fantabulous

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Howie Weinberg is a fantabulous motherfucker. That’s what Dimebag Darrell of Pantera told me. Well not me directly…

But more about Howie in a few…

I was getting an early listen to the new album Transference, set to be released January 19, 2010 by Austin, Texas band Spoon. I was really feeling the album and decided to do a little research and see what I could come up with for a post. You see, I just didn’t know much about Spoon, and wanted to familiarize myself with them if I was going to write a post about them for you.

I was surprised with all the things I learned. For example how the band is loved for it’s music as well as its perseverence in the face of major label abandonment.

In 1996 the band released it’s first full length release Telephono. It was loved by fans and critics alike. Then these Indie heavyweights get courted by the label Elektra Records.

By 1998, Spoon’s Elektra debut is brought out into the world to hear. A Series of Sneaks was also well received by fans and critics, and was considered a big creative leap for the band. Sadly, this album did not sell fast enough for Elektra, and the band was dropped from the label. Four months after the album release date.

Fascinating information right? Yup. But I want to tell you about Howie Weinberg.

But discovering that the band was using Mr. Weinberg to master the album, I thought that was something special.

Mastering always used to sound like a cakewalk of a position. You just make it sound better and coherent. How hard could that be? It’s hard. I got into some mastering work before, and it’s painstaking work. Also coupled with the pressure that you are the last person to lay hands on the music, a lot of blame can get dropped on your head.

Howie Weinberg is the best in the buisness. I think you can tell on Transference how well that album moves from track to track and how great each indivudual track sounds. With a resume that looks like a selection of all my favorite albums and artists (Nevermind, The Mars Volta, Public Enemy, Muse, Modest Mouse, 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of…, Licensed To Ill) it’s probably not a bad guess that the bands and albums he works on will come out platinum on the other side.

Just like Transference will. At least I think it will. If you do your part…

EDITOR’S NOTE: All right…The Web Sheriff and the bands label have asked us to take this one down. You can stream the whole album here. It really is a good album. Go pick it up. -mookie

They’ll remember me for my youth

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“I mean, where do people go to find music these days?”

The same place we go to find everything else. The interwebs. That’s why we bring you this blog. Or I suppose you could use Pandora. But don’t make me rant about Pandora again. I know, I know. Everyone thinks it’s the greatest thing since sliced almonds. Or sliced potatoes. Or whatever you all used to say. I admit I may have been a bit alarmist with these comments, but I was trying to prove a point. Can I get a hallelujah from anyone else out there who just can’t seem to get HERRRD! (That’s “Heard”, with an urban accent. Hey, just trying to help.)

Back to the topic at hand. I have your new music for you. This band has been around for a few years but until last summer has only released lil’ limited edition singles and such. Their first album, Reservoir, was recorded in the U.S. by the London-based band Fanfarlo, led by Swedish musician Simon Balthazar. The music throughout this entire album is just delightful. I mean delightful. You can clearly hear the use of mandolin, glockenspiel, and the host of other captivating instruments in the band’s repertoire. In fact, the already-created instruments just weren’t enough to round out the sounds that you hear. Musician Mark West created this tool which would create a magnetic square wave current which can be heard through the guitar when held near the guitar pickups.

He began calling it the Fanfarlophone after using it with Fanfarlo. He’s no longer with the band; however, between the saw, the 30 acoustic guitars, trumpet, accordion, saxophone, clarinet… Whew! A beautiful, beautiful sound is put forth.

One of the slower, but more beautiful tracks on this album is #8, “If It Is Growing.” Check it out below.

Download Fanfarlo – If It Is Growing

That if you built this to look just like you
Then here’s the irony
No one will know
If it’s tomorrow or today that you go

One of the fascinating things about Reservoir is how very dark the lyrics are, even though they are delivered in such an undisturbing way. You can use this music for whichever mood suits you. The other interesting aspect is the origin of the band’s name. The inspiration comes from the 19th Century poet Charles Baudelaire’s novella “La Fanfarlo”, a complex story using irony and allegory and basically, just one of the better names that stood out while Balthazar found himself reading a lot of French symbolists.

Take a listen to the opening track, “I’m A Pilot,” and if you can decipher the lyrics (Or if not, feel free to visit the lyrics page of their website), see if you can decide who Balthazar was channeling when he wrote it. You may be right.

Download Fanfarlo – If It Is Growing

Buy this album. It might be the best thing that happened to 2009. Make it be the best thing that starts off your amazing 2010.

BRINGING TEH EPIC!!!!

