February 2004

Saturday 2/28

Since it's been fun and games around here all week I thought I'd take it back to the old skool - Fly the Copter has been a link over on the sidebar for a while now, and is another pretty rudimentary game. I find something very gratifying about crashing the copter into a wall or the ground.

I've been working half days the last couple of weeks so I could stay home and be daycare dad - you know, bond with the kids and all that. That goes a little ways towards explaining the lack of posts lately - not a lot of free time! It also means a lack of dollars to spend at the record shop this week, so I've turned to my friendly p2p network. The ability to check out what the cool kids are into, or get the latest Britney single or some wierd b-side or unreleased tune is great. The big drawback for me personally is that it means that more bands get added to my "got to have it list" - being the music geek that I am I need the packaging, the art, the lyrics, the sample credits, the thank yous and all of that other good stuff. An mp3 is just a temporary thing on the way to the real deal.

This week sees the addition of 2 duos - The Fiery Furnaces and Joy Zipper. Both are indie rockers, the former quirky and experimental, the latter more polished and with a touch of the V.U. Also added is Mice Parade, who practices in (dreaded hokey sub-genre alert) folktronica a la Four Tet or Minotaur Shock. Very tasty. I also got to listen to a big chunk of DJ Dangermouse's Grey Album - the unauthorised mix of Jay-Z's raps from The Black Album mixed with tracks created entirely from samples from The Beatles' White Album. The concept is a good one but the end result is only so-so. Due to a cease and desist order it will never get released, but it's all over the net now. It is worth a listen if you can find it.

Thursday 2/26

New mp3s today...
Coldplay's Clocks isn't a new tune, but you might not have heard this version - the Royksopp remix. They apply their synths and drum machines well, leaving the tune sounding like an early '80's classic. The Chi-Lites' Are You My Woman? is the source of the bumping rhythm track and the dyn-o-mite horns on Beyoncé's Crazy In Love. A 1970 classic, it's got all the funk you need. The Bumblebeez are one of Jockey Slut Magazine's picks to click in '04 - a Brit trio of white boys doing the lo-fi slack-hop hip-rock thing. Step Back is from 2003's White Printz EP and is on the rock side of the whole equation. A big meaty bassline that turns into a raging swell of noise. Finally, it's The Fiery Furnaces' Bow Wow. Another one of the "one guy and a girl" duos - actually brother and sister, they've been getting a lot of buzz for their '03 album Gallowsbird's Bark . A very mellow tune with some lovely piano and a nice hook.

Tuesday 2/24

If you had hopes of seeing the Pixies on their upcoming reunion tour fuggedaboutit!. All of the shows have sold out.. What a testament to this band that, 11 years after they split up, people are still flocking to see 'em! Except me of course, because they aren't coming anywhere near here...

Monday 2/23

Fans of the smack the penguin game that I posted a link to a few weeks back rejoice! Are you ready for the new and improved and extreme smack the penguin? Those who are squeamish need not try...

Not one but two sources have stories about !!! putting out a new album in June on Touch & Go Records. There is also talk of a new Outhud album, although details are few. This last week saw the reissue of the split EP the two bands (who share members in case ya didn't know) originally put out in 1999 on Gold Standard Lab records - 3 Outhud tunes and another monster (over 11 minutes) groove from !!!. I haven't had much luck finding the Outhud album in my neck of the woods, so have had to resort to some downloading. I like both of these bands a lot, and look forward to some booty shakingly good new music.

Some new releases of note that are out tomorrow...
Broken Social Scene's Feel Good Lost, En Vogue's Soul Flower, Jonny Greenwood's Bodysong, Federico Aubele's Gran Hotel Buenos Aires (on Eighteenth Street Lounge) and Papa M's Hole Of Burning Alms. Happy shopping.

Saturday 2/21

I love to keep my fellow web surfers entertained with the occasional game that I come across - djshadowgame.com is a pretty rudimentary driving game with Mashin' On The Motorway as the theme (song). Also very amusing is Takagism, where you must find clues and figure out the mystery of the "crimson room". It's pretty easy to figure out what to do, and you'll need Flash. Have fun... (If you feel the need to cheat you can check out this thread entitled "I m going crazy trying to solve this". )

Thursday 2/19

New mp3s today...Cee-Lo is set to release his second album and I'll Be Around is the first single. It's a collaboration with Timbaland - funky old school beats, nice psychedelic guitar, and the great vocal stylings of Cee-Lo himself. Word. Zero 7 are finally following up Simple Things with a new LP in March, When It Falls. Passing By is somewhat new territory in that it actually rocks - it starts out very Air-does-Pink Floyd then all of a sudden there's some very Jerry Garcia-esque guitar noodling. Interesting. The Scissor Sisters are the NYC act of the moment - and set to open for Duran Duran's UK reunion tour, and Comfortably Numb (Dub Remix) is a funked up version of their first single. It is, of course, the Pink Floyd tune, except done up as a Bee-Gees loving, discofied anthem. Excellent fun. Ladyton's Blue Jeans is the Interpol remix of the tune - stripped of all the shiny trim, just a clanky beat and a twangy guitar and the girls singing. I'd like to hear more remixes by those guys.

