Your Little Hoodrat Friend

Salon has a section called Audiofile, covering all things music scene. One feature I take advantage of is their Daily Download, which is just that, a sample of music made available for free on the web by artists and labels to promote themselves. I typically listen to each song once, and rarely a song or band grabs my interest. I got introduced to Four Tet and Nouvelle Vague this way.

Now I'm obsessing over a new song I discovered on Salon: Your Little Hoodrat Friend, by The Hold Steady. This song makes me think of a cross between Elvis Costello and The Ramones. That's not really accurate, I'm grasping at a description that somehow does this song justice. I know there's a good fit somewhere in my pop culture trunk, but I can't put my finger on it. If you've got thirty or forty years of musical culture, including some punk, in your history, download this song and give it a listen. Then tell me who it reminds you of.

I've also got their song The Swish, from their first album. As is so often the case, the first song grabs me much more than the second, and a little research indicates that most people think they've got one or two good songs. That's my fate lately, latching onto the One Hit Wonders (I had the same experience with The Tiny).

Oh, and I had to look up hoodrat. Feelin' old, feelin' old.