silence is a rhythm too
Tuesday 3/30
Some new releases today...Janet Jackson's Damita Jo, Snow Patrol's Final Straw, Mount Sims' Great Electroca$h Swindle, and the fantastic 6 box set of Depeche Mode singles.
Monday 3/29
New mp3s today...
Beck's version of The Korgis' Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime (posted here a few weeks back) sounds like a left over track from the Sea Change sessions. Very mellow, lots of Serge Gainsbourg-y bass and strings. Still a great tune. Tears For Fears are set to release thier new LP next week, and Closest Thing To Heaven is the first single. It's very TFF - there are bits of Sowing The Seeds, lots of Beatles-y touches, and a hint of the Flaming Lips in the keyboards. I like it, but who knows how good a whole LP will be. Gerling are 10 year veterans of the Aussie punk scene. They are releasing their 3rd LP Bad Blood soon, and Who's Ya Daddy is off of that - a funky, chunky shout along. This trio amazes me with the breadth of their scope - some of their tunes are straight up punk, some are dance rock hybrids, and a lot of them are pure dance. I've liked everything I've heard them do - now I've got to go and buy the albums. Finally, this week's '80's flashback comes courtesy of ex Be Bop Deluxe guitarist Bill Nelson. In the early years of that decade he made some stellar synth pop, and Flaming Desire is no exception - big beat, lovely melody and a catchy chorus. Delicious and nutritious!
Saturday 3/27
Here's A Little Story That Must be Told...
Early last week I got a call from my brother. He had taken a DJ gig at The Chatterbox for a private party - Sunday the 21st, 8:30 to 11:30, lots of '80s music, the usual pay and tab. In a last minute development he and his business partner had to go to Vegas for a trade show that weekend, and he wanted to know if I would cover for him. I said I'd ask the wife and get back to him. She OK'd it and told me that since I was going to be doing the gig she was going to take the girls and go to Grandma's for a sleep-over.
Sunday afternoon I took the girls and dropped them off at Grandma's house at five in the afternoon. I headed home, pulled the CDs that I wanted for the party and chilled out for an hour or so. Then I packed up the car and took off for the bar. It's ten after eight (I'm always early - it's one of the many the anal retentive parts of me) and I'm parked and unloading. Arms full I negotiate my way across the street and into the bar - head to the back, hook a left to go to the back room, round the corner and....
SURPRISE!!!
40 of my closest friends, relatives and co workers were jammed into the joint, all yelling happy birthday at me. I just about had a heart attack - in fact I turned around and pretended to walk out. It was nuts - all kinds of people I would never have expected to see. Everyone was wearing stickers with a mug shot of me (circa 1972 - big black rimmed glasses) on them. There were copies of the front page of the Milwaukee paper from my day of birth all over the tables. Everyone got a compilation CD (compiled by my wife and brother) of songs that meant something to me and my family. My bro's business is audio/visual reproduction so the CDs were sweet with cover photos and pictures printed on the CDs - all pix of me and the family. Fantastic. It was a great night with great company - I got very drunk, my bro played killer tunes (Killing Joke's Follow The Leader was a personal highlight) and everyone had a good time. My hat's off to the missus and my brother on being so successful at being sneaky bastards. I had no idea...
Birthday Loot & Booty
My two daughters gave me the absolutely brilliant 4 CD boxset No Thanks! The '70s Punk Rebellion. Peep that tracklisting - it's the music I used to hear on the radio in the late '70s and early '80s when I lived in the UK - FANTASTIC! I also got a vinyl copy of James White & The Blacks' Off White LP, Freeform Five's Electromagnetic on 2 10" vinyl platters, and Massive Attack's Butterfly Caught on 2 12" vinyl platters. My bro gave me the first season of The Office on DVD. I got a bunch of record store money too - it helped me to buy a bunch more tunage - see the sidebar hitlist for the full rundown. Turns out turniing 40 ain't so bad!
