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Dirty Boston Water

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So a few of the readers here may be from Boston. A lot probably aren’t. Well, if you’re unaware, the city of Boston lost its clean water supply for about four days due to a breach in a pipe that delivered water to Boston and many of its suburbs. Well, we have our water back. And now that “aquapocalypse” – as some termed it – is over, the jokes aren’t going to stop. This blog entry, included.

The first song will be familiar to anyone that’s gone to Fenway Park and stuck around after the Red Sox won the game. Below is your introduction.

Recognize the song? Most people probably wouldn’t. That song is “Dirty Water” by the Standells, a garage rock band hailing from LA. Now, considering all that’s gone on here in Boston since this BS started on Saturday, how great would it have been to be there at Fenway Park on Monday after they won? And to hear that song? Hilarity would have ensued. Personally, I nearly brought a couple of water bottles down to the grocery store with a lawnchair and would have rolled them down the aisle to watch people fight over them. Turns out the joke’s on all those morons that cleared out the shelves of all bottled water in the mass panic you knew would ensue. ‘Never mind, water was safe all along’ was the headline on the Boston.com front page today. So here’s “Dirty Water”.


Download The Standells – Dirty Water

Next up is just a song that is freakin’ amazeballs. For real. It’s like you all could slow dance to this bastard back in the mid ’80’s and it would have fit in. Even better? The group’s name is 100% fitting for this post. Double win! Washed Out is the name of the group. This track is just unreal. Just take a listen to this one. Right now my early favorite for best track this year. Really.


Download Washed Out – Feel It All Around

“Well I love that dirty water! Ooohhhh Boston, you’re my home!” Damn right! Now go buy stuff!

What luck!

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The title sort of describes it all. This past Sunday, I ended up with a free ticket to see the Gipsy Kings. Right place, right time, essentially. So I got to enjoy a free night of music, and it sort of inspired this post. I had heard a bit of their stuff in the past, but wasn’t super familiar with them. The standards they played that I had heard were “Volare” and “Hotel California”.

Well, during the show, I did the usual with some music talk with the women who had given me these tickets. One group I brought up with them that they may like was the Afrobeat group Antibalas. They certainly have a unique sound, but if you actually listen closely, there are definite similarities between them. It’s no different than how we as humankind have evolved to become so diverse. Music has a distinct source or set of sources, although the latter is more likely. The melding of those sources helps music develop and grow. The same can be said for language. Language most likely developed from not just a single source, but from many, although that is something that will never truly have a solution.

Here, we have two groups from different times. Also with two different backgrounds of inspiration. However, one can certainly find strong similarities in general sound, but the quirks are what set them apart. Gipsy Kings have a strong influence from the flamenco stylings. What’s pretty telling about the aforementioned similarities is that this style is typically found in only one region of Spain – Andalusia. Oddly enough, this region is closest to the African continent, and while it doesn’t fully explain its origin, it could have been inspired by music from African sounds and stylings, but could have developed from earlier sounds in Africa.

With Antibalas, we’re talking a style of music that is often called “afrobeat” which has developed from Nigerian sounds and were pioneered by the well known Nigerian artist Fela Kuti. We’re all certainly influenced by earlier sounds, and Kuti is certainly no different. If we’re to suspect that he didn’t suddenly create this sound on his own, but put together an amalgamation of these sounds to create sort of a “remix”, as you may, then we can also again go back to the point that this sound migrated South to Nigeria. This, combined with the migratory tendencies of music and language together tells me we could probably infer that we’re looking at the creation of a specific music style in Central or North Africa long ago, and with its migration, the evolution of its sound to what we hear from these two bands. It’s honestly a fascinating thing to me. To study where we came from or where our ways of communicating came from. So here I present a song from each group. I have given “Volare” by the Gipsy Kings and “I.C.E.” by Antibalas.


Download Gipsy Kings – Volare


Download Antibalas – I.C.E.

And go download this stuff! Do that learnin’ stuff!

So bad, it’s awesome

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This is going to be a brief one. I have to say I love the bootleg house remixes. A lot. I mean it. I heart the good bootlegs. Two of these are from the same EP. One of them? I have no clue about it and just heard it today. The last of the four? Is one I used to beat to death when I was still DJing.

The first two were done by Kaskade. Somehow, that man has blown up. And it’s not pretty. He’s helping to now make some pretty crappy electronic music. It’s sad, really. A basic attempt to make money. And he’s bought into it. Well, we can remember the good times. These are two off of the Lake Geneva EP. They are remixes of “Invisible Sun” by The Police and “Much Too Late” by Julian Lennon. They are what they are. Simple, fun bootlegs. So enjoy!

