So yeah, I have been in a blog coma since February, but that is not to say I haven’t been listening to music, as usual. 2010 is not turning out to be such a great year for albums for me. However, at the top of the list so far is Frightened Rabbits’ The Winter of Mixed Drinks, in which Scott Hutchison, the nucleus of the band, continues to document his crawl up from the depths he detailed in the previous album, The Midnight Organ Fight (2008), still recovering from some truly horrendous romantic breakup.

In fact, I was listening to the delicious “Yes I Would” when I discovered FR would be playing the last date of their U.S. tour in Los Angeles on Sunday, May 23. Drunk on the song, I impulsively purchased tickets to see them at the Fonda Musicbox. Indie Mom won’t go to a show on a work night, but luckily for me, my lovely niece Chelsea agreed to be my date again (see also Band of Horses at the Fox, September 2009).

Frightened Rabbit offered an energetic but disciplined set of 15 songs, with plenty of humorous patter by Hutchison between songs. At one point someone yelled that he would pay $100 if the band sang a certain song. “Well, we are going to play that,” quipped Hutchison good-naturedly, holding out his hand, “so I’ll just take the money now.”

Song files below were taken from Frightened Rabbits’ performance on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic on May 21.

Set List:
1. Skip the Youth
2. Modern Leper
3. Old Old Fashioned
4. The Loneliness and the Scream
5. The Wrestle
6. The Twist
7. Swim Until You Can’t See Land
8. Frightened Rabbit - FootShooter (live)
9. My Backwards Walk
10. Frightened Rabbit - Nothing Like You (live)
11. Head Rolls Off 12. Good Arms vs Bad Arms

Encore:
Poke (acoustic solo by Scott - photo above)
Living In Colour
Keep Yourself Warm

Were you there? Click to enlarge and holla if you see yourself!

MySpace | WeAreFrightenedRabbits.com | Label: FatCat Records | Buy

On this day six years ago, my sweetie said he wasn’t going to get down on one knee, but didn’t I think we should get married? In my twisty little female mind, that counts as a romantic Valentine’s Day proposal.

I know being a V-Day hater in more in vogue, but I get a little mushy about it.

Ivan and Alyosha - Easy To Love from The Verse, The Chorus (2009)
MySpace | Buy

Joan As Policewoman - To Be Loved from To Survive (2008)
MySpace | Buy

Boombox Repair Kit - 100 Kisses - single (2010)
Bandcamp | Free Download

Muse - Endlessly from Absolution (2003)
MySpace | Buy

Sevigny - When the Stars Go Blue - Ryan Adams cover from Melalcoholic (2006)
Last.fm | Buy

Ben Lee - Gamble Everything for Love from Awake Is the New Sleep (2005)
MySpace | Buy

Sorry I haven’t been around much lately. I promised myself last year that I would no longer put blogging first in my life when there are other things to do. And there have been other things to do! When it rains here in So Cal–and it has rained a LOT–it’s time to put native seeds in the ground. November is prime planting time so I am pushing it a bit, but I am always sorry that I didn’t plant more so I’m going for it.

And that brings me to the theme of this week’s Contrast Podcast: GO. This week also marks the 200th podcast, and since it’s a weekly deal, that tells you how dedicated our host Tim Young and my fellow contributors are. I compiled a list of 30 songs with variations on the word “Go,” and these were at the top of the list.

I mistakenly introduced my song choice as being from my third favorite album of 2009 and only later remembered that Kabukimono was actually my fourth favorite album. I’ll excuse that error because I liked my top 5 of 2009 so much, any one of them could have been #1! I am still nuts about Rainbow Arabia’s multi-layered rhythms, Middle Eastern ululations, and microtonal keyboard riffs, and I play the album often–maybe more often than the three albums that preceded it on my Top 10 of 2009.

Rainbow Arabia - I Know I See I Love I Go from Kabukimono
MySpace | Buy

It’s hard to say anything about this except that it is gorgeous.
Ane Brun - To Let Myself Go from A Temporary Dive (2004)
MySpace | Buy

Vintage Queens of the Stone Age! Songs for the Deaf was such an amazing album. I might as well say here that I don’t get the broken light bulb mascots that QOTSA started using a couple of years ago. What’s that about?
Queens of the Stone Age - Go With the Flow from Songs for the Deaf (2002)
MySpace | Buy

Material Issue was one of my favorite bands of the 90s (I had a lot of favorite bands in the 90s). We miss you, Jim Ellison.
Material Issue - Goin' Through Your Purse from Freak City Soundtrack (1994)
Fan Website | Buy

I love how Tony Joe White drawls out ominously, “Y’all ain’t from around heah, are ya?” You just know there’s something about that swamp he isn’t telling.
Boozoo Bajou - Keep Going from Dust My Broom (2005)
MySpace | Buy

And of course, I could have selected one of my favorite songs of all time, “Go Insane.” Lindsey Buckingham is still a damn sexy guy, at least to an old lady like myself. I still love the video too.
Lindsey Buckingham - Go Insane from Go Insane (1985)
MySpace | Buy

Photo: Sky On Fire, December sunset by alt-gramma

Ryan and Rebecca Coseboom

Stripmall Architecture - Gladhander from We Were Flying Kites (2009)

MySpace | Buy and Download at Bandcamp | Also at Amazon

The Lost Highway record label debut of this great Austin, TX soul and blues band led by Joe Lewis is pretty good. The production is great and the songs are tight and jumping.
Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears - Gunpowder
from Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is!

MySpace | Buy

7. M. Ward - Hold Time

Pretty good CD, quite similar in style to his great “Post-War” CD from 2006. It’s got some really nice songs, including a very cool cover of Buddy Holly’s “Rave On”.

M. Ward - Never Had Nobody Like You
from Hold Time

MySpace | Buy

8. Leonard Cohen - Live In London

At 74 the master returns to crank out his classics live with a stellar band, and his songs never sounded better. It was quite an experience this year to see him and this great band live at Nokia Theatre in Grande Prairie, TX on April 3rd (link). I hope they go straight into the studio after their tour ends.

Leonard Cohen - Tower of Song from Live In London

Website | Buy | Leonard Cohen Concert Review

9. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl

Van reproduces his 1968 classic album in its entirety live in this 2008 concert. Musically, this live CD stays somewhat true to the original folk and jazz combination. And Van’s vocals on this are as spectacular as they were back in the Sixties. It’s a real testimony to his great talent to be able to reprise and expand upon this classic work forty years after it originally came out.

Van Morrison - Madame George
from Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl

Website | Buy

10. Iggy Pop - Preliminaires

Following his Stooges reunion and the untimely death of their guitarist, Ron Ashton, Iggy shifts gears dramatically with this cool CD of songs he wrote based on the novel “The Possibility of an Island” by French writer Michel Houellebecq. The music consists of slow ballads, jazzy numbers, and some near-rock burners. And, The Ig even croons a few songs in French (his high school French class finally hit pay dirt).

Iggy Pop - King of the Dogs from Preliminaires

Website | Buy