Author Archives: admin

You know me better than I know myself…

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Maybe it’s because I miss being in smoky bars that blur my vision. Maybe it’s because I miss playing darts and the thrill of hitting a triple 17. Or it’s because 3 Doors Down is only good up to a point.

Listening to People in Planes is like being comfortable in your favorite bar. Finding out that they’re a band from Wales brings a universal understanding to this feeling, and an awe that people from a backwards country normally known for good punk pop can also produce this thick, mid-American variety of rock.

If you wanted to pick apart the lyrics, you might have fun challenging me over my “I Hate Kings of Leon” post. All I can say to that is, at least People in Planes stays on the beat.

If this song isn’t skillfully crafted to appeal to the masses, I don’t know what is. Enjoy Know By Now:

[People in Planes – Know By Now]

People in Planes have changed names twice already this decade. Also known as Robots in the Sky and Tetra Splendour, they’ve shuffled labels a few too many times in a short period but since their appearance at 2005’s South by Southwest festival, it seems that they are on a roll. They’ve toured with Blue October and had a video directed by Joaquin Phoenix! That’s progress in my eyes…

Today is November 21: the day that hordes of teenagers and desperate housewives alike have been breathlessly awaiting is finally here, so to celebrate Twilight’s premiere, I will share with you another track off 2008’s Beyond the Horizon album: Vampire. This is a messy departure from the rest of the album but it still comes off as a calculated and passionate disaster. Kind of like the books.

[People in Planes – Vampire]

It’s time to show some love to People in Planes.

Or join the teenage vampire craze, why not?

A Peter Sellers Odyssey

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[Richard Strauss – Also Sprach Zarathustra]

I’ve become a big Peter Sellers fan in the last 7 to 8 years. So today, I’m tossing in something a bit random. Have you all seen 2001: A Space Odyssey? If not, then shame on you! Stanley Kubrick at his best! Well, there’s the theme song from the movie that everyone knows. It’s Richard Strauss’ “Also Sprach Zarathustra” and it’s sheer joy. Here’s a clip from the aforementioned movie with the song playing.

Now, the reason I throw in Peter Sellers is because he starred in another of Kubrick’s classics. The film Dr. Strangelove netted Sellers an Oscar nomination, which was remarkable because he played three different roles in the flick. Also, many people forget he was also in Kubrick’s Lolita. So he had one hell of a career. His personal life? Well, not such a stand up guy. Can’t defend him there. For a good explanation, I would highly recommend watching Geoffrey Rush’s performance as Sellers in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers. An outstanding film in its own right.

Well, back to Strauss’ classical….well…..classic. Sellers was in a film that hardly gets mention except by the hardcore fans of films. I’m not really a huge movie fan, but I do enjoy something different, and his film Being There was nothing short of incredible. To be perfectly honest, Forrest Gump ripped off the premise from this movie, and Tom Hanks’ performance – while excellent itself – pales in comparison with Sellers’ performance as Chance Gardener. Well, in the flick, you hear a jazz-funk cover of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” performed by Brazilian artist Deodato. Check it out for yourself!

As a little side note for anyone that is also a huge fan of the now defunct show Arrested Development, they threw in a little dedication to Being There in its final season. If you need a hint on how? Then watch this clip of the final scene from the movie, and try to remember how they pulled it off.

Oh, and to those who have been sending me e-mails about your band or music, I will be digging through those in the next week. Please, if you do e-mail me? If possible, try to make it personal. I’ve nearly deleted more than a few of these because the subject line was so vague that only my curiosity kept me from deleting it initially.

Finally, please do buy the music! It helps pay these people! Even those in symphony orchestras!

Like, what if I wanted to talk about the Ming Dynasty?

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They’re self-taught. They’re soft-spoken. And they’re hard-rocking. “To me, it’s just bands that are really into creating their own version of rock’n’roll, and are not trying to rip off anybody.”

