The Defense For The Kids

Bis “Tell It To The Kids” – Bis have come up as a point of reference on this site often enough lately that it may be a good idea to give those of you who may have never heard them a sense of what they were like. Sometimes I am a bit surprised by how well Bis’ music has aged – I certainly never would have expected that when I first bought their records around 1997. Their relentless enthusiasm and energy never ceases to be compelling, though their music is something which is probably best enjoyed in sporadic doses due to its extreme potency.

Bis’ central gimmick of applying the language of radical leftist sloganeering to advocate the joys of candy, pop music, DIY, dancing, and childhood in general remains somewhat fascinating to me, and it seems less ironic all of the time. I think that Bis were on to something – true, they romanticized youth a bit too overzealously, but on the whole, their values were pretty right on: embrace all of the joys in life; don’t be ashamed of who you are or what you love; fight back against ignorance and intolerance; take control of your art and your life. They were joycore extremists from day one! (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Northern Lite “Away From You” – I can’t figure out whether this reminds me of one song in specific, or literally hundreds of songs with more or less the same main chord progression. I’m not sure how one would classify a song like this – it’s vaguely country rock, it’s slightly electro, the singer sounds as though he’s doing a Layne Staley impression at some points. There’s an appealing tension here that comes from the incongruous elements defying common sense and gelling as a pretty good song. (Click here to buy it from Juno.)

Elsewhere: There’s a very good Dave Clarke/Chicks On Speed song available over at the Losing My Edge blog, which has just recently become part of the MP3 blog nation.

Also: FEAR NIMROD!

You Have A New Name

Junior Boys “Bellona” – My favorite thing about the new Junior Boys album Last Exit is how incredibly cool it sounds. Not cool as in hip, but coolness as it relates to temperature – I feel a slight chill whenever I listen to the record, as though it were the audio equivalent of air conditioning.

Last Exit is a peculiar kind of pop album. Its rhythms and textures are familiar from over a decade of electronic music, modern hip hop and r&b; but they still feel vaguely alien in this context, particularly when paired with vocals which sound simultaneously aloof and soulful. It is not a cheerful record, but it isn’t quite melancholy either. Last Exit is the sound of complicated in-between feelings, the kind of emotions which we are often ill-equiped to articulate, but sound sublime when expressed in music. (Click here to pre-order it from Warp.)

Pet “No Yes No” – This cheery, sunny bit of electro-glam is the first single from Berlin’s Pet. I don’t know very much about Pet, and I don’t have anything particularly clever to say about this song (other than maybe “wow, it’s really great and catchy, I like to bop around to it”), so I’m going to fill up some space by quoting some of the more cringe-inducing sentences from the press release on his label’s website:

“It’s all about the tunes and there’s not a sample in sight!”

“Classic influences aside though, you’ll hear catchy, infectious proper pop music by a serious producer; one whose musical vision is as accessible as it’s amenable to repeat listening, delivering slamming energy-packed electronic music that rocks as much as it rolls.”

(Click here to buy it from Amazon UK.)

Elsewhere: You should head on over to Tyrone Shoelaces’ blog (which you really ought to be checking every day) and get the excellent new Kiki/Silversurfer/Captain Comatose single, which I was planning on posting later this week. Laces beat me to it, because he is cooler than I am.

And: I was just checking the official Phoenix website to see if they were coming to New York City any time soon (they aren’t), and noticed a mystifying quote from a magazine review of their new album which was being used in this animated gif: “Outkast Meets The Strokes: Awesome!” I’m not sure how anyone could listen to Alphabetical and hear much of either act in Phoenix’s music, unless for some reason Outkast and The Strokes were among the only artists in contemporary pop of which the reviewer were aware. (Highly doubtful!) There is plenty of music out there which Phoenix does in fact sound like; it’s not as though they are particularly difficult to define. This sums up the album rather well, for example: “Justin Timberlake Meets Steely Dan: Awesome!”

In all likelihood, Outkast and The Strokes were invoked primarily because they exist as a sort of shorthand for “critically approved mainstream pop” and “young neo-classic rock band” in the parlance of mainstream music publications. So in these terms, we arrive at Phoenix’s sound by adding clean, modern, keyboard-heavy production (Outkast) to young white men who seem to prefer rock music made prior to 1980 (The Strokes). I’m all for writing music reviews so that they are accessable to casual listeners, but this is dumbed down to a ridiculous extreme! The reference points are so arbitrary (and relatively inaccurate) as to give the reader a totally warped idea about what the music is like that it practically sets them up to be disappointed by the actual recording.

