It’s Friday night. Chances are you’re reading this while taking it easy at home after a stressful week of work (it is the holiday season, after all) or ingesting a few cocktails at your favorite local establishment. So, what better way to wind down than by taking in a beautiful song by everybody’s favorite Georgians, R.E.M?

R.E.M. — Man On the Moon (featuring Eddie Vedder)

P.S. I’m going to try and stop posting so many Pearl Jam-related videos on here, I swear. I just wouldn’t be a true Washingtonian if I didn’t constantly profess my love for that band.

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As promised, here is my critique on Rolling Stone’s ridiculous excuse for a 100 Greatest Singers of All Time list. I’m concentrating on those singers I feel were either overrated, slighted, or wrongly omitted from the list altogether.

Overrated

No. 7: Bob Dylan — That’s right, I said it. Bob Dylan is not a good singer. Great songwriter (maybe best ever), but the man’s voice is an absolute chore to listen to — especially in the early years of his career. It’s so bad that I basically collect Dylan tribute records so I can hear those great songs with singers that can do them justice.

No. 36: Bruce Springsteen — Same deal as above. He’s still the Boss, but have you ever listened to “Born to Run?” It’s quite painful.

No. 37: Neil Young — Of all the artists on my MP3 player, Uncle Neil might get the most plays. But that in no way means he can sing — and he knows it. In fact, I think that’s part of his charm. I doubt Canada’s greatest gift to the world himself even thinks he deserves to be this high on the list. And another thing — how does he make it on the list, while his buddies in CSNY get left off?

No. 45: Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) — Do I even need to explain? Another guy whose lack of ability was part of his charm

No. 58: Christina Aguilera — Just because you can go “Whoa-ooh-oh-ooh-oh-ooh-oh-oh” for 30 seconds doesn’t mean you’re a great singer. Unfortunately, it does mean that you can prance around in next to nothing on TV and become a kajillionaire. America — where dreams come true!

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Being that I am a complete freak for musical knowledge, I was pretty happy to see my copy of Rolling Stone show up in the mailbox last week with a cover story on the top 100 singers of all time. Even better, there are four different covers out there — one each of Aretha, Elvis, Dylan, and Lennon — and I just so happened to get Lennon on mine, which is exactly what I was hoping for (if there’s a choice, always go Beatles). But all that excitement and jubilation quickly subsided when I started looking through the list.

Bobby D all the way up at seven? Robert Plant down at 15? Johnny Cash missing the top 20? The Boss and Uncle Neil back-to-back at 36 and 37? Kurt Cobain in the top 50? Roger Daltrey falls to 61? No. 76 Steve Perry (!?!). And to top it off, no Eddie Vedder, Chris Cornell or Layne Staley — a total slap in the face to my favorite scene of all time.

Is it April 1 already? I mean, they have to be joking, right?

Don’t get me wrong — I have no problem with the pick of Aretha at No. 1. She wouldn’t have been my pick, but that’s because my mind is so rock-centric. The problem is, after her and Ray Charles at No. 2, the picks seem to stop concentrating on the best singers. It’s not the best songwriters of all-time (that’s how Dylan, Neil, and Springsteen snuck in), or the most popular singers of all time (Cobain, Perry, No. 58 Christina Aguilera); it’s the BEST SINGERS of all-time.

Go ahead and peruse the list to get an idea of what I’m talking about. I’ll be back tomorrow with a look at some of the picks that went awry.

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Oh yes, my friends, guitar is alive and well. And you can thank the Black Keys for that.

The heavy blues duo of guitarist/singer Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney has been around since 2001, spending most of their time out White Stripes-ing the White Stripes. While Jack and Meg White may have been the first of the latest wave of guitar-drum combos, the Keys are the first of those duos to make you forget that bass is a normal component of a rock band.

Auerbach has two settings he switches between — heavy and heavier (it makes sense, because otherwise he’d never be heard over Carney’s caveman-strength drum style). He’s also a straight-up riff master, and once he throws those garaged-up, Zeppelin-influenced riffs on top of the drums, it makes for the best blues-based music since SRV.

