Telephone Thing

Happy Halloween...

2008-10-31T18:47:00.003-04:00

...to the maybe three people who still have this site on their feed reader! Here's a quick mix CD I've thrown together. Nothing terribly obscure or revelatory, and it's not mixed per se (both because I don't have the software or experience to mix these digitally and because they really wouldn't hang together too well anyway) but I hope you'll enjoy. I haven't changed the tracks' tags, so you'll want to use the handy provided .m3u playlist to get them all in order. Or perhaps...you won't? IT IS A MYSTERY

abandon all hope ye who click here

Also, if you're so inclined, pretend that "The Devil Is an Englishman" is in there somewhere; it's a fantastic record, but I definitely don't plan on testing Mr. Dolby's patience by making it available a second time. The CD can be had starting at a very reasonable $88 and change for a used copy, or if you've got an exceptionally well-stocked used music music store nearby you may luck into a copy of the 12" release or soundtrack LP.

ATTENCION

2008-09-30T23:24:00.003-04:00

Complete overhaul in the works. I've worked a bit of Music Fatigue out of my system, and am prepared to jump back into blogging with both feet. Look out for a short mix coming sometime in the next month, followed by more music both old and new.

playing catch-up again

2008-06-13T16:37:00.003-04:00

This song is SO DAMN GOOD.

Wait, let me back up a little bit: For ages I've known Severed Heads almost entirely through the singles "Dead Eyes Opened" and "We Have Come to Bless the House," never really bothering with the albums (of course, their tendency to go in and out of print didn't exactly help in that respect). When the wonderful LTM Recordings started in on their back catalog with a greatest-hits collection called ComMerz (yay, someone else digs the Schwitters) and the LP Rotund for Success, allegedly their most "pop" album, I finally got around to taking a look, and well, this song is SO GODDAMN GOOD. I'm way behind the curve here, and it may be old news to some of you, but if you don't know it I urge you to download it and give it a spin:

Severed Heads, "Big Car"

Edit also S. Tellier lost to Russia how bullshit is that

EUROVISION

2008-04-01T15:29:00.001-04:00

Come with us

2008-02-23T00:08:00.004-05:00

Oppenheimer Analysis, "The Devil's Dancers"

Quite special, this one- Oppenheimer Analysis were nuclear weapons consultant Andy Oppenheimer (no relation, I think) and Martin Lloyd of Survival Records, home of Tik and Tok. The New Mexico EP was released on audiocassette in an edition of 200, and rereleased on vinyl by Minimal Wave a few years ago. Now Clone have picked it up for their splendid Classic Cuts sublabel- it's out next week as part of the Classic Cuts compilation album and on a 12" sampler with tracks from Fockewulf 190, Trophy, and Jackson Jones ("I Feel Good (Put Your Pants On)", featured on James Murphy & Pat Mahoney's Fabriclive mix).

But what does it sound like? Like classic Italo disco, or John Foxx's early coldwave stuff, or the aforementioned Tik and Tok- incredible, that's how.

Sons & Daughters, "Gilt Complex"

2008-01-28T08:03:00.002-05:00

S&D are responsible for the fantastic "Johnny Cash" and "Dance Me In;" while I was kind of anxious after reading that Brett Butler of Suede would be producing the new album, turns out I needn't have worried.

You can stream the full album here. I don't know what the deal is with that page, or what the hell "Luisterpaal" means, but it's definitely worth bookmarking- they update constantly with full streams of new albums. Of the other stuff they've got, I'm liking Raz Ohara, and I'm more impressed than I thought I'd be with Vampire Weekend, as it turns out the much-hyped "Mansard Roof" is one of the worst tracks on the album. Still, the press coverage of their album has been pretty wretched so far, mostly centering on AFRICA HOW NOVEL (PS GRACELAND). Fuck Paul Simon, Lizzy Mercier Descloux co-opted African music first and did it better. For that matter, so did Duck Rock.

Funky Nassau

2008-01-25T03:48:00.000-05:00

This looks fucking fantastic:

A compilation of work from Compass Point Studios, released by the resurgent Strut Records (responsible for the Wild Bunch mix disc, Disco Not Disco series, Grass Roots comps, etc). They stumbled a bit with the overcompiled and overexposed tracks on the third Disco Not Disco, but this is something else entirely:

1. Grace Jones – My Jamaican Guy (12” version)
2. Tom Tom Club – Genius Of Love (12” version)
3. Talking Heads – Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)
4. Guy Cuevas – Obsession (The Nassau mix)
5. Set The Tone – Dance Sucker (Francois Kevorkian mix)
6. Gwen Guthrie – Padlock (Larry Levan mix)
7. Bits & Pieces – Don’t Stop The Music
8. Sly Dunbar – River Niger
9. Lizzie Mercier Descloux – Sun is Shining
10. Cristina – You Rented A Space
11. Ian Dury & The Seven Seas Players – Spasticus Autisticus (Version)
12. Chaz Jankel feat. Laura Weymouth – Whisper
13. Will Powers – Adventures In Success (Dub Copy)

Yes. "My Jamaican Guy" is from Jones' unfuckwithable Warm Leatherette/Nightclubbing/Living My Life period, "Genius of Love" needs no elaboration from me, "Born Under Punches" ditto, Sly Dunbar is god, "Sun Is Shining" is from Descloux's Mambo Nassau, one of my all-time favorite albums (though I would've picked "Sports Spootnicks" or "Five Troubles Mambo"), "Spasticus Autisticus" in any form is crucial, Chaz Jankel is also God (and was compiled to fantastic effect late last year on My Occupation). All this and Larry Levan too!

2008-01-13T17:33:00.002-05:00

RIP Maila Nurmi.

Some videos

2007-12-15T01:15:00.001-05:00

Poni Hoax, "Antibodies": I'm always a sucker for a good dance music video that actually features, you know, dancing, and while it's possible to go too far with the "Praise You"/OK Go self-conscious amateurishness thing, this hits the sweet spot with dancing that's both goofy and pretty goddamn slick. It doesn't hurt that the song is one of the best disco tracks to come out this year.

Leonard Cohen, "First We Take Manhattan" (you'll have to watch this one on Youtube since Leonard is an ornery old cuss and doesn't allow embedding): This track was my introduction to Leonard Cohen as a teenager and I was heartbroken to find out it was pretty much a one-off aberration. I've come around to "Famous Blue Raincoat" and "Tower of Song" and so on, but this is and will always be my favorite Cohen.

Chaz Jankel, "Number One": An ex-member of Ian Dury's Blockheads (and Dury's co-writer on many of his best songs), Jankel had a long and fruitful solo career making dance music, most famously "Ai No Corrida" (a huge hit for Quincy Jones) and this track (featured in Real Genius). There's a new compilation of his work out on Tirk that's worth its weight in gold.

Joe Jackson, "Steppin' Out": I remain convinced that Joe Jackson's move toward respectability and "sophistication" was a mistake except for this one song, which is perfect. Not "very good" or "best of his career" or whatever, I mean literally perfect in every way. The rest of Night & Day I can take or leave but this is a song I think I am physically incapable of getting tired of.

Hot Chip, "Ready for the Floor": in which Hot Chip and director Nima Nourizadeh dare DC/Warners to sue them. Seriously though, it's great- Nourizadeh directed Hot Chip's "Over and Over" clip, and here he kind of expands on the style of that video and gets a serious Batman fixation out of his system. Be warned that Youtube's compression strips most of the bass right out of the song, doing it a serious disservice.

Paul Haig, "Running Away": The former frontman for Josef K (and Rhythm of Life) brings us the most arch, fey and stiff Sly Stone cover in human history, and this is by no means a bad thing. The video has a kind of dreary Britishized Great Gatsby meets Chariots of Fire thing going on that really works for some reason.

Alice Coltrane R.I.P.

2007-01-14T03:06:00.000-05:00

1937-2007.

My favorite mix CDs of 2006

2006-12-26T18:56:00.000-05:00

Again, in alphabetical order, with my favorite in bold.

Freeform Five, Bisous Bisous II (Perspex)
Michael Mayer, Immer 2 (Kompakt)
The Modernist, Collectors Series Pt. 1: Popular Songs (Faith Recordings)
Radio Slave, Creature of the Night (Eskimo)
Jacques Renault, Italians Do It Better vol 1 (Italians Do It Better)
Rub 'n' Tug, Better with a Spoonful of Leather (aNYthing)
Henrik Schwarz, DJ-Kicks (!K7)
Sven Vath, Sexy Techno at Cocoon (Mixmag)

Obligatory year-end list post

2006-12-09T03:38:00.000-05:00

Hi! The blog isn't dead, but this URL will be soon. Details posted once the registration and setup process is complete. In the meantime, my favorite records of 2006! The following are in alphabetical order, as I'm far too disorganized to get a proper ranking system in place- hell, I've been editing this for a few days already after realizing I left out one thing or another- but my single favorite in each category is in bold type.

Albums:
Boris, Pink (Southern Lord reissue)
Clipse, Hell Hath No Fury
DJ Mehdi, Lucky Boy (Ed Banger)
The Emperor Machine, Vertical Tones and Horizontal Noise (DC Recordings)
Fuckpony, Children of Love (Get Physical)
Fujiya & Miyagi, Transparent Things (Tirk)
Herbert, Scale (!K7)
Hot Chip, The Warning
Grizzly Bear, Yellow House (Warp)
J Dilla, Donuts (Stones Throw)
The Knife, Silent Shout (Rabid/Brille/Mute)
Lindstrom, It's a Feedelity Affair (Feedelity/Smalltown Supersound)
Love Is All, Nine Times That Same Song (What's Your Rupture?)
Scott Walker, The Drift (4AD)

Reissues/compilations:
Selda Bagcan, Selda (Finders Keepers/B-Music)
Lizzy Mercier Descloux, Zulu Rock/Mais où Sont Passées les Gazelles and Best Off (ZE)
Arthur Russell, First Thought Best Thought (Audika)
Jean-Claude Vannier, L'Enfant Assassin des Mouches (Finders Keepers/B-Music) [reissued in the UK in 2005, but released in the States this year and too great for a mere technicality to keep it off the list]
v/a, A Tom Moulton Mix (Soul Jazz)
v/a, Death Before Distemper (DC Recordings)
v/a, Dirty Diamonds III (D*I*R*T*Y/Diamond Traxx)
v/a, Superlongevity Four (Perlon)

Tracks (links go to videos on YouTube):
Audion, "Mouth to Mouth"
Clipse feat. Slim Thug, "Wamp Wamp (What It Do)"
Jarvis Cocker, "Running the World"
Johnny Dark, "Can't Wait"
Escort, "Starlight"
Nelly Furtado, "Maneater" (warning, the videos from Loose have been absolutely dire and "Maneater" is no exception)
Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom, "Relevee" (Carl Craig remix)
The Gossip, "Standing in the Way of Control" (Soulwax Nite Version)
Luke Haines, "Off My Rocker at the Art School Bop" (Richard X mix)
Herbert, "Moving Like a Train"
The Horrors, "Crawdaddy Simone"
Hot Chip, "And I Was a Boy From School"
Isolee, "Hermelin"
Joakim, "I Wish You Were Gone"
J Dilla, "Nothing Like This"
Kavinsky, "Testarossa Autodrive"
Klaxons, "Atlantis to Interzone"
The Knife, "Marble House"
LCD Soundsystem, "45:33"
Lift Boys, "Lift Boys"
Love Is All, "Turn the Radio Off"
Mr. Oizo, "Nazis" (Justice remix)
Narcotic Syntax, "Raptor's Delight"
Phoenix, "Long Distance Call"
The Rapture, "W.A.Y.U.H. (People Don't Dance No More)"
Arthur Russell, "Springfield" (DFA mix)
Scritti Politti, "After Six"
Subtle, "The Mercury Craze"
Justin Timberlake, "My Love"
Tres Demented, "She'z Satan"
Ricardo Villalobos, "Fizheuer Zieheuer"
Thom Yorke, "Harrowdown Hill"

See you in 2007, with, gosh, real updates and everything! Wow.

hi there

2006-06-14T03:16:00.000-04:00

Big changes afoot. If for some ungodly reason you're really attached to any of the old content here, well, don't say I didn't warn you.

