silence is a rhythm too
Monday 4/26
New mp3s today...
The Great Depression's Sargasso Sea was the first song to jump out at me from their new LP. It's focal melody is provided by some lovely horns, and the tune rocks - this is the tune that reminds me of the Boo Radleys alot. Automato's Hope is the uptempo joint that I blurbed about further down the page. An electro-hip hop rock jam with that massive DFA production sound. Yesterday's New Quintet bring the big chunky hip hop beats and grooving keys to one of my fave Stevie Wonder tunes, Too High, from his classic Innervision album. Blancmange rounds things out with this week's '80's flashback Living On The Ceiling. I always enjoyed this Brit duo's quirky synth pop, and this song was one of their biggest hits. It's got some big beats, a nice Indian melody and some of singer Neil Arthur's best impersonations of David Byrne. I love this song.
First It Was Orbital...
...now it's Guided By Voices who are announcing the end. The band will split after releasing it's last album in August (Half Smiles Of The Decomposed). Also calling it quits are the Wu Tang Clan, who will also do one more album as a band before breaking up.
Supergrass feel the funk?. According to Gaz the new stuff is "stripped down & funked out."
Sunday 4/25
These Are A Few More Of My Favorite Things
The new Prince album Musicology is a real return to form. I like pretty much the whole record - it's old school Prince's tribute to funk and r'n'b. The first two tracks are classic stuff - Musicology riding a pure James Brown groove, giving props to Earth Wind & Fire, Sly Stone and JB, Illusion, Coma, Pimp & Circumstance sounding very much like the Prince of old - crazy mad funk.The ballads are smooth and on Cinammon Girl he offers a beauty of a mellow rocker - not only does the title nod to Neil Young but there is a very Neil guitar riff featured as well. When I played this at work all of my co-workers who were fans of the man (and one who wasn't much of fan) back in the day were impressed - that's a pretty good indication that it's a tasty record!
Lali Puna's Faking The Books is another nice release from hep Euro label Morr Music. This is the band's third full length and continues to mix rock with electronica and pop to craft a pretty unique sound. I think a good point of reference here is The Notwist, and that is because Markus Acher is a key member of both bands. With Lali Puna he has the beautiful voice of Valerie Trebeljahr as the focal point instead of his own singing. A fine record. On the jazz-bo tip of things I'm really digging Skalpel's self titled album. Out on Ninja Tune, this Polish DJ duo's debut is crafted largely from samples of old Polish jazz recordings. It's very smoky, cinematic stuff and reminds me a fair amount of labelmates Cinematic Orchestra. Also on the jazzy side is the fab new LP Stevie from Yesterday's New Quintet. For those who don't know, YNQ are another of hip hop producer Madlib's aliases. There is no quintet, it's all him, and on this album it's all instrumental versions of music by Stevie Wonder. It's wonderful stuff, all rootsy, jazzy organs and chunky hip hop beats - Too High and Golden Lady are my faves.
The Great Depression are a Minnesota band that has spent the last few years working on their debut Unconscious Pilot at the swanky Pacchyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, MN - a very deluxe place also known as the studio where Nirvana recorded In Utero and PJ Harvey did Rid Of Me. Their house engineer Brent is a member of the band, and as a result they've crafted one of the lushest records I've heard all year. It reminds me of The Church and The Boo Radleys and even The Stills, and I hear snatches of My Bloody Valentine too. There are several instrumentals, and the music is big and spacious and dreamy. I had read an article in the local press a week or two ago about these guys and it piqued my interest, and I'm happy to say that I love the record. There are some mp3s available at their website - go listen to them, and then buy the record!
Saturday 4/24
These Are A Few This Is One Of My Favorite Things
Automato are a NYC hip hop band - 6 members strong, all live instrumentation. The key ingredient that makes their self titled debut so tatsy is the production of The DFA. Yes, the hipsters are tackling hip hop, and the result is a big hit with me. The big drum sound, the chunky bass, the shards of postpunk guitar, and lots of the other nice DFA touches make this record rock - check out the tune Hope, which starts out hip hop, goes electro and then turns into an electro rock tune - it's fab. The rapping is of the "socially conscious" style, and is pretty good. There's some nice turntables cuts by Mista Sinista and Tim Goldsworthy, and The DFA share a couple of songwriting credits. I love the blending of the two styles - it could have been dodgy but it isn't. There are plenty of audio samples on the band's website - go check them out.
Friday 4/23
Are any of you fans of the original witchy woman? I mean Stevie Nicks of course. If you are a fan then I know you will just die to know that you can get your very own portrait of yourself and Stevie as painted by Johanna. Fanaticism taken to new, artistic heights...
Billboard confirms the end of ORBITAL. They mention the album being released internationally but give no other info.
