silence is a rhythm too
Monday 6/28
One of my all time fave bands is the Talking Heads. Today I found out that Rhino Records is reissuing The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads, their classic, never before on CD double live set. The first LP, recorded in 1979, is the original lineup playing tunes from the first 3 records. The second set is from 1980 and is the full on funk explosion, with Bernie Worrell, Adrian Belew, Nona Hendryx, Busta Jones, Dolette McDonald and Steve Scales filling out the band, playing tunes from Remain In Light and Fear Of Music. It's killer stuff, although it's not as well known as the Stop Making Sense soundtrack. The key here is that Rhino are adding 13 other live tracks, making it a double CD. Now if they would only get around to reissuing proper remasters of all of the records I would be a very happy guy!
The Ultimate Garage Rock Festival! Curated by Little Steven, it will feature the reunited Iggy & The Stooges, the reunited New York Dolls, The Strokes, the Raveonettes, the Pretty Things, the Mooney Suzuki, the Romantics, the Fuzztones and the Electric Prunes, as well as Bo Diddley and a bunch more acts. It will happen August 14th at Randall Island in NYC, and tickets are only $20! What a deal!
Sunday 6/27
New mp3s today - Crate Digging
I've got an old fruit crate full of 45s that encapsulate the years 1979-1985, the years I lived in the UK and bought 7" singles every week. This week's mp3s are all ripped from that crate...
From 1980 come two tracks - New Musik's Sanctuary. Fronted by producer Tony Mansfield they were a slick blend of live instruments and synths. They had some minor success in the charts - I always thought they were underrated and deserved better. Sanctuary was not a big hit but should have been - it's super catchy new wave pop, shiny and full of those excellent '80s synth claps. Check out Tony's resume - Aha, B52's and The Damned. A great tune.
Department S were fronted by the most eloquently named Vaughn Toulouse, and were one hit wonders. Is Vic There? is the hit - a cool guitar riff, lyrics about a mysterious phone caller, and the classic break where Vaughn repeats the title over the beeping of a phone. A novelty song that rocks and is actually good!
From 1982 comes Bauhaus' Kick In The Eye. Take a kick ass bass riff, mutant disco beats and sharp post punk riffing and you get the band's funkiest moment ever - very refreshing considering their usual goth output. Even Peter Murphy's croon is curtailed - much more of a shout on here. This tune holds up very well, and would sound just fine mixed in with much of today's post punky funky stuff.
Orange Juice released What Presence in 1984 to great acclaim but not a lot of success. One of the best songs they ever did, it rides a huge twangy riff, features fab gospel back up vocals (What you gonna do when the river runs dry?) and a searing guitar solo from Edwyn Collins. The band broke up after their self titled album featuring this single came out - the label dropped them and it was over. Ironic considering that it's one of the best things they recorded.
This is the first time I've ripped from vinyl to mp3 so I hope these tracks aren't too quiet. If you peeps like 'em I might dig back into the crate for a future installment!
Friday 6/25
On September 21st Epic Records will be reissuing a 25th anniversary edition of The Clash's London Calling. Included will be a bonus disc of recently discovered demos from those same sessions and a DVD of clips of the band in the studio and playing live, as well as interviews with the band. Fantastic!
Fancy yourself a bit of a film director? The Polyphonic Spree Need You To Direct Their New Video! The band is running a competition - film a vid for the tune Hold Me Now and win $5000.
Wednesday 6/23
News Item Roundup
Lollapalooza 2004 has been cancelled due to a lack of ticket sales. What a trip, especially considering this year's line up was one of the coolest ever. A lot of bands are going to have more free time on their hands this summer - let's hope some of them tour on their own! One of my longtime fave bands Luna is set to release it's new LP Rendezvous on September 28th, and for fans of Dean's previous band Galaxie 500 there is a 2 DVD set coming called Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste, with all of the band's videos and a bunch of live stuff. Despite all of the trauma they've suffered (band members quitting, going to jail, drunken injuries etc...) The Libertines are set to release their second LP The Libertines in August on Rough Trade. Once again it's produced by former Clash dudes Mick Jones and Bill Price. If you live in the US and can stay up late enough to catch it, be sure to watch The Secret Machines on David Letterman Thursday night.