The Keys can sound like they belong in the late 60s British blues boom. They can sound like the last disciples of Muddy Waters. Or they can sound like Son House with a fuzz box. But when it comes down to it, the Black Keys sound like the band that proved to the world that there is still an untapped reserve of blues yet to be unleashed.

Blues is not dead. Long live the blues. And long live the Black Keys.

The Black Keys - I Got Mine

More Black Keys: “Stack Shot Billy,” “Your Touch,” “10 AM Automatic”

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Words do not do Shim justice. Only Shim can do Shim justice.

Shim is, quite simply, the best independent band I’ve ever heard. At this year’s Bumbershoot, I caught their set and was completely blown away (as reported in this here blog post by Travis Hay) at the power of their rocktitude. And the best part? They’re from Wenatchee. Yup, that’s right. The band that may hold the future of rock and roll in its hands is three-quarters born and bred in the Valley.

But that’s not why Shim rocks. Shim rocks because that’s all Shim knows to do. The Seattle-based band’s latest self-produced record Feel Like A King is absolutely chock full of rifftastic rock that gives AC/DC a run for it’s money. “Animal” and “You Walked In Like You Owned the Place” both sport fun shout-along choruses, “The Highway” is (appropriately) a perfect driving song, and “We Got Guns” is purely menacing. It’s very rare for an “indie” band to put out a quality record from front to back, but Shim has put together one of those rare albums that is void of a skipable song (Zeppelin II-style).

Lucky for people like myself, Shim has no problem breaking out a solo or two, with co-guitarists/vocalists Ragan Crowe and Mike Notter both capable of tickling the tiny strings with great proficiency. “Little Girl” sees them trading licks like they’re the new Thin Lizzy, “Made For This World” waits just long enough to unearth its screeching solo, and the harmonized leads on “The Highway” sound like Iron Maiden with a touch of the blues.

Crowe and Notter also switch off on vocals, and since they both have similar timbres to their voices, they pleasantly harmonize with regularity.

Shim’s debut In the Veins also boasts some quality tracks, like the aggressive “Satisfied” and the pounding “Man From the Desert,” but some songs lean too far on the 80s metal-side for myself.

If hard rock is your bag, Shim is probably your new favorite band. At least that was the case for me.

Shim - Satisfied

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It was all well and good when Billy Corgan got his pasty shaved head back in the ring with his “reformed” Smashing Pumpkins a couple of years back, but it wasn’t really necessary. Silversun Pickups had already picked up where the Pumpkins had left off years before.

Boasting a lineup of a charismatic frontman, tall female bassist, and hard-hitting drummer (sound familar?), the Pickups hit the scene in 2006 with the Pumpkins-esque “Carnavas,” blasting out melancholy (and radio-ready) tunes like “Lazy Eye” and “Well Thought-Out Twinkles.”

While it’s evident that drummer Christopher Guanlao’s wreckless style is mostly responsible for giving the band its punch, the mix of Nikki Monniger’s jumpy bass lines and singer/guitarist Brian Aubert’s chord structures give Silversun Pickups a nice melodic backbone.

Aubert usually sets his hollow-body Epiphone/Fender amp combo to “fuzztastic” (likely with the help of this thing), making SSPU sound like the long-lost cousin of the Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, and Dinosaur Jr. — the holy triumvirate of guitar-heavy alternative rock.

Sadly, like most new bands, Silversun Pickups are not prone to guitar soloing, although Aubert does take plenty of breaks to elicit some fun squeals from his amp.

*Rant alert* Remember when people complained that the death of the guitar solo came from the grunge bands? Well, they were dead wrong (seriously, every grunge band LOVED to solo — even Nirvana). Sadly, sometime between the early 90s and now, the solo did take a huge hit. I’m not sure when, or why, but it’s still quite clear that — unless the music is blues-based or boring, formulaic metal — the solo is dying out in rock music. I blame the indie-rock “phenomenon.” And short haircuts. *End rant*

Silversun Pickups - Well Thought Out Twinkles

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Alright, it’s time to get local.

