silence is a rhythm too
Friday 1/30
Jeez, it's f#$king freezing outside today! The current temp as I write this at 7:47 AM is -24ºF / -41ºC, and with the wind chill factored in its -45ºF/-43ºC. Is that cold or what? It's been a deep freeze this week, and it gets old really quick. I'm over it. Spring can't come quick enough.
Every once in a while I run across a fun way to kill time on the internet. Smack The Penguins is the latest one. Click on the yeti to launch the penguin, then click on the yeti again to get him to swing. Woo-hoo! Sure, it's a little mean spirited, but damn it's fun!
I watched Bands Reunited : The Alarm last night. I was never much of a fan - I always thought they came off as a cheap knock-off of U2 mixed with The Clash and a dash of Simple Minds. I enjoyed the single 68 Guns but that was about it. I never knew the story of how they ended - singer Mike announced he was leaving the band onstage at a gig in Brixton, and after the last song (Blaze Of Glory - as in "he's going out in a..." - how appropriate!) he left and never came back. The band mates obviously were shocked and disappointed. The reunion went pretty well tho', and they also sounded pretty good at the gig. I've been amazed at how these people can pull of a small set after only one practice. Once it's in your blood, it's in you forever. Tonight is the very last episode, Squeeze, and it's only a half an hour long - more than likely means no reunion. Oh well, I'll watch it anyway.
Thursday 1/29
James Brown has been arrested for spousal abuse again - "I feel good...da na na na na na na!"
New mp3s today...
TV On The Radio are my new favorite band this week. Their 5 track EP Young Liars came out last summer (new LP in the next couple of months) and is a fantastically scruffy and lo-fi blend of rock and electronics. Satellite sounds like Peter Gabriel singing over the beats from Wall Of Voodoo's Mexican Radio - fantastic. Mister Grieves many of you will know as a classic tune from the Pixies, except this version is pure accapella/doo-wop - and it works amazingly well. The Notwist's Neon Golden remix is by Console, aka Martin Gretschmann, a member of the Notwist. He takes what is a dreamy, almost blue-grassy tune and pumps up the beats and bass creating a slick disco number. Tasty. Finally, Telefon Tel Aviv's My Week Beats Your Year is another uptempo electro flavored tune with vocals - I love the drums on this! Enjoy.
Wednesday 1/28
I did not get to see the whole episode of Bands Reunited : Kajagoogoo on Monday night - I taped the second half and finally got a chance to see it last night. It was great, and really made me feel warm and fuzzy. You could see that the members of the band were thrilled, and that the years of acrimony between Limahl and the rest of 'em was slowly melting away. They sounded good considering the drummer hadn't played in like 8 years. Its going to be interesting to see if they do a full on reformation. Last night's episode was Extreme, a band I care not about, and I failed to watch it. Turns out it was only half an hour long due to 2 of the 4 band mates' failing to agree to the reunion. I mean really, they've only been gone for 7 years, so who cares? Tonight's episode is Dramarama (another one I don't really care about), and the first series comes to an end Friday with Squeeze. I will be watching that one!
Billy Corgan solo album details. "It's gonna be loud and beautiful and poetic and dumb. Just the way I like it."
Win Beck's bunny rabbit !?!?
Brian Eno & Peter Gabriel launch the "Magnificent Union of Digitally Downloading Artists" (MUDDA), a way for artists to release tunes on the web without record company involvement of any kind.
As a big fan of Macy Gray it saddens me to see this item about shrinking sales. Thank god David Bowie asked her to tour with him - maybe it will help boost her sales. The woman is amazing, and her records amaze me too. Too bad the rest of the world doesn't get it.
Monday 1/26
Tonight's episode of Bands Reunited focuses on those lovable popsters Kajagoogoo, best known for the mega hit Too Shy. I was way into these guys when they first broke onto the scene - produced by Nick Rhodes from Duran Duran ws what really grabbed me at first. I sold my Kaja records in the late '80s when I decided they weren't cool anymore - what an idiot! I've since gone and bought the album again, used and for like 2 bucks. It'll be fun to see them play - if they in fact do!
Polyphonic Spree record news - Tim says the album is "like the earth giving birth and more epic than Death Valley." Alrighty then...