Wednesday 2/18

In the category "most horrible way to destroy someone's legacy" comes this very tasteless but yet very amusing item from the BBC. The family and estate of the late Johnny Cash has blocked the use of Ring Of Fire in an ad - for haemorrhoid relief products. "When you need relief for your burning ring of fire..." Very funny. Thanks to Greg for the link.

I've been enjoying the high speed connection and have been digging the ability to find a few downloads from bands I have yet to hear. It's already led me to buy albums by The Unicorns, The Walkmen and the Franz Ferdinand Darts Of Pleasure EP - all fantastic records. The Franz Ferdinand album is due March 9th,and is BIG - a Scottish band entering the post-punk fray with super catchy tunes, and they just might be top of the class already.

Tuesday 2/17

The record that's got me geeked up right now is John Cale's Hobo Sapiens. Released in Europe last summer it has yet to see a US release. That's a bloody shame, because it's a fantastic record. I admit to knowing very little of Cale's solo career - I have Wrong Way Up, the album he did with Eno back in the 90's, and of course am familiar with the Velvet Underground. This new disc is an art rock album for sure - think Bowie circa the late '70s and Talkingheads circa the same time - both working with Eno. Eno is felt here too - he provides the drumloop for Bicycle. This time around tho' Cale's collaborator is Nick Franglen, one half of quirky Brit duo Lemon Jelly. Nick is a wiz in the studio, and is deft at combining electronics with real instrumentation. As a result the record is steeped in modern technology and veers from clanky dissonance to catchy pop tunes to rockers. It's a fascinating listen, and one that needs to be heard by more people. I'm amazed that a record this good hasn't found a US label to release it.

Turns out the Grammys have their own controversy - CBS has apologized to Native Americans, many of whom were offended by Andre 3000/Outkast's Indian costume and tee-pee setup for the show closer Hey Ya.

Monday 2/16

As you can see from the lack of posts the last few days I"ve been uninspired. I haven't had a lot of free time to do anything - the weekend was "quality time" with the family. I did learn today that my Sunday night DJ gig is gone - the bar decided to go DJ free instead, so my bro and I are done . There is a chance that we might be back at it this summer at a different venue but we'll see how that pans out. I know I won't miss the late night, but I will miss the "rocking the house" part of it.

Britpop sensations The La's had a huge hit in 1990 called There She Goes, a beauty of a pop song, all chiming guitars and a lovely melody. The bad promptly split up after touring the album - I remember seeing them at First Avenue, and they were a lot of fun. Short and sweet, but good. The NME this week has this item about a rumored reunion with a new album and shows to follow. We'll see...

The Cardigans album Long Gone Before Daylight is finally getting a US release on May 25th. Out in Europe last year, it's their first record in almost 6 years and supposedly rocks a little harder. I've enjoyed all of their records so far and look forward to the new one.

Guns N Roses are set to release an album. A greatest hits album, not the long awaited Chinese Democracy. That record is never going to get released.

Thursday 2/12

New mp3s today - Kylie Minogue's Someday is from her new album, and stood out to me right away because on backing vocals it's none other than Green Gartside from Scritti Politti. I was a big fan in the '80s so it's cool to hear him singing again. The song is a mellow midtempo pop tune. Kanye West's Two Words features Mos Def, Freeway and the Harlem Boys Choir, and is a tough gritty hip hop tune. I love the backing track on this - hard beats, psychedelic guitar and pitched up samples. The Unicorns are a Canadian act whose LP is full of quirky indie rock - shades of the Beatles and the Flaming Lips, lo-fi electronics and very catchy melodies - the riff on Sea Ghost just leaped out at me - this tune rocks. Ditto for Electrelane's On Parade, with it's fierce post punk groove and whooping vocals. This all girl 4 piece from the UK have a pretty unique take on indie rock, and their new album sees them moving away from their largely instrumental debut - lots of vocals (in several languages) and styles.

Some upcoming shows in Minneapolis...
The Sounds and Ima Robot at the Quest on Monday the 16th. Soul Postion (RJD2 and Blueprint) play 2 shows (early all ages / late ID) at 7th Street Entry on February 29th. March 10th and 11th at the 400 Bar is the tremendous double bill of Broken Social Scene and The Stills. Elefant are at the Ascot Room on April 2nd. Stereolab play First Avenue on April 6th, and Stellastarr* are at The Entry on April 15th.

