Free Glorious Noise Compilation CD!

1

White Stripes

You’re Pretty Good Looking

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The Strokes

Last Night

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Stephen Malkmus

The Hook

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Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

Not Yet

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5

Beck

Halo of Gold

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Derrick May

The Beginning

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Liner Notes

Context. It’s what makes things make sense, it’s what makes music important. The world doesn’t operate in a vacuum — and hopefully you’re not reading Glorious Noise in one. To this end, we’ve compiled a fairly diverse sampler of the music we’ve been writing about for the past 100,000 hits. Some of the songs are from relatively obscure artists that you’ll probably never get a chance to listen to again. Others are from much bigger bands with a national following. But they are all great tracks, made all that much better by being grouped together on this mix. We hope it helps open your ears as our writing opens your minds. As we’ve said from the start, “Rock and roll can change your life.” There are 20 tracks here — consider it a 12-step program with a few extra ones thrown in for fun.

The White Stripes

You’re Pretty Good Looking

So they’re not really brother and sister — The White Stripes are still good. The duo isn’t really a garage rock band and they’re not real blues musicians either. But you can hear the influences in their raw and refreshing sound. Robert Johnson, Son House and Blind Willie McTell (all of whom the Stripes cover) would approve. — Jeff Sabatini

The Strokes

Last Nite

Because you’re getting this via the Internet, you don’t get to see the liner note photos of Tiger Beat dreamy Julian Casablancas and the rest of the band (is “Fab Moretti” the best name for a musician, or what?), nor that of the band’s manager, Ryan Gentles (putting the picture of one’s manager on the same level as that of the musicians is on the same level as Halle Berry thanking her lawyers during her Oscar acceptance speech). Ignore all this. Just listen to Fab beat the hell out of that drum kit. You can almost imagine him swinging his head back and forth. — Stephen Macaulay

Stephen Malkmus

The Hook

Malkmus’ light-hearted, catchy, smart-ass summation of his years in Pavement, from his self-titled solo debut. “By 25 I was respected as an equal,” he sings about his meteoric rise in indie rock, concluding that by the end, “we were just killers with the cold eyes of a sailor.” — Kristy Eldredge

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

Not Yet

Blues is about feeling and this trio has had it since the mid-’90s — even if they’re really a punk outfit. What works here is the same notion that spawned some of the best rock and roll, that any kid with a distorted enough guitar and a desire to scream can do it and sound good. JSBX takes this one step further in their experimentation with electronic sounds, but at the core of their music is still that awful sounding guitar. — Jeff Sabatini

Beck

Halo of Gold

Beck covering a song by Moby Grape’s Skip Spence from a 1999 tribute album that contains performances by Tom Waits, Jay Farrar and Robert Plant! Beck once again proves that he’s cooler than all of us. — Jake Brown

Derrick May

The Beginning

Yes, it’s techno. And no, you don’t have to like it — you don’t even have to listen to it. But you must dance to it. Derrick May is a founding father of electronic music, and if you’re in a halfway decent club anywhere in the world, you’re bound to hear his John Hancock sound. As fellow Detroiter George Clinton says, “Shit. Goddamn. Get off your ass and jam.” — Jeff Sabatini

Brassy

I Can’t Wait

Brassy isn’t here to play dance music. High fives and astro-wedgies are name of their game. And Muffin Spencer’s picking teams. You in? You better play some D. “I Can’t Wait” scrapes sandpaper across latex for an undiscovered fetish. Come on and get with the electro-shizz buzz. Word. — Johnny Loftus

Goldstar

Negative Touching

It is hard to consider Goldstar without a little bit of historical introduction. All the members of this group started in one of the bands of the fine Leppotone label of Kalamazoo, Mich. At one time or another, they were all members of the Phabulous Pallbearers, Fortune and Maltese’s backing group. Goldstar formed to perform its own version of prog rock. This song starts out as a dreamy little piece of keyboard fueled prog, for about the first 45 seconds. Then the floodgates open and the pounding threatens to sweep you away. — Pat LaPenna

