Heavy Rotation: Week Ending April 2, 2010

01. "Baby Lee" by Teenage Fanclub, (Merge.2010)
02. "Blindeness" by The Fall, (Narnack.2005)
03. Various - Top 50 Favorite Songs of 2004, (personal mix.2005)
04. "The Sun Always Shines On TV" by Nadja, (End.2009)
05. Scritti Politti - Cupid & Psyche 85, (Warner Bros.1985)
06. Ministry - The Mind Is A Terrible Thing to Taste, (Sire.1989)
07. BNLX - EP#1, (Susstones.2010)
08. "The Sun Always Shines On TV" by a-ha, (Warner Bros.1985)
09. Various - Top 50 Favorite Songs of 2003, (personal mix.2004)
10. Nadja - Touched, (Alien 8.2007)

Teenage Fanclub are in my Top Five Bands Every Recorded. It wasn't always this way. I bought Bandwagonesque (the uber-obscure trivia answer to "Name the band & album that SPIN magazine ranked #1 of 1991 over Nirvana's Nevermind.") after SPIN declared it ROTY. Upon the first few listens, I was perplexed. I, like many of you (no doubt, it's ok to admit) were in the throes of the Grunge Explosion. The TFC record had some pretty noisy guitars (for example, see the opening feedback on "The Concept" or the instrumental jam "Satan"), but it had way more pretty and sugary ... dare I say ... sissy melodies (for example, see the entire album). Good lord! I mean, I still loved R.E.M. and listened to The Beatles, but this was nineteen-ninety-fucking-one.

I didn't play the record too much, especially because I felt I needed music to be dark and heavy and intense. And I got sick of people laughing at me when I did play it. And it had a dumb album cover. No big deal. TFC became my secret favorite band.

About six years ago, I came out of the music-snob-closet and confessed my obsession with the band. I bought nearly all the CD singles of songs off all their proper full-length records (which I dutifully bought as they were released). I compiled all this (and some hard-to-find songs) into a wonderful and frightening four CD personal box set (if you're interested in track listing, please e-mail me). This period was capped with seeing them twice on their last US tour (in Chicago and in Minneapolis). Oh yeah, super hightlight: interviewing Norman Blake for a feature I did for Bandoppler magazine.

A couple weeks ago, the band announced the forthcoming release of their eighth studio recording of all time, Shadows, on Merge Records (here in the US). The band loves their fans dearly and made a song available for download. That song, "Baby Lee", is a classic Norman Blake penned track - impeccably written, catchy as catchy, and well performed. It also isn't mind blowing, and ... dare I say ... I DARE ... quite safe. That is fine, because TFC at their most comfortable is better than 84.7% of other bands at their best.

The melody has a languid bounciness. I hear some beautifully placed strings, glockenspiel, lots of gently deliberately strummed guitar chords, steady-as-steady rhythm. It sort of recalls the stellar "I Don't Want Control of You" from Songs From Northern Britain. One thing to be sure, they never pre-release their best songs. Which makes me majorly stoked to hear Shadows, which comes out on June 8th.

To hear "Baby Lee", click here.

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