Author Archive

They Won’t Understand, So They Kill It

Liars “There’s Always Room On The Broom” – I’m not sure what to think of the forthcoming Liars album They Were Wrong So We Drowned. On one hand, there’s about three (maybe four) songs like this one here which are pretty good, and sound a lot like the best songs from their previous record. On the other, the rest of the record is by-the-numbers avant/art-indie. I’m just not convinced by tracks like “Broken Witch” – it sounds like they aren’t even trying. They may be having fun, and they may think it sounds cool, but it’s just so boring and uninspiring. Maybe I’m not giving enough respect to the craft of just fucking around and making creepy soundtrack-y noises, but in my experience that stuff is just so easy to toss off. Maybe I’m being totally off base and unfair, but it sounds like half of this record was recorded in one afternoon when they realized that they had to finish the record by a deadline or something. They can do a lot better than most of the songs on this record. “There’s Always Room On The Broom” is proof of that, but even still, I think they have the potential to do better than this too. Maybe next time.

You’re Always Up To No Good

Phantom Planet “Big Brat” – As recommended/requested by Sam in the comments box of this very entry, here is the brand new single from Phantom Planet. It’s really, really good! I hadn’t thought much of them before, but this song just kicks a lot of ass, and I’m impressed that they are making this a single. It always think it’s cool when popular bands do something which has even a passing resemblence to The Fall, and I definitely detect some Mark E Smith influence on the singing on the verses of this song. Nice drums, too – apparently the production was done by Dave Fridmann, so I guess that shouldn’t be a big surprise.

Four Used To Be The Funky Four Corners

Arthur Conley “Funky Street” – Arthur Conley, a 1960s soul singer and protege of Otis Redding, died Monday at his home in the town of Ruurlo, in the eastern Netherlands. He was 57….Conley was born in Atlanta and started his recording career in 1959 as leader of the group Arthur and the Corvets. He was best known for his 1967 hit, Sweet Soul Music, which he co-wrote with Redding based on a number by Sam Cooke, Yeah, Man. It reached No. 2 on the Billboard pop chart. R.I.P., Arthur. (See also: Joe’s take on Conley and “Sweet Soul Music” in particular.)

My Boyfriend, He’s My Punk

Ping Pong Bitches “Beat You Up” – Much like Relaxed Muscle’s “Rod Of Iron,” this is an ironic song about domestic violence set to somewhat dated electro/industrial dance music. The PC part of me feels weird about liking both songs, but eh. They are good songs, and I don’t think anything about embracing a host of hip hop songs which feature very questionable lyrics, so maybe it’s for the best that I steer clear of an obvious double-standard. And either way, this song seems more BDSM than anything else.

Forever There’ll Be A Heaven In Your Kiss

Ginger Ale “Happy House (D Funked RMX by Dexter)” – I cannot find any information about this group and this song which is not in French. I can’t tell you much about this, other than that it’s title describes the sound of it perfectly. I’m so glad that I found this song, it feels perfect for me today.

The Droyds “Take Me, I’m Yours” – Yes, it’s a cover of the classic Squeeze single. It’s not as good as the original, but it’s cute and fun, and that’s enough for me.

I Hear You Singing In The Wires

The Meters “Wichita Lineman” – I only heard this version of “Wichita Lineman” for the first time a few weeks ago, and when I did I didn’t know what to make of how the Meters shift into something of a shuffle beat on the second part of each verse. (In case I’m not articulating myself well due to a lack of proper musical terminology, just pay attention to how the bass/drums shift around :45 into the song.) It sounded very awkward to me at first, as though they were suddenly playing the wrong song, but now it sounds smooth and natural to me, and I’m not sure why. I suppose I’m just used to it and expect it, but now I don’t really want to hear the song without that dynamic shift. I listened to a few other versions of the song that I have, and now those are the ones which don’t sound quite right.

