I Love Math — “Josephine Street” (from Getting to the Point Is Beside It)
While Rhett Miller has always been the most visible member of the Old 97s, drummer Philip Peeples deserves credit for releasing two albums in the same month — one with his native 97s, and another with the supergroup I Love Math. “Josephine Street” is the understated crown jewel of the latter album, mixing power-pop hooks with mellow attitude, ambient street noise, and the sound of a lady speaking in French.

Death Cab for Cutie — “No Sunlight” (from Narrow Stairs)
Kudos to Death Cab for NOT resigning themselves to a long career of “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” clones. Narrow Stairs is a different animal altogether, taking Gibbard’s literate lyrics to gloomy places and boasting a rougher sound than 2005’s shimmering, pristine Plans. Despite its title, though, “No Sunlight” is one of the album’s brightest songs, meaning that returning fans can revel in the band’s familiar pop hooks without worrying that Gibbard and company are relying on their old tricks.

The Submarines — “The Thorny Thicket” (from Honeysuckle Weeks)
Last time we heard from the Submarines, bandmates Blake Hazard and John Dragonetti were singing indie pop songs about heartache and loneliness. Honeysuckle Weeks is the group’s second effort — but more importantly, it marks the first time that Hazard and Dragonetti have written songs together as a married couple, and tracks like “The Thorny Thicket” sound appropriately content. Dragonetti takes over most of the instrumental duties here, layering piano riffs and electronic percussion beneath his wife’s affable vocals.

The Morning Benders — “Crosseyed” (from Talking Through Tin Cans)
Kick these Beach Boys in The Shins and watch them crawl around like youthful Beatles. Or don’t, because that would be mean. Cool song, though.

The Breeders, “Night of Joy” (from Mountain Battles)
Frank Black, “The Seus” (from SVN FNGRS)
Portishead, “Threads” (from Third)
Robyn, “Be Mine!” (from Robyn)
M83, “Up!” (from Saturdays=Youth)
Clinic, “Tomorrow” (from Do It!)
The Constantines, “Hard Feelings” (from Kensington Heights)
The Duke Spirit, “My Sunken Treasure” (from Neptune)
The New Bloods, “The Secret Life” (from The Secret Life)
Fleet Foxes, “Mykonos” (from the Sun Giant EP)
Thalia Zedek Band, “Body Memory” (from Liars and Prayers)
Tickley Feather, “The Python” (from Tickley Feather)
Strategy, “I Can’t Stand the Rain” (from Music for Lamping)
The Microphones, “The Moon” (from The Glow, Pt.2 (Bonus Disc))

Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers — “Summer 39″ (from Turbo Ocho)
The bulk of Turbo Ocho was written in eight days, with the Peacemakers relocating to seaside Mexico and immersing themselves in a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants songwriting process. Recorded during one of the band’s practice sessions, “Summer 39″ takes a literate look at love, age, and passing time, with Steve Larson’s twangy pedal steel repeating the same riff like a gently ticking clock.

Old Haunts — “Not Hopeless” (from Poisonous Times)
Jack White’s whining influence and rockabilly’s twangy crunch combine on this track, which receives a boost from the economic percussion of Tobi Vail (who previously drummed for Bikini Kill).

American Princes — “Real Love” (from Other People)
Other People boasts a slick, beefy sound courtesy of its producer, R&B veteran Chuck Brody. The ’80s are alive and well on this track, which pairs American Princes’ best vocalist with the album’s strongest riffs.

Fleet Foxes — “Sun Giant” (from the Sun Giant EP)
An audible breath launches this sparsely gorgeous track, which travels through 90 seconds of pastoral a capella before giving way to the chimes of an acoustic guitar. “Sun Giants” sounds as if someone locked up the Shins and the Beach Boys in an old Appalachian cabin, fed them psychotropic substances, and let them wander through the scenic mountains with instruments in tow. Here’s to hoping the buzz lasts for the duration of the band’s full-length debut, which arrives next month.

Jimmy Eat World — “Bleed American” (from Bleed American [2 CD Deluxe Edition])
“The Middle” was plastered all over MTV, TRL, SNL, and nationwide radio in 2001, but this album’s title track remained fresh in its relative obscurity. The reissued Bleed American offers a live version of the song, taken from a performance at Washington D.C.’s famed 9:30 Club (where pioneering emo acts like the Dismemberment Plan once honed their craft). For those Clarity-era fans who think the band’s current work is too polished, there’s nothing but raw rock here.

Mickey Avalon — “My D*ck” (from Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay)
Although hardly the type of song you’d play for your parents, your girlfriend, or the bulk of your co-workers, this sonic highlight from “Harold & Kumar” is a juvenile battle track with an R-rating. You can guess the content from the song’s title, but the back-and-forth banter between Avalon and Simon Rex (aka Dirt Nasty) simply has to be experienced — provided you have a tolerance for potty humour, low-brow wit, and white boy rhymes.

Santogold — “I’m a Lady” (from Santogold)
This is not the best track off Santogold’s excellent self-titled debut (that honor would go to “Creator,” nor is it the most representative (”L.E.S. Artistes,” probably). It is, however, the most unexpectedly wonderful, its unabashedly catchy melody nearly impossible to not start humming along with, if not already singing at full volume. (MySpace)

 
The Roots — “I Can’t Help It” (from Rising Down)
Dark and pulsating, “I Can’t Help It” features some pretty badass drums and gutter bass, along with strong rhymes from Black Thought and Malik B. What makes this song so great, however, is the verse from Porn, which totally steals the show. His voice is nasally and his delivery is punctuated, which makes the lines “I never said I’m ready to die but I accept it/Never said I’m ready for war but I’m protected/I don’t even know when it’s coming but I expect it…Now I’m left with nervous conditions, addictions…One more reason to change identity” all the more powerful. (MySpace)
 
Portishead — “Machine Gun” (from Third)
If you’ve heard this song, then you already know why it made this list. If you haven’t heard this song, you need to. Now. (MySpace)
 
 
 
 
Jet Black Crayon — “8 Bad Years” (from In the Interim)
One of Tommy Guerrero’s many projects, Jet Black Crayon play ambient instrumental music that never sinks into lethargy, and “8 Bad Years” in particular is able to capture that space between reflection and unease. It’s a song that spreads out but still retains a tension that keeps you from settling down too far into it, the kind of thing you want to play again and again. (MySpace)

Claro Intelecto, “Operation” (from Metanarrative). Between Robert Hood’s Fabric 39, Wighnomy Brothers’ Metawuffmischfelge, and Jennifer Cardini’s Feeling Strange, there was plenty of excellent mixed techno to absorb during the past month, and there was Mark Stewart’s second production-oriented Claro Intelecto album as well. Metanarrative is on the slight side, at least compared to 2004’s Neurofibro and his five-volume (thus far) series of Warehouse Sessions singles, but a couple tracks — “Operation” in particular — are as sorcerous and as mood affecting as anything else he has created.

Other favorites from the month’s new releases and reissues:

Aural Exciters - “Marathon Runner” (from Going Places: The August Darnell Years)
David Axelrod - “Ken Russell” (from Seriously Deep)
Roy Ayers Ubiquity - “Searching” (from Vibrations)
Christopher Bissonnette - “Provenance” (from In Between Words)
Terry Callier - “Trance on Sedgwick Street” (from Occasional Rain)
Mariah Carey - “Migrate” (from E=MC2)
Dave Douglas & Keystone - “Flood Plane” (from Moonshine)
George Duke - “North Beach” (from Faces in Reflection)
Estelle - “Wait a Minute (Just a Touch)” (from Shine)
The Jazz Crusaders - “Rainy Night in Georgia” (from Old Socks, New Shoes)
The Bennie Maupin Quartet - “Inner Sky” (from Early Reflections)
Marilyn Mazur/Jan Garbarek - “The Siren in the Well” (from Elixir)
Portishead - “Machine Gun” (from Third)
Prodigy - “Real Power Is People” (from H.N.I.C., Pt. 2)
The Roots - “Rising Up” (from Rising Down)
Santogold - “Shove It” (from Santogold)
Strategy - “Bike Click” (from Music for Lamping)

And a few favorites from March’s new releases and reissues:

Autechre - “Tankakem” (from Quaristice)
Guy Cuevas - “Obsession” (from Funky Nassau: The Compass Point Story)
Sascha Funke - “Mango” (from Mango)
Kelley Polar - “Sea of Sine Waves” (from I Need You to Hold on While the Sky Is Falling)
Jackie Stoudemire - “Invisible Wind” (from Don’t Stop: Recording Tap)

Barry Adamson - “Shadow of Death Hotel” (Back to the Cat)

Billy Bragg - “I Almost Killed You” (Mr. Love & Justice)

George Duke - “Capricorn” (Faces in Reflection)

El Perro del Mar - “Somebody’s Baby” (From the Valley to the Stars)

The Feelies - “Fa Cé-La” (Crazy Rhythms)

Prodigy - “ABC” (H.N.I.C., Pt. 2)

Sparks - “White Woman” (Big Beat (Bonus Tracks))

Young Knives - “Fit 4 U” (Superabundance)

Air - “Kelly Watch the Stars” from Moon Safari [10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition]

Jon Gaiser - “Withdrawal” from Ellen Allien’s Boogybytes, Vol. 4

Jon Balke - “Chapter 1: Giada” from Book of Velocities

The Brian Jonestown Massacre - “Just Like Kicking Jesus” from My Bloody Underground

Mariah Carey - “I’m That Chick” from E=MC2

Does It Offend You, Yeah? - “Doomed Now” from You Have No Idea What You’re Getting Yourself Into

The Hoosiers - “Goodbye Mr A” from The Trick to Life

M83 - “Up!” from Saturdays=Youth

Marilyn Mazur/Jan Garbarek - “Dunun Song” from Elixir

Morgan Heritage - “Nothing to Smile About” from Mission in Progress

No Use for a Name - “Sleeping Between Trucks” from Feel Good Record of the Year

Robyn - “Be Mine!” from Robyn

Jacob Young - “Sideways” from Evening Falls

An easy nominee for one of the best — if not the best — ’70s jazz funk cut, the title track off Hubbard’s classic 1970 CTI debut, Red Clay, is simply one of the hippest things you’ll ever hear.
 
 
 
 
 

Similary, the title cut off his second CTI album, Straight Life, is a roil of Afro-Latin influences that make for another standout fusion moment.
 
 
 
 
 

Freddie had a knack for great title cuts in the ’70s and the lead-off track on his 1971 CTI album First Light was no exception.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Although the title cut to his 1972 CTI album Sky Dive was also a funky moment to remember, it is his version of cornet legend Bix Beiderbecke’s “In a Mist” that surprises the most as he updates the underplayed standard into a fractured and atmospheric post-bop ballad.
 
 
 
 

Primarily known for the album cover shot of Hubbard reclining on a larger than life red-lip sofa, 1973’s Keep Your Soul Together is a fiery, adventurous date that features the cut “Destiny’s Children.” While it most likely isn’t a prophetic reference to a future R&B group, it is however a chopped & screwed-esque dreamfunk jam that sounds like “Red Clay” at half speed.
 
 

As Hubbard’s final CTI album, 1975’s Polar AC, is a somewhat overlooked gem in his catalog and featured this expansive version of the Stylistics’ “People Make the World Go Round.”
 
 
 
 
 

Coincidentally, April 7th is also the birthday of director Francis Ford Coppola, and Sky Dive features Hubbard’s version of Nino Rota’s “The Godfather (Theme).”

For the teen garage rockers of the ‘60s, it wasn’t war or politics or environmental cataclysm that made them rebel — it was their parents and (most of all) some mean, mistreating women. (Yes, garage rock was notoriously a male preserve, aside from a few girl garage groups, like the Heartbeats and the Feminine Complex.)

All you need for your own smoking soundtrack to teenage rebellion — or a trip down the highway with the windows rolled down — is the playlist below, brought to you by some of the most sullen, angsty rockers of all time. (Bonus points if you can spot the song that lifts “Hey Joe.”)

“Little Girl, Little Boy” - The Odyssey

“No Friend of Mine” - The Sparkles

“Why You Smile” - The Answer

“Splash 1″ - 13th Floor Elevators

“I Need You” - The Rationals

“Medication” - The Standells

“Action Woman” - The Litter

“Wanted Dead or Alive” - The Rogues

“Stop and Listen” - The Shag

“Bad Girl” - The Zakary Thaks

“I’ll Be In” - The Answer

“Can’t Seem to Make You Mine” - The Seeds

“Hate” - The Stoics

“Little Girl” - Syndicate of Sound

“Bad Little Woman” - The Shadows of Knight

And be sure to check out some of the sources for all this garage mayhem: the series of releases under the banners of Nuggets and Pebbles, the Trash Box, and Sundazed’s Garage Beat series.

Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968

Trash Box: Wild Psychotic Garage Punk!!!

Garage Beat ‘66, Vol. 1: Like What, Me Worry?!

Garage Beat ‘66, Vol. 3: Feeling Zero…>