Twenty years after their heyday, Steely Dan [m] [w] remains relevant and part of the consciousness.  Now, maybe you don’t think you know any of their work, but without realizing it, you’re probably familiar with a few tracks.  Steely Dan has a way of seeping into the foundations of our modern world, showing up in places like the background music playing at your grocery store.  Because of their genre-defying sound, Steely Dan manages to pop up on playlists of radio stations with Classic Rock, Adult Contemporary, Easy Listening and 70’s-themed formats.

But this post isn’t really supposed to be about Steely Dan.  You see, last week, the Ultimate Players Association held its championship tournament.  The champions of the open (read: men’s) division was a team from Atlanta called Chain Lightning.  Now maybe the inspiration for the name was the DC Comics villain or the fighter plane or the World of Warcraft shaman spell (OK… that last one may be somewhat less likely), but I prefer to think that the team named itself after Steely Dan’s song from the 1975 classic album, Katy Lied.

In fact, I prefer to think a lot of things could plausibly get an extra dash of smooth and cool if they were named after Steely Dan songs.  The day after Thanksgiving has already taken the “Black Friday” moniker and Wilmer Valderrama’s character from That 70’s Show was the Fez… but we can do better!  Washington, DC as “Barrytown“, Bram from The Pittsburgh Comet as “Kid Charlemagne”, Pedro Martinez as “Daddy Don’t Live In That New York City No More” (er… maybe not!).  I might choose “King Of The World” for myself, if only I didn’t already pick my pseudonym from Stereolab’s catalog.  Any more ideas here?  Comment away!

Oh, and go check out Chain Lightning (the song) too.  Enjoy!

I’ve always been fascinated by views of apartment buildings at night.  All the windows lit up provide a tiny glimpse into the lives of the buildings occupants, stacked one atop another like a mass of real-life dioramas.  In one window, you might see someone cooking dinner… in another, a festive social gathering may be going on… and the flicker of television comes from a few more places, sometimes coordinated, as if the occupants are watching the same thing together… separately.

With last night’s departure of Daylight Savings Time for another season, sunset and these accompanying apartment building scenes will begin an hour earlier each night.  Here in DC, we have lots of apartments, condos and other multi-unit residences that all light up at night.

We also have Bob Mould [m] [w], formerly of Hüsker Dü and Sugar.  ”City Lights (Days Go By)” is a track from Life and Times, Mould’s latest album that was released back in April.  The song really has nothing to do with time changes or looking into people’s apartments.  It’s just my own word association that links the words “city lights” with nighttime images of the populace’s residences.  So when I hear this song, I can imagine driving down apartment-dense streets like 16th Street in Columbia Heights or Connecticut Avenue in Kalorama simply marveling at all the life being broadcast out every window.

That said, it’s a pretty rockin’ song too.  But don’t just take my word for it, go get “City Lights (Days Go By)” from Stereogum and see for yourself.  Enjoy!

Halloween is just around the corner, which makes it an excellent time of year to break out some tunes about ghosts, zombies, witches and other spooky stuff.  High on my list of top Halloween tracks (and I do have a pretty sweet holiday playlist), however, is “The Horror” from RJD2 [m] [w].

Making a name for himself in the world of primarily instrumental hip hop, it’s perhaps not too surprising that RJD2 remains somewhat anonymous in popular music circles.  Nevertheless, it’s possible… perhaps even likely that you’ve heard his work before as his music has been used in commercials for adidas, Wells Fargo and Saturn as well as promos for TNT’s “Inside the NBA.”

“The Horror” had a commercial appearance of its own, popping up in a UK spot for Levi’s jeans.  But ultimately, the reason that it’s featured this week is because it’s a Halloween song through and through.  It has the title, it has a sound that exemplifies the horror, and it’s just a sweet little track.

So if you’re ready to set an appropriately spooky mood for the season, go get “The Horror” from Salad Days Music.  Put it in with a few other appropriate tracks to play when the kids come trick or treating and everyone will win!  Enjoy!

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds [m] [w] have been around forever.  OK, not literally forever, but they’ve been making music for the substantial majority of my life.  Over a substantial part of this time, they’ve been in my consciousness as a band that’s out there… y’know, doin’ things… playing some rock music… and stuff.  But I couldn’t really elaborate much more because I didn’t really know the second thing about them.  I could have walked up to Nick Cave himself as he wore a Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds t-shirt, singing a Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds song under a Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds neon sign and I wouldn’t have had the foggiest idea who he was.

Last year, the band released their latest album, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! to widespread critical acclaim.  Between the multitude of consistently glowing reviews and the careful punctuation of the album title, I figured that it was high time I put these guys on my radar.  Sure enough, a few weeks ago I picked up a bunch of new music, including the aforementioned album. Having listened to a fair sampling of the new stuff, I’m ready to declare Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! to be a pretty clear winner amongst the group.