It would certainly make me feel better if I knew that this was a result of critical laziness rather than editorial cynicism – it depresses me to think that someone would ask a writer to sound so dim because they have a low estimation of their readers.

In The Mood For Celebration

United State Of Electronica “La Discoteca” – By combining the focused intensity of Andrew WK, the French disco moves of Daft Punk, the silliness of the B-52s, the camp of the Scissor Sisters, the smiling punk of early Bis, the sugary hooks of The New Pornographers, and the up-with-people lovey dovey vibe of a dozen Polyphonic Sprees, The United State Of Electronica have made what could be the most joycore album of 2004. This is dance rock, but very far removed from the dour post-punk/funk fusions which have dominated indie for the past few years. Before hearing this record, I am not sure if the concept of blending twee indie with the style of Daft Punk and The Avalanches would have ever occurred to me, but now that I’ve heard this, I’m not sure how we all ever lived without it. (Click here to buy it from Sonic Boom Records.)

Lopazz “I Need Ya” – This is disco rock at its most woozy – a strangely languorous groove with keyboard parts which almost recall slowed-down car honks, and a vocalist who sounds like a very drunk man attempting to sing The Rapture’s “I Need Your Love.” (Click here to buy it directly from Output Recordings.)

Also: Thanks to my friend Deric Holloway, the beta version of Fluxblog’s new look has gone live today. We’re still in the process of tweaking the design, so there is a very good possibility that some of this will look all wrong in certain browsers. (I am using Mozilla, and I know that the borders on the links column isn’t right. If you notice other glitches, please let us know in the comments box.) Please bear with us – Deric is going to be working on this site for a while to come, and eventually everything will be just right. As it is right now, I’m very happy with the new color scheme and the logo.

Elsewhere: Be sure to check out the latest sound collage in the Weeping Mule series over on the Phonequail site. This new one is my favorite to date, and includes some incredible found audio from conference calls.

And: “In fact, in all honesty, I WANT TO SHAVE OFF ALAN MOORE’S BEARD AND BURN IT IN SOME KIND OF RITUAL THAT KILLS COMICS SO THEY CAN BE REBUILT FOR THE GREATER GOOD.” – John Cei Douglas, after attending this past weekend’s Bristol Comics Festival. I can get behind that sentiment!

I Got No Style

Although Memorial Day is and always has been a rather meaningless holiday for me (its major significance for me being that HBO skips that weekend, and so I have to wait an extra week for the season finale of The Sopranos, as I did last year for Six Feet Under), I will be taking this coming Monday off. If all goes well, things will be back to the regular schedule on Tuesday, at which time the site will have a bold new look. I’ve been meaning to redesign this site for quite a while now – it is time to move on from the stark white look and go for something more colorful and pop.

Scout Niblett “Uptown Top Ranking” – This is an acoustic cover of the Althea & Donna song, performed in a Cat Power-esque style by a woman with a very unfortunate stage name. There’s not a lot much more to it than that, really. This doesn’t touch the original, but the song lends itself to this kind of spare, funereal approach better than one might expect. (Click here to buy it from Rough Trade, or here as a digital single package from Too Pure.)

Elsewhere: Thom: Weblog has compiled what could be the most comprehensive list of MP3 blogs on the net, with yet more new blogs linked in the comments section. Frankly, it’s staggering just how many of these things have popped up within 18 months.

Equals Am-Bi-Gyoo-Ity!

Pop Levi “Rude Kinda Love” – Though indie Beach Boys pastiches come roughly dime a dozen these days, this little single has a melody strong enough to set itself apart from the more lackluster Brian Wilson impressions out there, as well as a rather large chunk of the actual Beach Boys catalog. I always feel a little bad for folks who write perfect songs in genres which have long since fallen out of favor with the pop charts – if this song had been written in the early 60s, it probably would have been a Top 40 hit. (Click here to buy it from Rough Trade.)