They Cannot Eat Because They’re Too Busy Laughing

Banjo-V “Experimental Fashion” – This song is a product of the always entertaining Song Fight website, where scores of lo-fi amateur musicians duke it out to see who can write the best song with a title provided by the administrators of the site. The results vary wildly in terms of quality and generally range from earnest folk pop to noisy indie rock to goofy white rap to the truly bizarre and singular Octothorpe, who unfortunately do not appear to be participating any longer. Banjo-V were the winners of the “Experimental Fashion” contest, and rightfully so – their song is a real lo-fi indie gem, with a bouncy, cheerful melody and charmingly shambolic musicianship. The singer even sounds a lot like Wayne Coyne, making the whole thing sound like a very drunk and silly Clouds Taste Metallic-era Flaming Lips.

I definitely recommend checking out the Song Fight archives, where every song in every contest is available for download, including all of the runners up in the “Experimental Fashion” competition.

Go On…..I Feel Your Pain…..You Are Mentally Challenged……Go On……

Meeting Petey was one of the highlights of my weekend at the WFMU record fair. For those of you who are not regular listeners of The Best Show On WFMU, Petey is a regular caller who has managed to insinuate himself into the fabric of the show itself. He’s a precocious and deeply weird 12 year old boy who often speaks with a cartoonish affectation and is obsessed with the show’s host, Tom Scharpling. Petey is a busy lad – in addition to making short films, video games, animations, and running his own website, he has been recording homemade records at a pace which might humble the likes of Bob Pollard and Acid Mothers Temple.

I bought two cds from Petey at the fair, one being a special bonus compilation of oddities and cover versions called Sub Cuts: Covers And Qui Heads, and the other was his latest full-length, Undermining The Probalities. They are both extremely weird records. Imagine Jandek mixed with the Animal Collective and Spongebob Squarepants. The music is basically the kind of thing you would expect of avant/noise groups who are fueled by psychedelic drugs and whose records are mostly only available at Other Music and are only ever played by the most adventurous freeform DJs. It makes me wonder if Petey is making the music of arty adults, or if his older peers are adults making the music of hyperactive little boys.

Suburbanal Cuts “Tom & Tom Catching Bounties” – This is probably the catchiest song on the entire record, and one of the tunes which makes me wonder how this record would be received by someone who is unaware of the Best Show. This is a song about Tom Scharpling and another regular caller, Officer Tom, and their imaginary adventures as bounty hunters.

Suburbanal Cuts “Hate Is A Strong Word” – I’m not sure what kind of equipment Petey is using, but he frequently uses severe effects on his vocals and loops some sounds, so I’m guessing that he may be doing all of this on Protools or something similar. I wonder what that odd squealing sound that comes and goes in the background of this song is – it could be guitar feedback, or possibly some kind of strangely miked percussion or horn sound.

Suburbanal Cuts “Automated Psychiatrist Service” – This is one of several skits from the record. It sort of speaks for itself, really. I love that Petey plugs his website at the end of this track.

Let The Hi-Hat In, Put The Fairlight On The Track

Kylie Minogue “Sweet Music” – The gist of what I want to say: It’s perfect! Wow! Oh my God! Kylie rules! The new Kylie album has short-circuited almost all of my critical faculties, and all I can do is gush about it. I love it that much. Well, except for “Loving Days,” which is too ballad-y and heavy and doesn’t fit in well with the rest of the record, which is pretty much non-stop electro disco pop bliss. “Sweet Music” is exactly that – a powerful sugar rush of melody, bass, and rhythm. This song needs to be a hit single.

I Took A Sip From From My Devil’s Cup

Britney Spears “Toxic” – This is the kind of music that suits Britney best – sexy but mechanical dance pop which allows her to a) dance in the visual presentation and b) show off the breathy part of her voice which is the best part of her natural range (though she sounds at her absolute best when she seems processed and robotic, like a fembot pop star).

