en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/ Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 60 http://www.audioscrobbler.net/data/webservices http://www.last.fm/user/kperfetto/journal The Last.fm journal for kperfetto. Last.fm journals are a place to talk about all things music. http://www.last.fm/user/kperfetto/journal/2008/03/04/b7bbv_snow_day_playlist Tue, 4 Mar 2008 23:02:38 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/kperfetto/journal/2008/03/04/b7bbv_snow_day_playlist I'm sitting on more than half a foot of snow right now. I'm ensconced in my apartment with nothing to keep me company but music:

Desperado - Langley Schools Music Project
Sky Phenomenon - Jens Lekman
Within Your Reach (2006 Remastered Version) - The Replacements
Waltz #2 (XO) - Elliott Smith
I See A Darkness - Bonnie Prince Billy
Darkness Lifting - Kimmie Rhodes
Hold On, Hold On - Neko Case
Waitin' for the Day - Townes Van Zandt
Sick of Food - American Music Club
River - Joni Mitchell
These Days - Nico]]> http://www.last.fm/user/kperfetto/journal/2008/02/02/b7bbu_last_fm_meme Sat, 2 Feb 2008 17:57:43 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/kperfetto/journal/2008/02/02/b7bbu_last_fm_meme Cross posted at Five Dollar Radio

I don't usually do memes on Five Dollar Radio, but it's a fun one. I stole this from lism. If you have a Last.FM account, take your top ten artists and answer these few questions:

My top ten (at the time I wrote this):
Paul Westerberg
The Replacements
Neko Case
Townes Van Zandt
Ryan Adams
Whiskeytown
Bruce Springsteen
Vulgar Boatmen
Grandpaboy
Teddy Thompson

What was the first song you ever heard by #6?
I think it was "Don't Be Sad." I know that's sort of counting backwards in Whiskeytown's (short) career, but that sounds about right.
What is your favorite album by #2?
Oh easy one. Tim. It actually isn't the first album I bought by the Replacements, but it's the one that stuck. The one that made me say, "Yes, this is the music I'm supposed to be listening to." (Here. I'm not going to explain it again.)
What is your favorite lyric #5 has sung?
Hmmm... I think the "fuck me up, steal my records" line in "Come Pick Me Up." That describes most 21st century relationships to a T.
How many times have you seen #4 live?
Unfortunately, none. Townes Van Zandt died about a decade ago, and then I probably still thought Chris Cornell was the bee's knees.
Favorite song by #7?
"Johnny 99"
Do you have any good memories involving #9?
Ha ha. (Hint: Grandpaboy is Paul Westerberg's alter-ego.) Feeling part of a secret club or something. Trying to explain Grandpaboy to non-fans. Trying to explain Grandpaboy to myself.
Is there a song by #3 that makes you sad?
Not that I know of. I actually prefer her older "Honky Tonk Hiccups" type-records.
What is your favorite lyric #2 has sung?
Again, he had me at "Down on all fives, lemme crawwwwwl..." ("Hold My Life" from Tim)
How did you get into #3?
KDHX (St. Louis community radio station). I wish I had a cooler story, but I heard Neko Case on the radio for the first time probably eight or nine years ago.
First song you heard by #1?
As a solo artist? Probably "Dyslexic Heart" from the Singles soundtrack.
Favorite song by #4?
Too many to mention. "For The Sake Of The Song," "Waiting Around to Die," "To Live's To Fly," "Only Him or Me," "Kathleen" which I tell people I was named after but it's not true.
How many times have you seen #9 live?
I think Grandpaboy may have made an appearance at Paul's Columbia show a few years ago. Or at least his hat did.
Name a good memory involving #2?
Just buying Tim -- total impulse purchase -- and putting it on for the first time.
Is there a song of #9's that makes you feel sad?
"Lush and Green" with its lyrics of lying down on the grass "you sleep under."
Favorite album of #5?
Gold, for sentimental reasons. It always reminds me of the apartment I lived in shortly after 9-11. The shoddy plumbing, the furnace that never worked, the neighbors and the strange smells coming from their apartments. Good times. Gold was comfort food.
Favorite lyric of #3?
"Someone's singing my life back to me." ("Guided By Wire.") We all need someone to sing our lives back to us every once in a while.
Favorite song of #10?
"Altered State," from 2006's Separate Ways
Favorite album of #1?
Stereo, hands down, is Paul's strongest. Or at least has some of his strongest songwriting to date: not a dud in the bunch. But I'll go with the oddly titled Suicaine Gratifaction, because although it barely sold and was considered the "nadir" of his career to some fans, I think in all its self-loathing was the album he needed to make.
Good memory of #10?
I don't think I've been a fan of his long enough to have any emotional ties.
First song you heard by #8?
In the arena-rock 80s, it was probably something like "Born in the USA." I'm pretty sure the jock who picked the music our Jr high graduation dance played a lot of Bruce. Enough that I didn't come around for another decade.
Favorite cover #2 has done?
Got a couple hours? Early Mats shows were lousy with bad covers. I have a version of "Easier Said Than Done" that's beauteous in all its drunken glory.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/kperfetto/journal/2008/01/03/b7bbt_5000%21 Thu, 3 Jan 2008 17:20:23 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/kperfetto/journal/2008/01/03/b7bbt_5000%21 5000th track played: Camera Obscura's If Looks Could Kill]]> http://www.last.fm/user/kperfetto/journal/2007/12/28/b7bbs_the_inevitable_%22best_of_%2707%22_post Fri, 28 Dec 2007 23:00:57 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/kperfetto/journal/2007/12/28/b7bbs_the_inevitable_%22best_of_%2707%22_post My Top Ten for 2007 (cross-posted at Five Dollar Radio)