Hi there, I'd like to talk to you about ducts

2006-03-10T01:03:00.000-05:00

So I picked up the newly-released Blondie CD/DVD comp Sound and Vision today on a whim (and partly because it was twelve bucks off the ridiculous MSRP of $25), and while I was familiar with the singles, the videos were new to me. For the most part they're standard early rock/disco videos, whose main redeeming feature is Debbie Harry being awesomely hot, but the video for "Atomic" is something else entirely. The video is your basic circa-1980 post-apocalypse deal (all the exterior shots have their colors flipped in a cheap video effect, because of The Radiations), with Blondie playing in a club filled with goofy-ass extras, entry price 25 Units. And Debbie is, well, Debbie's wearing a jacket made from a black plastic trash bag. And, aside from some rather unflattering camera angles that go straight up her nose, she still looks amazing. Of course this isn't much of a surprise, given that she can look great in a dress made from a pillowcase and red electrical tape, but still. Debbie Harry, people. Yow.

Also: sorry for the long, looong absence, again, and apologies to anyone who emailed me but never got a response. I've had kind of a crisis about the whole blogging thing lately, and thought about shutting it down entirely, but decided it would be better if I just got off my lazy ass, stuck to a regular update schedule, and spent less time worrying about my writing and second-guessing my own taste in music and more time finding exciting new stuff to post about. And so, from now on, there will be updates with mp3s on Monday and Friday of each week. Really, I swear. And I don't have a convenient excuse about not returning emails, that was just me being an inconsiderate dick. If there are any repost requests I've ignored (and you're still willing to read this), send them my way and I'll do my damnedest to get the songs out there with YSI, Megaupload, Gmail or whatever.

Last of all, here's a (distressingly short) list of all the songs I've posted in the last year and a half or so of blogging:

MIA- Fire Fire (6/18/04)
LCD Soundsystem- Tribulations (6/29/04)
Tes- Trigga Tha Whistla (Black Dice remix) (6/29/04)
Team Shadetek- Cold As Ice/Gantz_Graf blend (7/05/04)
Boards of Canada- XYZ (7/05/04)
Chris Clark- Alaska (1998 Tiny Person) (8/06/04)
David Sylvian- Late Night Shopping (8/11/04)
Elliott Smith- A Distorted Reality Is Now A Necessity To Be Free (early version) (8/11/04)
Mutamassik- Gulf Rock Mix (8/13/04)
Daedelus- Donnie Darko remix (8/18/04)
Massive Attack- Wire (live) (8/18/04)
Hood- You Show No Emotion At All (8/25/04)
R3mote- Freefall (8/25/04)
Marianne Faithfull- Working Class Hero (8/31/04)
Gravenhurst- The Diver (8/31/04)
The Avalanches- Frontier Psychiatrist (9/02/04)
Alan Splet- Space Travel With Changing Choral Textures (9/02/04)
Taco- Puttin' on the Ritz (9/05/04)
The Shins- Baby Boomerang (9/11/04)
The Durutti Column- Sketch For Winter (9/11/04)
I Monster- Hey Mrs (9/19/04)
Clinic- Porno (9/19/04)
Rjd2- Weatherpeople instrumental (10/04/04)
DJ Signify & Six Vicious- Bring Me Coffee Or Weed (10/04/04)
Tones On Tail- Shakes (10/19/04)
TTC- De Pauvres Riches (10/19/04)
David J- Vicious Cabaret (10/21/04)
Sinister Ducks- March of the Sinister Ducks (10/21/04)
Clinic- TK (alternate studio version) (11/02/04)
Flying Saucer Attack- Outdoor Miner (11/02/04)
Luke Haines- Oliver Twist (11/21/04)
Pixeltan- That's The Way I Like It (11/21/04)
Diplo feat. Pantera Os Danadinhos- Percão (11/21/04)
TTC- Codeine (11/21/04)
David Shrigley- Don'ts (12/04/04)
Rare Bird- Beautiful Scarlet (12/13/04)
Julian Fane- Joyce Lang (12/13/04)
Bran Van 3000 feat. Momus- More Shopping (3/04/05)
Hot Chip- No More Master (3/04/05)
Vitalic- Trahison (3/19/05)
Six Finger Satellite- 30 Lashes (3/19/05)
Gorillaz- Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey's Head (4/09/05)
MF Doom feat. MC Paul Barman- Hot Guacamole (4/09/05)
Scott Walker- Man From Reno (7/28/05)
Mutamassik- Immigrants On Course (8/15/05)
France Copland- Rutgerhauer Song (8/15/05)
Lo-Fi-Fnk- Wake Up (8/15/05)

I'm back (again)

2005-10-22T23:21:00.000-04:00

I'm back (again) after far too long (again). Sorry, things have been kind of shitty around Chez Telephone lately, what with work and school and some family issues. Anyway. New post this afternoon (Sunday), with three songs for you (Tiga, Lightning Bolt, Cuiziner of TTC).

Also, I've changed the comment system so that only registered Blogger users can post, because thanks to a small but dedicated bunch of complete assholes it's been overrun with spam, which also gets forwarded to my inbox.

RIP Bob Moog

2005-08-22T00:00:00.000-04:00

Robert Moog died last of a brain tumor last night at the age of 71. Few people have had as profound an impact on popular music; he will be greatly missed. His family have set up a CaringBridge page in tribute.

2005-08-15T02:52:00.000-04:00

All right, summer classes are over, I've finally reinstated my blogroll (drop me a line if I left you out, I'm working from memory here), and most importantly, there is a crazy amount of good music coming out later this year: new Boards of Canada and Depeche Mode (on the same day, even), more DFA (a Delia & Gavin LP and Black Dice's best album to date), Sigur Ros, new Broadcast and Jackson's debut album on Warp, Matthew Dear's Suckfish full-length as Audion, DJ Koze's Kosi Comes Around, Liars, Goldfrapp, Dangerdoom... my work is cut out for me. However, those are just the year's big releases, the ones whose release dates I mark on my calendar and camp outside the record store with a pair of binoculars and a month's supply of jerky to wait for. And as some albums this year have shown (*cough* *cough*), you can't always count on them to pull through. This week I have one promising new signing, one sadly overlooked but fantastic album, and a weird little gem from 2003.

Lo-Fi-Fnk, "Wake Up" (from the Change Channel 7")

Lo-Fi-Fnk are the latest signing to Moshi Moshi, home to Hot Chip and Architecture in Helsinki. "Wake Up" from their debut single combines the gloriously cheap keyboard sounds of the former with the ebullient pop of the latter, with a surprising degree of success.

Full disclosure fine print happy funtime action love GO: this digital copy is ripped from Sumosonic #40- you've probably seen their ads either online or in print somewhere, but in case you haven't, it's a monthly sampler of new music from indie labels. Costs just five bucks a month, and even if I weren't getting it for free (thanks, guys) I would still be pretty damn happy about it- for example, #40 also has new stuff from the Russian Futurists and Chok Rock, the Cadence Weapon mix of Lady Sovereign, and a great Chicken Lips disco mix of Hard Fi. You can get a free copy of the latest month's disc here. In place of this gigantic chunk of text, future songs taken from Sumosonic comps will have a cute lil' sumo guy next to them. Click the sumo guy, go to their site, get a CD (or don't). JOIN US.

France Copland, "Rutgerhauer Song" (from the Dirty Diamonds compilation on Diamondtraxx)

This is...bizarre. A super rough'n'glitchy take on Vangelis' end title music from Blade Runner, with samples from Roy Batty's dying speech. Cheesy as hell, but far, far greater than anything so obviously cliched has a right to be. Which brings up an interesting question: which is worse, techno sampling Blade Runner or industrial and EBM songs sampling Hellraiser?. Anyway, it's a fitting musical tribute to the PURE DISTILLED TOTALLY FUCKING AWESOME that is Rutger Hauer. Sigh. He's so dreeeamy. Anyway, this comes from Dirty Diamonds, a compilation on Benjamin Diamond's label Diamondtraxx and put together by D-I-R-T-Y Sound System (may be NSFW). Check them out, they have some great interviews, mixes and videos.

Mutamassik, "Immigrants On Course" (from the Masri Mokkassar: Definitive Works compilation on Sound-Ink

"Immigrants On Course" is one of the new tracks on Mutamassik's career-summation/new album Masri Mokkassar, and like the other tracks it's a pounding fusion of Middle Eastern forms and instruments with deft scratching and junglist stylings. Longtime readers (yes, all three of you!) may remember Mutamassik's "Gulf Rock Mix" as one of the first tracks posted here over a year ago. "Immigrants On Course" is more low-key and brooding, but equally nasty. Get the album here or straight from the label.

EDIT The ever-dependable Music For Robots have a fantastic exclusive- a new mixtape from Simian Mobile Disco.

Zodiac killer wants you back

2005-07-28T14:09:00.000-04:00

I'm back- and to tide you over for a couple days until the next post (yes, really, I mean it, man), here's one of my favorite Scott Walker songs:

~~Scott Walker, "Man From Reno"~~ (from the Scott Walker: In Five Easy Pieces boxed set)

"Man From Reno" is a sadly obscure gem from (as far as I can tell) a Bosnian film titled Ederlezi, in collaboration with soundtrack composer Goran Bregovic, recently anthologized on the import Five Easy Pieces box set. It's an eerie little number with Walker crooning elliptical lyrics about the unsolved Zodiac murders of the 1960's over an arrangement reminiscent of Angelo Badalamenti's work with David Lynch, especially for Mulholland Drive. The macabre (and slightly obtuse) lyrics prefigure 1995's harrowing Tilt, but it's much more accessible to the Walker neophyte.

Some videos

2005-04-10T14:34:00.000-04:00

Daft Punk, "Robot Rock" (click the TV to choose your format)

Daft Punk, "Technologic" (link to torrent; the video is seriously goddamn creepy)

Weird Shit Saturday

2005-04-09T02:37:00.000-04:00

~~Gorillaz feat. Dennis Hopper, "Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey's Head"~~ (from Demon Days)

~~MF Doom feat. MC Paul Barman, "Hot Guacamole"~~ (from the MM..Leftovers rarities comp)

[yeah, I know Barman is annoying as hell, but give it a shot, he's pretty amusing here. and it's produced by Prince Paul, of all people. real text goes here later]

On the other hand, what I've heard from the new Nine Inch Nails is pretty disappointing- while it's nowhere near as self-indulgently asstastic as The Fragile, it still kind of fails to recapture the fun of the first two albums (I'm not counting Broken here, too much poorly-mixed guitar and not enough keyboard action on that one). But! There's another album coming out fairly soon that is not only an acceptable dancey-industrial substitute, but actually really damn good on its own merits! Here's a full track:

Kill Memory Crash, "American Automatic"

The full tracklisting and some clips are available here. This is a significant improvement on the already impressive When the Blood Turns Black EP- I'm pretty excited.

And via Mr. Trick, whose archives I'm catching up on after, um, forgetting to check for over two months, a couple of TTC-produced TTC bootlegs (like their earlier Dizzee Rascal vs. "Dans Le Club" boot):

Do Or Die vs "Batard Sensible"
"In Da Club" vs "Dans Le Club"

Here's a track from the "mysterious" Box Codax (actually The Dude From Franz Ferdinand, No Not That One, I Think Maybe The One With The Hat? Okay, A Dude From Franz Ferdinand). Nothing shockingly new or innovative or whatever, but it's a nice goof on Morricone and "House of the Rising Sun" and hell, it's free. Take it! Go!

And here's a stream of Autechre's latest LP, Untilted. Haven't gone through all of it yet, but the first few tracks are nice. It's still dry and clicky and academic- the warm synth gooiness of Amber is gone, never to return, alas- but they seem to be rediscovering this "rhythm" and "having a fucking point" thing, without the half-assed compromise of Draft 7.30. Naturally this means that the IDM list, We Are The Music Makers, etc. are up in arms and have pre-emptively declared it crap. WE CARE NOT FOR FUN! WENCH! MORE CLICKING AND BURBLING! Anyway, I still wish they'd follow through on the promise of the Gantz_Graf b-sides, but I'll take what I can get.

2005-03-19T20:40:00.000-05:00

~~Six Finger Satellite, "30 Lashes"~~ (from 1996's Paranormalized)

~~Vitalic, "Trahison"~~ (from the upcoming OK Cowboy)

The Kleptones have a new album available for download via Bittorrent, and it's just as good as Yoshimi Battles the Hip-Hop Robots and A Night at the Hip-Hopera.

Download Diplo's Favela on Blast mix from Boom Selection. And if you like it enough, or if you guilt about that kind of thing, get a hard copy from the man himself.

And really, while the M.I.A. record is fantastic, don't be a sucker and go to ebay for the mixtape- it's still out there. A little PSA to keep people from getting ripped off.

I LIVE

2005-03-04T12:33:00.000-05:00

.

So, so sorry for the month without updates. Things have been sucking hard core around Stately Telephone Manor, starting with the loss of my laptop's hard drive- containing my entire mp3 collection (not to mention 4+ years' worth of un-backed-up data), and then problems with my FTP account which prevented me from uploading any music. But now I'm back on a functional computer, and I have oh such nice things for you:

~~Hot Chip, "No More Master"~~ (from the Kitsuné X compilation)

First is a new track by Hot Chip (whose Coming On Strong was one of last year's best debut albums, hell, best albums period, and whose exclusion from my list is due entirely to my being both behind the curve and a lazy bastard who probably would've taken weeks to listen to it even if I had gotten my hands on the import), from the new compilation on France's Kitsuné Records. This is their third major themed compilation, after Love and last year's fantastic electro-heavy Midnight, and apparently started off themed around sex before veering off into Darwin and Galapagos finches and the Gill Sans typeface and god knows what else. But it's a great song, and well worth your time, as is Kitsuné X, with contributions from DJ Assault, Joakim, Post No Bills (the new Trevor Jackson project), Fannypack, and Volga Select (aka Ivan Smagghe of Black Strobe).
(Kitsuné, Hot Chip, Moshi Moshi, Hot Chip's "Down With Prince" EP on iTunes [worth it just for "The Ass Attack" and "Sexual Chocolate"])

~~Bran Van 3000, "More Shopping" feat. Momus~~ (from Discosis)

This isn't new- it's from 2001, which is like, fucking ancient, man- but it's great fun and seems to have been unfairly overlooked. Nice thumpy electropop over which Momus and Miss Gee (no, I don't know either) sleaze it up with equal parts nonsense and innuendo ("Open please your body up to my man-o'-war"). Produced by Mike D of the Beastie Boys, believe it or not, who also remixed The Juan MacLean's first single as 41 Small Stars- he gets around. Unfortunately, you might have trouble finding Discosis, as it came out just before Grand Royal closed up shop for good, and was never even released in the US. Bran Van 3000 are still around, but unsigned, and their site hasn't been updated in a while.

Also: I first heard "More Shopping" on this free mix by Montag (Gooom Disques/Carpark), whose album Alone, Not Alone has been getting rather good reviews.

Out Hud and Hot Chip list their favorite records and, er, sandwiches and things. Some interesting choices. Last week had Rex the Dog and Hood.

And if anyone can tell me where to find Alec DeRuggiero's Italo DeRuggiero Parte Due, I'd be much obliged. I had no idea there even was a second part until Pitchfork ran their review, and Google turns up nothing.

2005-01-27T22:22:00.000-05:00

Updates may be slow in coming for a while due to problems with my regular computer (either a dead hard drive or dead motherboard, not too sure at the moment). Sorry, everyone. I'll try and get some songs up tomorrow...

First Annual Bonanza of Dubious Taste

2005-01-15T17:33:00.000-05:00

After wasting weeks agonizing over how to do this blog's first Obligatory Year-End Thing and rejecting any number of possible formats, I've decided to go with what works and post a straightforward list. Discussion/breakdown of the list in small chunks (along with selected mp3s) to follow at two- or three-day intervals, and then I can write off the whole damned thing and start writing about 2005.

1. Junior Boys, Last Exit (Kin/Domino)
2. V/A, DFA Compilation #2 (DFA)
3. Madvillain, Madvillainy (Stones Throw)
4. Elliott Smith, From A Basement On A Hill (Anti)
5. Arthur Russell reissues (Calling Out of Context & World of Echo) (Audika)
6. Superpitcher, Here Comes Love (Kompakt)
7. Franz Ferdinand, Franz Ferdinand (Domino)
8. Rjd2, Since We Last Spoke (Def Jux)
9. Annie, Anniemal (679)
10. Can reissues- Monster Movie, Soundtracks, Tago Mago & Ege Bamyasi [Okay, so this is kind of a cheat, but I've really gotten into Can this year and Mute did a splendid job on the reissues.] (Mute/Spoon)
11. !!!, Louden Up Now (Touch & Go/Warp)
12. TTC, Batards Sensibles (Big Dada)
13. Air, Talkie Walkie (Astralwerks)
14. Interpol, Antics (Matador)
15. MF Doom, MM..Food (Rhymesayers)
16. Squarepusher, Ultravisitor (Warp)
17. Sixtoo, Chewing On Glass & Other Miracle Cures (Ninja Tune)
18. DJ Signify, Sleep No More (Lex)
19. V/A, Kitsuné Midnight (Kitsuné)
20. Daedelus, Of Snowdonia (Plug Research)

EDIT Only three hours later and already I'm regretting leaving things off- starting with Phoenix's Alphabetical. But! The List stands as it is, dammit!

Back, sort of

2005-01-09T01:29:00.000-05:00

Sorry about yet another lengthy absence- things have finally settled down around here, though, and from here on out I should be able to post regularly again. New posts start tomorrow night, but for now here are a few links of interest...

Boom Selection are generously offering up the entirety of M.I.A's Piracy Funds Terrorism mixtape.

Four-turntable DJ tag-team Haul and Mason have downloads of some original tracks and a couple of blends (Queen/Fela Kuti and Ludacris/Blue Monday).

After falling in love with Stereolab's remix of Her Space Holiday's "Girl Problem" (big up 20 Jazz Funk Greats), I started checking out HSH/Marc Bianchi's back catalog, and stumbled across their site and a few downloadable remixes, including The Faint, Dead Prez and Elastica. Haven't listened yet (no headphone port on this computer), so they may be crap, but probably worth a listen.

EDIT. The remixes are all right- a bit space-cadet-y, but pleasant enough. The files, however, are not. 64 kbps. Eww.

Miscellaneous links/mp3s

2004-12-16T18:42:00.000-05:00

Things go back to normal next week; thanks for sticking around in the meantime. Here are some off-site downloads worth checking out:

Airborn Audio (High Priest and M. Sayyid, formerly of Anti-Pop Consortium) have song from their upcoming album up for download. It's an interesting step forward from APC's last album- much more agressive and electro than most of Arrhythmia, it sounds almost mainstream. Which is definitely not a bad thing. And their manager says there's a mixtape dropping next week, too. Nice.

A recent issue of Wired had a cover CD full of music under the Creative Commons license. Most of the exclusive material are obvious b-sides or outtakes, but there's a Blackstrobe remix of the Rapture, a passable beat from Dan the Automator, some Cornelius, an unexpectedly fun Le Tigre song, and a track from the DM & Jemini album. And everyone loves David Byrne.

Warp's front page is streaming a new Boom Bip song, presumably from the upcoming Blue Eyed in the Red Room. It's similar to "Morning And A Day" from Corymb- melodic electronic music only nominally connected to hip-hop. Still pretty interesting, though.

LCD Soundsystem's site has a video for "Movement," the single from the upcoming self-titled album. The hype for this album is astronomical, and if leaked tracks are any indication, fully warranted. It's kind of irritating that Murphy keeps up the Mark E. SMITH-uh voice for most of the album (except for the gorgeous, poppy "Tribulations"), but "Disco Infiltrator" and "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House" fucking own regardless...

Lex Records' Tes (whose Andy Gibb-sampling "New New York" was criminally overlooked, though the album was a bit hit and miss) is recording with DFA now. Glee.

And Home Video, subject of the very first post on this blog, have apparently been cropping up on the soundtrack in recent episodes of CSI. Bully for them- I haven't seen the show myself, but I remember seeing that Clinic's "Come Into Our Room" has also been used on the show, and that's good company to keep. And Home Video's Citizen EP has been growing on me lately- I'm hoping they can pull off a strong debut album next spring.

Hello all

2004-12-13T11:44:00.000-05:00

~~David Shrigley, "Don'ts"~~ (B-side to Four Tet's "Castles Made of Sand" 12")

~~Julian Fane, "Joyce Lang"~~ (non-album track, from the "Safety Man" 12")

~~Rare Bird, "Beautiful Scarlet"~~ (from Rare Bird's self-titled 1969 debut)

Actual writing and a few more mp3s as soon as exam week and the trip back home for Christmas break are done with. The third track is the source of the vocal sample in Diplo's "Summer's Gonna Hurt You," and a fun little oddity in itself- Rare Bird were apparently a completely guitarless early prog band, with heavy emphasis on keyboards. Neat.

Hang on...

2004-12-04T03:29:00.000-05:00

~~Saturday's mp3s coming soonish. Curse you, slow uploads, curse you.~~

The good news: one of the mp3s is up.

~~David Shrigley, "Don'ts"~~ (B-side to Four Tet's "Castles Made of Sand" 12")

The bad news: in the course of changing templates I accidentally wiped half of the previous one, including all the link sidebars, without backing up first. I do have a cached copy of the page, though, and should be able to piece it back together soon. Sigh...

Anyway, mp3 links will go up as the (agonizingly slow) file transfers finish, and text will follow Saturday evening. Sorry about the long delay...

Comment allez-vous?

2004-11-21T20:31:00.001-05:00

Sorry for the long absence. As penance, tonight's post features twice the usual number of mp3s:

~~TTC, "Codeine"~~ (from Batards Sensibles)
TTC's new LP (Batards Sensibles, or Sensitive Bastards for those who don't parlez the Français) takes an interesting approach and moves closer to the mainstream by almost totally ditching "traditional" samples and scratches in favor of more electronic production, and it works astonishingly well. "Codeine" is one of the standout tracks, produced by Para One. Batards doesn't come out in the US for a few months, unfortunately, but you can bet I'll be picking it up when it does...
(buy Batards Sensibles)

~~Diplo, "Percão (feat.Pantera Os Danadinhos)"~~ (from the "Diplo Rhythm" 12")
This is one of the three original tracks present in medley form as "Diplo Rhythm" on Florida and in full on the new Diplo Rhythm 12". "Percão" features Pantera Os Danadinhos, about whom I know absolutely nothing save that they're (she's? he's?) involved somehow in the Brazilian baile funk scene (for more, check out Diplo's superlative Favela On Blast mix CD).
(buy "Diplo Rhythm" 12"; buy Florida; buy Favela On Blast)

~~Pixeltan, "That's The Way I Like It"~~ (from DFA Compilation #2 / the "Get Up/Say What" 12")
Picking a single selection from DFA's second compilation was difficult in the extreme- somehow three CDs doesn't seem enough. And despite the presence of excellent tracks from label mainstays (one rarity and a remix each from The Rapture and Black Dice, and no less than three from The Juan MacLean), the real standouts are the new signings and unknowns. Black Leotard Front's gleefully pervy "Casual Friday," two mixes of J.O.Y.'s "Sunplus," which comes off as a more rhythm-fixated Boredoms or OOIOO, Gavin Russom & Delia Gonzalez, whose two tracks smack of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and Meddle-era Pink Floyd, and a new collaboration with Liquid Liquid (!) make it the best compilation yet released this year. "That's The Way I Like It" is one of the b-sides from Pixeltan's pounding "Get Up/Say What" single, and rides along this fucking amazing fuzzy bass skronk and some of the best drum work on the entire label (courtesy of Black Dice's Hisham Bharoocha). Yum.
(Buy DFA Compilation #2 or "Get Up/Say What" 12")

~~Luke Haines, "Oliver Twist"~~ (from The Oliver Twist Manifesto)
Not as recent as tonight's other three songs, but a long-standing favorite of mine. Luke Haines, a relative unknown in the US, is one of the strangest and most wonderful of pop musicians, like some horrible genetic experiment to combine the DNA of Morrissey, Mark E. Smith, Guy Debord and a rabid bull terrier. Responsible for quite a lot of albums with the Auteurs, Black Box Recorder, and a one-off project as Baader Meinhof (about which I will be posting more later), 2001's The Oliver Twist Manifesto (Or, What's Wrong With Popular Culture) was his first proper solo album (after a half-vocal/half-score album for the disappointing film adaptation of B.S. Johnson's Christy Malry's Own Double-Entry), and is the perfect distillation of everything Haines. Obtuse metaphor, clever references, insinuating melodic hooks, and gallons of bile, but this time with startlingly modern pop production, even by 2004 standards. For more information, check out The Luke Haines Resource.
(buy The Oliver Twist Manifesto)

Election night / Cheap music on ebay

2004-11-02T23:02:00.000-05:00

Election night is upon us, and I'm more nervous than a squirrel at a firing range. But since all of you voted (you did vote, didn't you?), this year's turnout is the highest since 1960. That's an incredible figure, and regardless of the results, quite an accomplishment. *sniff* I'm so proud of you, America.

Though I would be lying if I didn't say I hope Kerry wipes the floor with Monkeyboy. With Pennsylvania going blue mere minutes ago, it's definitely possible...

Also: I hate to use blogging space to advertise, but if any IDM fans out there haven't picked up the classic SKAMpler comp by now, here's your chance to get it on the cheap without paying import costs.

Much more music to come in the very near future, including new Juan McLean, TV on the Radio, Sukilove, Bugz in the Attic, and others too exciting to mention. For now, some interesting stuff from a recent Domino order:

~~Clinic, "T.K." (alternate studio version)~~ (from Operating at a Theatre Near You Vol. 1)

~~Flying Saucer Attack, "Outdoor Miner"~~ (Wire cover, from the Worlds of Possibility label sampler)

The critical consensus on Winchester Cathedral seems to be that it's an overwhelming disappointment. However, I find myself agreeing more with Nate Patrin's review in Seattle Weekly- though it's obviously (and somewhat troublingly) derivative of their earlier albums, the "revamped" songs are simply better takes on the same themes. Compare "The Magician" with "The Return of Evil Bill," for example. And "Falstaff" may be the best song Clinic have ever released.

This alternate mix of Internal Wrangler's "T.K." comes from Operating at a Theatre Near You Vol. 1, a recent disc of live tracks and rarities sold on tour and through Domino's webstore.

And I know bugger all about Flying Saucer Attack, but this Wire cover from the Worlds of Possibility compilation is a faithful (if somewhat shoegaze-y) interpretation of the Wire classic.

Happy Halloween / Vote Dammit

2004-10-31T01:58:00.000-05:00

Full post later this evening; until then, here's your Very Special Halloween Treat:

~~Suspense- The Dunwich Horror (Nov. 11, 1945)~~

HP Lovecraft should need no introduction, but if you aren't in the know (you poor benighted fool, you), the HP Lovecraft Archive has everything you need.

And now a more serious message from the Music Bloggers For Democracy project:

Hey!! Stop what you're doing! You're not going to find that Arcade Fire live bootleg today, nor will you be stumbling across the b-side to "Hand In Glove", and there's no way you'll be finding that unreleased Pixies album. What you need to do is get ready to vote in the most important
election of our lives. Figure out where your nearest polling place is and make sure you are registered. Tell your friends to vote, tell your enemies for that matter. But just vote.

Worried that you're not informed enough to vote? You're on the internet - the information is out there waiting for you. Not a U.S. citizen? Then please call or email all your American friends and make sure they plan on voting. Many artists/organizations are stepping up and helping with the Get Out the Vote campaign, and now so are many of us in the music blogging community. Below are some links but please continue to add your own.

Moveon.com
RockTheVote.com
JohnKerry.com
GeorgeWBush.com
MusicForAmerica.org
DeclareYourself
JustVote
MyPollingPlace
GetEducated

And since this is an mp3blog we've added a song or two as well.
Vote by Chris Stamey w/Yo La Tengo

Get Out And Vote On Novemeber 2nd. Regular Blogging Will Commence On November 3rd.

Thanks,

Music Bloggers For Democracy
and everyone that has agreed to post
the big ticket :
songs:illinois :
last sound of summer
moerex

More spooky crap

2004-10-21T01:57:00.000-04:00

~~David J, "Vicious Cabaret"~~

~~Sinister Ducks, "March of the Sinister Ducks"~~

As long as we're exhuming Bauhaus side projects, here are a couple of David J. obscurities. Both co-written with Alan Moore (Comic God and owner of a very impressive beard). The former is kicky Broadway number which originally appeared in the brilliant V for Vendetta (get it here), and the latter is...well. It's about ducks, isn't it? And Alan Moore sings!

-New Dizzee Rascal video, for the frankly bizarre Captain Sensible-sampling "Dream."

-Quickly-rising post-punk types Bloc Party have several freebies up for download...

-...as do Chromeo, including a 37-minute mix of trashy Eurodisco goodness. Yum.

-Another quality mix by Gooom Disque's Abstrackt Keal Agram here. Makes great use of John Carpenter's Christine theme, among other things.

-And the infamous Slashdot Effect works for good, not evil, as this torrent of Jon Stewart tearing Tucker Carlson a new asshole on live television should be nicely seeded by now. If you don't have a BitTorrent client yet, here.

-Spider Jerusalem is here to tell you about voting.

-New Jeunet! More Audrey Tautou! Glee!

-DavidAC, keeper of the web's best (and practically only) Bola site, has the artwork for the Bolaman's upcoming Gnayse. It's typically excellent Michael England stuff. Take a look.

-Warp sign another indie act, and the usual suspects shit kittens. This is almost too fun to watch.

-Scott Herren's Piano Overlord project looks quite promising.

-There's some really great shit coming out soon from both the tech-house contingent (Michael Mayer's debut album, new Ricardo Villalobos on Perlon) and, surprisingly, Massive Attack (the Danny the Dog soundtrack and Daddy G's DJ Kicks mix). Scissorkick has more detail on G's mix, and it's looking great. I'm still a bit disappointed by the inclusion of Oakenfold, but hey, if he can make it work, more power to him.

Quick ebay sale

2004-10-19T19:48:00.000-04:00

Want some ~~rye~~ CDs? 'Course ya do.

(Much) more music to be auctioned later, and a new post tomorrow. Pinky swear. In the meantime, mp3s!:

~~Tones on Tail, "Shakes"~~ (from Everything!)

Inspired by Loki's excellent Bauhaus post and the track's inclusion on Tim Sweeney's fantastic RVNG mix CD.

~~TTC, "De Pauvres Riches"~~ (from Ceci N'Est Pas Une Disque)

TTC are the best rap group in France. Damned with faint praise, perhaps (though there may be dozens of fantastic undiscovered rappers in the uncharted wilds of France, damn if I know), but they're really, really good- even if I have no idea what they're saying. This track is one of the highlights of Ceci N'Est Pas Une Disque.

Wee update

2004-10-05T19:56:00.000-04:00

Three things:

Dead Man's Shoes trailer online.

The latest Stones Throw monthly newsletter has some very happy news- in addition to next month's Stones Throw 101 DVD/mix CD, there's a new Quasimoto single late this year, followed by new LPs from Quasimoto and Koushik (!) next year.

And Mr Trick of Needlework left a post re: their release schedule in the Ninja Tune forums:

K, thought I'd update people on what's coming on Needlework.

2tall - Shifting Tides:
This should be out in stores within 3-4 weeks, following some truly painful delays with artwork and more. Its worth the wait though - a grower-from-hell of an album, something that'll stick in your stereo for a LONG time.

Waxfactor & Mr Trick - title TBC:
Me and Waximilien are collaborating on a joint album, which will see us working together on tracks, remixing each others tracks and generally creating what we hope will be a dynamite listening experience. Those of you who have the House of Needles mix will have something of a taster of what happens when we collaborate... Artwork will be by Dave The Chimp, who also created the House of Needles cover.

Waxfactor - Sci Fu
Wax's debut solo album will follow hot on the heels of the Wax/Trick CD, and is shaping up to be a fantastic listen. With artwork by the one and only Project Griff, this is also gonna be one stunning looking package.

Excuse the sketchy details on them all, but we like to keep the best bits for nearer the time of release. Wax's solo album in particular will have quite a lot more to have said about it, heheh...

A Waxfactor full-length is exciting news indeed...

Also! Big new Boomselection update, with some fantastic bootlegs from one DJ Zebra and a cry.on.my.console mashup of Si Begg and..."Hey Mickey." You'll enjoy them if you like that sort of thing.

Happy Octoberweenmas

2004-10-04T14:02:00.000-04:00

It's October, so here's some spooky shit. Enjoy.

The full post (with content!) should be up Monday night, Tuesday at the latest; until then, here are the mp3s:

Rjd2, "Weatherpeople"
(from his tour-only In Rare Form instrumentals album)
First up is Rjd2's instrumental for "Weatherpeople"- even stripped of Cage's lyrics, it's a great listen. And film geeks should enjoy it- it's built around Italian prog-rock band Goblin's main theme for Dario Argento's Suspiria. Goblin are also responsible for the non-library music portions of the score for George Romero's original Dawn of the Dead and plenty of other classic Italian and Italian-produced horror films of the 70's.
[buy In Rare Form from Turntable Lab]

DJ Signify & Six Vicious, "Bring Me Coffee Or Weed"
DJ Signify & Six Vicious, "Get Paid"

Two tracks from DJ Signify and Sixtoo's tour-only EP No One Leaves. Excellent, dark downbeat stuff, with P-Love's stylophone, er, stylings on "Bring Me Coffee Or Weed" and Sixtoo's rapping on "Get Paid." Great as Chewing on Glass and Other Miracles Cures is, I do kind of miss Big Six's lyrical bite, which is ably showcased here. The CDR is tour-only, but it will be released on 7" vinyl soon by Bully Records (and then presumably again on the next volume of Lunch Money Singles), so no need to worry if you can't pick up a copy...

Mr Trick has released an album under his Fallen alias, Etherscape: download it here.

Complex Player's Club's "Beat of the Week" section has some absolutely sick tracks from edIT (whose Usher mix is the best damn thing I've heard in ages), Waxfactor, Daedelus, and others. And be sure to grab 8FM's Kool Keith remix.

Darwin of Nuclear Beef is offering up a pair of tracks from Daedelus's Exquisite Corpse, including yet another of MF Doom's attempts to collaborate with every underground producer humanly possible.

Nick over at Gutterbreakz has been on a hot streak lately, with great posts on "Amentalism" (crazy jungle/D&B stuff), the engineers of BBC's Radiophonic Workshop, and a compilation of Mantronix "Mega-Mixes." Go forth! Patronize his fine establishment!

If you dug the "Weatherpeople" mp3, Music For Robots are offereing up another In Rare Form track ("The Takeoff"), along with some classic Andrea Parker electro.

I'm sure that anyone who cares has heard by now, but the tracklisting for the DFA's upcoming DFA Compilation 2 has me vibrating with glee. Seriously, the Pixeltan mix is the best thing Jim 'n' Tim have released since "Losing My Edge."

According to Warp's monthly mailout, Mark Bell (aka LFO) will soon release a white label remix of !!!'s "Me and Giuliani Down By the Schoolyard." Nice.

Put some fairy dust on the bastard with the Troggs Tapes, now in handy mp3 format. Via Metafilter.

Fabric release the details of Andrew (Sabres of Paradise, Two Lone Swordsmen, Primal Scream, etc) Weatherall's upcoming mix- #19 for those keeping track.

And finally, Gravenhurst's Black Holes in the Sand mini-album has a cover of Husker Du's "Diane." Ooh.

more misc.

2004-09-25T18:20:00.000-04:00

"If ye wrote about Bono like you wrote about me, he'd kick your asses." Classic. And it's not like we don't mock Bono already...

When I linked Black Moth Super Rainbow a few days ago, I forgot to mention they have a page of mp3s. Look past the silly sub-Boards of Canada names, they're actually very good. (And "I Think It Is Beautiful That You Are 256 Colors Too" is not just a damn fine [and geeky] name, but my favorite, for what it's worth.)

Type Records, co-owned by the highly nifty Xela, has several downloadable mixes, heavy on the moody, lush electronica stuff.

And I may have linked Mr. Trick already, but if not, well, there he is again. He has mixes, boots, mashups, and excellent linkage, and runs the increasingly impressive Needlework label.

[more to be added later as I come across it or remember to clear it from my backlog of links]

misc.

2004-09-24T13:47:00.000-04:00

This has nothing to do with music, so feel free to skip down to the links section, but there's a video game coming out soon in Japan I feel the need to talk about a little bit. PS2 owners take note. It's called Wanda and the Colossus, and ungainly title aside, looks to be one of the most beautifully designed games I've ever seen. Check out the short teaser trailer here. Wanda is a pseudo-sequel to 2002's puzzle/adventure hybrid Ico, and certainly looks like a clever idea- dunno about the execution yet, for obvious reasons, but my hopes are high.

Okay, now the music stuff...

Anti- have two mp3s from Elliott Smith's From a Basement on a Hill and a video for "Nature Boy" from Nick Cave's Abbatoir Blues.

Anticon's new website has loads of new mp3s, including Pedestrian's "The Toss & Turn," which debuted on the label sampler mix CD.

Scissorkick has two Secret Frequency Crew mp3s. Beautiful, Bola-esque stuff on Schematic, after I'd almost given up on them for all the Otto von Schirach breakcore grossout nonsense...

Daedelus, whose Of Snowdonia continues to grow on me like some kind of happy fungus, will be releasing a new album (titled Exquisite Corpse) in early 2005, with guest appearances by MF Doom, TTC, Prefuse 73, Mike Ladd, and others. And anyone who catches him on the Mush fall tour will be able to buy a copy nearly five months in advance. I can't make it to any, unfortunately, but if anyone out there can, drop me a line and we can work something out...

Also, Always Outsiders Never Outdone is miles ahead of the disappointing London Booted. Very, very nice.

Edit
The trailer for Wong Kar-Wai's 2046 is now online.

It doesn't fit you anymore...

2004-09-19T22:14:00.000-04:00

I Monster, "Hey Mrs"

Clinic, "Porno"

Again, two extremely different songs for you today. Neither of them is particularly fresh, nor is there a thematic link. Sorry for that, and for the looong posting delay, but I've been kind of wondering what direction to take with this blog. I can't really give out early copies or previews, since I'm not comfortable with downloading leaked albums, let alone spreading them, and I don't really have much of a perspective to write from, having only been into music seriously for the past five years or so. So while I work on the writing thing, I'll keep posting whatever seems like a good idea at the time.

[track descriptions go here]

Warp Films have set up a preview site for Shane Meadows' forthcoming Dean Man's Shoes. Not much to go on, but it's nicely spooky, and if the critical reactions so far are any indication, the film is more Straw Dogs than Death Wish (or, for that matter, more A Room for Romeo Brass than Once Upon a Time in the Midlands). Quite looking forward to the trailer for this, and the soundtrack looks excellent as well.

Huge blob of Skam news, including details of a new Bola album (titled Gnayse, heh), a Quinoline Yellow full-length, that weird cat compilation thing they were on about a few months ago, and a release from Mortal & Chemist that sounds like a mix CD (especially with the catalog number AMKS1).

Black Moth Super Rainbow are fantastic- thanks to Fluxblog for the heads up.

Not only is the new Subtle single the best thing Doseone's ever been involved in, to my mind at least, the video is gorgeous. Take a look.

And Philip Sherburne hits the nail on the head re: Médulla.

EDIT BetterPropaganda have two mp3s from DJ /rupture's upcoming debut album, Special Gunpowder.

2004-09-11T04:10:00.000-04:00

Two very different ones today:

~~The Shins, "Baby Boomerang"~~ (T. Rex cover, from their recent tour-only Fighting in a Sack EP)

~~The Durutti Column, "Sketch For Winter"~~

More this weekend, including an overhaul of the blog's template and a few giant posts with lots of links in place of actual content. For now, though, check out the radio mix of Bjork's "Oceania" (featuring, oddly, Kelis) at Said the Gramophone, and get over to Scissorkick for a taste of the Buddy Peace and 'ZILLA' mix accompanying the soon-to-be-released Warp Vision DVD.

Tryin' hard to look like Gary Cooper...

2004-09-05T01:14:00.000-04:00

~~Taco, "Puttin' on the Ritz"~~

One of the most bizarre (and terrible) relics of 80's pop. Taco was a strange Indonesian-German singer whose only hit was this now widely loathed synth-pop cover of the Irving Berlin standard. And since I've had it stuck in my head for months after seeing the video on VH1 Classic, and since misery loves company, here you go. Enjoy, or not. It's up to you (and your appetite for crap), really.

(And his name is just icing on the cake. Tacotacotaco.)

That boy needs therapy

2004-09-02T23:41:00.000-04:00

...in which I dredge some old stuff up from my Soulseek folder. Enjoy!

~~The Avalanches, "Frontier Psychiatrist"~~

From the Avalanches' 2002 debut Since I Left You, which I am embarassed to say I missed out on completely. "Frontier Psychiatrist" is simply one of the best uses of film samples I've ever heard, and the frenzied scratching on a sampled parrot squawk about two-thirds of the way through doesn't hurt either. Very funny, but not just a cheap novelty- try this if you like Kid Koala.

~~Alan Splet, "Space Travel With Changing Choral Textures"~~

The late Alan Splet is best known as the sound designer for David Lynch's first four films; here's a piece of one of his experimental noise compositions. Headphones are mandatory.

Links and things

The DNA Lounge has the world's coolest ATM. Except for the transaction fee, which is highway robbery.

Farewell Absorb. Now I'm without a giant free magazine of electronic music reviews. Dammit.

The Robots have uploaded a fantastic song by the Presets, a new act on Australia's Modular label (who coincidentally also published the Avalanches' record and more recently Cut Copy's Bright Like Neon Love. This makes them far, far cooler than you or I. Bask in their glory.)

Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore is finally being released in English translation, though the wait until January will be excruciating.

The Amazon listing for the domestic edition of Junior Boys' Last Exit. The bonus disc apparently contains all the b-sides from the vinyl-only Kin EPs, and more interestingly, Domino's ad copy mentions a remix by Matthew Dear.

Wire, On the Box live coming out soon. This is tremendous.

And I'll be the first to admit that Doseone has...limited appeal, but the new Subtle 12" on Lex is gorgeous stuff. Give it a listen on Bleep.

Videos
Clinic, "The Magician." Don't complain about how similar it is to "The Return of Evil Bill," just bask in the weirdness of the faux-Gilliam video. And do try not to get spit or coffee on your monitor; that's just unhygienic.

Cut Copy, "Saturdays." (note: downloadable; direct link). My love for this video is like a truck. Needs more key-tars, though.

M.I.A, "Galang." We loves M.I.A, yes we do, even if we're still not particularly sure how to pronounce her name.

And I'm out of class tomorrow, so if I can't sleep (again) I'll be able to spend the time de-uglifying the blog template, updating sidebars, writing long-overdue comment responses, etc.

2004-08-31T01:37:00.000-04:00

~~Marianne Faithfull, "Working Class Hero"~~

~~Gravenhurst, "The Diver"~~

Text later and I mean it this time. No point in doing this if I can't squeeze in some mediocre criticism to justify the free stuff. But a quick summary: Marianne Faithfull covers the John Lennon classic in a surprisingly nasty, The Normal-esque new wave style; and "The Diver" is possibly my favorite track from Gravenhurst's excellent Flashlight Seasons LP. One guy, one guitar, very subtle production, damn fine song.

Updates may be slow in coming for a while, as I'm off at school without any CDs to rip from and a strict no-P2P policy in the dorm. There's an excellent used music store in nearby Brattleboro, though, so I'll manage. If anyone wants to ~~feed the monkey~~ support Telephone Thing's continued sailing on the high seas of piracy, you can bid on eBay auctions (going up soon), but there's no pressure as I'm not really in dire straits at the moment.

Ta for now.

2004-08-30T12:59:00.000-04:00

Added StyPod to the links sidebar; here's an interview with Joe Beats (Non-Prophets, upcoming solo 7" on Bully Records); Philip Sherburne has a new downloadable mix; Boom Selection continue to upload mixes; proper update later as soon as the ITS department decides that it is indeed "Monday morning."

What projects do you have coming up in the near future? Will you be working with artists other than Sage? Hope certainly raised your profile.

JB: Hope gave me the boost I needed, yes. Next is a project called Indie Rock Blues; an album where I’ve remixed a bunch of indie rock songs. I’m about halfway done with that. The next project after that will be “Joey Beats and Nobs”. I’m producing the whole album and Nobs will be rhyming every song. We are about halfway through with that one as well. That album is called Smack and will definitely take longer to finish than Indie Rock Blues. IRB should be out sometime in late October or early November and Smack months later. Also, I have a 45 dropping on Bully Records sometime in the fall. This will be me taking a stab at REAL instrumental music.

I'm embarassed to say I have no idea who Nobs is, but the Indie Rock Blues project sounds exciting...

Electro-pop Wednesday

2004-08-25T11:28:00.000-04:00

First of all, make sure to take a look at Monday's Scissorkick update- he's posted a couple of tracks from Home Video's forthcoming Citizen EP on Warp, and they're quite nice, especially "In A Submarine."

Today's mp3s:

~~Hood, "You Show No Emotion At All"~~

~~R3mote, "Freefall"~~

R3mote are an electro-pop duo on Andrew Weatherall's Rotters Golf Club label, and have released a lone EP (R3motion), which is very good. And is it just me, or does "Freefall" co-opt the synth sound from the Nails' "88 Lines About 44 Women"? Not that I'm complaining, though; it's a great song.

As for the Hood track, it's from 2001's brilliant Cold House on Aesthetics Records, on which Hood collaborate with Anticon MC's Doseone and Why? and, surprisingly make their sometimes grating delivery work in an indie-pop context.

Also, Interpol's first single from Antics, "Slow Hands," is available on the iTunes music store, and it's possibly the best thing they've yet released. They sound less like Joy Division than ever, thankfully, but there's a clever little nod to Ian Curtis in the lyrics. Fun stuff, if you like that kind of thing.

Hood, with downloadable outtakes and radio mix

R3mote

Hood mp3 page, with live tracks and rarities

Hood, "You Show No Emotion At All" video (via Domino Records; Realmedia)

This looks promising...

2004-08-23T17:23:00.000-04:00

Super Furry Animals precede the release of 'Songbook' with a 20 minute long live version of the SFA anthem 'The Man Don't Give A Fuck' on September 20th.

This version of 'The Man Don't Give A Fuck' was recorded at Hammersmith Apollo on the last night of the band's UK tour in Spring 2004 and is not included on "Songbook"."

A twenty-minute version of their most brilliant single* and a ~~new album~~? Not to put too fine a point on it, but fucking A. For those who have never heard of SFA, I'll be posting a couple of songs later today (as soon as I can find my SFA albums).

*well, maybe second behind "Hermann Loves Pauline," but certainly their most unabashedly, gleefully vulgar. Even if it's just a Steely Dan sample...

EDIT My mistake; Songbook isn't a new album but rather a singles collection. (source)

Some mashups/bootlegs/remixes/etc

2004-08-22T22:36:00.000-04:00

Prodigy Remixed just went up; downloading now. I honestly don't give a toss about the Prodigy, and especially not the new album, but this looks promising.

Lionel Vinyl. Enjoyed the hell out of his XFM Superchunk; here's (a lot) more.

Dsico, aka the "Love Will Freak Us" guy.

Party Ben (as pointed out by Boom Selection). He is One Suave Fuck.

Things resume as normal on Monday; right now I'm faced with the daunting task of feeding a 40-gig iPod (thus the above links). And faced with legally available booze! Yup, twenty-one as of last Thursday, and pretty happy about it.

!

2004-08-22T16:08:00.000-04:00

This is long overdue for a mention, but Boom Selection is back in the mp3 game. Go hit them up, they have many good things.

Including a mirror of Osymyso's new mix, which is quite fun.

Double mp3 post

2004-08-18T01:45:00.000-04:00

~~Daedelus, untitled Donnie Darko remix~~ (from Mush's 28:06:42:12 12")

~~Massive Attack, "Wire" (live)~~

Text later when I've had some sleep.

