If you’re at all like me, one of the most vexing moments of any work day is trying to figure out what to listen to. I usually have really good intentions, wanting to tune into something different and exciting, but then I end up listening to Europe’s greatest hits again. This actually happened to me yesterday.

Mostly for my own selfish get-out-my-musical-rut needs, I asked the Tucson Weekly‘s music writers to email me with the song they found themselves listening to most over the last week. After all, these people are listening to music all the time, and not just Scandinavian power hair metal.

Listen to each song via the convenient embedded clip and if you find this useful, we’ll do it again next week. OK?

Here goes, after the cut.

Michael Petitti
The Novas, “The Crusher”:

Some songs deserve more mystery. In the Internet-age, I was able to find out far more about this dirty, silly garage number than I really need to know. For instance, I like to think the guttural bellows of the singer are a call for “Brains!’ (sadly, it’s a call to “Raid!”). Nevertheless, we can all understand (and enjoy) the transparent instructions for The Crusher: 1. Take fist, put on waist, and 2. squeeze partner’s head just below face. Turkey-necks.

Brian Mock
Shabazz Palaces, “Yeah You”:

Spaced out and trippy hip-hop from former Digable Planet Ishmael Butler, who abrasively calls out all the “corny niggas.” Very catchy.

Mel Mason
Hook Moon, “Ghost Town”:

This is a duo from New York City worth keeping an eye on. This track is featured on their self-titled EP. The combination of the comfortable nonchalance in the vocals and the ethereal vastness of the slide guitar make multiple listens a must. If you like it, you may also enjoy this beautiful live performance of their song “Echo Lung”.

Casey Dewey
George Quartz, “Last Summer”:

I can’t stop listening to this track from George Quartz, an enigmatic performer/variety show host from Texas. “Last Summer” is the perfect jam to play at the last party in August while the sun is rising, empty beer cans are tossed, and the pizza is removed from the record player. Enjoy!

Annie Holub
Rachel Goodrich, “G-Dino”:

So this song is about 40 seconds long, and highly repetitive, but it’s been my peppy inner-soundtrack for the first few days of school (I teach middle school English). I’m not sure how the words “I’m a little gangster dinosaur” inspire me to instill a love of writing into the minds of twelve-year-olds, but I take what I can get.

Jarret Keene
Kirby Krackle, “Nerd Money”:

Can’t get enough of Seattle nerd-rock duo Kirby Krackle’s “Nerd Money,” about a comics-crazed lotto winner who has his skeleton Bondo-ed with adamantium (Wolverine’s fictional indestructible alloy) while learning that “zoning codes and permits were so hard/to build a Millennium Falcon out in your backyard.” The money goes fast and the song’s narrator soon goes broke, having to pay massive medical bills for his adamantium poisoning by pawning all his nerdy purchases. A geek tragedy for our superhero-saturated era.

This article appears in Aug 18-24, 2011.

The editor of the Tucson Weekly. I have no idea how I got here.

One reply on “What to Listen to Wednesday”

  1. Putting aside the fact that you and Seigel snubbed me, I’m crash dis here “critic” party like it or don’t.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKdJicpVxoY

    Machine Gun Kelly is, on the surface, Just Another Skinny White Rapper with A Straight-billed Lid, or “JASWRASL,” a venerable acronym that I just made up. But on this straight-up banger, MGK spits so emphatically for his (and my) hometown, Cleveland, I am almost tempted to move back — it’s like how the Wire’s verisimilitude makes ya go, yeah, I could see myself living in a boarded up Baltimore rowhouse, robbing dealers for cash and never cursing. Oh inDEED. But then I remember that I’m not Omar.

    This kid is for real, though, having just signed to Bad Boy/Interscope three weeks ago. I guess Diddy decided he needed to break into that white rapper game. And it’s really good to see someone rep so hard for a sad case like the 216, a city that has re-achieved its true underdog status in almost every respect, just like how it was in the 70s, when Dennis Kucinich was mayor and the Cuyahoga river caught fire. REAL TALK. Not even Bone, Thugs and Harmony ever flowed with that much ClevOhio pride. In fact MGK got me thinkin’ ’bout gettin’ my own I-71 North shoulder piece <----- (nope). If you’re hardcore Clevo like me you might consider checking MGK out at the Clubhouse in Tempe tomorrow night.

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