Of course, this being Britney 4.0, all of the shallow subtext that made her earlier hits so confounding/fascinating/obnoxious has been thrown out in favor of much more literal lyrics which openly cop to being sexual and revel in their apparent naughtiness, though she’s hardly being transgressive. Her songs lose something without the good girl/bad girl dynamic. There’s a tension which is missing, and while it doesn’t make this song any less enjoyable than her other great singles, it does make it feel a little less special. Though there’s a certain Britney-ness about the melody of the chorus, this doesn’t really need to be a Britney Spears song, which is something which can’t be said of, say, “Oops…I Did It Again” which musically and lyrically was tailor-made to suit both Britney the singer and Britney the pop icon.

It can be argued that the first single from each of her first three records form a narrative which take her from being the coy young girl of “…Baby One More Time” to the more worldy tease of “Oops…I Did It Again” up to the brazen sexuality of “I’m A Slave 4 U.” “I’m A Slave 4 U” seems to be the logical conclusion, the point where it is obvious that her double entendres are so flimsy that it is clear that they are only there to remind us of her earlier coyness. If she is, as Chris Rock suggested, America’s favorite stripper, then what we get on In The Zone is Britney dancing after the strip-tease is over. If “Toxic” and a few other songs from the record fit into the narrative arc suggested by those previous records, they serve as a postscript, or as episodes in The Continuing Adventures Of Britney Spears. Since the mystique of her sexuality has almost completely disappeared, are we supposed to remain interested in her as a pop cultural persona simply because she’s famous? Is part of the fun of this song meant to be trying to figure out which of her celebrity suitors it may be about – Colin Ferrell? Fred Durst? Is this pop song-as-reality show?

The string sample in this is great, by the way. I’ve been trying to find out who produced this song, but I haven’t had much luck. If you know who did it, please let me know in the comments section.

A Quick Note:

I love the part towards the beginning of Jay-Z’s “Lucifer” when Jay shouts “Kanye, you did it again! You’re a genius!” He sounds so cute and sincere, and genuinely appreciative. It makes me wish that more vocalists would praise their musical collaborators on record.

Like The Little Children

Diana Ross “Have Fun (Again)” – This is the original Chic version, from the recent reissue of the Diana album. The reissue includes the original recordings with Chic as well as the versions of the songs that were officially released on Motown Records. The people at Motown were concerned when they were given the original mixes for the record because they felt (and I think most anyone would agree with this assessment) that it sounded like a Chic record with Diana Ross on vocals rather than what people had come to expect a Diana Ross record to sound like. I prefer the Chic versions to the album cuts, but the differences aren’t that drastic for the most part. It’s a relentlessly happy song, and it’s being posted here today in part to celebrate the beginning of this weekend’s WFMU Record Fair at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City. I’ll be working at the fair on both Saturday and Sunday, and I’m sure that it will be just as fun as the last fair back in May.

If you live in the area, you really ought to come to the fair and check out the awe-inspiring selection of rare and obscure records, vintage vinyl, memorabilia, and assorted goodies that will be on sale all weekend. Even if you don’t have much cash, you can probably find some pretty good used cds and lps at the WFMU tables for dirt cheap. There will also be some live music and entertainment events at the fair, including a set from Evolution Control Committee at 2 PM on Sunday afternoon. There will be a number of film screenings at the fair, including compiled selections of rare footage of The Fall, Captain Beefheart, The Butthole Surfers, Can, Kraftwerk, The Monks, and Neu!

Fans of the Best Show On WFMU shouldn’t miss the special Best Show table on Sunday, where you can meet Petey, Officer Tom, and several other regular callers and mainstays of the FOT message boards. Unfortunately, Tom Scharpling won’t be at the fair, but there will be a screening of a movie that he directed on Saturday at noon.

Dead Air (the Seven Second Delay movie) Directed by WFMU’s Tom Scharpling, written by Andy Breckman and starring dozens of WFMU DJ’s, Dead Air was Ken and Andy’s 2001 marathon giveaway for high rollers. Someone is killing WFMU’s DJs, one at a time. Less preposterous than your typical episode of Monk, and twice as funny.

