Mothballed
This mp3 blog is no more. I've discovered the joys of Podcasting and the duplication was just too much. It's been fun though.
Here are all the songs I posted and what I said about them...
Neil Cleary - When All Of Us Get Famous
Good piece of pared down singer-songwriter stuff, but nice for the sentiment. If you've ever been with a bunch of creative folks all dreaming of some kind of breakthrough, be it fame or just being able to make a living from their art, this will ring kinda true. Plus he mentions James Kochalka and the Burlington scene, which is cool.
Big Black - Kerosine
I first heard of Big Black in an early issue of the comic Hellblazer where (and I don't have it to hand) one character describes them as "great if you're in a foul mood" or something. A little later (we're talking circa 1990) I came across two cassettes in a second hand shop, Atomizer and Songs About Fucking, which did that thing of changing my life ever so slightly. This track became a particular favourite, not so much for the lyrics but for that pounding beat, jangling guitars and relentless, building darkness. It's the kind of music that makes you want to shave your head, strip to the waist and jump around in a sweaty state. Pure and utter genius. "Set me on fire!"
Flowchart - Ode To Street Hassle
About a decade ago (which will surprise no-one who's been following this mp3blog) I was in the basement of Tempest Records in Birmingham, back when the basement was where the indie and metal lived, with Spiritualised on my mind. For some reason, while being aware of his work for years, Jason Pierce had passed me by and this needed to be rectified. But I didn't buy a Spiritualized album that day. I saw on the new releases rack a black album bearing an illuminati-style logo with the text "A Tribute to Spacemen 3", Pierce's former band. It featured a bunch of bands I'd never heard of along with Arab Strap and Mogwai. I bought it and it was great. However I was going about this ass-backwards so when I finally got around to checking out Spacemen 3 properly they sounded like covers, or I'd hear snippets of lyrics and realise that I'd heard the song before only completely differently. Not that that was a problem in the slightest. Anyway, this is a nice tune. Enjoy.
Pizzicato Five - The Girl From Ipanema
The problem with having thousands of mp3s is you lose songs in the mix. The great thing about having thousands of mp3s is you get pleasantly surprised when an old favourite comes up on random. I hadn't heard this for ages and it's still great, like pretty much everything Pizzicato Five do.
Peggy Lee - Is That All There Is?
Not much to say about this other than "Ooh, that's nice!"
Negativeland - Michael Jackson
I heard that Mylo track, Destroy Rock & Roll, a while back and thought offhandedly that I'd heard it before only different, then forgot about it. Then Mike listed it in his wonderfully obsessive singles of last year roundup and I tried to remember who did it originally. Turns out what I thought was the bloke from King Missile deliberately mispronouncing Cindy Looper and David Boowee was some religious nut-ball doing it for real and it wasn't King Missile, it was Negativeland, and they put out their mashup of the sample way back in 1987. Not that this detracts from Mylo in any way - I just thought you'd like the awareness.
Kristin Hersh - Your Ghost
Another one from Dave. Maybe I should relent and call this "Dave's mp3 blog filtered through Pete" or something. Anyway, when this popped through the Gmail music club jobby I was somewhat taken aback because I knew it. Not slightly, but really really well, like it was one of my favourite songs ever or something. Only I'd never owned it and didn't even know who it was by. The only explanation is it was getting a lot of radio play when I was listening to a lot of Evening Session and Mark Radcliffe in the early-mid 90s and for a song to have that kind of subconscious sticking power means it must be good. And it is. (Michael Stipe is the bloke-voice btw.)
Dubstar - St. Swithin's Day
The other great female-led band who emerged in and were submerged by the Brit-pop era is, of course, Dubstar. In my personal world anyway. I had great trouble picking a track off the album Disgraceful and while I plumped for this one it could have been any of them. It was the intro that did it. Dubstar always gave good intro. It was pointed out to me years ago by a female friend that alongside that happy dreamy music Sarah Blackwood was signing about being made seriously miserable by men, which I think is the secret. With notable exceptions I tend to tire of most music over time but this album has consistently worked for me for nearly a decade which often surprises me.
Catatonia - I Am The Mob
One of two great female-led bands who emerged in and were submerged by the Brit-pop era, I have a lot of time for Catatonia. As always, the first album was the best, but this track from International Velvet is, I think, their finest hour. Wacky, yet sneering, and it fucking rocks. Can you guess who the other band is? First person to email the right answer doesn't win anything.
