The War Against Paranoid Schizophrenic Pop Bloggers Is A Just One
Nate Patrin perfectly articulates the problem with Popjustice (and also, Spizzazzz’s) mindboggling “we’re in a holy war against ‘indie'” stance in this Hipster Detritus post from yesterday. God bless you, Nate.
Bacon Just Got A New Best Friend…..Fudge!
Here are some MP3s for you all to try out til I write up a proper entry. I’ve got a few different topics that I’d like to write about this week, but I’m still thinking about things before I write them. I’ll definitely write something about Genesis’ The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway sometime this week, and possibly something about the film Human Nature as well.
This MP3 of a Bob Lassiter monologue from 1996 about fake mandated ‘friendliness’ in radio is for the people who’ve been hitting this site looking for information about Lassiter in the past few days. I wrote about Lassiter a few times over the summer, and you can read more about him here.
This MP3 of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Maps”, taken from their 2002 Peel session, is for all of the folks on Barbelith who haven’t heard it yet. I’ve also put up an MP3 of Helium’s “Trixie’s Star” because in the Barbelith thread that I linked, I compared The Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Helium because I think that the guitar player sort of sounds like a more bombastic Mary Timony. “Trixies’ Star” is an excellent bit of 90s indie rock from one of the best albums from that period, The Dirt Of Luck.
Finally, you can hear one of Guided By Voices’ lost classics, “Back To Saturn X”. The song has never been properly released, which is quite absurd considering just how many GBV songs are released every year. A snippet of the tune is included in a mash-up of demo tunes on the Propellor LP, but a proper recorded version has yet to surface. The band was playing the song live frequently for a few months out of 2001; and when I saw the band play at the Warsaw in Brooklyn last year they played a studio recording of the song over the PA before the band hit the stage. Aside from that, the song remains unheard by all but the most obsessive Pollard fanatics. It’s such a shame too, since this is one of the most instantly likable and accessable songs in the Pollard songbook.
Feel What I Feel Today
Power pop fans take note – Matador has an mp3 of a new New Pornographers song called “The Laws Have Changed” available in their music section. If you liked the first album, particularly the tunes with Neko Case on vocals, you’ll dig this song. It’s too bad the album won’t be out for a while, but releasing this sort of sunny pop music in mid-spring is good timing, I think.
Fairly Straight And Thoughtful
If you go visit WMFU’s Speakeasy archive, you can listen to host Dorian Devins’ interview with The Onion’s AV Club editor Stephen Thompson from this past Monday. I think that The Onion AV Club is probably the best arts/entertainment publication currently being published in the United States, there’s a level of quality in their interviews and reviews which I find very rare elsewhere, particularly in the film section. The interview primarily concerns the publication of The Tenacity of the Cockroach, a compilation of The AV Club’s interviews.
There’s also a good interview with photographer Gregory Crewdson from early January which I quite like, but it’s pretty dry and quite possibly a huge bore to anyone who doesn’t have an interest in photography.
She’s Got The Radio Active And It Makes Me Feel Okay (I Don’t Feel Okay)
I received a copy of Sarah Vowell’s Radio On yesterday as a gift, and I’ve been reading through it in brief little stops and starts since it arrived yesterday afternoon. The book is basically Vowell keeping a diary about what she was hearing every day on the radio between 1994 and 1995; and though I do like Vowell quite a bit, and I am very interested in radio, the book is mostly interesting just for how very dated it is. This is never more apparent than when she writes about rock radio, still in the midst of the mid-90s alt-rock revolution. It’s amazing how quaint it all seems now, that the worst things she can complain about on the radio are the Spin Doctors and Weezer. I remember being frustrated back then, but compared to the way things are now in this Clearchannel world, it sounds as though she’s describing experimental freeform. When was the last time you heard Pavement or Sonic Youth on your local edge station? On the first page of the book she writes about hearing songs by the both of them on the radio as being a rather ho-hum experience. In 2003, it’s almost inconcievable to imagine bands one fourth as great or unique getting airplay.
I miss the mid-90s. Things really did seem a lot more optimistic back then, and at least some parts of mainstream culture were making some attempt at being progressive, for whatever that’s worth. All the big rock stars from my youth were (at least in public) sensitive folks with a healthy distrust of corporations and a sense of social conciousness. God help the teens of the 00s, you know?