Matt Harding “Leave It Up To You” – This sounds lackadaisical in the best possible sense of the word. Its warm, fluid bassline, laid back drum loop, and inspired lead guitar and melodica parts evoke a sense of contented listlessness and calm resignation which can feel like the best thing ever at just the right times. This is taken from Harding’s 2003 LP Commitment. (Click here to buy it from Moshi Moshi Records.)

Elsewhere: Three more new MP3 blogs have popped up in the past few days – Vinyl Journey digitizes out of print vinyl releases from 1977-1993; Marx Vs. The Monorail focuses on music from continental Europe; and Bpatcher is too new to adequately describe.

You’re Just A Face Muscle

Whitey “Just Another Animal” – This is much less guitar-heavy and oppressive than Whitey’s previous singles, which were quite good but lack the relative sophistication of this composition. Whereas “Twoface” and this single’s a-side, “Why You Have To Be Me” sustain tension, “Just Another Animal” builds up to a catharsis of distorted guitar riffing, and the song is much better for having that structure and release. This may not fully sink in right away, so give it a few listens – it’s a major grower and benefits from being played on repeat. (Click here to buy it from Kudos Records.)

Mocky (featuring Jamie Lidell) “How Will I Know You” – If you can forgive the cheesy, smirky white-guy rapping, this is a pretty solid bit of smooth quasi-r&b. Mocky is in with the Peaches and Gonzales/Kitty-Yo crowd, and so it should come as no surprise this collaboration with Jamie Lidell ends up sounding as though it could be the work of Gonzales’ understudy. (Click here to buy it from Juno Records.)

This Is Not The Way It’s Going To Be Forever

Mr. Magic “Potential 1980” – This is a selection from the new The Third Unheard: Connecticut Hip Hop 1979-1983 compilation on the Stones Throw label. As the title makes very obvious, the record chronicles the early days of hip hop in the one part of the Tri-State Area which is rarely associated with hip hop culture. The quality of the music on the compilation is generally quite good, but the best thing about the record is the way that it captures the excitement of its moment in time, when the musical center of urban black culture was still in the process of shifting from disco and funk to hip hop.

Of all of the tracks from the collection, Mr. Magic’s “Potential 1980” best illustrates the transitions taking place within the music itself. In the song, the emphasis is still being placed on the performance of the disco band, with the rudimentary rapping functioning more as an additional element rather than the focus of the composition. At this point in the history of hip hop, it is very difficult to imagine a hip hop track in which the rapping is secondary to musicians trading solos during a lengthy jam, but that’s exactly what is going on in this recording. In historical context, it is interesting to hear the music mid-evolution, but it also hints at some formal possibilities for the genre which have mostly been left unexplored. (Click here to buy it from Other Music.)

Tracy and the Plastics “Henrietta” – Though I am sure that something is indeed lost by not having ever experienced Tracy and The Plastics’ performance art, which centers on Wynne Greenwood interacting with her fictional video bandmates as she sings her songs, the music on her records is often good enough to stand on its own without the visual component or the somewhat cringe-inducing art school thesis statement. “Henrietta” is a fine bit of dark electronic pop which reminds me quite a bit of PJ Harvey during her Is This Desire? period. (Click here to buy it from Other Music.)

Also: Catchdubs has an exclusive Hollertronix mash-up of Radiohead’s “Sit Down Stand Up” and Lil Flip’s “Game Over” which you can download directly from this link (for some reason, I can’t direct link to the Catchdubs entry). Most Radiohead mash-ups tend to be pretty weak, but this one works for me. Nice stuff. While you’re at Catchdubs, be sure to grab the MP3 of Ciara’s “Goodies,” which is pretty damn excellent too.

Elsewhere: Scissorkick is another new MP3 blog with a sharp design and an eclectic mix of music, audio, and video content.

Tonight I Leave It Up To You

Spektrum “Kinda New” – Nearly all of the reviews that I’ve read about the Spektrum record namecheck DFA and a wide range of punk-funk artists both new and old, and though I can hear some tangental relationship to that sort of music on Enter The Spektrum, by far the best songs from the LP owe more to straight up dance pop and modern r&b than anything else. “Kinda New” could easily pass as being a dance remix of a track by a nu-soul r&b singer following in the footsteps of Angie Stone, Jill Scott, and Erykah Badu. The vocals are competant if a bit generic, but the real draw here is the light, subdued funk of the track itself. The whole thing sounds so amazingly understated and spare, with several melodic, rhythmic, and textural elements flowing together perfectly in a way that doesn’t sound the least bit busy in spite of its relative complexity. From start to finish, “Kinda New” feels as though it is gliding along several feet above the ground, eventually gaining maximum altitude during a brief synth solo halfway through which recalls “Head” from Prince’s Dirty Mind. (Click here to buy it from Other Music.)

