Friday Flashcard: I Got Something Better For You

Artist - Runhild Gammelsaeter
Title - Amplicon (limited to 750 copies)
Hometown - Norway
Label - Utech
Street Date - Out now

RIYL - The dark part of your brain that has yet to be explored, The Exorcist, A kitten with a whip, Khlyst, James Plotkin, Thor's Hammer, Sunno))), things that go bump in the night, possessed children, Ulver (mixed by Tore Ylvisaker of Ulver), Diamanda Galas, cell studies

The Hits - None in the traditional sense

Richter Magnitude - Strong (I understand this won't be for everyone no less the traditional metal fan)


Just by placing the title of this record under the microscope you will learn that Amplicon is a piece of DNA that has been synthesized using amplification techniques (amplification = an increase in the number of copies of a specific DNA fragment IE cloning / in vitro). In case you were wondering females have only a single amplicon and as a reminder DNA is the genetic building block to all living organisms. I am not sure if there has ever been a recording to coincide with Molecular biology and the evolution of life but Runhild's Amplicon might be a good place to start. I think we have a new genre of music on our hands : moli-core. Genet-al? (there is a good dirty pun in there somewhere too)


The music found here is a battle between the light and dark, good and evil, right and wrong, woman and child, life and death. We find two separate elements being synthesized into one which ties directly into the theme of Amplicon. There are stories here told in a multitude of voices, some spoken at varying speeds (slowed down or reversed -v- normal), some spat with a growl buried deep within her throat (ala Thor's Hammer), and some sung as if a child's voice was a stone skipping playfully across the surface of a body of water. Terror teeters towards a playful side, something I have never heard before, ever. The cycle of life is complex, filled with mystery, and is a delicate balance of beauty and decay. Runhild has taken these elements and applied / channeled it through her voice and atmospheric rumbles.


I think most of my blog followers know Runhild is one of my best friends so this is a difficult review for me. It is a challenge to write about this record and pretend I know nothing of her, her recording process, or her influences. I tried to approach this in the spirit of the professional side of Runhild, a scientist of cell physiology, and just write a report strictly on what I have before me. Amplicon is a group of songs with titles reflecting a passion for science and the interest in amplifying the invisible and the abstract. The only catch with a record like this is I am not sure when and where to listen to it. It is clearly a truly personal piece of work and listening to it is parallel to opening up Runhild's head and taking a poke around. Its fair to say that experience won't be for everyone but I find it to be an immensely fascinating experiment and a hauntingly pleasurable one.

Drekkingarhylur

Runhild Gammelsæter
+
Tracy Wilson
=
Drekkingarhylur

We will be working on a collaborative record under the band name Drekkingarhylur in the upcoming months. All the music will be written, recorded and performed by the two us accompanied by our own vocals and lyrics too.



We aren't sure why we didn't do this sooner but the time is now.

King Khan and the Shrines / The Supreme Genius Of

Artist - King Khan and the Shrines

Title - The Supreme Genius Of

Hometown - The erogenous zone

Label - Vice

Street Date - Out Now

RILY - the sound of James Brown having an orgasm

The Hits - It will hit you in all the right spots, I am talking the naughty bits

Richter Magnitude Rating Scale - Major

Not to bitch slap The Make Up but I will and where Ian Svenonius failed to recreated the birth of soul with his Gospel Funk implosion, King Khan conquers. Here we have 16 tracks of Khan, a ruckus of rhythmic greatest hits from his overseas discography. Wear a crash helmet for protection because that is how hard this mother fucker brings it.

Is it hot in here? You won't be able to answer me until you have this record playing in your stereo and feel the need to strip down and get dirty. Have two left feet? That is okay, this record offers plenty of bump and grind for you. If you have a partner to share this record with, even better. You can thank me later.

Me. At Comic Con

This past Thursday I flew in to San Diego for the annual cattle auction known as Comic-Con. This was my second Comic-Con and I am just astounded by the crush of humanity and the lengths said humanity will go to in order to get a free Star Wars Mask. It is really just too many people. You walk into the convention center to set up your booth at 8am and the AC is set to 40 degrees and you wonder what the hell is going on. By noon with 150,000 people packed into the space you understand why they chill it in the morning. If you venture into the aisles you cannot move. You end up shuffling rather than walking as taking a stride is impossible. I became very Zen about the whole things and went with the motto 'be like water, let the openings take you where they will'. If you hate crowds avoid comic con at all costs.

