Song of the Day: Dead Confederate - Heavy Petting

I saw these guys on Conan a while ago (pre-TBS) and really enjoyed this song. The singer shreds his vocal cords a la Kurt Cobain, and the music is somewhere between Vitalogy-era Pearl Jam and '90s Neil Young. These guys aren't even close to that level, but on this song they pull off a pretty good reproduction of that era.

Song of the Day: Mad Season - Long Gone Day

Day 3 of Mark Lanegan week finds us at one of many Lanegan side projects. In fact, he was basically a sideman in the "supergroup" Mad Season, singing lead on "Long Gone Day" and sharing lead with Layne Staley (Alice in Chains) on another. The band also included Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) on guitar, Barrett Martin (Screaming Trees) on drums and some guy whose name I'm too lazy to look up on bass. No offense to that guy, but he's the reason "supergroup" is in quotes.

Unfortunately this group was a supergroup of heroin and ex-users, which may be why they only released one album, which was of varying quality. When it works, as it does on this song, it's fantastic, but when it doesn't, it's merely boring. That said, it's still a pretty underrated album, and if you like any of the group members' primary bands, you'd probably at least dig a few of these songs. But Lanegan's involvement in this one, combined with his Trees' mate Martin on percussion and a Layne on the chorus and second verse, puts "Long Gone Day" at the top of the heap.

Song of the Day: Temple of the Dog - Hunger Strike

Like most otherwise rational Americans, I ate way too much this past weekend, so when I was deciding what song to post for the song of the day, "Hunger Strike" seemed to be an appropriately titled ditty.  I recently posted about my love of Pearl Jam, and I've even posted this song before, albeit in a different form.  I came of age in the '90s - what can I say?  I could probably turn this into a grunge blog, but that wouldn't be nearly as much fun as having a playlist with Black Sabbath, Kanye and Morrissey, would it?

Song of the Day: Pearl Jam - Oceans

This recent article from the AV Club about Pearl Jam inspired me to share one of my favorite PJ tunes.  They were one of the biggest bands for me (and many others) growing up in the '90s, and I'm so old (school) I actually still have the CD longbox of Ten.

I believe I've seen Pearl Jam live 5 or 6 times, and though I've been losing interest with each album (though solid, they are not spectacular), they still are one of the best live bands you can see.  In that vein, one of my favorite bootlegs is their appearance on MTV Unplugged.  The recent Ten super fantabulous delux redux edition not only featured a DVD of the entire performance (the first time I had seen it), but a 2LP live show called Drop in the Park (I should mention the remastered edition, and especially the "redux" edition, also sound fantastic).

I always enjoyed "Oceans" on the original album, but this version from their Unplugged appearance is far superior.  Vedder's voice sounds amazing - I wonder if he can still hit those high notes - and the bass is really clear and up front.  Just a fantastic performance.

Video: Pearl Jam - Hunger Strike (with Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses)

(via Pitchfork)