Up The (ska) Punks!

Since the Douchipster got me thinking about high school, I decided I want to point out one more thing about it. That this song rules.

"9mm and a 3 piece suit" by Catch 22

Man, is our world today sorely lacking in the ska punk and punk ska departments, or is that just me? It's very possible that it's just me. All I know is that I could listen to Catch 22 forever.


What was that crashing sound, my credibility? Haha, fuck you.

once again, happy fuck you friday.

Fuck You Friday!

Well it's been a while since I've done a Fuck You Friday in the original format. For any who don't recall, it was basically where I would post a song from my collection that happens to be somewhat embarrassing. Well, I'm going to tweak that format a little bit today, since I happen to not be on my own computer at the moment. So let's take a look at what my brother had in his music collection. He's pretty hardcore, it's probably full of punk rock and metal tunes, there's probably nothing to be ashamed of here, OH WAIT.

"Lovefool" by the Cardigans

Haha, not so metal now, are you Richie? Not that this song is even that bad, cuz now that I've put it on I'm kind or rocking to it. I think I might have taped this off of the radio in the 6th grade, come to think of it. So I guess I'm the one that sucks in the end.

Also, welcome back Mr. Douchipster, and if that toothpaste for dinner was your high school experience, then I think this half of an achewood strip describes my first real memory of high school.

guess who's back

So I'm back. It's been a while. I missed all you people. Most of you are thinking, " damn, where is that new Green Hornet post," and yes, the hornet does rock the blog scene. He get interviews, made a sweet new banner for the site, and the ladies love the green mask.

But in the past weeks I have been listening to some cool stuff. Which has made posting difficult. But I finally have it figured out, who I wanna post about. She might be old news to you, but I've fallen in love with a British girl.



Lily Allen is sexy, from the UK, and born in the same year as me. These are good things. Her music is great, too.

Smile - Lily Allen
This is her hit, but not her best song. It's a nice little tune though. Her lyrics are very Streets-like in a conversational kind of way on all of her songs. On this one she just sits back on the beat, and it makes for one of the best driving-in-the-summer songs ever.

Everything's Just Wonderful - Lily Allen
My recent addiction song. Just something about a British girl saying the words "spaghetti bolognese" really gets me happy. Lyrically it's great, too. More of the straight on stuff, but her sarcastic "everything just wonderful" take towards her issues with womanhood, and government not giving her a flat are really enjoyable.

One more thing before I go, I got the new Jeezy track. It's nice.
I Love It - Young jeezy

One more thing...

Today's toothpastefordinner sums up most of my high school experience (not all).

Step Right Up and Greet the Mets

This is primarily a music blog, but...

Mets, please don't let me down. I think this season is one of the handful of times in my life where sports have had the potential to actually make me really sad. So don't make me sad. Keep making me happy, Mets. You're doing a good job so far.

"Meet the Mets" by Ruth Roberts and Bill Katz

Unfortunately it cuts out at the end. Thanks anyway to leaguelineup.com.

Hi, How Are You?

Today is gonna be a good day, Silent Bob. Why's that, you ask? Because shortly after I rolled out of bed, I saw that there was a package for me.

No, not that kind of package. The kind of package that contained my new Daniel Johnston T Shirt

as well as his CD Continued Story + Hi, How Are You, The Unfinished Album. If you've never heard of Daniel Johnston, then I would highly recommend checking out the documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston. See for most of Johnston's adult life, he's suffered from serious mental illness, which has repeatedly forced him in and out of hospitalization. So since he's crazy, obviously he's a wonderful musician. Well not exactly. If I sat here and said that this CD is great, I'd be lying to you. Johnston doesn't have the greatest voice in the world and he's not the most talented instrumentalist either. A lot of his songs, not all, still manage to come out beautifully however, I think mostly due to the emotion in Johnston's simple melodies. Truth be told, there's not too much I can say about this guy, except that I'm glad I saw the documentary and now know who he is. So I'll just go and share a couple of my favorite tracks from this composite of two albums.

