1. Stars of the Lid – The Atomium Part One (5:32)
2. 1 Mile North – The Sick (6:13)
3. Fahey, John – A Raga Called Pat, Part IV (4:28)
4. Ethiopiques – Teshome Meteku / Hasabe (3:58)
5. Nick Drake – From The Morning (2:30)
6. Numbers, The – Track 08 (3:53)
7. Postal Service, The – Such Great Heights (4:26)
8. Stereolab – Emperor Tomato Ketchup (4:37)
9. Aimee Mann – Save Me (4:35)
10. Animal Collective, The – Prospect Hummer (4:40)
11. Belle & Sebastian – Judy And The Dream Of Horses (3:40)
12. Broadcast – The World Backwards (4:00)
13. Charles Mingus – Fable Of Faubus (8:13)
14. Erykah Badu – I Want You (10:53)
15. DJ Shadow – Midnight In A Perfect Wo (9:50)
16. Gas – Klang (6:06)
17. De La Soul – A Roller Skating Jam Called Saturdays (4:01)
18. Dinosaur Jr. – The Lung (3:53)
19. Young Mens Department – Twenty-Sided Die Suite (5:45)
20. Daniel Johnston – The Sun Shines Down On Me (2:03)
21. Marvin Gaye – Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) (3:07)
22. Modern Lovers, The – Old World (4:03)
23. Pinback – Tripoli (4:30)
24. Shins, the – Know Your Onion! (2:29)
25. Talk Talk – Eden (7:40)
Here are some of the tracks as an iMix.
Here are some songs I played tonight on WPTS:
You can buy a little less than half of these through iTunes as an iMix
1. Om – At Giza (15:56)
2. Popol Vuh – Aguirre (6:17)
3. Zombi – Sessuale (3:39)
4. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – The Drummer (4:56)
5. Photon Band – Runaways (2:35)
6. Hukkelberg, Hanne – cast anchor (4:15)
7. young marble giants – clicktalk (2:42)
8. Feelies, The РFa C̩ La (2:04)
9. young marble giants – clicktalk (2:42)
10. Vincent Gallo – Her smell theme (Reprise) (2:21)
11. Velvet Crush – Stop (2:20)
12. Major Stars – How To Be (4:35)
13. Developer – Problem (2:22)
14. Neko Case – Dirty Knife (3:18)
15. Richard Bishop – Fingering the Devil (5:49)
16. Mike Tamburo – When I Found My Thrill Way Up High On Unicorn Mountain (5:39)
17. Vashti Bunyan – Hidden (3:23)
18. United States Of America – Coming Down (2:37)
19. Run On – Road (1:41)
20. Scud Mountain Boys – Wichita Lineman (4:02)
21. Colin Hay – I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You (5:17)
22. Daniel Johnston – Living Life (3:25)
23. Yohihito Yano, Saki Kabata – LONELY ROLLING STAR (5:44)
24. Gnarls Barkley – Smiley faces (3:05)
So every time I’m in Mondo Kim’s I end up buying some pretty great music. They have a big used section and tons of vinyl and whatnot, but at least a few times I have purchased something I heard them playing over the incredibly loud PA. Yes, I have braved the condescension of Kim’s employees, interrupting their discussion of going back to caffeine because going off it didn’t make them any more attractive, and asked them what was playing. This has scored me some gems I otherwise would not have ever heard- like the Fallen Angels “Roulette Masters vol 2“- but it has also lead me astray. I don’t know if its my own music buying trance state, the loudness of the music, or what, but everything I hear in there just sounds really good. I heard the Colossal Yes album there on Saturday and it just sounded so damn good! Now that I have sampled it within the confines of my home, on my stereo and in my headphones, I can’t help but feel I was mislead, as this record is not so much more than a very average bit of cheesy piano rock played without any flare or even technical skill. Damn you Mondo Kim!
On another musical note (pun intended?), I’ve been listening to A Wizard/ A True Star, by Sir Todd and I must say that it is the overrated, overindulged, claptrap of an incredibly talented musician too caught up in the trappings of success (read drugs) to accomplish anything of substance, but put out something “progressive” and/or experimental to hide the fact that there are very few complete musical thoughts. Just One Victory is pretty great though.
Did anyone else (not) notice the Grammys this year? It’s like they somehow admitted to the world that they’re relevant only to old people. U2 eclipse Mariah Carey!? What world is this?
Technorati Tags: grammys, music
The music of Roy Montgomery will probably be seen as a bit anomalous, a blip on the radar of the already tiny musical phenomenon- which someone is no doubt chronicling (and has chronicled) in great deal- known as New Zealand. He wood likely fall closer to the Dead C. side of the spectrum as opposed to say, the Clean side. I think he pretty much stands alone, though.
Though my favorite Montgomery album in terms of start to finish wholeness is probably Temple IV, Scenes from the South Island contains my favorite song- Twilight Conversation.
Read the rest of this entry »
Pitchfork has a great interview with M.I.A.today. Read it!
