Fancy Friday

This is top notch fancy this week. Les Claypool and the Fancy Band performing "D's Diner" at Bonnaroo 2006. I know...hippies. Look, Les somehow always manages to headline these petchulli-twirly-mudbath festivals for some reason. He mocks the entire neo-hippie lifestyle through pun and sarcasm in the recently-released (and S&U recommended) "Electric Apricot: Quest for Festeroo", yet these showerless wonders love the guy for it.

Be it Oysterhead, solo, Fancy Band, Bucket O Bernie Brains and of course Primus, Les Claypool is awesome. Sometimes you just have to work at it to find the awesome...

This track is extra fancy and extra long. Enjoy the first weekend of 2009!

Fancy Friday

Well, here it is. Right before the car drove off the cliff. It's almost like a beautiful funeral. Enjoy and have the fanciest weekend possible.

Chris Cornell: "Billie Jean" (Live in Stockholm, 2007):

Fancy Friday

Sometimes, progressive death metal bands do get fancy. Very fancy, actually. Opeth is to metal what Missy Elliot is to hip hop: Always doing something incredibly different and so far to the left of center, it becomes decidedly un-whatever genre it first set out to acomplish. The similarities fortunately end there (although Missy's "The Rain" is fucking stellar). Opeth continually put out near-flawless albums, each different then the last. From "Still Life" to the perfect "Blackwater Park" to this year's "Watershed", Opeth continue to amaze and twist many genres, sometimes all within a single song.

Here's something very fancy for you: "Burden"

Fancy Friday

Stop, Fancy Time! A real quick one today. Anyone that knows me is well aware that I bow to the altar of Faith No More daily. They pulled a Soundgarden (directly after Soundgarden), by putting out a bunch of classic LP's, then calling it quits on their own terms.

This is about as fancy as it gets. Ever. Of all time. The fanciest.

FNM "Evidence":

Fancy-Ass Cosby Sweater-Wearin' Friday

We're getting real fancy this week. I mean Fine China fancy. In fact, if it gets fancier than this, I don't want any part it. Queens of the Stone Age have always been extra careful to not be careful and 2007's Era Vulgaris is not only no exception, it's the prime example. Queens' fifth record is an experimental affair, full of killer hooks, dirty-ass guitars and ZZ Top grooves. Add two special guest spots from Mark Lanegan and you got yourself a monster record on your hands.

The track that comes correct with the highest percentage of fancy is easily "Make It Wit Chu", an old Desert Sessions tune, reworked and tweaked with Josh Homme doing his best Lanegan impression on lead vocals. I swear , this is one of the sexiest songs ever written. Damn that handsome Josh Homme.

Check this out and feel free to make it wit yourself if need be. It's that good.

Fancy Friday

Time to get fancy! This weeks' feature is one of my favorite artists of all time, Matthew Good. Yes, I know he's Canadian but we wont hold that against him. The guy is amazing. I hear the sheep reference a lot (mostly from my wife) but dude is awesome and always has something incredibly relevant to say. He finally toured the US for the first time in nearly a decade, earlier this year. Bought my ticket, was all set to go...and got the flu. I thought I was going to die and missed the show. I also missed Clutch that same week. The flu is a cold bitch.

Anyway, I could go on for years about how important Matt Good is to how I craft songs and think about many issues that plague our society. He never comes with complaints...Just points out what's fucked and gives solutions and brilliant social commentary.

Here are a few of my favorites, acoustically. How else does one get fancy?

"Empty Road":
"Avalanche":
"Long Way Down" at home...

Fancy Friday

Mark Lanegan is the Tupac of my music collection. I have no idea how the guy manages to record as many records as he does and still manage to eat breakfast. Unfortunately for Mark, he's probably a lot closer to death than Tupac is. Just recently he's completed three amazing tracks for the Import-only Creature With The Atom Brains' "I Am The Golden Gate Bridge", a cover of "The Man In The Long Black Coat" by Bob Dylan and a second full-length LP with Isobel Campbell, "Sunday at Devil Dirt" (also import-only at this time). The latter will be a Fancy feature at some point.

Sub Pop released "Adorata", a fantastic mini-album/EP from The Gutter Twins this past Tuesday. To my lack of surprise, it is amazing. I actually think it's better than their full-length debut, "Saturnalia", which was great but definitely lacked just a bit. Hey, I have high standards for the frontmen of The Afghan Whigs, Twilight Singers, Screaming Trees, and countless solo projects and guest spots.

Enjoy the fanciness: "St. James Infirmary" Live, 2008 

Fancy Friday

The Yin to Testicular Tuesday's Yang. That sounded dirty. This will be a nice little feature to ease you into the weekend.

We'll kick things off with some Ryan Adams. Iknow, the guy comes across as a first-rate douche bag, but there's no denying his talent and his ability to write a song a day, usually with amazing results. This is my congrats to him for finally twisting Lost Highway into letting him call his band The Cardinals, as opposted to Ryan Adams & The Cardinals. The label initially refused because the name "Ryan Adams" sells records, but gave in due to the fact the he's the ONLY artist on their roster that does so at this point.

Anyway, enjoy this and have a great fucking weekend! (Got to keep in metal around these parts).

The Cardinals: "Down In A Hole" (Amazing AIC Cover, Yahoo! Live Set, 2007)