2004-08-17T23:29:00.000-04:00

Something tells me that Google's automatic translation function still has a ways to go, though I do plan to incorporate "kiss a loop!" into my vocabulary as soon as humanly possible.

And speaking of Things French, the trailer is out [Windows Media link] for Wes Anderson's latest, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. Well, the character isn't actually French, but I always imagine that title read out in a hokey cod-Cousteau accent. You know, like that one episode of Sealab 2021. "Ah return to za wooomb of Mozzer Oshean," like. Ahem, anyway. Looks much funnier and less emo than Royal Tenenbaums, though that film had its charms, and anyone who just lets Bill Murray do his thing is fine by me. And check out the Henry Selick stop-motion underwater life, too...nice. Not to mention the script by is co-written with Noah Baumbach, who's wonderfully nasty when he's at the top of his game, and the trailer prominently features New Order's "Age of Consent" and (I think) Suede. Whee.

Anyhow, as you can probably tell, the Monday mp3 didn't happen, for a variety of reasons. And I still can't settle on something appropriate to say about Elliott Smith, so that post will remain respectfully blank, keeping me from mucking it up with crap jokes and weepy reminiscences of how "Waltz no. 2" just hits me right there, maaannn. To make up for it, I'll leave the previous two up just a bit longer and do a double post tomorrow.

Edit Added Philip Sherburne and his Neumu column Needle Drops to the sidebar because, well, he kicks ass. With his mighty pen. Word processor, whatever. What finally convinced me was his column on MEAM, aka Michael England, who really is fucking brilliant. Seriously. Buy his EP on Skam, it'll do ya good. And keep an eye peeled; he's supposedly almost finished a collaborative DVD with Bola tunes, and if the brief excerpt shown at last year's ResFest is any indication, it's going to be killer.

2004-08-17T00:12:00.000-04:00

Viktor Vaughn 2.5, re-edited by...some guy? to remove all the filler. Neat concept, haven't listened yet so I don't know about the execution, better grab it quick since it might not be up for long.

Those Girl Called Eddy mp3s are great, by the way. Get 'em while they're hot.

Today's mp3 will be going up tomorrow sometime in the AM; sorry.

2004-08-16T17:47:00.000-04:00

Today's mp3 will be a bit late, but it will be uploaded. Sorry about that.

In the meantime, Metafilter points to an excellent Schaeffel mix by Philip Sherburne.

And the soundtrack to Shane Meadows' Dead Man's Shoes is shaping up nicely.

Here's a Girl Called Eddy track. It's not today's upload (which now looks like it may be posted, er, tomorrow), but it seems like an interesting album. I'll be keeping an eye out for reviews of this; hopefully it'll turn out better overall than the Nellie McKay album. There are two more downloadable tracks at Anti-'s site.

Mutamassik, "Gulf Rock Mix"

2004-08-13T01:09:00.000-04:00

~~Mutamassik, "Gulf Rock Mix"~~

One of the best tracks from Sound-Ink's Colapsus compilation. Mutamassik's debut album is out sometime this fall (I think), and she has a split mix with DJ /rupture out on Violent Turd. More tomorrow (and the actual text for yesterday's Elliott Smith post); right now I desperately need some sleep. For now, suffice it to say she rules- Mutamassik is heavy Arabic/African-influenced hip-hop, and this track hits especially hard. Sorry if I don't get more descriptive, but I'm afraid I don't know most of the instruments sampled and can't make out the sampled vocals, or even what language they were originally in. Keep an eye out for the Definitive Works LP; this is extraordinarily promising stuff.

Buy The Bidoun Sessions
Buy Colapsus or High Alert 12"

Elliott Smith, "A Distorted Reality..." 7" version

2004-08-11T18:57:00.000-04:00

~~Elliott Smith, "A Distorted Reality Is Now a Necessity to Be Free" (early version)~~

(An extra mp3 for Thursday. More text later; for now here's the file...)

David Sylvian, "Late Night Shopping"

2004-08-11T03:59:00.000-04:00

~~David Sylvian, "Late Night Shopping"~~

Here's one of my favorite tracks from David Sylvian's 2003 album Blemish. Reminds me of late-night/early-morning flourescent-lit runs to the grocery store and walking through Grant Park in winter. And of course I have to include Atsushi Fukui's great album artwork...

Blemish isn't available domestically, but you can get it at a domestic price directly from the SamadhiSound label.

Also Added Never Came Home, Moebius Rex, and The Tofu Hut to the link sidebar. If you're not reading them already, what are you waiting for? Hmm?

Edit DavidSylvian.com has three mp3s available for download- including what appears to be a Sylvian remix of a Tweaker remix of "Late Night Shopping," and "Mothlight" (named, I assume, after Stan Brakhage's classic experimental short).

Augh

2004-08-09T20:58:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the late update- my computer's been giving me trouble, specifically the all-important network card, which has been developing charming new eccentricities at an alarming rate. Anyway, here's the song for today:

DJ Signify, "Winter's Going" (Instrumental)

The first single from DJ Signify's debut album, Sleep No More, stripped of Buck 65's verse. Signify's production can stand on its own, though, and this is a good example.

(Yeah, between this and the Chris Clark earlier, it kind of looks like I'm riding Warp's jock for promos or something, ~~and while I certainly wouldn't mind~~ but rest assured these are just what I have in my CD wallet at the moment. There's more variety coming soon, with some Sound-Ink stuff, some Massive Attack rarities, and some microhouse.)

Links and things

A great animated video for Dabrye's "Smoking the Edge"

The video for Dizzee Rascal's new single...not sure I like the smoother sound, but it's solid.

According to Home Video's site, they'll be releasing a new 5-song EP on vinyl and (yes!) CD in early fall, called Citizen. And speaking of irrationally hated Warp acts, Gravenhurst will be releasing the Black Holes in the Sand mini-album in early October.

The Fabric London page for Michael Mayer's mix includes two exlcusive radio mixes by Mayer- in Realmedia, unfortunately, but nicely high-quality nonetheless.

Here's the cover to Interpol's upcoming Antics album.

Also

Completely non-music-related, but if you haven't seen Bruce Robinson's How to Get Ahead in Advertising, do it. I caught it on cable today, and haven't enjoyed a black comedy this much since Being John Malkovich or Robinson's own Withnail and I. It has some fairly serious structural problems, but Richard E. Grant is fantastic and the script is wonderfully nasty.

Chris Clark, "Alaska (1998 Tiny Person)"

2004-08-06T17:25:00.000-04:00

Throughgout August I'll be posting new mp3s on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week, with assorted reviews, links and other nonsense in between. So to kick things off, here's a Japan-only track from Chris Clark's Empty the Bones of You:

~~Chris Clark, "Alaska (1998 Tiny Person)"~~

Cold and a bit distant, as the title might lead you to believe, but still fascinating. Lots of layered synths reminescent of classic Bola but with significantly harder beats. If you like it, be sure to buy Empty the Bones, one of the most criminally underrated albums of recent years. And download the earlier Clarence Park outtake "Guitar Solo" here.

Edit Rest in peace, Rick James. I'll save the witty crackpipe jokes, because that would be in poor taste, and, er, I can't think of any right now. And quoting Chapelle's Show just doesn't cut it, really...

Hello all

2004-08-05T14:26:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the (relatively) prolonged silence, but things have been piling up here, between class, internet problems, and just general malaise. But! To hopefully keep people's interest in the few days before another real update (with mp3s, even), here are some free music links:

Three leaked tracks from Björk's forthcoming all-vocal Medúlla album! Dunno who's responsible- if it's Björk's people, as seems quite possible, they could be up for a good while, but in case it's not, grab 'em quick. They're surprisingly good for such a potentially disastrous high-concept album, and I'm definitely feeling them more than the sleepy Vespertine...If you're pressed for time, get "Mouth's Cradle" first. It's the most up-tempo of the lot, and has a great choral hook and (I think) Rahzel.

Here's a long (71 minutes!) electro mix by EDMX (DMX Krew, Computor Rockers, Collapse of the Wave Function), as pointed out by Music for Robots.

You can download short mp3 clips of Julian Fane's upcoming Special Forces album here, in Planet Mu's discography section.

And John Vanderslice has a staggering amount of downloads up for grabs, including a few tracks from each of his in-print albums, the entirety of the limited MGM Endings remix disc of Cellar Door, his Insound tour support disc, live sets, vinyl-only B-sides, and, oh yes, the entire MK Ultra back catalog. Go forth! Fill your iPods and CD-Rs with Vanderslicey goodness!

Also added the excellent Spoilt Victorian Child to the links sidebar. Read. Enjoy. In The Future, all music blogs will be named after semi-obscure Fall songs, don'tcha know.

Edit The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads is finally coming out on CD! With some potentially sweet bonus tracks, too. About freakin' time.

And if you're into that sort of thing, which I for one most certainly am, Amazon are now taking preorders for the late Elliott Smith's final album, From a Basement on a Hill. Pitchfork didn't have much kind to say about the finished mix of "A Distorted Reality Is Now a Necessity to Be Free," but they've misled me enough times in the past that I'm taking Schreiber's write-up with a (very large) grain of salt.

Finally, the Postal Service are making a single of "We Will Become Silhouettes," hopefully with some more fantastic covers and adorable Kozyndan artwork. I loves me the Kozyndan, mmmyup.

2004-07-24T23:50:00.000-04:00

This week's Solid Steel includes a set by Diplo that looks like a slight variation on/extension of his recent DJ Shadow mix for Turntable Lab. Well worth your time.

2004-07-23T23:48:00.000-04:00

Salon tackles Donnie Darko in a piece similar to their earlier dissection of Mulholland Drive, after extensive research including viewing of the soon-to-be-released director's cut. Apparently the fat guy in the tracksuit is supposed to be an FAA agent- I thought he was just supposed to be a Blue Velvet reference. Oh well.

Speaking of Mulholland Drive, a (class-required) viewing of Lost Highway in the proper Cinemascope format has re-piqued my interest in what I thought was one of Lynch's weaker films, and inspired me to try and write a longish discussion of the film, its implications, etc. I'll let you know if anything comes of it, but it'll probably be slow going since all I have to work with is the terrible Canadian DVD. But hey, at least we know Universal is working on a special edition release of...Dune? Sigh.

2004-07-21T19:38:00.000-04:00

William Shatner sings Pulp's "Common People." Really.

YES

2004-07-21T00:53:00.000-04:00

Found 'em. Do you know how freaking hard it is to find a band called "Cinnamon" with Google when the only thing you know about them is that they did a song called "Cakes and Pies"? Jesus. Anyway, give them a listen if you can- I've tried to track down freebie tracks or clips that are long enough to give you an impression, but no dice. They're like a spastic, glitchy, but still funky and silly...well...Cibo Matto, kinda. I feel like an ass immediately comparing them to another all-Japanese female-fronted band, but it's really the only comparison I can think of. Similar kind of silliness, albeit with more current electronic sounds- and they even sing about food too.

And the Modular People label out of Australia are hosting a nice hour-long mix by Cut Copy, which you can download after joining their mailing list. It's worth the hassle, believe me.

The word on Cinnamon and the second link both via the superlative Music For Robots.

Days until a new bandwidth billing cycle: 14.

2004-07-20T17:26:00.000-04:00

Check this out: the trailer for Danny the Dog, starring Jet Li, Bob Hoskins and Morgan Freeman. Looks pretty good, despite the director's last job being the asstastic Transporter, but what really gets me excited is the confirmation that the original score by Massive Attack is going to be included and not discarded in favor of godawful nu-metal like their putative Matrix Reloaded score...though in retrospect, that was probably for the best. It may be too much to hope for Daddy G working with 3D on this, let alone some new vocal tracks, but it'll still be the first new work from any permutation of Massive Attack in two years. Nice.

2004-07-19T22:32:00.000-04:00

Looks like Dan the Automator's Head Automatica project with Daryl Palumbo of Glassjaw is ready to drop- I'm a tad anxious about this one, since I haven't really liked any Automator project since Handsome Boy Modeling School (save for a handful of Gorillaz singles). "Brooklyn Is Burning," which you can stream at the band page, is catchy as hell, and certainly lives up to the "electronic cock rock" thing without sounding terrible, but it'll be interesting (and nerve-racking) to see if they can pull off a whole album of this stuff. And the cover art is jaw-droppingly bad. Still, maybe this means the Sammy's Romanians project with El-P isn't far off...

