A Little Burst of Energy

Date

January 18, 2012

Miracler

Karl Eifrig

Location

Illinois

What's better than having a big-hearted smart music-loving Eifrig in the Prodge?

How about two? If the last name is familiar to you Pop Miracle vets, it's because Karl is Fritz' younger brother, aka the 10-year-old boy Your Hostess occasionally glimpsed in the background of the Eifrig house, back in the after-school fridge-raiding Hoosier days of yore. Now Karl is a man, a man who brings us this mix of adreno-pop (I just made that up!) which I predict will be cranked high and often by many of us. Thanks Mr. Eifrig 2, and welcome to The Prodge. I think you'll do just fine here.

About KE by KE

A little about me: I’m a product of the greater Chicagoland area, having grown up in Northwest Indiana. As a kid, I had the good fortune to have older siblings with good musical taste, so I got to have my mind blown by the “Urgh! A Music War” soundtrack when I was in 5^th grade. After that, it was all about Gary Numan, Devo, Heaven 17, Wall of Voodoo, and OMD for me. Once I hit high school, the hormones demanded that I listen to faster and louder stuff, but I never abandoned my love of a good pop melody. This brings us to the loose theme for my mix, which features pop songs played on electric guitars, fast and loud. I understand that this is only one kind of pop, and it’s not even the only kind I like - I adore The Carpenters completely unironically, but that’s not what I was going for here! I wanted to provide a jolt of caffeine to start out 2012 - which I desperately need, having just turned 40 on New Year’s Eve. Hope you like it!

Liner Notes

THE BEAT – Walking Out on Love

This one just strikes me as an ass-kicker of an opener – coming out of the gate with the chorus and never slowing down. It’s not the sort of well-crafted pop song with the perfect bridge and middle eight or anything – just two parts repeated a few times and then out. Exquisitely concise, in my book!

THE FIGGS – Favorite Shirt

These guys are my favorite lifers (I could easily do an entire Figgs mix if it were demanded). This is from their first album, when they were just totally going for it – they had a stint opening up for The Knack on this tour, then they got on Capitol and did one album before getting dropped. Rather than packing it in, they just kept going out of a pure love of playing music. Since then, there have been a ton of great albums and a few tours as Graham Parker’s band, and they just keep playing. Inspirational!

GENERATION X – From the Heart

Probably considered totally fake punks, since they weren’t smashing any systems – just playing high-energy pop and trying to be rock stars. Only Billy Idol really accomplished that goal, but he turned into a bit of a turd as a result. At least we have the phenomenal first album to remind us how great it is to be young and in love with rock and roll.

THE BUSY SIGNALS – Uh-Oh

This is where we get a little meta. This was a group of young ‘uns in Chicago a few years ago who were obsessed with the obscure power pop bands of the 70’s and 80’s that released a handful of singles and maybe an LP, then disappeared into the ether. In keeping with that spirit, The Busy Signals released a handful of singles and an LP, then disappeared into the ether. This is from that LP, and is a cover of one of those obscure bands – The Limit.

THE VAPORS – News at Ten

Perhaps unfairly known only for Turning Japanese (which is undeniably a great song, though a tad overplayed by now) and therefore considered something of a novelty, their New Clear Days LP is full of fantastic songs (it’s one of those albums that I run across all the time whilst record shopping, and I always wish I didn’t have it, just so I could buy it again). This song has been one of my favorites since I was a pimply lil’ lad.

GENTLEMAN JESSE & HIS MEN – I Don’t Wanna Know (Where You Been Tonight)

Another of today’s youth who do a nice job of creating well-crafted power pop in a respectful but non-slavish imitation of the folks who did it first.

BUZZCOCKS – You Say You Don’t Love Me

These guys are the cream of the crop for creating guitar-based punk pop songs, as far as I’m concerned. Smart and tasteful, with a killer rhythm section and ingenious lyrics. This isn’t really one of their high-energy tunes, but I thought I’d go with a bit of deep cut and get a little sappy, partly in anticipation of the next track.

THE PRODUCERS – She Sheila

And now we get to the top of the mountain of cheese. This is about as embarrassing as it gets for me – I just can’t resist its charms! It could totally be the soundtrack to a “let’s fix up this old shack my grandma left me and turn it into a cool club” montage scene in a crappy 80’s movie, but it’s so well done, with everyone playing their asses off and selling it. I hope this doesn’t offend anyone’s sensibilities, but I also hope that someone else hears it for the first time and is as floored as I was when I first ran across it a few years ago (thanks, VH1 Classic!).

JOE JACKSON – One More Time

And then there’s Joe to provide the antithesis of the previous track’s treacle. Where The Producers’ singer was pining for a lass who didn’t know he existed, Joe chronicles the bitterness at the end of a relationship. I first heard this song years ago when a band called Pop Sickle (ex-Coffin Break [Anyone? Anyone?]) covered it. I think they were sort of bummed when I singled that song out of their set as my jam, since I didn’t know it wasn’t one of theirs.

THE SULTANS – Try To Forget You

This one seemed like a natural transition – the same topic, the same sort of stabbing clean guitar line, the same sort of minor key anger, just 25 years later. This is one of the many side projects of John Reis (aka Speedo of Rocket from the Crypt) - their Shipwrecked LP is a dynamite breakup album for listening to whilst wallowing in your misery, should you ever find yourself in need of such a thing.

THE MARKED MEN – A Little Time

One of my favorite bands of the past 10 years, these Denton, TX lads don’t blaze any trails, but put a lot of care and style into their songwriting. There are usually lots of little touches that make the songs special, whether it’s in the arrangement or a simple unexpected chord change. Highly recommended (and tied to the previous entry by virtue of this album’s being on Swami Records, which is John Reis’ own label).

SCARED OF CHAKA – Wanna Make It Happen

Another long-time favorite, this is the band in which Dave Hernandez cut his teeth as a leader before going on to become a member of The Shins for several years. SOC albums vacillate between full-on pop punk songs and blown-out trashy garage rock. This is definitely what passes for one of their slow numbers, so be warned if you find yourself looking for more like this on an album of theirs. Those songs are out there (their self-titled LP has a great cover of Elvis Costello’s “Hand In Hand”), but they primarily play it fast and sloppy.

FLAKE MUSIC – Submarines

This is included as a sort of history lesson that may be of interest to fans of The Shins, as this is the band that went on to become The Shins after James Mercer (who was pretty much the only member) left Albuquerque for Portland. This one’s a cover of a Scared of Chaka song, and can be found on a split 7” with them (which includes a Flake Music song called “The Shins” – weird, right?), and its dirty, crummy production is interesting in light of the lovely shimmeriness that Mercer would go on to create. I happen to love the song as well, otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered you with it, of course.

MIKAL CRONIN – Get Along

I wasn’t sure if this fit the loose theme of my mix, since it’s played on acoustic guitar, but it was my favorite song of 2011, so I had to put it on here. You Bay-area folks may well be sick of hearing about him by now, but his self-titled LP that came out last year is really quite good.

Mix is UP. Same password as last week (also in your email today)

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XOK