Download The Police – Invisible (Kaskade remix)

Download Julian Lennon – Much Too Late (Kaskade remix)

Next up is one I just heard. And it’s really pretty bad in a cheesy way. If anyone is old enough to remember Christopher Cross, you may cringe now. This is a remix I found of “Ride Like The Wind” that is just so damn awful that it’s good. I would play this in a set just to fuck with people. It would be funny if it filled a dancefloor. And come on. It’s fucking Michael McDonald on background vocals. That alone should make you happy.

Download Christopher Cross – Ride Like The Wind (Layman remix)

The last one is a legitimately great bootleg. It’s one I picked up almost ten years ago on wax. Hall and Oates’ “Can’t Go For That” and we’re still trying to figure out who did it. A friend of mine says it was probably the artist known as Illicit, but that’s not certain. This is a seriously awesome track. You all should download this one ASAP.

Download Hall and Oates – I Can’t Go For That (2001 White Label remix)

So there you have it! House music goodness! Now go buy some stuff.

The reason my molars are so broken

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Please don’t put your face into your hands we could be friends.

This is an amazing album. I am quite satisfied with the music I have discovered this far in 2010, even if half of it was produced in 09… Yeah, 09. Mookie and I are both bummed that we didn’t “hear of them first.”

Maybe we should move to the east coast, where all this great hipster music is coming from.

Nah.

“I’d rather live in Bend, not know anything, drink tea, and look at the water,” I told Mookie. We will, one day.

And since you are my friend I would ask that you lower me down slow and tell the man in the black cloak he doesn’t need to trouble his good soul with those Latin conjugations

It’s all good though. The album just recently dropped, on April 13. So probably none of your friends know about them yet. Go check them out: FREELANCE WHALES. The album is called Weathervanes.

Download Freelance Whales – Kilojoules

So I’ve arranged for your phobias to be performed by a string quartet

Some of these catchy lyrics… They make the non carbonated Neuro Sleep I am currently pounding come out of my nose. These are lyrics in the same vein as Death Cab For Cutie… This “simple complicated lyrics” styling that I have such a thing for.

Don’t fix my smile; life is long enough…A few more of the quite brilliant postmortem instructions being doled out in the song “Generator Second Floor”…

I love this album. I love these sounds they make, what with the use of glockenspiel, guitars, banjos, tambourines, harmonium… Laptops too… Cello… You know how we love a cello… And you know how we love bands that use ridiculously-named instruments like bing carbon telephones and microkorgs.

Oh, and could this be the best part of the album? Check out this album art.

Right?

Here is what you need to know about Freelance Whales. I am pulling this off of their MySpace page:

Freelance Whales found one another in late 2008, in Queens, amidst a strange amalgam of unfamiliar instruments, and precariously arranged pop songs. Using whatever musical gadgets they happened upon (mostly harmonium, banjo, glockenspiel, synthesizers, guitars, bass, drums, waterphone), the five members worked at crafting songs with interlocking rhythmic patterns, lush textural layering, and an engaged group-vocal energy. The result is their debut LP, weathervanes, whose songs work at evoking a sense of dislocation, or sensory disorientation. They invite the human spirit to exit the body, if only for brief moments. Freelance Whales can be spotted in the streets and humble venues of New York City, and in due time, elsewhere.

In due time, indeed. They played at South by Southwest. They’re touring New England right now. They’ll make it to the left coast by the end of May. Then Lollapalooza. Sasquatch.

“Amazingly, Freelance Whales are even more arresting live than they are on record. They exhibit the exuberance of a young band that feels lucky to be sharing ideas with their audience” – Leo Maymind, Earfarm

Check out another favorite, “Ghosting”, performed live for NPR’s All Songs Considered – live at an Austin hotel during SXSW:

And all your little molars cracked under pressure

James Curd Interview!

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So in the past, I had helped George with a website out in Las Vegas that covered the nightlife. Even after moving back to Boston in 2002, I worked out a number of interviews that were posted on the site until it went defunct. One of the many I got the pleasure of talking to was the subject of today’s interview – James Curd of the Greenskeepers.

Some of you guys may know that name from a video that became a viral sensation a few years back. The video was for a song called “Lotion”. Well, in this interview, there is even a pretty damn cool backstory to how that was made. I have left the interview in its entirety here, as it just wouldn’t seem fair to edit out so much when James did put a good amount of work into this! So kick back and enjoy!