The Slow Signal Fade

Have You Got A Flag

This track gets its title from an Eddie Izzard routine and kicks off with a sample from everybody’s favorite psychopath, Charlie Manson. The sunny vocals of Cherielyn Westrich, former Rentals chanteuse, make you wish you were in California. — Jake Brown

Elliott Smith

Some Song (Alt)

Elliott Smith is out to break everyone’s heart. From his much-talked-about drug problems to his never-ending well of melodies that make Brian Wilson take note, Smith delivers another mega-hummable tune about drugs and despair. Shades of Kurt Cobain in this one, but it’s Elliott through and through. — Derek Phillips

Riviera

Friends In California

In the interest of full disclosure, we’ve got to let you know that this is the band of our own Derek Phillips. Self-promotion aside, they’re good. As part of the booming Chicago alt.country scene they made their mark as The Blue Ribbon Brothers, but they’ve since shuffled their lineup and changed their name. The result: When the Stones hit the Aragon, the GloNo posse will be listening to Riviera do Exile on Main St. covers. — Jeff Sabatini

The Mountain Goats

Family Happiness

This is what you get when John Darnielle puts the classic protest song and the classic love song into his blender and sets it to “crush.” — Jake Brown

The Handsome Family

Arlene

Backwoods harmonies and lyrics straight from the grave, the Handsome family are the mom and pop of modern-day dirges. They may seem sweet in interviews, but if Brett and Renny offer you a ride home some night, I’d pass — lest you end up the victim in one of their songs. — Derek Phillips

Breech

Apron Strings

It’s pretty music and it’s been featured on Dawson’s Creek, but don’t let the lack of street-cred cause you to turn your punk-rock-snob nose up at Breech. Lead singer Missy Gibson has a voice that’s reminiscent of Cowboy Junkies’ Margo Timmons, and that’s high praise. — Jeff Sabatini

Quasi

It’s Raining

This low-on-the-radar duo from Portland has shockingly good mainstream chops: poppy, melodic songs by lead singer Sam Coomes, killer drumming from Janet Weiss, and transcendent harmonies that send every song into a blissful orbit. The fact that they were once married makes it into every interview, but as we’ve recently discovered, that connection just seems to add passion and great communication to (almost) any duo’s performance. — Kristy Eldredge

The Dirtbombs

Chains of Love

If you’re really down, you’ll recognize that a fifth of the songs on this mix come from Detroit bands. The Dirtbombs are in that category, though their music goes well beyond the typical Motown garage sound. You wonder if these guys might be more well known if they could shake the Motor City monkey off their backs. — Jeff Sabatini

The Von Bondies

Please Please Man

The faces of Carnaby Street Garage, The Von Bondies hitch their fashion wagon to a star and go clubbing. Like a bat to a mailbox or The Pixies mixed into a Night Train and Stroh’s cocktail, The Von Bondies break your face in all the right places. — Johnny Loftus

The Mooney Suzuki

I Say I Love You

This New York quartet does Lester Bangs proud with whiplash-fast stompers and no-shit lyrics. I doubt this gang of shaggies has ever even heard Yes or Emerson Lake and Palmer. One of the better live bands on the circuit to boot. — Derek Phillips

Guided By Voices

Everywhere With Helicopter

The kickers of elves are back, fake British accents intact, with something brand new for that ass. Like their fist-pumping anthems of yore, GBV’s new “Everywhere With Helicopter” is lathered with that secret Fuck Yeah! sauce, that rock and roll tingle, that makes hairs stand on end. Dig. — Johnny Loftus

Fortune & Maltese

Bewitched

F&M formed their groovy little combo in the summer of 1965 after meeting at a party at Boyce and Hart’s Malibu beach house and went straight to the top ten on the charts with this number. Well, not exactly, but you could be fooled by the sound and energy of this 45 into thinking so. Retro style from Freddy Fortune’s moptop haircut to the pointed toe of Mike Maltese’s Beatle boots, the boys never failed to deliver a knockout performance that had even the most right-angled of squares twisting away like a high number. — Pat LaPenna

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