Day 21 - Hole

Being that I'll be back in Seattle today, I thought it fitting to post something from the place I now call home. Now, I know, Hole isn't from Seattle. But the song most definitely is.

Now Hole's a solid band in their own right. Think what you will of Courtney Love, the band had talent. In fact, I changed my mind. I wasn't going to add a Hole song to this post, but I'm going to now, at the end, cause they deserve it.

Back to my original thought though. Back in 1995, less than a year after Kurt Cobain died, Hole appeared on MTV's Unplugged. They performed a song that sent chills up my spine, a cover of the then-unreleased "You Know You're Right" (as "You've Got No Right"), written by Love's late husband. It's like you can hear all of that pain she felt, spilling out of her lungs as she sings. I'll take this version any day over the original that wasn't released until over seven years later.

Day 20 - Wesley Willis

I couldn't do Chicago time without including Wesley Willis. If you don't know who he is, go ahead and read the Wikipedia article. I'll wait. Ok good.

You know, I really don't know what to say about Wesley Willis. A lot of people think he's just funny (cause, well, he is), but I dunno... I've always felt like there was actually more to him than that. He always seemed like a genuinely good guy, just trying to get through life and deal with his demons (literally). He was actually quite a good artist too.

I actually saw him live back in 2001?-ish. He was so happy to see his fans, was really glad to be there, and put on a great show. He even headbutted my friend Jimmy. (Wesley Willis butted heads as a greeting. In a nice way. That's why he has the lump on his forehead. For real.) I was too much of a wuss to go up and get a headbutt myself. I do wish I had done it now though.

HOLY CRAP. It occurred to me that I might still have picture of my friend getting headbutted, and I DO!

That is freaking awesome.

I leave you with two of his finest tunes, Rock N Roll McDonalds and Cut the Mullet.

Update: Look where I went while I was in Chicago! ROCK N ROLL MCDONALDS!

Thus concludes Chicago Time. There's no better way to end it than with these words of wisdom from the man himself: Rock over London, rock on Chicago!

 

Day 19 - Stabbing Westward

CHICAGO DAY FOUR. Ahh, another relic of the 90s. I remember scraping and pooling together change with one of my friends so we could walk over to the only nearby music store and buy Stabbing Westward's first commercially successful album, Wither, Blister, Burn, & Peel (1996). Memories. They really did have some other good stuff though.

For some random reason, I thought of them earlier this week and listened for a while. I was thinking about throwing them up for a post anyway, and then I find out they're actually from Chicago! Perfect. I'm sure you've all heard the song below, but whatever. Not EVERYTHING I like is absurdly obscure. :P

Day 18 - Tortoise

Whew! Ok, let's slow things down a bit. Chicago Time continues! I used to listen to Tortoise's jams back in college. It's really pretty hard to describe their sound, so I'll let the music speak for itself. Cause I still have two more days to go.

Day 17 - Aleks and the Drummer

I spent an entire month listening to the same five songs from Aleks and the Drummer's (myspace link!) 2008 EP, May a Lightning Bolt Caress You. Now, they might not be for everyone. But have you ever wondered what it would sound like if Tori Amos was from Poland, played an organ, and had a drummer who had just done about a kilo of cocane? Then you're in luck! Wonder no more!

Seriously though, wow. Sadly, all they really have is the one EP, though Aleks has been working on new material under the name Magic Key for a while. And guess who's drumming for her? :D It's supposed to have a different sound, which is a bit of a shame, but I'm still really looking forward to where they go from here.

They're still really a Chicago-only band, and could really use some fan support. I emailed them to try to find out where I could buy the EP back in 2008, and Aleks herself emailed me back and was super nice and helpful! Maybe if you're ridiculously, absurdly lucky, Easy Street in West Seattle will still have one of the 10 (well, 9... you can't have mine) copies that existed in all of Seattle back then. Or if not, email Aleks and she'll probably try to get you set up. And if you're in Chicago, go show your support at a gig!

So enjoy the opening track of the EP, performed live. The audio's crap, but not TOO bad. Make sure you're watching the drummer at 3:05. Dude is my FREAKING HERO.