Sunday 1/25
This week is the first busy new release week of the year. Tuesday sees the release of Air's new album Talkie Walkie, Elbow's Cast Of Thousands and Stereolab's Margerine Eclipse. I'm psyched about all three. I've heard a couple of things off of the Air album and I liked it. I loved the first Elbow record and reviews for the new one have been pretty good. Also out this week are Telefon Tel Aviv's album Map Of What Is Effortless, Voodoo Child's (AKA Moby) Baby Monkey and the expanded reissues of the first 5 Echo & The Bunnymen records. Sweet.
I finally got around to updating the Upcoming Releases page today.
Saturday 1/24
Now that I have the sweet high speed hook up I can take of advantage of some of the cool flashy animation sites around. I came across this fun little thing courtesy of Astralwerks' weekly e-mail update. Turn up the volume and bang yer head.
Can anyone out there recommend a good file sharing program for Mac users? I'm using OSX (10.2.8.).
Lead singer Holly Johnson, in true diva fashion, quashed the reunion on Bands Reunited : Frankie Goes To Hollywood last night. All of the band members were reunited for the sit down and chat portion of the gig, and when it came time for them to agree to rehearse and play the gig Holly said no. All of the other guys would have done it, but the diva perfectionist wanted like 4 to 6 weeks of rehearsal. You could tell the guys were bummed, and so was I - I was looking forward to hearing them play. The message boards over at VH1 are filled with ideas for another season - fans are suggesting all kinds of bands, from Loverboy to The Outfield. Yikes!
Friday 1/23
Last night's episode of Bands Reunited was all about Klymaxx, and there was serious drama due to one member's continued touring with the band name without the permission of the others. Legal matters were being pursued, and despite a (late coming) apology the remaining band members chose to not allow the renegade to partcipate. They still sounded pretty damn good when they got onto the stage. Tonight is the premiere of the Frankie Goes To Hollywood episode, and promises to be very entertaining - lots of seediness and sex!
Thursday 1/22
It's about a quarter to eight in the evening and I'm surfing via my new DSL connection. Fantastic. First thing I did was go over to Fluxblog. It's all about new music, songs are available for download, and Matthew writes nice little bits to go with the tunes. Something new every day. I've always been a reader of what he has to say, but tonight I got to sample the goods. Jeez - lightning speed sure as hell beats the 56k!
Last night's Bands Reunited : A Flock Of Seagulls was fab. What a great concept for a show - it's easily my favorite reality TV show ever, and it's been executed pretty well. My one complaint is about that geeky host Ameer, whose perky demeanor gets a little overbearing. But I'm just being nit picky. It's very interesting to see what everyone in A.F.O.S. has been doing with their lives, and to hear the real story behind the break up. Mike Score definitely came out looking like a big headed loser, what with his "this band is mine" stuff at the beginning. I was glad that he was able to overcome his ego and go through with the reunion. In the end I felt that musically they sounded the best of any of the bands so far - altho' Mike's vocals were a bit rough. Those guitar riffs gave me goose pimples, and even my wife commented "I would go to that gig". Considering that these people only get a day to get their shit together I am amazed at how good they sound. Tonight's episode is all about '80's funky divas Klymaxx, and looks to be full of drama. I can't wait!
Wednesday 1/21
New mp3s today...
Halloween, Alaska's Call It Clear is one of my personal faves from their LP, a slightly uptempo and funky track with a nice bass line,mellow vocals and a memorable melody. Alias' record is a cool blend of glitch, IDM and crunk hip hop beats - he's part of the Anticon posse, and on the track Unseen Sights Markus Acher from The Notwist provides the vocals. Kinky are a Mexican act who combine funky dance elements in with their rock en español, and the track Maria Jose features some very nice guitar riffing. Finally we have Olio from The Rapture. This version is from their first record Mirror and is not as dance-y as the version on Echoes. I also like that I don't have to hear the line "over and over and over again" over and over again. I like this version a lot more. Enjoy.
Romeo Void Reunited was very entertaining. Their story included the sadness of their sax player being unable to play the instrument at all due to hearing loss problems brought on by years of playing combined with his drug & alchohol use. It's really been a blast seeing what these people have done / are doing with their lives. Tonight's installment is A Flock Of Seagulls - should be a good one too!