Speaking of cover art, this is presumably the cover art for Björk's forthcoming Medúlla album:

For the two of you who aren't already sick of hearing about it, this is the album that will be constructed (by Björk and a team of programmers including Matmos and Mark Bell/LFO) entirely from vocal sounds, from Björk herself, choirs, human beatbox Rahzel, Dokaka, and prolific nutjob Mike Patton. Should be fun.

And Julian Fane's upcoming Special Forces album on Planet Mu is fantastic- listen to it here. Even in crappy low-quality mp3, this is definitely one of my favorite albums of the year so far...try "Drowning in Haunted Water" and "Book Repository" first.

Still not dead

2004-07-19T00:57:00.000-04:00

Some minor updates- changed out the Current Listening sidebar and added a few links. Probably going to mess with the site template, and oh yes, write some content soon.

Keep an eye on the BBC's One World show- this Thursday they're broadcasting mixes from DJ Shadow and The Album Leaf.

Also: the movie doesn't hit the States until September (better late than never, but still annoying) but the soundtrack to Shaun of the Dead is freaking great. Especially the Kid Koala remix of "The Gonk" (the shopping mall music from the original Dawn of the Dead) and I Monster's insanely chirpy "The Blue Wrath." And it has Queen!

If the rest of I Monster's full-length album (Neveroddoreven) stays as catchy without lapsing into novelty, then I might have to check it out. PlayLouder like it, which is a good start, but I can't find anything substantial about it anywhere else...

Not dead

2004-07-14T21:55:00.000-04:00

Still alive, just without a usable computer until Friday.

Telephone Thing: I am the Emperor of Last Year

2004-07-10T14:59:00.000-04:00

Not much to say at the moment, except to say hi and apologize for the lack of content to anyone following the link from DJ Martian's blog.

So, while I enjoy a weekend at home, here are some more ~~hopelessly old and well-known~~ OMG FREE HAWT downloads:

Prince Po's debut album on Lex is out now- the sampler CD has me sort of intrigued, though I'm not too big on the lead single "Hold Dat" (which is odd given how much of a Richard X fan I normally am). Lex still have a few tracks up for download here, including the aforementioned "Hold Dat," "Social Distortion" with MF Doom (probably the best of the lot, at least to my biased ears) and the non-album "Better Things," a fun little freestyle over a loop from the eponymous Blue Lines-era Massive Attack track.

Also, here's Danger Mouse and Murs' "To a Black Boy" if you haven't downloaded it yet- Marcus Dixon's sentence has been overturned, thankfully, but it's still a great track.

Here's Dykehouse's free EP Leftovers, consisting of outtakes from his Planet Mu debut Dynamic Obsolescence. With printable artwork for those of you who want to burn a copy, which is awfully nice of them.

Brothomstates, who seems to have vanished (save for a 12" release on Arcola) after a great debut EP and harshly panned follow-up album, has tons of free stuff for download, including three live bootlegs and the mp3-only Kobn-Tich-Ey album. Also with printable artwork.

And Bleep is stocking Ninja Tune now, though irritatingly not any of the rare vinyl-only stuff. At least, not yet.

PS Does anyone know if the promotional Airborn Audio mix CDs can still be had anywhere? Afraid I slept on these...

Saddam has had six nucular weapons in his arse...

2004-07-09T04:46:00.000-04:00

The exam has been thoroughly defeated, so now I have free time again. Hooray. And since the last update rather embarrassingly failed to pan out properly (and since I'm up and have nothing better to do), here's the first of several posts pointing you to free music elsewhere on the web, mostly on label and artist sites. So, anyway:

Controller 7. Talented downtempo beatsmith, sort of affiliated with Anticon, and with some great releases on Bully Records (whose website hasn't been updated in a while, unfortunately). His site has three unreleased tracks, a version of "Rain Men" from an out-of-print single, and "Heckles from the Peanut Gallery" from his Left Handed Straw album.

Buy Left Handed Straw (Direct from Controller 7- it's cheaper than buying from Amazon, he'll sign it for you, and this way he sees a significantly larger profit from the sale of his music.)

Dangermouse remix of Zero 7's "Somersault" featuring MF Doom. DM's been all over the mainstream press after the Grey Album controversy (and to a lesser extent his collaboration with Jemini for the Ghetto Pop Life album), and MF Doom is possibly the most popular "underground" rapper in the world right now. Zero 7 are, unfortunately, kind of boring, but DM takes the soporific original and makes it into something else entirely by dropping in hard drum breaks and Doom spreads his usual laid-back, gravel-voiced delivery over the top.

Bushwhacked. A Bush cutup by Chris Morris, in the style of his infamous Archbishop of Canterbury cutup. With accompanying video and Osymyso remix. It's worth tracking down the original Bushwhacked- Warp have taken down their mirror of it, but it can be pretty easily found on Soulseek. And be sure to get Adrian Sutton's orchestral remix while you're at it- it's been taken down from his site, but is also Soulseek-able. While you're at his site, though, check out the warped background music he did for Morris' short film My Wrongs #8245-8249 & 117...

And Osymyso. None of this stuff is particularly new- Osymyso was, along with Freelance Hellraiser, Richard X, 2 Many DJ's, and Donna Summer, one of the most visible mash-up artists back when the music press was starved for novelty and pounced upon a fairly basic aspect of DJ culture and...where was I? Oh yes, the music. It's very good, and you should download it. Especially the aptly-named "Puckish Mix," the slightly disturbing "Fiver to Bigwig" (currently on Amon Tobin's Solid Steel live mix album), and "Intro-inspection," a twelve-minute piece stitched together out of the intros to various pop songs. Where else are you likely to hear "Safety Dance," "Lust for Life" and "My Generation" all playing at the same time and not sounding like complete ass? Or "Sweet Dreams," "Song 2" and "Blue Monday"?

Airborn Audio, the newest permutation of the late, lamented Antipop Consortium, have set up shop here. Click "music" to download their song "Inside the Globe." I kind of miss Beans, but M. Sayyid was my favorite of the Antipop crew so I'm not too upset...

And now to squeeze in two hours of sleep before my flight. Hooray.

EDIT This week's Boomkat update has clips of the two B-sides on Rjd2's Europe-only "Exotic Talk" 12" single ("The Move" and "Get Off My Spaceship Bitch" [heh]). Those of you (like me) who prefer things digital (or without ridiculous exchange rates and shipping costs) can wait, since www.rjd2.net is supposed to put them up for download in mp3 sometime soon. And, just as exciting, some clips from Amon Tobin's Solid Steel mix.

EDIT A helpful (though anonymous) reader has kindly pointed out that Warp does still have "Bushwhacked 1" up for download right here. Which pretty conclusively proves that I shouldn't do this so late at night/early in the morning. But anyway, download! Enjoy!

EDIT More anonymous help- the hilarious Adrian Sutton orchestral mix of "Bushwhacked" can be had here (warning: direct link to mp3), via Cook'd and Bomb'd. Be sure to dig around there, too, as they've got tons of goodness- mp3s of On the Hour, Blue Jam, and Morris' Radio 1 show, as well as his two Breezeblock DJ sets. And the infamous Richard Geefe hoax columns, which later inspired the "Suicide Journalist" sketch on Blue Jam...

KRAFTWERK LIVE

2004-07-08T15:39:00.000-04:00

Kraftwerk live! Kraftwerk? Live!

Kraftwerk live!

Download the whole freakin' concert here.

Via Swen's blog. It is mighty. Read it.

EDIT Hm. After it's (finally) finished downloading, I end up with an empty 144 meg zip file. Something, I fear, is amiss. Suggestions/help, anyone?

EDIT Nothing I've tried can get the Berlin 2004 bootleg working- however, helpful reader melaten suggests bootleg.freakin.nl, which looks to have more downloadable concert bootlegs than I could possibly fit on my hard drive... Not all links guaranteed to work, of course, but still a hell of a lot. Enjoy, and thanks melaten...

Holy crap

2004-07-05T21:05:00.000-04:00

Apparently this is a bit more popular than I assumed- I've already used up 90% of a five gig allotment for the month of July. Sorry about this, but the mp3s are going to have to go for a bit- if you want any of the tracks I've listed, email me or leave a comment, but until such time as I get my hosting issues worked out, I'm going to have to take them down.

Wow.

So, how many people read this thing, anyway? Please leave a comment so I can get some kind of idea of my bandwidth demands, straighten things out, and continue hosting music. Thanks.

One last mp3 for today

2004-07-05T20:43:00.000-04:00

~~Boards of Canada, "XYZ"~~

A Peel Session track never officially released by Warp- a shame, since it's one of BoC's best. Their usual lush synth chords and tweaked vocal samples eventually give way to some surprisingly heavy, chopped-up beats and backwards guitar snippets (later used in their Beatles-homage remix of cLOUDDEAD's "Dead Dogs Two"). "XYZ" leans a bit more toward their Geogaddi-era sound than Music Has the Right ("Alpha and Omega" particularly, and some of the other more obviously psychedelic tracks), but it's not as dark or heavy.

Quickie update

2004-07-05T19:12:00.000-04:00

Guy Garvey's new interview with BBC Manchester mentions that Elbow will be releasing a live EP next Monday of "Grace Under Pressure" performed live at this year's Glastonbury festival. If it's properly mastered, it should be amazing- the album version uses crowd vocals from their 2002 Glastonbury performance, and by all accounts this year's was even better.

Here's the tracklist (from the band's official site):

1. Grace Under Pressure (edit)
2. Switching Off (album version)
3. Waving From Windows
4. Not A Job [acoustic track from Radio 2 Stuart Maconie session]
5. Grace Under Pressure (live from Glastonbury 2004)

Aside from a radio edit of "Grace Under Pressure," no previously published tracks. Excellent. If you've never heard any Elbow- not likely if you're interested enough in music to be reading this, yes, but certainly possible (especially if you're in the States)- what are you waiting for? They're fantastic, one of the best mainstream rock bands going today. I'd post an mp3, but all my Elbow CDs are at home and my trusty Nomad mp3 player has recently up and died, so listen here.

Also!

The reports of a new MF Doom album under his Viktor Vaughn alias have been substantiated. Here's the press release:

The industry has churned out many rap stars during the last few decades, but it has delivered very few Hip Hop super heroes and only one Super Villain. MF DOOM, is definitely underground Hip Hop's most mysterious entity, and his alter ego, VIKTOR VAUGHN, is even more shadowy.

After receiving critical acclaim for "MadVillainy" and previously for Vaughn's debut "Vaudeville Villain," the faceless rhyme scoundrel has returned to bring a new era of cyber rap with "VV:2" aka "VENOMOUS VILLAIN."

"VV:2" is a different kind of Hip Hop record; it's engulfed in cryptic messages and cutting edge production that delivers both a classic Hip Hop vibe and a cutting edge one. Vaughn is also accompanied by some underground contenders including StrongHold's Poison Pen (on the venomous street tale, "Bloody Chain"), MARS ILL's Manchild and executive producer and longtime emcee IZ-REAL on "R.A.P. G.A.M.E." and the new rap miscreant, Carl Kavorkian, on "Dope Skill." However, no cameo is more welcome on VV:2 than that of Hip Hop's original and reigning enigma, KOOL KEITH (aka Dr. Dooom, aka Dr. Octagon, etc.). The electrified and beat-burned "Doper Skiller" delivers Hip Hop's two cult favorites bringing lyrical carnage like only they can.

Executive producer, IZ-REAL (the creator of the critically acclaimed Insomniac releases "The Mic Planet Sessions" and " The Drastic Jungle Project"), scouted, assembled and directed a skilled cast of up and coming beat creators and DJs from all walks to complete "VV:2." Some of the featured beat-makers include New York's Dub L (Aesop Rock), Chicago acid jazz veteran DJ I.N.C., Philly beat maker Session 31, experimentalistic DJ System D128, and Orlando based electro-beat magician DiViNCi, who works digital sorcery on tracks with his unique glitch scratching effects¾ enhancing the work of dope scratchers such as Sure Shot (1200 Hobos), drum n bass DJ Escher and System D128.

