The Modern Skirts play three shows in our area this week. They’ll be at Schubas in Chicago on November 18th, Mad Planet in Milwaukee on November 19th, and the Project Lodge in Madison on November 20th. Please take this chance to catch these guys live if you can. If you have not heard their fantastic 2008 release, All of Us in Our Night (that’s the awesome album art above), please add it to your collection. You won’t be disappointed.

Speaking of great albums, Jo Jo from Modern Skirts was generous enough to share some of his favorite albums with us for our continuing 5 albums feature. Some great selections below, many that I’m excited to revisit.

Belle and Sebastian – Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant
This album was the soundtrack to my years of poverty and depression. Just before Modern Skirts started, the singer and I were living in a house in a bad part of Athens, squeezed between two housing projects. We were working as cart pushers at Wal-Mart, boiling water on the stove so we could take hot baths because our gas was cut off. Dead car in the parking lot, etc. The old piano was out on the front porch, and at night I would drink wine and play as the hookers and homeless people passed by in the street. I would go downtown every night during this time and spend all my money at the bars and come home and read War and Peace cross-eyed drunk and listen to this album. I would sleep three hours and wake up and go into work, and then sneak out to my car and sleep till the managers would call me on the walkie talkie to find out why the carts weren’t getting in. Every time I hear “Fold Your Hands,” I think of boiling my bath water and wishing I could get a girlfriend. It’s hard to get a nice girl to go out into the projects with you at night.

Okkervil River – The Stage Names
“The Stage Names” was the my first road record. It came out during our first year of heavy touring. A lot of the lyrics have to do with being a small touring band on the road, which really resonated with me at that time. Being on the road had gotten really lonely and difficult fir me at that point, and it was nice to have a record to romanticize it for me again. We were in Florida when I realized how much I loved some of those songs. I remember sleeping on our friend Jeanice’s floor in Gainesville, Florida after a show and playing “Plus Ones” over and over again.

M. Ward – Post-War
Post War is my New Orleans album. We had been recording the self-produced songs from All of Us in Our Night for two weeks and all had our first Mardi Gras in the middle of all that. We had gotten really close with our friends down there, and our last night in town we went out in the French Quarter, which was pretty quiet in the wake of all the festivities. We were way back in the back of this bar called the Erin Rose, me and Jay and our friends Mary and Erin, and when we walked out, the sun was rising and casting a bright orange across the balconies on Conti Street. The sky was a deep pink and bright blue and the air was soft. It was a Monday morning and most people on the street were just getting up and getting to work. We got in Erin’s car and headed home and the first song on Post-War came on and it was just the most beautiful moment; sad, because we were going to be leaving the city I was in love with to go home, and beautiful, because we were with new friends on that beautiful morning in the city I was in love with. It occurred to me that I would remember that for the rest of my life. We went home and had a 7 am breakfast of leftover pork loin and king cake and packed our bags and left for Athens.

Tom Waits – Mule Variations
I was in a jeep with with our singer and our friend Bruce on a pitch black dirt road in our hometown of Elberton, Georgia when I heard Tom Waits for the first time. We drove deep into the woods and stopped on an old metal bridge for a while and Bruce played this album for us, and it felt like Elberton to me. Buying beer on a Sunday from an old black man at a shack out in the country with a cooler buried in the ground under an old piece of tin roof. The junkyards with the broken down school buses stuffed floor to roof with discarded clothes. Boiling peanuts in an old oil drum with the goats all around. I could hear the dirt on the floor in those recordings. There are better and stranger Tom Waits records, but this one feels the most like home to me.

Ween – Quebec
I had been listening to Ween for a little while when Quebec came out. It was the first Ween album I was able to anticipate before it was released. I was really taught to appreciate this band by some guys that lived across from my bandmates at the time; they were always taking these crazy drugs no one had ever heard of and watching midget porn and art films (kind of like what it’s probably like being in the studio with Ween, actually…) There was one night where they were putting these drops on their tongues and kind of lolling around the apartment, and they were listening to Quebec. To my ears, it was a different direction for Ween and I was sucked in immediately. I’ve had some of my own weird times with this record.

Buy: Modern Skirts – All of Us in Our Night
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MP3: Modern Skirts – “Soft Pedals”

A new feature here on Muzzle of Bees will focus on some of our favorite bands sharing 5 of their favorite records. We kick off the feature with The Daredevil Christopher Wright who we caught up with when they played Club Garibaldi last month. If you missed that show you can catch them on the Daytrotter Barnstorming Tour (Turner Hall Ballroom, October 8th) and a couple nights later opening for Bon Iver at the RIverside Theater on Sunday, October 11th. The latter being a benefit concert for AIDS Walk Wisconsin. Madison fans don’t miss their set at Forward Music Festival next weekend.

Beach Boys – Pet Sounds (Jason’s pick) This is Brian Wilson’s masterpiece. Maybe it’s too cliche to write down but I wouldn’t know that because I only started listening to it two or three years ago. I love the orchestral aspect of the instrumentation and vocals paired with the profound simplicity of the lyrics, which I understand were written in collaboration with Tony Asher.

