The Giver Giveth Away

I really wanted to do a simple post of a few top-shelf mp3s for the loyal Rockist faithful out there. My first idea was "Mystery" by the Apples in Stereo. But I couldn't find that anywhere and I didn't have the album (Velocity of Sound) with me today. Then I thought "I Wanna Know Girls" by Portastatic. So I searched for it on Hype Machine and found that I had actually posted that one already. So that was out.

Theeennnn I was sure that I wanted to post "The Concept" by Teenage Fanclub. Actually, I wanted to do a full-length post on it, but since I can't find a good copy anywhere, that'll have to wait (you'd do well to stay tuned to TRS to actually read that one, by the way).

I ended up rounding a couple good ones, but its harder than it looks when you have standards like mine. Really, I'm not kidding, I wouldn't wish this on anyone.

The Bigger Lovers - "Threadbare". The Rockists are prepared to offer the Bigger Lovers $500 to come to our house and play 5 songs.

Okkervil River - "A Girl in Port". Both Rob and GL can attest -- I've been humming this one for days. Will Sheff has some great lines on this one, especially the middle verse about Cindy.

Grandpaboy - "Let's Not Belong Together". From the second part of Paul Westerberg's comeback dual release, Stereo (under his real name) and Mono (under the Grandpaboy moniker). Were I to one day sit down and compile my all time top 50 albums, I imagine Mono would slide in there. There are easily four or five more tunes of this quality on it ("Silent Film Star", "AAA", "Between Love and Like"). His insistence on flubbed notes and a lo-fi aesthetic come across as a little pretentious (read the liner notes), but, like fellow Rockist Bob Pollard, it's just how he works best.

My dad meets the National

Ween. The Go-Betweens. Dan Bern. The National.

This is just a sampling of the bands my father -- yes, the much blogged about Father of a Rockist -- has turned ME onto (actually, just this second he informed me he's went to see the great Chris Hillman -- formerly of the Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, amongst others).


To the story at hand: a few years ago, Mama Rockist got into singer-songwriter Dan Bern and got the rest of the family into him as well. Pop Rockist took Mama to see Bern in Louisville shortly thereafter, and, opening up for them was none other than Rockist-certified Cincinnati, OH natives The National. Sort of an odd lineup, but whatever -- Mom and Pop loved it. They bought their disc on the spot. They had the band sign it.

Flash forward a few years. Pop is in Atlanta for work. He's having brunch at Rea's Bluebird (or something like that) with a former colleague and friend. He hears through the grapevine that the National were in town the night before. Then he looks across the restaurant and who does he see? One of the Dessner brothers from the National. Which one I'm not sure. But that's not the point. My dad then goes over and introduces himself, explains how he saw the group a while ago and really liked them, bought the CD, etc. The guy apparently was shell-shocked, wondering who this 55 year old guy was. He kept calling my dad "Sir" and speaking in a very grateful and deferential tone. I was justifiably impressed and proud, as all sons of Rockists should be, for a true Rockist can never grow old.

Young Folks

Instead of coming up with an original post, I'm just going to poach one from Stereogum. It's lazy, yes, but I think worthy of a repost. While you and I probably grew up singing along to Baby Beluga, The Wheels on the Bus, and, if you were really cool, Kokomo, these kids are singing along to FREAKING PAVEMENT. I realize that their aging hipster parents probably forced them to do this so they could get some blog love, but I don't care. It's pretty damn cute and totally awesome.

Something old...

If you look to your right, you will find a new logo by our good friend Nick. Here is your first glimpse at the faces behind TRS (good luck identifying us in a line up).

A challenge to our readers (who don't know us personally): can you tell who is whom?

Gimme Indie Rock, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Blog

Fellow Rockists,

I'd like to start this post with a conversation I had this morning on my way to work. It goes a little something like this:

GL, wearing a white-collared shirt, to a bum on the corner: how you doing?
Bum: alright, how you doing?
GL: alright.

I walk away. Five seconds later:

Bum, yelling after me: hey, you a white-collar worker?!
GL, shocked, and mostly to himself: yeah, I guess so...

The point of this story (apart from being socially awkward, hilarious, and rather poignant, even unintentionally so) is that while The Rockist Society pays off in some ways - namely the respect and adoration of our peers - it doesn't pay in actual currency ($$). So, yes, the Rockists have real jobs and, yes, they're probably considered "white collar" and, yes, we spend more time at them than we do at TRS headquarters. But that doesn't mean we love you any less, dear Rockists, and to prove it here's a song off the new Band of Horses album, Cease to Begin.

Yours forever,

GL Naut


Band of Horses - Is There a Ghost?
Sebadoh - Gimme Indie Rock