Formed in the mid-90’s, Midwest independent rockers Dropnickel recently played an anniversary show for their label which was actually a reunion show for themselves. The formation of Dropnickel was a turning point for frontman Brett Johnson, who decided then and there to start his own independent label. He’s signed a total of 21 bands, with 6 currently on the roster.

I bought Dropnickel’s 1998 CD, “Completed”, two years ago. I loved it! So I was excited to get to travel to Minneapolis and see them perform at the BWR Anniversary show… At the Triple Rock no less!

Here is some video we captured at the show. This is the song “Ming Dynasty”, written about the breakup of a marriage that started from a silly comment. Well. Sometimes, you’re just better off.

Ming Dynasty by Dropnickel@Triple Rock

Backup singer/lead guitarist Jeremy Fink is active in another BWR band called Casanatra. He blows me away on guitar and I think his backup vocals really seal the deal while performing with Dropnickel.

I think the track off “Completed” that rocks the hardest and shows off every member’s talent at the same time is Snow Flies. Enjoy:

[Dropnickel – Snow Flies]

Brett Johnson was interviewed for the Twin Cities’ CityPages publication by Andrea Swensson. He explained to her that the bands on his label aren’t necessarily “indie rock” and he bristles at this combination of words. “It’s usually heavier or more aggressive, I guess, but it’s not exactly metal. I just always call it Midwest independent rock.”

Check out this label and sample some of Johnson’s brand of rock at bluewormrecords.com. I recommend Seconds Before, which was in my opinion the best band to open for Dropnickel that night.

Check out Dropnickel on MySpace

Check out Seconds Before on MySpace

As far as I can tell, they’re too indie to be found on Amazon. So peruse the label and buy what you like! Show some indie love.

Check out Blue Worm Records on MySpace

Fuzzy animals make fun music

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Okay, so this is not going to seem “new” to a lot of people. Who cares! I’m here to share music I love. So for this one I’ll be posting up a couple of songs from a man who goes by the artist name of Panda Bear. Many of you probably know who this guy is, already. For those who don’t? Click here for his Wikipedia page. The album Person Pitch is what initially got my attention. Better late than never, one might say. I was listening to Sirius’ Left of Center, and heard what I initially thought to be something in the mold of the Beach Boys or at the very least inspired by their frontman Brian Wilson.

Well, after a little digging, I found out what the song was, and went bonkers when I bought the album and took a listen. The song I’m posting is what gave me an utterly euphoric feeling I hadn’t had from music since listening to the other cut I’ll be posting. See what I did there? I made you have to scroll through to find out what the other song was! I’m tricky like that. So here you have the track “Bros”.

And here is a video of a live performance by Panda Bear doing the aforementioned “Bros”. I had a chance to check him out live in New York City last year during the summer. First off, the band opening for him? Atrocious. Good lord, people that tag their band “experimental”? Stop it. It’s meant to be played to torture terrorists in Gitmo. Not for performing live. Anyways, he doesn’t really “perform”, per se, but in a way DJs. Now, coming from a DJ background, I’ll sort it out. He uses a mixer and instead of turntables, he has samplers that are loaded with presets that he triggers. All the while, he is singing.

Once samples are triggered, he “mixes” the tracks. It makes for a continuous hour of music all while trippy videos and images are shown on a screen behind him. The show was great in a very odd way, but I just have to reiterate my disdain for the uber-hipster crowd. You’re not cool. Stop dressing like Marty McFly and waxing pretentious when it comes to any number of artsy topics. The crowd at these sorts of shows are usually lame and uninspiring, and this crowd was no different. No movement, no sound, no FUN! Seriously, this music was awesome, as was the show. That’s really besides the point. Here you’ll see what I mean about the “live” show.

Now, earlier I mentioned the euphoria I felt through song. This next track had me dancing on yet another trip down to New York City while watching the legendary Francois K DJing. He hopped around from ultra deep house to ragga, but this track had me going insane. I rarely dance. That says something. This is Global Communication’s “The Way” (The Secret Ingredients Mix) from 1996. I first heard it while in a club in Boston when it was brand spankin’ new, and it’s one of those tracks that led me down the path of house music. Utterly phenomenal song! Enjoy!