I was working my companies booth this year so I didn't get to go to any of the panels I wanted to (Watchmen, Battlestar Galactica (moderated by Kevin Smith) but I did get to our own panel (Mystery Science Theater 3000 Reunion moderated by Patton Oswald!). Last year was very exciting due to all the major geek properties they were showing off (Dark Knight, Ironman, Star Trek, Indiana Jones). This year was just a major let down. Other than Watchmen nothing was in the air that seemed cool. A Wolverine movie? Eh. Star Wars Cartoon? Meh. If you miss the panels all comic-con becomes is a shopping mall with tons of free swag. At our booth, if it wasn't nailed down, people would take it.

The real allure of Comic-con is the sheer mass of geekdom. I defy anyone to name a comic or movie character that I did not see someone dress up as. It is amazing. There are the straight forward ones you would expect like Storm Troopers (about 800), Indiana Jones (at least 2 dozen) and any generally super-hero. Also a ton Heath Ledger inspired Jokers this year, all with various degrees of home made make up and clothing. Then there is the less obvious costumes, including a giant tentacle (?), scantily clad s&m ladies (nice with so many little kids around) and waaaay to may Furries. What's a furry? Check it out : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furry_fandom

I am a geek and proud of it, but I still cant help but be amazed by the amount of people who are the exact stereotype of 'geeks' or 'nerds' at Comic-Con. It is uncanny. Like 50,000 Toby Radloffs. This was one of my favorite conversations with a genuine nerd:

PUPPET GUY (I call him this cause he was holding a puppet on his hand. He spoke in a very nasally voice): Um, excuse me, when is Dan Milano going to be here (Dan Milano is the creator of Greg The Bunny).
ME: He will be here at 11 to sign. Greg the Bunny will also be here, but he won't be signing.
PUPPET GUY: What?
ME: Greg will be here, but he won't be signing.
PUPPET GUY: I don't understand.
ME: He is a puppet so he can't sign anything.
He looks at me with a look of ABSOLUTE confusion.
PUPPET GUY: Um, well, ok. I will be back at 11 for their autographs.

Keep in mind that during this entire conversation he flapped the puppets lips like he was talking, but made no attempt at ventriloquism. Fantastic.

I really spent all my time in our booth. We had 5 signings and that is just nuts. Hundreds of people, who you have to line up and then other booths complain because you are blocking them. At one point we had a Mystery Science Theater signing, across the way the Cartoon Network had a Powerpuff Girls signing, next to us there was a Star Trek signing and a couple rows down Keifer Sutherland was signing. All this was on Friday @ 1, the busiest time of the con. I cannot explain the sheer mass of people. It was worse than any concert. Insanity.

I did manage to get away from the crush for one night and venture to M-Theory Records and enjoy a California burrito (carne asada, french fries, guacamole) that cost about 1/5 of a pretzel inside the convention center.

Isis Update

Taken from their Myspace blog:



ISIS news and Side Projects

ISIS and ISIS side project newsWe've been working hard on the new record. All five of us sweating away in a small windowless room in downtown Los Angeles. We're making good progress and will have more (and more exciting) news about that to report soon! There's new ISIS merch up in the WEBSTORE. We're excited to be heading to Chicago this weekend for a few shows! It should be a killer time!

In ISIS related news we have a few side project things to report:Aaron Harris along with our good friend and Cave In/OMG bass player Caleb Scofield have a record up for pre order from Hydrahead Records. The band is called Zozobra. Aaron along with playing drums on the record also recorded and mixed it. You can find the pre order HERE and to hear samples of the record you can go HERE

Aaron Turner has a new project he's been working on with James Plotkin and Tim Wyskida. The album is done and has no name as of yet. When we find out more we'll let you know! We do know that it should be released early 2009. House of Low Culture has some shows lined up for the Northwest in the fall. More on them to come as well.

Well that seems to be it. Thanks for listening. You can always find out what Mike is up to when he's not making eerie guitar sounds by going HERE and what Cliff is up to when he's not on tour HERE

eMusic eNhancements

"eMusic is now planning a serious overhaul, one that includes the introduction of several 2.0-style components. In discussions this week, the independent retailer revealed a number of upcoming enhancements, including more interactive reviews, informational widgets, and smarter navigation. "We asked what a retailer online would look like in 2010 or 2011," company chief executive David Pakman told Digital Music News. "The answer is a lot different than today.""

Read the full story here: http://digitalmusicnews.com/stories/071608emusic/

This is my new favorite.

The Might Boosh. Why can't American TV be this fucking bonkers?


Quite a few of the videos are disabled on youtube that I had originally posted, sorry about that! Here are a few links to the BBC clips.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0AckvdGbk4w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzTGNIiidbI









You can also watch whole episodes broken down into three parts if you go to YouTube and enter in The Maightee Bewsh. As fas as I can tell there doesn't seem to be DVDs made for those of us without the non UK formate.