Thursday 3/25
Today I am forty.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
Wednesday 3/24
A bunch of interesting music news today... Prince signs with Columbia Records, and they will release his new album Musicology. His tour has also been expanded (including a 2 night stand in St. Paul). It's been kinda crazy this year seeing him so out there in the public eye - did you catch his Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame performance? Fantastic stuff, particularly his blazing guitar solo on the show closing, all-star tribute cover of George Harrison's While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Very powerful, and a huge reminder that the little dude can flat out out-rock anybody if he wants to.
My Bloody Valentine release a 2CD set next month entitled Remastered EPs. It's a collection of long out of print material and eight previously unreleased songs. Very exciting. The Twilight Singers will be releasing a covers album in the fall, and among the songs will be tunes by Bjork, Billie Holliday, John Coltrane and Kate Bush, Marvin Gaye and Martina Topley-Bird. That is some wild and wacky stuff! Astralwerks will be releasing the new LP Alphabetical from French sophisto-poppers Phoenix sometime this fall. I loved their debut United and have heard one tune from this new set and I loved it. Let's hope it gets released earlier!
Tuesday 3/23
A few new releases of note today...
The return of N.E.R.D. with their 2nd LP Fly Or Die, Broken Social Scene's Bee Hives EP, David Bowie's 3 '90s albums remastered with extra cuts (Hours,Outside,Earthling), The Vines' Winning Days, the 2CD remaster of Weezer's debut Blue Album, Aussie electro-punks Gerling's Bad Blood and FINALLY(!!) the US release of Absolution by Muse. Happy shopping.
Can you believe this?. Sammy Hagar and Van Halen are going to be hitting the road this summer - together again. The crazy "who's-the-singer-now" scenario continues...
Monday 3/22
New mp3s today...
In memory of John McGeoch is the Siouxsie & The Banshees tune Happy House - a fantastic guitar riff, a classic tune. James White & The Blacks' Contort Yourself is from the Ze Records compilation N.Y. No Wave, and is a more disco-fied version of the song than the one he recorded as The Contortions. Some lovely skronky sax wailing and a huge bass groove. Simian apply their funky electro touch to Air's Cherry Blossom Girl, and transform it from a dreamy mid-tempo tune into an uptempo dancefloor stomper. Canadians Metric are one of my "download discoveries", and the tune Combat Baby grabbed me right away. They do the new wave indie rock thing, with tight rhythms and ultra catchy tunes and sharp lyrics. This song has some killer riffing, and I love Emily Haines voice. The Canuck noo-wave invasion continues...
The new !!! album is called Louden Up and gets a US release on June 8th. Woo-hoo! Also on the release slate (in the UK) is the new LP from The Charlatans, called up At The Lake. It's the band's eighth album and the first since 2001. These guys have shown great staying power - who would have thunk that out of all those "Madchester" bands of the late '80's and early '90's they'd be the ones that would still be around.
The hippest music confab every year is South By Southwest in Austin,Texas. Billboard has it covered with it's "daily diary" of events - March 18 - March 19 - March 20. All of your fave bands and more! One of these years I"d like to go down and check out the craziness. The one story that got my attention was the arrest of some of Ozomatli as they spilled into the street after their show. The band traditionally ends their gigs by picking up percussion instruments and wandering out into the audience to have an impromptu jam session - I saw them five years ago (this week) in Seattle, and they did it then. It's a big part of what makes their shows so entertaining. Anyway, the jam session spilled out into the streets, cops showed up and were dicks, scuffles ensued and people were maced & then locked up.
Friday 3/19
Self described "sound manipulators" The Kleptones have done an LP 's worth of mash ups a-la DJ Danger Mouse. Instead of The Beatles and Jay-Z it's Yoshimi Battles The Hip Hop Robots, The Flaming Lips' music with assorted raps - 50 Cent, Skeelo, Busta Rhymes. Wicked good fun, and up for grabs if you look hard enough.
Fight In The Club is Fight Test mixed with 50 Cent's In Da Club and Chess Game At The Gates Of Hell is Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell mixed with Busta Rhymes' Woo-Hah (Got You All In Check). Could it be anymore entertaining?