Gang Gang Dance “Rugs Of Prayer” – This is a selection from They Keep Me Smiling, a super limited edition compilation/art book put together by Hisham Bharoocha, formerly of the band Black Dice. Gang Gang Dance are a somewhat mysterious collective of musicians from NYC who specialize in spooky art music which straddles the line separating goth and avant rock. Basically, this sounds like The Slits with all of the goofy fun and sex removed. I realize that sounds like a condemnation, but it’s good stuff on its own terms, I promise. Play it at your next séance! (Click here to buy it from Social Registry.)

Two more new MP3 blogs: A Million Love Songs is focused on teen pop love songs, and Supervixxen covers a fairly wide range of UK chart pop. I am happy to see a lot of very pop-oriented MP3 blogs turn up, but I’m a bit worried for them, since I think that their chances of getting in trouble with record labels is far greater than that of blogs focusing on more obscure material. Still, the best of luck to them.

We Are Blessed And Complete

Sia “Where I Belong (Red Astaire Remix)” – This is the latest mix from Swedish producer Red Astaire, and it could be his best remix to date. Astaire sets Sia’s quiet ballad against the backdrop of a pimp-funk bassline, a disco beat, and plaintive saxophone to great effect, far surpassing the source material. This is going to be released on the forthcoming single for “Where I Belong,” due out in July in the UK.

Greyboy Vs. Quantic (featuring Sharon Jones) “Gotta Be Your Love” – I promise you that you cannot sit still while listening to this; the grooves are just too strong to resist. On this track, California’s Greyboy teams up with Brighton’s soul funk king Quantic and Daptone Records’ brilliant Sharon Jones for one of the finest modern soul tunes that I’ve heard in a long time. (Click here to buy it directly from the label.)

I wish that I could say something better about these two songs, but I’m at a loss today. Both of these songs definitely deserve a better write-up than this! The same goes for the Armand Van Helden track from yesterday – all of these songs are very, very new to me, and I haven’t thought very much about them aside from “brilliant awesome perfect yeah yeah yeah!”

Elsewhere: Into The Groove is the new MP3 blog from the author of the Dirrrty Pop site. As you may have guessed, the emphasis of this blog is on bright and shiny contemporary pop tunes.

Also: If there is anyone in the NYC area who needs a ticket for tomorrow night’s sold out Scissor Sisters show at the Bowery Ballroom, drop me a line. I’ve got an extra.

Here Time Is Ending, Here I’m Gonna Stay

Clinic “Falstaff” – I am beginning to wonder if Clinic are working on some kind of conceptual project of making modular pop. Walking With Thee felt as though the band was rewriting their own material, but there was enough distinct about those songs to make it seem that it was only a coincidence and that they were just being themselves.

Songs from Winchester Cathedral often seem as though the impulse to rework parts from previous material has become deliberate rather than accidental or habitual. The most obvious example is “The Magician,” which sounds like the groove of “Welcome” has been spliced with the melodica style of “The Equalizer,” with only some vague nod to klezmer as a new element. It could just be my imagination, but at least three songs from this new record make reference to the previous album’s “Sunlight Bathes Our Home.” Some new sounds and techniques differentiate Winchester Cathedral from its predecessors (mainly the use of simple piano on several tracks, and a greater range of percussive sounds and effects), but it does not add enough novelty to make the record feel like anything more than a less enthusiastic version of what they’ve already done.

“Falstaff” is a major exception on the album. Though Clinic have written other tunes in the same light jazzy balladic style, the song’s sweet, romantic melody and heavily reverbed guitar refrains stand out as the most memorable parts of the entire record.

Armand Van Helden featuring Spalding Rockwell “Hear My Name” (Radio Edit) – This brilliant rock/house hybrid is running in a dead heat with Gene Serene’s “Electric Dreams” as being my favorite electropop tune of this year so far. The song is the new single from Van Helden’s New York: A Mix Odyssey compilation, which mixes some of his own compositions and newer selections along with obvious classics from Blondie, Yazoo, Soft Cell, and Wire (via Klonhertz). (Click here to buy it.)