I really don't think it gets

any more gay than this... only the boys in these pictures are more gay than any gay man I actually know. So emo means a straight razor haircut, piercings in our near the mouth, guy liner, and wearing ties? Oh, and playing or listening to really shitty "emotional" music. I don't imagine anyone will really need to press play to watch this but more power to you if you do, no less can sit through more than 10 seconds of it. I can't believe this even exists but somewhere a 14 year old girl is hugging a pink furry pillow and pressing play again.

Think of the most stunning genius crazy cool thing ever and then picture the exact opposite. Its like a Hot Topic male model exploded all over your computer screen. Eeeeewwwwww.

And just to defend how I found this in the first place, I was looking up an old girl group song called "Lookin' for Boys" on YouTube and this video came up instead.



Then one bad video led to another....

Reinventing the Reel

I am not sure if the mixtape ever went away for most of us music obsessed types but it's nice to see the press reminding the world of something near and dear to our hearts.

Thanks Mr. Baconfat for the links.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/me-and-my-mixtape-866787.html


http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/in-the-mix-the-rebirth-of-the-mixtape-866759.html

Friday Flashcard: Name That Metal Band

I wonder if this Italian Metal band understands that in English their name translates to sound something like Barbara Walters' speak for keep practicing boys.

To see the name of this "Thrash" metal band check the comments section.

"My Life is Indebted to Songs"

Here are a few keen videos my friend in Canada hipped me to.

I Am a Disco Dancer and I don't look nearly as good wearing a headband.



MIA covers the song below. "Jimmy"



Thriller!



And last but not least - super hot heroes.

Success!

Thank you Montreal (and my lovely hosts for babysitting me). My 5 day vacation of record shopping was a success and I had a total blast.

My favorite two stores for used vinyl were hands down Primitive and Beatnick but Nice Music tops the list too.

Actually every store I stopped in had really helpful great people working at them too. All those tales you hear about record store people being nasty aren't true. I find when you show a genuine interest in learning about music from a store that carries used records...especially if it music from the region the store is located in, the people who work at the store are the best teachers in town.

Here is a list of record stores in Montreal.
http://www.laventure.net/tourist/montreal.htm

Also remember the story about the Canadian guy who found a ridiculously rare Velvet Underground acetate? He has a record store that is kinda a dream come true. You have to climb crazy steep black metal stairs (oooooh black metal) to reach it so it is a bit like shopping in a tree house - even though it is really just the back room of an apartment AND they sell baked goods. Yessss.

I will post about some of the records I scored in greater detail later on. I am pretty burnt out from my first day back at work and too tired too write more today. I will say that I have a good hour of new music to DJ at my next night so consider yourself warned. My next DJ night will be the best one yet!!!!

Also thank you Mr. Sunshine for the bits from Chicago. Its the next best thing to actually being at the fest myself.

























I also took took a few hours to shop for records in Burlington, VT but I have to say I was really disappointed. Not many used records to be found there although Pure Pop is a fine indie store in a traditional college town kinda way.

The Futureheads / This is Not the World

Artist - The Futureheads

Title - This is not the World

Hometown - UK

Label - NUL Records

Street Date - Now

RIYL - Not the old Futureheads, depressed Devo, songs under 4 minutes, Dear You on steroids, Superchunk
The Hits - Radio Heart, This is Not the World, Broke Up the Time

Richter Magnitude Rating Scale - Moderate

This is Not the World is not for me. It is also my least favorite Futureheads record to date. All the complicated layers of harmonies and hooks have been compressed together into a tidy, less frantic ball of wax. This ball has then been shaped into a wax figure of the band; a not quite real life version of the group that floored the world with their self titled debut release in 2004. Rather than highlighting the fact that all the members can carry a tune, this time the harmonies are buried and pushed forward is one prominent, adult voice. The Futureheads have grown up and become a whole lot less interesting. Had I not known this was in fact The Futureheads I might be asking who is this less dazzling imitation band. It isn't that I want the old band back. I just want the attention to detail, the hurricane attack, and vocal melodies that kept me guessing what would come next. This is Not the World not only fails to surprise, it falls flat.

The Futureheads have the distinction of being the only band pin I have on my handbag and if it weren't for the fact that I truly like all their other records, I almost considered retiring it to the jewelry box after this one.

Pitchfork Music Festibal - Day Two - Stage B

Note: Lightning's Girl is on vacation so until she can come back and tell you about her trip, I'm filling in with my visit to the Pitchfork Music Festival - Derek Sunshine

Its all about Stage B.

Union Park is split by a city street with the large stages (A & C) standing amidst 4 softball fields. Across the "street" (where the food vendors are set up) is Stage B. Stage B gets the lesser known acts, but it's also a nice relaxed place to listen to music. That side of the park is largely tree covered and has its own beverage stands. So for a good portion of the day, Stage B was the place.