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Yes. Bringing you epic shit here. Most anyone that hasn’t lived under a rock the last few years could tell you who the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are. Hell, I wrote about their track “Zero” a few months back. Loved it. But there’s nothing like their first album Fever To Tell. Beginning to end, the thing is awesome encapsulated onto a CD. If you disagree, you’re a terrorist. And have kittens. Fact. Now shut your mouth hole.

Anyhow, I ran across this remix of their song “Maps”, and I think I had a seizure. It was that good to me. There will be naysayers that hate on dance music, and that’s fine. I don’t like your hairdo, either. Really? You paid someone to distort your physical appearance under the impression it was cool to have your hair with 8 inch long bangs? C’mon. If you do that, who can see you sulk at an indie-rock show! Wait. That’s actually a good thing. Never mind.

Anyhow, this remix of “Maps” is epic. And again. If you dislike? Well, I guess we have different definitions of the term. By the way, I heart sarcasm. It’s pretty awesome. Anyhow, this dude Elite Force did this remix, and you all really need to listen to this remix. I love this. It takes just enough from the original to work as an excellent remix. Which is the point of what a remix should be. Seriously, go take a listen.

Download The Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Maps (Elite Force Re-Fix)

Download The Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Maps

And go buy stuff. Or I schedule a debate at your house between Dan Quayle and Ashley Simpson. I mean it.

PS: Evil will always prevail.

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Henry Rollins (born February 13, 1961 as Henry Lawrence Garfield) is an American singer-songwriter, spoken word artist, writer, publisher, actor, radio DJ, and activist…and on and on…He’s even a movie actor! The guy is a workaholic.

I didn’t speak to anyone today. Not one phone call, nothing. I only saw a few people in traffic and
a woman who pulled over across the street from where I live get out and vomit on the ground. I heard her talking to someone else in the car. She sounded pretty drunk. I don’t wonder why I don’t get lonely. I like hearing that alligators are eating people. It gives me hope.

–Henry Rollins

It’s weird to me that I am quoting Henry Rollins in two of my back to back posts. I am a fan of Mr. Rollins, just never thought I would get to writing about him. Honestly, I keep seeing the book A Dull Roar: What I Did on My Summer Deracination on my desk while I sit with my head in my hands trying to think of what to write.

Now that I have decided to write about Henry Rollins I can finally just make this thing happen. This won’t be tough for me. I like Black Flag and Rollins Band and I loved his show on IFC. After watching his IFC shows, I discovered that this guy is also someone with ideals and opinions that are not so far off from my own. I began reading his blogs and then I picked up one of his books at my local music store. After I finished reading A Dull Roar, I asked my friend Juan if he would be interested in reading it. He loves music, we work on music together, we share a lot of books. He said “Hell yes!” And then he went on and on about the man’s music and how much he loved it. Especially “Liar” (probably everyone’s favorite) off the album Weight.

The Little One even knows the lyrics to Liar! (She’s singing it behind me while I play it for some blog posting inspiration. I shouldn’t be surprised. She is probably a bigger fan than I am. In fact, her nagging me to take her to one of his shows may have been what got us together.)

I don’t know why I feel the need to lie and cause you so much pain
Maybe it’s something inside, maybe it’s something I can’t explain
’cause all I do is mess you up and lie to you

I’m a liar, ooh, I’m a liar

But if you’ll give me another chance I swear I’ll never lie to you again
’cause now I see the destructive power of a lie,
They’re stronger than truth

Download Rollins Band – Liar

If you like Liar, and you like your punk music hard and loud, I also suggest you look into the album Nice. This album has a sound that I like a lot. I discovered a lot of it has to do with the new backing band. The lineup from 1994’s Weight had begun to fall apart in 1998. Henry was producing a album for Mother Superior, and invited them to form a new incarnation of Rollins Band. Nice is the result of this new synergy.

I really like track 5. “What’s The Matter Man?”

Download Rollins Band – What’s The Matter Man

Don’t just grab the one track though, as really the whole album is a punk rock machine.

Please check out this man’s movies, music, and books. I know, for one, that I will be buying A Preferred Blur: Reflections, Inspections, and Travel in All Directions ASAP…

BTW…trip out on a few selections of the many movies Henry Rollins as appeared in:

Hear This, Not That

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We are in a new decade. And we are tumbling ever so quickly toward Idiocracy. Oh, trust me. We are. Somehow McDonald’s is showing a larger effort to inform the consumer about nutrition while the consumer is just choosing to go down the street for a Baconator or a Quad Stack instead. And when Suzie Consumer wants something “healthy”, she picks up a Nutri Grain bar. Because she doesn’t care about the ingredients, just the fancy packaging.

And advertising.

And sex appeal.

Commence Idiocracy.

