Truly, I'm Working My Way Back To You

That's right, I'm working my way back to you with a burning love inside. Pneumonia. Thank the gods for antibiotics. Hoping to be back up to full speed soon. Until then, below is a link to the latest From The Vaults.

Modcast #37: Summer Songs to Blow Away the Big Chill

Listen Now Download Welcome to Mr. Suave's Cold Cold World. The big chill came to Seattle this week dropping about five inches of snow and temperatures to a downright inhospitable 18 degrees farhenheit this week. And, to make matters worse my electric furnace decided to implode leaving me with a freezing cold house and a deep desire for summer to come blowing in. But, since summer --at least in our hemisphere here-- is still months away, I'm going to try and heat things up with some summer type songs.

• Pizzicato Five -- Sweet Soul Revue
• The Parade -- Sunshine Girl
• The Love Generation -- Groovy Summertime
• Randy Winburn -- Sunshine USA
• The Orange Peels -- Long Cold Summer
• Swing Out Sister -- When the Laughter is Over
• Wondermints -- Shine On Me
• Nuyorican Soul -- I am the Black Gold of the Sun
• Corduroy -- Breakfast in Love
• Love Jones -- Bacchus Girl
• Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 -- Look of Love

Bonus Video I: Sergio Mendes joins forces with the Black Eyes Peas to produce and new and hip-hoppier version of the classic Mas Que Nada.

From the Vaults: Modcasts #140 & #141

Modcast #141: Sophisticated Synthesized Soul

Listen Now
Download
The show this week features predominately 80s sophistipop: soul mixed with jazz and pop, infused with strings and horns, and synthesized throughout. Lots of mod and mod friendly bands were part of the movement, which helped pave the way for the acid jazz of the 90s. Thanks to my friend Mary who's insistence that it would be worth the trip to Milano to see Swing Out Sister caused me to dig back through some old stuff and come up with a bunch of great tracks for this week's show. Enjoy.


Tahiti 80 -- The Train
Sade -- Hang On To Your Love
Brand New Heavies -- Stay This Way
Swing Out Sister -- Fooled By A Smile
Gentle Tuesday -- I've Never Been So Poorly Insulted In My Life
Everything But The Girl -- Another Bridge
Animal Nightlife -- Basic Ingredients
Simply Red -- Ain't That A Lot Of Life
Haircut 100 -- The Kick Of Love
Saint Etienne -- Spring



Haircut 100 -- Fantastic Day



Animal Nightlife -- Mr. Solitaire

Modcast #140: On The Right Track (Guest Hosted by The New Fidelity)

This week the modcast is most ably hosted by Dan from The New Fidelity. Hailing from Southern California The New Fiis a well-established mod outift that has produced some fantastic work featured on past modcasts even, and you can look forward to a new release coming very soon. So, I'm pretty happy to be able to turn over this week's program to Dan and let him run wild with some truly great mod music.

101ers -- Keys to My Heart
Billy Butler & the Enchanters -- The Right Track
The Kinks -- I Need You
The New Fidelity -- The Kids Are Alright
Eddie Holland -- Leaving Here
Left Bank -- Haven't Got The Nerve
Small Faces -- Whatcha Gonna Do About It
The Animals -- Boom Boom
The Quik - Bert's Apple Crumble
The New Fidelity -- Setting Son
The Jam -- Town Called Malice
Small Faces -- Rollin' Over


   

Modcast #227: Get Easy, Mod Easy

Life is easy in the mod world this week. As in easy listening. Of course it's always easy listening to Mr. Suave's Mod Mod World, but this week it's especially easy. From bossa nova to lounge pop, I've got a suave set of easy listening music from the heyday of the now sound.

Listen Now
Download

Supergrass -- Coffee In The Pot
The Free Design -- Now Is The Time
Loveletter -- Barbarella
Truly Smith -- This Is The First Time
Roy Budd -- Getting Nowhere In A Hurry
Chris Montez -- The Face I Love
Harper's Bizarre -- Speak Low
The Gimmicks -- The Joker
Marcos Valle -- The Answer
The New Classic Singers -- Call Me
The Dudley Manlove Quartet -- Love American Style
The Four King Cousins -- Lets Get Away From It All
Love Generation -- Groovy Summertime
The Young Generation -- It Must Be Love
Frank Sinatra -- Wave


The Four King Cousins - Leavin' It All Behind


Roy Budd -- Get Carter Theme

Cool interview with artist Shag at Modculture

Over at Modculture they have a great interview up with Shag aka JoSH AGle, one of my favorite pop culture artists.

Any thoughts of doing more “retro London”? Maybe something “Blow Up”? David Hemmings would be flattered! Thinking about it, did “3 Black Crows” cover that ground? Then maybe go for a “mod” theme…we’d all buy the prints!

Retro London is a recurring theme. “Blow Up” is one of my absolute favorite films and it definitely inspired “3 Black Crows”. I stayed away from the subject for a while because it was so identified with “Austin Powers” in most people’s minds but I am planning more “Swinging London” themes in the future.

You'll wanna read the whole thing, and then you'll probably want to break out the exotica vinyl.

I thought this was interesting too:

Why the animals? Wolves & apes seem to appear quite regularly!