Tuesday 1/20
Thanks to Fluxblog for the news (and an mp3) on a new Buffalo Daughter album. It's only available in Japan so far, so let's hope some US label see fit to pick it up and release it - hello Matador Records!
Keep your eyes peeled for what promises to be a very tasty Notwist remix EP called Different Cars And Ttrains. Out on January 27th, it features remixes of tracks from Neon Golden, including a Four Tet vs. Manitoba remix of This Room.
Elbow cover Massive Attack's Teardrop. Gotta hear that one!
I watched the premiere of VH1's Bands Reunited last night. For those not in the know, the music channel has gone and reunited a bunch of '80s bands for one-off gigs, and taped the results for our viewing pleasure. The debut episode last night was Berlin, and it turned out to be pretty entertaining. Host Aamer roams the country looking for original members and tries talking them into doing the gig. Once everyone agrees, the band rehearse and then perform a show. It's a unique twist on the reality TV craze, and since it's music related it has found a place in my heart. It's a lot of fun to see what these folks look/sound/act like with 20 years under their belts. Berlin held up pretty well in the sound department - tho' they don't quite look like the New Romantics of their youth! Tonight's episode is all about Romeo ("I might like you better if we slept together") Void - a band who's future was cut off by the record company's unwillingness to promote a band with a BIG girl in it. Also on upcoming shows are A Flock Of Seagulls, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Klymaxx, Kajagoogoo, Squeeze and a few more. Too much fun!
Monday 1/19
I work for a small left-of-center mail order company, and one of our distributors is Mordam Records. A few of my co-workers and I decided to take advantage of wholesale rates to place a big order for some music. For the grand total of about $68.00 I scored
Radio 4's The New Song And Dance and Dance To The Underground CD5, Deconstructing Beck (a so-so compilation of tracks built entirely from samples of Beck songs), The Rapture's first LP Mirror, and April March's Paris In April & April March & Los Cincos. All of it is good, but the real score turned out to be the Le Tigre back catalogue; Remix, From The Desk Of Mr. Lady, Feminist Sweepstakes, and Le Tigre have been rocking my world with their electro punk feminist anthems. I can't believe it's taken me this long to get anything by them - the remix EP is especially cool, with the amazing DFA remix of Decepatacon being the only tune of theirs that I had actually heard before. Oh well, better late than never at all!
Tomorrow finally sees the US releases for the album Boy In Da Corner from British rapper Dizzee Rascal. I'm probably the only music blogger out here that hasn't already downloaded it (can't wait to ditch the 56k this week!) so I haven't heard it yet. The buzz in the UK was huge, and the record made a lot of "best of" lists. My exposure to him has been on the Basement Jaxx record track Lucky Star - a great tune!
Time For Football
The Carolina Panthers (this season's real team of destiny?) did what I thought they could do - beat the Eagles at home. The Colts floundered, and despite an almost comeback, went on to lose to the Patriots. This leaves us with 2 T.E.A.M.s - there are no big stars, just guys who work together to get things done. Two tough defenses, with (I think) Carolina having a slight offensive edge with Steven Davis at running back. I think we're looking at another close match up - you know, whoever wins it'll be by like 2 or 3 points. I just wish that the game was next weekend instead of in 2 weeks...
Friday 1/16
Unless you've been living under a rock for the last year chances are you've heard the Pixies are reuniting rumors that have been floating around. This week they were named as one of the headliners for this year's Coachella festival in the California desert, along with Radiohead and Kraftwerk. Details are still a bit sketchy but it's pretty cool news anyway. Kraftwerk are also playing a couple of other shows in North America, but nothing near me - yes, I'm bitter.
A few months ago I posted about MoveOn.Org sponsoring a competition where people were asked to create a 30 second anti-Bush ad that would be shown during the State of the Nation address. The winner has been announced and now there is talk of trying to get it on air during the Superbowl. See the winning ad at bushin30seconds.org.
