The Night Air is Cold, The Freeway is Clear

Here's a couple versions of an obscure relic. Former Byrds frontman Roger McGuinn released his last electric record in 1991. I'd only ever heard the single, "King of the Hill", up until a few weeks ago, when I found an incredibly cheap copy of the album at a used CD store. It's not half bad. It's basically like a lost Tom Petty record from that era. I say that primarily because in addition to the fact that Tom Petty's whole shtick has kind of always been rockified Byrds, this record's got very similar production to classic Petty records, and Mike Campbell and Tom Petty are all the place. Also, like a Tom Petty record, it's a few killer songs plus a lot of pleasant filler. Anyway... here's two versions of the aforementioned single "King of the Hill." The first is the official music video, the second is a Letterman performance. Note how McGuinn looks like Don Henley with a mullet in this period.

Archie Bronson Outfit

The Archie Bronson Outfit are a pretty cool English band. My favorite song of theirs is a jam called "On the Shore" from their debut, Fur, but that's not online, so here's a pretty good song from their second record, Derdang Derdang. Enjoy.

I've Been Trying to Forgive Billy Corgan for His Recent Actions, but...

stuff like this sure doesn't make it any easier.

Please Remember Me

In a random piece of news that made me happy, in the buildup to the release of the new Iron and Wine rarities comp Around the Well (preorder CD or vinyl), Sub Pop is giving away an mp3 of my favorite Iron and Wine song (from which the title of the comp is derived), "The Trapeze Swinger." I think the studio version is a little busy, but it's still an amazing song. If you want to hear a more stripped down version, somewhere way back in an old post (January 07 maybe?) there's a live version from a few years ago, but for the full version, click through below.

Iron and Wine - The Trapeze Swinger

Sometimes I forget how awesome QOTSA is...

...and then I see something like this and remember.

I Have Been Remiss.

So, I fail at posting for the last month. Sorry. Trying to get better again. Anyhoo, here is a band I got into a really long time ago: Murder by Death. How long ago, you ask? Well, they were still called Little Joe Gould at the time. I'm not sure Murder by Death is any better of a name, but I suppose that's neither here nor there. Anyway their slightly gothy, slightly country brand of indie rock is music to my ears. Here's a couple old jams:

New Sonic Youth Stream

Via Newsweek: