LEARNING TO LISTEN TO YOUNG PEOPLE AGAIN…..I fell really far out of the loop for a few years on the plethora of “new” bands making the club circuit, self-releasing 45s, or plying their trade on the many microindie labels that continue to spring up every year. But thanks to the magic & wonder of illegal file sharing, legitimate free MP3s on band’s websites, LP- and 45-to-CD transfers, and the odd CD mailed my way from friends and/or review-seekers, I’m starting to get a sense of what the kids have been up to at the dawn of our brief century/millennium. I’ve been cobbling together anything remotely interesting I hear onto a series of self-made CD-Rs, and am now up to a raging third volume of 2000-2004 standouts that I have to say I’m pretty goddamn happy with. If you look hard enough, there are still some knockout bands – or at least some killer songs from good-to-mediocre bands (e.g. Coachwhips) – out there. This latest collection really trends toward the loud, the raw and the punk-like, which isn’t to say that’s all I have to recommend to ya, but just what landed in my computer the last couple months. Every single song on here is worth hunting down and tackling with extreme prejudice. So, here it is, “21st Century Rock and Roll, Volume 3”! :

1. Six Minutes of Blackness – MODEY LEMON
2. Just Like William Tell – FM KNIVES
3. Couldn’t Find Love – COACHWHIPS
4. Buried Alive – RIGHT ON
5. Happy – LITTLE KILLERS
6. Drunk With Pain – NUMBERS
7. Sinful Youth – LA DRUGS
8. Angel Outfit – CALIFORNIA LIGHTENING
9. Ain’t Coming Back – BLACK LIPS
10. Beggars and Choosers – THE FUSE!
11. Success – COUNTRY TEASERS
12. Big Bang – MODEY LEMON
13. Jenna Lee – LITTLE KILLERS
14. I Can’t Sleep At Night – DEADLY SNAKES
15. 86 Friends – VOLT
16. Bathroom Stall – LA DRUGS
17. Estrogen – FM KNIVES
18. Highway a Go Go – ZOOBOMBS
19. Cold Calling – THE INTELLIGENCE
20. Product Lust – NUMBERS
21. Continuous – PIXELTAN
22. I Mean It – SCAT RAG BOOSTERS
23. Volume – LITTLE KILLERS
24. Pop a Wheelie Cop a Feelie – BUDGET GIRLS
25. The Storm Song – NEIL MICHAEL HAGERTY
26. Love – RIGHT ON
27. B52 Bomberboy – BLACK LIPS
28. Purely Evil – ROGERS SISTERS
29. Xmas, Yeah – POPULAR SHAPES
30. Crows – MODEY LEMON
31. HFOS – HENRY FIAT’S OPEN SORE
32. Low Fashion Lovers – CLONE DEFECTS

And let it be said I know I am just scratching the proverbial surface here, with both the bands themselves and with “new music” in general. (A complete aside: in the early 1980s a Northern California chain called Record Factory had a small section of oddball records by krazy kats like Elvis Costello, Madness and Squeeze that they tried all sorts of monikers for – of course it was the “new wave” section. After trying Punk, New Wave, New Music and Rock of the 80s, they finally came up with my favorite: “Modern Music”, complete with goofy new wave party font). But this is a mix tape I reckon just about anybody’d be happy with. Any suggestions for who should go on 21st Century Rock and Roll #4?

posted by Jay H. at 9:16 AM