Coming up for air. . .

While I may be barely living, I assure you. . . I'm alive.

Just a few more weeks until I get a break. I have to admit, a small part of me so dearly wants to put this blog to bed. Just a bullet to the back of the head, and then watch it drop into a watery grave. A larger part of me, unfortunately, can't deal with that ending.

Thanks to anyone who still comes by here every once in a while to see if I'm still kicking. I know I'll never win a blog award behaving like this, but I hope you'll still think of me when you're jamming out to shit like this:

"Consolers of the Lonely"
"Five On the Five" by THE RACONTEURS: Every Spring I search for -- NEED -- some kind of rock gem to help dig me out of the snow and the cold. The Raconteurs' Consolers of the Lonely is that very record. Even the acoustic numbers wind up packing a punch. Nothing groundbreaking, but another stellar album from Jack White, Brendan Benson and company.

UPDATE!!! Raconteurs links removed by request of "Web Sheriff". Wow, for the first time in the history of Pimps of Gore, I've pissed off a record label. Although, I have to admit, they were pretty nice about it all. See Comments section for their note. Sorry folks, getcher Raconteurs tracks elsewhere!

"Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?"
"Change Is Hard" by SHE & HIM: While I confess to an insane crush on Zooey Deschanel that dates as far back to her turn as the smart ass cosmetics clerk in The Good Girl (and of course, the sister in Almost Famous, I have to admit that this album, a collaboration with M. Ward, sideswiped me a bit. I tried to resist it, and then one afternoon a few days ago, that resistance was busted apart by the two songs presented here today. Ward and Deschanel cover a ton of ground in just over 36 minutes, including classic girl group pop, old school country and even a couple of decent covers of The Beatles and Smokey Robinson classics.

"Lost Verses" by SUN KIL MOON: From the newly released April, the first proper record from Mark Kozelek's post-Red House Painters band since the absolutely classic Ghosts of the Great Highway (really, that Modest Mouse covers album should have been considered a Kozelek joint, since it was so dominated by him and an acoustic guitar). There are so many songs from this album I wanted to share with you. . . the crushingly dark "Heron Blue," the Crazy Horse-ian "Tonight the Sky," the Will Oldham-backed "Unlit Hallway." It's a breezy, delicate and yet sometimes heavy work of art. "Lost Verses" pretty much captures it all, and I think you're gonna love that moment that comes at the 8 minute mark, when the fuzzy electric guitars butt in and make themselves known.

In closing, here are a couple other favorite Kozelek tracks from a number of different projects throughout the years. I've posted about the dude a few times before, so I'll try to keep from repeating previous tracks:

"All Mixed Up" (Cars cover, live in San Francisco, 2004)
"Dramamine" (Modest Mouse cover)
"Around and Around" (John Denver cover, which I'm dedicating to my best friend Sarah P.)
"Michigan" (live)
"Rock 'n Roll Singer" (AC/DC cover)
"Wop A Din Din" (7-inch version)
"Drop"