OK, turn into fat, retarded pigs who know that electrolytes are supposed to be good for you for all I care. Don’t pick up your copy of Eat This Not That to start a decade of knowing what the hell you are putting into your body.

But don’t listen to garbage. I’m here to guide you. Maybe we can keep from falling down the slippery slope into dystopia, one song at a time.

Hot Topic and AP are going to be parading this horrible band around the country this winter and spring. Don’t fall for it! You will immediately lose IQ points. There are other choices.

Between you and I
I still keep your pictures underneath my bed
Where she gives herself to me

“What’s the difference between them and Fall Out Boy,” Mookie asks. I don’t know why he doesn’t see it. I thought he liked Fall Out Boy. Well anyway. Everything on this last album has been done before. You want a campy, feel-good anthem? Hawk Nelson is a good place to find it. You want a crafty, I-Miss-You or I’m-Better-Off-Without-You snarkfest? It’s the F-O-B.

I’m not going to bother assessing for you the new album or any past ones. It’s 2010. Use your taste wisely. Oh, so why am I using old songs to compare to these? Because my point is that Every Avenue never even needed to form as a band.

So how you like them apples?

Hear This, Not That:

This:

Download Fall Out Boy – Tell That Mick He Just Made My List Of Things To Do Today

Not:

Download Every Avenue – Take A Step Back

This:

Download Hawk Nelson – California

Not:

Download Every Avenue – Chasing The Night

Spektor spectacle!

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Okay, so I get an email from these cats in NYC to say they’ve finished a remix of Regina Spektor‘s “Folding Chair” off of her latest album, Far. The folks in question are (Pretty) Girls & Lasers, and today, they’ll be debuting the remix at a party down in the East Village at Arlo and Esme. Below is a map.


View Larger Map

Well, this had me digging around for some other works of Spektor’s that have popped up. Surprisingly few I could find, however! I did find a couple of nice remixes of “Fidelity”, which I’ll be featuring here. Perhaps the PG&L folks will even be privy to comment after their party about their new remix for you all!

This first remix is gritty, subdued, and overall just a different mood from the original, which is why it works so well. The man behind it is Manhattan based DJ Blockhead. Good work behind this mix.

Download Regina Spektor – Fidelity (Blockhead remix)

Next up is just a gorgeous piece of work by DJ Morgan Page. I have to say, I do remember Morgan from here in Boston, and it’s good to see this kid getting some acclaim for all the hard work he’s put into it! This is his unreleased remix of “Fidelity” and again, it’s an absolutely wonderful piece or remix work.

Download Regina Spektor – Fidelity (Morgan Page Unreleased remix)

And lastly? Who could forget the original? It helped launch her career to a much bigger level, and despite the pop nature of it? Is a great track.

Download Regina Spektor – Fidelity

Yep. Buy stuff. Or you will not get laid this year. At all. Hell, that’d scare me into buying stuff!

Think I’ll buy me a football team

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With a new year comes resolutions.

The history of making New Year’s resolution began with the Babylonians approximately 4,000 years ago. The Babylonians New Year’s Day was March 23rd which was a logical time because spring begins and crops are planted.

We can thank Julius Caesar for the fact that we celebrate the new year on January first. Julius Caesar choose January 1 to honor Janus, the two-faced god who looks backwards into the old year and forward into the new.

Still, it was the Babylonians that gives us the idea to make resolutions. They made resolution’s to the gods to get favor. Then if a resolution is broken it was considered bad luck. One had to give great thought to a resolution to be better, yet one they would have a good chance at keeping

Like quitting smoking for New Years is just asking for failure.

Download The Mother Hips – Smoke

The Mother Hips are a Country tinged rock band from San Francisco. This song come off the album Green Hills Of Earth, the title of the album was taken from a sci-fi book by author Robert Anson Heinlein.

You might have once had a resolution to lose weight. It’s a great idea, but 12 months is a long time to keep those pounds off. I mean, you gotta exercise AND watch what you eat! That’s tough!

Download Cage – Fat Kids Need An Anthem

Chris Palko, better known by his stage name Cage, is an American rapper from New York City. He has released three studio albums and two extended plays. Cage is also the founder of the underground hip-hop supergroup called the Weathermen.

Of course, a common resolution for 2010 will be to save some money, With the year of the Great Recession behind us (so they say) it might make more sense to save more than we have in the past.

“The blues is losing someone you love and not having enough money to immerse yourself in drink.”

–Henry Rollins

Download The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs With Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing The Dark Side of the Moon – Money

This is probably my favorite album of 2009. The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs With Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing The Dark Side of the Moon was a creative rethinking of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of the Moon.

I am just so enamored by all these people collaborating on this one project. It’s an epic thing and it turned out great.