"Girls" by Daniel Johnston
"Desperate Man Blues" by Daniel Johnston
"Walking the Cow" by Daniel Johnston

I can also share a track I really like that's not on this CD.

"I had lost my mind" by Daniel Johnston

And a song that Beck and Wilco both covered.

"True Love Will Find You in the End" by Daniel Johnston
"True Love Will Find You in the End" by Wilco
"True Love Will Find You in the End" by Beck

The Hold Steady podcast! I listen!

I listened to a podcast for the first time today. I guess admitting that now kind of makes me unhip and behind the times, but I'm still awesome. So the podcast in question was one by Craig Finn from the Hold Steady and he played and talked about a pretty cool little mix of music. The tracklisting for his podcast is as follows:

"I Will Dare" by the Replacements

"Right Brigade" by Bad Brains

"Sometime to Return" by Soul Asylum

"Start Today" by the Gorilla Biscuits

"Sour Grapes" by the Descendents

I don't know if I've ever even heard Soul Asylum and the Gorilla Biscuits mentioned by the same person, let alone played back to back, so that was pretty cool. I'm kind of divided on this whole podcast thing. When I say divided, I mean I enjoyed listening to it, but in the back of my mind, it bothered me knowing that each individual track wasn't going to show up on my scrob.

The Hold Steady Podcast

Further proof that Jay Z won...

So after becoming Nas's boss, Jay decided that Nas could do his hooks for him. You won't see them onstage going into "The World Is Yours". Granted that wouldn't make sense, since just Nas is on that track and both Nas and Jay are on "Dead Presidents II", but come on let's not split hairs here. Nas is doing his bitch work. It's like the equivalent of getting Coffee. I'm sure Nas is handling Beyonce's dry-cleaning on the side.


DISCLAIMER: Illmatic is still better than Reasonable Doubt.

And after all this, won't you give me a smile?

I caught the tail end of a show on VH1 Classic today called Protest Video Hour. Kthulu knows I love me some rabble rousing, so I was pretty pysched. I got to see the last three videos of the show. Two of them were John Lennon videos. Two??? Are you really that lazy, VH1, that you need to go to John Lennon not once but twice within the last 10 minutes of the show? The other video I caught was "London Calling" and ya know what, I love "London Calling", but come on isn't that an obvious choice? I mean, I guess "Rock the Casbah" and "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" would be more obvious, but "London Calling" is like the "obviously trying to not seem obvious" choice. So anyway, today I'm here with...

5 youtube.com examples of the Clash being Awesome
(as usual, in no particular order)

1.

"Clampdown"
This is my number 3 song off of London Calling ("Spanish Bombs" is number 1, then comes "Train in Vain"). It has a much stronger spirit of protest than London Calling and I happen to think it rocks a little bit harder.

2.

"Police and Thieves"
I think most times you ask me, this is my favorite cover song that the Clash did. The original Junior Murvin version is great too.

3.
"This is Radio Clash"
Wherein the Clash get funky.

4.
"Protex Blue"
This song was only on the UK release of the Clash's self titled album, which happens to be my favorite Clash album. The video here is kinda shitty, but the song quality is surprisingly good.

5.
"Spanish Bombs"
Here it is, my favorite off of London Calling. This is from some Spanish documentary, so there's a guy speaking spanish over some of it.

6.
"Where it Started (NY)"
Okay, you might be saying, "Hey that's not the Clash" and you're right. This is the full version of the DJ Hi-Tek video that Raekwon the Chef was cut out of. Just a warning, don't play this one with the volume up. The first 45 seconds are a test pattern with an annoying beep.


In other news, Aaron McGruder pulls a Chappelle.

Mmm, dark meat.