Sarah Vowell also writes a lot about conservative daytime radio in the book, with a similar naive tone of disbelief and polite indignation. We all know how that all worked out since 95, but I can feel where she’s coming from very well. Everything that she writes in the book is tinged with this sense of impending doom; she can see where it’s all going but is trying to convince herself that it won’t really turn out so badly. I know what that’s like; that’s how I was for all those years; I’m still like that now. It’s the same kind of thinking that allows earnest young left-leaning people to rationalize the outcome of the 2000 election by saying “well, once Bush wrecks the country, people will be lining up around the block to vote against him!” Well, no. Optimism can be a wonderful thing, but boy does it ever set a person up for a huge disappointment. Reading Radio On in 2003, the book seems less about its subject matter and more about a beautiful, idealistic optimism, the kind of optimism that led to the inevitable disappointments of the years since the book was published.
Best Kept Secretions
Soulseek users should note that Soulseek is switching providers and will be offline for another day or two. (Thanks to The Rub)
I’ve Got To Give Myself One More Chance To Be The Man That I Know I Am
I just don’t know what to do with this blog these days. The standard of writing here has been on a steady downhill slide for at least the past two months, and I’m starting to feel that this blog is in danger of turning into an MP3-of-the-week site and little else. I’ve got no one to blame but myself – I’ve just been too lazy to write anything worthwhile for this blog. I’m finding it harder and harder to write outside of the context of a discussion; I have no problem writing thousands of words a day over on Barbelith, but when I sit down and try to type something to the blogger template, I’m at a loss.
I’m starting to get the impression that my writing is a lot more entertaining when I’m angry about something, but the last thing I want this to be is just another blog full of stupid rants. My primary objective since the beginning has always been for this blog to be about advocacy, to enthusiastically endorse things that I enjoy. I don’t want that to change, but I would like to find a way to make this a little less repetitive – it’s getting awfully boring finding new ways to say that I really enjoy something.
Also, I seem to be unintentionally making the range of topics written about here more and more narrow, and I don’t know why I’ve been doing that. Reading back on this blog, I realize that I’ve not mentioned at least 80% of all of the media that I’ve been immersed in for months now. I’ve barely touched on the films I’ve seen lately, though I did at least acknowledge that I saw Chicago and Adaptation, even if I more or less glossed over the both of them. I almost never mention any of the comics that I read, I never talk about television, and I only sometimes write about my obsession with The Best Show On WFMU or This American Life. I obsess over comedy quite a bit lately, but you’d never really know that by reading this blog. I think part of this is because I have outlets for discussing these things in my regular life, but I feel like I really ought to be working them into this blog.
So, by posting this, I suppose I am trying to make it clear to the people who read this blog that a) I know this place has been sucking a lot lately, and b) I’m going to try to do better, even though I’m going to have a lot less free time pretty soon.
Actually, you know what? I think the abundance of free time might be the problem itself.
I Want You To Know There Ain’t Nothing Too Good For You
I’ve very sorry about my laziness with this blog lately – I didn’t even get around to writing about the songs from the last set, which I think I’ll just take a pass on now. I’ve been meaning to write about Max Tundra in particular, but it occured to me yesterday that maybe it is a better idea that I don’t, since I can pretty much sum up my feelings about the Mastered By Guy At The Exchange album in one, terrible and inarticulate sentence: It’s really wacky, original, weirdo pop stuff and it RULES! I’m keeping the two Max Tundra songs, “Labial” and “Lysine”, up for a little while longer, just to make sure as many people get to try them out as possible.
Anyway, the new MP3s are all soul favorites of mine. You can hear Spanky Wilson and Otis Redding blow Cream and The Rolling Stones out of the water, and have yourself a little dance party with the lot of them. Enjoy.
Spanky Wilson “Sunshine Of Your Love”
Otis Redding “Satisfaction”
Lee Rogers “I Want You To Have Everything”
Syl Johnson “Dresses Too Short”
Big Ella “Too Hot To Hold”
Bobby Byrd “I Know You Got Soul”
Genius + Love
Matador has an MP3 of a song from Yo La Tengo’s next album Summer Sun available in their MP3 section. It’s called “Don’t Have To Be So Sad” and it sounds really great; quite a lot like the music on last year’s instrumental The Sounds Of The Sounds Of Science but with Ira Kaplan mumbling pleasantly over the top. I’m very excited to hear the rest of this album if this song is any indicator of what to expect.
