Okay, for those who are just joining us, every Saturday, or Tuesday, or Saturdayish day, some of my friends, and some people I don’t know from Sweden, send out music. A song. Just what we’re listening to at the moment. It’s a great way to be exposed to great new music. It’s also a way of spreading the news about bands that need more airplay. And it’s about friends. Here’s to good friends. At some point, I started reveiwing the songs. The SMC’s own Simon Cowell. I’m wearing a black t-shirt. There will be blood.

Kasey Chambers – Pony – My new favorite song. Love Kasey Chambers when she does alt country. When she does her whiny-indigo-girls type of stuff, I hit the next, next, next. But when that girl is on her game, she is unbeatable and haunting. Love the weird, little girliness of this song. Eery. Like Drusilla in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Adore this song.

Clawfinger – Truth – Love this gnashing guitar, rap, Red Hot Chili Pepper cursing fest of sound and delight. Gonna keep this one. However, I gotta say, at one point, the lyrics, the song, hit me like something Michael Scott and Dwight Schrute would have put together. It’s paper, it’s Dunder-Mifflin paper, m*****F*****. Don’t count the asterixes. You’ll be disappointed. Wanna write a book that captures this. Its very ardent. So good, I had to listen ot it twice. Explicit lyrics. They say the “f” word.

Camera Obscura – French Navy – Wow, retro breakfast with a side slender bacon. I felt like it was the 1960’s again, and I was about to sweet talk a hippie chick into my van. But then, I realized, it was 2011. No more vans. No more hippie chicks. Just the distant dream of a cool little song. Very Vampire Weekend.

Butch Walker – Trash Day – Oh, is this Tom Petty and the Delaware Destroyers? Was that Tom Petty’s band. Is this Butch Walker or Paul Westerberg and the Replacements? This is total college band radio nicety with better production values. It’s not bad. I like it. It’s trash day in Atlanda, GA. It’s just, um, derivative. But is that bad? It’s good. The songs it’s derived from are good. It’s all good. And catchy. And nice. I’ll keep it. I’ll recommend it. But it won’t win prizes for newness.

Stone Sour – Zzyzz Rd – Nice piano opening. Isn’t there a literary magazine called Zzyzz. No, I think the literary magazine has a “v” in there somewhere. Lies and promises. Okay. Waiting for the hook. Okay, the drums hit, and I’m hooked. This is a song, after time, that I would either love, or hate, or love to hate, or hate to love. Love that angsty, piano, sing-song, fade away stuff. Nice bridge. Again, nothing new here, it’s the old, done really well. This is my song. Too tired to care, and I gotta go. I would add, gotta go home. Tired and I don’t want to go home. Nicely done. It’s a keeper. Gotta go home. He never says it. Man, that pisses me off. Why won’t he say gotta go home? Why, Spock, why? Okay, I’ll stop. Angsty. Love it.

Six Feet Under – Lycanthropy – Very guitary at the start. But I like the name of the song. And now a demon is about to start screaming. Better get more interesting. I can only death metal when the right mood hits me. I mean, the exact right mood. I mean, it has to touch me like a werewolf’s paw. This wasn’t screamy or demony enough for me. Speaking of lycanthropy, I’m gonna write a novel with were-mules. Yeah, old west, steampunk, weremules. Lots of Braying. “You’re one of us! Carniverous!” That’s funny. But not in a good way. Need more. And then it just fades away? Come on, guys. Come on.

Gordon Lightfoot – Sundown – You know, I used to like Gordon Lightfoot until I realized people called him Gord. His greatest hits was called Gord’s Gold. Gord. Stupid. Yeah, I am that petty. Seriously. This is a great song, and it’s about a girl who was bad, bad news. You know, those kinds of women I could never deal with. I know, I know, the femme fatale, the danger, the mystery, the erotic heights of the unattainable. Those kinds of women don’t mess with me because they know, instinctively, I could never keep up. So like in most areas of my life, I’ve avoided pain by being a wussy man. Next life.

Bassnectar – Timestretch – OMGosh. Please, this song is killing me with cool. I have cool leaking out of my eyes. Cut me? I’d bleed cool. This song is so deep, so entrenched. It’s a World War I fight song. It’s steampunk on acid. It’s so thick and juicy, you couldn’t cut it with a steak knife. You’d need a saws-all. I think dubstep might be the music of my soul. I am going to keep this and pray for more. Arguably, the best song I’ve ever heard. And just when it gets too deep, it then veers off into a wimpy perfect bridge. Last two minutes, variations on a theme. A cool theme. Kick it. Ha, comment on youtube = “If I was the leader of a country this would be The National Anthem!”

Maplewood – Indian Summer – Yeah, is the year 1976? No. This song sounds dated. And not in a cool, steampunk, world war I entrenched cool fight song cool sort of way. Cool. No, this song brings up extra footage from BILLY JACK and the kids have long hair, and flowers in their air, and they’re running across a field, with golden speckles in the sunlight. And then you see an Indian man, crying. One tear slides down his cheek. Pollutions is wrong and makes Indians sad. If I have to hear this guy say ‘Indian Summer’ one more time, I might have to kill him. If the 1970’s Indian Pollution Man doesn’t beat me to it.