silence is a rhythm too

Tuesday 9/30
I got an e-mail update from flaminglips.com today with all of the details of their upcoming November 18th releases. The EP entitled Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell features seven new tracks...
  • Assassination Of The Sun
  • I'm A Fly In A Sunbeam (Following The Funeral Procession Of A Stranger)
  • Sunship Balloons
  • Do You Realize?? (T.P.S. Mix - by Jimmy Tamborello from The Postal Service)
  • Ego Tripping (Ego In Acceleration) [Jason Bentley Remix]
  • Ego Tripping (Self-Administration With Blow-Up) [Cilione & Camaione "Blow-Up" version]
  • A Chance At Christmas (Say It Isn't So)

    The same day see the CD / DVD release of Yoshimi. The bonus DVD features the album in 5.1 Surround Sound plus six rare audio tracks and ten video clips:
    Audio:
  • Up Above The Daily Hum
  • Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1 (Japanese Version)
  • If I Go Mad (Funeral In My Head)
  • Do You Realize?? (Floating In Space Remix Edit)
  • Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1 (AOL Sessions)
  • Do You Realize?? (CD 101 Version)

    Video:
  • Do You Realize?? (Mark Pellington Version)
  • Do You Realize?? (Wayne Coyne, Bradley Beesley, George Salisbury Version)
  • Making of the "Do You Realize??" video
  • Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1
  • Making of the Yoshimi Video
  • Fight Test
  • Phoebe Battles The Pink Robots
  • Christmas On Mars (Movie Trailer)
  • Making of the Yoshimi DVD-A
  • Are You A Hypnotist?? (George's Photogenic Stimulation Theory #1134)

    Now that's some tasty gotta-have-it shit!

    New releases today...the Chemical Brothers' Singles 1993 - 03, which comes as a 2 CD set with a bonus disc of rarities, b-sides and live tracks. Also out is the new LFO album Sheath on Warp Records, a reissue of Crowded House's Recurring Dream (a greatest hits collection) with a bonus DVD, the Jayhawks' Live From The Women's Club and 4 classic Santana records from the '70's - Caravanserai, Moonflower, Welcome and Love Devotion Surrender (with John McLaughlin). My folks used to listen to those albums, and I remember them pretty well, so I think I'm going to have to pick up a couple of 'em. As always, happy shopping!


    Monday 9/29
    Matthew Herbert is a man of many musical guises, best known as Herbert and Dr.Rockit. These two projects are very different - the former being deep, glitchy house music made with a masterful blend of glitchy house rhythms, found sounds and jazzy, lush organic instrumentation and vocals, while the latter is quirky leftfield downtempo stuff. With the release of Goodbye Swingtime by The Matthew Herbert Big Band he moves into the realm of big band jazz, and it's fantastic. It's a very modern take on the style, and yes, it's still has a lot of the found sound and glitchiness stuff mixed in. It really swings on the uptempo tracks, and there are some lovely ballads. Dani Siciliano, Jamie Lidell and Arto Lindsay handle the vocals, and Plaid help out on a track too. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but am very pleased with what it is.
    The packaging is also amazing. It's a glossy, padded book cover, which when you open it up is filled with pages of beautiful cut-out silhouettes of a city scape, trees, and people. On the back of each page are the song credits, each with a list of sound sources. It's a very entertaining and informative read - Herbert is a big political activist, and his sources reflect it. The track The Three W's includes the sound of the typing of the url for http://www.soaw.org (the School Of The Americas watch website) as well as the sound of printing pages from the website. Misprints features the sound of newspaper clippings about Iraq from around the world, shaped into instruments and filled with popcorn, rice and foreign coins. There are also tracks that reference Noam Chomsky and Michael Moore. It sounds like it might be a little too weighty for it's own good, but it isn't - he injects enough humor into things to keep it interesting.

    French duo Air are readying their new album Talkie Walkie , due for a US release on January 27th. Michel Colombier, best known for his work with Serge Gainsbourg, has done a bunch of string arrangements for the record. There are also no guest vocalists on the record, with the band handling all of the vocals themselves. After the mixed results for the last record it will be interesting to hear what they've come up with this time.