And please do make a purchase or two! That would just be splendiferous. And neat. And other words that sound just plain silly.

I’ve lost my mobile phone, you’ll have to call my home

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I know you missed me! The Little One is BACK! And I now have SEVENTY-SIX tracks in my iTunes. Yeah, 76! I am a Hard Drive Rebuild Survivor. Action, Advocacy, Awareness. Er, something like that.

Thank God that thirteen of those tracks were compiled by England’s Just Jack. These uplifting, boogielicious electronica ballads are enough to make me forget all about the potential for four years’ worth of important e-mail transmissions being lost forever.

Is he single? I want to marry him based solely on the fact that when forced to select from the slim pickins of 1997 dance tracks to cover for a radio station celebration, he picked “Lovefool” by The Cardigans. Yeah baby. Love me, love me. Reason will not reach a solution.

It’s hard to pick just one track off Just Jack’s 2007 Overtones album to share. The opening track, Writer’s Block, really pulls you in to enjoy the whole album. So you better buy it, just so you can hear it. But it’s Symphony of Sirens that I’ll share with you. Maybe because I like it when artists mispronounce words or draw out syll-ABB-les in order to make them rhyme. Check it out:

[Just Jack – Symphony of Sirens]

His voice is so soothing, and the electronic background – which I normally am not a fan of – just makes me HAPPY! Is it the choppy North London accent that does it for me? It’s not just because I have nothing else to listen to, is it? Say it isn’t so, because Just Jack (it’s just Jack Allsop) is my new faaaayyyyv’rit.

How can you not love this adorable guy. Check out the vid for No Time:

You know what to do here. Right here, right now. Click this. Get yourself some Just Jack. You don’t have to hiss his name realfast a la Jack McFarland. Just make The Little One happy and buy yourself some hot music. Dooo itttt.

An ode to election triumphs and mishaps.

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George, the creator of this fine blog, told me that I had a big day today. I get the blog post the day after the presidential election. Well, la dee freakin’ da! I really can’t express how important the election was all over the country. There were also many state ballot questions that loomed large.

Well, first, I have a song to those who voted for Obama. I found it quite fitting, and I’m quite surprised no one used this as a campaign song! Sorry, there’s no sarcasm button to warn you all about it. However, this song is pretty fitting. Hopefully it’s also laced with a high amount of truth. It’s Public Enemy’s “Brother’s Gonna Work It Out”, off of the 1989 album Fear of a Black Planet.

Next up? Fuck you, State of California! That’s right. You dimwits voted 61 to 37 in favor of Obama, yet you voted in favor of banning gay marriage 52 to 48. Now, it’s still not final, but if it is? It shows how transparent your votes are. It means you essentially voted with your wallet. So for my next addition to the blog? I think Black Sheep got it pretty well summed up in “For Doz That Slept”.

Last up is a classic. It’s easily one of my favorite songs, and it strikes close to home for us today. It’s John Lennon’s “Imagine”, a song once considered incredibly controversial.

Even more haunting is the following video for “Imagine”. Hopefully the lessons he tried to teach others are being learned still. Because I don’t want to feel ashamed to just happen to live within these borders.

As always, please buy music from these artists! And thank you for voting! It exceeded my expectations by around 10 million, and I am unbelievably happy to have been wrong. Just goes to show we maybe shouldn’t be so jaded.

Putting the "Swing" in "Swing State"!

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So I guess it’s fitting with the presidential election next Tuesday that I choose a certain theme of music. Ohio, you best be paying attention! To start with, let’s just all rejoice the fact that we now can count down the days to when this utterly incompentent man is out of office. We start the swing theme with a song that was once played as a representation of FDR in office. It’s by a man named Bel Selvin, and the song is “Happy Days Are Here Again”. We’re not sure, but let’s hope that the song is right, and happy days are truly here again.

