Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesFriday MP3 Shuffle: Happy Birthday Alex Van Halen Edition

Today we wish a very Happy Birthday to Alex Van Halen, drummer of the band that bears his name. Alex doesn't get mentioned in musical anecdotes nearly as much as his band mates, which is understandable considering he shared a stage with David Lee Roth, the textbook obnoxious/mesmerizing front man, brother Eddie, the electric guitar innovator, and Michael Anthony, the charasmatic bass player whose backing vocals were in retrospect quite critical in getting Roth's lead vocals across. Alex’s distinctive drum kit sound powered the band to the pinnacle of the Rock world between 1978 and 1984 with albums that included Van Halen, Van Halen II, Diver Down, and, natch, 1984. The band’s longevity and high-profile lineup changes may have worked against their legacy as one of the groups that showed just how big (and sucessful) Hard Rock music could get. They’re still together, though, with Roth returning to the fold after a long absence, Eddie’s son Wolfgang handling bass duties, and Alex still laying down the beat. So give the drummer some and say Happy Birthday by pressing the “shuffle” button on your MP3 player and sharing the first 10 songs you hear:

1. “G. Bruno” by Xeno and Oaklander (Par Avion) - A cross between blippy experimental electronica and Club Neo-worthy dancy Post-Punk. One genre sustains the other.

2. “Crystal Clear” by His Clancyness (Vicious) - A total fakeout of an album title, the songs here are gentle and flowing, with just a little bit of electrical bite to the mostly accoustic arrangements

3. “Sophia” by High Places (Original Colors) - A brooding, thumping trance excursion to bliss out to

4. “You Can Count on Me” (Live at Governor’s Island) by Panda Bear - A live version of a rough draft of a song that would end up on Tomboy. Surprisingly spare for a musician who likes complexity

5. “Can We Talk?” by Tevin Campbell - One of the New Jack Swing-era child acts of the early '90s who almost made it big before he gave up RnB at a young age to focus on Gospel singing

6. “Gone for Good (Featuring Corin Tucker)” by Blue Giant (Blue Giant) - Country-Pop balladry from an alt-folk-psych outfit. One review I read of this album stated that Blue Giant's sound is to Country to how Cracker Barrel is to southern food, because one could not possibly get a good meal at Cracker Barrel, apparently.

7. “Slipstream” by The Bright Light Social Hour (Space Is Still the Place) - This is an album that’s 99% sure to end up on my Best Of list for 2015. Psych-Rock with a fantastic guitar sound

8. “One in Seven Billion Girl” by The Phenomenauts (Escape Velocity)  - An album that's on my Best of List for 2014. Straight-up Rockin' Happy Music!

9. “Need a Man Blues “by Bronski Beat (The Age of Consent) -  Jimmy Somervile takes a turn at traditional Blues vocal stylings, and the synth-Pop arrangement follows along with quiet, subtlely swinging waves of beats and notes

10. “Kingdom Come” by Cody and the Gateway Drugs (Songs for the New Depression) - The kind of Modern-day protest music that's not heard much anymore. CSN would approve, though

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