His Heart Will Feel Like Red-Hot Coals

Unknown artist, “I’m Gonna Destroy That Boy” (unreleased TM Music acetate) – This is a product of the early ’60s Brill Building, where songwriters could pitch a song, write up a lead sheet, record a quick demo with the musicians on hand and have an acetate made to shop around to to the dozens of publishing houses and record companies on site all in one day without ever leaving the building. This song was published by Bobby Darin’s TM Music, but has never been officially released aside from appearing on Mr. Fine Wine’s extremely limited edition 2003 WFMU marathon premium, Doing All Kinds Of Things In The Shadows Of Motown – 29 Soul Obscurities On Tiny Detroit Labels. If you get lucky, you can find this compilation on Soulseek (that’s how I found it), but it is very, very scarce since it was only available to people who pledged a substantial amount of money during Mr. Fine Wine’s show last year.

We Get It Krunk Regardless

Ghostface Killah & Method Man “The After Party” – I found this on soulseek, and after doing some research on Ohhla and Google, my best guess is that this is one of those singles released for the purpose of ending up on mixtapes. It’s a pretty amazing song, and one of the most accessable and fun Wu songs in a long time, so it’s a shame for this to end up being stranded in non-album limbo. If you know anything about this record (when it came out, if it will be on either Ghost or Meth’s forthcoming records, who produced it) please let me know.

Shoot At You Actors Like Movie Directors

Jay-Z “Public Service Announcement” – The Black Album has leaked! Maybe I’m just extremely excited right now, but I’m pretty sure this record is even better than The Blueprint. I can understand why he wants to go out on this record, it would be a wise business decision to be forever frozen in the public’s mind like this and to go out on top. But artistically, I think it’s a very questionable decision – who is to say that he couldn’t make a record even better than this next year, or five years from now? The man just keeps improving, it seems like he’s cheating himself and his audience by ducking out so early. I hope that he’s like Michael Jordan and comes out of retirement a few times over before giving it up for good.

Todd Rundgren “I Saw The Light” – This is for Joe. It’s a beautiful song and a radio classic; but for me, (Six Feet Under season 3 spoiler alert!) it will always be associated with the image of an emotionally devastated Nate Fisher sitting in the car, desperately hoping for a sign of his missing wife while listening to this song on the radio.

A Mouthful Of Melody – Fa So La Te Do!

Ludacris w/ Shawnna & Lil Fate “P-Poppin'” – This is from Ludacris’ charmingly titled (and I mean that sincerely!) Chicken N’ Beer LP. I’m pretty happy with the record, and I think it’s a big step foward for the guy. Prior to this record, I’d written him off as a spotty MC with a few singles which annoy me, but either I was just hearing the wrong songs or the guy has really improved a lot. I’m very fond of the production on this song; especially the way that the keyboards don’t sound quite like typical West Coast hip hop keyboards (i.e. like Dr. Dre and his imitators) and are much closer in sound and feeling to old Kraftwerk records. Very impressive.

Dressy Bessy “I Saw Cinnamon” (live at Maida Vale, Peel session) – I simply adore this song. It’s one of those perfect 90s indie pop tunes that may seem simplistic and mundane to indie haters and people hung up on innovation and novelty, but can sound utterly sublime under the right circumstances. I think that this live version from a Peel session blows away the studio recording; mostly because it’s recorded a little better, but also for the extra energy and the more distinctive and confident vocals from Tammy Ealom.

Spend Quality Time, Learn To Cook

Relaxed Muscle “B-Real” – I heart Jarvis Cocker as Darren Spooner. It was seriously difficult to pick a single song to post here, almost all of the new Relaxed Muscle record is fun and ridiculously catchy. And just flat-out ridiculous, too. There’s a song called “Beastmaster” on this album, and it’s really, really good. I’m not kidding, that song totally rules, and so does “Sexualized” and “Tuff It Out” and the one where he says that he rules his woman with a “Rod Of Iron.” I know that a lot of people may be freaked out by Jarvis Cocker fully embracing his goofy, extremely ironic sense of humor, but I think this album was exactly the right thing for him to do after Pulp. Basically, he’s deflating lofty expectations and having a silly good time. That’s pretty joycore to me.

