I’m catching up a little bit on some older stuff that I’ve been fascinated with over the past couple of weeks. Tales From The Drop Box Episode 62 still has a bunch of new stuff as well as some upcoming goodies, but I do drift back to explore a couple of things at the beginning of this episode that I missed playing for you last year. As for the rest of the podcast and the music designed to transport you elsewhere, in the interest of transparency, this gaggle of goodies is open to all i.e. free enjoyment! I am not going to deny access to any media outlet or any individual who might share a difference of opinion as to whether any of this stuff is immediately enjoyable. Remember, in almost all cases, the artist’s parents will claim to you that they truly enjoy the songs performed by their children that I am playing in this episode. This would include presumably the parents of the guys in Cabbage and Meat Wave. The goal with each podcast is to explore, experiment, and discover just like PBS and NASA (for as long as those government funded agencies continue to exist). So share with your friends!

Here is what you’ll find in Episode #62:

1. The Pack A.D. – “Teenage Crime” (Positive Thinking)
2. The Slow Show – “Breaks Today” (Dream Darling)
3. Call It Off – “Anesthesia” (Abandoned)
4. Clock Opera – “Cat’s Eye” (Venn)
5. As It Is – “Pretty Little Distance” (okay.)
6. Cabbage – “Uber Capitalist Death Trade” (Young Dumb And Full Of…)
7. Beach Slang – “ Bored Teenagers” (Here, I Made This For You – Beach Slang Mixtape Vol. 2)
8. Meat Wave – “Glass Teeth” (The Incessant)
9. Vant  “Parking Lot” (Dumb Blood)
10. The Windowsill  “Destroy The Rest of Me” (Make Your Own Kind of Music)
11. Souvenirs – “Float (feat. Davey Havoc)” (Posture of Apology)
12. The Pigeon Detectives – “ Wolves” ( Broken Glances)
13. Dollyrots – “Walking on Sunshine” (Whiplash Smile)
14. The Damned – “Smash It Up” (Machine Gun Etiquette [25th Anniversary Remastered Edition])
15. Sarah Bethe Nelson – “Hazy” (Oh, Evolution)

I want to cross stitch shut my eyes, wage a war on the world outside, brace the barricade in my mind, but that’s alright I stretch the truths ’til they lose shape . . . wait a minute cause your hearts not in it.

KFR

It must seem like bizzaro world sometimes when you listen to Tales From The Drop Box. Episode 61 continues this recent trend, but I think this specific compilation of relatively recent tunes pushes the envelope a little wider as the search for new sounds to expand my mind (and hopefully yours) takes me to new places. Heck, there is even a folk tune in this episode! I haven’t included a dance track yet but I’m getting close. Oh, and perhaps with what is becoming an established track record of providing you (my listeners) with mind altering awesome tunes, I should apply for a position as the nation’s musical director! I hear there is going to be an opening….

Here is what you’ll find in Episode #61:

1. Flora Cash – “And Ever” (Can Summer Love Last Forever?)
2. Title Tracks – “Not Enough Too Soon” (Long Dream)
3. Drive Like Maria – “I Wonder If It Goes” (Creator, Preserver, Destroyer)
4. Amber Run – “White Lie” (For A Moment I Was Lost)
5. Ten Fé – “Turn” (Hit The Light)
6. Colony House – “Remembered For” (Only The Lonely)
7. Republican Hair – “London Swings” (High And Tight)
8. Mother Mother – “The Drugs” (No Culture (Deluxe Edition))
9. Strand Of Oaks – “Radio Kids” (Hard Love)
10. Dune Rats – “6 Pack” (The Kids Will Know It’s Bullshit)
11. The Orwells – “Black Francis” (Terrible Human Beings)
12. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – “Sleep Drifter” (Flying Microtonal Banana)
13. Future Islands – “Ran” (The Far Field)
14. Refused – “Refused Are Fucking Dead” (The Shape of Punk to Come: A Chimerical Bombination in 12 Bursts)
15. Emily Kinney – “Molly” (This is War)