Upcoming Shows
If you live in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul area there are some good gigs coming up...
Monday June 28th at the Triple Rock is !!! with Clipped Beaks. July 24th at the same venue is the big Ghostly International Tour, featuring Matthew Dear, Dabrye, Midwest Product, Cepia and DJ SV4 - get your electronic groove on! Also of note - July 28th at First Avenue is the huge double bill of Broken Social Scene & The Walkmen, and way way off (October 28th) is Clinic at The Fine Line. Some pretty good shows...
Monday 6/21
A few new releases of note tomorrow... Wilco's A Ghost Is Born, my favorite latin rock hip hop band Ozomatli returns with Street Signs, and reissues of the first five Banarama albums. You might laugh but I once owned the first album, and I reckon I would still like it - I foolishly sold it in the late '80s or early '90s, maybe because I thought it wasn't cool, probably so I could buy beer. Of course I'm older and wiser now, and paying the price for having sold all of those old records - buying the reissues!
Sunday 6/20
New mp3s today
!!!'s Shit Scheisse Merde Pt.2 is a killer dubby groove that builds slowly towards a big guitar riff driven break - these guys are masters of building up to the break. Lots of clicky percussion, keyboard blips and a fat bass line all add up to a rump shaker. The Soviettes' Channel X is great little tune - post punk-y riffing, and cool girl-boy-girl vocal dynamics - the way the guy sings on here reminds me a bit of Bloc Party's shouty vocals. Short and sweet. Lansing-Dreiden's Glass Corridor starts out driven by a cool bass riff and chiming guitars and then all of a sudden its synth-pop - pure '80s key and drum sounds until a My Bloody Valentine riff ushers back the guitars. These guys have a kind of timeless quality to them - much like I feel about Clinic, they sound fresh and exciting yet familiar at the same time. Their LP is all over the place, and very good. This week's flashback track reached #2 on the charts in the summer of 1975 - 10CC's I'm Not In Love. I remember hearing this tune as an eleven year old and being fascinated by it - it's "electronica" about 20 years before the term was invented. Lush and dreamy, with voices floating around the speakers like clouds, I imagine that this is the kind of thing Air were aspiring to create when they were writing Moon Safari. I love this song, and you should too. (FYI - the file is big because it's ripped @320)
The Funky Divas
I have been known to listen to a bit of modern r'n'b, altho' I don't buy a lot of the records. Back in the early '90s En Vogue were one of my faves - I actually bought their records. The vocal chemistry of the four was fantastic, and the grooves were always funky. When Dawn Robinson left the other three soldiered on - their album was so-so. Dawn joined Lucy Pearl with Raphael Saadiq & Ali Shaheed Muhammad (A Tribe Called Quest) and they recorded one album - filled with warm disco and funk and r'n'b. Then Dawn left them too. Today I was reading the arts section of my paper and I came across THIS tiny little blip of an item - "Look for an En Vogue reunion next year, with Dawn Robinson returning to the group.". I hit Google but wasn't able to find anything. Suffice it to say I was psyched to hear this, and I can think of a number of people I'd like to see them working with... The Neptunes, The Roots, Van Hunt. The funky divas are back!
Beautiful Psychedelic Fun
The Polyphonic Spree are gearing up for the release of their new album Together We're Heavy (July 13th) and have created this game featuring 4 of the new songs. It's beautifully conceived weirdness - try and reunite 3 lost band members with the rest of the band, travelling through some inspired landscapes. It's not too hard to figure out - keep clicking on stuff - and you get to hear some bitchin' new tunes. Lovely. Another reason why I love the internet.