Take A Cue From Crazy USA
Check out this rather interesting interview with David Rees from last week’s issue of the New York Press. I had meant to post this yesterday, but it slipped my mind. It’s not much of a surprise that Rees is as articulate and clever in interview as he is in his Get Yur War On strips, but I did raise my eyebrow when I read that his dayjob is at Maxim. The print version of the article includes a photo of Rees, who turns out to be a pretty handsome guy. The illustration at the top of the article as linked really doesn’t do him justice.
Oh, and there’s a (relatively) new page of Get Yur War On up now, as of January 19th.
I Only Sing About Things That Happen To Me
More new songs for you all. I’ll write about the last four later on. “Roxie”, “Laura”, “Oyster”, and “Water And A Seat” from previous entries will stay up a little while longer.
David Byrne “Everyone’s In Love With You” – This is taken from Byrne’s most recent solo album, Look Into The Eyeball, which I think is the finest record of his career, even better than Remain In Light. No, seriously. I’m not kidding around. “Everyone’s In Love With You” may not be the best song on the album, but it is a very sweet little tune; it’s sort of like a modest indie romantic comedy compressed into a melodic two-and-a-half minute long pop song.
Ween “(Extra) Cheese” – I made this extended mix of the two 30 second Ween Pizza Hut jingles with Acoustica, so it can be enjoyed as a full length song, or more easily used as song in MP3 DJing. Pass it around.
Who Says That Murder’s Not An Art?
I saw Chicago yesterday, and I’ve got to say that it blew away every expectation that I could’ve had for the film. It’s fantastic, it’s one of the most inspired and well crafted pieces of cinema I’ve ever seen. Rob Marshall’s direction is nearly flawless, and the cinematography and set design is top notch. Even Richard Gere, who I otherwise dislike, was great in this film. Catherine Zeta-Jones was obviously made for her role, and Renée Zellweger is a revelation as the leading lady of this production. My favorite scene in the film is her performance of “Roxie”, just as much for the song as for the stunning visual design of this setpiece in the film. I strongly recommend seeing the film, even if you are not a fan of musicals.
Well then. The preceding paragraph could very well be one of the least critical reviews ever penned. The thing of it is, I really have nothing bad to say about Chicago, and nothing particularly analytical to say about it either. It’s just a big, fun, pretty, sexy spectacle. It’s great, and made with real passion and intelligence. Take my word for it.
Here’s a few more MP3s, which will remain up til Thursday morning. I’m keeping the two Malkmus songs from Pig Lib up a little while longer too.
Scissor Sisters “Laura (Simone)”
Broadcast “Echo’s Answer (live at All Tomorrow’s Parties 2001)”
Sonic Youth “Skip Tracer (live in Tilburg, Holland 1996)”
First Moog Quartet “Hey, Hey” – Taken from the Best Of Moog: Electronic Pop Hits From The 60’s and 70’s compilation.
Tangerine Roof “Back In My Arms” – Taken from the Sixties Rebellion #4: The Go Go compilation.
And for the folks at Barbelith who missed it the first time around, I offer Eminem Vs. Scott Joplin, aka “Marshall’s Been Snookered” by the Freelance Hairdresser.
The Beginning Stages
Supplemental to Deviated Septum’s ongoing ‘Sellout Watch’: This morning I saw a tv ad for HP featuring the instrumental intro to the Polyphonic Spree’s “Section 9 (Reach For The Sun)”.
The Son And The Heir
I *heart* Dan Emerson. Dan wrote this about Tatu on Friday, and I think he’s got them exactly right.
Their cover of “How Soon Is Now”, though, is actually interesting on its own terms. What first catches my attention is when they sing “of a shyness that is criminally vulgar”, possibly the most glaring and incomprehensible incongruity between band and lyric that there has ever been….The point of the song is completely missed; the most notable thing about Tatu’s music is that they don’t seem to have any clue what they’re singing, there’s no connection whatsoever to the lyrics, and this is terrifyingly true here…The problem is this: if the girls themselves have no discernable personality and are basically automatons, if there’s no sense that they’re even pretending to believe or even understand what they’re singing, what’s the point?
Did You See The Drummer’s Hair?