And I can’t take it, I can’t take this world without . . . I can’t take it, I can’t take it on my own . . . beyond ability and control we could be weekend lovers steal a sentence and make a catch phrase parole for our revolution whispered all across the street about, about the new cool call

KFR

Here you go. Tales From The Drop Box Episode 60 returns with another odd ball assortment of songs about subjects not popularly found in contemporary indie-pop-punk-alternative music. A large bunch of tunes from foreigners in this episode should keep things interesting. As always a few punk nuggets but they are balanced with a remarkable bunch of catchy indie pop tracks and a couple of non-hipster cool throwbacks. Of particular note are tracks from Plumtree (whose album catalog is being reissued), Beachheads (formed by members of a black metal act Kvelertak who have put out a garage rock record that is uniformly excellent), and the sophomore record from LA’s Meatbodies. You should find something in this bunch of tunes that shakes your action. If not….check your pulse to see if you are not already dead.

Here is what you’ll find in Episode #60:

1. Plumtree – “Scott Pilgrim” (Plumtree Vinyl Bundle reissues)
2. Tokyo Police Club – “The Ocean” (Mellon Collie & The Infinite Radness Parts One and Two)
3. Talisco – “The Race” (Capitol Vision)
4. A Projection – “No Light” (Framework)
5. Beachheads – “Una” (Beachheads)
6. Steady Hands – “Grace” (Rude Boys of Bar Rock)
7. Uranium Club – “That Clown’s Got A Gun” (All Of Them Naturals)
8. Shivery Shakes – “Strange Houses” (Three Waves And A Shake)
9. The Poppers – “In The Morning” (Lucifer)
10. The Sherlocks – “Was It Really Worth It? (Was It Really Worth It?)
11. High Contrast – “Shotgun Mouthwash” (T2 Trainspotting (OST))
12. Meatbodies – “Creature Feature” (Alice)
13. Ryan Adams – “We Disappear” (Prisoner)
14. The Stooges – “I Wanna Be Your Dog” (Gimme Danger: The Story of The Stooges)
15. Sleater Kinney – “Dig Me Out” (Live In Paris)

You’re always right and I’m always wrong you’re always right and I’m always left holding on to the handles of excuses . . . yeah I had a little too much to drink yeah it goes down a little faster than I think.

KFR

As promised the all (most) all punk version of Tales From The Drop Box. Episode 59 is full of short sharp tracks designed to get your blood boiling, your feet stomping, and start a fight. Some pretty diverse stuff in this episode from the razor gargle of Aurélie from Cocaine Piss to the smooth vocal styling of T.S.O.L’s Jack Grisham. Oh, and there is some occasional swearin’ (see e.g. Ant-Flag ) and possibly socially inappropriate content (Dead Furies) in this episode. So, if you are sensitive, or have children listening to this thing that may be impressionable…then you’ve been warned, eh?

This should cure your post Super Bowl blues. As always…play LOUD!

Here is what you’ll find in Episode #59:

1. Cocaine Piss – “Shiny Pants” (The Dancer)
2. Angel Du$t – “Upside Down” (Rock The Fuck On Forever)
3. The Menzingers – “Thick As Thieves” (After The Party)
4. Sleaford Mods – “Moptop” (English Tapas)
5. Remainders – “Two Twenty Two” (Remainders)
6. Noiise – “Passing Time” (The Real Enemy)
7. T.S.O.L. – The Right Side” (The Trigger Complex)
8. Dead Furies – “No Talkin’ All Action” (No Talkin’ All Action)
9. Stuck On The Bridge – “What’s Wrong With You” (Long Live Hard Decisions)
10. Wyldlife – “Bandida” (Out On Your Block)
11. Goodfella – “Exterminate” (Don’t Blink)
12. WSTR – “Nail The Casket (Thanks For Nothing) (Red, Green or Inbetween)
13. Anti-Flag – “Die For The Government” (Live, Vol. 1)
14. Hellacopters – “Television Addict” (Cream of the Crap! Vol. 1)
15. Ubik – “Shiver” (Ubik Demo)

I held up a liquor store demanded top-shelf metaphors with a sinner’s smile and open arms drop a line to charm the silent alarm… His lawyer said ‘this boy is sick’ ‘blame the ratings for his crime’ they say too much sex and too much violence on the idiot box spoiled his idiot mind.