Neo-Miyako “My Nuthin Babe” – As with Fujiya & Miyagi, this is not a Japanese group, but rather a bunch of white guys from Brighton. Neo-Miyako specialize in catchy, high-gloss electro-rock, not unlike that one great single that Richard X did with the Sugababes. Great stuff. (Click here to buy a compilation featuring this track.)

Elsewhere: Kittytext is a new MP3 blog with an emphasis on folk and country. Bumrocks offers a new twist on the MP3 blog format: no writing, all tunes.

Good Natured Fun

Castro “I’m Related To U” – As far as I know, Castro have not yet officially released anything, but this furious punk number was slated to appear (along with a few other songs being posted this week) on the Under The Beach, A Heart Attack compilation put together by Nikon and K of Brighton’s premier club night, It Came From The Sea. I’m not exactly sure why, but this song sounds a lot like a more visceral, intense version of early Afghan Whigs to me. Feel free to tell me that I’ve lost my mind if you disagree.

Excerpt from “The Right Perspective”, May 7th 2004 – This was recorded from shortwave radio by WFMU’s The Professor. If you think that Fox News and conservative talk radio is extreme, hateful, and totally unreasonable, then your mind will be blown by what gets out over shortwave. The on-air style is not that different from their AM and FM dial counterparts, but right wing hosts on shortwave always go a few steps beyond the pale and launch into the kind of white supremacist rants and hysterical conspiracy theorizing that could never make it out over the more strictly regulated and advertiser-dependent commercial airwaves. In the case of this excerpt, the host suggests that the torture and humiliation of the prisoners at Abu Ghraib was nothing more than “a college hazing, good natured fun to help build the morale of our soldiers.”

Mixing Cocktails With A Plastic-Tipped Cigar

Blue Minkies “You Make Me Blush” – This is the latest single from Brighton’s The Blue Minkies, whose aesthetic is a charming throwback to early 90s DIY both in terms of sound (it seems as though their favorite bands in the world are Huggy Bear and Bikini Kill) and style (an emphasis on old school indie zine making.) “You Make Me Blush” is a fun bit of UK punk built around a persistent, high pitched toy keyboard vamp which is almost as ingratiating as it is headache-inducing.

Pavement “Perfect Depth/She Believes/Summer Babe” (Live at the Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, 1994) – Here’s a little treat for all of the Pavement junkies out there. In addition to just being a great performance from a significant period of their career (just after the release of Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain and the addition of drummer Steve West to the line-up), this recording is notable for two things. First, “Perfect Depth” was rarely played live, and whenever it was performed, it was in a more conventional arrangement which allowed the lyrics to be intelligable and the vocal melody to be the focus of the song rather than feedback and white noise. Second, this version of “She Believes” features Stephen Malkmus playing the guitar part from the Sun City Girls’ “Space Prophet Dogon” (one of my all-time favorite songs, incidentally) over the lengthy intro.

If you’re a fan of the band, I recommend picking up a copy of Rob Jovanovic’s book Perfect Sound Forever, which was just released a little over a week ago. As a Pavement fanatic, I found it to be pretty satisfying even though it didn’t add all that much to what I already knew. The most exciting thing for me (aside from a few great anecdotes courtesy of Bob Nastanovich) was the ephemera printed throughout the book – several dozen zine reviews from the 89-92 period, print ads, alternate tracklistings, college radio charts, business correspondence, the entire venue rider for the 1999 tour. If you are the least bit nerdy about this band, then this book is a must-have.

Elsewhere: Mystery & Misery is another new mp3 blog with an emphasis on indie and experimental music.

Also: The Fiery Furnaces talk about their influences in the Guardian.

The Fiery Furnaces’ next project is even based on the Who’s mini-rock opera The Who Sell Out. “Our forthcoming album is a bunch of seven- to eight-minute songs with varying degrees of incoherent stories, so it’s a narrative set to music, just like The Who Sell Out,” says Matthew. “We’re happy to imitate other bands. On Gallowsbird’s Bark, we tried, unsuccessfully, to imitate the first album by [1960s Brazilian rockers] Os Mutantes, Taking Tiger Mountain by Brian Eno, and The Madcap Laughs by Syd Barrett.”