However, I want to say that there is a theme to this one, as all the songs are swing songs in some form. One group that I think a lot of people forgot about is the Squirrel Nut Zippers. They had a grand total of one commercially played hit. Can you name it? If you did, then I’m impressed. It was the following track, “Hell”, off of their album Hot. Great tune, and I want to also pass on that the band is back together and touring! You can check out the tour dates here, and if they’re near you? Then go see them!

The following track is also from the same album, and with it, I’ve included a re-working of sorts by the Greens Keepers’ James Curd. Back in 2001 and 2002, DJ’s like Derrick Carter were championing this fresh sort of take on house by essentially sampling old – or in this case, new – swing and jazz cuts. It fell by the wayside eventually, but it’s still fun to hear every so often, and I’ve kept practically every record of this fashion. So first up is the Squirrel Nut Zippers with “Put A Lid On it”.

Now take that tempo and speed it up by about double, and you have James Curd’s take on the track with “Keepers Quiet”. It was on Mike Dixon’s now defunct G-Swing label, and featured Dixon also taking a crack at it.

As always, please do take the time to buy this music if you like it! Also, please vote on Tuesday, November 4th! You may think your vote doesn’t count, but if you don’t vote? Well, you have no right to bitch about what you perceive as problems! Every vote does matter, as the more votes they tally, the more these people know that you all have the final say on whether or not they get to keep their job!

Ethereal Madness!

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So for this week, it’s a combination of sorts. First off – and this isn’t music related – do you all know about the new Jean-Claude Van Damme movie? No? Neither did I two weeks ago. It actually looks good. It’s a biopic, of sorts. And it looks kind of funny, also. So here’s a trailer for it, called JCVD.

With that out of the way, it’s on to music. About a month ago, I was set to go see Mogwai perform. Well, due to some medical complications with their drummer, the rest of the US tour was scrapped. I was a bit bummed, but it gave me a chance to go back and listen to more of their stuff. They have a new album out, also, called The Hawk is Howling, and one song in particular catches my ear. It – no lie – could be the best song I have heard this year. The song is “The Sun Smells Too Loud”. Just like with last year’s “Bros” by Animal Collective member Panda Bear, this one hits me and does so quite hard.

For those not familiar with Mogwai, they do an unreal amount of work that is simply instrumental. One of my personal favorites from their past (albeit not too long in the past) is “Auto Rock”, and for that one, I will share the video. Instrumental madness that just builds to a crescendo and just drops off a cliff. That’s the way I like it, however.

The other “band” this week I’m featuring goes by a couple different names. He used to go under the name Manitoba. Well, a lawsuit came about by an artist simply with the last name of Manitoba. Silly, eh? Well, he changed the name to Caribou, but it doesn’t take away from the dreamy and happy sounds these two songs evoke. They are both from the album Up In Flames. His previous album – Start Breaking My Heart – is an excellent album in its own right, but definitely for those who are more into straight electronic music. First off is “Hendrix With Ko”.

Next is a very cute fan-made video for the song “Crayon”.

As always, please help the artists and buy the music! It helps them to keep releasing wonderful stuff such as the above!

Concert Series #3

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So for this concert series piece, I will be discussing Stereolab. Don’t know them? Well, you should! These guys have been around for close to two decades, and they’ve even had their worst emotions tested when one of Stereolab’s members, Mary Hansen, was tragically killed a few years ago. They have a new album out now, and are touring in support of it, so being a decade-plus-long fan? I had to go. I’ll be showcasing a few songs of theirs, but also I will be talking a little about their opening band, Le Loup.

Stereolab is the sort of group your parents would probably dig. Think indie-rock meets bachelor-pad easy listening music. It sounds odd, but they’ve established themselves as the kings in such a small niche. Many times, a band suffers from such marginalization, but these guys have mastered it. The unfortunate death of Hansen took a bit away from the band, as they relied on two singers for many of their songs, but they’ve worked to solve that, by adding another singer (a male falsetto) to the repertoire. It works surprisingly well, and hopefully it continues.