The Cure are back in action this summer with a new LP. I used to be a big fan - I guess I still am (of the old stuff I have) even tho' I haven't bought a new Cure record in years. The exciting part of this item of news from Pitchfork is the mention of expanded reissues of Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds, Faith and Pornography - all due around August with the rest to follow over the next year or two.
Thursday 4/22
You've all heard about the mash-ups of Jay-Z's Black album with a huge assortment of backing music - The Beatles, Metallica and Weezer among some of them. The web continues to spawn more - the latest entry is the Slack Album - yes, Jay-Z is rapping over the backing tracks from Pavement's Slanted & Enchanted, as put together by DJ Nwee. I haven't had a chance to hear it yet but I think that it's a freaking hilarious idea.
According to The NME The Blue Album will be Orbital's last record.
At the band's official website loopz.co.uk, Paul Hartnoll said: "I think we feel that Orbital has run its course. We’re both pursuing different avenues with our music. And we’ve been sat, as brothers, in the same room for 15 years now–and studios are always confined spaces–I think it’s time for a change.". I will miss them for sure...
Wednesday 4/21
Today's word of the day is ORBITAL. The duo is releasing their new Blue Album in the UK on June 21st - it looks like they're putting it out themselves, and there is no info on a US release date. Two of the tracks are vocal collaborations - one with The Sparks and the other with Lisa Gerrard. I love these guys - some very bangin' tunes, and a jaw-droppingly huge live act - so I look forward to getting my hands on a copy of the record.
Tuesday 4/20
It's been a while since I've posted a link to a fun game to help you kill time, and so I give you the ultimate in old school entertainment - Asteroids. Yes, it's like you're a teenager all over again, only this time it's on company time, right?
Some new releases today...
2 A.R.Kane reissues, i and 69, Gerling's Badblood, and Prince's apparent return to form Musicology.
Monday 4/19
Echo & The Bunnymen could be opening for Coldplay on a world tour sometime in the next year. It's a great double bill - and Coldplay have always had that "Echo" vibe so it makes sense. Woo-hoo!
Morissey convinces The New York Dolls to reunite!. They'll play the Mozza curated Meltdown Festival in London this June. Several players are filling the shoes of the dearly departed members including Izzy Stradlin and Libertines drummer Gary Powell.
New mp3s today...
The Beta Band are back in action next month with a new LP (Heroes To Zeroes). Liquid Bird is one of the hardest rocking things they've ever done - a huge guitar riff, a bit of hip hop kick drum and lots of spaciness in the mix. Good tune, good album - the most "together" they've ever sounded. Mellow and Phoenix are both French, but the similarities end there. Mellow are obviously huge fans of the Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd, and then they add an electronic sheen to everything. Fantastic is less like Floyd than a lot of their album - a bit more uptempo and a lot more electro. Phoenix seem to draw most of their influence from '70s AOR, but again with a nice modern sheen to it. I'm An Actor is a midtempo tune with a great catchy riff and sweet melody. Another great album too. This week's '80's flasback comes courtesy of New Romantics Visage. A "supergroup" of musicians from Ultravox and Magazine fronted by clubkid Steve Strange, Fade To Grey was their debut single, a beautifully catchy synthpop tune with a darker melancholic edge. I heard it on the radio back in the day and rushed out to get the 45 - it was one of my absolutely favorite tracks of the era and still is.
Friday 4/16
I opened my junk mail folder today to find the grandaddy of all subject lines...
"appellant expellable fatten ornery reckon hung polariscope ditty afresh meager conjoin orderly choirmaster clad impute appointee han huron mcmullen commerce mendelssohn dielectric inboard bengal adduce hansen locate burgeon motherland cyclone houseboat circular huxtable quakeress bellboy agile rouse shirt."
I had to see what it was for so I opened it. It was a link to some stupid pharmaceutical speed or something, and aside from the one line of text and link, this is what it said;
"grandnephew demand gangster francine doolittle allele antares kline concord aspheric boyle bebop fluorescein polymorph additional. godhead sidetrack deluge crete aquatic otiose casket benz fahey egret bernet furnace commensurable hostelry siegel amount casein grade aps enliven bazaar baklava aerosol abstracter gruff hotbed shanghai deep goldman nash claus intone belying decommission incondensable behead."
It was weird enough to see all of this mumbo jumbo, but the words that really got to me (who knows why) were baklava aerosol. Now if the email told me how to get some baklava aerosol I'd be all over that shit!
Thursday 4/15
Luke Vibert's Kerrier District is a 3x12" vinyl only release, and is my favorite dance recording in the whole world right now. Entirely instrumental (save a few vocal samples), it's a lush electro-disco album. It kind of reminds me of the Metro Area record, except I think Vibert's is better. It fuses the best parts of '70s disco with the best parts of '80s electro disco and comes up a cropper. It's fabulous , with many memorable tunes - funky bass lines, quirky synths and some serious grooves. If this one fails to move your feet you're dead. I have yet to come across a copy on vinyl - when I do I will snap it up - but found it pretty easily as a download, and recommend that you do whatever you have to to hear it!
