YouTube Gems: Jon Lajoie

An unnamed informant, who has provided me with humor inspiration and fodder in the past, sent me a link to a hilarious satire by Jon Lajoie called "Radio Friendly Song." Since I try to maintain at most a hard PG-13 rating on this blog, I'm not going to embed that video here, but if you don't mind quite a few swear words, look it up on YouTube - it's witty and catchy! There are a ton of other skits and satires by Jon on the YouTubes so look around, if his brand of humor suits you. Here's his less-likely-to-offend tune, "Stay at Home Dad," which reminds me a little of Diddy's (P, Puffy, Puff Daddy, Puffwad) rock remix of "All About the Benjamins."

Best of 2009 So Far: September

There weren't many changes or releases in August so I didn't post this last month, but there has been a lot of movement lately... both in my preferences and in new albums released (and yet to be released albums that I've heard full previews of). Let me know if there's anything I'm missing. New additions are in bold.

1. Charlie Robison - Beautiful Day

2. Magnolia Electric Company - Josephine

3. Son Volt - American Central Dust

4 Ben Nichols - The Last Pale Light in the West

5. Chris Knight - Trailer Tapes II

6. Lucero - 1372 Overton Park (*based on sampler and live tracks)

7. Slaid Cleaves - Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away

8. Justin Townes Earle - Midnight at the Movies

9. The Devil Makes Three - Do Wrong Right

10. Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - Tell 'em What Your Name Is

11. Joshua James - Build Me This

12. Buddy and Julie Miller - Written in Chalk

13. Guy Clark - Somedays the Song Writes You

14. Scott Warren - Quick Fix Bandage

15. Deer Tick - Born on Flag Day

16. Brad Paisley - American Saturday Night

17. The Black Crowes - Before the Frost...

18. Krizz Kaliko - Genius

19. Pete Bernhard - Straight Line

20. Steve Earle - Townes

21. George Strait - Twang

22. Tom Russell - Blood and Candle Smoke

23. Old Californio - Westering Again

24. Wilco - Wilco (The Album)

25. The Deep Dark Woods - Winter Hours

26. Phosphorescent - To Willie

27. Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels

28. Mastodon - Crack the Skye

29. Eric Church - Carolina

30. Sister Hazel - Release

Bigger in Texas 2: Parody Country Album Covers

31 Country Music Themes: 24-27

Here's the next-to-last edition of "31 Country Themes." I'll post the final four next week along with all the others in a single post.

Farce the Music Sells Out #4: Scott Warren

Scott Warren - Quick Fix Bandage

Scott Warren is a singer-songwriter with a charming folksy pop-rock sound that probably could have garnered him a hit or two back in the 90's when folks like Del Amitri, Duncan Sheik and Toad the Wet Sprocket still graced the airwaves. On Quick Fix Bandage, that sound is pulled towards the Americana genre with some subtle sweeps of steel guitar, mournful lyrics and Scott's warm Westerbergian rasp.

There's also an obvious AAA contemporary bent that makes it easy to imagine nearly any of the songs on the album playing in the background of an overly emotional scene on One Tree Hill or Melrose. Mind you, they would be among the best tunes to ever set that schmaltzy mood. Never fear guys, only the slightly annoying "Laugh Through the Pain," with it's repetitive "I love you's," sounds overly chick-oriented. There are enough touches of harmonica and rustic atmospherics to maintain a degree of alt-country cred.

The opening "Before You Say Goodbye" is a moody but catchy pop rocker that should be a hit, but likely won't ever get enough attention to pull it into the mainstream. "Along for the Ride" is a standout track, reminiscent of Buffalo Tom's most commercial output. Another of the album's highlights is the down-tempo cover of America's "Sister Golden Hair" which bestows a completely different emotional personality on the classic tune.

QFB, to me, feels like the soundtrack to a wistful fall afternoon. It's a solid, memorable album that pop-rock lovers along with fans of the likes of Ryan Adams, Rhett Miller and Pete Yorn should definitely enjoy.

Check him out here: http://www.myspace.com/scottwarrenmusic

Free, legal song download here: Before You Say Goodbye

Buy the album on iTunes or at Amazon