The Kinks – INDIE ROCK CAFE

The S-25 Mix: Time Travel Playlist, Vol. I – Phoenix, The Clash, Radio Dept., Prince, Boat, Javelin, The Kinks, Shearwater, BSS

Posted on 04/04/201107/22/2021 by Max Hammer

We have an obsession with creating playlist mixes that feature great songs about a specific subject, theme or other categorization. Over many years, we’ve amassed hundreds of these playlists, and update them regularly. Sunday is the day we take off from putting out new music in order to bring you all another one of our special.

But the original, and still existing, name for this series – The Sunday 25 Mix (aka, S-25), is admittedly not one of our best names we’ve come up with, so we are taking suggestions. The name for this weekly mix series needs to somehow convey the Sunday aspect as well as the fact that it’s a special series with a particular focus and not restricted to one genre or one era of music.

This week we chose 25 tracks from our huge “Time Travel” playlist, including tracks from Phoenix, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Submarines, The Radio Dept., The Clash, The Smashing Pumpkins, and many others. This mix is the first volume of what will be a re-occuring playlist mix series over the next year or so. Currently, we have more than 300 ‘time travel’ songs, so it’ll take time to whittle them down into 25 tracks per volume.

We are sure that there are plenty of great ‘time travel’ themed songs that are not included in this volume. In that case, it means they’ll be published in subsequent volumes in this series, or that we don’t have such and such a song (but probably did at one time). Somehow believing that Apple hard drives were indestructible, we failed to back up hundreds of playlists that had been in on-going development over the years.

One day last fall, we turned on the Mac to just a blue screen. Slowly but surely we were convinced that the hard drive was indeed fried. That broken hard drive is sitting in a box as we try to figure out if it’s worth hundreds and hundreds of dollars to try and do data recovery just to see what playlists can be salvaged.

So, in many ways, we had to start from scratch. It was a traumatic loss but we only have ourselves to blame for not backing them all up to an independent external hard drive. A loss like that you never really get over, especially when you know that you had so many amazing playlists that constituted probably hundreds of hours of organizing, updating, and reviewing songs and their appropriate playlist home. Lesson learned the VERY hard way.

That said, we hope you dig this first volume of the Time Travel Playlists series. Don’t forget to make your own lists in the Comments section because it’s very possible they’ll be included in subsequent future volumes of the Time Travel Playlists series.

“1901” – Phoenix from Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (2009)

“1999” – Shout Out Louds from Work (2010)

“1999” – Prince from 1999 (1982)

“1977” – The Clash from Super Black Market Crash (1977)

“We’ve Been Friends Since 1989” – Boat from Setting The Paces (2009)

“Oh What A Night (December 1963)” – Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons (1976)

“1979” – The Smashing Pumpkins from Mellon Collie (1989)

“1969” – Iggy Pop and The Stooges from The Stooges (1969)

“Class of 2000” – Amida from Arts & Crafts EP (2004)

“Holland, 1945” – Neutral Milk Hotel from In the Aeroplane over the Sea (1998)

“1940” – The Submarines from Honeysuckle Weeks (2010)

“1940” (The Submarines) – The Morning Benders from split tour only single (2009)

“1995” – The Radio Dept. from Lesser Matters (2009)

“2012” – 60 Watt Kid from We Come From The Bright Side (2009)

“1917” – Fiery Furnaces from Blueberry Boat (2004)

kinksmusiclive — The original "20th Century Man" appeared on The Kinks' acclaimed 1972 album, 'Muswell Hillbillies'

“20th Century Man” (Live) – The Kinks from One For The Road (1980)

“7th September 2003” – The Elected from Me First (2003)

“1993” – The Great Nostalgic from Hope We Live Like We Promised (2011)

“Moscow 1980” – Javelin from No Mas (2010)

“August 12, 1992” – John Blaze from Introductions EP (2010)

“1985” – Paul McCartney and Wings from Band on The Run (1975)

“Boy 1904” – Jónsi & Alex from Riceboy Sleeps (2010)

“1985” – Bowling for Soup from A Hangover You Don’t Deserve (2004)

“Late Nineties Bedroom Rock For The Missionaries” – Broken Social Scene from You Forgot It In People (2002)

“The World In 1984” – Shearwater from Winged Life (2004)

“1983” – Pelle Carlberg from The Lilac Time (2008)

Sunday 25 Songs Mix – The Clash, Arctic Monkeys, The Shins, Tripmaster Monkey, Kinks, John Lennon, The Replacements

Posted on 01/23/201107/22/2021 by Max Hammer

It’s Sunday, and that means it’s time for the Sunday 25 playlist. In case you are new to The Sunday 25 Songs (S-25) mix, each week we put together 25 songs we love from any genre and any time period; a chance for us to take a break once a week from bringing you the best new indie rock songs, bands, albums and live events.

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At the core of the S-25 mix is the band profile, in which we feature a band we love (and hope our readers do/will as well). In addition to a general overview of the featured band’s members, first big breaks, best songs and albums, influence on music, etc., we also include five to seven songs from their discography in the weekly S-25 mix. Today’s featured band is The Clash.

The Clash remain as one of the most influential and popular rock bands in British music history, and they were, for all intents and purposes, the first high-profile to combine ska, punk, rock pop and reggae into their songs, giving the band a unique identity in the annals of pop music.