Saturday 6/19
Election Year Humor
This being an election year you might see me posting political stuff once in a while. I've got no love for our current administration. These last 4 years have pretty much sucked - I'd rather see Clinton lie about getting a BJ in the Oval Office than hear my Prez tell me we have to bomb Iraq into rubble to find non-existent WMDs and non-existent links to Al Qaida. It's been mighty fodder for the opposition, and it's become a year when so much is at stake. After last week's death of Ronald Reagan, one of the great Dons of the Neo-Cons, and the subsequent rising this week of GW's poll numbers, it seems a sure fire way to get GeeDubYa re-elected is to go with the BUSH AND ZOMBIE REAGAN IN '04 ticket. Particularly amusing is the FAQ section. Thanks to Greg for the excellent link.
And Now For Some Music
The Soviettes are a Minneapolis punk rock band, three girls and one guy. Their second album LP II is out now and it rocks hard, fast and furious - 14 songs in 23 minutes and 22 seconds. It's shouty, snotty and the riffs are super catchy and a lot of fun. Also a lot of fun is Hot Fuss by Las Vegas new wavers The Killers. Sure, they sound like an amalgamation of all of the hipster bands - Interpol, Franz Ferdinand, Stellastarr*, The Fever and their ilk, but when the songs are so damn catchy and shiny and full of way more cool keyboards than any of those other bands how can you resist? Somebody told me you had a boyfriend who looked like a girlfriend that I had in February of last year - too funny. I love it. The Beastie Boys' To The 5 Boroughs is getting mixed reviews - Paul at 75 or Less obviously thinks it sucks - "same old bullshit", but I'd give it three out of five stars. It's typically wacky fare, but it's straight up old-school style hip hop - there are none of the funky instrumentals, punk rock anthems or dub stylee tracks that have peppered their last few records. I guess I can see how it might get monotonous to some listeners. I still get a laugh out of some of the rhymes, and it will do middle America well to hear some of the more political messages. Older, wiser and still kind of fun. !!! are also making political statements on their second album Louden Up Now, but rooting it in the kind of tribal funk that the Talking Heads did back in the late '70s and early '80s. Their sound is essentially the same as last time, but with a bit more production. These guys can really throw down a serious funky groove, all poppin' bass, chika chika guitars and spacy keys, with Nic Offer
shouting and yelping about the need to set your ass free. My only complaint is that some of these tracks could do with being a bit shorter - they average like seven or eight minutes when 4 or 5 will do. Also rockin' the box are Aussie brother and sister act Bumblebeez 81 with their Printz collection - lo-fi indie-garage-rock-hop craziness. It compiles their 2 EPs (Red Printz/White Printz) and is maybe what some of you who aren't feeling the Beastie Boys should be listening to. Sonic Youth's Sonic Nurse is super melodic and remarkably catchy listening. I'm enjoying their "aging with mellow grace" period. A.C.Newman is known as one of the New Pornographers - The Slow Wonder is his solo album, a guitar pop gem. Soaring harmonies, strings and such fabulously catchy songwriting. if you liked his other band's last LP you will like this record for sure.
Friday 6/18
If you live in the US and are a fan of Madonna's be sure to watch her interviewed on 20/20 tonight. The interview is where she will be announcing that she is renaming herself Esther, a Hebrew queen's name. No kidding. Here's some proof from the NME. Wacky pop stars...
Thursday 6/17
Daft Punk remix Franz Ferdinand's Take Me Out. I need to hear this. If you stop by Fluxblog right now there is a fantastic version of the same song by the oh-so fabulous Scissor Sisters - taken from a BBC Radio1 session. Also worth searching out is the Morgan Geist remix. God I love remixes.
Bjork's new LP is called Medulla and will be out in August.
In what is sure to be the next bizarre reality show hit, mega producer Mark Burnett and INXS have teamed up to find a new singer for the band. I don't know whether to laugh or cry about this one...
Wednesday 6/16
This is very amusing - Martha Stewart prison photos. Thanks to Fireballs and Tsunami for the link.
Duran Duran have signed with Epic Records and their new album is on the release slate for October. Regular readers will know me as a big fan - I road tripped to Chicago last November to see 'em live for the first time. I've heard one new tune (Sunrise from the Queer Eye soundtrack) and I like it.