I am a big fan of the Beastie Boys album Paul's Boutique. A tremedously creative mash up of samples led to one of the great experimental hip hop albums of all time. Hipster Detritus has kindly provided a pretty comprehensive list of all of the songs that were sampled to create the album. What an incredible list of songs - it would be fun to make a mix with that tracklist!
Thursday 3/18
I am one week away from turning forty years old. FORTY. It's one of those "moments" in life. The big 4-0. Time for a mid life crisis? Naw. I've got a wife (10 years this August), a four year old and a 3 month old, and that doesn't really leave a lot of time for much else. So I instead seek out the music of my youth - you know, 20 years ago (yikes!) and this week I scored a real gem. I finally picked up the Ze Records reissue of N.Y. No Wave. Subtitled The Ultimate East Village '80's Soundtrack, it's a fab compilation featuring the big players of the NYC No-Wave scene. You get James White & The Blacks, The Contortions, Suicide, Lydia Lunch and a bunch of other acts. It ranges from tight funky jams to dissonant skronk, disco to beat poetry, and it's all been digitally remastered with lovely packaging and liner notes. I think I'll try and post a track from it later this week.
Wednesday 3/17
Rock 'n' Roll Tragedy
The London Times and The NME have been covering the murder trial of Bertrand Cantat, lead singer of French rock band Noir Desir. He fought with his girlfriend, French actress Marie Trintignant, and beat her so badly she died. Like The Times mentions, they were a "power couple" in Europe on a par with Coldplay's Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow. This is a huge story in France where the band are very successful, known as well as for their music as for their campaigning for progressive social causes. It's one of the more compelling and sad stories in the music world today - and one that gets pretty much no coverage here in the US.
Membres' Addersses
I opened a spam in my junkmail folder this morning claiming to be from CitiBank. Here's a portion of the e-mail:
_Dear_ Citi Client_,
ThIs email_ was _sent_ by the_ citi_bank sevrer to veerify _your _e-mail_ address_.
You must complete this process by clicking on the link _below_ and enntering
in the small window_ your citibank_ _Debit full card number and _PIN_ that
you use_ in_the Atm_machine. That is done for your protection -T- becourse some of our
membres _no longer have access to their E_Mail addersses and we must verify it.
There is then a link I'm supposed to click on. I am amazed that someone could/would actually fall for something so obviously fake - "sevrer to veerify" is the phrase of the day!
Tuesday 3/16
THIS is insane. It's a legal document (U.S. v. Abner) that is littered with Talking Heads references, all conveniently higlighted for you. A big thank you to The Rambler for the link.
Monday 3/15
These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things
Telefon Tel Aviv's Map Of What Is Effortless is fantastic. The Chicago-via-New Orleans duo has crafted a deep album of urban soul music. It's a perfect mix of contemporary downtempo (as practiced by Zero 7 or Air) and classic soul infused with glitchy IDM and crunky beats. Several of the tracks feature fab string arrangements (as played by the Loyola University Chamber Orchestra), and 3 of the tracks are instrumental. It has slowly crept up on me over the last month or two and now I'm hooked. Nice and relaxing website too...
Franz Ferdinand's self titled debut is also getting maximum airplay. The Scottish foursome is the "it band" of the moment - I can't pick up a music related mag without something about them in it. The reviews have been overwhemingly positive and I'd have to say they justify the hype. It's an insanely catchy album of early '80's flavored rock, and the production is super sharp - perfect for all of those tasty angular guitar riffs! This one is going to make a lot of people's best of year lists.
The self titled debut by Scissor Sisters is a unique beast. Equally influenced by '70's easy listening, Elton John, The Bee Gees and trashy synthpop disco, it's all over the place. It is definitely a fun album, although I don't know if it will have much staying power. Love that Pink Floyd cover tho'...