So although I check You Ain't No Picasso nearly everyday, I can't say I'm really crazy about it. I tend to skip over a lot. I have to say though, that every now and then, they hook me up with quite the gem. I wouldn't have my love of Bishop Allen if it wasn't for YANP and I might not have heard "Angel of Meth" by Dark Meat. This song is just crazy. At first you're like, oh okay this is a Navajo tribe, and then you're thinking, oh wait no did I catch a case of the mexicali blues?, and then before you know it you're hogtied behind some redneck bar and Dark Meat has stolen your trendy girljeans and track jacket. Aright, I gotta admit that doesn't really make sense, but trust me this song rules as much as that statement is absurd.

"Angel of Meth" by Dark Meat

I'm so emotional I hug the block... head.

Producer and sonic mystic Blockhead took some time out to talk to Cigarbox's Green Hornet about New York City, working with Aesop Rock, and forthcoming projects, among other things. We even found a way to work in our obligatory Wu-Tang reference.

So, just to get started, some background stuff, like who was your first concert?

The first concert I ever went to was a Boogie Down Productions show at SOB's in Manhattan. I got in underage and it later became part of the BDP live album.

Do you have a favorite spot in NYC to dig for records?

There's a flea market on 17th st. I hit and Academy records in Manhattan and Brooklyn. I really only rock those spots cause they have dollar bins.


Are there any bands / musicians that you appreciate that might surprise people? Like, Holy Shit, Blockhead digs Celine Dion / The Dead Kennedys / Tchaikovsky? I didn't see that coming.

Donovan is my shit. I like Ween, a lot of random shit like that. But on the rap side, I like old ignorant gangster rap more than anything. Willie D is one of my favorite MCs ever.


I definitely didn't see Donovan coming. "Sunshine Superman" is my shit, maybe just cuz I'm a comic dork and I love hearing him mention the Green Lantern. You ever try and listen to the BDP live album to catch yourself in the mix or anything? My friend's sister loves to play people the Ani DiFranco live record where you can hear her saying something about something, I'm not sure what. So I mean, aside from Boogie Down Productions, who would you list as some big NYC influences? Not necessarily in the sound of your music, but just in getting you to want to make music.

I've listened to the album (I mean, I own it and everything) but I never heard myself on it. But that's not surprising, cause I was young and very much playing the wall that night. NYC influences? Basically anything between '88 and '96. Post '94, the underground movement was huge to me, fondle 'em, co-flow, godfather don, shit like that. But pre '94, major labels were still putting out dope shit. Juice crew and the native tongues were huge to me, as were D.I.T.C. (before they had that moniker). All that shit.


Speaking of NYC between '88 and '96, Wu-Tang Corp. released a statement saying that Raekwon the Chef is "now accepting beats" for future projects. Would you ever consider passing something his way? Have you had any chances to work with any of those artists that you see as big influences?

I'd definitely do some shit with Raekwon, any Wu guy really. I wouldn't even know where to begin about getting beats to him though. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten to work with any of my favorites from the older days. At this point, as much as I would definitely like to work with them, I'm good with just listening to the older shit and enjoying it. A lof of them are past their prime anyway.


So on the other end of the spectrum, are there any up and coming MCs you've enjoyed working with, or would like to work with?

Up and coming? I've been working with this guy Despot. He's gonna put out an album on Def Jux in the future. I'm pretty much handling the majority of his beats. So far we have some seriously dope joints. As for up and comers who I'd like to work with, I'm honestly so far removed from who's new today that it's hard to say. I kinda stopped paying attention around 2002.


Any idea how far into the future we can expect to see the Despot project released?

I think there's an EP planned for '07 and then an album in '08. The EP is pretty much done. We just gotta mix and master it.


Any other Blockhead projects on the horizon that we can look forward to?

I got a new album dropping in '07 tentatively called Uncle Tony's Fun Time Coloring Book. It's a little different than my other albums. It's all more upbeat. It started as more of a side project but the label liked what they heard so they decided to make a real album release out of it. I'm also working on an album with a female vocalist named Joanna Erdos, along with my Party Fun Action Committee partner Jeremy Gibson. It's turning out really dope so far. Kinda down tempo-ish with vocals, but a weird pop sensibility.