(Thanks to Parallax View.)

Brighton The Corners

Apropos of nothing at all, this shall be my first themed week on Fluxblog. Each day this week I shall be posting at least one song by an artist from Brighton, England, which is an emerging hot spot for indie-pop culture. I don’t have any special reason for doing this, other than that I have a stockpile of songs by mostly unknown and/or unsigned acts from that city, and I thought that it might be fun to give them all exposure at once.

Fujiya & Miyagi “Electro Karaoke” – Fujiya & Miyagi is a somewhat misleading name for this duo of white British guys playing electro krautrock. This is taken from their debut LP Electro Karaoke In The Negative Style, which was released on Massive Advance in 2002. The song is a bit of a grower – it’s a pretty subtle groove, and it doesn’t fully kick in until after about two and a half minutes have passed.

Shrag “Punk Grammar” – This is a rerun for those of you who were reading this blog back in February, but I couldn’t start off a week about Brighton without bringing up Shrag, who are one of the most promising (and cute) bands from that city. This song, which has not yet been officially released, is a catchy electropunk grammar lesson with cute, shouty vocals about verbs, adjectives, and infinitives.

Elsewhere: Bang & Burn is a new MP3 blog which is launching today with a tribute to Abba, Bananarama, and the Eurovision Song Contest – all in one song!

Also: Livejournal users should note that they have the option of syndicating this site to their friends page.

And: Those of you who have not yet heard The Fiery Furnaces’ brilliant Blueberry Boat should head on over to TTIKTDA, where two songs from the album (including my personal favorite, “Inspector Blancheflower”) have been posted for a limited time.

Flowers In My Hand, A Diamond Into Sand

Gabriel & Bibi “Oh La La La (Original Mix)” – I don’t know very much about this German duo, and as far as I know, this is from their only 12″ to date. It’s a very soothing and hypnotic bit of techno pop, with one of the best false-ending breaks that I’ve heard in a long time. File under: I Can’t Believe It’s Not French. (Click here to buy it.)

Träd, Gräs och Stenar “Dibio” – This is a selection from the Swedish avant/psych/folk band’s 1972 LP Djungelns Lag, and it sounds a little bit like a bunch of happy little elves working in a factory. Very odd, very charming. (Click here to buy the record from Other Music.)

Also: Heavy is reintroducing their House Of Heavy subscription service. For what comes down to about $3 per month, they will send you a copy of their monthly Sumosonic cd (sometimes there’s a dvd too), which is easily the best sampler series going since the heyday of CMJ. I’ve found some great new stuff via these samplers in the past; their taste isn’t that far off from my own.

Give A Little Kick With Your Fine Thigh High

Ce’Cile “Hot Like We” – When does Ce’Cile get to have her hit? This is her second amazing single this year (the first one was based on the Cure riddim, this one is built on the Red Alert riddim) – something has got to give. There’s no reason for this not to be huge. Sean Paul’s singles aren’t even half as catchy as this AND he’s kind of an ugly guy and he’s able to have huge pop crossover hits. Surely there must be some major label out there that can push Ce’Cile over the top! It’s only (divine) right. (Click here to buy it.)

Metric “Wet Blanket” – I’ve been into this song for a while now, but I kept forgetting about it, even on a few days when I was having difficulty figuring out what to post on this blog. Keith Harris wrote a bit about Metric the other day, which prompted me to reinvestigate their album and read some of their press, and I’m very glad about that. This is certainly a case in which getting a better idea of the personality and intentions of the artist enhances my enjoyment of the material. From what I’ve read thus far, I quite like Emily Haines as a pop character. She’s very dynamic, she has a great sense of style, and I like what she has to say. If all of pop worked as an American Idol-style democracy, I’d vote for her. I think that we all could use a good post-indie (indie as aesthetic ideology) indie (indie as genre, circa mid-90s) pop star right about now. (Buy it directly from the band.)

Elsewhere: Lost Bands Of The New Wave Era is another brand new mp3 blog whose mission statement is to showcase “great bands that never made it – but should have.”

Elsewhere, Part 2: Radio Babylon is doing the MP3 blog thing too, with an emphasis on electronic pop.