VIKTOR is in prime lyrical form, continually bringing verbal onslaught and dark dramatic tales of blight from outside the space-time continuum. Personality #1, DOOM, also makes appearances on tracks including the high energy, electro-hyped, "Pop Quiz," which he once again spits cyber rap flames with IZ-REAL.

What is "VV:2"? Among other things, it's a dramatic, progressively thugged-out, future-rap, classic soundtrack for fans of a genre without boundaries.

The "VV:2" release will also feature a bonus enhanced element. When put into a CD-ROM, viewers will be able to watch a mini-documentary based on Insomniac's critically acclaimed release "THE MIC PLANET SESSIONS." "The Mic Planet Sessions" features many top lyricists including MF DOOM, KOOL KEITH, PLANET ASIA, MYSTIC and others.

Look for "VV:2" in stores in late August 2004.

Kool Keith and Doom. Ooh yes. I'm a bit worried about this- Doom seems to put out an album, productions, or guest verse almost every month, and while he hasn't put his name on anything bad yet, I hope he doesn't spread himself too thin. Also a bit surprised this isn't on SoundInk. The cover art is neat, though.

EDIT Said the Gramophone is hosting "Doper Skiller," the track with Kool Keith, and it's really good stuff. I'm not sure what to think about the electronic-heavy production- it sounds a bit tinny, but to be fair I'm listening through laptop speakers (bad headphone jack) and can't really give it a fair evaluation. I'm much less worried now, though, since Doom and Keith work incredibly well together- vocal-wise, this is easily the equal of "Never Dead" with M. Sayyid off the last Viktor Vaughn album (Vaudeville Villain).

Oops

2004-07-05T17:31:00.000-04:00

No review today, probably. Sorry about that. I would eat my hat as I said I would, but ha! I have no hat!

There is some good stuff out there at the moment that's well worth your downloading/listening/etc, though:

1. This week's Solid Steel show is a great one- Rjd2's mix is a bit staid and traditional, but still damned good, and Strictly Kev dropping George Carlin into his mix (part 4 of the show) is a nice touch.

2. Joost of the inestimable Solesides.com is hosting some fantastic mp3s right now- three tracks from DJ Shadow's 2002 tour that don't show up on the set documented on his (fantastic) In Tune and On Time live DVD. And also a complete DJ Shadow live set in Nottingham. Get them here.

3. And some great music blogs that I'll be adding to the right-hand sidebar ASAP: Scissorkick, I'm Losing My Edge, and Teaching the Indie Kids to Dance Again.

And since I'd feel negligent if I didn't at least offer an mp3, here you go:

~~Team Shadetek, "Cold as Ice/Gantz_Graf"~~
M.O.P mixed with Autechre's completely insane "Gantz_Graf." And it works, sort of. From Team Shadetek's WSHT: Radio Mix CD on Violent Turd Records out of *cough* "New Zealand" *cough*. Yes. New Zealand. I'm not really feeling Shadetek's debut release on Warp (the Burnerism EP), but this mix is fantastic. Lots of hyperactive, nasty hip-hop, ragga and IDM mixed and mashed up in all kinds of inadvisable ways, and arguably conveying the Shadetek aesthetic better than their own original music. And there's another Autechre appearance for those of you who, like me, can't get enough of Rob 'n' Sean, with "Netlon Sentinel" pitted against Ghostface's "Stroke of Death."

Also, I've taken down the first two downloads (M.I.A and LFO vs. Dizzee Rascal) for bandwidth reasons. If you still want them, though, just email me or leave a comment and I can AIM them to you.

Links:
Buy WSHT: Radio Mix (from Tigerbeat6)
Change Agent, comprising Team Shadetek, amazing graf artist Swoon, and others. Nose around a bit, it's good stuff.

A couple of (slightly old but nonetheless very good) downloadable mixes

2004-07-02T00:23:00.000-04:00

First, from a few months back (I think), Mike Paradinas (aka μ-ziq)'s "Watermelon Thievery Mix"- 60 minutes of very nice jungle. He's also running a competition at the Planet Mu homepage- you can win an autographed Amμnition t-shirt if you send him the most accurate tracklisting. Good luck if you intend to try it...
"Watermelon Thievery Mix" BitTorrent link

And DJ /rupture's Gold Teeth Thief mix, which has been around for ages but is well worth linking for those who haven't heard it yet.
Gold Teeth Thief mp3 downloads and tracklisting
Also be sure to grab his song "High Resolution."

Links:
Planet Mu
Negrophonic and DJ /rupture
Buy Gold Teeth Thief from Tigerbeat6 (Only a few hundred copies made, but they're still available. Tigerbeat6 mail order is dirt cheap, too, so it's well worth digging around to see what you can find.)

A review will be posted before Sunday or I'll eat my hat.

"But wait! That is not The Space! Where is he being now?!"

2004-06-30T21:29:00.000-04:00

MK12 are a design/animation collective responsible for, among other things, Hot Hot Heat's "No, Not Now" video. But their original shorts are even better- especially the completely insane "Man of Action." Just...just watch it. Also "Ultra Love Ninja," which proves beyond all doubt that a ninja's heart is shiny.

Man of Action
Ultra Love Ninja

Links:
MK12 (more QT videos)

Also
First the Cinematic Orchestra recorded a soundtrack for Dziga Vertov's Man With a Movie Camera, and now it's come to this: the Pet Shop Boys have soundtracked Battleship Potemkin. Lileks is thrilled, I'm sure.

Stopgap post

2004-06-29T13:35:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post to say hello to anyone coming here from Fluxblog, and to apologize- not much here at the moment, I'm afraid, and updates will be slow for a while because of school. But, in the meantime, here are some mp3s:

~~LCD Soundsystem, "Tribulations"~~
Presumably an early leak from the forthcoming album by LCD Soundsystem, aka James Murphy of the DFA. Very different from the earlier stuff like "Losing My Edge" and "Beat Connection," with a more melodic synthpop sound.

~~Tes, "Trigga Tha Whistla (The Black Dice Remix)"~~
From Lex's latest promo sampler, Lexample Blue, and as far as I know not available elsewhere yet. Good stuff, and a bit less weird and more rhythmic than you might expect from Black Dice.

At least one review will be up by the end of the week, I swear.

M.I.A

2004-06-18T23:57:00.000-04:00

I first heard about M.I.A when it was announced on the Ninja Tune board that Diplo (of Hollertronix and Big Dada solo career semi-fame) would be remixing her upcoming single, "Sunshowers." So I dutifully checked it out, and was immediately struck by just how wonderfully bizarre her music is in a pop context, at least to American ears. M.I.A is a young British singer by way of Sri Lanka whose music mixes elements of dancehall ragga, bhangra, and Timbaland-style modern hip-hop production with her inimitable vocal style. This track, "Fire Fire," is presumably from her upcoming album (whose title I haven't been able to find), and is quite an interesting listen- with a (joking? half-serious?) violent ragga-esque lyrical hook ("Competition coming up now, load up, aim, fire fire, pop") along with shout-outs to Missy Elliot, Timbaland, the Beastie Boys and the Pixies. The lyrics have me wondering if they're intended as some kind of gender-bending subversion of violent, misogynist reggae stereotypes (similar to some of Tricky's early work with Martina Topley-Bird, specifically "Black Steel" and "Bad Dream"), or if I'm just overthinking what is in the end a damn good pop song. She's signed to XL Records, home of the Strokes, and with a good marketing push this could do really well in the UK. And with a bit of "OMG look female Dizzee Rascal!" hype in the US, we might actually get the album in a timely manner... Her debut single "Galang" is also worth hearing, partly because of the production (by one half of the Fat Truckers), but mostly because it's the most incredibly catchy thing to cross the Atlantic in ages.

~~M.I.A, "Fire Fire"~~

Links:
M.I.A (official website; has streamable mp3s* and a downloadable a capella mp3 of "Galang")

*...which can be recovered from your temporary internet files folder, if you're a poor Yank like me or possibly just really cheap, in which case shame on you. Also be sure to check out the Electronic Press Kit, which instead of the usual interview or whatever is a bizarre little video of M.I.A dancing like a spaz. Very odd, that.

And here's a completely unrelated mp3 that's been around a while but hasn't diminished in sheer badassery one bit: from the currently indisposed Boom Selection, a mash-up of Dizzee Rascal's "Fix Up, Look Sharp" with LFO's "Freak" by some fellow called Nicotinic. It turns out Dizzee's hiccuping flow meshes almost seamlessly with Mark Bell's brutal techno- who'd've thought it?

~~LFO vs. Dizzee Rascal, "Freak Up, Look Sharp"~~

Home Video - That You Might 10" (Warp)

2004-06-18T16:31:00.000-04:00

There's been a bit of message board controversy in the past few weeks over Warp's latest signing, New York-based band Home Video. And, sure, Home Video seem an odd fit for Warp- they use mostly traditional guitar/bass/drums/keyboard instrumentation, have opened for the likes of Radio 4, and write pop songs with hooks and (gasp!) vocals. This isn't an entirely unprecedented move on Warp's part- Broadcast have found a home at Warp, and they've distributed Stereolab and Tortoise in the UK. But detractors point to Home Video, fellow new signee Gravenhurst, and trendy dancepunk act !!!, whom Warp are heavily promoting, as evidence that Sheffield's finest have sold out for potential mainstream success. This is, frankly, rubbish. Even leaving aside the questionable equation of success with artistic bankruptcy- after all, LFO's self-titled debut single became a top twenty hit in the UK during the label's early days, and few scenesters are calling for Mark Bell's head on a pike- this is just another manifestation of the cliqueishness unfortunately typical of much of the electronic scene. But internet drama and indie snobbery aside, how's the actual music?

Eh. Not bad. Home Video have a gloomy sound slightly reminescent of Brotherhood-era New Order, with a driving rhythm section and guitar melodies embellished with minimal electronics. "That You Might," the single's lead track, has a tense, insistent groove that should go down nicely in a club setting. Thankfully, Home Video don't ape the trendy post-punk of PiL and Gang of Four as blatantly as their peers in Radio 4 and The Rapture, leaning more toward New Order and the synthpop of early Human League. Unfortunately, their singer is a bit of a stumbling block- he's got a serviceable voice, but it's a dead ringer for Thom Yorke's. Coupled with his oblique, vaguely political lyrics, this can make for awkward listening. The B-side, "Dialogue Box," is especially bland. While it's pleasant enough, the lyrics are ultimately meaningless, and the song lacks direction and dynamics over its four-minute duration.

So, while it's hardly a masterpiece or likely hit single, "That You Might" is a good start for Home Video and definitely worth a few spins, if only for the A-side. I'm reserving further judgment until the band drops a full-length, hopefully sometime this year. And until then, will you people cut it out with the guitar hate? Please. You know who you are.

6/10

Links:
Warp
Home Video (band site with downloadable mp3 clips)
Bleep
Buy this album (Warpmart)

Hello there

2004-06-18T15:41:00.000-04:00

Hi. Regular updates are almost here, but in the meantime a quick word on what I hope to achieve with this blog: first and foremost, my goal is to expose people who would be otherwise unaware to what I think is the most exciting and stimulating new music, though I'll occasionally review older albums. And since I have little experience writing about music, this is also a handy forum for me to exercise my critical and writing skills, so feedback is welcome.

On occasion I may post single mp3s- either from reviewed albums, or just to circulate a track I feel is worthy of wider exposure. Anything I post will be either freely available on the web or from a release I own- and if you enjoy it, go out and buy it. Support the artist, and all that stuff. I won't be posting mp3s from Warp, Skam, or a few other labels unless the circumstances warrant it (such as a promotional-only track, or something otherwise unavailable), since Warp's Bleep service is available for streaming previews and electronic distribution of single tracks (and I think they've done an excellent, DRM-free job and it deserves support). Likewise, I'll be extremely careful with RIAA-distributed music, as I'm only a student and don't want to be sued into oblivion. If you represent an artist, label or other rights-holder and want me to remove a track, e-mail me and it'll be taken down promptly.

And with that out of the way, please enjoy the reviews and commentary.

Which aren't ready yet. So, um, go away.

Testing

2004-06-12T00:05:00.000-04:00

Testing