Perhaps I’d just never thunk too deeply on the matter, but until now I’d never realized that the children’s rhyme “Little Bunny Foo” takes a powerful stand against cruelty to animals. It is wrong to scoop up the field mice and bop them on the head, and it’s wrong to practice unkindness other harmless creatures as well. Too bad we don’t have a Good Fairy to come on down and turn any such wrongdoers into big goons (or goofs, depending on where you’re from).

If you’ve only ever heard “Little Bunny Foo Foo” while sitting ‘round the campfire or on very long car trips, give a listen to the giddy, garagey rendition that appears on The Moldy Peaches solo debut. Showcasing about as much musical talent as most of the five-year-olds who usually take on vocal duties for the song, the super-lo-fi “anti-folk” duo from New York also grace us with unforgettable numbers like “Who’s Got the Crack,” “Downloading Porn With Dave,” and “The Ballad of Helen Keller and Rip Van Winkle.” It’s real bad, but it’s sooo good.

If writing about music is like dancing about architecture, then what’s the equivalent of making a feature film about air guitar? I’m kind of not sure, but I do know that Alexandra Lipsitz’s new documentary Air Guitar Nation is one of the most exhilarating, fantastically awesome movies I’ve seen in way too long.

Before my first viewing of Air Guitar Nation (I caught it for the second time last night, at the L.A. premiere), I had no doubt that the “art” of air guitar was nothing more than a joke - and quite possibly a bad joke, at that. Turns out the joke was on me and any other naysayers out there: The air guitarists featured in the film have more passion, energy, spirit, and rock-star attitude than most dudes in big bands today. I just might be in love with every last one of them.

No word yet on whether there’s going to be a soundtrack, so for now you’ll have to air along to some of the movie’s featured songs, such Motorhead’s “Ace of Spades” (the title track off their 1980 classic), “Get Your Hands Off My Woman” by The Darkness, and “I Want You to Want Me” by Cheap Trick.

And when in doubt, just remember the words of Air Guitar Nation star Bjorn Turoque: “To err is human. To air guitar, divine.”

Coachella’s totally sold out, and I totally don’t have tickets, and that totally makes me want to cry. Though I’m trying not to dwell, I can’t help but feel a little heartsick that I’ll be missing out on seeing Bjork for the first time since autumn of 2001. One of the best shows I’ve ever seen, it was at a fancy concert hall in Boston, and she even wore her special swan dress.

On the bright side: We’ve got a new Bjork album to look forward to, as ThisNexter revolutionarygirl informs us. Her sixth studio effort, Volta is mos def one of the most giddily anticipated new records this spring, with bloggers like Alyk at A Socialite’s Life filling us in on the details as they trickle in. “The follow up to 2004’s stellar Medulla drops May 7th, and features production help from Timbaland on four songs,” Alyk shares. The mere thought of a Bjork-Timbaland collaboration makes me practically dizzy with excitement, which is almost enough to whisk any Coachella sadness away into the desert wind…

The Ponys are the perfect soundtrack for transitioning from winter to spring. One moment the Chicago-based band’s all dark and gloomy, the next they’re so bouncy and joyful - often within the same track. Two springtimes ago I spun their sophomore record Celebration Castle over and over, finding it a fantastic match for those L.A. days that start off cloudy and grey and then go blindingly bright once the sun breaks through.

Now, just this week, The Ponys are putting out their third record full of arty garage rock. According to Victim of Time, Turn the Lights Out “pulls from a wider range of song stylings that delves deeper into their unrivaled brand of pop psychedelia with barrages of guitar noise, quick tempoed intros, sped-up tape loops and sweetly delivered sour lyrics that amalgamate a modern take on a classic formula.” My favorite track so far: “Harakiri,” a moody-but-sexy number whose mp3 you can grab at Pretentious Prattle.

“Spring is sneaking into our bones,” sings the Rosebuds’ Ivan Howard on the band’s new song “Get Up Get Out.” And you believe him, because the track’s so carefree and bright and bouncy - with lots of disco-y synth layered over the dancey drumbeats. “Get Up Get Out” is one of the many perfect pieces of pop found on the Rosebuds’ new Night of the Furies, the North Carolina indie trio’s third full-length release. Out today, the record’s “got a little Motown, and a little Kinks, and a little Zombies, and a little Buddy Holly, and a whole lotta ‘yeah yeah yeah’ and ‘la la la’ and ‘ba da da’ and ‘oh, whoa’ all over the joint,” according to See You In The Pit. The blog shares mp3s of three numbers off Night of the Furies, and we highly recommend downloading if you too want to be whipped into a “sugary hazy of happiness with classy sweaters and rollerskates and the kids up at the Point on a Saturday night.”