“Train In Vain” – The Clash from London Calling (1979)

With unforgettable hit songs like “Should I Stay or Should I Go” and “Rock The Casbah,” The Clash swayed in between underground music and the mainstream (especially in the U.K.), while staying true to their roots. Every day, new Clash fans from around the world are discovering the band’s music for the first time; whether it’s a 14 year old boy in Birmingham, U.K. playing his Dad’s old Clash vinyl records or a Mom with two kids in Des Moines, Iowa discovering the band for the first time listening to classic rock radio station, The Clash are definitely in the Top 100 Best Bands Ever, and for good reason.

The many different ways that music lovers are discovering The Clash is interesting, but if you really want interesting, and you enjoy the five Clash songs in this mix, we strongly recommend these Clash LPs: their self-titled debut (1977); Give ‘Em Enough Rope (1978); London Calling (1979).

In London during the late 1970s and early 1980s, The Clash, in many ways, would eventually surpass The Sex Pistols as the U.K.’s most popular punk rock band. Critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote in the All Music Guide: “Where The Pistols were nihilistic, The Clash were fiery and idealistic, charged with righteousness and a leftist political ideology. From the outset, the band was more musically adventurous, expanding its hard rock & roll with reggae, dub, and rockabilly among other roots musics.
Furthermore, they were blessed with two exceptional songwriters in Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, each with a distinctive voice and style. The Clash copped heavily from classic outlaw imagery, positioning themselves as rebels with a cause.”

Joe Strummer and Mick Jones were the heart of The Clash during their glory years (1977-1982). Even after they finally broke through in America in 1982 with the release, and success, of Combat Rock, the band began to implode only months later. Despite line-up changes, worldwide tours, heavy promotion, and stops and starts, The Clash officially disbanded in 1986. But, we still have their awesome albums to play for the rest of our lives.

“Should I Stay Or Should I Go” – The Clash from Combat Rock (1982)

“Weird Divide” – The Shins from Oh Inverted World (2005)

“For Agent 13” – The Besnard Lakes from The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse (2007)

“This House Is A Circus” – Arctic Monkeys from Favorite Worst Nightmare (2007)

“He Said He Was A River” – Tripmaster Monkey from Practice Changes (1996)

“Rock The Casbah” – The Clash from Combat Rock (1982)

“Boys Are Back in Town” – Thin Lizzy from Jail Break (1976)

“Better Things” – The Kinks from Give The People What They Want (1981)

“Just Like (Starting Over)” – John Lennon from Double Fantasy (1980)

“Spanish Bombs” – The Clash from London Calling (1979)

“Lovers On Our Backs” – Bird By Snow from Lovers On Our Backs 7″ (2009)

“Ghost of Syllables” – Admiral Radley from I Heart California (2010)

“Got To Get You Into My Life” – The Beatles from Revolver (1966)

“The Guns of Brixton” – The Clash from London Calling (1979)

“Here Comes A Regular” – The Replacements from Tim (1985)

“Shake It Up” – The Cars from Shake It Up (1983)

“Don’t Bring Me Down” – Electric Light Orchestra from Discovery (1979)

“Hurricane” – Neil Young from Decade (1980)

“Someday” – The Silent Years from The Silent Years (2005)

Best New Releases from The Decemberists, R.E.M., Smith Westerns, Tennis, Braids, Oh No Oh My, among others.

Names in Songs, Mix II: Freelance Whales, Conor Oberst, The Kinks, Animal Collective, The Border Cops, The Fratellis, The Dodos

Posted on 11/14/200901/09/2020 by Max Hammer

Song titles that include names in them are nothing new; there are literally thousands of such songs that span the history of music. This playlist focuses on mostly indie rock songs that fall into this category. This is the second Names in Songs mix (see Mix One featuring Throw Me The Statue, M83, Deastro and more).

The opening track in this latest mix is from Freelance Whales, one of the biggest “buzz” bands of the second half of 2009. In fact, Freelance Whales kick off a five-week tour with Fanfarlo tonight at Moe’s in Englewood, Colorado.

This mix also includes sweet tracks from Loney Dear, The Kinks, The Border Cops, Conor Oberst, Animal Collective, Yo La Tengo, The Fratellis, Gordie Tentrees, Red House Painters, The Dodos, Sunfold, Apples in Stereo and a double-shot from Travis.

“Hannah” – Freelance Whales from Weathervane (2009)

“Danny Callahan” – Conor Oberst from s/t debut (2008)

“Wicked Anabella” – The Kinks from The Village Green Preservation Society (1968)

“Derek” – Animal Collective from Strawberry Jam (2007)

“Allie & Donnie” – The Border Cops from Musical Beatings for Your Inner Metrosexual (2007)

“I Am John” – Loney Dear from Loney, Noir (2005)

“Madeline” – Yo La Tengo from And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out (2000)

“My Friend John” – The Fratellis from Here We Stand (2008)

“Alfred” – Gordie Tentrees from Mercy Or Sin (2009)

“Find Me, Ruben Olivares” – Red House Painters from Shanti Project Collection (1999)

“Jodi” – The Dodos from Visiter (2008)

“Sara The American Winter” – Sunfold from Toy Tugboats (2008)

“Stephen Stephen” – Apples in Stereo from Stephen Stephen (2006)

“Sarah” – Travis from J. Smith (2008)
Double-shot: “J. Smith” – Travis from J. Smith (2008)