Any future plans for the Party Fun Action Committee? I caught a performance at SUNY Purcahse like 3 years ago on Halloween and I honestly thought it was a student thing until I saw them on your myspace like a week ago. I enjoyed the hell out of it at the time though.

Not Really. That album was the most fun I've ever had making music, but it took a lot of work and time. I don't honestly think I can spare that time nowadays (especially considering that it didn't make any money), but I love that shit.


What's your take on RJD2 saying he wants to go "completely rap free"? Do you see yourself ever moving away from your hip hop roots?

It's what he wants to do. I mean, he actually plays instruments so it's not a huge stretch. I don't know how I feel about announcing that you're "leaving hip hop", but I don't really blame him for that, that's more the article writer's fault. And to be honest, I'm not planning on ever becoming a person who doesn't sample so him leaving is probably good for me. Less competition in the instrumental hip hop field. I wish him the best though and I'm sure whatever he does will be dope. He's a talented guy.


Well put. How does your friendship with Aesop Rock affect the music you've made with him? Do you approach a beat differently when you know you're making it for him to rhyme on?

It helps. Being close friends opens the door for honesty. If either of us does some shit the other doesn't like, we'll say it. With someone you don't know as well it might be a little awkward. As far as making beats for him, I used to try, but he tends to like the beats I never think he'll like. So I just make beats and he takes the ones he likes.


Two of my favorite Aesop songs are "Nightlight" and "Daylight". When you made the beat for "Nightlight" was it made knowing that Aes was going to flip it as this darker version of "Daylight"?

Not really, but when I made it I KNEW he was gonna love it. It was so up his alley at the time, when I made it I was like, "wow, this is 100% getting used." Then he had the idea for "Nightlight" and I played it for him. It was pretty much a perfect match.


So, your questions blog is proof enough that you're on the web a good amount. Are there any blogs, hip hop, music, or otherwise, that you keep up with?

Nope. I basically use the internet for e-mail, myspace, porn, and sports. Every now and then I'll peep some message boards, but overall I don't keep up with much.

"Daylight" by Aesop Rock
"Nightlight" by Aesop Rock
"Cherry Picker" by Blockhead
"Crashing Down" by Blockhead

I can't believe I'm starting to like Papoose

So the recently released DJ Hi-Tek track "New York" is nice. The forthcoming album definitely makes October 17th something to look forward to.

"Where It Started (New York)" feat. Jadakiss, Papoose, Talib Kweli and Raekwon the Chef

What is not nice, is the cutting of Raekwon from the music video. Now I don't know if this is the way the video is going to be released or if this was just the folks at sohh.com cutting it down, or if there was a legal issue or what. Either way, it's lame. Sure the overexposure that he and his Wu brothers get here might make up for it, but it's still an injustice.

Ass So Fat that you could see it from the front

So I've discussed this here before, but I'm a big fan of checking out music that's been sampled or reinterpreted in songs that I like. One of my favorite vocal hooks of all time has long been the one in Mos Def's "Ms. Fat Booty", so when I saw the Aretha Franklin video posted up today on soul-sides, I got pretty excited. I honestly had no idea where those vocals came from and it was very cool to hear Aretha belt them out. So here I am to share that love.

"One Step Ahead" by Aretha Franklin

9-1-4

Clearly Pete Rock reads Cigar Box Guitars, because shortly after I criticized him here for fronting on the "bestchester" as it's so referred, he drops this tune,

"914" feat. Styles P and Sheek Louch by Pete Rock

I mean, he's shouting out Mount Vernon and Yonkers here, not my suburban ass, but I go to work in Mt. Vernon, so I'm gonna claim some shred of cred. The track streams in Real Audio, which I'm not a fan of. If I can find an mp3 of it, it'll go up ASAP.