There’s nice bit of juicy Pavement news that has surfaced in an interview with Spiral Stairs on the Toronto magazine NOW’s website. Spiral, talking about the S+E reissue, mentions that he wants to reissue all five Pavement albums with the same treatment S+E was given. Yeah, yeah…we all saw that coming. But check this out:
“There’s tons of stuff for the other records that I’d like to get out,” he says. “We tried to record Crooked Rain with our old drummer, Gary, and there’s a bunch of songs from that session that no one’s ever heard before, plus lots more outtakes and Peel Sessions. I want it all to be out there.”
Ah! Now that’s something I’ve got to hear. I wonder which songs they tried him out on – I can’t imagine a lot of those songs performed with Gary’s rather distinctive drumming style, much less imagine that they would be nearly as good. Hopefully Matador will get this project moving sooner than later, and that one of the songs included will be Gary butchering “Stop Breathin'”.
Tying You Is Fine, And Whipping You Is Grand
Here’s another batch of songs. These will stay up til Tuesday, I suppose.
Steely Dan “Through With Buzz” – Seriously, don’t be scared off by Steely Dan’s reputation; give this song a shot. I’m not a very big fan of Steely Dan, and yeah, a lot of their music is awful; but “Through With Buzz” is a great concise piece of pop music that you shouldn’t pass over. Many thanks to Jody Beth for introducing me to this song over the summer. She gave me a homemade Steely Dan best-of compilation, and though I only really liked about three songs on it, they were all fabulous tunes.
United States Of America “I Won’t Leave My Wooden Wife For You, Sugar” – Here’s a great psychedelic gem from songwriter Joseph Byrd, who produced this song as part of a one-off record with the band United States of America at UCLA in 1967. For more about the United States Of America, I’d recommend checking out this site, which was written by a professed ‘fanatic’ about the band.
Harper’s Bizzare “If We Ever Needed The Lord Before” – This is taken from the expanded cd reissue of Harper Bizarre’s IV, and is simply a beautiful, earnest rendition of the gospel standard, with some really gorgeous vocal harmonies.
Guided By Voices “Beg For A Wheelbarrow” – In my experience with Guided By Voices, it seems that Bob Pollard makes sure that there’s at least one excellent song on every record he puts out, meaning that even the most tossed-off GBV side project releases have at least one bona fide GBV classic for the faithful and obsessive. This song is the keeper off of the recent compilation of Universal Truths And Cycles outtakes, The Pipedreams Of Instant Prince Whippit, and is currently a staple in the band’s live show.
Shudder To Think “Hop On One Foot” – I’ve decided to offer another selection from Shudder To Think, this time the closing number from their final non-soundtrack album, 50,000 BC. Like I said earlier in the week, Shudder To Think were very underrated, and suffered commercially for what made them so special. They were too prog for the punks, too pop to be fully prog, and entirely too weird for radio and MTV. Singer Craig Wedren is now involved in a new project called Baby, and guitarist Nathan Larson is now scoring films.
If Madness Comes, So Much The Better
Pig Lib’s up on Soulseek now. Here’s a preview of my two favorite songs from the album. Be prepared to be completely floored by how brilliant these songs are. More about Pig Lib later, for sure.
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks “Water And A Seat”
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks “(Do Not Feed The) Oyster”
If you go visit Tim O Thompson’s blog, you can download an mp3 of “Sheets”, which he is now offering.
My Beautiful, Rock Hard Job
There’s a relentlessly hilarious group interview with the Daily Show’s Rob Corrdry, Stephen Colbert, Ed Helms, and Mo Rocca up on the Onion AV Club this week. Highly recommended.
Bitch, Where’s The Motherfucking Cheese At?
This is a must download, trust me – Ween’s official site has two versions of one of the six jingles that Pizza Hut commissioned them to write and record, but were rejected. This “Cheese” song, especially the dirty version, is probably the best thing Ween’s ever done, as far as I’m concerned. They really ought to expand this song and release it as a single for danceclubs.
(found via Deviated Septum)
Spit Out Your Gum And Sing Along
If there’s a theme to this batch, it is something like ‘unpopular pop songs of the 90s and early 00s’. You know the drill by now – these all should have been big hits, but the world is cruel, blah blah blah. Enjoy. These will stay up til late Wednesday night.
