Whenever I go to a concert there is always more music than I planned to see.  Mostly its “eh,” but these are the people/bands that were great surprises and a lot of fun.  I’ve tried to continue following them afterwards.

1. “Long Cool Woman in A Black Dress” by The Hollies
2. “Girls” by The Beastie Boys
3. “Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison
4. “My Summer Girl” by The Rentals
5. “Little Old Lady From Pasadena” by Jan and Dean

1. “Me & Mia” by Ted Leo & The Pharmacists (plus “Colleen”)
2. “Allison” by Elvis Costello (plus “Veronica”)
3. “Sweet Jane” by the Velvet Underground (plus “Candy Says,” “Lisa Says” and “Stephanie Says”)
4. “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker” by The Ramones (plus “Suzy Is a Headbanger,” “Judy is a Punk” and ”Heidi Is a Headcase”)
5. “Proud Mary” by Creedence Clearwater Revival (and wonderfully covered by Ike & Tina Turner)

1. Go Places (from the album “Challengers”)

2. Mutiny, I Promise You (from the album “Challengers”)

3. To Wild Homes (from the album “Mass Romantic”)

4. Use It (from the album “Twin Cinemas”)

5. All For Swinging You Around (from the album “Electric Version”)

On Tuesday The New Pornographers will release their fifth studio album “Together” and I couldn’t be more excited.  I’ve been following them since their first album and they just seem to get better as they go on.  Each album is filled with some of the smartest rock around songs filled with twists and turns and more hooks than any song should be able to handle.  The lyrics at first glance seem to be filled with non-sequiturs but the words seem to be chosen for their sounds than their meanings.  Everything is put together to keep you bopping your head in time with the song, even if the songs change their rhythm halfway through.

Putting together this list of only five songs from their fifty-one was pretty hard and I’m thinking that after Tuesday it will be even harder.  As I listen to albums I always wind up turning up the volume with each song so that I can hear it a little bit better and louder, but these were the songs that threaten to blow my speakers out.

After I’ve had time to properly digest Together, I’ll get to see them live when they play Oakland’s Fox Theater in July.  I’ve seen the group play a few songs at Amoeba Records when “Twin Cinemas” came out but this will be the first time I get to see their show.  They’re the last of my favorite currently performing bands that I haven’t seen live so I can soon add them to the list of Rage Against The Machine, the White Stripes, Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, Gorillaz.