Also: If you would like to hear the twelve minute “director’s cut” of the On The Media “MP3J” story, you can download an MP3 or listen to an audio stream of it on this site.

Every Song I Dance To Is Magic

Kelley Polar Quartet “The Rhythm Touch” – Best known for his work with Morgan Geist and Metro Area, Kelley Polar is a master of symphonic disco who grew up as a child prodigy in Croatia and went on to be expelled from Julliard following a riot that broke out at his Master’s Recital. “The Rhythm Touch” is an instant-classic of its subgenre, with its gorgeous string and vocal melodies floating above a memorable electro bassline and midtempo house backbeat. The arrangement feels at once airy and ethereal, as well as sensuous and physical. (Click here to buy the single directly from the label.)

Blood On The Wall “On My Mouth” – The songs on Blood On The Wall’s debut album are divided up between a male singer and a female singer. I like a number of groups with multiple singers, but I’ve never come across a band in which the difference between the two frontpeople was so stark and dramatic that it seemed as though two totally unrelated bands were sharing space on one record.

The male singer, Brad Shanks, focuses on frenetic, wild rock tunes, and sings as though he’s Ad Rock from the Beastie Boys doing a Neil Haggerty impression. His songs aren’t particularly good, and at his worst, I just want to shut him up. The female singer, Courtney Shanks (his sister, not his wife) specializes in songs with very spare arrangements built around a rumbling low bassline. She sounds woozy and dazed every time she’s on mic. Since I spent my formative years listening to Sonic Youth, whispery drug girl vocals + low bass rumble = incredibly hott and sexy to me. I can’t help but to love her songs on the record. Start your own band, Courtney! (Buy it directly from the label.)

Elsewhere: The Lusitania is another new MP3 blog with some pretty well-written non-MP3 content thrown in for good measure.

Also: WFMU’s Kenny G will be broadcasting the entirety of last week’s Friends finale on his show today. The episode will be digitally stretched out to fill Kenny’s three hour time slot. If you’re curious, or want to inflict a special kind of torture upon your colleagues in the neighboring cubicles, you can check it out streaming live on the internet starting at 3 PM. An archive of the program will be available tomorrow.

Pink Bubblegum Snapping In My Ear

A.C. Newman “The Town Halo” – This is taken from The Slow Wonder, which is essentially a solo album for Carl Newman, if you (quite reasonably) think of The New Pornographers as being his main gig in spite of that band’s “supergroup” origins. The Slow Wonder is a pretty accurate title for the record – most of the record is low key, and even the catchiest tunes from this set seem like “growers” compared to the bright and shiny joycore pop of Newman’s New Pornographers compositions. There isn’t anything on the record which I dislike, but on some of the quieter numbers I find myself wondering if I’d even bother giving the song a second listen if it wasn’t by the guy who wrote “The Laws Have Changed” and “It’s Only Divine Right.”

I’m not sure if “mellow strum-pop” is the right mode for Newman – it’s a little like seeing an attractive friend wear an outfit that doesn’t flatter their looks. You just want to take them aside and say “no, no honey, that top is all wrong for you!” Newman is at his best when he’s piling multiple hooks on top of an up-tempo track, and though he does indulge in this on a few of the songs (“The Town Halo,” “Secretarial”) The Slow Wonder generally comes off as being reduced-hook New Pornographers Lite. (Buy it directly from the label.)

Mixel Pixel “Pink Shirts” – Built on a bed of simple drum machine presets and lit only by the lcd glow of cheap keyboards, this song glides along with a grace which belies its modest DIY construction. Whereas lesser indie groups play up the obsolescence of 80s keyboards for cheap kitsch, Mixel Pixel clearly works hard to get the best sound from their equipment, as if to prove that good pop can still be made on this chintzy old gear. The semi-goth/New Romantic vocals doesn’t hurt, either. (Buy it directly from the artist.)

Knowing Makes Me Scared, But I’m Not Sure Why

Mathémathiques Modernes “Disco Rough” – This is a breathtaking bit of streamlined French new wave/”cold wave” circa 1981 from the French/American Celluloid label. Stereolab fans may note a striking similarity to the song “Emperor Tomato Ketchup,” which I am sure is not at all accidental given Stereolab’s history of rampant, tasteful appropriation.