Time For Football
The results are in and I rocked the football pool this year with a record of 178 - 78 - better than ESPN's Ron Jaworski, and better than any of the guys over at HBO's Inside The NFL. My wife and I combined to win 5 weeks of the pool, and my brother won it twice, giving our family a iron death grip on the competition. This weekend's NFC / AFC championship games should be big. I really don't have a favorite team to root for, so I think I'll stick with the underdogs - go Colts and Panthers!
Wednesday 1/14
New mp3s today...
A couple of records I picked up at the very end of last year have been getting much love from my stereo (along with the Halloween, Alaska disc). The Psychonauts were on Mo'Wax back in the day, signed with International Deejay Gigolo Records and put out Songs For Creatures. Circles opens the record & is a downtempo, jazzy number with vocals. Midwest Product's World Series Of Love is a fab 7 track EP of the band's rocking electronica. They do a great mix of old school electronics mixed with guitars and drums, and Dead Cat is a good example of what they are all about, with it's rock dynamics which shift into electro robotics and back again. Very early '80s feel to this one. The Polyphonic Spree tune Soldier Girl is just a great tune. The re-recorded UK single version is shorter than the LP, and a lot tighter and poppier. Feel the love! Finally, David Sylvian's Ink In The Well is probably one of my all time Sylvian faves - the deep double bass lines and all over acoustic feel of this track blew me away back in the day and still gets me today. Beautiful tune.
Monday 1/12
Halloween, Alaska's self titled debut album has really hogged my personal airtime this last week. A Minneapolis "supergroup" made up of James Diers, Ev, Matt Friesen and Dave King (veterans of other groups including local rock scenesters 12RODS andLove-cars, and jazz cats Happy Apple and The Bad Plus), they've recorded an album of moody electronica blended with real guitars and drums. My first impression was to compare them to The Postal Service - Ev's vocal style reminds me a lot of Ben Gibbard's, although there is nothing on here that is as uptempo or poppy as on The Postal Service album.
Checking out their website I came across this list of "direct and indirect influences" on the album: The Blue Nile, Everything But the Girl, Tears for
Fears, Joe Henry, Bell Biv Devoe, Hall & Oates,
Wendy & Lisa, LL Cool J, Peter Gabriel, Greg Dulli,
Paul Schrader, Talk Talk, Mark Eitzel, Dave Evans,
David Sylvian, David Lynch, Dave Shouse, tourism,
Ry Cooder, Journey, Mitchell Froom, Steve Jobs,
Vangelis, Mark Kozelek, Algar Thorold, Nu Shooz,
Seal, Pete Nice, the Sling Blade soundtrack, the
Everly Brothers, The Cars, the city bus, Jeff Martin,
Aimee Mann, Band Aid, Harry Dean Stanton, Sade,
Rebecca Gates and the Hotel Francia y Paris.
Although a few of those might be tongue in cheek, it's a pretty good indication of what the album sounds like, with it's blue-eyed soul vocals and dreamy electronic textures. They do an interesting cover of Springsteen's State Trooper. Do yourself a favor and head over to their mp3 page and check out the tunes.
Sunday 1/11
Time For Football
What a great series of games this weekend. Not only did the Panthers knock off the Rams, but the Eagles held on to beat the Packers, whose destiny, it appears, was to lose. The Colts took care of the Chiefs in another thrilling offensive shootout, setting up the conference championships: Colts at New England, Carolina at Philly. Should be a couple more good games!
Saturday 1/10
In a week or so I am getting DSL for my home hook up. No more 56k dialup. Wow!! I am very excited. Welcome to the 21st century Michael...
Time For Football
Round 2 of the NFL playoffs starts today. The home teams all have the edge, what with the by-week and home field advantage. The team with the best chance of an upset I think is the Green Bay Packers, who are riding the whole "team of destiny" tag to glory this year. They've got their running game on and Philly's run D is weak, and they're trying to "win one for Irv". I think the Colts at the Chiefs is a pretty good match up too, with Indy on fire after the thrashing of Denver. The Chiefs D is their obvious weakness - look what the Vikes did to them a few weeks ago. The Panthers at St Louis is interesting, but the Rams are so tough at home that if they get up early it might be over. The Titans at New England is another tough call - the Patriots at home, winners of 12 in a row. Could they be due for the loss? I think the Titans have the potential to do, and will be rooting for them come game time. I think it should be a pretty exciting set of games.