Day 16 - Smashing Pumpkins

ScootTunes rises again! So, I had this whole thing planned out. I even stayed up way too late one night doing eight posts so I wouldn't fall behind. And then I go to Chicago, the city where cell phone data connections go to die. I tried to post Day 16, and what happens? The whole thing disappears, leaving me with blank nothingness.

Anyway, despite the fact that I've already returned from Chicago (and have been recovering for a few days now), I'm still going to post all of my Chicago-spawned bands because that's what was meant to happen. I'll be doing two a day until I'm current, so do try to keep up!

Anyone who knows me at all expected the Smashing Pumpkins to come sometime soon, and what better way to kick off five awesome days of Chicago goodness? I don't think there's really too much I need to say about the Pumpkins, as I'm sure you already either love or hate them. But I love them, so here they are.

I've selected a less-well-known song of theirs that's been one of my favorites for a long time. It's off the (admittedly, not amazingly good overall) second disc of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. It did have some great songs though, and this is one of them. Given the fact that no studio versions of it seem to exist on YouTube, here's a great live version, recorded when the band was still in one piece.

Day 15 - Hum

To commemorate my trip to Chicago, I'm going to be posting awesome bands from Chicago the whole time I'm there! I won't be there today, but that's ok, because Hum isn't from Chicago. But they ARE from nearby Champaign, IL. So it's kind of a warm-up for what's to come.

Yes, this is THAT Hum. The one who had that one popular song back in 1995. The one about counting Stars. But you know what? It's actually still pretty good today. I'll stand by that.

I should take a moment to tell you that when you listen to music on YouTube, you should always click the little gear icon and bump the resolution to at LEAST 480p. There's a marked difference in the audio quality.

So with that little tip in mind, enjoy the badass opening track to their 1995 album You'd Prefer an Astronaut.

Day 14 - Ungdomskulen

These guys are pretty new to me too. I came across Ungdomskulen while I was doing some YouTube surfing (which is actually a really great way to find new music these days).



Their GIMME TEN project is pretty cool too. Ten 1-minute tracks. Check it out.

Day 13 - Now, Now

This time I have good reason for a short post. I literally just found out about Now, Now (thanks Katie!). Like 6 minutes ago. I've only heard one and a half songs. But I like it. I will be listening to more.

Update (August 18, 2013):  I freakin love this band.  I ended up listening to this album for like a month, and they're amazing.  Edited the videos, cause the links broke.

Wolf
Thread

Day 12 - MSTRKRFT

Sooooo, as it turns out, today was busy as hell too. So here's the one I actually meant to post yesterday as a followup to Day 10, as one of MSTRKRFT's two members is actually the bassist from Death From Above 1979.

Below are the first two tracks from their 2006 album, The Looks. I don't know why people insist on flooding YouTube with the horrible remix versions of great songs, but they do. So I had to link to MTV this time to find a decent version. Sorry.

MSTRKRFT - Work on You - Music - More Music Videos

And if you wanna watch the pervy video for the album's second track, you can do so here. Nothing terribly offensive, but it's quite... suggestive. Consider yourself warned/enticed.

Day 11 - Enon

One more quick one. I swear I'll put a little more effort into tomorrow's post... not that I think it'll matter much on account of yesterday's view count being 1. And I'm pretty sure that was me.

So, that said, here: Enon. Great band. Enjoy.

Day 10 - Death From Above 1979

Another quick pick on account of it being a long week and having plans this evening. Death From Above 1979's You're A Woman, I'm A Machine is the album I put on when I need to get things done. Thirty-five minutes of pure energy.

Believe it or not, the whole band is just two guys, a bassist and a drummer. That's it. It's pretty crazy, cause you expect such a full sound to need more people to pull it off, but nope. Not them.

When I came online to prep this post, I was ready to go on lamenting the fact that the band broke up before I even found out about them (about a year too late), but in doing my research, I've found that they've gotten back together! :D They're apparently doing some touring, but no word on a new album. I hope they make one eventually, because the world needs more of this.


The first second of this video is cut off, but it was the only copy on YouTube. :( Pretend it starts with the beginning of the repeating riff.

Day 9 - Laura Veirs

It's late, I'm tired, and I ran out of pre-written blog entries, so this one's gonna be quick.

I feel bad giving Laura Veirs such short shrift on a late night, but perhaps I chose her because she was an easy choice. Of COURSE Laura Veirs. Her 2007 album Saltbreakers (on which this song can be heard) is fantastic nearly from start to finish. She's a great, independent, local (-ish, Portland) artist who's bursting with talent. And her videos are super cool too.

Day 8 - Elsiane

Speaking of Hybrid... A special double feature today! Elsiane is another band I discovered via artist/album/song name. Their debut album's name was Hybrid, thus it was deemed worthy of a listen. (Damn you, Linkin Park! Blech.)

So as it turned out, despite prior negative experience with "Hybrid" in an album name, Elsiane was fantastic. I don't think I stopped listening to that album for about a month. Apparently I have a thing for female singers with unique voices, and she is one of them.

So the reason for TWO, count them, TWO videos today is because while I was looking for one of the songs on Youtube for posting purposes, I found a live performance... OF THE SHOW I WENT TO AT SHOWBOX SODO IN 2008. I WAS THERE (and so was Nick). I love the Internet.

Day 7 - Hybrid

So, I've been playing the new SSX a bit, and it seemed like the perfect time to post Hybrid's Finished Symphony, being that the first SSX is what introduced me to Hybrid in the first place. I have such fond memories of flying down a cool mountainside on a snowboard to this song... but I digress. Seriously though, Hybrid has turned out to be one of my favorite groups of all time, and this song is their masterpiece.

Whatever you do, don't even try to compare the completely dreadful Deadmau5 Remix to the original. I don't mind Deadmau5; I even quite like some of his stuff, but what he did with that remix is a travesty, and barely a shadow of the original.

So never mind that. Here's the real deal. All 9 1/2 glorious minutes.

Day 6 - HEALTH

Ok, I really need to start doing these a little bit faster. Taking over an hour for each one is not going to work out in the long run.

I actually haven't heard an incredibly large quantity of HEALTH's material, but what I have heard, I am definitely a fan of. I first heard We Are Water a couple years back and loved how just... raw it was. Something like electronic noise rock. In the process of looking for something to post tonight, I thought this might be a good choice. I'm glad I did, because I ended up listening to more of their of their stuff. And it was good.

I figure I should give you a heads up about the "Explicit Content" in the video below (being that the video title warns of it too). It is potentially NSFW, depending on your work, but it's really just because of all of the gore at the end. Nothing you wouldn't see in a Rated R horror movie though.

Day 5 - Worm Is Green

Oh no! Worm Is Green doesn't have a Wikipedia link! Their official site will have to do. This is probably going to happen more often as I delve into my list of who-the-hell-are-they bands.

If I recall, I have the often questionable, always interesting Pitchfork to thank for introducing me to Worm Is Green's "The Robot Has Got The Blues" off of Automagic. I instantly fell for their fat-bass-downtempo-triphop sound and the rest of their discography doesn't disappoint.

Wow, three of my first five posts are all from Northern Europe (two Swedens and an Iceland)! I guess I just like how they roll up there.

Headphones are a must for this one.

Day 4 - Angelfish

Bonus points to those of you already familiar with Angelfish, one of Shirley Manson's bands before she joined up with Garbage. Her band before Angelfish, Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie obviously wasn't any good because she wasn't the lead singer.

Unsurprisingly, I learned of Angelfish's brief existence due to Shirley's involvement in Garbage. The surprising bit was that the band and its one album were actually pretty good. Most people's pre-fame (side note: why does spell check say this hyphenated word is wrong and suggests "pee-fame" as a replacement?) bands aren't. Which makes sense, because they probably would have gotten famous beforehand if they had been any good. Even more surprising though was that the band consisted of a subset of the members of Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie. I'm pretty sure that means the two guys who weren't involved were holding them back.

The fact that I'm posting this now in no way precludes me from doing a post about Garbage later, just so you know. Because Shirley Manson is awesome and still completely crush-worthy after all of these years.

