Swinging Singles Club MN

 Yes and no. 2006 - Mondays in Spaceland The recorded swan song for Sean Na Na was this live document of a show in Los Angeles at Spaceland on August 7, 2006. These days Sean Tillman makes bank with Har Mar Superstar and more power to him. He's got the voice to do it. But I do love this stuff. I did get to see them sometime in the last couple of years when Sean Na Na did a one off thing at Palmer's Bar on the West Bank. That made me happy.

  Sigh. I'm going to have to put all of these albums back on my phone.  They've been a constant on there for years as it is. But as the days shorten and I head for six months in the Kingdom of Darkness that is working overnights, this is hitting me hard tonight. 2006 - Family Trees or CoPe We Must If you liked the last one. You'll like this one just as much. I can't say much more.  And I won't.

 Seriously.    2001 - My Majesty No seriously, the opening salvo on "My Majesty" is a fucking great song of rejection called "Double Date" that should have been a hit despite the serious darkness of the lyric. But that's one song on an album that should have made Sean Na Na an indie darling.  But the tip of the musical iceberg. I could go track by track, but I won't. This is the sound of band that's fully matured into themselves. Everything done with confidence and chutzpah. Sounds like every song was written and honed on a long ass road trip before being recorded.

 More of the same. More of the same quality. 2000 - Return of the Unicorn Yeah, more heartbreak and minor chords and words and the second release in the inaugural year of the 21st Century. "This bag of weed is making me fat and lazy...." starts "Daddy Looks Dead in his Lawn Chair". Could be the theme song for 2020...

  The cat is hungry and is doing the sitting on the table beside the desk and staring, but not staring at me thing.  I also kind of want another cup of coffee. Maybe I just type less.   2000 -  Dance 'til your Baby is a Man   The album kicks off with the song "Unicorns" which is a sad tale of sexual dysfunction. (Remember the "Mezcal" single cover?)    The whole thing is otherwise all minor chords and sad tales of longing and sexual frustration.  I feel like I've lived a lot of this album. It ends with a song called "Little Leaning Tower" which bookends things. (though locally Leaning Tower is also the name of a pizza place in South Minneapolis which has a small bar that lots of people misspent their time at.) But I especially like the slow ballad "Cha Cha Cha" on this one. "... It's time to wow the two  giggly girls you've seen in your classes One is named Kitten. And one has cat's glasses..."

  I'm lumping them onto one post because I can and they're all from about the same time.     1999 - Sean Na Na/Lucky Jeremy A nice split with Lucky Jeremy (aka Jeremy Allen) who wrote "My Old France" which Sean Na-Na closed out the split with Mary Lou Lord with. He also played keys in Sean na na. So there's that too.   1999 - Mezcal More bittersweet pop songs pressed onto seven inches of black vinyl. The cover has unicorns on it. That's some symbolism. 2000 - Sean Tillman is a Fucking Star Here's a little bonus. It's a rare solo bit by Sean Tillman as himself. Lo-fi piano based for the A-side. B-side is an acapella rendition of a Boyz II Men tune . Consider yourself warned. But which could be the first inkling of his forthcoming R&B ambitions that would become Har Mar Superstar.  

  So those blueberry corn muffins came out pretty nice. Not as sweet in the end than the batter would have suggested, but tasty as fuck. So I take that as a win. I also hope that you kids out there in the interwebs have noticed that I've staggered the posts here with the regular flavor SSC so that there's essentially something new every couple days between the two. I have way too much music... Which leads us to today. This is a personal favorite that I have no shame in saying is a personal favorite. The biggest struggle I've had tonight is figuring out how to split these things up.  I kind of settled on seven posts. This is the first.   1998 - ...And his Baby Blue   This is where the wonderfully named Sean Na Na story starts.   This being the first thing released by Sean Tillman following the disillusion of his previous band Calvin Krime .   Now where Calvin Krime was more of a punk rock screamo type outfit, the new guise as Sean Na-Na is all about bitter p...