KFR

Well, Super Bowl LI is going to happen sometime later today and the Patriots will win 33-30! I know this result is inevitable because I have those numbers in my pool. Regardless of the outcome, Tales From The Drop Box Episode 58 is going to rock a little differently this week. If  you are looking for more eccentric selections of musical compositions not likely to be found on radio but perhaps in a drop box near you soon – then you are in for a treat! A whole hour of sweet treats from dream folk to punk rock with a healthy dose of power pop this week. You’ll get the garage punk rock version next week for the reason below.

There are also no social issues or political rants in these show notes and nor will appear in the future  – you’ll have to go to the blog for those musings. Why? I am trying to keep the peace in a clearly divided political environment and I believe music should heal and not divide. I recently learned from Russell H. that several persons whom view the world differently from me (shocking!!!) were having issues with my altered viewpoint on several social and political issues in the show notes and also with my humble efforts to promote change through discussion and analysis of those various issues.

I am not going to stop writing about stuff I believe is worth discussing or commenting on. I am just going to put my thoughts in a discrete place on the Tales From The Drop Box blog so those who are interested can still access them. My opinions in prior show notes was interfering with some listeners enjoyment of the music in this podcast, which is the very reason I put this thing out. A podcast with no listeners, well, that would be a terrible thing. It would be like….radio. I believe that discourse on current, relevant and important issues is necessary for the common good because one voice added to another promote change and prevents injustice.  I’m just going to put that discourse in a better place.

So, if you are interested in the ravings of an unsound mind, click the link in this podcast or head over to dropboxnotes.net and you can read my latest musings on issues that take my fancy.

On a sad musical note, Hellacopters guitarist Robert “Strängen” Dahlqvist, who played for the Swedish garage rock greats for almost a decade died this week at age 40. I’ll play some Hellacopters in the next episode of Tales From The Drop Box so you can hear what a truly great band they were and how Dahlqvist’s guitar playing was essential to that band’s sound. Hellacopters were an exciting band to see live. A very sad day.

This episode is filled with power pop and some lighter tunes to brighten your day. So, turn the music up loud …

Here is what you’ll find in Episode #58:

1. Tasseomancy – “29 Palms” (Do Easy)
2. Surfer Blood  “Snowdonia” (Snowdonia)
3. Palace – “Bitter” (So Long Forever)
4. Bridges And Powerlines – “Even Killers Need A Home” (National Fantasy)
5. Close Lobsters – “Under London Skies” (Desire And Signs EP)
6. Goodbye Fairground – “Leaving The Green House” (I Don’t Belong Here Anymore)
7. Pseudonym – “Only Life” (Pack of Lies)
8. We-Are-Z- “Walkaway” (Animal)
9. Summer Salt – “Summer Salt” (Going Native EP)
10. Tuns – “Back Among Friends” (Tuns)
11. Half-Hearted Hero – “Dreams” (Isn’t Real)
12. Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes – “Snake Eyes” (Modern Ruin)
13. Vanishing Life – “Thinking Weightless” (Surveillance)
14. Lords of The New Church – “Johnny Too Bad” (Is Nothing Sacred?)
15. Wildheart  “Heal” (Shine)

You’re just robbin’ and stabbin’ and lootin’ and shooting’ you’re too bad … again and again your breaking me down…why am I bitter bitter bitter.

KFR