Are They Not Men?

They may be The Ladies, but they sure ain't ladies.

Has anyone else noticed a recent rash of all-male or mostly-male bands with female names? Tell me if you've seen others:

• Parenthetical Girls
• Other Girls
• Religious Girls
• The Mint Chicks
• Girl Talk
• Garotas Suecas (Swedish Girls)
• Brazilian Girls
• Girls
• Women
• The Ladies

And it's worth noting that Brazilian Girls are not Brazilian. Garotas Suecas are Brazilian, but their name means "Swedish Girls."

This has gotten way out of hand.

A Legend and a Loon

Check out this four-part interview. Actually, Ian Svenonius sounds more sane than I ever expected him to sound. Coincidentally, I was listening to some Weird War just the other day. If you can't beat 'em, got to bite 'em.

Next Meeting/Bryan's bday party 4/19/09

From member, Bryan Lau:

"The next meeting of the Westside Record Club will be in conjunction with my birthday. It will be at my house (1119 25th St. SM, CA 90403) on Sunday, April 19th.

NOTE DATE CHANGE!!!

Come for lunch at 1pm. I’ll have the grill fired up. I’ll provide sides and soft drinks. Bring your own 'grillables' and anything else you want to drink. After everyone is good ‘n’ full we’ll be listening to an album of my choosing.

No need to bring presents…unless you really want to! Please RSVP to bryan_scott_lau@yahoo.com by April 15th."

A Sense of Self-Entitlement

I recently became amused by the notion of a musical act having a self-titled song -- or at least the act's name being part of the song title.

The examples I initially thought of, They Might Be Giants' "They Might Be Giants" and Soulja Boy Tell 'Em's "Crank That (Soulja Boy)," are pretty goofy. But as I went through my music collection, I was surprised at how many I found and how varying they are in style. Some are more on the "serious" side; some seem to be a sort of theme song for the artist; others don't seem to have anything to do with the artist himself/herself.

I put together a mix of some of my favorites and a list of the others I found. Some aren't exact, like the Raveonettes' "Let's Rave On," and some are indirect, like Flake Music's "The Shins" (explanation below). The ultimate -- and I was really hoping to find one of these -- is Buena Vista Social Club's "Buena Vista Social Club," which is on the album Buena Vista Social Club. Oh, the symmetry!

Note how many of these self-titlers are Scandinavian artists. (Although I do have a lot of music from that region, it's still a relatively small percentage of my collection.)

Mix: Self-Entitled
1. Monks - Monk Time
2. The Hives - The Hives--Introduce the Metric System in Time [Scandinavian]
3. Delta 5 - Delta 5
4. The Raveonettes - Let's Rave On [Scandinavian]
5. Annie - Anniemal [Scandinavian]
6. El Coco - Cocomotion
7. Röyksopp - Röyksopp's Night Out [Scandinavian]
8. Buena Vista Social Club - Buena Vista Social Club
9. Jens Lekman - Jens Lekman's Farewell Song to Rocky Dennis [Scandinavian]
10. Belle and Sebastian - Belle and Sebastian
11. Plastic Mastery - Shaggs' Own Thing [Shaggs cover -- I don't have the original, unfortunately]
12. All Night Radio - All Night Radio

Also:
Air France - Sweetness of Air France [Scandinavian]
Mr. Magic - Rappin' With Mr. Magic
Soulja Boy Tell 'Em - Crank That (Soulja Boy)
They Might Be Giants - They Might Be Giants
Love as Laughter - Sam Jayne = Dead [Sam Jayne is the frontman of Love as Laughter]
Flake Music - The Shins [Flake Music was the precursor to the Shins]
Patrick Wolf - Wolf Song
Howlin' Wolf - Howlin' for My Darling

Please share others that you guys can think of.

Some of you may have seen this video posted in an ESPN article recently regarding NBA trades. Honestly I don't think there's any reason the columnist posted it besides the fact it's undeniably awesome. Which is the same reason I post it here.
I really like the Storytellers style into.

The Blue White Album

I was daydreaming a bit here, and thought about wasting some time "researching" what is currently my favorite Beatles Album. It really is all over the place both in song structure, as well as cohesiveness - but I think that's what makes it such a great record. It's pop-y, prett-y, kitsch-y, rock-y (no pun intended), and at times just fucking weird. Some of John's best work is on here (both as a Beatle and as a solo artist). It seems that his time spent with the Maharishi in India yielded some 20 or so songs - ranging from the very personal to the very cynical. Anyway, definitely waste some time of your own reading the extensive and comprehensive wiki page. It is both informative and stimulating.

Current Favorite Songs (these are forever changing and in no particular order of favorite)

John - Dear Prudence
Paul - Martha My Dear
George - Savoy Truffle (I never noticed the dental implications on this one)
Ringo - Yeah Right (Just Kidding!) How about - Good Night

Random Note: Apparently the very interesting story of the Blue White Album (pictured above) was created from cheeky opportunism. Fucking Brits.

My Sister's a Medic . . .

That's the line according to one online lyrics repository. I could've sworn he was saying "My sisters are married." Either way, both true.

A Thought Experiment in Memory of Ron Asheton

Think of your favorite albums. Then look at this. Now, tell me: what record could actually persuade you to listen to an entire studio session? Bonus question: would the Chinese Democracy sessions fit onto more or less than 100 compact discs?

The Littles Ones & Plants and Animals @ Natural History Museum (Jan 9)

http://www.nhm.org/firstfridays/?date=20090109

Jan 9th, this Friday.
7:00pm-10:00pm, MUSIC:

Sponsored by 103.1, the first Friday of each month there's a science/nerd talk then a free concert following. I made a prior commitment or I'd definitely go. Might be a little dicey getting there early enough on a Friday evening to get in line and get in, but it's probably worth a try.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone.

Let's start planning the next meeting. I think our next selector will be B Lau. So we need a time and a place. Anyone up for hosting?