After days of worry, hair pulling and general malaise, I have compiled my top 20 albums of the year. I was originally going to go with 10, but it simply does not suffice. This is merely a list of my favorite records, regardless of context or perceived cultural worth, so please keep that in mind.
Read on….
Read the rest of this entry »
Drag City‘s splash page features this familiar image:
What can be said. John Peel was a huge influence on me and I hardly ever heard him. The man had some preternatural ability to pick up on a buzz before practically anyone. Case in point: He was playing the Modey Lemon before their first album even came out. This is just a small local example though. As a kid, “Peel Sessions” were to me some kind of mythic thing that only the greatest of bands could achieve. I did get to listen to his show once streaming radio became a reality, and he never failed to surprise. Rest in Peace, Mr. Peel. I’m sure there will never be another DJ quite like you.
Do you know what I really hate? I mean really really hate? Synth orchestras!
The Flaming Lips are highly guilty of the use of such abominations on the later records. But you know who else is? FARSCAPE. AND IT DESTROYS MY BRAIN. Farscape is filled with such creativity, it takes me right out of the show almost every time they turn up the synth horns and strings at some melodromatic moment. Now don’t get me wrong, synthesized classical instruments have come a long way, but why would a show like Farscape, a show with such talent and imagination, rely so heavily on traditional forms, forms that are then weakened by bad synthetic reproduction. Would it be so much to consider the use of a synthesizer that doesn’t sound like its trying to reproduce other sounds. Look at the Sci-Fi soundtracks of the late 70′s/ early 80′s- Blade Runner, etc. People may think the Vangelis score is over the top, but it definitely adds to the otherworldly-ness of the piece. Is it so much to ask to have the people who score the show try and come up with something as creative as the show’s visuals, while maintaining the need to accent the show’s melodrama? Surely it can’t be that hard. In a show that seems to pride itself on bucking Sci-Fi convention, the score consistently supsends my suspension of disbelief and makes my mind look at Farscape like its just another crappy Sci-Fi Channel program. Too bad.
I watched most of the Errol Morris documentary The Fog of War, and take from it two things:
1) Errol morris should have stuck to letting McNamara just talk it out, as what he said was a lot more interesting than the arty footage he interspersed it with, though the taped recordings of him talking to kennedy and LBJ were amazing.
And what was with him yelling suggestions to McNamara during the taping. A little indulgent if you ask me. It is not suprising that the geeky “Ipod makes me feel powerful” switcher kid is Errol Morris’ son.
2) Phillip Glass is a hack. His “minimalism” is an excuse to exploit simplicity and cliche. Perhaps I need to listen to “Einstein on the Beach” or something, but I have never enjoyed anything by him, excepting of course his turn on the original South Park Christmas Special*.
After listening to Chris Bell’s I am the Cosmos, I can finally say for sure that my favorite part of Big Star left after the first album.
I somehow completely forgot about the Wolf Eyes show last night, even though I’d was totally psyched for it all day. I am getting old.
Companies are very quick to diss apple for using its own music formatting. Leaving aside the fact that AAC and Fairplay are open standards, all of these comapanies are missing the point. Granted, their business models depend on the success of their subscription and pay-to-play download schemes, so their business models themselves are missing the point. The point being: Apple makes its money off of iPods. People own iPods to play mp3s they’ve either grabbed off the net or ripped from their collections. The ITunes Music Store is merely the (not-so-sweet) icing on the cake. Should it become profitable, Apple will benefit. Should it not (more likely), they’ll still be making money off of ipods and the fact that they play back non-DRM’d music formats.
Apparently no one realizes this but Apple, who introduced iTunes and iPods under the notion that people should be able to use the music they already own as they please. Companies like Real (245 million dollars of debt in the last 3 years) are trying to jump on what they perceive as a gravy train. In truth, the pay-to-play music market has already reached saturation. I believe that these stores will never replace free downloads nor will they replace brick and mortar retailers. They may get a decent amount of business, but not to the degree that 20 or so online sources will be able to succeed. Walmart may prove an interesting case.
Wake up!
Peep my reviews for several mediocre to good records at Fakejazz.
I brought my pads home for thanksgiving hoping to get some quality DDR time in. Not only did I get it, but Cody and his friends took to it like syrup to HOTCAKES. Mad DDRing was had until the wee hours of the morning on Thursday and Friday. Favorite song? Kind Lady
that the new Strokes Album really sucks? Style goes a long way in rock’n'roll but with this album they very quickly succeeded in removing all content outside of said style. Not that I expected them to ever be able to come close to the little gem that is The Modern Age, but this shitstorm gets them on the cover of rolling stone?
Whats up with The Ladytron putting out a mix cd? Can I put one out too? How does a band get to put out a compilation of music they like? Those degenerate pricks!
Speaking of degenerates, I picked up the Michel Gondry DVD this weekend. It is unfortunately not complete, but it has a lot of really amazing work and is utterly hilarious. Some of the videos interpret music so literally it is like you are watching the music play out before you, yet in a way you’d never considered. Great great great stuff. Spike Jonze’s real name is Adam Spiegel.
