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There’s no doubt that Thriller (the track and the video) encouraged my love of Halloween and zombies. Thriller was quite possibly the first cassette I ever owned. I remember making a copy from someone (ah, the days before RIAA suits) and listening to it constantly with my awesome new Walkman. I remember to listening to Mom’s records before that (Pink Floyd and Foreigner most of the time), but getting the walkman was really the start of building my own musical collection. I was in sixth grade then – young enough to enjoy pop music unabashedly. Adolescence would bring new preferences. But in ’82 if I wasn’t at the arcade dropping quarters into Pac-Man or Galaga, I probably had headphones on and more than likely Thriller was running over the play head.

I may not listen to that music a lot anymore, but it’s refreshing to hear Michael pop up from time to time. I’ll be damned is this wasn’t one of the best feel good scenes I’ve seen in years:

Yesterday brought the debut release from Street Sweeper Social Club – the new band featuring Boots Riley (The Coup) and Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine).

The sound of SSSC is almost exactly what you’d expect from mashing up Boots and Morello – politically infused rap grooves with heavy guitar riffs and experimental solos all leading up to choruses meant to be sung loudly. Some criticize Morello for always sounding the same (from Rage, to The Nightwatchman, to SSSC), but that’s the nature of having a signature sound. There’s actually a lot of variety to what he does, but it’s always unmistakably him. As for Boots, he brings a great presence to the band – a little more chill than Zack de la Rocha, but also just as explosive. To put it simply, if you like Rage you will almost certainly love SSSC (or if not, don’t expect to be won over).

We saw SSSC open for NIN last month and even though we missed a few of their songs I was completely impressed. The band was crazy tight. Boots strutted and danced while he threw down. And Morello? That guy is a magician. He’s got blazing fret work. He DJ scratches over the pickups. But it was when he soloed with his face that we lost it. Here’s a video someone shot from the pit of the show we saw:

Just a note that I’m beginning to post something I’m listening to every week (give or take) over in the sidebar. Just spreading a little musical love this year. Party on Garth!

This week’s pick, “Dawn of the Dead”, falls squarely into my recent mode of all things undead (with reading “World War Z” and playing “Left 4 Dead”). This track by the British group Does it Offend You Yeah? is a guilty pleasure of mine of late. Along with that ultra poppy hook, I gotta give props to the combination of the Killers-esque guitar line, some very unexpected steel drums, and the tribal “Ooos” and “Ahs”.

We caught They Might Be Giants in concert last night at southgate house. Unless I’m forgetting something this is my second time seeing them; the last being well over ten years ago. They put on a heck of a show, with everything you’d expect from them…a few classics, a few new songs, lots of humor, audience participation, and good a backing band. Since I haven’t listened to a new Giants CD in ages, the highlights for me were the Flood hits “Birdhouse in Your Soul”, “Particle Man”, and the closer, “Istanbul”. They also played “Twisting” and “Whistling in the Dark” so, Flood was really well represented.

Their opener (the real point of this post) was Oppenheimer, a synthy drum and guitar duet (Shaun and Rocky) from Belfast, Ireland. Their sound is a bit like a The Postal Service, but with more pep and cheer. At times I hear a Her Space Holiday tint to them, and other times something more along the lines of We Are the World Trade Center. I enjoy all these bands I’ve just drawn comparison to, so Oppenheimer hits the mark for me, too.

Speaking with Rocky after the show, he told me this was their third time to the area – second time at SGH and once at the Comet. They were thrilled with this show since their first gig at SGH had about 20 people standing around. Anyway, I picked up their CD and it’s under heavy rotation. (Yes, I actually bought a CD. I’ve all but given up that archaic practice, but I’ll still gladly fork over $15 if I can give it straight to the artist – instead of the store, the distributor, the label, etc.). If you like synth-pop that’s low on testosterone, check em out:

Oppenheimer – Saturday Looks Bad to Me

Oppenheimer – Breakfast in NYC