    Sunday 9/28
    Time For Football
    Yes, it's Sunday evening and the Vikings have gone 4 - 0. They pasted the 49'ers today, final score 35 - 7. For a lot of people this game was the first real test for the Vikes, as all of their prior 3 wins were against their admittedly weak division rivals. The 49'ers were coming off of 2 last minute losses, and those were games they should've won. Vikes QB Duante Culpepper sat the game out with broken bones in his back, and back up journeyman Gus Frerotte proceeded to light up the dome with a bunch of beautiful passes to Randy Moss. By the half the game was over. For me (and a lot of others too) the big news with the Vikes this year is that they have defense - and pretty good defense too, with several more interceptions today. This is a big difference maker in the NFL, and it is obviously helping the Purple get the win. And to top all of this off, I won the football pool again. That puts me at 2 - 2 for the season to date...not too shabby!


    Saturday 9/27
    A few more records that have started sinking in and thus merit mentioning here...
    Sondre Lerche's new EP Don't Be Shallow is 4 new songs and 4 live songs. Now ordinarily live tracks are not what I'm after, and I wasn't too thrilled to see so many on here, but I have to say that these stripped down renditions of songs from the album are fab. Hearing him sing Dead Passengers & You Know So Well with just his guitar for accompaniment is great, and is a testiment to how good the songs are, and how well I like his guitar playing. The four new tunes ain't too bad either!

    Swell have been around for over ten years, and they hit their peak for me in 1994 with the 41 album. I saw them live that year with Madder Rose - a show that both my bro and I remember with much fondness - and they rocked (as did Madder Rose). I continued to pick up their records, and their latest Whenever You're Ready is out now. The record is great, which is good news because I had almost given up on them. This record is full of catchy songs, and their low-key, lots-of-strummy-guitar style is pretty unique - a bit of Velvet Underground here and a bit of the Talkingheads (pre-Fear of Music) is in there too. Welcome back!


    Friday 9/26
    RIP Robert Palmer, age 54, from a heart attack. What a trip.

    The Polyphonic Spree have a new EP out next week, Light & Day. You've heard the song in the VW ad, and it's been re-recorded for the EP. Also on it are the previously unreleased song The March and a Stereolab remix of Soldier Girl


    Wednesday 9/24
    Ima Robot are obviously this week's big buzz band. Six of the last twenty search engine referrals to this site have been looking for Robot related info. After a few days listening, I admit to having much love for the album. It rocks like Devo, the Cars, The Buzzcocks, Geddy Lee and Hot Hot Heat all shook up. Some of the tunes are pretty memorable - Let's Talk Turkey, Dynomite and Black Jettas are great, the latter about "ex-girlfriends in black Jettas" stalking the singer. I played it at my bar gig the other night and sparked a big debate among several patrons as to what the band was singing (black Jedis?), so obviously something is working in the band's favor. I don't know how much lasting power it will have, but it's definitely my favorite record this week.

    New mp3s today...Kevin Shields' City Girl is like having a new My Bloody Valentine song - pretty damn good. The Rolling Stones need no introduction - the Neptunes radio edit is where it's at, and now you don't have to go buy the whole single! The Roots track (with Cody ChestnuTT on vocals) is just a great tune with a killer guitar riff - nuff said. Finally, this week's oldie is from the Mutant Disco compilation. and is funky chanteuse Lizzy Mercier Descloux. Get your groove on to this one.


    Tuesday 9/23
    It's twenty after nine in the evening and this is the first chance I've had all day to do anything here. I bought a pile of new tunes today, and haven't even had a chance to sift through all of them yet. I did listen to the remix EP for The Rolling Stones' Sympathy For The Devil - The Neptunes remix (which is the one I wanted to hear the most) is OK - the shorter version has a bit more boom to it. The Fatboy Slim is just another Fatboy remix - I think he needs to try something different, as he's shown the ability to do over the last 15 years or so with all of his different projects. The Fatboy sound is just played out. The other remix is by Full Phatt and is so-so. Verdict? Download the Neptunes remixes.

    I also had quick spin throughs of the new Outkast - it's going to take a few listens, but some of it crazy next level shit. The biggest score of the day for me was the Ze Records remastered reissue of the classic compilation Mutant Disco. Originally a single LP, it's expanded to two discs, and features classic cuts from Was (Not Was), Kid Creole, James White & the Blacks, Cristina, Lizzy Mercier Descloux, The Waitresses and a bunch more. Funky, edgy stuff that is pretty much the inspiration for what Trevor Jackson does with Playgroup - so much so that Output Recordings, his UK label, has the UK license to distribute the Ze back catalog that's in the process of being reissued. Now if only some label here in the US would get on the ball and do it too...