I got there early, but didn't really catch anything good until Jay Reatard short but explosive set. Caribou put in a good set. The Fleet Foxes didn't sound so compelling for a live set, so we went to Stage B.

On B, the Icy Demons were wrapping up a very good dance oriented set. After them came the Fuck Buttons. They put on a solid set of groove-oriented noise (or noise-oriented groove?) that became perfect for drinking beer amidst the trees in a park. We hung out for the Ruby Suns and a good portion for Elf Power's set. I was tempted to stay for the rest of their set, but we went to see !!! instead. We were rewarded for our journey - they put on a great dance-oriented set.

We then returned to B for Extra Golden who were grooving solidly. Atlas Sound put on a great set as well. It was just Cox (no backing band), but he sounded great. Again, it was more drifting, floating music - good for drinking beer in a park. We stayed around Stage B for most of No Age's set then caught the last half hour of Animal Collective. AC was good (they had a great light show), but I heard from folks who stayed that No Age was pretty amazing.

So, while I've enjoyed the big sets that I've caught on the main stages, I've made more discoveries at Stage B.

Weather Report

It rained a lot yesterday morning, so there are some areas of the field that are mud. A small band of concertgoers who mistakenly thought they were at Bonnaroo decided to cover themselves in the mud. However, urban mud is a whole different deal from country mud. It's a dull grey color and I'm sure it has its share of nastiness. The sun did come out later in the afternoon, so the day overall has been really nice.

Pitchfork Music Festival - Day One

Note: Lightning's Girl is on vacation so until she can come back and tell you about her trip, I'm filling in with my visit to the Pitchfork Music Festival - Derek Sunshine

A couple of months ago some DJs at the station asked if I wanted to go to the Pitchfork Music Festival. I hadn't really thought about going - I'm generally not a festival kind of guy. But I thought about it and now here I am in Chicago at the festival.

The venue

Union Park is a real city park. The main concerts are on three softball fields (the porta-johns are lined up against the backstops of two of them). The market appears to be set up on the basketball courts and the beverage tents are amidst the tree covered areas near the road. Except for the massive video screens near the stages, this could be an ethnic food festival or a large church fair.

Oh, and beverage prices are beyond reasonable - they may in fact be lower than the surrounding bars. A 16oz cup of micro-brew beer is $4 and bottled water is $2! Sparks is the most expensive offering at $6 a cup, but I suspect that the combination of caffeine, alcohol and heat makes for some ugly dehydration (and a killer hangover the next morning if you overindulge).

Mission Of Burma

Friday night is the "Don't Look Back" concerts: three acts playing entire albums of material from the the 80s. Mission of Burma kicked off the night with Vs.

To fill out the slot, they started with some early singles, including "Forget" (one of my favorite MoB songs), then tore through Vs. Hearing it live, two things struck me -

1. The music on Vs. is meant to be heard live. The record is dry, minimal and aggressive on record, a combination that works so much better live.

2. It's music that ages very well. It's so angry and so intelligent that it somehow seems more appropriate to be played by older musicians. It becomes a post-punk, Blakean epic about the fall from grace and the doubt of any clear path to redemption.

If the goal of the "Don't Look Back" night was to provide a once in a lifetime musical opportunity, Mission of Burma succeeded.

Sebadoh - Bubble and Scrape

Out of Sebadoh's prolific output, I never got Bubble and Scrape so this set was more of an education. Actually, for the start of it, we went back to the beverage tents as did much of the audience. Sebadoh suffered for being in between the better known albums, but they did put on a great set. The main drawback to their set was that sticking to the album continuity involved switching instruments a lot more than you'd normally do in a live show.

It takes a million nation.

The popular draw the the night was definitely PE. The Friday only tickets are pretty inexpensive, so the part filled up for Public Enemy; in fact, a lot of folks began staking out spots in front of PE's stage during the Sebadoh set.

It's an amazing album (though Flav can't seem to remember the name any more) and PE had the crowd rocking. They also went way over their time, playing all of It Takes a Nation Of Millions then going into what seems to be a regular PE concert. At that point, my gange of concert goers was too hungry, sweaty and tired so we grabbed the number 9 bus in search of pizza.

Overall, Friday night was worth the trip. I'm hoping today measures up. It's rainy this morning and it looks like scattered rain this afternoon.

Trees / Lights Bane

Artist - Trees

Title - Lights Bane

Hometown - Portland, OR

Label - Crucial Blast

Street Date - Out Now

RIYL - Feedback for miles, Sunno))) + Malefic, being buried alive,

The Hits - There are only 2 songs on the record and they are both equally good

Richter Magnitude Rating Scale - Moderate to strong

Heavy - check

Feedback - check

Drone- check

Long drawn out feedback - check

Jazz like drum fills pecking at wall of noise occasionally - check

Screaming much like what I imagine an insane asylum on fire might produce - check

Terror inducing - check

If you don't mind your metal crawling along slowly like a dying beast encased in a swarm of bees than you will probably like this record as much as I do. If your thing is Beck or Liz Phair I would say back away from this one slowly and then run for your life.

