My Spilt Milk

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Now That That's Over ...

Hurricane Isaac wiped out the power at Spilt Milk World HQ, but we're back with a big week ahead in music.

After a week of Isaac-induced inaction, My Spilt Milk's back with the music you need to know this week.

This Week's Spotify Soundtrack:

1. "Sugar Ray" - Jesus and Mary Chain: The brutal amount of volume and distortion The Chain brought to their early shows prompted them to be seen as a new Sex Pistols, and their shows were similarly ended early by the venue or the cops. As time would demonstrate, they were something very different - subtly menacing, but pop purists at heart in a way that John Lydon would never be. They play the House of Blues Wednesday.

2. "Voyage Ton Flag" - Galactic: On Carnivale Electricos, Galactic merged electric funk with Carnival music from Brazil and Louisiana. Here, zydeco gets souped. School's back and so is Galactic at Tipitina's Saturday with MyNameIsJohnMichael opening.

3. "Fingers Never Bleed" - Yeasayer: From the new Fragrant World. Yeasayer plays The Republic Friday night. 

4. "Wolf Blood" - Big History: The New Orleans indie rock band plays a Road to Voodoo show at the Howlin' Wolf Friday with Big Rock Candy Mountain.  

5. "Frisky" - Sly and the Family Stone

6. "Sierra Leone" - Frank Ocean: Channel Orange has held up really well since its release. A lot has been made of the questions of who and how he loves, but I'm fascinated by the world he loves in, one where everybody's distant in some way. You get the sense that he's just looking for a genuine connection in a world that keeps everybody only Twitter close.

7. "All Night Right of Way" - Quintron and Miss Pussycat: From Sucre du Sauvage. They'll play Wendy's birthday at d.b.a. on Saturday night.

8. "Que Beleza" - Tim Maia: I haven't paid attention to the cult of Brazilian R&B singer Tim Maia, but a new Luaka Bop collection of his songs, Nobody Can Live Forever: The Existential Soul of Tim Maia, has given NPR a reason to do it for me. So far, the music has stood just fine on its own.

9. "The Scratch" - 7 Year Bitch: When the power didn't come back on, my wife and I visited AC, Internet and the family that go with them in the Florida panhandle. When we heard we had power Saturday night late in the LSU game, we packed up and headed back. Spotify searches for heavy music from the last 20 years helped keep us awake, and somewhere around Waveland I remembered how much I used to like 7 Year Bitch when they played the Howlin' Wolf. I was pleased how how ferocious this song still sounds.

10. "Sex Drive" - The Embarrassment: This would have been the next song in the queue had we not got back to town, and I hate to let a good song by a shamefully overlooked band fall by the wayside. This Kansas band played a bar in Toronto at a point when they were so unknown that there were only two other people besides me there to see them, and I was the only one who'd heard a song by them. We stayed in touch for years after that night, writing letters at a time when it meant using pens, paper and stamps. 

11. "Celebrity Booze Endorser" - Harry Shearer: Shearer has a new album, Can't Take a Hint, comprised of songs recorded for his radio show, Le Show. One of the good things about being Harry Shearer is that when you have the idea to cut a track with Fountains of Wayne, you can make it happen.

12. "Maureen" - Fountains of Wayne

13. "Going to Tampa" - Ry Cooder: Election Special will age out in two months or so, but I admire someone willing to commit to the tradition of folk music as the way of commenting on the day's news without concern for its shelf life. The fact that it's also well done and the songs are smart and pointed helps.

14. "The Sound of Loneliness" - Pine Leaf Boys: Pine Leaf Boys return to New Orleans Friday night when they play d.b.a. Here they are tapping into New Orleans French country tradition from 2010's Back Home.

15. "Cinque Bambole" - Marco Cappelli's Surf Academy: This track is deceptive. It remakes a piece from the soundtrack to 5 Bambole per la Luna d'Agnosto, an Italian whodunit by Mario Bava. The American Dream surfs up Italian soundtrack compositions by Luis Bacalov, Morricone and more, often with more adventurous versions than this. 

16. "Tootsie Roll" - 69 Boyz: In honor of the Saints' home opener. Chef Who Dat and his crew sit five or so rows behind us. He hands out pre-game menus that pun off the other team's mascot and players, and one of the guys he sits with leads a hoarse, incomprehensible sing-along to a song set to the tune of "Tootsie Roll" every time Marcus Colston makes a big play. No one can join him as he barks out the words, though people jump in as best they can when he gets to "Colston. Marcus Colston." It's the sort of handmade fun that's far more entertaining than filling all the sonic space between plays with classic rock. I will give the Superdome credit for improving its wireless environment. Being able to get on Twitter during the game makes it far easier to keep track of what's going on during the game. 

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