The Other Half - Mr Pharmacist
On it's own a pretty standard piece of 60s Psychedelia but if you're familiar with The Fall's cover version from the mid 80s, as I am, then it's very odd. As often happens in these situations I'd assumed it was an original Mark E Smith composition so this, to my mind, is like The Fall being covered by the character LSD from The Producers.
Helloween - Future World
Not my usual cuppa and to be frank the kind of music I go great lengths to avoid, so when my tall pasty hippie friend Andy put this on a little before midnight last night I wasn't expecting much. And I was right, until 2:38 in. Those sound effects reveal the sinister truth about Helloween - behind the gatefold concept album (Keeper of the Seven Keys part 1), the hyper-permed hair and ernest posturing, they're seriously taking the piss. And that makes me smile.
The Magnetic Fields - The Book Of Love
One of the songs that got me through a stupid fortnight before Xmas, this. The Magnetic Fields are fairly well known these days, at least in the US, and the lyrics on this one show there's a solid foundation for that. It's great because it's all true. Musically it's like listening to the Tindersticks before Vic Reeves just ruined them for everyone, or a much less annoying Crash Test Dummies.
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - Leaning on a Lampost
Another one from Dave. Not much to say about this bunch other than they manage to combine that Russian cossack music with American barbershop quartet and very very British accents. Funny and accomplished.
Dresden Dolls - The Jeep Song
Me and some of the chaps are exchanging mix CDs this Xmas and it's proving a very cool idea bringing much new stuff my way. It was Dave Shelton's notion to do this and his was a cracker. This track jumped out at me because it seems to mash up loads of different styles, most notably riffing off "Leader of the Pack" but with a building piano thing going on and a nod to, well, I want to say the Breeders / Throwing Muses but it's not quite. There's definitely some missing link happening here though.
Leonard Cohen - Closing Time
A quite wonderful song by one of the greats, this. I'm not sure if it's one of Cohen's bigger hits but it should be. Musically it's divine, laid back yet up-tempo with that slightly Country twang that always takes me by surprise. But the genius is in the lyrics, perfectly evoking that Bacchanalian chaos that slowly develops in a drinking establishment until the culmination of closing time. Inhibitions are shed ("the women take their blouses off and the men they dance on the polka dots") and inevitable regrets and recriminations will follow. And yet it's all worth it because this is what it is to be alive.
Bright Eyes - Burn Rubber
I was wondering where I'd got this track from - turns out in was from Mr Hydragenic in a round about way, which makes him an accidental guest DJ. Take it away Hg: "I love the way that it starts off a teeny little bit like Mungo Jerry's 'In the Summertime' and then, half-way through, the drums, banjo (ukulele?) and almost subliminal electronica start to morph together into something approximating hillbilly drum 'n' bass."
Propellerheads - On Her Majesty's Secret Service
When I bought the Propellerheads album, Decksandrumsandrockandroll, I was living with a metalist of the cock-rock variety who had just bought some metal of the cock-rock variety. He put his album on very loud looking very pleased with himself. I put this track on very loud in the next room and he immediately conceded that my music kicked his musics ass big time. Interestingly this is the only decent track on the David Arnold James Bond project Shaken Not Stirred and it recently popped up in the trailers for The Incredibles.
The Futureheads - Hounds Of Love
This was creating something of a buzz a few months ago and I still like it, so on the off chance you've not heard it... It's really nothing more than an amusing cover, slightly cheeky, musically inventive and fun. Which is really all you want of an indie band covering an 80s pop classic.
The Mountain Goats - No Children
It's funny how some of the darkest, most depressing songs can musically be the most uplifting. This paean to the torture of divorce is quite beautiful even after you've listened hard to the lyrics. Enjoy this and go seek out more Mountain Goats. They rock.
Cornelius - Brazil
One of the many many great things about the film Brazil is the soundtrack. Here Cornelius very subtly remixes it giving it an eastern forest kinda feel, or something. Boy, I could just post Cornelius tracks non stop, you know?
Warren Zevon - Hit Somebody
Staying over at Tom's after a boozy night out he drunkenly introduced me to Warren Zevon. It must have penetrated my addled brain as I remembered to go seek him out. This is probably as good an intro as any, featuring David Letterman on backing vocals.
Clearlake - Winterlight
Don't know much about this one. Heard it a while back and it just popped back into my life pushing all the apt buttons and evoking all the relavent emotions.
The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
You need to ask?
The Bran Flakes - Give Yourself A Stereo Check Out
More cut-up stuff (via 3hive) this time slightly old school in that it's found-sound garage sale type thing. Very nice.
