A Moment For You and I (and Joe)

So the blog has been infused with new life. I am posting again, Joe is posting quality material, and with any luck we will lure some readers back after I left them in lurch earlier in the summer. Why did i abandon you, dear reader? Well it was a combination of several thing.... first of all I am the epitome of lazy. Like seriously.... to even get out of bed in the morning is a task and I haven't figured out how to just THINK of a post and make it happen. Second is that EZArchive (the host for all of my mp3s) basically went TITS UP and left me without a good place to put all these grey-area-legal-wise mp3 files. Like, I couldn't upload -- I couldn't download -- I couldn't email them -- they were just POOF gone.

Today they are back.

So with that, and with Joe's help, Trees Lounge is back.

The good news is also the bad news though -- with the new EZArchive, the old links are all gone. That means everything older than about 4 days ago has now been flushed down the toilet. My dream to complete all 50 states and post them all up together may never happen. That being said, I'm going to continue where I left off in the next few days and jump back into the states project. The good news? We're back. We'll have even more BRILLIANT CONTENT that you can be assured to COUNT ON and we'll be offering a bi-geographical perspective on the music scene with my sorry ass being situated here (ahem... near) the twin-cites, and Joe being cozily tucked away in Irvine, CA. I'll be focusing on my normal themes of drinking too much and not being funny -- Joe will be focusing on his love for Lil' Wayne and all things from Jamaica. Or maybe I'll just let him let you know what he'll post about.

To Welcome myself back I am going to take this opportunity to reiterate something that I've been telling you for years now. This band: I still like them, and you still don't listen to them. The Baptist Generals.

Chris Flemmons plays/writes insanely beautiful melodies, has terrible recording equipment, a drinking problem, a tendency to smash his equipment in the middle of a track, and an ability to play the guitar like a FUCKING DRUM.

• The Baptist Generals - 500 League Reunion March (in Plymouth)
• The Baptist Generals - Creeper

Edit: Also if there is any doubt as to whether or not Trees Lounge can be a two man show, can you please click the link below of Joe in the Panda suit. I mean -- he has boozed up eyes, an empty bottle of jack daniels, and he is wearing a god-damned panda costume. If anyone can outdrink that picture and then send me evidence of it glued to the top of a case of Jim Beam and then make quality posts about stolen mp3s -- WELL I'D DAMN WELL GIVE YOU A PASSWORD TO POST, TOO!

Best Song About File Sharing. Ever.

So at some point this morning I realized that every post of mine thus far is really just a "Best Ever" post. I had the Best Song. Ever.

And I also had the Best Rock Song. Ever.

So in that vein, I want to add the Best Song About File Sharing. Ever.

• The Tiny: "Everything is Free"

If you're not yet on the Tiny bandwagon, it's time to get on board. Despite it's diminutive size, there's still a lot of room left up here. As best as I can figure out, The Tiny are a three-piece from Stockholm. They're also great; Rob and I both have an avowed love for them.

But wait! There's more! Now for the Best Song by The Tiny. Ever.

• The Tiny: "Closer"

Well that pretty much kicks off my newly-named series: Best Song... Ever.

(Also! One of Rob's favorite comedians, Ze Frank, does a great bit about Worst... Ever that I admit to cribbing a little for the name of my series. Enjoy it here! Err... how the hell do you imbed flash?)

EDIT: As per a comment, "Everything is Free" does look like it was originally a Gillian Welch song. If possible, avoid listening to that version because it may ruin The Tiny's, in so much as it totally blows, and you may not be able to get it out of your head. So kudos to Gillian Welch for writing a poignant song. But bigger ups to The Tiny for singing it and then totally making me cry.

Halloween Is So Last Weekend

Halloween is Tonight? Well all my parties were last weekend. I don't know how yours went, but I broke a mirror I was wearing, climbed a balcony four times, played a lot of swords (hard to explain), and was an all-around jackass. In commemoration of the fact that I'm still damn tired, I'm posting a song that really gets at the essence of how I felt walking home alone at 4:00 in the morning.

In addition, it's arguably the greatest rock song ever recorded. Not even shitting you.

• Rocket from the Tombs - "Ain't It Fun"

And as a BONUS!

What says Halloween more than Black No. 1?

• Type O Negative: "Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)"

Save a Tree; Write a Blog

Rob needed to call in some reinforcements, so I’m gonna be helping him out a bit here and there so Trees Lounge doesn’t completely die. The States thing is his, and I’m leaving it to him to keep that up, but I’m adding a series of my own:

Cool Shit from Sometime Not Now

Cool Shit, if you’re into the whole brevity thing. It’ll be songs, albums, discographies… well… it’ll be a lot of things, and I’m not going to pigeonhole myself right now. I don't even know that it needs a name, but it's getting one anyway.

To start it off, I’ll post my favorite song:

• Baal – Exuma

That’s right—like a teenage girl—I have a favorite song. Among the mounds of music I listen to, there is actually one song that stands out above the others. And I’m cool with that. In the future I’ll give more context to what I post, but for now, just take my word on this.

Do They Know it's Halloween?

This post can only come from outer-space or underground, or some nonsensical place. I'm not sure where it comes from. I do know that it is a Halloween song produced by the North American Halloween Prevention Initiative. I do know that it was designed as some sort of fund-raiser. I do not know exactly what the funds were for or how they assembled such an incredible cast for such a seemingly bullshit project -- I do know that the song sounds like what would must exist on the other side of the sun.

The cast includes: Beck, Sum 41, Les Savy Fav, the Arcade Fire, Sonic Youth, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Joey Waronker, Sloan, Peaches, Feist, Devendra Banhart, Wolf Parade, Postal Service, Buck 65, Elvira, Malcolm McLaren, Gino Washington (for more on him, see "Gino vs. Geno" at Complicatedfun.com), Roky Erickson, Rilo Kiley, Sparks, Tagaq, and producer Steven McDonald of Redd Kross

• North American Halloween Prevention Initiative - Do They Know It's Halloween?