Second Hand – Death May Be Your Santa Claus 9.0

There are more than enough of awe-inspiring moments to make searching this out ultimately worth it. Named after an obscure controversial film about nihilism it has nothing to do with the film’s subject material. Apparently the studio owner (Vic Keary) saw the film, told the young band about it, and they named themselves after it.

As soon as you put it on, you notice the two best parts of the album: the drums and the organ. Ken Elliot is on organ with Kieran O’Connor on drums. The organ melodies are beautiful and the drumming is extremely energetic, somewhat jazzy.  Joining them is a surprisingly strong singer for an Englishman. Rob Elliot goes from sounding normal to sounding like Mrs. Bighead (Baby R U Anudda Monster). 

Pop and progressive rock has never been intertwined so perfectly. “Hangin’ on an Eyelid’ oozes confidence. Right from the get-go, you’re treated to the sweetest sounds. It only gets better from there, as the lyrics are sweet as honey. The xylophone, before acknowledged as a stupid instrument, proves its mettle here. “Death May Be Your Santa Claus” and “Death May Be Your Santa Claus (Reprise)” show off both of their talents with the first one showing off their knack for pop hits. Meanwhile, the second almost closes off the disc with some elegant organ and bass work. “Funeral” officially closes it out with so much delicious riffs and bombast.

Sadly, this is near impossible to find. That really is a shame, since this neatly embodies a lot of excellent musicianship and talent that arose from the late sixties. Worth getting!

Playlist for the Gentleman Garlic Farmer (Or ‘Always Be Developin’)

Jon Osmond works as a Gentleman Garlic Farmer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Besides being a farmer, he does web development, analytic s, and other website stuff I don’t quite understand. In case you couldn’t tell from the immaculate design this blog possesses. 

                Anyway, his profession is one I do have some familiarity of, some of my friends work in this field. One of them won awards for her work. She still does it, I believe. I guess I don’t stalk my old friends enough on facebook to find out.

                What follows is a play-list for this coffee drinker. I admire his ability to consume coffee, a beverage now forever off limits to me. Stating that he was in a musical rut, he sought out my help in creating a play-list. 

                Having not met him in person makes this difficult. He did tell me some of the bands he listens to, to give me an idea of how to plan this out. My worry of play-lists, MIX CDs, is that my obscure picks pre-dominate. Lately I’ve been self-correcting for this tendency. I’m also happy to see that Jon happens to have a soft-spot for certain kinds of American based bands. Below are the twelve songs I’ve picked for this reasonably-sized MIX CD.

1.       Stereolab – Tone Burst

I don’t think I can think of a better way of starting out an album than this song. Stereolab are dear to my heart, and this happens to be one of their more ‘rock-based’ songs.

2.       This Heat – Horizontal Hold

Here’s another explosive song. They rush into things with full volume, only to mess with your head a bit with the random drop-outs. 

3.       Brave New World – Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Epsilon…Ford

Sadly these guys made only one album. I’ve been on a 70s kick lately, and Brave New World sort of embodies the best of that early 70s, hope hadn’t died off yet vibe. 

4.       Sunset Rubdown – Apollo and the Buffalo And Anna Anna Anaa Oh!

Most of their album isn’t this good. Somehow this one song rose way above the rest. It is probably one of the more straightforward songs on here. 

5.       Yume Bitsu – Sharp, Twisted

Usually Yume Bitsu do abstract guitar experiments. This is a rarity for them, a song with lyrics and a normal structure. Hopefully this cheers you up like it does for me.

6.       Television – Venus

Yeah, that 70s kick is pretty bad. I know a lot of people who’ve never heard of these guys. Honestly, I debated between their “Marquee Moon” song or this one, but I’ve been trying to edge away from my preferred long player format. 

7.       Swell Maps – Collision with a Frogman…

The only Post-Punk I put on here. Swell Maps didn’t do too many instrumentals, but after listening to this, I kind of wish they did more. It is a dark song. 

8.       Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 – Wide Forehead

I don’t think I’ve met anyone who likes this band the way I do. Every time I put it on for people, they uniformly hate it. This happens to be a more normal song of theirs and I hope you’ll be intrigued. 

9.       Don Caballero – New Laws

Actually this probably conforms to your current taste. You stated you wanted to get out of that particular sound, so most of these reflect an easing out. This might have been a band you heard of, but might not have listened to, so I wanted to give you that opportunity. It is nicely tense. 

10.   Trans Am – Trans Am

I’m a hipster. This is hipster music, filled with irony and cheesiness. I say that because I follow this band pretty closely and enjoy them, but want you to know what you’re getting into. 

11.   Tame Impala – Jeremy’s Storm

From Australia, this came out in 2010. Australia is usually behind on musical movements, but in this case, that is more than acceptable. I encourage it if it leads to more songs like this. 

12.   Second Hand – Hangin’ on an Eyelid

Perhaps I believe in happy endings. Since you’re a new twitter friend, I want you to have a mellow song to end off the collection. Hopefully you can use the lyrics as pickup lines.

                Hopefully these twelve songs will get you out of your musician rut. I picked songs that I think might work better for you, seeing that many of your favorite bands are more rock-based. My goal is to get you to search out new artists and sounds. If you like even one of these twelve and get their album, I will have succeeded in my goal.