Springtime’s a bore without a good crush, so it’s best to get a few candidates lined up a.s.a.p. My number-one crush of the moment: Ted Leo, whose fifth full-length record Living with the Living comes out tomorrow. I first laid eyes on Ted back in summer of 2003, when he played Coney Island wearing all white (t-shirt and jeans) paired with the most covetable kelly-green sneakers ever - from the moment he took the stage I was a goner. (You know it’s love when you want to borrow his shoes.)

Right now I’m replaying the new record’s ridiculously catchy “Bottle of Buckie” over and over and over. Hear it for yourself by grabbing an mp3 over at Another Form of Relief, whose blogger considers the track “one of Leo’s finest vocal performances yet, knowing perfectly when to jump from the restrained to the forceful.”

The Beastie Boys aren’t Irish - like, not even a little bit - but they really mastered the art of the drinking song very early on in their career (once they got past their hardcore punk phase, that is). It was at the tender age of nine that I learned of Brass Monkey, Thunderbird wine, Olde English 800, and other such classy beverages - all through the Beasties’ 1986 breakout record Licensed to Ill. And though I’ve yet to try the O.E. and Rice-a-Roni combo suggested in “Hold It Now, Hit It,” I can’t say I’m not still just a wee bit curious.

If you want sad drinking songs, you can always turn to someone like Elliott Smith or Tom Waits - but who wants a tear in their beer on St. Paddy’s Day? So much better to spin Licensed to Ill, which made number 64 on Sarah and The Goon Squad’s top records of all-time list. “My favorite line from this album is ‘We drink, and rob, and rhyme and pillage,’” she says, quoting opening track “Rhymin’ and Stealin’.” “I think in other circumstances I would like to live my life like that.”

Such a shame that the general public only seems to remember that Sinead O’Connor exists when Britney Spears goes and shaves her head. Though I suppose by now she must be very much accustomed to getting attention for all the wrong reasons - and being snubbed at times when she should be showered with acclaim. Like when she released one of her most recent records, 2002’s Sean-Nos Nua, a breathtakingly beautiful collection of 13 traditional Irish songs. It’s my favorite work of hers since I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got and The Lion and the Cobra, both of which I’d consider classic. Even if you’ve got not one drop of Irish blood in your body, it’s nearly impossible not to be moved by O’Connor’s rendition of “Paddy’s Lament,” one of the most powerful anti-war songs I’ve ever heard.

We’ve already seen the release of one of the most highly anticipated indie-rock gems of the year, The Shins’ Wincing the Night Away. “A little gentler, more haunted and pretty close to ‘epic’ The Shins continue to weave their spell,” says cath of the new record. “They might not change your life, but they’ll certainly make it more melodic.” And though robertkfranklin admits that it “took me awhile to get into this new cd,” he now names “Sea Legs” as “the killer track - very Pet Soundsesque.”

So what do lovers of modern-rock have next to look forward to? At the end of this very month, Modest Mouse will put out the follow-up to 2004’s breakout Good News For People Who Love Bad News, an album that w0man1nr3d calls “fantastically unique.” Modern Music got a sneak preview of the upcoming We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank, rating the CD an 8.2 out of 10. “From beginning to end, it never loses its lovely sound,” Modern Music promises, noting that the tracks “Parting of the Sensory” and “March Into The Sea” are among “the best work that they’ve created yet.”

Judging only by its first single, Nine Inch Nails’ Year Zero also contains some of that band’s best work yet. Due out April 17, the album features “Survivalism,” a deservedly all-over-the-radio track that “maintains the retro-industrial ruggedness without sounding outdated,” according to Spinner.com. The CD marks the follow-up to 2005’s With Teeth, which joe considers Trent Reznor’s “best album ever…It has the same energy as his older albums but the production has evolved and refined.” Also a NIN fan, w0man1nr3d spreads the love for Pretty Hate Machine, Reznor’s 1989 debut. “Pretty Hate Machine was an album that I listened to my senior year of high school and it still makes a bad mood seem a little more justified,” she says.

...continued: music forecast: up next In '07

If it weren’t for MP3 blogs, I’d have so much more space on my iBook right now. But then life would be a little less fun and exciting, empty of the constant possibility of finding lots of awesome new music I might never have discovered otherwise. Like how just yesterday afternoon I was tearing my hair out over some deadline or another, and then I hit up the Hype Machine and discovered a bunch of new, as-yet-unreleased songs by two of my favorite bands (Lavender Diamond at A Plaque of Angels, The Mae Shi at Stereogum), and everything was good again.