The Most Important Song of All Time

"Why Do Fools Fall In Love?" by Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers

Not only is the see saw melody of this song incredible, but without this song, the love of my love would've never started making music. When a young Veronica Bennett heard this song, she immediately knew she wanted to be a singer. Finding out that Frankie was just thirteen years old at the time was even more encouraging, it meant that anyone could get out there and make a record, no matter what age. So when Bennett first met Phil Spector, he asked her to sing him a song. She said she didn't really know anything other than Frankie Lymon tunes, so he told her to sing that. She started in with, "Why do birds sing so gay..." and the rest as they say is history. So since Veronica Bennett grew up to be Ronnie Spector, the most important singer ever, it only makes sense to say that "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" is the most important song of all time. There's also been a movie on HBO a lot lately of the same title, and apparently it's about a bunch of women claiming to be Frankie Lymon's widows. I haven't watched it though.

Special Ed

"I'm the Magnificient" by Special Ed

The guitar on this song is so sunshine happy. I like how it's mixed down below the drums a bit too. It's like the mountain goats doing hip hop, nice and lo-fi.

Wu Tang News (as if we report on anything else...)

Wu Tang Corp. has released a statement saying that Cuban Linx II is "almost finished, if not already finished. According to Raekwon’s management the production credits are shared 50/50 between Dr. Dre and RZA but the final tracklisting has yet to prove if it will be the end result." Busta's name isn't mentioned at all in the release, so I don't know if he's still exec. producing or what. Apparently the entire clan will be appearing on the album, but no other guest appearances can be confirmed at this point. Nah Right posted this track up along with the news,

"Rooftop" by Raekwon the Chef

Maybe it's one of those tracks that grows on you, but for now it just strikes me as being nothing too special, and not nearly as enjoyable as "State of Grace", (except for that stupid line about a brokedown fucking mazda).

"State of Grace" Remix feat. Busta Rhymes by Raekwon the Chef

In other Wu News, apparently Jay Z is pushing Ghostface to drop another album by December 12 and will not be having the Ghost appear on his new album, despite rumors saying otherwise. The album is currently titled "More Fish".

In NON WU TANG news, a radio host friend of mine informed me that "O Valencia!" is going to be the single off of the new Decemberists album.

I know I panned the album earlier, and I still don't love it, but I have to say it has grown on me a bit. My thing with it was that it sounds like Colin Meloy's solo stuff more than it does the Decemberists. I happen to like when Colin Meloy sang "Valencia" solo though, so maybe that's why I'm so down with this track.

"O Valencia!" by the Decemberists

"Valencia" by Colin Meloy

Thankyou to Lauren for the tip about the Decemberists single, listen to her on the Campus Buzz, sundays at 8 on 89.5FM WSOU.

Mitch Clem!

I was reading through old NN2S (yes... use the shorthand, get pretentious on em) strips today and I came across this one and thought it'd be appropriate to share here. If you don't know Mitch Clem, he is a funny man who used to draw Nothing Nice to Say, currently draws San Antonio Rock City and Kittens!, he writes Coffee Achievers, and he was one of the creative forces behind the tidbit of awesome that is Joe & Monkey. A lot of his humor revolves around punk rock, mostly jawbreaker, so I enjoy it. Hopefully you folks at home enjoy it too.

Punk Rock!

The links toolbar in my firefox browser fits about 11 links. The first one is Mets.com, and then at the other end, we have reserved spaces for allmusic.com, my audioscrobbler, and this blog here. That means there's space in the middle for seven other websites, the sites that make up my daily blog perusal. Now most of these blogs I'm pretty attached to, so it's not very often that I make room for someone new. Then I stumbled across 7inch punk. The site is constantly updated with song downloads from rare punk EPs from recent times all the way back to the late 70s. One of my favorite finds so far is a band made up of 4 ladies from Germany named Andrea, Kerstin, Olga and Ute. The vocals are a lot of fun and I really like the prominent basslines. Both the band and the blog are definitely worth checking out.