The Redhead Said You Shred The Cello

A String Quartet Tribute To Weezer “El Scorcho” – I’m developing a real fascination with Vitamin Records’ string quartet tribute records to the giants of 80s and 90s alt-rock. On one hand, they are utterly frivolous and sort of ridiculous – what exactly is the point of making Marilyn Manson’s music sound ‘classy’? On the other, they can be surprisingly good and reveal an unexpected musical continuity between modern pop and actual classical music. Some things that seem as though they would obviously be a sure thing in the string quartet context, such as U2’s “Where The Streets Have No Name” fall flat, whereas oddballs like Weezer’s “El Scorcho” and “Dope Nose” sound almost as though Rivers Cuomo had this kind of arrangement in mind all along. Not all of the Weezer songs work so well, though. “Undone – The Sweater Song” and “Say It Ain’t So” are total duds, but that could have something to do with some awkward decisions on the musician’s parts to include the percussion and intro chatter of the former and to add fuzz pedal distortion onto the chorus of the latter.

I’m currently collecting string quartet adaptations of any pop music that I can find. As it stands, I have tributes to Radiohead, Weezer, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Nirvana, Bjork, U2, R.E.M. (including a totally bizarre rendition of “Crush With Eyeliner,” of all songs!), The Cure, The Smiths, Pearl Jam, Tori Amos, Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, and Coldplay. I know that there are tributes to Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Foo Fighters, John Lennon, The White Stripes, Jeff Buckley, The Who, and Black Sabbath by the Vitamin Records people, and if any of you can help me get copies of these, I would greatly appreciate it and do my best to return a favor. It doesn’t have to be Vitamin Records string tributes – any instrumental string arrangement of a pop song would be great, I’m just focusing on the 80s-90s artists out of a) convenience and b) my own curatorial interest in that era.

This Will Be The Last Time I Ever Do Your Hair

Wow, the Scissor Sisters album still isn’t out! That’s a real shame, because it’s easily one of the best pop records of the year, and more people should know about this record than a couple hundred clued-in p2p users. I guess the word is getting out slowly, because I get a good number of people coming to this site looking for the song “Laura,” and a few people have even emailed me asking me to post the song again. So, this is for you guys, and all the people who haven’t heard it yet.

My love for “Laura (Simone)” runs very deep; it really doesn’t matter how many times I hear it, I never ever get sick of it. I’ve been thinking about how it would be a great comeback single for Michael Jackson. Just imagine him singing that “Simone! Simone!” part of the chorus! It would be such a perfect fit. Also, that last line “one face among the many / I never thought you’d care” would sound great coming from ol’ Wacko Jacko – it would be just the right combination of weirdness, irony, and pathos. (Well, hey! This song is finally being released as a single in the UK next week. Good timing.)

“Music Is The Victim” is another highlight from the album. It starts off rather like a late 70s/early 80s Elton John upbeat rocker type of song before surrendering to total silliness by the time it hits the bridge.

50 Cents Cheaper Than The Real Thing

The Network “Right Hand-O-Rama” – Don’t be fooled, this is actually Green Day with two extra members who may or may not be former members of Devo. The joke goes like this – The Network are meant to be proteges of Green Day, and their record is out on Green Day’s vanity record label. However, they sound suspiciously similar and are playing up the press hype about them being Green Day in disguise to their own advantage, pissing off the real Green Day in the process. I guess they are going for a Klaatu/Beatles sort of thing, with the twist being that unlike Klaatu, they really are themselves pretending to be a new band.

The record is a nice surprise; it’s a dynamic throwback to new wave which often sounds exactly like Devo, with occasional homages to Wire and Magazine. With or without the presence of the guys from Devo (I’m pretty sure that’s Mark Mothersbaugh singing on a few of these songs, by the way), this seems like a logical progression for Green Day, moving on from aping the Buzzcocks, The Ramones, and The Undertones to their immediate successors, as though they were slowly working their way through the punk/new wave canon.

