silence is a rhythm too
Friday 7/30
I have only one thing I want to say today - are you ready for some football? I know I am, and my boys the Minnesota Vikings reported to training camp today. One month from the season's start and a lot of prognosticators have the Purple ranked high for the year. I am feeling cautiously optimistic - they brought in a good cornerback, a new defensive co-ordinator, and the offense is going to be lethal. WOO-HOO!!!
Thursday 7/29
News Morsels
Beck and Jack White wil be doing a duet that will appear on Beck's forthcoming LP. Now that should be an entertaining song. Orbital played their last gig ever yesterday. It was a BBC / John Peel session with a small, competition winning audience. I shall miss these guys, and am very grateful to have gotten the chance to see them a couple of years ago - fantastic show. Franz Ferdinand are returning to Minneapolis on August 29th - and maybe to your town too - they've expanded their US tour. I think I might have to go and see them this time around...
Tuesday 7/27
Today is a pretty big day for new releases - the long awaited US release of the self titled Scissor Sisters LP is today, and it's a great album. Do yourself and the band a favor and buy it!. Also out this week are a bunch of releases from the Astralwerks stable, including newly signed Badly Drawn Boy's One Plus One Is One, Kings Of Convenience's Riot On An Empty Street and the fantastic Alphabetical by French sophisto-poppers Phoenix. Today is the Mute Records release of M83's album from last year, Dead Cities,Red Seas and Lost Ghosts. This is some cool French electronica, and for the US it has been issued as a double CD with all kinds of extra stuff. Happy shopping!
Monday 7/26
One of the records I have been eargerly anticipating is the full length by Moving Units - yes, more post punk riffery. It's called Dangerous Dreams and is coming out on October 12th. They've been opening for Blur and The Pixies in the last year - I saw 'em open for Blur about a year ago and they were fantastic. They will be launching a headlining tour this fall, so if they come to your town be sure to go and see them!
Sunday 7/25
New mp3s today - Digging In The Crate Part 2
This week's tunes are pulled from my old crate of early '80s 45s -
Bill Nelson played guitar in '70s rock band Be Bop Deluxe. Upon going solo he began to experiment with electronics, and Do You Dream In Colour? from 1980 was my first exposure to the man. A hissing dum machine beat, twangy guitars and some cool sax all combine for a tasty new wave treat with a very catchy chorus. Also of note is the fact that it was produced by noted Brit studio ace John Leckie who went on to help produce many of Bill's other solo records as well as some by Stone Roses, Verve, and XTC. This track still sounds pretty good today.
Famous Names released Holiday Romance in 1980. This is classic new wave stuff - another big twangy riff, a touch of keyboards, some female counterpoint vocals to the herky-jerky male vocals. This band came out of the ashes of post punkers Writz, and some of that post punk is still evident here. I thought this could have been a hit, but it wasn't and I never heard of them again.
B Movie's Nowhere Girl from 1982 is the single that almost broke the band into the charts. I first heard of them on 1981's SomeBizarre Album compilation, which also had the first vinyl releases from Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, The The and Blancmange. Sadly they never quite hit the heights of some of those other acts, and IMO Nowhere Girl was their best shot - a memorable synth line, some nice guitars and a very catchy chorus - imagine a mix of The Stills' moody rock mixed with Depeche Modes poppiness and you have an idea of what this is all about.
Killing Joke's Tension from 1981 is actually the b-side to Follow The Leader. I love the a side but this tune is also big - a pounding tribal drum beat, a big meaty bass riff and shredding guitar riffs with Jaz shouting over the top about the tension building. The mix of beats, funky bass and punk rage always gets to me - as a 16 year old I was amazed at this energy, and it still sounds vibrant and unique today.
Thursday 7/22
Beck has been back in the studio recording the follow up to Sea Change and it does my heart good to see that he's working with The Dust Brothers again. Apparently there will be a few "contemplative" songs on it but fans can expect a lot more of the booty shaking grooviness that Beck is so adept at. In other new LP news REM have finished their new record for release in October. Apparently it's a very political record that also features one very "pop" tune called "Wanderlust" - the band will be playing some pro-Kerry benefit shows in the months to come so keep your eyes peeled for details. Supergrass Is 10 is their greatest hits collection with 2 new songs. It's out in Europe and will be released here on September 28th. One of the new tunes features production by Tom Tom Clubbers Tina and Chris and is pretty cool - a bit funkier than usual. Support this band and buy their records - not enough people do! Also of note this week is the creation of the second biggest record label in the universe - a merger between Sony and BMG. Soon they will own the world...