Seek out !!!'s also self titled debut from a 2000 if you're looking for the kind of funky ass tracks the Talking Heads were doing back in the late '70's & early '80's when they were working with Brian Eno. Big multi-rhythmic disco tracks with those scratchy "chikki chikka' guitar riffs. !!! have a new album coming out sometime this year.
What else? Cee-Lo's Cee-Lo Green Is The Soul Machine continues to prove that the man has the skills. Swamp funk hip hop, crooning like Al Green, and friends like The Neptunes and Timbaland all add up to a hell of a good time. Minneapolis jazz trio The Bad Plus have just put out their second album (Give) of hard boppin' goodness. Included are the usual wacky covers - last time it was Nirvana, this time it's The Pixies' Velouria and Black Sabbath's Iron Man. The originals are pretty cookin' too. I also love the latest Stereolab album Margerine Eclipse. It's no reinvention of their sound, although I think it actually rocks harder than they have on the last couple of records. As always it's filled with lovely melodies and the trademark "la-la-la's". It's good to see the band come out the tragic loss of Mary Hansen with a strong album. They are currently touring the US with Mice Parade as the opener - a tremendous double bill!
Sunday 3/14
His Name Is Prince, and He Is Funky
Prince gets inducted into the Rock N' Roll Hall Of Fame tomorrow (in on his first ballot) and to commemorate the occasion the Minneapolis Star & Tribune printed a special section today with an oral history of the man as told by all of the characters associated with his story. It's also online at the paper's website - you will have to register to get the content but I think it's worth it if you like Prince. There's a bunch of cool pictures and interesting commentary, and lots of audio snippets, as well as links to past articles and more. It's a pretty fascinating look at the dude from his hometown's perspective. Outkast & Alicia Keys will do the induction, and you can see the broadcast next weekend on VH1.
New mp3s today...
In light of my recent post about Beck's cover version of Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime I give you the original version by The Korgis. It was essentially their only hit, and is a gooey ballad, but it really registered with me and I love it to this day. Also from the same era is John Foxx's Underpass. He had just left the band Ultravox (replaced by Midge Ure) and his first solo LP ws Metamatic. It's early '80's electronica at it's crudest - simple drum machines and synths, but it was cool to hear such experimental pop music pop, and I think Underpass is a killer catchy tune. A few years ago Massive Attack did a remix of The Dandy Warhols' tune Godless. I was never able to find it until recently, and I dig it. The result is a much harder edged and darker version of the tune, and makes me want to hear more collaborations between the 2 bands. Finally, Freeform Five's Electromagnetic is the title track from their new LP. A funky tune that feels very Prince-like, the version here is the band's own 12" mix - it's a harder pumped-up-for-the-dancefloor take. Very tasty.
Friday 3/12
Finally comes some P.J. Harvey news! She will be releasing a new album this summer, and according to her it will be a much darker and bluesier affair than Stories From The Sea.... I look forward to hearing new stuff!
The Pixies announced an extra show on their tour - Minneapolis on April 13th. The damn thing sold out in 4 minutes, and I only just found out about it. David Bowie's Diamond Dogs is getting the expanded reissue treatment - 2 CDs, the second being raritites and demos. A 4CD set calledThe Hip Hop Box Set gets released on April 20. 4 discs, 4 eras of hip hop. It's obviously going to be criticized for what got left off, but it still has a fairly good selection of stuff on it - the first 3 are the interesting ones to me.
Thursday 3/11
By now you've probably seen the previews for the new Jim Carrey movie Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. Directed by French whiz Michel Gondry (remember the Daft Punk "Around The World" video, or Jack White as Lego, or multiple Kylies walking around the same street corner - the guy is a visual genius) it features a very hip soundtrack. Along with tracks from the Polyphonic Spree and ELO, there is a new version of one of my all time favourite early '80's ballads. Beck and soundtrack scorer Jon Brion have re-recorded Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime, a song that was a big hit for UK duo the Korgis in 1980. It's a beauty of a tune, all melancholic melody, and I never owned it until last year when Jaime in Portugal was kind enough to send me a copy. I can't wait to hear this version!