LATE BREAKING UPDATE
It's 7:30 in the evening and the football gods have answered my prayers - the Carolina Panthers defeated the Rams in a double overtime, knocking the hated lambies out of the playoffs and themselves into the NFC title game. It was a real thriller, and the Panthers scored the winning touchdown on a 3rd & 16, first play of the second overtime. I will be rooting for all of the underdogs this weekend - go Titans!
During this last football season I discovered that I have ESPN News on my cable line up. It revolutionised my foot ball pool experience because it features a non stop ticker of scores at the bottom. Yes, even during commercials the ticker is still there, keeping me up to date on all of the latest scores from around the league. I love that. Factor in the fact that they also re-run the same day's episodes of Around The Horn and Pardon The Interruption and you've got my attention. PTI has become a personal favorite of mine in the last couple of months, and I love that I now have 2 chances to catch it. Who knew I could be such a sports geek?
Wednesday 1/7
The year end wrap up continues with a few of my favorite reissues of 2003. A lot of my favorite early '80's bands came of remastering age this year, and so I got albums from The Human League, Simple Minds, OMD, The Police, Japan, Echo & The Bunnymen and of course Duran Duran. Also of the era, the deluxe expanded version of Diana Ross' Diana is fantastic, as are the Television reissues. New York Noise : Dance Music From The NY Underground '79-'82 on Soul Jazz is great compilation, and all of the revamped Ze Records stuff is key too, especially the 2 CD set Mutant Disco. Other honorable mentions go out to T.Rex's Electric Warrior, Young Marble Giants' Colossal Youth and the awesome Let's Active back catalogue. Finally, the boxed sets of the year for me were Duran Duran's Singles : '81-'85, New Order's Retro and the Talking Heads' Once In A Lifetime.
Tuesday 1/6
With the year end round up there's always stuff that gets missed. Here are some honorable mentions:
The Distillers' Coral Fang and Pretty Girls Make Graves' The New Romance were both records I did not think I would enjoy but I do. The Fountains Of Wayne record
Welcome Interstate Managers is pretty good, but a few songs too long. The Justin Timberlake album Justified also looms just outside my top 50, and should probably have made the list. Some of the best singles of the year IMO. On the singles tip !!!'s epic Me & Rudy Giuliani... was one of my (and my oldest daughter's) big favorites, and the EPs from Moving Units (self-titled) and The Fever (Pink On Pink) leave me wanting to hear more. A couple from 2002 also would have made the top 50 if they had been eligible - the Hot Hot Heat and Polyphonic Spree albums are still in rotation today.
New mp3s today...
I've really been digging the 2 volumes of Uncut magazine's Clash tribute White Riot. The tunes that stray from the original blueprint are the most successful ones in my opinion. The Sparks version of We Are The Clash turns it into an orchestral, choir backed sing-along. Very cool interpretation. Version City is a nice disco dub track with lots of horns. Echo & The Bunnymen's live version of Crocodiles is from the 1981 Shine So Hard EP, and is included on the newly remastered and expanded version of Crocodiles. This version kicks some serious ass in the rocking out department. Finally, The Bad Plus are a jazz trio with roots in Minneapolis, and on their debut These Are The Vistas they cover a couple of tunes, including Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit. I love this version of what is a such a big tune. Enjoy!
Monday 1/5
Happy New Year. I just want to say thanks to all of you readers out there who stop by my humble little page - if you didn't I probably would not keep this thing up and running. And now after a couple of music free weeks here (all baby talk and football) I promise to get back to the tunes. Look for new mp3s this week too.
Bizarre '80's covers on the soundtrack to 50 First Dates, the new Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore flick. Seal does Echo & The Bunnymen's Lips Like Sugar, Ziggy Marley does The Cars' Drive and UB40 do The Police's Every Breath You Take. The rest of the line up kind of scares me...
Finally, word on a new Soundtrack Of Our Lives album, due this March. Also from the NME is this item about Ray Davies being shot in New Orleans yesterday. He's OK - his female companion had her purse taken at gun point.