Out of all those who keep me in MP3s, though, my most beloved is undeniably Fluxblog. Practically every mix CD I’ve made in the past few years has included at least one track that I downloaded from the site - in fact, every time I make a mix I sort of cross my fingers that its receiver isn’t a Fluxblog follower. My mind is always blown by how ahead-of-the-curve blogger Matthew Perpetua is and how fantastically diverse his tastes can be (in the last month alone, there’s pop tarts like Robyn, classics such as The Yardbirds and The Kinks, and mash-up pioneer Freelance Hellraiser’s first shot at “making music as a proper solo artist”).

In tribute, here’s a few tracks heard first on Fluxblog, with a little bit of love from my fellow ThisNexters.

1. Girl Talk “Smash Your Head”

It’s X-Ray Spex’s “Oh Bondage Up Yours,” Young Jeezy’s “Over Here,” Nirvana’s “Scentless Apprentice,” Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer,” The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Juicy,” and so much more all squished up together in the most genius way. And unlike most mash-ups, you probably won’t be sick to death of it upon only your third listen. “[I]t retains its listenability because the tracks are more than a collection of reference points — nearly all of them stand up as perfectly composed pop songs in and of themselves,” says Fluxblog. Which is why I’m still playing Girl Talk’s Night Ripper all the time about three months after initially getting my hands on the record, a 2006 Illegal Art release that makes dskunkone go “!!!”

...continued: Deep In Flux

Surveying the records tagged “whimsical” on AllMusic.com, you’ll find a whole lotta artists who share birthday man Dr. Seuss’s penchant for high-spirited hypercreativity - albeit set to guitars and beats rather than trochaic tetrameter. Many a Beatles album is featured on that list, while one of the Fab Four’s most fanciful numbers (“Yellow Submarine”) turns up on 1, the number-one-hit compilation that keck considers “essential for any collection.”

Both Abbey Road (my favorite Beatles work) and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band get the whimsical stamp, and devoted lovers of the latter may want to try their hand at the Sgt. Pepper’s jigsaw puzzle. Selected by verba volant, the 1,000-piecer makes for “a wonderful challenge for any Beatles fan.”

Regarded as the Rolling Stones’ answer to Sgt. Pepper’s, 1967’s Their Satanic Majesties Request reveals the Glimmer Twins at their most psychedelic. The most Seuss-tastic song - and most perfect for twirling and prancing, I might add - “She’s a Rainbow” is one of the album’s few songs to see any radio play whatsoever. “The intro of this song is kind of weird (until 0:25), so don’t stop it too fast if you don’t like it,” warns A Rainbow In The Marmelade Sky. “You’ll hear that beautiful harmony of piano and strings melody coming after!”

...continued: Seussian Sounds

As our new month goes in like a lion, let us pay tribute to those ferocious females who rule the rock and roll jungle. The best place to start: None other than the so-called “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll” herself, Tina Turner. “One of our favorite singers, the incomparable Tina Turner is equally adept at rock, soul, gospel, and R&B,” rave John and Rose, who deem her greatest hits collection Simply the Best a “fabulous CD.”

The duo also recommend Janis Joplin’s Greatest Hits, which includes classics like “Piece Of My Heart” and “Cry Baby.” “Who doesn’t know ‘Me and Bobby McGee’?” ask John and Rose of one of Joplin’s most memorable numbers. “Janis Joplin was a tragic figure and this fabulous compilation is one of the best I’ve seen from one of our greatest rock and roll stars.”

...continued: Lion Ladies

In 1989, hip-hop trio De La Soul released what The Rapaholic considers the “most inventive, assured, and playful debut in hip-hop history.” 3 Feet High and Rising not only broke the mold by “expand[ing] the palette of sampling material with a kaleidoscope of sounds and references culled from pop, soul, disco, and even country music,” but pioneered the practice of placing bits of sketch comedy between tracks. As Martini & Jopparelli ’s Music Selections observes, “nowadays skits are integral part of almost any rap album,” thanks in part to De La producer Prince Paul’s goofy genius. (For those unfamiliar with the record, 3 Feet High and Rising is “loosely organized around a game-show theme,” as The Rapaholic notes. The opening track marks the introduction to the show, with host Al Watts tossing out “an amount of four questions” - including, FYI, “How many feathers are on a Purdue chicken?” and “How many times did the Batmobile catch a flat?”)