Though I respect their desire to pull off a cute hoax and have some fun with the music media, I really wish that they had instead had the courage to release these songs (or at least the ones which are obviously sung by Billy Joe Armstrong) as Green Day. It would have been much more impressive, and would have allowed them to subtly reinvent themselves while remaining a dependable radio/singles band. This hoax thing seems as though they want some distance from the music on the record, or feel that it wouldn’t be acceptable to their image, label, or fans if it was under their own name, which is sort of ridiculous since it really doesn’t sound that different.

This song, “Right Hand-O-Rama” is one of the cuts that I’ve pegged as a Wire soundalike. It specifically sounds like a reworked version of “Three Girl Rhumba,” particularly around the chorus. It’s not a dead ringer like “Connection” by Elastica, but if you’re familiar with both songs, I’m sure you’ll catch the similarity. As with “Connection,” it’s a pretty great song on its own terms. Lyrically, we’re in familiar Green Day territory – it’s about some creepy loser compulsively masturbating.

Suddenly I’m Miss Beehive 1963

Both songs today come from the new Wig In A Box – The Songs from Hedwig and the Angry Inch compilation, which has impressed me quite a bit. I’d never bothered with the actual Hedwig musical, but as it turns out, there were some really excellent showtunes in that show, and some top-drawer talent have recorded the songs for this new record. I recommend checking it out – in addition to the two songs below, there are some top notch recordings by Spoon, Sleater-Kinney with Fred Schneider of the B-52’s, The Breeders, Imperial Teen, and (surprisingly, since I normally dislike him) Rufus Wainwright.

The Polyphonic Spree “Wig In A Box” – I decided to post the Polyphonic Spree song mostly because it’s an interesting song for them, since it deviates quite a bit from the formula of their album (which I like a lot, by the way), and suggests that they should perhaps seriously look into making their next record more of a showtune-y affair. The style suits them very, very well.

Frank Black “Sugar Daddy” – Frank Black gets the nod for the opposite reason, since this song is a bit of a throwback to his more wild Pixies-era singing than what he’s been doing over the past several years. Lyrically and musically, it sounds as though it was written specifically for him. If I heard this song without knowing where it was from, I can’t imagine suspecting that it wasn’t a Frank Black original.

I Feel Like I Won Some Kind Of Weird Prize

A few minutes ago, I received a private message from a user on Soulseek. This is what it said:

your file directory says “i will ban you if you don’t share” well the files you share are total crap – so i’m banning you for sharing crap

I mostly share radio airchecks and broadcasts from the United States and the UK, comedy albums, found audio, out-of-print albums, and several Malkmus and Pavement live recordings. I make a point of not sharing much pop music because I’d rather a) give little to no reason for the RIAA to go after me and b) I’d rather just hook people up with uncommon and rare stuff. This guy is sharing albums by The Eagles, Toto, Snap, Steppenwolf, late period Pink Floyd, Tim McGraw, Alan Jackson, The Osmonds, Chicago, Dixie Chicks, Bob Seger, Bonnie Raitt, Sarah Brightman, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, the Grease soundtrack, etcetera, etcetera, you get the idea. He’s the kind of guy who is almost begging the RIAA to sue him.

(Somehow there is no Billy Joel in his collection. I thought that was kind of weird at first, but it occurs to me now that I like a few of BJ’s songs, and since this guy is apparently the Anti-Me, he cannot have anything that I’d like.)

Do you think this guy just goes around banning anyone on Soulseek who doesn’t share his taste? Which would be, like, most everyone? I find that note really funny, and kind of flattering in a weird way.

Funkaho “Goatworld” – Anyway, here’s a song that I’m sure this guy would qualify as ‘total crap.’ I heard this for the first time on last week’s episode of Brian Turner’s show on WFMU. It’s completely bizarre, and it is apparently part of this guy’s hip hop supervillain schtick. It’s more of a weird novelty than a great song, but I like it.