It’s a punk-bluegrass song about heroin. One of the most unique things I’ve ever heard. Banjos, fiddles, and mandolins go crazy as the singer tells the story of a junkie.

Simultaneously cool and mind-boggling.

Click here to download.

One of the most depressing songwriters on the planet. Somehow, though, Malcolm makes it kind of fun to be depressed.

This is the first song on his new album, Into The Woods. I’m holding out hope for a U.S. tour for a couple reasons: First, I really enjoy his music and I’d like to see him in concert again. And second, his touring band includes half of the recently disbanded Delgados.

In fact, both of his solo albums were released by Chemikal Underground Records, owned and operated by the former members of the Delgados.

Break out your Scottish to American, American to Scottish dictionary and click here to download.

It’s unclear if this band still exists or ever plans to record again. Legend has it that they recorded a demo, sent it out to record labels, and broke up almost immediately afterwards. The guy in charge of Dim Mak Records liked what he heard and got permission to release it.

Every once in a while they’ll play a gig, but it’s so infrequent that you never really know if it’s ever going to happen again.

As for the music, it sounds like the guys in Devo had about 50 cups of coffee each, bought a Moog synthesizer, and went into the studio. The nine-song album lasts all of 13 minutes and 31 seconds, and the longest song clocks in at exactly two minutes.

Oh, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that they’re named after a character in the old Nintendo game Lee Trevino’s Fighting Golf. Massive bonus points for obscure NES references.

Click here to download.

I know relatively little about these guys, but they’ve come to me highly recommended and I like what I’ve heard.

For better or worse, a list of other artists this song reminds me of:
Guided By Voices
McLusky
Replacements
Lou Reed

…and the singer sounds like a rockin’ bar band version of Mike Doughty. All of which add up to something I like very much.

This song’s from their new album, Separation Sunday, which I think I’ll be buying as soon as I have some money. Click here to download.

National Public Radio reviewed the record last week, and it got one of their most favorable reviews of the year. They’ve got a page about the band and a link to the audio of the review here.

Yeah, I know, it’s a punk rock song that ended up in the least-punk rock situation possible: as the background music for a shampoo commercial. Even so, it’s a cool song with a great piano line. And, let’s face it, piano punk is highly underrated.

The Transplants are a side project involving Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong, Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker, and vocalist Rob Aston. I cringed the first time I heard Armstrong was working with one of the guys from Blink, but it doesn’t have any of the cutesy smugness that makes Blink so completely unlistenable. It’s definitely more Rancid than Blink 182.

Download here.

A.C. Newman is also known as Carl Newman, the mastermind behind Canadian indie-pop band The New Pornographers. (See here for a previous Jamootz!Rock entry on them.)

This song’s from his solo album, The Slow Wonder, which cracked the top 40 in last year’s Village Voice Pazz & Jop poll. It sounds like it could be taken straight from a New Pornographers record: super-catchy guitar rock with goofy lyrics.

Download it here, if you want to.

They’ve gotten a ton of attention for releasing one of the best albums of 2005, but Sleater-Kinney has been a terrific band for years.

This is the titular song from an album they released five years ago. (Has it really been that long? Wow.) It’s much brighter and bouncier than most of their other work, but in a lot of ways that makes it more accessible as well.

Download here.

There’s only one marching band on the planet that would cover a Yes song. The Stanford band.

It’s the same band that got banned from the state of Oregon for hacking up a stuffed animal Spotted Owl during a halftime show, the same band that showed up on the courthouse steps during the O.J. Simpson trial, and the same band that had its conductor dress up as a nun during a game against Notre Dame.

Today’s MP3 is from a performance in the late 70’s.

You can download it here.

Mclusky was loud, snotty, obnoxious, and abrasive…yet often hilarious and, in a weird way, endearing. They often used their songs to mock other bands and people they didn’t really like, but I was always confident that their enemies would be mine as well.

This was the first song on their final album, The Difference Between You And Me Is That I’m Not On Fire. I’m not sure Andy Falkous has ever really talked about what the song means (and even if he did, I’m not sure I’d believe him), but it sure sounds to me like a shot at disposable pop culture in general and specifically MTV and the band The Darkness.

It all makes sense if MSG = MTV. Really. It does.

Click here to download.

This is a band you’ll pretty much either love or hate.

From an old band bio:

82% cAge-like frAntic despArAtion 3% powdered cyncisim 5% coAgulAted symbolistic discontent 10% smAll boy trApped in A rAther uncomfortAble box it is not unlike Drive Like Jehu, Steve Albini, King Crimson, the Pixies, And other noise plAntAtions. However, it’s rudimentAry AttAck forte dAtes it to everything from the clAssic rock of Jimi Hendrix And Pink Floyd to jAzz musiciAns such As John ColtrAne And ChArlie PArker.

The Paper Chase is a noise-rock band from Denton, Texas that’s completely unlike anything I’ve ever heard. Singer John Congleton sounds like he’s on the very edge of sanity as he yelps the lyrics. At the same time, he’s making amazing and totally unique sounds with his guitar - like Robert Fripp after about 45 cups of coffee.

This song’s one of the centerpieces from the band’s first album, Young Bodies Heal Quickly, You Know, which is about Congleton’s battle with panic attacks.

You know the feeling you get when you lean back on a chair and almost fall over, but just at the last second you catch yourself? That’s what The Paper Chase sounds like.

Download the song here.