"Stronzo" by Apes of Wrath

"Boys" by Apes of Wrath

Oh and for those of you keeping track at home, this new addition means my toolbar had to wave goodbye to I Guess I'm floating. That leaves my personal daily blogroll at:

Soul Sides

You Ain't No Picasso

Oh Word

Nah Right

Spine Magazine

7inch Punk

Rear Window

You're welcome for the free publicity, fools. Enjoy all 2 of the new readers we send your way with this one (If that many).

RJD2 is losing his edge

to the art school Brooklynites in little jackets and nostalgia for the unremembered 80s.

I hear that he is throwing his computer out the window because he wants to make something real. He wants to make a Yaz record.

I hear that he has sold his turntables and bought guitars.

"Losing My Edge" by LCD Soundsystem

Up From the 36 Chambers, New Ghostface / Most Extreme Metal Ever

New Ghostface track, produced by J-Love. The production's a little schizophrenic, sampling like 20 different instances of people saying "ghostface" or "ironman" etc etc. I'm enjoying it though. I think it's a little silly to be calling it "The Return of the Ironman" though. I mean seriously, it hasn't been that long since Fishscale dropped. He really didn't have the time to leave and then return. Whatever.

"The Return of the Ironman" by Ghostface Killah

And another thing, I don't know what your plans were for Sept. 29th, but I'll tell you what they should be. Going to see DragonForce at the Nokia Theater in Times Square. My brother (and metal consigliere) introduced me to this band during the summer and I've been loving their rock since then. I saw an ad that described them as "Journey at double speed" and I think that's a pretty appropriate way of saying it. Except with a lot less suck. This tune is a good introduction to the band, and it happens to be one of my favorites. The only way to describe the guitar solo after the "oh-oh"s is that there is some masterful shredding going on.

"Through the Fire and Flames" by DragonForce

oh, Fuck Me Friday

I can't believe I left this out of my top summer songs.

"Big Girl" by Ghostface Killah

Fuck me, man. Leaving that off was a mistake, I rocked to this song a LOT this summer. There's so many things about it I love, the opening girl group sample especially. I also think it's really cool how ghost's flow never goes into a chorus, but you still feel the verse to chorus build, thanks to this beat. Ghost definitely has some nice production chops. I'm not sure what song this knocks out of the top 5, but just assume it was in there the whole time. Oh and also, I enjoyed the Ninja Turtles / Young Jeezy video that the Douchipster posted, but I really enjoy this cartoon/lip synch more. The part with the guitar solo is so rocking.

"Funeral Thirst" by the Black Dahlia Murder

Girl Groups: The Story of a Sound

So I'm pushing back the top 5 list a little bit because I want to talk about this documentary I watched last night called Girl Groups: The Story of a Sound. First off, I have to say that anyone who has a chance to catch it, should do so. I was a little letdown by the lack of Crystals stuff and Bobb B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans, but I think it may have been intentional. Darlene Love talked about how Phil Spector owned the names of most of the bands he produced, and would often release Darlene Love songs with different (or the same) groupings of backup singers and bill them as the Crystals or Bobb. B Soxx..., etc etc. They focused a good amount on how Phil Spector is basically fucking nuts and fucking talented, which was good to see. They also had a ridiculous amount of great performances, including a live version of "Be My Baby" that is the tastiest thing I've ever seen/heard.

Okay, so I already loved the Ronettes, but this movie really reminded me again. I mean, they were little badasses. Instead of singing "I love him, I love him..." etc, it was "I love you". It's totally saucier to sing to the boys instead of about the boys. There was also a great clip of Ronnie, Estelle, and Nedra doing a cover of "Shout!".

If Ronnie's voice could be visualized, I think it'd be Nedra's dancing. Schawiiiing. I was searching for these videos online and I came across a really goofy video of the Ronettes lipsynching to the song for a "stay in school" video. Man if you thought they were sexy before, just imagine what they look like waving sandwiches at you. Double hot. The full video isn't on youtube, but you can check it out at the Media Funhouse Blog. Oh and one last Ronettes note, Ronnie Spector is going to be at BB Kings in December and I know I'll be there.

