Tom Waits on Fallon

A night after Tom Waits cruised through "Chicago," the opener from his latest album Bad As Me on The Late Show with David Letterman, the grizzled crooner made another NY stop on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Before his performance of "Raised Right Men," Waits sat down with Fallon for a short interview. You can check both out below.

Tom Waits on Letterman

In the first of two giant performances from last night, Tom Waits performed the standout track from last year's Bad As Me, "Chicago." Full of jittery pulsations and the classic Tom snarl, it's the scratchy jolt you can only expect of him.

Check it out below.

Bears and Bullets Albums of the Year: Pt. II

We'll continue today with our top 25 countdown with albums #20 through #16.

#20: Tom Waits - Bad As Me
If I told you that Bad As Me starts off like a "roaring train," you'd have every right to disregard whatever I have to say about it. Of course it sounds like a train - it's Tom Waits; the man who in his decades of work has become a physical manifestation of a midnight train and a misty back alley. From "Chicago" to "Hell Broke Luce," Bad As Me sounds in every way like Waits' machination: gritty, plunging yelps pacing an industrial pounce, making you wonder if the world is much worse than you ever thought.

#19: Big K.R.I.T. - Return of 4Eva
Justin Scott, the 25-year-old Mississippi rapper, hasn't totally made it. Building a reputation on free mixtapes, an all-the-more common internet era version of handing out your demo on the corner, Big K.R.I.T.'s biggest moments on Return of 4Eva skip the southern-rap regularity and shine through pitch-perfect sampling (also done by Scott). That being said, "Country Shit" with Ludacris is all too fun to ignore. There's a future here.

#18: Radiohead - The King of Limbs
There's a well-documented subsequent frustration with The King of Limbs. In all, it's hard to say it stacks up well against any of the landmark records the band has put out since their emergence with The Bends in 1995. Going back 16 years on a band that has become crowned the kings of the current era was certainly confounding for some who expect nothing less than titular perfection from the band of evolving (and aging) perfectionists. But for all its retractions (mull vocal styling, length, etc.), Radiohead have yet again pushed through something that doesn't totally replicate anything from their previous years. And once you get yourself past the fact that it's not an awe-inspiring mountain of perfection, there's definite value that goes over head.

#17: The Roots - Undun
The latest entrant in the list, The Roots have to be forgiven for what could be called a "tired" pass. Undun, the (almost) concept album of the morally righteous criminal drafted into a world where he doesn't want to belong. You have to forgive it because much like the rest of what the Philadelphia band has crafted since in the late 90s, it comes out too beautifully, too resonating. And those moments come collectively crashing with the band's final movement; a four-song lashing that makes you wonder if there's something more that The Roots can do.

#16: Real Estate - Days
Days  lingers. It comes off like an entrapped memory long distant in those teenage years - the forgetful moments where no one says a word because no one knows what to say. It's a lot to say from Real Estate, who may not come across as anything more than another member of the new class of indie bands worth your attention. The details of Days are hardly profound, but that's part of the backwards endearment. Call it toned-down fuzz rock for anyone who isn't apt to a predictable title, but it's still one of the finer products of 2011.



We'll continue our countdown tomorrow with albums #15-#11 ...

Tuesday Bears: New Tom Waits video - Satisfied

Not enough old-man saloon poetry yelping happening in your backyard? Try Tom Waits' in his new video for "Satisfied," from his latest, spectacular album, Bad As Me. It may not, or ever, be for everyone. In that case, fuck everyone.

Tom Waits - Satisfied

Albums of the Month - October 2011

Albums of the Month - October 2011

Like we started last month, here's how I rank the best albums for the month of October.

3. Real Estate - Days
Since 2009, with the Ridgewood, NJ band's self-titled debut, Real Estate seemed destined for Pitchfork-aura supremacy. With Days, an intrepid trek through the crew's soft lo-fi exteriors, Real Estate confirm they were never a group for the truly visceral at heart. There is, instead, a truly multi-layered scope to the songs, like in the eerily accurate "Wonder Years," with its patterning guitars and soft lulls transgressing seamlessly into the next track - a clever pattern you don't even need 10 songs to notice.

Real Estate - Days (Stream at Insound)

2. Tom Waits - Bad As Me
Tom Waits is in an invincible pantheon. Everything he touches turns into dirty Zatarains gold. With Bad As Me, Waits' first true studio album since 2004's Real Gone, Waits new work is a snarling, spit-stomping (an idea that only exists in Waits World, the most depressing theme park in town) anthem wedged in between the dreary soul four decades into his storied career. There are very, very few, if any, that can touch the level of poetic drag, again and again, that Waits so easily sneers at.

Tom Waits - Bad As Me

1. M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
In some ways, M83 was due. It's not as if Anthony Gonzalez's previous efforts weren't good - they were, very good in fact. But Hurry Up, We're Dreaming had a varying degree of hype surrounding it after Gonzalez three-year in between period. And with everyone's first listen to "Midnight City," the double-album accrued an even higher potential appeal. And what we have is a daunting, 74-minute slow climb of M83-esque haunting beauty immersed in the soft, ethereal atmosphere that was, in a way, expected. Going through each side it's easy so see, for me at least, why it's #1 for October.

M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming (Stream at Insound)

M83 - Midnight City

Tuesday Bears: St. Vincent is everywhere

As September 13, the official release date of St. Vincent's third studio album Strange Mercy inches continually closer, the Dallas-native has been pretty much everywhere; from the cover of this month's SPIN Magazine, performances on Letterman, and numerous spotlights, she's getting her fair share of hype.

Alongside the cover, Annie Clark also gave SPIN a small show which includes "Surgeon" and a cover of Tom Wait's "Tango Till They're Sore," both of which you can watch here. Also, check out her performance of "Cruel" on Letterman below.

St. Vincent - Cruel (Live on Letterman)

Monday Bears: Tom Waits Live

When accumulating a list of living music legends, I tend to categorize my personal preferences to three icons; Iggy Pop, Nick Cave, and Tom Waits. Each are them are at the top of the pantheon of story-tellers in American music (although Cave is Australian) and have extremely lengthy and successful careers to back it up.

Waits, with his notoriously raspy voice and lyrical genius, represents the American sound better than almost anyone today. His noir tales reverberate the creepy, dark, genuine personalities that many of Wait's records, from 1985's Rain Dogs to 1999's Mule Variations, have taken on.

His most recent venture, last year's Glitter and Doom Tour, will be released as an album by Anti- Records November 24. The two-disc will feature some of Wait's classic tracks along with his onstage stories, something Waits has become more and more known for in recent years. The only conflict listening to this is for those who haven't had the privilege of seeing the California-born Waits in person.

Tom Waits - Lucky Day - MP3
Tom Waits - Live Circus - MP3