Wednesday 2/11

I finally figured out a way to directly link to my mp3s instead of making you have to winzip or unstuff or whatever. This should make it easy for everyone to get them now, so check them out.

Modern Lovers' first two albums are being reissued with bonus material included - 8 extra tracks on Modern Lovers alone. Also very exciting new release news is this item from the NME about Super Furry Animals releasing an album of remixes of tracks from Phantom Power called Phantom Phorce. Some of the remixers include Four Tet, Boom Bip, Minotaur Shock, Mario Caldato Jr. and Brave Captain. No word on a US release for this yet tho'.

Tuesday 2/10

There have been rumors about My Bloody Valentine putting out some kind of box set for a while now, and this item from Pitchfork has details - 2 extensive box sets and a DVD, set "for possible release" in 2005 or 2006. There are some awfully big tunes on these sets - I hope that it actually gets released some day.

Astralwerks has May 4th as the release date for the new Beta Band album Heroes And Zeroes. Produced by Nigel Godrich, it's out in April in the UK and Europe. These guys have kept me entertained over the last couple of records, but there's been a lot of schwag on those albums - a few killer tunes and mucho filler. I'm still waiting for them to drop their "classic" album.

Monday 2/9

I ended up watching the Grammys last night instead of DJ'ing, and actually enjoyed quite a few of the live acts. Prince and Beyoncé opening up the show was big - my whole family was shaking it's collective booty. The big funk orgy in the middle was fun - Earth Wind & Fire into Outkast (Big Boi) into Robert Randolph & The Family Band into Parliament Funkadelic with everybody joining together to jam. The White Stripes rocked harder than anyone, and me and my daughter banged our heads together all the way through it. Foo Fighters were interesting - jazz pianist Chick Corea accompanied them, and I thought that was so-so. Andre 3000's performance of Hey Ya was suitably over the top - a tee-pee rocket ship, American Indian costumes on the dancers, and a big marching band that played along. The good news was that Evanescence won Best New Artist - the one award that over the years has been the kiss of death for bands who win it.

New releases tomorrow...Kylie Minogue's Body Language, Fog's Hummer, Probot's (Dave Grohl's metal band side project) self titled, the return of Courtney Love with America's Sweetheart (do you care? I don't.), Spiritualized's Complete Works Vol.2 and the debut album from Kanye West, College Dropout. This guy is real rising star from Roc-a-Fella, and the reviews have been great. You might have heard his current hit Through The Wire - about having his jaw wired shut after a car crash - some crazy shit. He's the man behind the beats on Alicia Keys' You Don't Know My Name and the awesome Get By by Talib Kweli. In a recent interview I read he said he was trying to achieve the kind of creative level that A Tribe Called Quest were at in their prime. It sounds like he's already on his way.

Sunday 2/8

After a two month break An evening with silence is a rhythm too returns tonight. I'm looking forward to getting back to rocking the house. Sunday night is service industry night at the bar, so there are specials. There are also trivia questions all night long - first correct answer wins a drink. So, if you live in the Twin Cities come on down.

Friday 2/6

Nipplegate fallout / insanity continues...
This is from CNN - "A banker from Knoxville, Tennessee, filed a class action lawsuit against Jackson, dance partner Justin Timberlake, CBS, halftime show producers MTV and the networks' parent company, Viacom. Terri Carlin said the 'sexually explicit conduct" by the performers caused millions of people to "suffer outrage, anger, embarrassment and serious injury.'"

The BBC reports that if Janet doesn't withdraw herself from the Grammys (where she was due to sing a tribute to Luther Vandross) then CBS will uninvite her. They will not be uninviting Justin Timberlake. Talk about hypocritical. Jeez, can this country get any more sexually repressed? You'd think that no-one had ever seen a boob before. And then last night on ER I got to see the digitally blurred breast of an 81 year old woman on the operating table. Thanks for protecting me from that! Now if you could only work on blurring Dennis Franz' ass on NYPD Blue and it will be all good. Censorship rears it's ugly head, and I think it's only just begun. The neo-con agenda is everywhere.

Time For Football!
On Super Bowl Sunday St. Louis Rams backup QB Kurt Warner claimed that coach Mike Martz had benched him because of his religious beliefs. What a crock. You got benched because you sucked, although less time reading the bible and a little more time with the playbook might have helped. He has since issued a statement retracting what he said. I'm all for seperation of church and football.