Lynnfield Pioneers “Time To Get Dumb”
Papas Fritas “Sing About Me”
Just try to resist these two songs – I just don’t think you’ll be able to do it. And while you’re dancing awkwardly to “Time To Get Dumb”, feel a little pity for the Lynnfield Pioneers, who are one of the worst-selling artists in Matador Records’ history in spite of writing great pop like this.
Bis “Starbright Boy” – Time to get even dumber. This is from back when Bis were still a good pop band, when they could still toss off giddy little songs about 80s teen movies like this. Nowadays…let’s just say that I don’t think Bis are playing to their strengths lately.
The Long Goodbye “Dawn Of Understanding” – This one is a great garage pop number from Kill Rock Stars’ Fields And Streams compilation from this past summer. I know next to nothing about this band, but this song is wonderful. (A reader named Mark wrote in to tell me that the Long Goodbye is the new project from Tuscadero’s Melissa Farrris. Now that I know that, it seems amazing to me that I didn’t recognize her voice from the start.)
Shudder To Think “Survival” – One of my favorite songs by a band who were undoubtedly one of the most underrated rock bands of the 90s, this song is about singer Craig Wedren’s triumph over cancer, in its own peculiar cryptic way.
Marble Valley “FCC Party” – This song is from Pavement’s Steve West’s band Marble Valley’s first album. It’s pretty weird indie pop, but remarkably danceable and will likely get stuck in your head for days as it always does in my experience.
Gene Defcon “Liz” – I remember saying to my friend Isaac, who first played this song for me, “well, I really hope Liz went out with him after hearing this song”; but as it turns out, Gene Defcon is gay and all of his songs are ironically heterosexual, so um, probably not.
Harvey Danger “Meetings With Remarkable Men” – This song has the unfortunate distinction of being a really great, smart song from the d.o.a. follow up album of a one-hit-wonder band that no one really respects, or probably even remembers. For the Google impaired, the hit in question was called “Flagpole Sitta”, and that was a pretty decent song too, actually.
St. Johnny “Scuba Diving”
The Caulfields “Devil’s Diary”
April March “Sugar” (Dust Brothers Remix)
Valerie Lamercier “95C”
I discovered these four songs as a teenager, back when CMJ New Music Monthly still had worthwhile free compilation cds packed in with the magazine. There are just so many great songs that I found through those cds, so many lost indie gems of the 90s. The St. Johnny song is an ace Malkmus/Beck hybrid, but unfortunately the rest of that band’s songs aren’t very good at all. I’ve never checked up on what other Caulfields songs sound like, but this song is very charming power pop with the memorable lyric “it’s never good to be understood by a girl in acid wash”. The April March song is the best song from her album Chrominance Decoder, but there are a couple other worthy songs, and the original version of this song is rather good too. The Valerie Lamercier song is exactly the kind of kitschy French pop that April March tries so hard to ape on her album.
and special for Johnny:
Sonic Youth “I Know There’s An Answer”
A Wolverine Toy Is Not Actually A Human Being
This is just crazy – I’m going to post some excerpts from an article from today’s Wall Street Journal because I can’t post a link to it online, their site is for paying customers only.
Is Wolverine Human? A Judge Answers No; Fans Howl In Protest
by Neil King, Jr.
Judge Judith Barzilay huddled late last year with a telepathic professor and a cast of mutants to ponder an age-old question: What does it mean to be human?
In her chambers at the U.S. Court of International Trade, in New York, the judge examined Professor X and the rest of his band of X-Men, all of them little plastic figures at the heart of a six-year tariff battle between their owner, Marvel Enterprises Inc., and the U.S. Customs Service.
Her ruling thundered through the world of Marvel Comics fans. The famed X-Men, those fighters of prejudice sworn to protect a world that hates and fear them, are not human, she decreed January 3rd. Nor are many of the villians who do battle with Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four. They’re all “non-human creatures”, concluded Judge Barzilay.
Marvel subsidiary Toy Biz Inc. pushed Judge Barzilay to declare its heroes nonhuman so it could win a lower duty rate on action figures imported from China in the mid-1990s. At the time, tariffs put higher duties on dolls than toys. According to the U.S. tariff code, human figures are dolls, while figures representing animals or ‘creatures’, such as monsters and robots, are deemed toys.