Bruce Springsteen - Magic Easily my favorite record of the year. In a word full of American Idols and MySpace stars, it's good to see The Boss still out there making albums that matter. Oh, and it rocks pretty hard, too.

The Ike Reilly Assassination -We Belong To The Staggering Evening We Belong to the Staggering Evening came totally out of left field for me. Had no idea. I'd only heard the name "Ike Reilly" tossed around among some of my hipper friends. This time they were right. A melange of punk, garage, hip-hop and beat poetry.

Wilco - Sky Blue Sky I briefly left the cult of Wilco sometime after Yankee Hotel Foxtrotand before a A Ghost Is Born. It's good to be back. On first listen, Sky Blue Sky's lyrics seem almost too simplistic, especially in comparison to the last couple albums. Wring simple, pretty songs isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Elliott Smith - New Moon For years I dismissed Elliott Smith's music as whiny, Gen-X mush. Then I realized what an incredible songwriter he was. Then he died. Posthumous releases don't usually sit right with me. They're almost cannibalistic -- like serving the fetid remains on toast-points. Oddly enough, it took a sweet cover of Big Star's "Thriteen" to make me love New Moon.

Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger Ryan's albums tend to run together for me. I was worried that this one wouldn't stand out enough. (Read: would I give it a few spins and go back to Heartbreaker or Demolition?) Months later, I'm still spinning.

Rachel Sweet - Fool Around For years I only owned an aging, warped copy of Fool Around. Normally, I wouldn't include a re-issue in a yearly best-of, but I'd been waiting for years for this to get a shiny new makeover.

Teddy Thompson - Upfront and Down Low Teddy Thompson (the son of songwriters, Richard and Linda Thomspson, if you don't know by now) has the most achingly beautiful voice I've heard in a long time. He could sing the alphabet and I'd probably be happy. Instead he dug through the catalog and covered some of country music most cherished standards.

Rilo Kiley -Under The Blacklight Like everyone else, I had my doubts about this one. The early reviews were mixed, to say the least, but "Silver Lining" was one of the best singles of 2007.

Detroit Cobras - Tied and True Nothing new, just a bunch R&B covers by one of the best bands to come out of the motor city (take that White Stripes).

Exploding Hearts - Shattered Overshadowed by the deaths of three of the four band members in a 2003 car accident, Shatterd reminds me of the classic power-pop of the seventies: melodic rock with a ton of heart.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/kperfetto/journal/2007/12/22/b7bbr_because_i_still_haven%27t_left_the_90s Sat, 22 Dec 2007 15:13:06 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/kperfetto/journal/2007/12/22/b7bbr_because_i_still_haven%27t_left_the_90s (Cross-posted at Five Dollar Radio)

After watching the final installment of Vh1's 100 Best Songs of the 90s, I thought make my own list of favorite 90s songs. Surprisingly, I liked a lot of songs on the Vh1 list, or did at the time, but, um, I'm a compulsive lister. So here goes...