Tuesday 7/20
One of the more intriguing news stories today is this item about a possible reunion of The Specials - singer Neville Staple confirms he and Jerry Dammers and Terry Hall have spoken "with no animosity" and if all 7 members can agree they will play a mini tour. This year is the 25th anniversary of Two Tone Records and there are plans for an anniversary gig in Coventry to commemorate the occasion. Seems like a perfect opportunity to me...
Monday 7/19
Nouvelle Vague is another project from French music busy body Marc Collin - he also records as Ollano, Volga Select and Avril. Nouvelle vague translates as new wave in French, and as bossa nova in Portuguese, so it should be no surprise that this is bossa nova / jazzy covers of his fave new wave tunes. You get The Cure's A Forest, The Dead Kennedys' Too Drunk To Fuck, the Undertones' Teenage Kicks and others by XTC, The Clash, Depeche Mode, PIL, Killing Joke, Sisters Of Mercy, Modern English, The Specials, Joy Division and Tuxedomoon. I love these songs, and it's very refreshing to hear them stripped of all of their new wave-ness - it never fails to bring a smile to my face! Click Here to stream some of the songs from the album, out on Peacefrog Records. Briiliant.
Another album getting overkilled on my hi-fi is Free The Bees by The Bees. Their debut was interesting and had a few great tunes on it, but mostly it reminded me of fellow Isle Of Wighters the Beta Band. This time around they've focused on the '60s rock that they flirted with on their debut - a lot of this record sounds like it could have been recorded 30 or 40 years ago! It goes from garage-y (These Are The Ghosts) to psychedelic (Wash In The Rain) to skanking (The Russian, a huge instrumental with big horns) to funky (Chicken Payback) and to all kinds of other blues-y spots in between. It's like listening to lost gems from The Kinks and The Who and Small Faces and the Beatles. The vocals are still reminiscent of the Beta Band, but these guys have better tunes by the boatload. A very pleasant surprise, and sure to make my end of year best of list.
Bonus mp3 action!
I got so carried away with Aussie enthusiasm this weekend I forgot I told someone I'd be putting up the rather excellent Playgroup remix of Chicks On Speed's cover of Tom Tom Club's classic Wordy Rappinghood. Trevor Jackson strips the tune down, adds a funky new bass line and makes it all sound a bit less twee than it normally does. Shake yer booty.
Sunday 7/18
New mp3s today - The Aussie Invasion -
Gerling and Cut Copy are two of my new favorites, and both hail from the land down under.
Gerling have been around since 1992, and Bad Blood!!! is their 3rd album, but only the first to get a US release. A cool mix of power pop, punk, krautrock and electronica/sampling and beats, they have created a record that jumps all over the place. Get Activated is the more rockin' side of the band - it's a got a bit of the Vines / Jet thing going on - a nice swampy blues-y riff, with screamingly good vocals - dude really does a good scream. Newwave Machine is the post punk disco party side of the band. A bumping beat and funky bass line, lot's of filtered guitar and vocals - still screaming of course, and goofy lyrics about the new wave machine killing itself and spilling blood all over your Gucci hat - all very fun.
Cut Copy have been active since 2001. Originally just Dan Whitford and his guitar and machines, they've now expanded into a four piece touring band. Their debut LP is called Bright Like Neon Love and is another great mash up of styles - filtered French disco produced by Phillipe Zdar from Cassius (the album was also record in Paris), gloomy new wave rock and lush 70's AOR pop all collide. When you open the album sleeve the first two pages are covered with cartoon depictions of some of their inspirations - The KLF, Ray Parker Jr.(!), Giorgio Moroder, GBV, Chic, Fleetwood Mac and ELO are all there. Time Stands Still is a synth pop tune built over the beat from an old Human League record (I think it's The Sound Of The Crowd) - it's got a lovely melody, nice bass and guitars and dreamy plaintive vocals. Bright Neon Payphone represents the rock side of the band - it opens with a bass riff very reminiscent of Devo's Mongoloid and goes on to be the kind of mid tempo electro-rock New Order played in their earliest years - a big tune!