To Brian Wilkenson, editor of the online site X-Fan, Marvel’s argument is appalling. The X-Men – mere creatures? “This is almost unthinkable,” he says. “Marvel’s superheroes are supposed to be as human as you or I. They live in New York. They have families and go to work. And now they’re no longer human?”
Hold on for a moment while I jump in, and say that, with my fanboy hat firmly in place, that the entire premise of the X-Men is that mutants aren’t human. They’re mutants, they’re “homo-superior.” Back to the story…
Chuck Austen, current author of Marvel’s ‘Uncanny X-Men’ comic book series, is also incredulous. He has worked hard for a year, he says, to emphasize the X-Men’s humanity, to show “that they’re just another strand in the evolutionary chain”.
Marvel issued this statement: “Don’t fret, Marvel fans, our heroes are living, breathing human beings – but humans who have extraordinary abilities…A decision that the X-Men figures indeed do have “non-human” characteristics further proves our characters have special, out-of-this-world powers”.
Doesn’t that sound a bit like a parent trying to assure to their child that Santa Claus really does exist in spite of seeing different guys dressed up as Santa at two different malls in the same day? And really, come on – Marvel’s characters, just like all fictional characters are NOT HUMAN BEINGS. They are not real. Wolverine does not breathe, but Hugh Jackman does. There’s a big difference!
Why do these people need to embarass themselves and confirm everyone’s worst notions of what an adult superhero fan is like? Can’t Brian Wilkenson, for example, see that a legal decision about the classification of action figures being made in the interests of the company that owns and produces the X-Men comics has just about nothing to do with the intentions of the creators or content of the comics themselves? Why do these people feel under attack by something like this, or that it somehow undermines the stories that they enjoy? It’s just Marvel trying to use the legal system to its advantage to save some money. It’s really no big deal.
They go on to give some background about Marvel and the X-Men, and the process of determining whether or not the characters qualified as human, but all the relevant bits are here.
Baby, I’m The Greatest Thing You’ve Got!
A few weeks ago, I was wondering about just what was the difference between The Smashing Pumpkins and Zwan after hearing Zwan’s first single, “Honestly”. After having spent a chunk of my weekend listening to Zwan’s first album, Mary Star Of The Sea, I think I understand what the difference is. With Zwan, Billy Corgan hasn’t stopped being himself at all, but has stopped being what people have come to think he is. He’s dropped the exaggerated teen angst, he’s let go of the grand pretensions and ambitions. From the sound of Mary Star Of The Sea, it sounds like he’s just having fun and playing to his strengths. There’s nothing on the album that is drastically different from anything he’s ever done before; but the change in spirit, more mature tone, and the renewed enthusiasm works wonders for the man’s music, and we get the most consistent record the he has produced since 1995.
My favorite song on the record is “Baby, Let’s Rock!”, which is one of the sunniest, happiest tunes Corgan’s ever penned. It is basically the perkier cousin of Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness’ very underrated glam rock tune “Here Is No Why”; but with charmingly arrogant lyrics (“baby, I’m the greatest thing you’ve got!”), dreamy female backing vocals, and a really cute harpsichord-like effect on one of the guitars. The way in that many of the Pumpkins songs were cartoonishly over the top with rat-in-the-cage rage, this song pushes its good vibes to ridiculous extremes, so much that you can practically hear Corgan grinning as he sings. In my perfect imaginary world, this song would be a huge pop hit; but in this imperfect real one, Zwan’s label probably won’t even release it as a single. Either way, enjoy this mp3 of “Baby, Let’s Rock!”, which will be available til Wednesday evening. I’ll post more songs later on tonight, or on Monday morning.
The Ultimate Argument Settler:
To borrow a phrase from Ronald Thomas Clontle, I am quite confident that time will vindicate Common’s Electric Circus.
You’re Just Too Obscure For Me
This is the new set, which will stay up til maybe Saturday. I’ll write a bit about these a little later on. The theme for this set is that all of these are songs that Stephen Malkmus has been covering since Pavement broke up. More later…
Stephen Malkmus “Death and the Maiden”
The Verlaines “Death and the Maiden”
The Malkmus version is taken from 2002’s Flying Nun 21st anniversary compilation, Under The Influence, on which artists from Flying Nun’s roster over the years reinterpret each other’s songs. Malkmus was the only non-Flying Nun musician invited to be part of this project, and his contribution is this beautiful cover of The Verlaines’ “Death And The Maiden”, featuring Verlaines songwriter Graeme Downes on bass.