If you use iTunes and the iTunes store this is exciting - a brand new Pixies tune is available to download. Called Bwan Thwok, it'll cost you 99¢. Anybody heard it yet?
Tuesday 6/15
It's 10:45 in the evening and the Detroit Pistons have just won the NBA Championship, spanking the LA Lakers. They dominated every game with their great defense, and showed they could score points too. A fantastic series, and every Timberwolves fan says "thank you very much Detroit!!".
A super duper big thank you to The Tofu Hut for linking to my little spot on the web. For the first time ever my bandwidth has been maxed out - woo-hoo! That's what I get for using a freebie web package, eh? I hope all of you who have tried to get here but couldn't try to come back later.
Monday 6/14
New mp3s today...
Mel Gibson & The Pants are a Minneapolis act who do the rap rock thing, though it ain't Limp Bizkit stylee - it's more of an indie rock rap thing. The tune Paper Shaper Shifter coasts on a groovy Asian sounding riff and a solid backbeat. I've already raved about Graham Coxon's album, now hear for yourself - Don't Be A Stranger is a very Blur-esque tune - huge riff, catchy chorus. Hopefully some US label will pick this album up and put it out here! The Killers are a Las Vegas act that fits very nicely into the whole "new wave of new wavers" thing thats going on in music right now - a more poptastic sounding version of Interpol? Franz Frinterpol? Smile Like You Mean It is another big riff and catchy chorus. Their album Hot Fuss is in stores this week. This week's flashback is another cover version - Serge Gainsbourg's Je T'aime Moi Non Plus as done by Trash Palace. The vocals on this tasty little downtempo electronic remake are handled by Placebo's Brian Molko and the breathy female is Italian Asia Argento (daughter of master of psychedelic gore flicks Dario) - actress, model, director and now singer. Very nice.
GO PISTONS!!
No team has ever won three in a row at home in the 2-3-2 format. No team has ever come back from a 3-1 deficit. Tuesday night something's gotta give - the Lakers will probably come with everything they've got to avoid the knock out, but so far the Pistons have proven to be the dominant team, capable of handling everything LA has shown them. I expect an exciting game - something I wouldn't have said a week ago - and am rooting for the Pistons to get it done!
Thursday 6/10
RIP Ray Charles, dead of complications from liver disease.
If you live in the Twin Cities area and are in need of satisfying your jones for some air guitar you're in luck. Tonight at the Triple Rock is the Midwest finals of the Air Guitar USA competition. The winner goes on to the world finals in Finland in August. Hit the link to check out the awesome perfromance of last year's champ C-Diddy!
Wednesday 6/9
I'm not a big fan of video games - I have the original Playstation and two Crash Bandicoot games which get used maybe two or three times a year. Soundtracking these games has become a big business, with bands licensing their tunes, and in some cases composing the whole thing. The latest entry in the game composing biz is Amon Tobin who is doing the score for Splinter Cell 3. The man is a soundscaping whiz, as capable at subtle, cinematic ambience as he is at pounding industrial strength avant hip hop. Should be interesting, and when it comes out I'm sure I'll get the full report from my gaming buddy T$.
A record that has lit my stereo on fire the last couple of days is the new self titled LP from Secret Machines. A Texas trio (drums, guitar and keyboards) who relocated to NYC, they make an almighty huge racket that sounds like nobody else right now. There are elements of Pink Floyd in some of the slower songs, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club on some of the crunchier songs and the Flaming Lips' beats and electronic flourishes thrown on top - even that doesn't do the music justice. It leapt from my speakers an I'm sold on it. It's definitely not post-punk, at times it's a little new wave. I mean really it covers all of the bases for me - it rocks, it's got proper catchy tunes, the production is big, it's electronic but not electronica, and oh yeah, did I mention that it ROCKS?
A Random Thought
I just need to say that the Arby's talking oven mitt has got to go. Curse you Tom Arnold for helping to bring it to life.