I like to listen to a bit of reggae once in a while, so this week's flashback track comes from late '70s reggae stars Third World. Their 1978 cover of The O'Jays' Now That We Found Love is a great disco-riddim tune - uptempo, funky ass bass line and lot's of nice vocal harmonising. This tune never fails to get my ass grooving!
Thursday 7/15
The TOTALLY FUZZY link posted below was broken - I'm not a code writer, I just play one on the web. My apologies and be sure to go and visit Herr K. ! And thanks to Mishie and Greg for cluing me in.
Wednesday 7/14
This week was a pretty big week for new releases and since I was gone on Tuesday here's a quick rundown of some stuff I picked up... The Roots return with The Tipping Point. Wagon Christ's Sorry I Make You Lush got it's US release - Luke Vibert is one of the most prolific musos out there, this being his second record of '04 (Kerrier District is the other one). The Polyphonic Spree's fantastic Together We're Heavy - see what a band can do with a recording budget! Gerling's Bad Blood finally gets out after months of waiting - electro punk pop goodness. Finally, The Fiery Furnaces return with Blueberry Boat, a record you'll either love or hate - self indulgent craziness, but IMO it's a lot of fun.
Tuesday 7/13
I'm back and sort of rested. Could have used another week or two off tho'...
When I finally got some time today to get on the computer I went straight to Totally Fuzzy with my first click. Herr K. does a terrific job of compiling the day's most unique offerings from all of the various mp3 blogs out there - it's become an everyday visit for me and enables me to continue to feed my music jones. If you are looking for interesting new music I recommend that you bookmark it and visit frequently!
Saturday 7/10
New mp3s today
I'm packing up the family and heading north to a lake (woo-hoo!) for the next couple of days so the new tunes are going up today instead of tomorrow.
The Charlatans have a new album out (Up At The Lake) and Feel The Pressure is one of the standout tunes - nice guitar riff, Tim's falsetto, and a groovy disco beat. I love it when the Charlatans get funky.
Interpol's Evil is another standout tune, from the forthcoming Antics - another big bass / guitar riff, very minimal until the chorus kicks in and it's pure Interpol. I'm very excited about this new record - no sophomore slump!
Faultline's Biting Tongues is one of the new songs from the reissue of Your Love Means Everything - it appears here in remix form, done by up and comer Brits Hot Chip. It's slowed down dancehall with a big rubber band-y sproinging bass line and a bit of toasting. Look for a cool remix of this done by The Bug which is a lot more ragga and harder edged.
This week's flashback is a two pack of tunes from Ride . I was a big fan of these boys - a great combination of shoegazing hugeness and Byrdsy melodies and harmonies. I saw 'em live a couple of times and they were always great. The discs I bought in the early '90s are woefully low in volume so I picked up their greatest hits comp from 2002 called OX4 (and ordered the box of all of the records remastered). I couldn't decide between these two songs so I give you both - Taste is a big rock tune with enormous guitar sound, the Byrds comparison applies here - so dreamy and sunny. Vapour Trail is more like what MBV or Lush were doing - midtempo, a bit gloomier, although once again it's a perfect riff, and the addition of strings is glorious - they carry the tune towards the end. Great driving music on a sunny day!
See you when I get back...
Friday 7/9
By now everybody knows about Interpol's forthcoming LP Antics getting leaked to p2p services last weekend. There is some debate about whether it's an umastered version or it's in mono or it was ripped from a cassette advance copy - whatever it is, I have to say that I like it. It is a far less gloomy sounding record - not exactly chipper, but definitely lighter in tone than their debut. I've listened to it every day this week, and the hooks have sunk their teeth into me. Narc has a fantastic riff and a typically bouncy bass line. There is a good mix of slower and midtempo songs as well as uptempo rockers (Slow Hands), and it sounds more minimal than TOTBL. Is it a departure from their sound? No, just a further refinement, and IMO that's fine.
I have also obtained a copy of The Prodigy's new LP Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned. I loved The Jilted Generation and thought that The Fat Of The Land was squandered opportunity - a couple of good tunes and a lot of crap - too much Keef Flint. Now here it is seven years later and we finally get a follow up - does anybody care? I have listened to it a couple of times and it's not anything earth shatteringly new - still a lot of block rockin' beats and distorto guitars, not as much of Keef's annoying ranting and a couple of pretty good tunes - Girls' old school synth squiggle, the middle eastern falavor of Medusa's Path, the Kool Keith sample on You Will Be Under My Wheels. After a couple of spins I think I might like it better than Fat Of The Land, but we'll see if that changes wtih more listens.