Judys “Mental Obsession” – This is a lovely, minimal, guitar-free ode to some amazing dude that the singer doesn’t just want to get to know better, but also emulate completely. This song is taken from the Houston band’s 1981 LP Washarama.

Also: For those of you who may be interested, I did go to see the Clinic show on Saturday night, but I didn’t see Clinic because they were going on very late, and I would’ve risked missing the last train out of Manhattan if I were to stick around. It’s probably for the best that I left early anyway – I wasn’t feeling well at all, and my stamina was already starting to fade when the first opening act hit the stage. According to my friend who stayed and watched the show, I really didn’t miss anything special (just a pretty typical Clinic show with more or less the same setlist that they’ve been playing for two or three years now), so that’s good to know.

Elsewhere: Word In The Alleys is another new mp3 blog. They are primarily focused on Pitchfork-y indie fare at the moment, but they seem like nice lads and have a pleasant way with words. I appreciate that while a lot of people are just starting to get excited about the new Wilco album, they went and posted songs from the last one. You zig, they zag.

We Are The Last Teenagers

Clinic “Kimberley” (live at WFMU) – Right now I am trying to figure out whether or not I should see Clinic at Southpaw in Brooklyn tomorrow evening. I have a ticket, but I have a few good reasons for sitting this out. For one, I’ve developed an aggravating chest cold which has reduced me to a hoarse-voiced phlegm machine. I am not sure when this show will be over (though it can’t be too late, since it seems that Clinic absolutely refuse to play sets any longer than 40 minutes), and so I do not know if I will be able to catch the last train home, and I have not set up a place to stay if I were to be stranded overnight. I really would prefer not to stay at someone else’s place, because I very rarely sleep well when I do. Clinic will be performing a lot of new material from their forthcoming Winchester Cathedral LP, which is both a good and a bad thing – I’m very curious to hear the new stuff, but I generally can’t get into hearing unfamiliar songs played live. It’s just not as fun for me. I’m on the fence right now. Talk me into it/out of it, folks. The power is in your hands.

Shampoo “Viva La Megababes” – I’m a bit amazed that I’ve never posted a Shampoo song on this blog before today. Shampoo were a duo of teenage girls from England who scored a series of cheesy, glossy, sassy teen pop hits in the UK and Japan in the mid-90s. “Viva La Megababes” is the apotheosis of their aesthetic; a mix of flamboyant self-aggrandizement (“we’re blonde haired teenage terminators!”) and bratty put-downs (“hippy chicks are sad and supermodels suck!”) set to hyperpop candy rock. It should hardly come as a surprise that Shampoo are among the all-time top selling pop acts in Japanese history.

Scala Choir “I Touch Myself” – I can barely contain my enthusiasm for this song! I hadn’t seriously thought about this Divinyls tune in years, especially since the original has become a kitsh touchstone, but this recording by a choir of teenage girls from Belgium is a revelation. I had no idea how amazing this song was, but then I don’t think that the original presented the melody and lyrical content with as much grace and emotion as this version. Something about this arrangement sweeps me up in the sentiment every time I hear it, and my heart just melts whenever I hear them sing the line “a fool could see how much I adore you.” This recording captures the incredible, irrational rush of intense young love perfectly, perhaps moreso than anything that I’ve ever heard. The Scala Choir have covered a wide range of contemporary pop songs (including “Bittersweet Symphony,” “With Or Without You,” “Every Breath You Take,” “Under The Bridge,” “Exit Music (For A Film),” “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head,” and “Smells Like Teen Spirit”) to great effect, but nothing comes close to this. This is a truly special recording. (Click here to buy it.)

Gene Serene “Electric Dreams” – I’m very enthusiastic about this one too. Though it’s not quite as intense as the Scala Choir song, this is a pretty ecstatic tune in its own right. As it stands right now, this is my favorite electropop song thus far in 2004. Sometimes I can feel like Goldilocks sorting through bowls of porridge when I’m going through dance pop singles, but this song is just right. This is taken from Gene Serene‘s debut EP Electric Dreams, which is just about to be released in the UK.

Elsewhere: Phonequail presents The Weeping Mule, a series of longform audio collages compiling a wide range of found audio and music samples. The first in the series centers on the autistic, and the second includes historic station ids and audblog entries. A new collage including recordings of conference calls is forthcoming.