Tom Waits – Rain Dogs (Jon’s pick) A timeless crazy circus of an album that amazes me every time I listen to it.

Elliott Smith – XO (Jon’s pick) Elliott Smith was hugely influential for me and continues to be. His melodies and songwriting are catchy and tragic, beautiful and sad at the same time.

Counting Crows – August and Everything After (Jon’s pick) This was one of the first records that really blew me away lyrically as a kid.

Bruce Cockburn – Sunwheel Dance (Jason’s pick) Bruce Cockburn was one of the artists that my uncles introduced me to as a child. Perhaps part of my attachment to him as a musician is sentimental (he made some albums with the typical 80s synth that can be hard to listen to) but he remains an extremely vibrant lyricist even in his recent releases. I also love finger-style guitar (though I rarely play it) and this album features a lot of it.

Buy: The Daredevil Christopher Wright – In Deference To A Broken Back
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Myspace: Daredevil Christopher Wright
MP3: The Daredevil Christopher Wright – “The East Coast”

I’m riding a major Tom Waits kick thanks to seeing him earlier this week in Jacksonville. I dug out all his records, sought out ones I didn’t own, and then did the ultimate waste of time by entering his name into YouTube. I was specifically looking for the song “On The Nickel,” a favorite from the aforementioned concert describing homelessness on 5th Street in Los Angeles.

While there are other videos that contain only the song’s performance, I found enhanced beauty in the banter between the young versions of both Tom and Dave. It gives you a great look into just just how quick witted both men are. Enjoy.

Tom Waits – Interview + On The Nickel (Letterman, 1983)

Myspace: Tom Waits
MP3: Tom Waits – “You Can Never Hold Back Spring”
MP3: Tom Waits – “Bottom Of The World”

Find MP3′s at The Hype Machine or buy stuff from Strictly Discs | eMusic

The stage was dark and filled with bullhorns and megaphones. The sold out crowd was a fan only affair as a result of a strict ticketing process that required you to swipe your credit card upon entrance. Seeing Tom Waits in concert was a dream come true and by the time the house lights came up over two hours after the show began, I realized just how special the night was and wished it wouldn’t end.

From his slightly elevated stage Waits stomped his foot, raised his hands and began the evening with his signature growl and storytelling tales. Indeed, Waits would seem just as much at home guessing your weight or telling your fortune at the local town fair. Throughout the night he peppered his commentary with useless facts and trivial knowledge only he could deliver. I learned you could draw fourteen omelets from an ostrich egg; it’s illegal for women to parachute on Sunday, and that if every person in China climbed a ladder and jumped off simultaneously their collective landing could knock the world off its axis. The banter was an added bonus and hecklers (there were many) didn’t go unanswered.

The second song of the evening “Way Down In a Hole,” was most recently in the spotlight for its use as the theme song to the HBO mega hit The Wire. It was followed up by a personal favorite “Falling Down.” Mule Variations “Get Behind The Mule” appeared a few songs later and raised the crowd from its seats, a common occurrence by evening’s end. The first half of the set got everyone comfortable seeing such a rare touring act, and the second half of the night was easily the best hour plus of live music I’ve ever been a part of. The band left Waits alone at the piano, flanked only by his stand up bassist for a handful of numbers. For that moment, positioned behind the piano, he looked just like he did circa Closing Time.

The magic in the evening didn’t solely belong to Waits himself, he’s anchored by guitarist Omar Torrez and Vincent Henry, who played on double sax. The band also demonstrated it was a family affair as Waits’ sons Casey and Sullivan contributed percussion and additional horn sections. Torrez and Henry made the second half of the show, including Real Gone standout “Hoist That Rag,” filled with Spanish guitar licks and jazz movements. “Singapore” and “Rain Dogs” hailed Tom’s early days while “Make It Rain” brought the present day including a golden glitter shower covering Waits during the middle of the song.

The encore included the gorgeous Mule Variations selection “House Where Nobody Lives” reminding everyone that “If there’s love in a house, It’s a palace for sure.” The band left the stage once more, the lights turned down low and the every single one of the almost three thousand standing, applauding, hoping for one more return. That didn’t happen, much to everyone’s chagrin, but the evening wasn’t lost. We filed into the streets having just witnessed one unforgettable night of live music.

Myspace: Tom Waits
MP3: Tom Waits – “You Can Never Hold Back Spring”
MP3: Tom Waits – “Bottom Of The World”

Find MP3′s at The Hype Machine or buy stuff from Strictly Discs | eMusic

Tom Waits tickets went on sale today. Were you successful in obtaining paperless tickets? I’ll be spending my birthday with Mr. Waits in Jacksonville.

Myspace: Tom Waits
MP3: Tom Waits – “You Can Never Hold Back Spring”
MP3: Tom Waits – “Bottom Of The World”