Have you ever seen a rapping Gollum? Or how about The Singhsons?
Duran Duran live on DVD . Two concert movies and a live disc... Air get the remix treatment from Zongamin, The Juan Mclean and Nomo Heroes for the track Surfing On A Rocket. Fantastic choices! And in the "another ignorant rapper" corner is 50 Cent and his slamming of "faggots". "But women who like women, that's cool". Moron.
Wednesday 3/10
R.I.P. John McGeoch. Guitarist extraordinaire, he was in Siouxsie & The Banshees, Magazine, and played for many others including P.I.L. and Visage. Back in the day I would be psyched to see his name on a record - and there were many of them. He passed away last Thursday in his sleep.
Josh Homme speaks about the break-up of QOTSA as we know it - or "why Nick Oliveri is no longer in the band." He says Nick was starting to act like he wanted to be the next Sid Vicious - "a dumb drug addict who couldn't play bass and never wrote a song." Yowsa.
Franz Ferdinand clean up with a US record deal from Epic Records, believed to be worth 1.5 million pounds sterling. Yowsa x2!
Tuesday 3/9
A bunch of tasty new releases hits shelves today...TV On The Radio's Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, Franz Ferdinand's self titled debut, Sondre Lerche's Two Way Monologue, The Bad Plus' Give plus records from Squarepusher, The Von Bondies, and a remix collection of Throbbing Gristle stuff. It's time to spend some cheese...
Monday 3/8
DJ Danger Mouse comments on the Grey Album and the surrounding controversy. It's interesting to note that of the 2 labels involved (EMI & Roc-A-Fella) only EMI, who owns the Beatles catalog, has taken legal action.
For those of you with a reasonably fast internet connection - check out this fantastic Flash animation entitled Smoke Kills. Very amusing stuff.
Also very intriguing in a "jeez, that's disgusting" kind of way are the sordid details of Lionel Richie's divorce, where his wife is asking for $300,000 a month. The breakdown of expenses is insane - clothes, jewelry, pedicures and hair jobs and massages. American greed at it's best...
Saturday 3/6
New mp3s today...
The Rapture's Sister Saviour is the dub remix by The DFA. It's a funky ass instrumental, all mid tempo disco beats, wobbly bass and sweet keyboards. There are some nice mixes of this tune by Black Strobe and Tiefschwarz also floating around out there to check out. Ellen Allien is a big part of the electro-clash scene, and Augenblick is from her debut album Berlinette. A fanatastic glitchy beat, some very cool guitars run through all kinds of processors, and a lovely airy vocal refrain all add up to one hell of a cool post punk treat. Chromeo are a Montreal duo, friends of Tiga, and they revel in recreating the elastic synth funk of Cameo and The Dazz Band and The Gap Band and mixing it up with classic synth pop and electro. Woman Friend is a funky vocodered slab of pure '80s pop. You can listen to some of their music while watching random people roller skate here. Pretty amusing. Finally, a mash up of Q-Tip's Breathe & Stop with Michael Jackson's Don't Stop Till You get Enough. It's a white label, and I don't know who put it together but it sure as hell is a fun listen.
Thursday 3/4
Here's another brilliant game - Escape From Neverland Ranch. Sure it's a bit tasteless, but it sure as hell is a fun way to kill some time! This one had the folks at my work in stitches. You'll love the sound effects. Thanks to Fireballs and Tsunami for the excellent link.
The return of Sonic Youth - a new LP in June. Called Sonic Youth Nurse, it's again produced by Jim O'Rourke and is a creative extension of their last record Murray Street.
Wednesday 3/3
It's about time! Pitchfork reports that the Beastie Boys will be putting out a new album in June. No tracklist or title yet, it's their first new material since '98's Hello Nasty.
April 6th is the day the Polyphonic Spree release their DVD The Adventure Of Listening. It features live performances, interviews and the video for Light And Day as well as an audio CD with 5 songs, one of which is a cover of David Bowie's Five Years - they're about to go on tour with Bowie.