"Cute Kid Story" Alert
We've been having a stretch of really warm Spring weather so I've been out in the back yard with my four year old a lot this week. I've been raking leaves, uncovering bulbs and all of that other fun stuff. Anyway, my daughter was playing on the sidewalk - drawing with colored chalk, singing and talking to herself - while I was working. Suddenly she's at my side. "Dad, Dad, look over there!" "What?" "See that circle of colored chalk?" She points at a big multicolored circle she had drawn. "Yeah, I see - very pretty!" "Well Dad, that's a magic circle. If you step on it, it takes you to a magic rainbow land. When you're there it's full of rainbows, pretty princesses and Strawberry Shortcakes." "WOW!" What a fabulous imagination she has - and what a "girly" girl!
Wednesday 4/14
The Pixies staged their triumphant return right here in Minneapolis last night, and The NME was there to cover it for you. It sounds like the response was huge, and so was the gig. The setlist was 25 songs long, and they played everything you'd want to hear. Also good news is the imminent return of Interpol this fall with a new LP. The follow-up to their highly successful debut is eagerly anticipated - especially at my house!
Finally some words of advice to all of you rockers out there...Try not to smash your face into your guitar while on stage. It's bloody, might require you to get stitches, and could cause the cancellation of tour dates. I bet Matthew Bellamy from Muse might be a little more careful now...
Monday 4/12
Blur news from The NME.. They're back in the studio recording a new EP, Damon's talking about Gorillaz (working with DJ Dangermouse and The Bees as his "house band"), and finally he's also working with drummer / producer Tony Allen and some of the other remaining members of Fela Kuti's band on an Afro-beat project. The line that got me in the story - "he would like Graham Coxon to rejoin the band". Hmmmm...
This weekend's TV was about Janet Jackson on SNL and the Nick Lachey / Jessica Simspson variety show on the tube last night. Both won their time slots and the variety hour is going to be on again. It was absolutely atrocious - although you really have to hand it to the producers for getting the whole feel of those '70s shows. The bad jokes, the bad costumes, her "Farrah Fawcett" do - it was all very authentic. I made it through 2 or 3 minutes tops and then had to move on very quickly. Janet on SNL was great - Condi Rice flashing her breast to the 9/11 commission was fantastic, and her impersonation was also remarkably good. Her songs were so-so. Damita Jo is the first Janet record that I haven't bought - I've heard about half of it and it didn't really do much for me. Still. it was good to see her making fun of herself.
New mp3s today...
It's the battle of the "one boy and one girl" bands - the Moonbabies are a Swedish duo whose album is pretty much at the top of my best of the year list already, with it's amazingly good blend of indie rock, My Bloody Valentine, electronica and divine pop melodies. Forever Changes Everything Now is dreamy, summery pop with a very memorable guitar riff. Joy Zipper are essentially an American version of the Moonbabies, albeit darker. These guys feed from the same My Bloody Valentine trough but add a Jesus and Mary Chain kind of thing to it. 33X is a another dreamy low key ballad with some nice country flavored guitar on it. OK, so I used dreamy to describe both tunes, but it's true!
Muse's Time Is Running Out jumped out at me right away - catchier than hell, big riffs, histrionics in the vocals, everything a good prog rocker needs. Fantastic. Finally, this week's '80s flashback is a cover tune of Prince's Starfish And Coffee by Soulwax. A great tune done very well by the Belgian mix masters. My question is, when is the next Soullwax album going to arrive?
Friday 4/9
The new Beastie Boys album is called To The 5 Boroughs and will be released on June 15th. The dudes at Pitchfork slam 'em for the goofy rhymes, but that's what makes me love them - that and the funky ass tunes they craft to go with those goofy raps. At least they're trying to say something.
Howard Stern has been sacked. I will admit to being a fan of the show - I watch it on the E! channel. This whole FCC foo-fa-ra is just another in the ever growing giant pile of reasons to vote for "anybody but Bush" come November...
Thursday 4/8
Ten years ago today the rock 'n roll genius who was Kurt Cobain stuck his shotgun in his face and pulled the trigger. I remember being at work and my wife calling me, telling me "you're not going to believe this" - and it was a horrible shock. He had the potential for so much more greatness in his life, and it is and always will be tragic that he couldn't get the help he needed to keep on. I hope his spirit has been able to find the peace he couldn't get while he was here...
Wedesday 4/7
The last few days I've been wondering what exactly drew Bob Dylan to appear in those Victoria's Secret's TV spots that I've been seeing. There's just something kind of creepy about it if you ask me.
