Mad World Mix Tape

It’s been argued that the single most important invention of the industrial era was the washing machine, as the time savings it yielded helped revolutionize the role of women in the western world. If so, the song-identifying service Shazam (not to be confused with the significantly less revolutionary Shaq genie movie -- Kazaam ) would have to be a close second. Anyone who came of age before the new millennium has a white whale music story. That amazing, life-altering song they heard in the mall dressing room or caught the last 45 seconds of in the car but couldn’t identify. Cut to car interior, Chicago suburbs, late summer, 1986.  Our protagonists – your two future MWMT collaborators – are engaged in a highly delusional discussion about how they could’ve been high school cross-country gods if only they had hit puberty sooner. Or their parents had the foresight to hold them back in kindergarten like Texas football kids. The conversation suddenly slackens as they simult

It’s that classic relationship story:  boy meets girl; boy loses girl; boy drives car into body of water; boy finds out heaven is a downer; boy comes back as ghost stalker; boy realizes his death (& life) was inconsequential; boy beats it back to heaven, bummed Yeah, you’ve heard it all before, but Armor for Sleep breathes new life into the classic Disney formula on the under-appreciated classic  What to Do When You’re Dead . Image:   Sherrie Thai, Flickr  (CC by 2.0) Now, I must admit that I kind of have a thing for concept albums about death.  I played My Chemical Romance’s Welcome to the Black Parade into the ground (dig deeper and check out “Disenchanted” or “How I Disappear” ). But setting aside admittedly disconcerting middle age emo leanings, What to Do When You’re Dead is tremendous. Pretty sure Pandora turned me on to the album via the lead track “Car Underwater”. On first listen, I remember thinking “hmm, interesting metaphor”, only

Almost anyone who’s ever had a band has played “If only”. And we’re not talking power ballad here.   We’re talking rumination. If only they had played our stuff.   If only we had landed that singer. Guitarist.   Drummer. If only we had come along a few years earlier. If only we had landed that big gig. But few bands have lived out their “if only” moment more publicly than Northmont. The Next Great American band was a one not so hit wonder (I think it finished last in its time slot) that aired in the fall of 2007.   Think American Idol for bands.   The concept was inherently flawed.   Bands – much more so than vocalists – have a distinct sound.   And that sound isn’t necessarily going to translate to strong performances of other people’s stuff.   Nirvana probably would’ve made a crap Billy Joel cover band. Image: Vectorfunk, Flickr (CC by 2.0) For the live audition round, it appeared that you got one song in front of the judges.  So on to the outdoor Las Vegas