Stephen Malkmus “Fly” (live in Malmo, Sweden)
J.K. & Co. “Fly”
“Fly” is taken from the only album ever recorded by J.K. & Co., 1968’s Suddenly One Summer. J.K. & Co. were led by the 15 year old singer/songwriter Jay Kaye, son of the guitarist Mary Kaye of Las Vegas’ The Mary Kaye Trio and namesake of the Mary Kaye Fender Stratocaster. The album itself is primarily inspired by Jay’s spiritual awakening as a result of taking LSD, and is meant to represent the birth and death of a fictional man. His band’s career was unfortunately cut short due to their record company’s unwise decision to release the 36 second instrumental intro before “Fly” on the album as a single in an attempt to gain publicity for having the shortest single ever released. This obviously didn’t go over well, and led to very poor sales for the album, and the band were financially limited to touring only in California. Making matters worse, Kaye’s age meant that they could not get gigs in most nightclubs, forcing them to play mostly teen rec centers. Apparently, Kaye is now living in Spain and still writing and performing music.
Stephen Malkmus “Tale In Hard Time” (live on Oui FM, Paris)
Fairport Convention “Tale In Hard Time”
Stephen Malkmus “Alien Boy” (Lamacq session)
The Wipers “Alien Boy”
Stephen Malkmus “The Poet And The Witch” (live in Malmo, Sweden)
Mellow Candle “The Poet And The Witch”
For Pete:
Avey Tare & Panda Bear “Chocolate Girl”
Avey Tare & Panda Bear “Penny Dreadfuls”
Avey Tare & Panda Bear “La Rapet”
Avey Tare, Panda Bear, and the Geologist “Throwin’ The Round Ball”
For those who may be interested, Jody Beth is rerunning the review of Boom Selection_Issue 01 that I wrote for Southside Callbox over the summer. I’ve never been happy with how that review came out, I sort of cringe when I read it; but Jody must have liked it enough to run it again, I suppose.
Do You Still Need More Proof Of What An Evolved Male I Am?
To be fair, I should clarify something. I don’t love all female artists. I used to own an album by Sleater-Kinney, but I got rid of it. It seemed like they were trying to be like men, and that just turned me off. The Donnas also act all tough like guys, but they’re just doing it as a put-on, so that’s okay. It’s really funny. Sexy, too.
The Onion nails another rarely spoken of stereotype once again…
Sometimes All You Can Do Is Roll Your Eyes
i can only imagine the song was recorded sans microphones and willed onto tape with the force of their own self-satisfaction
…and I can only imagine that this post was typed to their blogger template using a similar method.
It Seems To Be Odd That Bleeding Is Better Than Breathing To God
These will stay up til Wednesday night, EST.
The Secret Machines “What Used To Be French” I discovered this song while raiding the Rodrigo site before it mysteriously disappeared. The Secret Machines are a NYC band by way of Texas, and this song is the highlight of their debut EP. I especially recommend this song for fans of Clouds Taste Metallic-era Flaming Lips.
Avey Tare, Panda Bear, and The Geologist “In The Singing Box” – There’s something sort of creepy about this song, but I’m not quite sure what it is exactly. It’s somehow comfortably uncomfortable, if that makes any sense.
Syd Barrett “Octopus” – My favorite Syd Barrett tune (though there is some very strong competition), from his first post-Pink Floyd record, The Madcap Laughs. Syd wasn’t very good with keeping time (which may have had a lot to do with his massive LSD consumption), and the percussion and accompaniment were recorded after Syd laid down the vocals and rhythm guitar, which explains the awkward, seasick feel of the song. I think the choppiness suits the song really well, and there’s some really interesting and clever drumming and lead guitar parts on this song that make the most of what must have been an awkward situation for the session musicians. I just adore Syd’s voice on this song too, especially at the end when he sings “the squeeking door will always squeek / too up, too down, we’ll never be meet”, and each time he sings “the madcap laughed at the man at the border / hey, ho, huff the talbot”.
Vivien Goldman “Laundrette” b/w “Private Armies” – Both sides of the only single ever produced by rock journalist Vivien Goldman, Dirty Washing. According to this discography, the single was recorded during PiL’s Flowers Of Romance sessions, with PiL’s Keith Levene on guitar. “Laundrette” in particular is a very special song, I’ve never heard anything else quite like it.
