perform twice last weekend, and he was fantastic. I got to hear almost all of his latest record, Hospital Music, and a slew of older tunes that I never thought I'd hear him do acoustic. That's right, he played by himself with a minimal (but cool) lighting setup and only an acoustic guitar.

I'd be surprised if a lot of visitors to this blog have heard of Matthew Good, but if you like the music that I post here regularly chances are you might dig what he does.

Good's been making music in Canada for over a decade, first with the Matthew Good Band and more recently as a solo artist. His 2003 solo album, Avalanche, ranks in my top five or ten albums of all time. Here are a few live performances Good did while out on the radio circuit promoting Hospital Music. I also included an acoustic version of the Matthew Good Band tune "Suburbia", one of my favorites off 1999's Beautiful Midnight.

Matthew Good
2007 Radio Performances

Metal Airplanes (live acoustic)
Born Losers (live acoustic)
Black Helicopter (live acoustic)
I'm A Window (live acoustic)
99% Of Us Is Failure (live acoustic)
Suburbia (live acoustic)

Download the set here.

Buy Matthew Good's music here.

B-Side Of The Week: Radiohead

In honor of the digital release of Radiohead's 7th studio record this week, I'm featuring a Radiohead b-side from their post-OK Computer catalog. Many of the b-sides they released during this phase were not the accessible, "this one could've been on the album" kinds of songs that were common early in the band's career. "Cuttooth" on the other hand, from one of the "Knives Out" singles, is one of the good ones.

Radiohead - "Cuttooth"

Buy Radiohead's music here.

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Check out the archived B-Side Of The Week posts by clicking the label "B-Side Of The Week" below or the link on the right side of the page under 'Return To Oblivion'.

Monday MiniMix: Canadian Tunesmiths

MiniMix (noun)
Def: a ten to fifteen minute mp3 containing a mix of songs which often share a loosely common theme

I just got back from a fantastic weekend in Canada where I got to see my main man Matthew Good perform two solo acoustic shows. He was awesome as always, and I was totally digging the opening act at the second show, a female folk-rock duo called Dala. So in honor of my trip across the northern border, this Monday I thought I'd feature some quality tunes of Canadian origin.

Monday MiniMix 10-08-07

Check out previous MiniMixes by clicking the label "Monday Morning MiniMix" below.

Cover Of The Week: Steve Earle does Tom Waits

Fans of HBO's The Wire will recognize this cover as the theme song for season 5 of the show. It's on Steve Earle's latest, Washington Square Serenade.

Steve Earle - "Way Down In The Hole"

Buy Steve Earle's music here.

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Check out previous Cover Of The Week posts by clicking the "Cover Of The Week" label below or the link on the right side of the page under "Return To Oblivion".

B-Side Of The Week: QOTSA

This week's b-side comes from the Japanese version of Queens of the Stone Age's latest, Era Vulgaris. "Running Joke" is a mellower tune from QOTSA, and it almost sounds like Josh Homme is trying to sing like sometime-member Mark Lanegan on this Japanese bonus track.

QOTSA - "Running Joke"

Buy QOTSA's music here.

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Check out the archived B-Side Of The Week posts by clicking the label "B-Side Of The Week" below or the link on the right side of the page under 'Return To Oblivion'.

Monday MiniMix: Britpop

MiniMix (noun)
Def: a ten to fifteen minute mp3 containing a mix of songs which often share a loosely common theme

A little britpop always makes for a better Monday morning in my world. Enjoy.

Monday MiniMix 10-01-07

Check out previous MiniMixes by clicking the label "Monday Morning MiniMix" below.