Back In the Day

With the recent reissue of Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville (yawn) I was reminded of a great call and response between the Hitsville writer Bill Wyman and none of than Mr. Steve Albinini.

The nasty tit for tat took place back in 1994 and the subject at hand is the battle over whether or not Liz Phair, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Urge Overkill are "unique in rock music because they are brazenly trying to sell records".

Classic stuff.

The Last of the Shadow Puppets / The Age of the Understatement

Artist - The Last of the Shadow Puppets
Title - The Age of the Understatement
Hometown - UK
Label - Domino
Street Date - Out now

RIYL - A British Western where the cowboys wear ascots rather than bandannas and pack martini's rather than pistols.

The Hits - My Mistakes Were Made For You, I Don't Like You Anymore

Richter Magnitude Rating Scale - Moderate


Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner and the Rascals' Miles Kane + Simian Mobile Disco’s James Ford on production and drums + Owen Pallett of Final Fantasy fame arranging strings + the 22-piece London Metropolitan Orchestra = The Age of the Understatement

It is insulting when every lazy music journalist follows the bouncing ball of a band’s press kit. The false hype swears that The Last of the Shadow Puppets is a terrific take on Lee Hazlewood and Scott Walker. I am here to tell you that this comparison is an insult to both of these iconic songwriters / voices. I suspect that most of the writer's using that limp parallel don't actually own records by either artists but probably have the Arctic Monkey's record leading off their lame home collection of CDs. Just because a band says they listen to Bowie or Bond records doesn’t make them the next coming of anything. Let’s focus on the music on The Age of the Understatement and how this won’t last the test of time like the artists they are trying to align themselves with.

The Reality:

#1 – Lee and Scott are LEGENDS. You can’t beat their clever lyrical content no less their voices that are so unique to themselves that you could recognize either in the time it takes to blink. The Last of the Shadow Puppets don’t come up to the knees of that kind of talent.

#2 – An orchestra doesn’t make your songs better or more poignant. It just makes your weak kitchy songs sound bigger - not majestic or cinematic as some will try to convince you of.

#3 If there wasn’t a Arctic Monkey’s connection I am rather certain reviews would not be as kind nor would the press take this record under their wing at all.

#4 Pitchfork says : “vivid 1960s symphonic-pop pastiche” NME says:” tongue-in-cheek pastiche of late-’60s orchestral lounge pop zips” Hmmm…a nice example of how all the reviews must have been written by people on a conference call with each other to agree on how this record should be approached. Come on people, your readers deserve a more personalized review of the music.

#5 There isn’t anything less interesting that a singer who approaches a vocal melody as if it was a tennis game. There is a core note which is then slid up or down into a new note and back we go again to the core note. It is a yo-yo trick worthy of a yawn.

#6 A photo of an artist looking like the artist he or she is trying to emulate does not make them as good as the artist either. (See Scott Walker like centerfold in The Age of booklet)


What we have here is a band playing dress up in a style that is borrowed heavily rather than owned. The opening track starts of with a gallop and off we go barebacked across the dusty plains yelling Rawhide to the wind with an orchestra as our posse. Somewhere along this journey we get lost among the cacti and Indians only to die of boredom in a ghost town.

In 1984 Terry Hall of The Specials and Fun Boy Three formed a band with two members of the Swinging Cats and took a stab at pseudo-Spanish 60’s influenced pop songs highlighted by a bit of orchestration. The Colorfield, even though their sound was wrapped in retro, managed to write songs that stood out on their own. The lyrics strayed the listener away from tagging them as just another fun 80’s UK rock-lite band and took them down a pessimistic path; middle finger extended to their contagious, more hooks than a tackle box, acoustic guitar backbone.

Paul Weller of the Jam tried to take his post Jam band Style Council in a semi-similar direction but belly flopped with all its bloated over indulgent R&B / Jazz flavor . The Colourfield's best record Virgins and Philistines which was released on Chrysalis in 1985 is a lost classic and is your best bet if you are seeking a record to take you in a time machine to the a timeless era where drinks were shaken, not stirred.

Did You Know - Music History 101 - The Psychophone

http://www.bombsite.com/issues/91/articles/2717

"The psychophone, an invention pursued by Thomas Edison in the late nineteenth century to convey communication from the dead to the living, is now studied mainly in paranormal and occultist societies. Its main principles however, were in line with most mainstream motivations behind early audio recording technology, whose initial goal was to preserve the voice of the speaker after death."

http://www.ourultimatereality.com/instrumental-transcommunication-or-itc.html

Edison himself wrote “If our personality survives then it is strictly logical or scientific to assume that it retains memory, intellect and other facilities and knowledge we acquire on Earth. Therefore, if we can evolve an instrument so delicate as to be affected by our personality as it survived in the next life, such an instrument, when made available, should record something”. – Thomas Alva Edison

http://www.supernatural.tv/reviews/legends/s3/long.htm

"Unfortunately, Edison died before he could complete his final invention and contact was never made. Edison’s final dying words were, “it is very beautiful over there.” "

Even more info here: http://www.sdparanormal.com/page/page/265918.htm

The Parade / Sunshine Girl: The Complete Recordings

Artist - The Parade
Title - Sunshine Girl: The Complete Recordings
Hometown - The golden state
Label - Cherry Red / Now Sounds
Street Date - Out now
RIYL - Sunshine Pop, The Beach Boys, The Monkees, The Roger Nichols Trio, Small Circle of Friends, Phil Spector, The Rockford Files, Planet of the Apes. The Left Banke, Bubble Gum Beatles
The Hits - Sunshine Girl, Kinda Wasted Without You, Hallelujah Rocket, She's got the Magic, Love is the People's Choice,
Richter Magnitude Rating Scale - Moderate

The planets need to be aligned just so for an early in the AM walk to be considered nearly perfect. In this case it is a sunny cool Sunday summer morning in the Fan, the part of Richmond I live in. College kids are gone for the summer, much of the rest of the neighborhood is in church, and what's left behind is an incredibly peaceful time to take a stroll. The few who are out and about in their gardens, reading papers on the porch, and taking a morning jog are friendly bunch. I can't begin to count the number of GOOD MORNING EXCLAMATION POINT, HELLO EXCLAMATION POINT, or toothy grins I get. It is a Leave it to Beaver kind of way to start the day and I can't picture a more appropriate way to end the morning than to come home and play The Parade. They were a trio of songwriters from California who during the mid to late 60's helped to define the Sunshine Pop genre.

Murray Macleod, Jerry Riopelle, and Smokey Roberds were not a band and they didn't perform live. They were strictly interested in writing and recording feel good hits for A&M Records. Murray was a member of both the Roger Nichols Trio and Small Circle of Friends and went on to act in several popular TV shows of the day like Gidget and the Munsters (he had a three year contract with Universal). Jerry was a staff producer for Phil Spector as well as a session keyboard player, and Smokey was another actor (Planet of the Apes/The Proud and the Damned) who was also a disc jockey, running a publishing company, and was a songwriting on top of everything else.

Smokey and Murray brought in a song to Phil Spector's studio where Jerry was working at the time and the three of them clicked. "Sunshine Girl" was recorded in 1967 and this demo earned the trio a record deal for A&M. This instant hit peaked at #20 on the Billboard charts but their 4 other singles never charted which in turn caused The Parades' first and only full length record to be "shelfed indefinitely".

Sunshine Girl: The Complete Recordings compiles the group's entire recording career, including the lost full length recording. While the collection has plenty of duds, any fan of the genre of Sunshine Pop probably knows this group already for their singles and will embrace the opportunity to have all of the collectible recordings with great liner notes and pictures in one place.

Friday Flashcard - Name that Metal Band

It's the thing you pull out of your bathtub drain after you shave off your pubic hair or it is a logo to a "black metal" band from Portland, OR; a band who says "We do not need a gimmick, especially Satanism, to sell a product."

You check out their MySpace page and tell me this couldn't have been on Ebullition back in the day. (The name of the band and the link their MySpace in in the comments section)

Top 100

I am emailed top 100 charts from indie music retailers around the country every week. (It's a work thing) and while I know most of the names on the chart it is fair to say that I have only actually listened to a mere 25% of the artists among these lists. I don't follow very much top 40 / mainstream rap / or country but there is so much music being released each week that it is nearly impossible to check out everything, no less the records I might be the least bit curious to hear.

Recently my company gave me a year subscription to both Napster as well as Rhapsody and I now have the opportunity to listen to all these records I would never actually bother to buy but am happy to finally give them a listen. The hope here was that I would find at least a few gems among the hot, happening and chart topping popular.