The album that first got me interested was one that many people also say first turned them on to the ‘Lab. Emperor Tomato Ketchup is a funny title, but it’s one hell of an album. I’d go so far to say one of the top ten of the ’90’s. It’s certainly debatable but that’s the beauty of the subjectivity of music – there really is no such thing as a right answer. They worked more towards the moog synthesizer sound the later into the ’90’s they went, and it produced some of the best – and underrated – music of the later half of the decade. Here, I’ll be focusing on three tracks in particular.

First up is “French Disko”. This tune was originally just a single, but was later included on Stereolab’s second compilation of Switched On, titled Refried Ectoplasm. This sounded just as good Monday night as it did when I first heard it over a decade ago.

Follow the links below for treats off of ETK that I mentioned earlier. “Les-Yper Sound” is just one helluva cool rollin’ track. Mellow, yet it rocks. “Les Yper-Yper Sound” is essentially a live remix on BBC Radio that was included on the box set Oscillons From The Anti-Sun. Sick sick track.

[Download Stereolab-Les-Yper Sound]

[Download Stereolab-Les-Yper-Yper Sound]

I’ve just got to share another vital Stereloab track. “Diagonals” from Dots and Loops is chill… Loungey… Whatever you want to call it, it’s a great cut for playing at a house party that’s made up of people older than 25. This track essentially defines the sound they took on starting with this album.

[Download Stereolab-Diagonals]

As I mentioned, the band Le Loup opened for Stereolab. They could easily be signed onto the DFA label with what I saw Monday, and they’re a good reason people should check out the opening bands. They had a very unique sound to them, which contrasted with Stereolab’s, but complemented it at the same time. Good choice by the ‘Lab having these guys open up for them!

Here is a sample of what you will hear from Le Loup. And below that? Links to buy all of these fine products! Because buying this stuff helps keep it alive!

Le Loup – We Are Gods! We Are Wolves!

Why not "In Puddles"?

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Last week, TV on the Radio released their fourth album and titled it “Dear Science.” Am I being just too much of a nerd if I ask why they didn’t pick back up on Radiohead references? OK, I digress. A bit of history for you first.

Tunde Adebimpe and David Andrew Sitek are some of the biggest musical geniuses of the decade, and it’s possible you’ve never heard of them. If you collect remixes, you may have heard one of Sitek’s: Nine Inch Nails’ Survivalism is a favorite.

Adebimpe and Sitek got together as TV on the Radio and self-released their first album in 2001, titled “OK, Calculator” (are you pickin’ up what I’m layin’ down here yet?) Now, when I say self-released, I mean they went into record stores and sneaked their album onto the shelves! LOVE THAT INDIE SPIRIT! (in all caps!)

Five years later and a few extra bandmates later, their second album “Return to Cookie Mountain” was given the label “Album of the Year” by SPIN Magazine. This album featured guest appearances from such names as David Bowie and Nick Zinner from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Influences from Sitek’s friendship with Bowie and the band’s loose, improvisational style are still true on the current album.

Sitek is now working with what he calls “pretty much [his] favorite band in the world”, Massive Attack, on their upcoming album. Well he’s hooked me in, now. Back to the collaboration, though, these guys have so many amazing and creative ideas, and let’s hope they achieve all they set out to do, such as…

“cut the record into pieces, and then send maybe 15-30 seconds of music to a different filmmaker, like all over the world, and then have them send back it back in, without seeing what the other person was making, and then make… an hour long movie… like The Wall for people with attention deficit disorder”

The tracks on “Dear Science” are so smart. They are multi-layered, but not too heavily. There are some deep themes and smart lyrics. It’s beautiful how open to interpretation TVOTR allows their music to be, and the songs are so rich with sound that you feel like you’ve been given a gift with each listen.

There is so much to highlight from the career of TV on the Radio. But because I’ve already done them a horrific justice, I will just throw you the mp3 without further ado. I’m going to share with you cut 3 from “Dear Science”, and it’s one of the faster tracks. Enjoy “Dancing Choose”…

[Download Dancing Choose]