Music Library: Marlee MacLeod, Marmoset, Marnie Stern, Marty Robbins, Marvin Gaye, Marvin Pontiac, Marx Brothers, Mary Black, Masonic

Marlee MacLeod - Drive Too Fast (1993), Favorite Ball & Chain (1995), and Vertigo (1997).  Marlee is a friend of mine and a very cool person, so let me start by saying that I'm sorry I don't have her fourth or fifth album.  I meant to pick them up for a long time, but I never did, and that's a crappy thing to do.  It's my loss more than anyone's, though, because MacLeod is a hell of a great, creative songwriter and a wonderful singer.  These three albums mix some Replacements-ish grit with folky alt-country soul.  Her words and delivery, though, are the real selling point.  She sings about movies and relationships and literature and rootlessness, and she makes you feel it.  I'm sorry that she seems to be semi-retired from music and hope that this changes in the future.  Because she's awesome.

Marmoset - A Marmoset Menagerie (2007).  This is a collection of music by the band Marmoset that eMusic offered as a free download sometime in the past.  They're a pretty good indie rock band, but I haven't pursued their music further.  You can still get it for free here.

Marnie Stern - In Advance Of The Broken Arm (2007) and This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That (2008).  Adding the excesses of guitar heroics to the spazzy and skronky avant-rock of your Hellas and Lightning Bolts, Stern has created a sound that is wholly her own.   She more or less layers parts that many guitarists would consider a kick-ass solo through all of the different movements of her songs while singing and looping and channeling the crazy energy of her band (which is sometimes pre-recorded on an ipod).  Wild, disorienting and completely unique.

Marty Robbins - The Story of My Life: The Best of Marty Robbins 1952-1965.  I have Gunfighter Ballads on vinyl but sadly, have never picked it up for digital consumption.  This collection gathers Robbins's singles from his high period, and they cover a lot of ground, from Hank-esque early tracks to the amazingly happy honky-tonk of "Singing The Blues" to the epoch-making "El Paso" and "Devil Woman."

Marvin Gaye - What's Going On (1971), Let's Get It On (1973), and Here, My Dear (1978).  I am inadequately prepared for the task of talking about Marvin Gaye.  All three of these are famous concept albums, the first one on social ills, the second on the most primal human impulse, the third on what happens to a marriage when a famous, socially conscious soul singer indulges in the most primal human impulse too often with young ladies who are not his wife and his wife decides to leave him and take the royalties to his next album.  All important issues, and with Gaye's production and sultry vocals, all sound sorta sexy.

Marvin Pontiac - The Legendary Marvin Pontiac (1999).  This is John Lurie's idea of a joke.  Lurie is the leader of the downtownish jazz band The Lounge Lizards and an actor who's appeared in a couple of Jim Jarmusch films.  Marvin Pontiac was supposedly an insane African-Jewish musician.  But the music is actually pretty decent, with blues and R&B tracks that have a little life to them.  So there, I guess.

The Marx Brothers - "I'm Against It." Whatever it is, I'm against it.

Mary Black - "My Youngest Son Came Home Today." Folk song with an earnest anti-war message.

Masonic - "Brand New Day." Indie-pop tune from an Austin band that I believe broke up a while back.