Monday 6/7
RIP Robert Quine. One of rock's great guitarists, he died of a heroin overdose. Look at the list of recordings he played on and you can see 27 years of some serious music history.
Tomorrow is a big day for new records. Sonic Youth's Sonic Nurse is being referred to as Murray Street Part 2, and that's fairly accurate. It's also really good - catchy, tuneful, and mellowed with age. A.C. Newman is one of the New Pornographers and his solo LP The Slow Wonder is out on Matador. I've heard one tune (The Town Halo) and it's great - lovely tune, great harmonies and a killer string section. !!!'s Louden Up Now is a further refinement of their style - TalkingHeads circa Fear Of Music / Remain In Light. Very funky for a bunch of white indie slacker types. Tomorrow also sees the long anticipated return of PJ Harvey - Uh Huh Her has been getting pretty good reviews, and it sounds like she's getting back to the bluesy basics. Happy shopping!
The Detroit Pistons rock my world. I wasn't planning on watching any of the NBA finals because I've got no love for the Lakers, but after last night's mighty Detroit victory - it's all about the defense - I might have to watch a bit more of it. GO PISTONS!!!
Sunday 6/6
New mp3s today...
Two Lone Swordsmen have dramatically overhauled their sound on the new LP From The Double Gone Chapel. Instead of the usual banging techno and electro club sounds, they've pulled together a band and made a very dubby, dark post punk album. Formica Fuego rides a chunky bass riff and features spiky guitar riffing and some lovely icy synths. It really does feel like 1981 all over again. Bloc Party are another Brit group making a bit of a splash with their own take on post punk - Banquet is a bouncy track that reminds me a bit of the earliest Cure records - disco beats, sharp guitars and a very memorable chorus add up to a lot of fun. The Polyphonic Spree are gearing up to release a new record, and so I'm reviving a track from the old one, Soldier Girl. It appears here as remixed by Death In Vegas and they do a great job of applying their dark Gothic dirge to what is a very upbeat tune. There is also a very cool Zongamin remix of this track out there that takes it into arty disco territory - worth seeking out. This week's flashback is recent remake of an old song - Chicks On Speed doing the Tom Tom Club's Wordy Rappinghood. I have always loved this song, and although this remake doesn't sound too different from the original (it's a little tighter) it is a lot of fun anyway. Rum sum sum ala rum sum sum, coony coony coony coony rum sum sum, hi ki yi yippee yi ki yay, yahoo ahoo a yee kee chee - word!
Friday 6/4
In the category "best rock news of the day/month/year" I give you this: Creed are splitting up. Let the tears (of joy) flow...
I'm Not A Writer, I Just Play One On The Internet
My apologies... the links to the Jane Birkin and Orbital mp3s were not functioning this week. I have now fixed them.
I was surfing around TV the other day when I saw a preview for a new show on Fox called North Shore. You know, beautiful locale, beautiful people sleeping with each other, all of that good Fox show stuff. Well, my jaw just about hit the floor when I heard the Moonbabies being used as the background music. I have to admit that I've never watched The O.C. but I know that their soundtrack is pretty cool, so maybe this will help get the Moonbabies a little more notice for their album, hands down one of the best records of '04.
CORRECTION
My ears decieved me, and it turns out it's not the Moonbabies in the Fox ad for North Shore. Instead it's the equally excellent Snow Patrol, whose record has been getting just as much airplay at my house as the Moonbabies disc. The thing that confused me is that both albums have some tracks that are very Lou Barlow / Folk Implosion-y. Sorry for the misinformation!
Thursday 6/3
A very amusing little item about the Beta Band - nothing you don't already know, but a very funny read anyway. The rest of the site is pretty entertaining too.
I have always loved Jockey Slut magazine's take on the dance music scene, especially the way they incorporate indie rock and other stuff into their coverage. They were giving away some great cover-mounted CDs for a while there too. The only part of the equation that sucked was the website. Well, they stopped giving away CDs, turned into a quarterly magazine, and gone all out on the website. The last issue I picked up hinted at music downloads being offered but there's no sign of anything yet. Another good spot on the web to check out.