After just a few listens, there are few songs on the album that don’t jump out at me… it’s just strong from start to finish.  “Today’s Lesson” is the pick for this week, mostly because it’s a rocking track with just a touch of gospel influence, but also because it seems accessible.  I mean, it sounds like it could be in a beer commercial or a football promo… we could all be chant-singing the chorus (“We’re gonna have a real good time tonight!”)… if only the song weren’t all about prostitution.  Ha!

Go get “Today’s Lesson” from Obscure Sound and enjoy!

Those who know me well know that my affinity for a good cover song (and sometimes even a truly awful cover) knows no bounds.  For reasons that will soon become apparent, I’ve recently been revisiting Nirvana’s Nevermind, particularly with an eye to the tributes that other artists have paid in cover form.

Shortly before last year’s departure of lead singer Geike Arnaert, the Belgian electropop group Hooverphonic [m] [w] recorded an excellent cover of “In Bloom.”  Hooverphonic’s rendition is relatively faithful to Nirvana’s original performance, in the sense that the instrumentation is similar… there aren’t any washboards or kazoos or trombones or anything.  The loud/quiet dichotomy of the original is also preserved, but instead of ramping up the noise on the choruses, Hooverphonic puts its own twist on the song by bringing it down to an ambient dream pop-esque sound.

All in all, Hooverphonic’s rendition of “In Bloom” does everything a good cover should do:  it keeps what’s great about the source while straying from the original version in a way that makes it sound comparable to the covering band’s original material.  So go get out your trip-hop flannels and give this genre twist a try by downloading “In Bloom” from Music Is Art.  Enjoy!

I was out of town this past weekend, so this week’s Free Music Sunday is going to be short, sweet and a little bit late… Anyway, while I was gone, the 2016 Summer Olympics were awarded to Rio de Janeiro.  Three days prior, Bebel Gilberto [m] [w], the daughter of Brazilian bossa nova legend João Gilberto, released her new album, All In One.  “Chica Chica Boom Chic” is the album’s first single and it’s a catchy one that’s in heavy rotation on my computer at the moment… and it wouldn’t surprise me if we’re hearing this in the background of broadcasts from Rio 2016.  But don’t wait that long to hear it!  Go get “Chica Chica Boom Chic” from KEXP and imagine yourself on Ipanema Beach.  Enjoy!

This week, I’m wrapping up a month of my favorite artists on Free Music Sunday with Air [m] [w],  a band that’s been on my playlists for nearly a decade since I picked up their classic debut album, Moon Safari.  Unlike the other bands featured this month who ranged from six to a whopping 23 members, Air is just two guys.  Despite being small in numbers, Air’s brand of ambient electronic trip-hop still manages to create grandiose soundscapes that also retain an intimate feel.

“Sing Sang Sung” is the second single released from the album, Love 2, which will be released on October 6.  Just like every new album from Air, the critics are wondering whether this new release will be the next Moon Safari. To me, however, that’s an absurd standard to use as a measuring stick.  Moon Safari was an all-time classic album and it’s no shame to “only” make one of those in a career.  If Love 2 matches up with efforts like Talkie-Walkie and Pocket Symphony, it’ll certainly be worth a listen or three.

From the early release singles, it seems like Air has another winner on its hands.  But just don’t take my word for it… go download Sing Sang Sung from Cities of the Plain and see for yourself.  Enjoy!

Just wanted to post a few updates on items I had previously mentioned…

• After surviving another bout with forms, I served my jury duty last week.  As instructed, I showed up at the courthouse at 10:30 AM and found the line to sign in… a line that was at least 75 people long when I arrived.  In fact, there were probably over 100 people ahead of me in the check-in line, but I could only see 75 from where I was standing (and yes, I did count them all).  After I signed in, I sat around for a few hours before having my name called to be a potential juror.  Only thing was that they called my name as the courthouse broke for lunch at 1 PM.  When I returned from lunch at the appointed time (2:10), myself and the other potential jurors were met with… nothing… for another half hour or so.  When the court personnel finally called for us, we were told… that we weren’t needed and we could go home.  So basically, I went to the court, did a bureaucratic shuffle, waited around a bunch, then went home.  And now, I’m done with jury duty for two years.
• A couple weeks ago, I also mentioned the upcoming Monopoly City Streets game.  Since then, the game launched to a mess of technical difficulties and incompetent administration.  From day one, it was clear that the Hasbro people weren’t prepared to launch and that the game was basically in pre-beta form.  Since then, the hardware has been upgraded to handle the traffic, the rules of how to play the game have been fleshed out a bit and the game has been reset.  Unfortunately, Hasbro still seems to have no idea what they’re doing.  Gameplay updates have made the game pretty much entirely unappealing and – last I checked – there was still no real mechanism for preventing multi abuse.  Simply put, I can’t recommend Monopoly City Streets anymore… it looks more like a waste of time than anything.
• Finally, I haven’t given any updates on the filming of The Real World lately.  Mostly, that’s because there’s nothing really to update.  They’re still in the house across the street, but whatever drama may or may not be going on hasn’t spilled out into the streets… at least not that I’ve seen.  I still see people walking by and pointing out the house now and then, but there aren’t substantial gawkers, stalkers or groupies around.  Pretty mundane stuff, really.