Colourbox - The Official Colourbox World Cup Theme
Cropped up on Gmail and sparked long-dormant memories from 1986-ish. Not sure how I rate this but it's certainly of it's time. From the same folk what did Pump Up The Volume and released on 4AD.
Cud - Hey!Wire
This was the first Cud single I bought, back it 1989 or thereabouts. It was a single sided red vinyl 7" and I bought it because I'd just read a rave review in Deadline magazine. Which I'm sure will really affect youur enjoyment of this nice little tune.
Cornelis Vreeswijk - Visa vid Nybroviken
Utterly random download I must have done months ago which cropped up recently on random play. I guess I was searching for Cornelius at the time and this slipped through the net. I posted this to the Gmail club and was informed that Cornelius Vreeswijk is from Sweden, is known as one of the greatest Swedish trobadours and is quite famous in Denmark too (thanks Helga!). Serendipity is cool.
Leonard Nimoy - Both Sides Now
What with Shatner getting all the press one tends to forget about Nimoy. His Bilbo Baggins tribute is absurd for sure, but I really really like this cover. Please tell me I'm not wrong
The Bad Plus - Velouria
My new Gmail toy is distracting me from this blog but it's thrown some cool stuff my way which I feel the need to share. Take this for example. In the world of Pixies cover versions there is nothing quite so odd as this. Best description I can think of is "car crash concert pianist jazz fusion" and even that sells it short. Cheers to Mooncat for the tuneage!
Eels - It's A Motherfucker
I'm absent mindedly playing through Eels songs and Sam asks from the sofa, "What's this called?" "Um, It's A Motherfucker" I reply. "It's very nice." And yes, I think to myself, it is rather.
Nouvelle Vague - Teenage Kicks
Guest DJ Steve Miller saves me from my stupor with a track from an album he's unexpectedly loving. From his music blog: "There's obviously a certain incongruity in hearing sugar coated versions of the likes of Teenage Kicks and A Forest, but it's not merely a case that they've taken these songs and plonked a latino rhythm onto them. It's been done with due reverence for the originals and, although I suspect its delights will be short lived, I can't stop the version of Too Drunk To Fuck from rattling around my (obviously quite empty) head."
Asobi Seksu - I'm Happy But You Don't Like Me
One of many great bands discovered through the 3hive blog, this lot popped up on shuffle when on the bus and caught my attention becoming my "new favourite band" for this month, so much so I even went so far as to pay good money for their album (it's on order...). While sung in Japanese, if this sounds slightly more familiar that most native Japanese music it's because they're based in New York. In fact the other three tracks of theirs I've heard sound quite different to this - something of a My Bloody Valentine influence in places - but I'm on something on a Japanese punk-pop tip at the moment so this one was a no-brainer. I really hope they tour the UK sometime soon.
Ben Folds Five - She Don't Use Jelly
This is, of course, a Flaming Lips song but I heard this version first as a b-side to the Brick single. I like Ben Folds, especially the Rocking The Suburbs album which is consistently brilliant all the way though, but I really like what he does with this, turning it into some kind of kitchy Latino samba thingy. Not quite the standard of the original but that's not an issue.
Leonard Cohen - Please Don't Pass Me By
Following on from yesterday's Jeffrey Lewis track about a Leonard Cohen song... This was the first Cohen song I heard that really clicked with me. It's a huge sprawling monologue that starts with him walking through New York seeing a tramp with a sign "Please Don't Pass Me By". He subsequently notices a school for handicapped children and continues in this optimistic vein. It's so depressing it's almost a parody of itself and yet at the end of this live performance the audience goes wild with joy. Mind blowing stuff. (My favourite Cohen song is actually Closing Time and maybe I'll post that in the future)
Jeffrey Lewis - The Chelsea Hotel Oral Sex Song
Jeffrey Lewis is touring the UK next month so this is timely. He's also a great cartoonist and obviously has many fans in the alt-comix scene but I first heard him doing a live set on John Peel a couple of years back and was immediately hooked. I picked this track because it shows off his self depreciating autio-bio style along with a great extrapolation into a universal truth. Or something. Stylistically I believe this is known as anti-folk singer-songwriter stuff. Wry smiles all round. (I was torn between posting this track or another one, so what the hell, have both)
King Missile - Detachable Penis
What can I say? American stoner college humour maybe, but also the closest you'll get musically to the mini-comix scene. Where this works, I think, is how it takes a stoopid concept and runs with it in a delirious scream of lunacy that cunningly disguises the clear headed point being made. Or maybe King Missile shouldn't be thought about too much, just enjoyed.
