CHIRP: The Chicago Independent Radio Project

Michael Bennett writes

Friday iPod/MP3 Shuffle -- Happy Birthday Bill Stevenson Edition

He drummed for Black Flag for a spell. He got Paisley Underground legends The Last back together. But, most importantly, he carved out a distinctive niche in punk-pop, first with Descendents and subsequently with All. Bill Stevenson is a triple threat — a creative and wonderful drummer, a substantial songwriter and a terrific producer. He’s played on more catchy songs than you can shake a stick at, and showed that great hooks and complicated song structures can co-exist on one song, and lyrics can run the gamut from juvenile toilet humor to mature perspectives on life as a young (and older) adult. So let’s celebrate Bill’s b-day by grabbing the ol’ iPod/MP3 player, hitting shuffle and sharing the first 10 songs that come up.

1. LCD Soundsystem — Dance Yrself Clean (This Is Happening): James Murphy’s music lends itself to comparison with many classic artists. One who comes up a lot is Talking Heads, and this song certainly is reminiscent of some of David Byrne’s best compositions. It’s Murphy’s way with a melody and how he integrates it into the structure of the rhythm. Of course, Murphy relies more on electronics than the Talking Heads did. This song seems to move the Heads to Berlin, giving this wistful song a weird mix of warmth and chilliness. And once the beat really kicks in, this a terrific mid-tempo dance song.
2. Eleventh Dream Day — Coercion (Prairie School Freakout): A quintessential Dream Day song, with Janet Beveridge Bean’s crisp drumming and a very Neil Young-ish guitar riff leading into a song that sounds like it’s going to careen off the rails, but manages to chug along. Rick Rizzo’s intensity is compelling. These guys should have been big.
3. Royal Crescent Mob — Mt. Everest (Midnight Rose’s): This Ohio band was a contemporary of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and also trafficked in funk-rock. However, the Mob had a lighter touch, evident both in their grooves and their sense of humor, which was not as hamfisted. Not every song was funk based, as the Mob had influences ranging from classic rock to The Replacements. This is kind of a rocked up folk story-song that shows a little Led Zeppelin inspiration.
4. Suede — Animal Nitrate (Suede): Suede was somewhat like The Smiths gone glam rock. Brett Anderson and guitar hero Bernard Butler borrowed liberally from David Bowie, Sparks and other ’70s artists, giving British ’80s indie pop a dose of dramatic decadence. This was a big hit single, and Anderson emotes all over the place, while Butler’s hooky guitar lines and sweeping chords give Anderson plenty of room to do his thing.
5. Tammany Hall Machine — Don’t Know Which Side We’re On (Amateur Saw): A peppy band whose songs are usually driven by the piano and other keyboards, with a strudy power pop foundation, the Machine is more in line with early Roxy Music than Ben Folds on this propulsive tune. Indeed, this isn’t so much a hooky tune as an icy groove, and a nice contrast to the more pure pop on the rest of the album.
6. Lime Spiders — 1-2-5 (Headcleaner): The Australian garage rock band, best known for the classic “Slave Girl”, does a nice job on this oldie that can be found on the Nuggets II box set, from Canada’s The Haunted. Not as heavy as a lot of their material.
7. The Easybeats — Sorry (The Definitive Anthology): The Aussie band that is best known for “Friday On My Mind” had a bevy of fantastic songs. This is a splendid rocker, which mixes a stuttering guitar rhythm with a nifty up-and-down bassline with the two rhythm parts complimenting each other, with a super catchy chorus providing an extra hook and a nifty coda.
8. Wilco — Hate It Here (Sky Blue Sky): While some folks look down on recent Wilco as “Dad Rock,” I think that Jeff Tweedy and Co. wisely went in a different direction after the expansive sounds of their prior albums. This is basic ’70s singer-songwriter stuff, with a great band who knows exactly what to play and what not to play, and Tweedy has never sung better.
9. The Fleshtones — I Want to Feel Something Now (More Than Skin Deep): After their first two albums, Fleshtones LPs are fairly hit and miss, because they aren’t consistent songwriters and they don’t rely as much on covers as other garage bands. So each album comes down to how good the material is, since they never flag as performers. This is one of their better albums and this track is a bouncy jangle rocker with a passionate lead vocal from Peter Zaremba.
10. The Boo Radleys — One Is For (Giant Steps): The Boo Radleys were a band that slotted somewhere between the shoegazers and the Britpoppers. The band became poppier as they went on, and were good at it. But I prefer the wider range on their early records, where songs might mix a few styles, things could go from quiet to loud at the drop of a hat, and there is an air of mystery to the proceedings. This is just a little snippet of a tune that is pretty and over and out.