The Polyphonic Spree at Ram's Head Live

The first two bands featured this month on Free Music Sunday typically performed with anywhere from six to eight members… and they’re both dwarfed by The Polyphonic Spree [m] [w].  Weighing in with a lineup of 23 musicians (including a six person choir, a horn section and a harpist), the band can assemble an impressively comprehensive sound by calling in a fluttering flute, a delicate violin or some bombastic extra percussion whenever the moment calls for it.

Once folks get over the size of the band, one of the first observations that many reviewers make is that the band is always so… happy.  And if you just listen to their iconic VW/iPod commercial hit, “Light And Day” (and, I suppose, this week’s featured track), maybe you would get that impression.  A closer inspection of the full catalog, however, reveals a much more complex dynamic at work.  In many cases, the sunny overtones that pervade the Spree’s music actually reflect a somewhat idealistic sense of optimism… a hopeful view that might help navigate life’s trials and tribulations no matter how mundane (ie:  most of The Beginning Stages Of…) or grandiose (ie: most of The Fragile Army).

Critics also gravitate to the Spree’s live performances, usually to make note that they all perform wearing robes.  Now when you have a big bunch of people making music with positive themes and, for live performances, dress them in robes… well, people are going to start thinking that you’re a cult.  And yeah, that’s where the reviews usually end up.

But to stop there shortchanges what is, without a doubt, the best live show I have ever seen.  Again, it comes back to the band’s size:  with 23 people on stage, the band members are almost literally bouncing off the walls as the full squad of ‘em hits you with a wall of well-orchestrated high-energy noise.  Even if you’re not very familiar with the band’s catalog, they typically throw in a few familiar covers each show.  Plus, there’s occasional confetti.  What’s not to love?

“Running Away” is the leadoff track on the band’s most recent album, The Fragile Army. It really isn’t going to do much to dispell the notion that the Polyphonic Spree is a cult, but like the aforementioned “Light And Day,” it’ll make you smile on the inside and maybe you won’t mind even if they are a cult…  Drink the Kool-Aid, download Running Away from Stereogum and enjoy!

In anticipation of this fall’s new television season, Dan and Sean have made their picks for which shows aren’t long for production.  I don’t pay any attention to television ratings and I’m only vaguely aware of the cancellation rumormills, so I can’t really speak to whether these are wise choices or not.  Nevertheless, I do know that genuinely good television shows seem to be canceled on an almost annual basis.

Two seasons ago, Jericho wasn’t renewed for the 2009 season, despite a significant campaign by fans of the show to have it renewed.  More famously, Firefly saw its run cut short in 2002 after just 11 episodes despite being – objectively – the best show in television history.   Jericho and Firefly were both very good shows with strong characters, good pacing and excellent writing.  It’s a damned shame that the full stories of these shows couldn’t be told.

It is important to note that quality doesn’t necessarily translate to large viewership and that the decision to give a show the axe is primarily an assessment of numbers.  But usually there’s more to the story than that. Why do good shows get bad ratings?  How much of that has to do with poor time slots, lead-ins and promotion?  How much of a good show’s failure to generate ratings is the fault of poor choices by network executives?

Furthermore, is there something that can be done to prevent more excellent shows from meeting a premature demise again?  After all, in a world with 500 channels (and nothing on), you would think that someone would have a timeslot for a show with a substantial and devoted following.  Unfortunately, the market for television shows doesn’t seem to facilitate network-to-network show movements… even among networks that are all under the same corporate roof.

From a more practical perspective, I suspect that giving more credence to word-of-mouth recommendations might help.  I had never seen an episode of Jericho or Firefly before they were canceled… the buzz just hadn’t reached me fast enough.  So when the recommendations come rolling in, listen up!  The TV show you save just might be a future fave.

To that end, Sean recommends his #2 most endangered show: Better off Ted. I’ve never heard of it, but I’ll try to tune in sometime. As it just so happens, I’m a big fan of Chuck, Sean’s show 7th most likely to be canceled and I give it the full Corsairs’ Affairs recommendation.  Chuck’s had a rough go of things, weathering rough competition in its timeslot (Monday, 8:00), the writer’s guild strike and a presidential pre-emption, but the critics routinely praise Chuck for its smart writing and appealing characters.  Many critics even joined in the “Save Chuck” effort that potentially kept it on the air.

NBC will be bringing Chuck back after the Winter Olympics for a run of 13 shows.  With some extra time to put together 13 great episodes, heavy promotional opportunities during the Vancouver games and a run of shows uninterrupted by the World Series, winter holidays or the Super Bowl, Chuck probably is positioned about as well as it can be for the coming season.  I’ll make sure to remind everyone before it starts up again.  In the meantime, you all have time to go back and catch up on the show’s first two seasons.  Do that and you won’t need my reminder for the third season.