Here are the records I have recently listened to:


Coldplay - Viva la Vida

My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges

Fleet Foxes - S/T

Al Green - Lay it Down

Aimee Mann - Smilers

Motley Crue - Saints of Los Angeles

N.E.R.D. - Seeing Sounds

Alkaline Trio - Agony & Irony

Black Keys - Attack and Release

Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer

Raconteurs - Consolor of the Lonely

Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean

Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple

Jamie Lidell - Jim

R.E.M. - Accelerate

Sigur Ros - Med Sud I Eyrum

Earlimart - Hymn and Her

Foals - Antidotes

Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs

And here are the number of records I will ever listen to again / was able to sit through in one sitting / would be willing to purchase:

One - Sigur Ros...for the opening two tracks alone; Gobbledigook / Inni mer syngur vitleysingur.

Maybe I am having a bad month or my ears are being particularly picky. I won't say I hated everything because that isn't the case but if honesty is the game here, I wouldn't go back to one of these records on my own. I truly don't appreciate My Morning Jacket at all. I can't understand their popularity and they push all the wrong buttons for me. If I was on a first date with the record I would have excused myself for a trip to the bathroom and booked out the kitchen for good instead.


The records I thought were better than the rest : Wolf Parade, R.E.M., Black Keys

Ratatat / LP3

Artist - Ratatat

Title - LP3

Hometown - NYC

Label - XL

Street Date - Out now

RILY - Music that sounds like a joke you weren't let in on, a place where ironically titled albums go to die.

The Hits - They swing and miss

Richter Magnitude Rating Scale- Moderate

Picturing the environment that best suits a record is a game I like to play often. LP3 strikes me as the kind of record people who really don't care about music might find clever and fun. The kind of people who buy music as if it was a pack of gum that they will chew through and then spit out in a few hours.

Here are the places I best imagine Ratatat's latest effort feeling right at home in... music I consider to be painful elevator metal.

*Whole Foods - subculture anthems to fill your basket with bulk green friendly products to.

*Coffee Shops - the bar of choice for the 20s to late 30s when the sun is still up

*Gaming - Don't like the music to your newest video game purchase? Slay dragons and pick up pixies with LP3

* Hair salons who ever thought or still think the faux-hawk isn't as lame as it actually is or that swear a mullet is cool if it is done right.

* Urban Outfitters or American Apparel - you know the kind of clothing joint I am talking about, the kind of place people over 30 try to shop at to stay looking young and hip but in fact end up looking like a nark stuffed in a shirt 2 sizes too small.

* Those stores that sell vintage metal tees for over a hundred dollars to people who don't actually listen to metal or know the band whose shirt they just paid big bucks for.

* The Mac Cosmetic counter - they might actually think this music is actually edgy and perfect to market their products to.

* Fashion Week - see Mac Cosmetic counter

* Reality Shows - those insipid dung heaps MTV and VH1 love shoving down TV viewers throats use crappy indie music because it is too expensive to license crappy major label music.

Holy Shit!

By the second or third song the crowd was chanting Holy Shit!!! Holy Shit!!! Holy Shit!!! Anyone who has seen Torche live might consider chanting that after any one of their songs but place yourself at a secret show in a space the size of compact garage and you too would be chanting HOLY SHIT!!!!

The line up for the Bike Plot show was Parasytic (missed them which is a drag because Erik Larson...first drummer of Avail and now member of Alabama Thunderpussy opened) Clouds (Hydra Head band) and Torche. Torche, the band who has made my favorite live band of the past years and whose newest record Meanderthal will make my top 10 for the year.

Here are some picture - Because I am small I had a hard time taking any decent pictures but thanks to Andy of Robotic Empire and his lady who were standing up high, they were able to snap me a few pictures.

The first two images are Clouds, as you can see by the tires in the background, this really is a bike lot.





If you want to see any of the pictures all blown up, just click on any of them.










Here is Torche and as you can imagine by the number of amps they play through, LOUD doesn't do the volume justice.















Here is the drummer from Clouds joining Torche.

What Song Would You Want Played at Your Funeral?

This news story has got me thinking. http://www.uncut.co.uk/news/acdc/news/11808



If ACDC is topping the charts in Australia as one of the most popular songs played at people's funeral, what song would I want to go out to in a blaze of glory? Blaze because I am all about cremation. I don't really want a funeral, I would much prefer a party with music and food for friends to celebrate me / my life / life in general but if I had to pick one song it would be Della Reese doing a version of "It was a very Good Year". You can hear it here. www.myspace.com/lightningsgirlblog



I would love to hear what songs other people would want played at their funeral. Please post them in the comments section.



PS: My plan B song would Peggy Lee's "Is That All There Is?". Plan C - Lee Hazlewood "We All Make the Flowers Grow". This might turn into a grim muxtape at this rate.

Indian Jewelry / Free Gold!

Artist - Indian Jewelry

Title - Free Gold!