Walt Zink – The last time I interviewed you was after the album ‘Pleetch’. What has happened and/or changed since then with the band and the style you’ve gone for?

James Curd – Wow! That was quite a few years ago! Greenskeepers is a band that is forever changing in form and sound. Pleetch was an album I wrote with Mark Share that featured many different artists. At that time Nick Maurer, with whom I started Greenskeepers was living in Germany, though he did appear on two tracks on Pleetch. After Pleetch Nick moved back to Chicago. With him in back in town we toured non-stop and wrote Polo Club. After Polo Club I focused more on my solo career. I think the sound of Greenskeepers is constantly evolving. Each album crosses many genres and I like the fact that audiences can’t put a label on the sound we produce.

WZ – Your video for “Lotion” became somewhat of an internet meme. Did you expect this? What was the thought process when making that song, and how did you get the rights for use of the clips from ‘Silence of the Lambs’ for that video? How hard was is to get and how long did it take to work that out?

JC – The Lotion video was something that I did for fun. I imported the movie footage into final cut and edited it to our song. We put it up on our server (this was before youtube existed) and and after one week it had been downloaded 100,000 times. It wasn’t long after that it reached one million downloads and became a viral hit. I never got the rights to the footage and actually received a fax from Ted Levine (Buffalo Bill himself) ordering me to take it down. I did, but by that time it had already spread and been re-posted everywhere and still is!

WZ – What is the future of Greenskeepers? Are each of the band members doing their own thing? Do you have any new news of future music for our readers?

JC – Greenskeepers has always been a name that represents myself and the artist(s) I collaborate with. I released solo music under Greenskeepers for 3 years during the time I was building the G-Swing sound. Currently I’m releasing a new Greenskeepers album on OM and One Love that I wrote with the other original Greenskeeper, Nick Maurer. The new album is called Live Like You Want To Live and was co-produced by Tommie Sunshine. I have also just finished producing an album featuring Ziggy Franklin. I am currently in the process of mixing it down with Derrick Carter.

WZ – Some DJs or musicians hate this question, but i always feel inclined to ask it: do you have a favorite song that you’ve made and what are the reasons for that song being picked?

JC – I would have to say my favorite song is “Low And Sweet”. It was the first time I experimented with blending swing music into my house production. It was successful around the world and opened the doors for me to DJ internationally.

WZ – Do you prefer DJing or a live gig? What do you find to be the advantages of each? And what about each do you tend to dislike?

JC – I like them both for different reasons. For the most part I don’t have to choose. I usually follow every live show with a DJ set. The live show is really fun and gives me a satisfaction in performing the songs that I have worked hard on in the studio, live on stage. What I love about DJing is that it’s been a passion of mine since I was 15 years old and I have so much fun doing it. I love being able to take the crowd to places they didn’t expect to go and being able to feed off of their energy. I love what I do, and I like to think that it shows in my performances.

——–

So I have to thank James for the time he lent to do this, as well as having the patience with me for occasionally bugging him about it all! He’s a busy guy, as many in this industry are, so I am quite happy he was able to give all of you a glimpse into what he’s up to! Here is a little of what James has provided as a little ear candy for you all!

Download James Curd – Be My Baby

Download James Curd – Egging Houses (DJ Mix)

Download James Curd – Fade In (DJ Mix)

Om Podcast – James Curd (Child’s Play Edition) James just did a mix for the Om Podcast…for just a little bit of info (email/city/state) you can get in on that mix as well! Click the link to check the tracklisting!

And the usual bit applies here. I expect you all to crack open that wallet and buy some shit! Get to it!

On A Wednesday

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Are you ready? HERE WE GO.

Isn’t that what you want a CD to announce when you first hit play? Drum roll, and jive. And groove, and open with a voice that calls it out. And then gives you the idea that you might be able to sing along.

And there you have album gold. It’s a simple formula. I’m almost glad I don’t hear it often enough. And it’s something you think you should hear from a five- or seven-piece band. But Crash Kings is just three men on piano, bass, and drums. It’s gorgeous and delicious. And they don’t stop giving it to you. Every song. Here it is kids we are going to rock it out. I love this CD.

Track 3 is called “It’s Only Wednesday,” which slapped me in the face two ways – the infectious music I was already telling you about, and then the lyrics… What did he just say? Damn. I wrote a poem called it’s only Wednesday a few years ago. No, you don’t get to read it. It’s not like it was good. I don’t think it was even finished. I’m just saying. It’s things like that. Have you had a what did they just say?! moment of incredulity?

