Center Of The Universe #2

Giant Sand, “Center Of The Universe”
Killing Joke, “The Pandys Are Coming”
Sleater-Kinney, “Good Things”
Brenda Holloway, “Every Little Bit Hurts”

(Would you believe you were just listening to a seventeen year old? That’s what Brenda Holloway was when Motown released her Top 20 hit “Every Little Bit Hurts” in 1964, the adolescent annoyed she had to re-record a song she’d already done for a smaller label at 16. Before that was Sleater-Kinney, not sounding much happier on “Good Things” from 1996’s Call The Doctor. Kiling Joke, announcing “The Pandys Are Coming” on 1982’s Revelations, the title a reference to the Jaz Coleman’s Anglo-Indian mother and childhood mentors. Starting us off was the unofficial theme song of this playlist and imaginary radio show. Up next is Holy Modal Rounder Peter Stampfel with the Bottlecaps in 2004, calling out “You Stupid Jerk.”)

Pete Stampfel, “You Stupid Jerk”
Spoon, “Do I Have To Talk You Into It?”
Dismemberment Plan, “One Too Many Blows To The Head”
Unrest, “Disko Magic”

(Unrest, semi-ironically celebrating their “Disko Magic” with Kiss quotes and demands to do the hustle, as “real men don’t!” Before that, was fellow DC-not-Dischord act The Dismemberment Plan, almost a decade later, rueing “One Too Many Blows To The Head.” And Spoon in 2017, sighing, “Do I Have To Talk You Into It?” While Britt Daniel sounds like his typically seductive self on the song, some fans online think he’s was talking about getting the keyboardist to sign on for another album. If so, Britt failed. Last week, I said I hoped to include some piping-hot 2023 music this time, and doggone it, I have. I knew nothing about Rozi Plain before checking out her new album Prize, but it’s a quality slice of that modern British folktronic vibe I dig. Not that any human making this music would want to call it “folktronic.”)

Rozi Plain, “Standing Up”
The Troggs, “Heads Or Tails”
The Jimmy Castor Bunch, “When?”
Iggy Pop, “Comments”

(New Iggy Pop! It sure sounds like he’s going for that ‘80s Bowie feel on this track from his just-released LA supersession album, Every Loser, looking for a soulmate in…the “Comments.” Jimmy Castor and his Bunch in 1972 getting dizzily political with “When?” And The Troggs in 1968 asking if it’s “Heads Or Tails.” The third and last brand spanking new song on today’s imaginary show comes from Belle & Sebastian, a dozen albums and more than 25 years into the game, reflecting on “When We Were Very Young.”)

Belle & Sebastian, “When We Were Very Young”
Jimmy Charles, “A Million To One”
The Impressions, “I’m So Proud”
XTC, “Battery Brides (Andy Paints Brian)”

(XTC in 1978 with “Battery Brides (Andy Paints Brian)," the song an explicit tribute to Brian Eno, who had politely refused to produce their second album, saying they didn’t need him. The Impressions with Curtis Mayfield, far less cynical about romantic unions than Andy Partridge, declaring “I’m So Proud” in regards to his lady love. And Jimmy Charles, not Jimmy Scott but a similar sounding student, with the 1960 Top 5 hit “Million To One.” I’m always touched by the song’s atypical sympathy towards those who doubt the endurance the narrator’s young romance: “We’ll forgive them, because we love them.” And now, on the other side of the romantic coin, one of LCD Soundsystem’s tributes to all things Eno, “All I Want.”)

LCD Soundsystem, “All I Want”
Wire, “On Returning - 6th Demo”
The London Suede, “Electricity”
Topaz Jones, “D.O.A.”
Wilco, “Bull Black Nova”

(Wilco getting apocalyptic on “Bull Black Nova.” Before that, Topaz Jones with “D.O.A.” from 2021's Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Mama, whose film version I have to check out whenever I get around to the Criterion Channel. The London Suede with “Electricity,” a great single from their awkward, once-late, now-middle period. And Wire, with an early demo of 154’s “On Returning,” found on their terrific compilation Not About To Die (Studio Demos 1977-1978). Part of the reason I included Wilco this week was to move my mind past a low point of Doom Patrol Season 4 part 1, which I’m sad to report has nothing on the previous seasons. I should probably be glad a show about my favorite superhero team from young adolescence lasted long enough to run out of ideas, but it’s not fun to see the cast stand around looking bored through expository speech after expository speech. The mid-season finale has me hoping it can recover, but if I had to pick a possible shark-jump moment, it might have been in the episode where characters we’ve never seen before describe a generic sci-fi comic book story in a trailer park. The two we do know mostly gawk in response, and the residents of sentient, genderqueer street Danny are given nothing to do but wave streamers. That is until the conclusion, where the drag queen Maura Lee Karupt inexplicably leads the Dannyzens in a campfire singalong of Wilco’s “What Light.” Which they all seem to know. In my estimation, a shark-jump moment is one where a TV show has completely forgotten what we’re watching for. When Happy Days, a show about the daily joys & struggles of a family in ‘50s suburbia has a guy in a leather jacket water-ski over a shark, they've clearly lost their bearings. And when Doom Patrol, a show about a misfit team of reluctant superheroes with PTSD shows a bargain basement Cirque De Soleil indulging a campfire Wilco sing-a-long involving exactly zero Doom Patrol members? Likewise.

Have you noticed Tom Waits hasn’t made an album in over a decade? Get on it, Tom. This is “Get Lost” from the last one, 2011’s Bad As Me.)

Tom Waits, “Get Lost”
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, “Ramp Of Death”
Bryan Ferry, “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?”
Sleater-Kinney, “Oh!”

(Sleater-Kinney, sounding a lot happier than they did at the beginning of our imaginary show, with “Oh!” from One Beat. Bryan Ferry asking “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” from his cover album Taxi, which turns thirty this year! That’s right, olds. Taxi is older now than the first Roxy Music album was when Taxi came out. Taxi is from the first half of Bryan Ferry’s musical career. You’re welcome. Similarly, Stephen Malkmus’ Pig Lib, from which we heard “Ramp of Death,” turns twenty this year. You can do the math on Steve’s current career length yourself. We’re going to leave the Center Of The Universe with “Baby’s Going Underground” by Helium, a song I played and heard enough on my old college station to forever associate the two. Thanks for your time!)

Helium, “Baby’s Going Underground”