The documentary also reminded me of how much Diana Ross looks like an alien with a great set of pipes.

Summer songs, again.

Yousendit.com decided to start working, so here are your free downloads (I changed my mind and tried to download the Cassie song, and seriously every time I downloaded it, it was 20 min. or so of silence. ). So just to reiterate,

5)

"Ghetto Story" by Baby Cham

4)

"Me & U" by Cassie

3)

"Heavy Metal" by Clap Your Hands say Yeah!!

2)

"American Girl" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

1.5)

"Two Can Win" by J Dilla Jay Dee

1)

"Stop! The Love You Save May Be Your Own" by the Jackson 5

-1)

"Dollar Day for New Orleans... Katrina Klap" by Mos Def

That Mos song has a cool dub vibe to it and speaking of dub vibes, I've really been digging this RJ song lately.

"Good Times Roll Pt. 1" by RJD2

I love the way it just chugs and chugs along and then out of nowhere the transmission just drops onto the highway, and you're crawling along with the spaced out dub section. It's great.

Coming up next time on Cigar Box Guitars, the first installment in my list of the 5 albums that were the most influential to my love of music, plus MC Abstract Douchipster's guide to getting out those hard to remove stains on your pants.

we're back

How great it is that we are back. I'm know you're excited. So I am gonna give my own little list of songs from the summer. I meant to just put up my favorite songs from the summer regardless of when they came out, but it ended up being all songs from the summer.



1. Pull Shapes - Pipettes
This song will lift your spirits no matter what. Happiness in musical form. What's it about? Loving music and how it makes you dance. Speaking of dancing, try listening to this song when you are in a car alone, YOU WILL DANCE. It is involuntary. You can't help it. If you think I'm lieing, wait until the singer asks: "is that a drum beat?" The ensuing drum part is a one way ticket to dance city.



2. In The Morning - Junior Boys
One of my first posts on this blog was about this song. It's off the new album that comes out today, and it should be a good one. This song needs to be heard on a dance floor (maybe I just love to dance by myself in a car) and that synth line at the 3 minute mark still has my ears ejaculating.



3. Watermelon vs. The Pineapple - Xiu Xiu
This song is also from an album that comes out today. Usually Jamie Stewart's voice is really intense and creepy. Here it's barely less intense, and maybe more creepy. But as far as artsy indie shit that your Young Jeezy lovin' roommate would hate goes, this is fantastic. Underneath it all, this song can be both beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time.



4. A Public Affair - Jessica Simpson
I'm on some cheesy radio shit right here, but man I love this song. I really am not a Jessica Simpson fan (TV shows, music, and her looks included), but I just can't help but enjoy this song.



5. Another Sunny Day - Belle and Sebastian
I didn't put this list in any order, but this song is an unofficial number one. My favorite song from my favorite album of the summer right here. Murdoch's voice builds a little intensity with every line of the song and by the time he gets to the last verse he just melts your heart. This whole album was so good it really could have taken up all 5 songs on this list.


So that's the list. Left off were about 20 different songs by The Knife, new TV on the Radio, along with new Mountain Goats songs, and looking back over it I can't believe I left off Voxtrot, but that's the list. Oh, and this summer I also decided WWE wrestling isn't good anymore.

BTW, I am totally into Young Jeezy, too. (definitely watch this clip, maybe not the best made-for-youtube clip ever, but worth it to see Michelangelo dancing in a club)

please show the same love to my friends, dear summer.

Well, as much as I enjoy autumn, I have to say that I had a great summer. So what's the best thing for a case of nostalgia? A top 5 list! So now, for the approval of the midnight society, I present to you:

Summer 2006 as experienced by the Green Hornet

(in no particular order!!!)