Pluto Monkey - Joe Meek
There's a nice story behind this one. I'd heard it on the radio in 2000 and, having a chum who's heavily into Joe Meek, made a note of it and ordered the CD. A few weeks later I'm at one of the few gigs I made it to in London at the Barfly (I think) in Camden and the support band are a couple of rather drunk guys who've lost the rest of their band and are "playing" inflatable toy instruments to a backing tape. During the (memorably shite) first support they'd been standing behind me pissing me off and while I liked the sound they "made" I wasn't particularly endeared to them. Then they kicked into this track and I realised why the name Pluto Monkey sounded familiar. Clickety click and I loved them. It later turned out that another friend, who was with me at the gig, went on tour with them in a slightly chaotic manner. I wonder what happened to them... Anyway, top song, reminiscent of Meek's work with a nice grinding beat and drone. Enjoy.
[I've been a bit slack with this blog of late - expect more frequent posting for the next few weeks...]
Alabama 3 - Mao Tse Tung Said
An interesting sub-set of interesting music is tracks that sample entire speeches or conversations and put them to music. This one, from the Alabama 3's Exile On Coldharbour Lane album not only works well but the ranting of the American Maoist is kinda chilling.
Man Or Astroman - Eisenhower And The Hippies
Man or Astroman have a soft spot in my musical heart, not just because they're a great example of modern surf guitar but because when I wanted to check them out I went into Tempest Records in Birmingham (back in the pre-net days and back when they had a great indie/rock basement) I was advised to wait until their Man or Astroman expert came back from his break. He recommended an album on purple vinyl which then got played to death. This is a nice little track (they don't go in for magnum opuses on the whole) which I hope you'll like.
Muse - New Born
So I'm at a gig with Andy enjoying Yourcodenameis:Milo and they remind me of someone. Andy reckons it's Muse and it suddenly occurs to me that I don't know what Muse sound like. I'd managed to ignore them, thinking them to be similar to Coldplay, Travis and the rest and therefore nice but not worth pursuing. Later I decide to check them out and bloody wow. A big mistake had been made and needed to be rectified. (Although Andy's kinda wrong about the YCNI:Milo similarity) [13/8: Changed my mind and changed the song.]
Slowed Chipmunks
Something odd today. This is a Chipmunks record (y'know, from the cartoon) slowed down so the voices of the chipmunks are three normal blokes enunciating very clearly while everything else is a slow drone. (via)
Throwing Muses - Not Too Soon
Guest DJ Jez sent in a tune: "Heard it on Radio Paradise a few of days ago and just couldn't shift out of my brain (until I listened to Pete Seegar's What did you learn in school today? anyway), so I bought the album just to listen to it. It's got just a fantastic guitar twang, and it's kind of weird to hear Kirsten Hersh singing something so "poppy" (qv University, or her solo work)."
Lou Reed - Sex With Your Parents
In the comments following my Fahrenheit 911 post I brought up the subject of American left-wing humour, in that very few of its practitioners, Bill Hicks aside, are actually that funny. This song, from 1998, sprang to mind as something "of the left" that is.
Quickspace - The Precious Mountain
Before I start, this is a biggie - 12 minutes long weighing in an 17mb. Quickspace I saw live during my late-90s gigging phase, possibly the same night I saw Novak (the first tune posted to this blog). This track is best described as soundtrack music for a 60's French new-wave spaghetti western. On bicycles. Tres Morricone in the way it slowly builds to a magnificent climax (with harmonica!) but also so, so Gaelic. A quite unique and wonderful piece that had me running to the table at the back of the pub demanding a copy.
Death In Vegas - Girls
When I saw the film Lost In Translation I was struck by the industrial beauty of the music. Could that really be a Jesus and Mary Chain track? Is that, perchance, My Bloody Valentine? Learning later that Kevin Shields of MBV was behind the soundtrack came as no surprise and it was lovely to see music that more conservative ears might classify as a tuneless dirge put into a perfect context. I went to the Lost in Translation OST album intending to post up one of Shields' compositions but instead found myself drawn towards Death in Vegas, a combo I have a lot of time for, specifically their Dead Elvis album of 1997. This track is more chilled than I'm used to from them and, whether through context or intent, seems to draw heavily on that indie guitar drone with angels singing vibe while remaining utterly modern. Enjoy.
