Strange Currency

1. Chasing Away The Dots -- Mike Coykendall

2. Lambo Doors -- Spirit of the Stairs

3. Tomorrow’s The Day -- The Ants

4. Blak and Blu -- Gary Clark Jr.

5. The Bears For Lunch -- Guided By Voices

6. Celebration Day -- Led Zeppelin

7. An Omen EP -- How To Destroy Angels

8. Grrr! -- The Rolling Stones

9. Wood  -- Widespread Panic

10. For Everyman -- Jackson Browne

1. The Bears For Lunch Guided By Voices
2. Grrr! The Rolling Stones
3. Celebration Day Led Zeppelin
4. Psychedelic Pill Neil Young and Crazy Horse
5. Meat Wave Meat Wave
6. Waka/Jawaka Frank
7. Firefly The Wonder Revolution
8. Wood Widespread Panic
9. Trey Anastasio Trey Anastasio
10. Blak and Blu Gary Clark Jr.

1. Psychedelic Pill Neil Young and Crazy Horse
2. Traveler Trey Anastasio
3. Blak and Blu Gary Clark Jr.
4. The Haunted Man Bat For Lashes
5. Chasing Away The Dots Mike Coykendall
6. Unfinished Business Wanda Jackson
7. The Bears For Lunch Guided By Voices
8. So (expanded edition) Peter Gabriel
9. Harmonicraft Torche
10. Trey Anastasio Trey Anastasio

Formed in 1979 by brothers Bob (guitar) and Tommy (bass) Stinson, guitarist/vocalist Paul Westerberg, and drummer Chris Mars, The Replacements became a band on the fast track to success. By 1980 the group had a contract with the local Twin/Tone label and, by late 1981, its first album.

Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Carlos Santana have long admired Peter Green’s playing and B.B. King once said that there was only one guitarist who gave him “the cold sweats.” Born October 29, 1946, Green would found one of the most successful rock bands of all time, leave behind stardom as part of a spiritual quest, and see his legacy swell in his prolonged absence from the spotlight.

1. Lambo Doors ­­Spirit of the Stairs (6)
2. Charmer­­ Aimee Mann (5)
3. The Condensed 21st Century Guide To King Crimson ­­King Crimson
4. Mystic Pinball­­ John Hiatt (4)
5. The Story of Light­­ Steve Vai (4)
6. Treatment Bound: Ukulele Tribute to The Replacements­­ Bright Little Field
7. Django Django­­ Django Django
8. The Sound of the Life of the Mind­­ Ben Folds Five
9. Thumbsucker­­ Jenny Wood
10. Firefly ­­The Wonder Revolution

1. Tempest ­­Bob Dyla
2. Charmer ­­Aimee Mann
3. Lambo Doors ­­Spirit of the Stairs
4. Domesticated ­­Spirit of the Stairs
5. Mystic Pinball ­­John Hiatt
6. OST: Lawless ­­Various Artists
7. Family ­­The Cast of Cheers
8. Django Django ­­Django Django
9. Firefly ­­The Wonder Revolution
10. The Forgotten Arm ­­Aimee Mann

Formed nearly a decade ago in Wichita, Spirit of the Stairs has consistently evolved in unexpected but always fascinating ways. From its earliest days as a guitarless trio to its current incarnation as a guitar-heavy quintet, the all-instrumental ensemble has never disappointed.

1. Lambo Doors­­ Spirit of the Stairs (Independent)


2. Charmer ­­Aimee Mann Charmer (Super Ego)


3. Silver Age­­ Bob Mould (Merge)


4. Between the Ditches­­ Reverend Peyton¹s Big Damn Band (Side One Dummy)


5. Apologies ­­David Ramirez


6. Tempest­­ Bob Dylan (Columbia)


7. A Thing Called Divine Fits (Merge)


8. OST: Lawless­­ Various Artists (Sony)


9. Ringmaster General­­ Dave Stewart (Surfdog)


10. Firefly­­ The Wonder Revolu

Patti Smith was America’s first punk poet. Influenced by beat writers such as Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs as much as by rock and roll and classic literature­­including French symbolist poets Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud­­Smith’s emergence from the New York punk rock scene of the 1970s ushered in a new era in popular music in which academic intellect and street smarts were equally appealing.