Tuesday 4/6
New releases today...
Tears For Fears' comeback LP Everybody Loves A Happy Ending (release date pushed back), Tortoise's It's All Around You, Tahiti 80's Piece Of Sunshine, beatboxer Rahzel's ...Greatest Knockouts, Throbbing Gristle's Mutant TG (a very nice set of remixes by some of today's cooler electro-practitioners), and albums by Minnesota homegrown talent (and N.E.R.D. backing band) Spymob, Sweetback (Sade's backing band) and Mocean Worker.
Monday 4/5
New mp3s today...
Luke Vibert's Yesco is from the recently released Kerrier District and is a fun and funky electro disco instrumental like only Luke can deliver. Phantom Planet's 1st Things 1st is all about the huge riff. One hell of an insanely catchy new wave rock tune. The Hold Steady are a NYC band who were born out of the ashes of Minneapolis band Lifter Puller. Crunchy riff rock that takes it's cue from the power pop of the '70s instead of the new wave of the '80s. Barfruit Blues is a tasty little number from their album Almost Killed Me. This week's '80's flashback track comes from The Bush Tetras - Too Many Creeps was a single back in 1980 for this all girl band. Sparse and funky, see where Romeo Void got the riff for Never Say Never from.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
Sunday 4/4
These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things
Muse are a British trio who are most often described as "a bit too much like Radiohead". Their album Absolution was released in Europe last year, and came out here this week. Singer Matt Bellamy is definitely a dead ringer for Thom Yorke, and that's going to make it hard for a lot of people to get into them, and that's too bad because the album rocks. Instead of going electro-arty-Aphexy they forge on from where The Bends left off. It's epic stuff, all pomp and bombast, but the melodies are sweet - it's prog like Queen, beautifully produced, and features some awesome riffing - see Time Is Running Out. If you can get past that pesky Radiohead thing there is much to enjoy here.
Canadian 4 piece Metric's album Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? has been on my stereo every day now for like two or three weeks. It's a nü-wave record - you know, it sounds like a lot of your favorite bands from the early '80's. Singer Emily Haines also does vocal duties for Broken Social Scene, but Metric is a different bird. Sexy disco rhythms, shiny keyboard solos, and sharp guitar riffs make it very easy on the ears. And any band who can make a sexy disco tune about what a crock the US' foreign policies are ("invasion's so Succexy") are alright by me.
I dig the new N.E.R.D. album Fly Or Die. It's a rock album that draws as much inspiration from the '70's as it does from that era's funk. It's funny to me to hear them do music like this when what they are best known for is the shiny synthetic hip hop grooves. She Wants To Move is the first single and is a great guitar groove - search out some of the bootleg remixes of the tune that are floating around out there. Phantom Planet were nobody to me until one of my co-workers played their new self titled album at work. I loved what I heard. It's indie rock with a very post-punky feel to it, and producer Dave Fridmann gives the proceedings his usual sonic ear candy touches. I'm very pleasantly surprised to say that I like it.
I recommend TV On The Radio's Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes for a more Peter Gabriel flavored take on the NYC new wave rock scene thing. These dudes also bring some serious soulful vibes to the vocals. I can't stop listening to The Fiery Furnaces' Gallowsbird's Bark with it's all over the place, everything but the kitchen sink aesthetic. Luke Vibert's Kerrier District is some seriously synthetic disco music, but it's so damn funky - lot's of rubbery bass and keyboard action. Check out Yesco as a featured download this week.
Friday 4/2
Clinic have finally got a release date for their new LP Winchester Cathedral - August 23rd. Jeez, that's a long way away off - I love these guys, and from the sound of it they've been broadening their palette - " an overall deranged party feel to the music." Once again I am compelled to say "bring it on!"
Some more music news...The Pixies are going to be selling recordings of each of their live shows - DiscLive will record each one and make a 2 disc set available after the show, or you can pre-order on the DiscLive's website. The Velvet Underground's Live At Max's Kansas City is getting the remastered expanded treatment from Rhino Records - released on June 8th.
Wednesday 3/31
Exciting tour news... An Evening With Siouxsie: The Creatures & The Banshees. A full list of dates is availbale at The Creatures.com. Nothing in the Twin Cities. Bah.
P J Harvey's next album will be released on June 8th and is called Uh Hu Her. Alrighty then. The Roots have also finalized details for their new LP Tipping Point - out on June 29th, and featuring all kinds of guests. I look forward to both...
Go and see TV On The Radio on tour if they come to your town. Their album is really good, and their live shows are supposed to be pretty bitchin' too.
In light of the recent crack down on downloading music in Europe, Franz Ferdinand say it's OK to download music. Well, then I'm just going to have to keep on doing it then! :-)
silence is a rhythm too