I'll let her tell the story of this video's relevance to music history herself in the intro to the song...

Day 3 - Katatonia (with a K)

You know what else those Swedes are awesome at? METAL. Yeah, you thought it was just going to be countless days of namby-pamby hipster music, didn't you?

I seem to have a thing for finding new music I like based on the name of the artist or song. This will be a recurring theme as we go along. So I saw this song called "Rainroom" and I'm like, "Hey, I like rain AND rooms! I should totally give that a listen." And I'm glad I did, because if you put me on the spot and forced me to answer right this second what my favorite metal song (of the truly metal variety) of all time was, it'd be this one.

For the record, Katatonia, the Swedish metal band, is not to be confused with Catatonia, the Welsh alternative rock band. I really don't think it's possible to like the latter unless you're Welsh yourself, because I just don't see the appeal, and apparently neither did anyone else in the States.

PROTIP: This song is great for timing your shots in the basketball game at Gold Saucer in Final Fantasy 7. The timing's the best at the beginning of the song (the tempo picks up a little bit as the song progresses), but it still works pretty well throughout. You won't get fun facts like this one on other music blogs, oh no.

Ahh crap, I almost forgot my already-requisite Wikipedia link to Katatonia.

Also, you'd better get a bucket for your face, because it's about to be melted off.

Day 2 - Sally Shapiro

So you came back!  Good, good.  I'm a bit pooped this evening, but I figured I couldn't very well NOT do my daily blog on the second day.

Thus I have for you, Sally Shapiro!  Those Swedes really know how to make some pop music.  Sally Shapiro (not her real name, by the way) sings some of the happiest-sounding sad songs I've ever heard.  They're almost all about the longing for and/or the loss of love, but it's fairly hard to tell just from the music.  There's a little bit of a dark edge is in there though, surrounded by the thick synths and dance-y beat.  And I think that's what I like about it.  You can really either dance or cry to it, which ever one you're feeling like doing at the time.  Brilliant.

Day 1 - Stars

Choosing the first band was tough. Choosing the first song was even harder, given how many great ones this band has... but Kai and Tiffany got me pointed in the right direction by talking about Stars.

I first heard a couple songs off of Heart (2003) and was like "Hey, that's not bad." But when Set Yourself on Fire (2004) came out, I was blown away. I don't think any of their albums prior or since are quite as good as a whole as that one, though that's not to say that each one doesn't have its moments of brilliance.

Thus I present to you the opening track off of Set Yourself on Fire.  But be sure to YouTube your way to some of their other stuff too. You won't regret it.

Scoot + Tunes = ScootTunes

Hi. I am Scoot. This is my blog about Tunes. It is called ScootTunes. Please enjoy.

I really don't know what to write here, hence the awkward introduction. The idea for this formed out of a few different things.  Mostly though, it's a combination of frequent questions about what music I listen to, my inability to give a good answer to said questions, and a fanciful idea I've had for a while that will likely never happen; that being to somehow put together a playlist of every song I've ever loved.  This won't be quite that exhaustive, but if I keep at it, it'll probably be the closest thing to that I'll ever get. Bonus side-effect: I'm inevitably going to discover even more new music that I love while I'm doing it, which is something I haven't done enough of lately.

Just a note about one of my idiosyncrasies: I typically have such a hard time focusing on words when I listen to a song that I rarely try to. But as far as I'm concerned, good lyrics are only the icing on the delicious cake of music. So if you're all "How can you like that song? The lyrics are so bad!", now you know why. I choose my music solely based on the music itself, not lyrics.

At first I figured I'd try to do a post featuring a different artist each day for a year... until I realized that would be way too easy.  So my current goal is two years.  Yes, I realize that's at least 730 different artists.  I'm actually pretty sure that if I stick with this, that I'm gonna need a lot more time than that. Wish me luck!

-Scoot

P.S. - Please DO comment, share, discuss, and above all, for the love of all that is holy do us both a favor and listen with a decent of headphones/speakers. Music Zeus will strike down those who would defile these songs with laptop speakers!