    Monday 9/22
    A few recent purchases have finally had enough listens to sink in. Lost In Translation is the soundtrack to the movie, and was of interest to me because of 4 new tracks from Kevin Shields. 3 of them are short instrumental interludes, but the song City Girl is as close to a My Bloody Valentine song as you're going to get - a nice fuzzy-drony rock track. The rest of the soundtrack is fleshed out with new tracks from Air and Brian Reitzell & Roger Manning Jr. There are also oldies from Death In Vegas, The Jesus And Mary Chain, Phoenix and My Bloody Valentine. Also worth noting is the hidden track at the end, which is Bill Murray doing Roxy Music's More Than This in a karaoke bar - very funny.

    Spiritualized's new LP Amazing Grace is fantastic. Opening with two rocking uptempo tracks, the songs are hooky and full of raging feedback. There are the usual slow burners with nice touches - the horns on The Power And The Glory, the gospel choir on Lord Let It Rain On Me - but the thing that really makes it work is this; it was recorded in a very short time span, and so there's no over production. As much as I like this band's last few records, it's refreshing to hear them sound rawer. Some of it reminds me a bit of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - I really dig their new album Take Them On, On Your Own. They do the Jesus & Mary Chain thing better than most. I like that the songs on both of these records are shorter than usual - both of these bands can get a bit too drony, but here it's kept to a minimum. Good stuff.

    Time For Football
    Can you say 3 - 0 ? Yes, the Vikings beat the Lions to stay undefeated. They had me worried a couple of times - 11 penalties are also not too good, but they made it out of Motor City with a win. They are the 10th team in NFL history to start the season with 3 consecutive wins against their division, which will help come playoff time. The Packers losing to the Arizona Cardinals in the desert helps us a great deal too....ha ha ha! Next up for the Vikes are the 49'ers, a game I was a little worried about until I saw how the Browns came back and beat 'em. Still, it's going to be the toughest challenge of the season so far.


    Saturday 9/20
    I did a little music shopping today, picking up a couple of cool import CD singles...the Dandy Warhols' single for You Were The Last High has 2 interesting remixes on it, one for We Used To Be Friends and the other for Every Day Should Be A Holiday. It occurred to me that back in the day when their Come Down album came out (with Every Day Should Be A Holiday on it) I thought that song sounded an awful lot like Duran Duran - how ironic then that they rope in Nick Rhodes and Simon le Bon to help out on their latest! The other single is for the Playgroup track Make It Happen - with excellent mixes by Soulwax (a very rock oriented mix) and Zongamin.

    I also picked up the new self titled record by Ima Robot. I had read a review that compared them to Grandaddy - what a load of crap! They have a much harder rocking sound, very post punk with some nice electronic touches. Vocalist Alex Ebert has the perfect new wave voice, and the band rock. They are currently on tour with Hot Hot Heat, and that is a more appropriate band to compare them to. I'm checking the sleeve credits and am amazed to see both Joey Waronker (drums) and Justin Meldal-Johnsen (bass) from Beck's band on it - these guys reallly get around! Anyway, after 2 plays I can say that I like it - my only complaint is that it's not even 40 minutes long. Oh yeah, it's cheap too!


    Friday 9/19
    Time For Football
    I finished 10 - 6 last weekend in the football pool - only one game away from the eventual winning score of 11- 5. My Vikings held on against the Chicago Bears, rushed for 188 yards and won the game to go 2 - 0. This weekend we are at the Detroit Lions - a game the Vikes should win, and I picked 'em. We'll see how it goes.

    And now back to the music...
    The upcoming week is a big one for new releases, with records dropping from...
    Outkast (Speakerboxx : The Love Below), LFO (Sheath), The Bangles (Doll Revolution), South (With The Tides), Matmos (The Civil War), Sondre Lerche (Don't Be Shallow EP) and Meat Beat Manifesto (Storm The Studio R.M.X.S.)

    Some good (for me) news from Matador Records... On January 20, Matador will be releasing the Cornelius DVD, Five Point One by Cornelius, From Nakameguro To Everywhere, featuring videos for the following tracks;
  • Point Of View Point
  • Smoke
  • Drop
  • Drop - Do It Again
  • Another View Point
  • Bird Watching At Inner Forest
  • I Hate Hate
  • Fly
  • Tone Twilight Zone
  • From Nakameguro To Everywhere
    The DVD will be packaged with a 12 track CD, PM (Point Mixes). The CD features the results of the contest hosted by Cornelius-Sound and Matador last autumn in which participants were invited to remix the tracks from 2002's 'Point' album.