Tortoise - Seneca
It was one of those times when I met someone who opened my eyes to a world of music I never knew existed, probably 1998 and probably Dave Woods at the New St Dillons. I mentioned I liked Mogwai and he said I should check out Tortoise, to whom, in his opinion, Mogwai owed a major debt. Okeydokey. In my opinion they probably do but there's quite a distinction. Anyway, this track has stuck with me all those years. After the crashing, extended opening it switches into a rhythmic pattern that, at first listen, seemed to me like it's jumping time signatures all over the place, but on closer inspection it's in strict 4:4. I'm still not sure what it is about Tortoise that works for me, which is probably the point.
Flaming Lips - Do You Realize (The Postal Service Remix)
In it's original form, from the "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots" album, this is one of my favourite Flaming Lips songs. What I like most about the Lips is how they seem to play on the edge of corny badness but never, ever fall over it. This track opens with the line "Do you realise that you have the most beautiful face", which just shouldn't work, and then develops into a "we should all just tell each other how much we care" type of affirmation. And yet it's one of the most beautiful songs every put down. But I'm not posting that version, I'm posting this remix because it's interesting and Lips fans might not have heard it.
ColdCuT - Off To Wrk
Silly, silly, silly, but oh so good. If you're not familiar with ColdCuT I'm not going to even try to to describe their kids-in-a-sweetshop approach to hip-hop, but I think you'll like it, whoever you are.
Ballboy - Essential Wear For Future Trips To Space
Ballboy have been around for about four years though I've only gotten attached to them recently. Along with "I Hate Scotland", this is a favourite of mine. Not much to say about it other than it's lovely, full of whimsy with a subtle undercurrent of loss. They crop up on the small gigs circuit from time to time and when they come my way I'll be there in a minute.
4 Hero - Les Fleurs
I heard this on a late-night radio show and immediately sought out a copy. I know nothing about 4 Hero though I think this is a remix of a 70s song (sounds like it came from a musical like Hair?) with the novelty of layering instrumentals on top of it rather than electronic bleeps. Whatever, it's lovely, and if anyone can illuminate me further (in the comments - hint, hint!) I'd be a happy bunny.
Money Mark - Maybe I'm Dead
The original for you to compare with the Cornelius remix posted last week. I hadn't heard this for a long while (I have it on vinyl in storage) and it's certainly quite different to how I remember now the remix is lodged in my brain. Good job I'm getting my vinyl back soon.
Eighties Matchbox B-line Disaster - Psychosis Safari
Something a little more modern for you. I've only just come across EMBD and know nothing about them, but I like what I hear. Most of their tracks are pretty different but this one raised a smile because it's what Goth should sound like. Keeping that soaring boominess but with a psychobilly beat and a Big Bopper-style middle break, building, via the obligatory rawk geetar solo, to a frenzied climax. Tongue in cheek yet deadly serious. Me like.
Frank Black - Headache
When The Pixies split all those years ago singer/songwriter Black Francis changed his name to Frank Black and started to sing nice tunes rather than shout and wail to Albini-produced dissonance. His first few albums were greeted with puzzlement by the critics but I liked them. This track in particular, from the 1994 album Teenager of the Year, shows Frank moving away from the Whores-In-My-Head Pixies days towards something more unexpected - how thinking about quantum physics (the "wrinkle in time" theory that was around at the time) is giving him a headache. Everyone with a brain has had the WTF??? moment when reality is explained to them in quantum terms and Frank wrote a nice, boppy little song about it.
Money Mark - Maybe I'm Dead (Cornelius remix)
Money Mark used to be the Beastie Boys' carpenter / keyboardist and put out a couple of albums in the late 90s on the MoWax lable. They're quite keen and should be sought out, ranging from lovely melodies to some very strange sample-driven blip-fests. Maybe I'm Dead was his attempt to trouble the charts and it's a sweet little song as the title doesn't suggest at all. Cornelius is a mentalist Japanese avant-pop dude, similar in some respects to Pizzicato Five, whose album Fantasma is not only utterly unique but eminently listenable and I'll be posting something off it soon. If you know both their styles this mix is a lot of fun as they shine equally. If you don't then it's a great track for walking through town on a summers day.
Novak - Silver Seas
I saw Novak play upstairs in a pub in Moseley in 1999 just before they split up and was struck by the range of invention, not just with electronic sounds but also a flute, toy instruments and so on. Their sound is both naively cute and subtly threatening and this track shows them off well.
MT3.15