Anyway, this self-titled debut album has been out for nearly a year. Maybe you caught one or two of their tunes on the radio. Did you pay attention? Did the dj manage to tell you that you should be? Probably not. They never do. They have ad space to sell, and the advertisers want to hear Smashing Pumpkins and Red Hot Chili Peppers. It is what it is. But at least I’m here now to tell you you must own this album it will change your life.

Buckle in and get you suited up, it’s time to fly.


Download Crash Kings – Come Away

If you need something a little stronger, just say so.


Download Crash Kings – You Got Me

Download Crash Kings – You Got Me

Yes, you heard right. Like I said above, the instruments used in this music consist basically of piano, bass, and drums. Why does it sound SO DAMN BIG?! Well, let me school you just a bit. There’s such thing as a tube powered overdrive bass pedal. As in, vacuum tube. It really enhances the sound of the guitar plugged into it. He also uses multiple amps. Then there’s the clavinet. Yep, a clavinet. It’s still in the piano family – I think! – but it acts like a guitar. It’s not a new concept, and unlike some bands we’ve featured here before… These guys didn’t invent it. In fact, bands from Them Crooked Vultures to Phish to Miles Davis… Rolling Stones, Kansas, Pink Floyd, Sound Garden… You’ve heard a clavinet before.

You need to know more don’t you. Well check out this video. You will be A-frakking-MAZED.

Now you know what’s next.

The. Crash. Kings. YOU LOVE THEM DON’T YOU.

Bring on the summer!!!

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If you also live up here in New England, you know we’ve been getting shafted royally by Mother Nature. Seriously, is that bitch on a perma-period? We here in Massachusetts set a record for the month of March with 14 inches of rain. To put that in perspective, the city of Santa Fe, New Mexico gets 14 inches all year long. Not the best example, maybe, since that’s in a pretty dry climate, but who cares. I tried. I’m nerdy.

Anyhow, I am like so many others up here that are truly sick of rainy, cold weather. I want the summer to come! So I figured I would give you all a little bit of summer in my music post! These are all songs that have to do with summer in some way, shape, or form. A couple are newer. And probably are songs you know pretty well. The other? Is a favorite of mine that I actually have on wax. Actually, now that I think of it? I have another nice little mint piece on wax that will get the posting happiness today, also.

The first two are the newer releases. The first is by Texas band Neon Indian. They started to make a bit of noise late last year, and it turned into an album by the name up Psychic Chasms on the Lefse label. The tour he has going even starts off with a bang! Two tour dates with Massive Attack? Yes, please! Well, this track is summer related, and honestly my favorite from this 21 year old wunderkind. It’s “Deadbeat Summer”.

Download Neon Indian – Deadbeat Summer

Next up is from a band I’ve posted about before. YACHT is now on the DFA label (no surprise there) and they’ve made a full length album entitled See Mystery Lights. I’m still pretty iffy on these guys, but I admit I dig this song, so I think considering the theme of this post today? We can let it all slide. This one’s “Summer Song”.

Download YACHT – Summer Song

Now come the real treats. Well, they are to me. So whatever. And such. Donna Summer? Anyone? And no, not that person calling themselves DJ Donna Summer. This is the legend from the days of disco and excess. Well, this song has been sampled and remixed to death, but nothing really beats the original. It’s her classic track “I Feel Love”. It’s one I picked up dirt cheap and played fairly often. How can you really diss Giorgio Moroder? Well, I’ve got the album version here, as well as the now underground legend of a remix by Glenn Underground. Well, because of some probably obvious issues with releasing a remix and getting rights to samples? This became a white label. It heavily relies on Moroder’s track “The Chase” from the film Midnight Express. This is a brilliant piece of work – remix or not!

Download Donna Summer – I Feel Love

Download Donna Summer – I Feel Love (Glenn Underground remix)

And lastly, just to trip you folks out? How about the video for “Summertime Clothes” by Animal Collective? Yes. Fun times.

Now, go buy some stuff. These guys are bringing you warm vibes. Buying something is the least you could do!

Yep. More Radiohead.

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So it seems this is a trend lately. Radiohead. More Radiohead. A smattering more of some Radiohead. Oh, and some Thom Yorke tossed in for good measure. Well, deal with it! They are pretty much awesome. Not lying. So for this week? Let’s just say I’ve got some lovely stuff for you.

If you ask around, I am sure you will get a varied response as to what a person’s favorite Radiohead song is. I mean, their body of work is ridiculously large, and save for their debut album of Pablo Honey, you will probably hear any number of songs off of any album mentioned as a favorite. For me, it is one song that stands out on an album that – like most of their albums – took a lot of time to grow on me. Kid A really struck me as very different initially. “Idioteque” was one of those songs that blew me away initially, though, and it still does. Last year, deluxe versions of many of their old albums were released, including this one, and there is a wonderful live version of this track on BBC One Sessions. Enjoy it.