    Wednesday 9/17
    The Flaming Lips are back in the studio working on a couple of new songs and some remixes (one by Peaches!) that should see the light of day later this year on an EP. New music from the Lips is always welcome...

    New mp3s today....the Ulrich Schnauss is my fave track from the album - blissed out rockin' ambience. The Stills track is post-punk tastiness, with a bassline lifted straight from Public Image's This Is Not A Love Song. Radio 4's track is a remix by the most excellent Playgroup, and The Dramatics' tune is this week's soulful oldie. Enjoy!

    David Bowie will be doing a US tour this November, with superfreak Macy Gray as the opening act. Now that's an interesting double bill! (January 11 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.)

    Not content to fake tongue kiss at the MTV VMAs, Britney Spears has roped Madonna in to sing on her new single Me Against The Music, a song that she debuted on the NFL kick off show last week.


    Tuesday 9/16
    Interpol are getting ready to go into the studio to record the follow-up to their fab debut. It's about time! Also look for the British single for Obstacle 1 which includes an Arthur Baker remix of the song. I'll be looking for that one.

    ZWAN are no more.

    If you live in Neww York, mark Oct.4 on your calendars and check out this lineup including Out Hud, 2 Many DJ's, Radio 4, UNKLE and Dan "The Automator" Nakamura's Head Automatica and Handsome Boy Modeling School. Sounds like an awfully fun show!


    Monday 9/15
    RIP Charles B. - my wife's father, grandfather to my daughter and my father-in-law passed away in his sleep last night after a long battle with a variety of conditions. He will be sorely missed, and our hearts are very heavy today. There probably won't be much updating around here this week while we try to close out this chapter in our lives...

    Sunday 9/14
    Class of 2004 / Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame nominees. The first timers this year include local boy done good Prince, George Harrison, Jackson Brown and John Mellencamp. The Sex Pistols, Patti Smith, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Black Sabbath and Gram Parsons are all back from last year's ballot. Also up are the Dells, the "5" Royales, Bob Seger, the Stooges, Traffic and ZZ Top. I wonder if the Artist Formerly Known As And Now Known Again As Prince will make it the first time around...

    My daughter's current favorites....
  • Black Eyed Peas' Where Is The Love?
  • Blur's Crazy Beat
  • ANYTHING BY BEYONCÉ - songs, videos, TV ads, movie trailers, movies, you name it, if she's in it my kid is mesmerized.
  • Fountains Of Wayne's Stacy's Mom
  • Madonna's Hollywood

    She also really digs !!!, Gary Numan, and this week has been learning about The Human League. Music 101 has begun...

    Time For Football
    Last week I won the first football pool of the year. As some of you may have read, I picked the Vikings to win, which they did, and that helped me greatly in going 13-3 to open the season. This weekend's opponents are the Bears at Minnesota - I picked the Vikes again. My upset pick is the 49'ers beating St. Louis - I don't like having to pick either of those teams, but hate the Niners less than the Rams.


    Saturday 9/13
    A few weeks ago my good mate Tony mentioned Ulrich Schnauss' name and he rekoned it would be something I might enjoy. He and I share a lot of common ground with our music tastes, so when he was talking about how absolutely huge he felt this guy's music is, I knew something must be up. A couple of weeks passed and I'm at my local shopping haunt , and there are the two releases sitting in front of me, 2001's Far Away Trains Passing By and this year's A Strangely Isolated Place. His point of reference for me was Boards Of Canada, and that's not too far from the truth. These two albums have the same gorgeous, lush melancholic melodies - the kind of instrumental tracks that somehow evoke feelings of childhood in me - but are not as dark and spooky, which (as much as I love it) BOC can be on occasion. The beats on these records are also not as abstract as BOC's, and run the gamut from hip hoppish to IDM - there are several tracks that are on a par with what Plaid do. I'm hooked. The first album is a beauty, but the second takes it to a whole other level, incorporating a much more uptempo almost rocking style into the mix. On My Own takes the drop dead gorgeous melody and drops it over a driving electro beat, adds a major post-punk bass riff, and then tops it all off with a massive glob of My Bloody Valentine - all breathy female vocals and wall-of-sound guitars and keys dueling it out. It's fantastic. I've only listened to these records a couple of times each but I am bowled over by them, just like I was the first time I heard BOC's Music Has A Right To Children. I know little about the guy - even Google couldn't really help - but I am on a mission to find out more.


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