31.10.08

Hey! Happy Halloween!

White on white translucent black capes
Back on the rack
Bela Lugosi's dead
The bats have left the bell tower
The victims have been bled
Red velvet lines the black box
Bela Lugosi's dead
Undead undead undead
The virginal brides file past his tomb
Strewn with time's dead flowers
Bereft in deathly bloom
Alone in a darkened room
The count
Bela Lugosi's dead
Undead undead undead

The pic up there is Bauhaus playing at Coachella in 2005. Look carefully and you'll see an upside-down Peter Murphy.

Bauhaus > Bela Lugosi's Dead

27.10.08

Day by day

Hey, I was playing around with another video. These clips are from Hero, directed by Zhang Yimou. If you haven't seen it, I really like the story and the movie looks really, really gorgeous. The fight scenes are awesome. I was gonna make a little compilation of Nameless (Jet Li) knocking off Sky (Donnie Yen), Broken Sword (Tony Leung) and Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung), who are the top three assassins in the country. Somehow, I ended up focusing on the love triangle between Broken Sword, Flying Snow and Moon (Zhang Ziyi) and the subsequent battle between Flying Snow and Moon. I with I could have fit more into it, that scene is so cool. Anyways, this is just one very small part of the film. Go check it out, drop it in your Netflix queue or whatever. I promise it'll be worth your time. Oh yeah, the song is Kaela Kimura's Tree Climbers, from her very cool album, Scratch.

24.10.08

Be forever with my poison arms around you

Around eleven years ago, my friend had an extra ticket to go see Tindersticks at The Fillmore and invited me along, since his girlf didn't like them. He wanted to get there early to check out the opener, a guy called Elliott Smith that he was interested in. That was my first experience with the man. He was really quiet, sitting in a chair alone onstage. I liked what I had heard, and picked up his latest release (at the time), Either/Or. My favorite song was, and probably still is, Angeles. Elliott Smith died five years ago this week. This is Angeles, played live at the Los Angeles nightclub, Largo. By the way, this track is on a CD of previously unreleased material that comes with the book, Elliott Smith, by Autumn de Wilde.

Elliott Smith > Angeles

21.10.08

Who could know if I'm a traitor

I just found this via The Hype Machine. It's a raucous version of Gillian Welch's Time (The Revelator), covered by Ryan Adams. I'm not a huge Adams fan, but I like him well enough. I saw him one time at a Bridge School concert a few years ago, and he's pretty good live. I love Gillian Welch, however, and have gone to see her live a few times. In any case, I love the original, and I like this a lot as well. Pick up the original on Ms. Welch's album of the same name. For now, compare and contrast. There will be a quiz this Friday.

Ryan Adams > Time (The Revelator)


Gillian Welch > Time (The Revelator)

19.10.08

America is a third world country

I've been going back and forth between posting this. I guess I will, since it keeps popping up in my head. In any case, current events in the news totally brings this track to mind. The words of the man being interviewed pretty much speak for themselves. I wonder if the music was composed before or after hearing the interview. The music is sad, angry and haunting. If you have the patience to sit through all 17:45 of this, check out the strings at the very end of the track. Very moving. If you don't have the patience, well, I understand. It's not for everyone.

You can find this on GYBE's 1999 EP, Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada (pictured here).
Listen to samples from their albums here, and read more about them here. The band has been on hiatus since their 2002 release, Yanqui U.X.O. I think there was a brief tour after the album dropped and then in 2003, they officially announced their current status. That was a bummer for me, as I had first heard their music around 2003. A guy I know told me he'd seen them in the summer of 02, and said it was the gloomiest gig he'd ever attended.













Godspeed You! Black Emperor > -- (Track 2, aka bbf3)

18.10.08

Me & Mary

Hooray! Asobi Seksu are back! The new single, Me & Mary, drops next month (Nov 17th) and the new album will apparently drop in February. I like how Yuki's voice is unfiltered and clear on this track. Sorta like half shoegaze and half dream pop, this song brings back Lush (for me). It's a good thing for sure, and I am excited for this album. And you lucky UK peeps get to see them with fucking Ladytron. How cool is that? I'm totally jealous. However, I will get to see them here in San Francisco on the 30th, which will be good. Check out the rest of their US tourdates here, and see if they're coming to your town. In the meantime....

Asobi Seksu > Me & Mary

13.10.08

Seventh Heaven

I can't get enough of this song. Also, the instrumental version is great. The breakdown part in the middle cracks me up. The first time I heard it, I was sooooo confused for a moment there. Then the beat kicked back in. As far as I know, both tracks are b-sides and can only be found on the Polyryhthm single (pictured below).

If you asked me, I couldn't tell you why I'm so addicted to Perfume right now. I could say something like "I really admire the pristine production of Nakata Yasutaka" or something pretentious like that. In reality, it's nothing more than I just like the music because it sounds good to me. No indie snobbery here, this shit just sounds fucking great. It might pass, it might not. Right now, I really really like it. Maybe you will, too...













Perfume > Seventh Heaven

Perfume > Seventh Heaven (Original Instrumental)

12.10.08

I love every word you wrote to me


Hey, I really like this. It's Cloetta Paris, from Sweden. More cool music from Sweden. Doesn't seem like the well is ever gonna run dry at this point. Anyways, I've only heard what's on her myspxxx page so far. It's kinda (light) ambient electro-pop mixed with dance/disco and precious, but not cutesy, female vocals. Her voice reminds me of someone, but I'm struggling to place it. Anybody? If I had to compare to other bands, I'd run off the list of, I dunno... Erasure/Vince Clarke, Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode and Yaz. Something like that, I guess. I'm not well versed in that area, to be honest, so listen and decide for yourself! Oh yeah, and her album, Secret Eyes, is on Skywriting Records, if you're interested.












Cloetta Paris > Broken Heart Tango (from the album, Secret Eyes)

11.10.08

Word Magazine's World: Album Covers

A friend posted this elsewhere, it's Word Magazine's album covers map. It's pretty cool, a google map with album covers. As stated on the site, "Word Magazine readers have been busy building this map showing where iconic album cover photographs were taken."

Check it out. Add your favorites.

I've been taking a lot without giving back

I recently ran into these mp3s of El Perro Del Mar's set at the Bowery Ballroom, from the spring tour earlier this year (with the awesome Lykke Li and Anna Ternheim). This is the full-band version of God Knows (You Gotta Give To Get). I really like this, it feels so natural and joyful. It makes me happy. Check out her blog while you're listening to this.

El Perro Del Mar > God Knows (You Gotta Give To Get) (Live at the Bowery Ballroom)

8.10.08

You could be a shadow


I only found out recently; I never knew the Breeders'
Drivin On 9 was a cover song. After you get through the fuzz and distortion of Last Splash, Drivin' On 9 is a sorta breath of fresh air before they give you one last blast of noise. The song has a certain folksy charm and simplicity to it. So I find out that the original is done by a band called Ed's Redeeming Qualities and I dig it up. The main difference is the gender of the singer. Both versions sound like a happy song, but there's an underlying sadness to it. The ERQ version speaks more about an accidental pregnancy along with a shotgun wedding, while the Breeders version changes up the lyrics a bit to suit Kim Deal's gender. I don't think you can go wrong with either version, I really like them both. In any case, you can find the Breeders track on their album, Last Splash; and the Ed's Redeeming Qualities track on their album, Big Grapefruit Cleanup Job.













The Breeders > Drivin' On 9















Ed's Redeeming Qualities > Drivin' On 9

5.10.08

When pop music goes bad

I love Curve, but really...WTF were they thinking with this song? It's pretty great until some dude starts rapping, then it just turns to shit. A perfectly good song RUINED. Don't get me wrong, I loves me some rap and hip hop. In this particular case, however, it just doesn't fit into the song; at least to my ears. Off the top of my head, I can think of a few other fine pop/rock songs that are ruined by a senseless rap segment, and I'm sure there are many more.

Curve > Ten Little Girls