Over the years, skits have been become essential for everyone from Eminem to M.I.A.. One of Urbane Hymns blogger Sean B.’s favorite hip-hop records, Wyclef Jean Presents the Carnival Featuring the Refugee Allstars replaces De La’s game show studio with a courtroom, in which Wyclef himself is on trial for being “not only a player but a goddamn revolutionary.” The verdict, according to Sean: “In a world of overly frenetic and über-masculine hip-hop, The Carnival sounds loose, laid back, and even charmingly pastoral, even when talking about catching bullets in one’s goose.” And, he adds, “as the ultimate evidence for my love for this album: I even like the skits. Down Lo Ho? Bishop? Classic.”

...continued: Funny Biznis

With a few striking exceptions - Bob Dylan & Wonder Boys in 2000, Isaac Hayes & Shaft in 1971 - the Best Original Song category at the Oscars tends to be a total snoozefest. This year we’ve got not one but three Dreamgirls numbers up for the award, plus Melissa Etheridge’s “I Need To Wake Up” from An Inconvenient Truth and, of course, a Cars-featured number from film-score king Randy Newman.

Like totally claimin’, I’m of the belief that “once again, the Academy neglected some well deserved tracks from other movies that could have slipped in.” The most notable snub: Devotchka’s “Til The End Of Time” from the Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack. “Lighthearted with a touch of whistle, it practically feels like the musical equivalent of a dysfunctional family road trip,” totally claimin’ astutely points out.

...continued: Movie Music

Whenever anyone asks what I love most about L.A., I’m always tempted to answer “the rock and roll.” But some fear that I might come off like a total simpleton tends to get in the way, and I usually end up talking about the weather or something equally generic. To make up for several years worth of hiding the truth away, allow me to confess now that I am madly, wildly, endlessly in love with my city’s music scene, both past and present.

That love starts with The Doors and keeps going all the way up to new (and new-ish) faves like Lavender Diamond, The Silversun Pickups, Jenny Lewis, and Shiny Toy Guns. “This band from L.A. has been all over the map lately,” notes ThisNexter shazam in recommending the Shiny Toy Guns CD We Are Pilots. “This is a great album, and the song ‘Le Disko’ is very catchy. Check it out!”

But there’s a lotta good stuff in between the old and new, such as seminal L.A. punk band X. “When it comes to X they deserve to be up there in any conversation about the best bands of all-time,” declares What We Do Is Secret, who recently shared a few tracks off of X’s classic record Los Angeles.

...continued: La La Love Rock

Born in The Big Easy, jazz is as crucial to any stateside Mardi Gras celebration as shiny beads, king cake, and doubloons. This Fat Tuesday, brush up on your jazz history by exploring some of the genre’s N’Awlins-based pioneers, such as pianist/bandleader/composer Jelly Roll Morton. “I know you’ve heard Louis Armstrong, but if you haven’t heard Jelly Roll Morton, you haven’t heard jazz,” says ThisNexter Debe Gray, who includes the five-disc set Jelly Roll Morton: 1926-1930 on her I Love New Orleans list.

Jelly Roll’s featured on Funeral Songs: Dead Man Blues, a compilation record recently spotlighted on Zero G Sound. “The traditional New Orleans Jazz Funeral is as much a part of New Orleans culture as is traditional jazz itself,” explains Zero G’s blogger. “It could almost be said [that] jazz grew out of the funeral music of the New Orleans of the late nineteenth century.” An extraordinary introduction to the earliest days of jazz, the album also includes compositions by Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, and Kid Ory.

...continued: All That Jazz

Right about now, the only time I really care to hear “Hail to the Chief” is when it’s played by the McKinley High band on the penultimate episode of Freaks and Geeks (the one where Vice President George Bush visits the school, and Ben Stiller guest stars as a disgruntled Secret Service agent). For others with a great deal more fondness for Radiohead’s Hail to the Thief than the U.S. presidential anthem, here’s a look at some of the most powerful protest songs of yesterday and today.

On the Barnard Bulletin list of “top 10 protest songs of our generation,” Roz Eggebroten name-checks Bright Eyes, a favorite for ThisNexters Ambrosia and hurricanelindsay. “This tune sings like a rambling poetic rant against Bush complete with country-influenced guitar riffs behind a frantic western drawl,” says Roz of “When the President Talks to God,” a UK single taken from the 2005 album I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning.

One of Bright Eyes’s greatest influences, Bob Dylan gives us one of the most gripping protest songs of all time with “Masters of War,” available on the revolutionarygirl-recommended Limited Edition Catalog Box Set. With that classic Dylan ability to “bring out social frustrations” - as Ilse Eriksson puts it in her shopcast for No Direction Home: Bob Dylan - the 1963 song “remains strikingly relevant today,” notes Tad at Sand is Overrated (whose post graciously provides an mp3).

...continued: Protest Songs