The Hands are a delightful group straight out of Seattle that want to remind you that Stones-ey R&B will never (… ever) go out of style. And that means there’s always plenty of guitar to go around.

I first encountered the Hands when resident music geek Travis Hay dragged me to their early-afternoon set at the Capitol Hill Block Party in July. From the first chords of the 10-minute-plus three-song suite of “Wade In the Water,” “Lord’s Gonna Trouble,” and “Knife” to open their set, I knew Travis had not steered me wrong (as usual).

Quite simply, the Hands are a blast. Their debut self-titled LP sounds like a battle between the Stooges and the Stones, with the winner being the listener. On “Lies Lies Lies,” the lead singer does his best Jagger impression (especially with the line “Bury my body in the dirt, and tell me tell me tell me that it’s gonna hurt”), while the guitarists give their best try at being Ron Asheton and Keef at the same time. “We Got Nothing” is a garage rock raver, and “Praying Hands Make Fists” is a punky anthem with a shout-along chorus.

But what makes the Hands such a promising guitar band is the aforementioned suite of “Wade In the Water,” “Lord’s Gonna Trouble,” and “Knife,” which closes out the record. It’s the blues-rock answer to the Beatles’ Abbey Road-ending suite — it just came about 39 years too late.

The lead work of the Hands is much like anything you hear from talented garage bands, but what else would you want? The solos are fast and ferocious, and they come and go in about 15 seconds. And that’s all they need to make their point.

Top right photo from The Hands’ MySpace

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Preface: As I started compiling the most promising guitar bands, I came about a couple quandaries. First, what are my criteria? And second, do I know enough promising guitar bands to make a list?

Well, I haven’t quite come up with a definite answer to the first question, but after looking at my list, I’ll just say the bands can’t have yet run a headlining arena tour, or played on Saturday Night Live. But those criteria can be waved if the band has a kazoo player, because who takes a kazoo-playing band seriously?

And for the second question, the answer is “Yes. Barely,” because I clearly don’t listen to enough “new” music. So, I decided to take the word “most” out of the title.

Alright, that’s enough chitter-chatter. Let’s get to business.

Blitzen Trapper

So, let’s say you take Pavement, throw in a dash of the Allmans, and top it off with a little bit of Uncles Neil and Bob. Now what do we have?

Turns out we’ve got Portland’s own Blitzen Trapper.

Currently on the rise with its Sub Pop debut Furr (check out my colleague Abby Holmes’ review here),  Blitz Trapp (as I like to call them) are flying the Freak Folk flag higher than any band out there right now (say that 10 times fast).

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After that awesome Nightwatchman show I attended on Monday, it’s been a pretty quiet week in Tiny String Land. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t got anything left to say.

First off, I would like to direct your attention to Tiny Strings on the YouTube. It’s nothing fancy or anything — just a spot where you can find all the videos I’ll ever link to on the blog in one clean and tidy space. And yes, that means even the video for that horrible Extreme song I made fun of is on there.

In more pressing matters, next week I’ll get back into countdown mode for — you ready? —  The Five Most Promising New Guitar Bands. Yeah, it’s going to be a good time.

Now I’ll leave you with a lovely little video of Wilco. Why? Because they’re awesome. And because Nels Cline plays a pretty jazzeriffic solo from around the 2:50 mark through the rest of the song.

Wilco - Impossible Germany

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For those of you who thought Tom Morello’s recent foray into folk as The Nightwatchman meant he forgot how to rock, I’ve got news for you: The man is rocking as hard as ever.

On the eve of election day, the Rage Against the Machine guitarist congregated with both Pearl Jam axmen — Mike McCready and his Jimi Hendrix tribute band Shadow ‘86, and Stone Gossard backed by the Hank Khoir —  for a special “Get Out the Vote” show. The event had an air of importance, as it even attracted Washington governor Christine Gregoire, but in the end the point was clear: Rock out tonight, vote tomorrow.

And rock out we did.

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