1. "Ghetto Story" by Baby Cham

To me this was 2006's "Can't Satisfy Her", you couldn't turn on the radio without hearing this song (on power105 and hot97 at least). It may not have the same level of infectiousness that I Wayne achieved, but damn, I couldn't turn this song off when it came on. The vocal squeeks here are hands down the coolest part of the song. That and the fact that it's awesome to hear such a big tough voice comes out of such a skinny dude.

2. "Me & U" by Cassie

(I don't actually have this song on my computer, and I have no desire to download it, so enjoy the youtube link!)

So I actually didn't even know the name of this song or who it was by until I looked it up five seconds ago, but this song holds a place close to my heart. That place is called Stiletto and it's the finest gentleman's club on earth. Now these lyrics may be trite and meaningless, but who cares? Everything about this beat just SCREAMS stripclub. I read a quote once that was attributed to elvis costello, it was "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture." Now I mean, if I agreed with him 100% I'd be a bit of a fool for maintaining this thing, but I think this might be one instance where the quote applies. See, I could point out the elements of the song that make me think strip club (the clap fx in place of the snare, the lazery keyboard part, the staccato notes of the main melody, the horny girl p.o.v.), but I can't really explain why they translate to strip clubs in my mind. This is just the quintessential stripper sound right here. If I wanted to go with this theme some more I could write a ton about "Loosen up my buttons" and Nelly Furtado's ridiculously sexy "Promiscous" but this is a list of summer songs and strip clubs are only one facet of a good summer.

3. "Heavy Metal" by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!

Now here's where we start turning back the clocks a little bit. Although we're aproaching the one year anniversary of the band's self titled debut, this track played a big part in making the summer of 2006 rock that much harder for me. I ended up throwing it on a CD I made for my car in the early summer and soon enough it became one of my favorite songs to drive to. I might not know a single word of the lyrics, but I'll be damned if I'm not singing and dancing everytime this song comes on in the car.

4. "American Girl" by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

Okay now we're turning the clocks back a little more. I would need some kind of math doctorate to count the number of times these past few months that I experienced a good strong rocking to this song. This song just seemed to pop up everywhere this summer. For a while Tom Petty was burning up the classic rock and "yesterday's hits and today's" stations, so this or "You Don't Know How it Feels" was always on. It's a pretty consistent jukebox choice too. I guess when you're the only man in recorded "history" to almost die of a marijuana overdose, it's hard not to be awesome.

5. "Stop! The Love You Save May Be Your Own" by the Jackson 5

So I guess we just never reset that clock. I've read that this song is actually called "The Love You Save", but the first time I saw it somewhere, it was all written out, and I prefer that. The Jackson 5 have a knack for sunny day music and this song nails it even better than most. I really enjoy the fact that we get a good mix of different Jacksons crooning here, even though Michael still seduces the spotlight. Listen to Jay Dee's "Two Can Win" back to back with this song. Trust me, it's the most pleasant, falsetto singalong inducing, experience a person can have.

"Two Can Win" by J Dilla Jay Dee

And with that, we ressurect Cigarbox from its brief hiatus. I doubt anyone's really itching for an explanation, but just in case, I just sum it up for ya. The Black Hammer and I were arrested for assault with a deadly weapon of rock and roll. See we had some guitars, a full mariachi band, and a Ukranian DJ when we loaded up our truck and started searching for crowds of people we could enlighten with our rock. Finally the Man shut us down, but for some reason the only video footage showed our opening act getting carted away.

So yeah, they tossed us in jail and gave us one phone call, so we figured, hey we'll call that Douchbag Hipster MC and ask him to gather up some bail money for us. He just screamed back into the phone something about "drunkity drunk scabop dobbits" and told us he was gonna call us back. So then a week later he showed up and bailed us out. So now here we are again, out of jail and mildly sober, to enlighten the masses with our unimportant, self important opinions.

EDIT: I'm experiencing some technical difficulties with www.yousendit.com. Download links will be added as soon as this is all patched up.