Welcome to the final Mix Tape of the year and of the decade. Please enjoy responsibly.
Snow Patrol -- LateNightTales (latenighttales.co.uk)
The LateNightTales series, in the words of its creators, "invites the world's best artists to delve deep into their music collections to create the ultimate "late night" selection." Among those who've taken part are The Flaming Lips, Arctic Monkeys and Fatboy Slim. The latest features Irish band Snow Patrol. In addition to picking some faves, the Patrol covers INXS' "New Sensation." I'll reserve judgment on this novelty; I don't even like the original (though I prefer this version).
There are 18 other tracks here -- including a few that were already on my iPod: Terry Callier's "Ordinary Joe," TV on the Radio's "Family Tree" and Super Furry Animals' "Download," for example. But it was also nice to hear some John Martyn, Allen Toussaint, Beefheart and A Tribe Called Quest. All in all, I'd call the mix diverse and a little surprising coming from a band like Snow Patrol that -- it could be argued -- buries these influences deep down below the surface of its own music.
The Cribs -- Ignore the Ignorant (Warner Bros.)
Now new and improved with 100 percent more Johnny Marr officially in the band, England's The Cribs dish up their most "musical" record to date. Thankfully, they do it without erasing their personality. The transition from raucous punks (hey, the Pistols invited the band to open four shows to mark the 30th anniversary of the release of "Never Mind the Bollocks") to melodic guitar rock has been taking place ever since the band's 2004 debut.
Now on the fourth full-length, The Cribs seem to have reached a new maturity. Perhaps that's thanks in part to Marr, but make no mistake, this doesn't sound like a Smiths record. The Jarman boys are still up front and in the driver's seat, and have made a great record for the new decade.
R.E.M. -- Live at The Olympia (Warner Bros.)
I know, this has been out since the end of October, but I've never been one to jump on any R.E.M. bandwagon, so it took me some time to dig into the 39 performances spread over two CDs recorded over five nights in July 2007 at Dublin's Olympia Theater. Very few hits are to be heard on this live "retrospective." Instead, we get lesser-known tastes of most of the band's LPs and road tests of a number of songs from the 2008 studio disc, "Accelerate."
Although Peter Buck said the band had "all kinds of terror elements going on" because "every second we were playing something we didn't know all that well," you'd be hard-pressed to tell. This R.E.M. is a well-oiled, melodic stadium rock machine, at the height of its professional game.
There also is a DVD, filmed at the shows, available.
Annie -- Don't Stop (Smalltown Supersound)
This is the second disc from the Norwegian singer and if you listen to this after the previous discs, it'll seem like a sharp swerve, with its thumping beat, breathy pop vocals and synth-driven dance sound.
But Annie is rooted a bit in indie rock, too, so don't be surprised that Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos supplied the guitar hook on the single, "My Love is Better."
Annie named her cat Joey after both her favorite Ramone and her favorite New Kid on the Block ... 'nuff said.
Crustacean Records Compilation 2009
Wisconsin's own Crustacean Records dishes up 18 slabs of rock and rollfrom homestate favorites like the re-juiced Mad Trucker Gone Mad andbeloved Madison veterans Killdozer. There are tunes from Droids Attack,The Von Ehrics, The Skintones, Things Fall Apart and loads more.Contact Crustacean to order a copy.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