Hometown - Houston, TX

Label - We Are Free

Street Date - Out Now

RIYL - Spacemen 3, Swarm of Angels, Psychic Ills, robot drone, Suicide, Throbbing Gristle, Chrome, RTX, VU, sunglasses at night, strobe lights

The Hits - Swans, Pompeii, Walking on Water, Bird is Broke, Overdrive

Richter Magnitude Rating Scale - moderate

I don't know what Thurston Moore's dreams are like but I imagine them to be scored by Indian Jewelry and the warm fuzzy blanket of noise they wrap themselves up in. Throbbing beats, pedals begetting pedals, seething synths, male and female vocals sleepwalking through feedback...this could be Sonic Youth's EVOL distant cousin.

Who needs to do drugs when you can listen to a record that makes you feel like you are in a real hazy Ketamine coma like stupor? If you have ever felt in need of a decent chaser to Perfect Prescription , Free Gold! will prolong that dreamy euphoric state for nearly another hour. When you are that far into the k-hole you won't hear any of the ever so occasional wrong notes, amp hum or clumsy bits.

Friday Flashcard - Name that Metal Band

Another detour from my usual guess the metal logo game; sorry but this is important. Important if you care about black metal.

The new Peter Beste book is out via Vice and the deluxe edition is pretty spectacular. Limited to 666 (I mean what other number could it be limited to really?)

Taken from Peter's site:

"True Norwegian Black MetalTNBM includes 126 Norwegian Black Metal Photographs by Peter Beste;Introduction by Metalion of Slayer Magazine; Essays by Editor Johan Kugelberg and Peter Beste; 3 Panel foldout black metal time line by Tara G Warrior; 32 page section of old black metal ephemera including rare and obscure photographs, flyers, letters, and interviews. "

The deluxe version also includes hand numbered silkscreened slipcase, a silkscreened poster, and a signed print. $200.00. You can order it by hitting the link above. You know you want it. And my birthday is a mere 4 and 1/2 months away so if you don't know what to get me...hint hint.

What Won't People Steal from Ian Curtis?

His memorial stone in Macclesfield, England was stolen somewhere between Tuesday afternoon (3/1) and Wed AM (3/2). Somebody find out where Interpol was two nights ago. That was a joke people. The Interpol part, not the robbing part, that is sadly for real.

Real Ones / Outlaw

Artist - Real Ones

Title - Outlaw (12")

Hometown - Norway

Label - Telle Records

Street Date - Out now

RIYL - Light psych, power-folk, The Acorn, Talking Heads, The Beatles, Indian flavored alt-country, Beta Band, Rain Parade

The Hits - Outlaw

Richter Magnitude Scale - Moderate

Yeah yeah yeah, we get it. Bergen, Norway is and has been the IT city for music over the past decade. Kings of Convenience, Sondre Lerche, Royksopp, and don't even get me started on all the metal that hails from this city. Real Ones are yet another band (not metal) to add to the talent pool.

This single remains true to the old fashioned remix 12" concept and the tracklisting here offers three versions of "Outlaw" offering mixes that genre bend them from sounding like the Beta Band to house music with a slow build. The final track "Theme From Mikal Telle" is a swinging Indian folkish instrumental. The bummer is this track has multiple skips that act like a locked groove - not cool and to do a return with Rough Trade over seas is a pain in the ass. Perhaps tracking these down via MP3 format will be your best bet.

Real Ones have recently signed a three record deal with Warner Music Norway and their first full length is out now as an import.

Love is All / Play Five Covers

Artist - Love is All

Title - Play Five Covers

Hometown - Sweden

Label - CD-R tour 0nly EP

Street Date - Now - at a Love is All show near you

RIYL - Love is All and cover songs

The Hits - Kung Fu on the Internet, I Ran, So Far Away

Richter Magnitude Rating Scale - Moderate

A must have for serious fans of Love Is All, this is a CD-R of 5 cover songs the band has put together on their own. For those of you who haven't been able to catch them live and pick up the cd in a DIY paper sleeve the size of a playbill, eMusic has the exclusive rights to the tracks with a bonus track of the Pastels cover "Nothing to Be Done" plus one original song off their upcoming long player.

The track listing on the CD:

1) Kung Fu on the Internet - Lung Leg (sounds like it could be a Love is All original)

2) I Ran - A Flock of Seagulls (fun, especially for those with a hard on for the 80s)

3) So Far Away - Dire Straits ( I was suspicious of this one but it works as a ballad perfectly)

4) Fucking Hell - Jed Dmochowski ( Called Golly Gosh on the tracklisting and eMusic)

5) Darling Nikki - Prince (My least favorite of the covers, in theory it is a good idea but it doesn't work beyond the intro - it sounds like a cat being strangled during the choruses)

eMusic does not have the Prince cover but to be honest you aren't missing much there. If you are a Love Is All completest I would recommend checking on EBAY for the CD-R.