Thursday 2/5

A couple of unfortunate side effects fron the whole Janet half time incident - JC Chasez was dropped from CBS' Pro Bowl half time show, and CBS' announcement that there will be like a five minute delay on the broadcast of the Grammys on Sunday night. The first one is ridiculous, and the second one is outrageous. The reason I tune in to shows like this is because of those unscripted moments. The network will have time to edit the show for mass consumption if anything does happen. That stinks. Especially since Viacom is perfectly happy to promote all kinds of "morally questionable" material on MTV, VH1 and their affiliates. With all of this hoopla, next year's Super Bowl half time show is probably going to be a Disney production...

David Byrne will be releasing a new album on March 16 called Grown Backwards, and it features a duet with Rufus Wainwright and a collaboration with Carla Bley.

RIP Cornelius Bumpus. For the last few years he had played live and recorded with Steely Dan, and before that he was in the Doobie Brothers.

More of David Bowie's back catalogue is being reissued, this time being the 3 albums he put out in the '90s (Outside, Earthling and Hours). There are a few extra tracks included. Of the three I'd have to say I like Earthling the best, but none of them enough to go out and buy them again.

Wednesday 2/4

This week's new downloads...
Duran Duran have contributed their first new track, Sunrise, to the soundtrack album for Queer Eye For The Straight Guy (out next week). The track has been remixed by Jason Nevins - I would have preferred to hear the original. It's very definitely a Duran tune - the catchy chorus is pure Duran. John Cale's Bicycle is from his 2003 LP Hobo Sapien, which is now on my to-get list. Co-produced by Nick Franglen from Lemon Jelly, it's funky, bass driven electronica with soothing "doo doo doo doo"s for vocals. I like it a lot. Midwest Product are being featured again because I'm finding that I can't get enough of their blend of rock and electronics. Motivator sounds like their take on New Order - derivitive in the best possible way, taking the ideas that New Order played with in a new direction. Finally, Jack Dangers aka Meat Beat Manifesto has unleashed a new album of dub breakbeat . That's a pretty good description for Echo In Space Dub, with it's fat drums and deep dub bassline. Crucial selectah!

Tuesday 2/3

Duran Duran are about to embark on their UK reunion arena tour and today they anounced that Goldfrapp are one of the opening act for the shows. They are also bringing this year's "next big thing" along as an additional opening act - New York disco sensations-to-be the Scissor Sisters. What impecable taste in openers, and what a fantastic triple bill!

Badly Drawn Boy's label Twisted Nerve have an mp3 only compilation available for download. Six intriguing tracks available here. Not free of course...

The wife and I actually got to go out on a date last Saturday night, and we decided to go to a movie. We saw Lost In Translation (which is back in the theaters and out on DVD today) and loved it. Bill Murray is superb - actually everyone in the picture is good. I have to say that I'm very impressed with Sofia Coppola's abilities, both as a screen writer (the dialogue is terrific) and a director. The movie captures the essence of Tokyo and Japan beautifully, and I loved the realism of the story - no hokey Hollywood ending. Of course the soundtrack is terrific, and the fact that I've been listening to it for six or seven months made me enjoy hearing how the tunes were used in the context of the movie. The DVD has a few cool extras, including a video for the Kevin Shields track City Girl. I know I'll be purchasing it sooner or later.

Monday 2/2

The Super Bowl turned out to be a good game after two quarters of major defensive struggle. For a while there it looked like the Panthers were going to pull off the upset, but the Patriots drove down the field and scored a fieldgoal with 4 seconds left. Very exciting, and so much better than last year's game. By now you've no doubt heard about the biggest story to come out of the game - Justin Timberlake's half time show exposing of Janet Jackson's nipple. How shocking! Oh, the outrage! All over a bit of nip - and quite an attractive one at that! Now everyone's going to be wearing sun brooches on their nips. Too damn funny. And now the FCC is investigating "the incident".

Sunday 2/1

SuperBowl Sunday. The last football game of the year that matters - the ProBowl is goofy and doesn't. I will be rooting for the Carolina Panthers. I have no decided favorite here, and so the theory is to root for the underdog. The Patriots have already been there, done that, so it's time for someone new to wear the crown. Whether or not The Cats can withstand the feared Belichick defense is a good question, but I think the Cats match up pretty well and I look forward to a good game. Of course, I felt the same way last year when I was rooting for the Raiders, and that didn't turn out so well...

Squeeze failed to be a band reunited on the series finale of Bands Reunited - the half hour time slot made that clear. Pretty much as I predicted to my wife early on, Jools Holland proved to be the party pooper. Everyone was game, everyone said yes, and when it came time for Jools to weigh in he dodged the issue every way he could. To use a bit of the old vernacular, he came off as a bit of a tosser. But then we all knew that anyway. Too bad, because a reunited Squeeze would have rocked.