I started using animals as a way to tell people that I wasn’t painting the “real” world…I didn’t want people to look at the work and think it was a depiction of actual life. Many of the animals represent personality types: the wolf is a “suave womanizer”, and the bull represents that part of being a male which is totally subjugated by the opposite sex.

Funny story. When I was in high school a few of the mods I was hanging out with came up with Indian themed nick names, a few associated with scooters like Rolling Thunder and Rumbling Bull. Mine was for my tendency toward a certain style of vintage shirts, I was Paisley Wolf. Suave womanizer indeed.

Modcast #226: Come On Now!

Here it is, the 226th of its kind, the latest and greatest modcast. Of course, each one is better than the last. Trust me on this one.

Listen Now
Download

Birdland -- Wake Up Dreaming (1991)
Phenomenal Cat -- Letters Home From Nazi Occupied France (2012)
Modlife Crisis -- Stella And Me (2012)
The Movements -- She Said (2012)
Suedehead -- Small Town Hero (2011)
The Eddies -- Jungle Beat (2012)
The Candy Strypers -- Callin' Sarah (2012)
The Love Me Nots -- The Girl Lights Up (2011)
The Untouchables -- What's Gone Wrong (1984)
The Moons -- Everyday Heroes (2009)
The Marigolds -- Sticks And Stones (2001)


Modlife Crisis - The Only Way



The Love Me Nots - You're Really Something

From The Vaults: Modcasts #122 & #136

Modcast #122: Watch. This. Now.

Welcome to modcast #122 and welcome to the Moscow Underground a brand new London mod band on this week's show. They've got a really cool, really heavy mod sound, as does the rest of the show. There's more new stuff as well from Supernova, Morrissey, and the Takeover UK, some garage rock from Los Immediatos and Magic Christian, as well as some Britpop from the likes of Blur and Sleeper.

Listen Now
Download

Moscow Underground - Soho Strut

Morrisey - Last Time I Spoke to Carol

The Takeover UK -- Never Been So Sick

The Supernovas -- Diamonds and Gems

Los Immediatos -- Something Wrong With You

New Salem WitchHunters -- At The border

Magic Christian -- Tomorrow Never Come

Blur -- Clover Over Dover

Sleeper -- What Do You

Automatics -- Watch Her Now

Dead Boys -- (I Don't Wanna Be No) Catholic Boy


Los Immediatos - Ella



Blur -- Charmless Man

Modcast #136: Kickin' It Old School

Mr. Suave's Mod Mod World Kickin' it old school in the mod world this week. Gettin' back to when the gettin' was seriously good, along about 1966 and thereabouts. This week's modcast features a nice set of sixties mod, garage, blues, and psych pop.

The Monkees - Tapioca Tundra (1968)
Alan Brown Set -- Everything's Gonna Be Alright (196
Graham Bond Organisation -- Long Tall Shorty (1965)
Small Faces -- Tell Me Have You Ever Seen Me (1967)
The Fleur de Lys -- Sugar Love (1966)
Human Instinct -- A Day in My MInds Mind (1966)
Pretty Things -- SF Sorrow Is Born 1968
The Plastic Blues Band -- Gone (1966)
Mouse & The Traps -- Lie, Beg, Borrow & Steal (1967)
Powder -- Do I Love You (1966)
Paul Revere & The Raiders -- Kicks (1966)

Graham Bond Organisation

Modcast #225: Can't You Hear The Music?

Welcome to the mod world friends. What a crazy world it is, too. Here it is March 13, a week from the dawning of the spring era here in Seattle, and by jove it snowed last night. Believe it or not, it's untypically cold here right now.

One thing is hot thought. This modcast. From start to finish, from The Twin-Sets to The Housemartins, from top to bottom, this thing is smokin' hot. Best be careful or you'll burn your ears.

A quick shout out to a couple of fantastic blogs for providing much inspiration: Ice Cream Man Power Pop and More (Ding Ding) and Shotgun Solution, both of which are reliable sources for cool music tips and hints.

Listen Now
Download

The Twin-Sets -- Take Your Rest
The Morlocks -- Born Loser
Black and Whites -- Gonna Have Some Fun Tonight
The Last Ones -- Bit of You
B-Back -- Are You Ready?
Karol Keyes -- Can't You Hear The Music?
Danielle -- I'm Gonna Marry The Boy
The Spinshots -- If I Would Fall
Death By Chocolate -- Zap The World
Betty & The Werewolves -- Plastic
The Housemartins -- Anxious

Betty & The Werewolves -- Euston Station


The Morlocks -- You Don't Know

Modcast #224: Movers & Groovers

It's another modcast alright. More movers. More groovers. Some shakers. All righteous. It's epic.

Listen Now
Download

The Goldstars -- Agile, Mobile & Hostile
The Theme - The First Time I Saw You
The Mods -- King and Country
Pop Quiz -- Moves and Grooves
Derriere -- Battle Plan
Mother Earth -- Very Together
Brand New Sinclairs -- I Was
The Urges -- Psych Ward
This Is Ivy League -- London Bridges
The Very Most -- The Title
The Mob -- Give It To Me




Brand New Sinclairs -- Heal My Soul