"I am a Scientist" - Guided by Voices
"One More Hour" - Sleater-Kinney
"Pick Up the Change" - Wilco
"Things" - Paul Westerberg
"I Lost It" - Lucinda Williams
"Nite Club" - old 97s
"Summer Babe" - Pavement
"Web In Front" - Archers of Loaf
"Sheela-Na-Gig" - PJ Harvey
"Nine Bullets" - Drive-By Truckers
"Waiting For Superman" - The Flaming Lips
"December" - Teenage Fanclub
"Diane" - Material Issue
"Wide Awake" - Vulgar Boatmen
"Nightswimming" - REM
"Silent All These Years" - Tori Amos
"Lover, You Should Have Come Over" - Jeff Buckley
"1952 Vincent Black Lightning" - Richard Thompson
"I See a Darkness" - Bonnie Prince Billy
"All Apologies" - Nirvana]]> http://www.last.fm/user/kperfetto/journal/2007/11/23/b7bbq_album_of_the_week%3A_tim_by_the_replacements Fri, 23 Nov 2007 21:50:49 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/kperfetto/journal/2007/11/23/b7bbq_album_of_the_week%3A_tim_by_the_replacements He had me at, "down on all fives, lemme crawwwwl..."


Tim was the album that started it all for me. The one that turned against MTV and Top 40 pap forever. The one that made me think, "yes, this is the music I should be listening to." And I never really had that again.


Oh to be an idealistic, disaffected teenager again.


I'm lying. I was already into my twenties when I first heard Tim, giving myself a makeover of sorts: going back and discovering all the music I missed because I was too young, too stupid, or too busy lusting after spandex pretty boys.

Despite wearing out -- is it three?-- cassette copies of Tim, I hardly listen to it now. I've sort of put it in its own little time capsule, where it will always be fresh if I "need" it. Too often I've given a favorite album too much stereo time, only to have it lose its luster, and I swore I'd never do that with this record.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/kperfetto/journal/2007/09/30/b7bbp_maybe_my_itunes_library_is_trying_to_tell_me_something Sun, 30 Sep 2007 14:45:24 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/kperfetto/journal/2007/09/30/b7bbp_maybe_my_itunes_library_is_trying_to_tell_me_something I set it to Party Shuffle, like I always do, and I got these two songs...

Mary Gauthier - I Drink

New Pornographers - The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism

So I added...

Treatment Bound by The Replacements]]> http://www.last.fm/user/kperfetto/journal/2007/09/05/b7bbo_stand_up_and_be_namechecked Wed, 5 Sep 2007 21:51:25 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/kperfetto/journal/2007/09/05/b7bbo_stand_up_and_be_namechecked Sylvia Plath - Ryan Adams
Alex Chilton - Replacements
D. Boon - Uncle Tupelo
Lucinda Williams - Vic Chesnutt
Ray Charles - old 97s
Graham Greene- John Cale
Pablo Picasso -Modern Lovers
Sylvia Plath - Peter Laughner
Patterson Hood - Cat Power]]> http://www.last.fm/user/kperfetto/journal/2007/09/01/b7bbn_2000%21 Sat, 1 Sep 2007 02:44:24 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/kperfetto/journal/2007/09/01/b7bbn_2000%21 Apparently, I scrobbled my 2000th track today. Counting backwards, it looks like #2000 was Message To The Boys by the Replacements.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/kperfetto/journal/2007/08/30/b7bbm_dead_poets_society Thu, 30 Aug 2007 23:39:38 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/kperfetto/journal/2007/08/30/b7bbm_dead_poets_society (Originally posted at Five Dollar Radio)


I have three songs in my iTunes library inspired by Sylvia Plath: two simply called "Sylvia Plath." (Two different songs penned by Ryan Adams and Peter Laughner, and Paul Westerberg's "Crackle & Drag" whose lyrics were inspired by Path's poem "Edge."

This is the official battle of the Sylvia Plaths.

As much as I adore Laughner's opener, "Sylvia Plath was never too good at math," (is that true?), I'll give this one to Westy for including two versions of his song: one dreary ballad, one rocker. (And to pull off a rocker about a dead poet is something special.)]]>