Download Radiohead – Idioteque (BBC Radio One Evening Session)

Last week, you’ll recall that I threw a new track by Holy Fuck up on our little corner of the internet. Well, unbeknownst to me, they have remixed the track “Nude” off of their wonderful In Rainbows album. Of all of the remixes I’ve heard, I have gravitated to this one the most. You guys be the judge of this one.

Download Radiohead – Nude (Holy Fuck remix)

And damnit, I love that Idioteque track so much, that I’ve even posted the video for you guys here. Creepy video, but it has a strong message. And hell, considering all that’s out there? I don’t even know if this is the actual music video. Whatever. I like it!

Buy stuff. It’s the American way. Go into debt. That sorta stuff.

I Sold Myself For Way Too Long

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I’m probably older than you are, so when I say that for my entire adult life I have been expressing myself in online forums, this actually says something.

It also means that I am old enough to have heard of TSOL sometime in my life prior to last night at the Bad Religion show. It makes me wonder… when I was trying desperately to listen to punk music when I was a kid, why my cousin Chad never introduced me to True Sounds Of Liberty.

A lot of thoughts float around in my head on a constant basis. If I can’t let them out, I go a little nuts. Facebook and Twitter help alleviate the buildup a bit, but honestly, I need a place to work it out. And piss people off. And shock, and bore, and inform, and protest, and debate. Maybe not debate as much anymore. I think I got a lot of that silliness worked out before turning thirty. Anyway, on the expression front – I don’t think it worked out very well on my personal blog. So I’m corked up again.

Come into my nightmare now you’ve got both sides of me

Download TSOL – Come Into My Nightmare

While I was picking fights and spewing not-quite-fully-formed opinions online in the 90’s, TSOL had already been around for 20 years and had experimented with their own forming of opinions and music styles. There were political albums, morbid and macabre themes, art punk, psychedelia, even keyboards and blues metal. Over the years they split off, splintered, and reunited the original members to join the Warped Tour in 1999. They were back at it. Then, in 2002, a shooting backstage during one of TSOL’s shows left the band with a $14,000 attorney bill by 2005 after clearing their name while the House of Blues settled with the victims for a mil a piece!

It takes a lot of cash and a few years’ setback to get your name cleared and get yourself back on your feet… For a lot of us, it would seem.

All I ever wanted to do was be someone like you

Download TSOL – Someone Like You

I’m thankful I heard of TSOL. I’m thankful they signed with Nitro Records, the label created by the lead singer of one of my own all-time favorite bands, Offspring. I’m thankful they released another album in 2009 and called it Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Free Downloads. I’m thankful that the kid we brought to his first-ever concert got to be involved in a 90-minute Bad Religion mosh pit and met members and lead singer of TSOL afterward.

I just still wish Chad had told me about this band earlier, and I wish I still had an online forum on which to do my brain bloodletting. Meanwhile, I want you to appreciate these aging psychobilly punks with me. They are exactly the guys I love to see on stage. Loved the show.

Most of the songs in their history are stronger and faster than the ones on this album. Why don’t you download a few and take a self-guided tour through punk history. See if you can find the source of influence of some of your own favorite bands.

Holy Fuck!

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No, the title of today’s post isn’t unabashed obscenity for the sake of. It’s an actual band. I had a chance to see these guys about four years ago when Holy Fuck were opening for Wolf Parade. Basically, this was full on instrumental sorta stuff that used whatever the band could find. Old beat up Casio keyboards, for example.

Well, come to find out that on May 11th, they will be releasing another full length, titled Latin. Chances are pretty good that you will like the album if you dig this first single, simply titled “Latin America”. It’s not too far off from where we’ve seen this band, so I’d assume that fans of theirs won’t be too disappointed by their stuff. Here’s “Latin America”.

Download Holy Fuck – Latin America

On a related note when it comes to obscenities in band names, another group that would probably pique the interest of some is Fuck Buttons. They released a gem of a single a few years ago titled “Sweet Love For Planet Earth”, and the fucking song is epic. For real. I think I might’ve cried when I heard it first. Nah. Not really. I’m not that sensitive. So here’s another dose of a band with ‘Fuck’ used well in the band’s name.

Download Fuck Buttons – Sweet Love For Planet Earth

Go buy some stuff and be a good American.