Thursday 7/8
All of you Orbital fans out there who live in the US - rejoice! ATO Records is releasing their final album in September, the 21st to be exact. I don't buy a lot of imports, because they can be so very very expensive, and I have to admit tthat I've already obtained the album via "other means". I like it a lot - stylistically it does remind me of their older works. I'm glad to see that it will be put out and I will get a chance to send a little bit of $ the band's way.
Tuesday 7/6
It's slim pickings for new releases this week - the only one I'm interested in is Angie Stone's Stone In Love. The woman has an amazing voice, and I loved her last record (mostly because of the O'Jays sampling hit Wish I Didn't Miss You).
A few weeks ago I raved about the new Killers album Hot Fuss. Today it comes as no surprise to see that Pitchfork doesn't like it. Too much style over substance - and sometimes that is a valid criticism, but in this case who cares about the substance when the style is so good!?! I knew that this record would not be well received by the cool kids, but screw 'em - it makes me shake my ass just as much as some of those other cool bands do and we all need a bit of glossy fun in our lives.
Flaming Lips news - they've begun recording sessions for the follow up to Yoshimi, they've recorded a song for the upcoming Spongebob Squarepants movie which my 4 and a 1/2 year old and I are super pumped up for, and they've also recorded another tune for their Christmas On Mars movie entitled Vaginal Holocaust. Nice.
Sunday 7/4
New mp3s today - Giogio Moroder & The Munich Machine
Giorgio Moroder rose to prominence in the '70s with his unique electronic style. He scored movie soudtracks and had pop chart success with a variety of stars - Donna Summer, David Bowie, Phil Oakey, Blondie and Berlin all had hits with his music. These are three of my favorite examples of his great style...
Chase is the main theme from the movie 1978 soundtrack Midnight Express. 8 minutes of throbbing, pulsing synths - a very memorable instrumental tune from a horrifying movie about prisons and drug smuggling in Turkey. A few years earlier he had helped make Donna Summer a star with I Feel Love, and Winter Melody is from her 1976 LP Four Seasons Of Love. A lovely ballad, it's a much more organic sounding song than much of what he did with Donna - lot's of strings and horns and a live band. Japan had approached him about doing some production for them and he told David Sylvian that he wanted them to record a song he had written. After a bit of re-recording and re-writing with the band they came up with Life In Tokyo which was a turning point in the band's style - from glam rock to the smoother, synth laced music that brought them their biggest hits.. The man is still working today, and his influence on modern dance music can't be denied. Brilliant.
One new track this week from UK trio Keane. They are another oddly configured band - singer, drummer and a guy who plays piano, keys and bass. Bend And Break is a soaring, anthemic tune that starts out with a piano riff like U2's Unforgettable Fire. There's a bit of Coldplay's melodic touch, and the vocals remind me of a bit of Matt Bellamy of Muse and even a bit like Freddie Mercury. Good stuff.
Friday 7/2
Why I Love The Internet, Part 2103
All you need to know today is that the new Interpol album has been leaked. Want to hear a track or two? Look no further than Music (For Robots) and I'm Losing My Edge. Both of these blogs have put a track up, and they are fantastic. I've heard about half of the album now and I'm drooling - their debut was my album of the year in 2002, and I have been eagerly awaiting the follow up.
Thursday 7/1
Capitol Records is reissuing Faultline's Your Love Means Everything on August 24. This is a fantastic LP that originally came out in 2002 - the reissue has 3 extra cuts on it. It's dreamy electronica instrumentals mixed with songs featuring some superb guest vocalists - Chris Martin, Michael Stipe and the Flaming Lips among them. I caned this album when it originally came out and couldn't believe that nobody was really talking about it, so I am happy to see that the record label is giving it a second chance - even tho' it's taken them two years! I've had a chance to hear the new cuts and they are very good
In other release news, look for the new Thrills album to come out on September 14th - called Let's Bottle Bohemia, they are touring with Gomez and The Polyphonic Spree this summer. Also be sure to look for Future Soundtrack For America, a compilation put together by They Might Be Giants' John Flansburgh. Featuring tunes from R.E.M., Blink 182, Fountains Of Wayne, Will I Am, Tom Waits and David Byrne, all profits will go to progressive organizations - MoveOn.org, Music For America, Common Assets and others. It comes out August 10th.