The Clean “Whatever I Do It’s…” My favorite song by New Zealand’s The Clean, from their Compilation album. It sort of speaks for itself, just listen to it.
Clinic “Kimberley” (live on WFMU) – This is taken from Clinic’s 2001 session for Scott Williams’ show on WFMU.
Scritti Politti “Messthetics” From a previous blog entry: This song sounds like a bunch of professional players playing a very deliberately messy song, with every bit fully arranged, the players in full control. Green Gartside sings a pretty pop melody over the top with lyrics about just what his band is doing – pretending to be sloppy and free as an aesthetic choice.
The Residents “Burn Baby Burn” – This song is taken from The Residents’ Wormwood album, a concept album in which every song is based on a story from the Bible. This song in particular is sung from the perspective of Jephthah, who is about to be sacrificed to God, who will in turn grant her father, a general, military victory. God digs her daddy, you see.
Tricky “Suffocated Love” (live acoustic version) – This reworked acoustic version is taken from Jools Holland’s tv show, and was released as a b-side for the single “Tricky Kid”.
And special for Joe:
Har Mar Superstar (featuring Dirty Preston) “One Dirty Minute”
Har Mar Superstar “No Chorus”
If you missed out on getting the Yellow Note Vs. Pukka song, Tankboy is now hosting the song.
Surely This Won’t Be A Disappointment For Anyone…
…but it seems unlikely that I will be posting much of anything of substance here for a little while. Lately, I just don’t know what to write here, I don’t have all that much to say. MP3s and links to things will keep on being updated, but until I feel some kind of inspiration, it’s unlikely that I’ll be offering much more than that here.
A Lackadaisical Ride On My Backinthedaycycle
Here’s the bright, shiny pop that I promised – at least in terms of style and spirit, since there’s unfortunately very little chance of any of these songs become real hits. I especially love the Yellow Note Vs Pukka song “Naked, Drunk, And Horny”, which really ought to be a huge hit; I can’t help but think that there’s millions of people out there who would love this tune, but alas, it’s an obscure single most commonly found on the This Is Tech-Pop compilation. The title may give the impression that it would be something sleazey and lurid, like a musical equivalent of a Girls Gone Wild video; but it’s surprisingly sweet, and about half of the lyrics inexplicably refer to carpentry.
These songs will stay up til Sunday.
Yellow Note Vs. Pukka “Naked, Drunk, and Horny”
Avenue D “Do I Look Like A Slut?”
Har Mar Superstar “EZ Pass”
MC Paul Barman “Old Paul”
MC Paul Barman “N.O.W.”
Playgroup “Number One”
Scissor Sisters “Backwood Part II”
Crossover “Phostographt”
W.I.T. (Whatever It Takes) “Inside Out”
Where Is Bob Now?
Here’s a clipping of a brief interview with Bob Nastanovich about life after Pavement from the magazine Blender, available in .pdf format, for Adobe Acrobat,courtesy of Maria Tessa Sciarrino.
My Heart Became One With A Digital Sun
Here’s another batch of mp3s – this time we have six selections from a Pavement concert in St. Louis in 1999. I recently acquired this concert, and it’s become one of my personal favorite Pavement live documents, in part for its excellent setlist, but mostly for the playful spirit of the performance. I chose these six songs for the following reasons – “Shady Lane”‘s guitar parts on the verses is played differently than usual; a substantial chunk of “Father To A Sister Of Thought” is adlibbed; an entire verse of “Billie” is cleverly re-written on the spot; and before playing the song, Stephen Malkmus explains the title of “Grounded”. “Shoot The Singer” and “Stereo” are here mostly because they are huge favorites of mine, and these are excellent performances of both. Also, “Shoot The Singer” was rarely performed live in the latter half of Pavement’s career, and this is the most hi-fi live version that I’ve found to date. Note to those who may already have this show – I edited the tracks and improved the sound quality significantly. These songs will stay up til Wednesday, when I shall put up a handful of bright, shiny, sexy pop songs. Enjoy.
Grounded
Shoot The Singer
Stereo
Billie
Father To A Sister Of Thought
Shady Lane
Rattled By The Rush Added Tuesday
Here Added Tuesday
Debris Slide Added Tuesday
