29.9.08

When did you become so careless?

I recently received a mix from somebody on that now defunct message board I used to frequent. The mix on the whole is really cool. It's kinda breezy and summery, perfect for driving around town with the windows open and the sunroof open (or top down).

This is probably my favorite track on the mix. I love the girl vocals, the bouncy beat and shuffling drums. There's on part where a guy jumps into the vocal mix that I'm not too fond of, but it's pretty short and really not that big a deal. It's a sweet slice of shimmering summer pop. I also like the little Joy Division nod. Pretty cool. I don't know anything about The Honeydrips, I'll be looking to check out some more of their stuff.

The Honeydrips > (Lack of) Love Will Tear Us Apart

28.9.08

A Little History

I thought I had posted them here, but a quick search doesn't bring it up. Earlier this year, I scanned all of my concert ticket stubs that I've saved over the years. There are some that might be slightly embarrassing, and there are some that are pretty cool. It's me, though, for the most part, warts n' all. Some of the shows I've been to didn't issue proper tickets, only those little carnival stubs, which is pretty lame. Also, I knew a guy at one venue, and he would just walk me in; and I saw a ton of shows through him over the past five or six years. There are some gaps, to be sure, but these are a pretty good overview of the shows I've gone to ever since I was old enough to get out on my own.

The Neko Case ticket up there, man that gig was pretty sweet. I flew to Denver to hang out with friends who live there and it just so happened that Neko Case was playing there, so we went. We stuck around after the show, one guy is a fan of Jon Rauhause and chatted him up; I got to speak with Ms. Case herself after the show. She signed a poster for me and gave me a hug. How cool is that? 

Click here for the ticket stub slideshow, if you're interested.

26.9.08

William Blake

I stitched together some clips from Jim Jarmush's Dead Man. This is mostly from the first half hour, or so, of the movie which sets up the rest of the film. The music is Brian Eno's The Big Ship, from the album, Another Green World. I like the tension and the prickly, static-y quality in the song. The way it slowly rises sorta mirrors that uneasy feeling in the movie, at least to me. Also, Dead Man has one of my favorite quotes; "That weapon will replace your tongue. You will learn to speak through it. And your poetry will now be written with blood."

Fucking brilliant.

24.9.08

California Love #10: Public Enemy > Burn Hollywood Burn

Time for another song about California. This time, it's Public Enemy taking on the Hollywood machine, with a little help from Ice Cube and Big Daddy Kane. Chuck D isn't exactly the smoothest rapper, but man, that dude has got fire and conviction in his voice. Listening to him on this track makes me wanna grab a torch, some gasoline, a few molotov cocktails and head on south. BURN, HOLLYWOOD, BURN!

My favorite part is Flavor Flav's reaction when asked to play the part of a "servant who chuckles a little bit and sings". Yo man, WHAT?? What if someone really did burn it down? Would it start up again as it was before, or would a new power rise? Would there be more movies featuring heroes of color? I think it's getting better, albeit very slowly. I guess there's always the chance for an earthquake, as well. This song paired up with the floods from Tool's
Aenima (which I've written about previously), would make for a pretty fucked up disaster.

In any case, you can find this song on PE's most excellent album, Fear of a Black Planet. If you haven't heard it, do yourself a favor. Buy it, borrow it, download it. Something. Srsly.

Public Enemy > Burn Hollywood Burn

This party sucks

Al Green has the right idea. Sing it, man...

Al Green > Gotta Find A New World

18.9.08

You're better on your own

Driving around Los Angeles the other day, Robert DeNiro's Waiting came on the radio (KCRW) and, a conversation about Bananarama sprang up. The other two occupants of the car had a superficial knowledge of the fab trio and I was asked which would be my choice Bananarama cuts, seeing as I had their first four albums and a greatest hits comp. I think, for me, the first album, Deep Sea Skiving, holds up the best and still is a fun listen. Tracks like What A Shambles, Cheers Then, Aie A Mwana, Young at Heart, and Wish You Were Here are among my faves. Jeez, that's like half the album. I just had a look at their website and it seems they're still going, despite being one girl short. They're all sexed up, too...what's up with that? They used to be so innocent looking.

Bananarama > Cheers Then

15.9.08

When you see her smile, you'll understand why

I'm sat here in a friend's apartment in Los Angeles, listening to My Little Airport, waiting for my day to begin. I found these guys randomly, through someone else's post. Then I saw their whole album was available on another random blog, so I thought I'd check it out. My Little Airport are from Hong Kong, they sing in Cantonese, English and French. Their sound is sorta delicate and precious. Twee, I guess some peeps would say, although I can't stand that word. How about just plain indie pop? That works for me. The album I have is called We Can't Stop Smoking in the Vicious and Blue Summer. This song, My Little K and J, is about a girl who goes to a friend's wedding and falls for a girl she meets there.

My Little Airport have mp3s available on their site (linked above), and there's more music to hear here.

My Little Airport > My Little K and J

12.9.08

Waiting to fail, but not quite yet

This has probably been cooked several times over by all the "cool" music sites and blogs, but we all know that I'm like the furthest thing from cool. I ran into Air France about a month or so ago, an EP called No Way Down. This track, No Excuses, is like a slice of ethereal pop heaven (I love the part where they start singing the chorus, and then pause while some peeps shout, "NO!"), and the cover of the EP is probably a good indicator of the dreamy music contained therein. I don't think this one is available yet here in the states, but you can order it over at Sincerely Yours. You can order it as a download as well, here, if you can't wait that long for the CD to drop into your greedy little paws. Lastly, is it me or does it seem like all the best pop music is coming from Sweden these days? Srsly man...

Air France > No Excuses

8.9.08

Hangin' out all by myself

Tonight marks the start of the second season of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Being a fan of James Cameron's The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day (aka T2), I was skeptical about this series, but I thought I would give it a chance in any case.

I guess the problem with a show like this is that it initially is caught in no-man's land. There is a built-in audience coming from the old movies, but the writers also have to update the new viewers by re-hashing the original storylines and recycling a lot of movie dialog. I guess I spent the first 4-5 episodes waiting for something to happen, but it eventually became interesting to me.

Overall, I'd say that the writing is okay, but I felt like it improved towards the end of the first season. I'll probably keep up with it because I'm a science fiction nerd at heart and I especially love stories with time travel themes. So there you have it.

The musical tie-in for this post is that Shirley Manson is going to be a regular character, playing a T-1000 terminator who masquerades as the CEO of Cyberdyne Systems. Pretty cool, I guess Garbage will be put on the backburner (or already has been).

Check out Garbage covering The Ramones' I Just Wanna Have Something To Do, from the Ramones tribute album, We're A Happy Family. Garbage totally tears it up, this is worthy of The Ramones legacy.

Garbage > I Just Wanna Have Something To Do

6.9.08

No one can stop me

I found this album in Amoeba's clearance bin for $2.99. It's called The Powerpuff Girls: Heroes & Villains. A bunch of bands handpicked by the show's creator to sing songs about the Powerpuff Girls. Some of the bigger names include Devo, The Apples in Stereo, Frank Black, Dressy Bessy and Cornelius.

I love this Shonen Knife track, Buttercup (I'm A Super Girl). The guitars sorta sound like a riff off The Ramones' Blitzkrieg Bop, and the song is topped off with a bit of 80s style keyboards. It's pretty fun stuff and, for a few bucks, the album is an absolute steal.

Shonen Knife > Buttercup (I'm A Super Girl)

3.9.08

Don't pay heed to temptation

I just recently was introduced to The Wire. I swear, my cousin is like a crack dealer. She always pimps out TV shows to me and I get totally hooked (although this one is by way of her boyf). Funny thing is, the telly isn't what it used to be. I mean, sure, there are still mindless sitcoms with retarded laugh tracks, but there are a lot of really good shows out there that are edgy, thought out, and written well. TV networks are finding that they can't pander to audiences as much as they used to, so a lot of shows are willing to take more chances (especially with the rise of cable/satellite TV).

I realize that I am late (the show's final episode aired earlier this year) and that probably everything I'm writing here has been written previously, so I apologize because I haven't been much of a telly watcher until recently. I think my favorite thing about The Wire is that the characters aren't really judged for their actions. They are trying to get by and do their jobs with the tools that have been provided for them. Some people manage to change or reinvent themselves along the way, while others are caught up in an endless cycle. I dunno, the shit is riveting.

One of the bonus cool points is that the show's theme song is Tom Waits'
Way Down In The Hole. I love Tom Waits, so yeah, big points on that one. One of the things that irritates the fuck outta me is that each of the five seasons uses a different version of the song, including Waits' original version in Season Two. The other versions are performed by The Blind Boys of Alabama (Season One), The Neville Brothers (Season Three), DoMaJe (Season Four), and Steve Earle (Season Five). You can listen to all five versions here.

Apologies again, but the other four versions of the song just don't hold a candle to Waits. I give them points for trying, but they just don't work for me. I mean, he's so distinctive that it makes covering one of his songs a difficult task. The only covers I've heard that I really liked were the ones that stripped the songs down and played to the artist's strength. For example, Petra Haden's version of
I Don't Want To Grow Up keeps it simple and lets her beautiful voice shine. Same goes for Neko Case's version of Postcard From A Hooker In Minneapolis and 10,000 Maniacs' cover of I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You. Have you heard Springsteen's Jersey Girl or Rod Stewart's Downtown Train? Pass.

Check this shit out, tho...

Tom Waits > Way Down In The Hole


Petra Haden & Bill Frisell > I Don't Want To Grow Up


Neko Case > Postcard From A Hooker In Minneapolis


10,000 Maniacs > I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You



1.9.08

His shadow is cast wherever he stands

I had an old housemate, Chris, who was (and still is) a big fan of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Chris would play records for me while extolling the virtues of Mister Cave. I kinda liked it, but it didn't really catch on with me right away. They were touring in support of their "Best of" album; Chris had an extra ticket , so I went along to check it out and that's when it really hit me. I guess sometimes it takes a live performance to really catch one's attention. I was especially amazed with Red Right Hand, to me it sounded so different live. I loved the way he stalked the stage and how the band practically exploded in the middle and end sections of the song. Truly, a thing of beauty. CC and I are gonna go to the shows in a couple weeks, they're gonna be great.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds > Red Right Hand (live at the Royal Albert Hall)