We here at inALLcaps hope that your 2010 is super great and fantastic. That all your wishes come true. That milk and honey rain down on you from the heavens. We hope you quit smoking, lose weight, and save tons of money. Just be sure that you spend some money on these awesome CDs below.

Year end? Not quite.

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So I guess Mookie will be giving you your snazzy year in review. I can still give you a few awesome tracks from this year, though. Some? Are definitely repeats of what’s already been posted, but I won’t assume you’ve been reading this all year. That would be pretty stupid of me.

Before all that? I do want to share another song – not from this year – with you all. As you know, I have been posting a little of the stuff Deerhunter has made. “Disappearing Ink” is definitely amongst my top songs for this year, by the way. Well, from last year’s album Microcastle, Deerhunter released one stellar tune in “Nothing Ever Happened”. The real highlight of the tune is the guitars and then the keyboards within the last minute to minute and a half. Epic shit. Don’t believe me? Take a listen for yourself.

Download Deerhunter – Nothing Ever Happened

So how about those top songs? Well, these aren’t really going to be much different than most of the lists you’d see out there, I’d imagine. First off, I have to say that the best video this year? We Have Band’s “You Came Out” is the clear winner here. In case you haven’t seen it yet? Here it is.

Now, on to what I deem the best tracks of the year. There really isn’t a challenge on the best cut of the year. For real. Now, I’m not the biggest Animal Collective fan. They’re a little hit or miss at times for me, which is probably a good thing. It keeps my mind clear to how I view all the tracks. Now, “My Girls” is just stellar in about every regard. So It’s an easy choice as the top track of the year.

Download Animal Collective – My Girls

As for the rest of my top tunes? Well, I have to say it’s a huge drop from #1 to #2. That doesn’t mean these aren’t good tracks, but Animal Collective I honestly think did something very unique and special in creating “My Girls”. Since I don’t really like making a list in order, I just want to put it out there that the next few tracks are among my favorites for this year.

The Horrors – Sea Within A Sea
Sunset Rubdown – You Go On Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II)
Micachu – Golden Phone
Deerhunter – Disappearing Ink
YACHT – Waste of Time
White Denim – Regina Holding Hands
Atlas Sound ft. Panda Bear – Walkabout
Phoenix – Girlfriend
Shout Out Out Out Out – Bad Choices
Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros – 40 Day Dream
We Have Band – You Came Out
Animal Collective – What Would I Want? Sky

And now the normal bullshit thing to say – BUY STUFF! Seriously! And hell, if not? Donate some money to Mookie, who runs this site. He busts his ass for you guys to bring you some awesome music, and I feel quite honored that he asked me to help him out. So yeah…..do that.


I’m in the streets fo real.

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Did you get what you wanted for the holidays?

Me neither. I asked Santa for the Tom Tom Portable GPS kit with the VoiceSkin.com addition that makes your GPS unit give you directions in Snoop Dogg’s voice.

That’s fo rizzle. The big homie that brings us a totally new language voiced the directions to get you to just about anywhere. From the local drug store to the nearest joint to get you some munchies at 2AM.

But that’s not what I got for xmas. Seems like wires done got crossed. Instead I gotta get it poppin’ with his latest album Malice ‘N Wonderland. It’s no Doggystyle, Calvin “Snoop Dogg” Broadus’s debut album released in 1993.

Malice is Snoop’s 10th album and sounds about 10 times as watered down. It’s not that it’s not good, it is…it’s just not as raw as Doggystyle or that dope Dre single Deep Cover that Snoop was featured on. Maybe watered down was a bad way to describe it. It’s 10 times as blunted. Stoner rap music is ok, but it’s no replacement for a GPS unit.

At least there is some decent party anthems on here, my favorite has crunk superstar Lil’ Jon in the cut. Check out 1800 ft.

Download Snoop Dogg – 1800 ft.

Flat

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This is gonna be one of those epic posts. Where I discuss in detail a song that for some reason is long forgotten. Sort of.

Anyone remember the Levis ads with the little yellow sock puppet? No? Here’s a reminder. And hell. It is playing the song I am gonna post today.

That song was the epitome of awesome. For real. And the video? Was just as cool. Don’t believe me? Well I have the video, also. So there!

Well, this guy seems to have suffered from the one-hit wonder phenomenon. He’s since made more music, but to be honest? None has really caught my attention. Here’s a really weird vid for the song “Positif” he made last year. Eh. Sorry. Not all that great.

Well, without making you watch any more videos…..well, actually, I will make you watch one more. About how fucking stupid the Snuggie is. Seriously. If you buy one? Kill yourself. Soon.

So yeah. Now here’s “Flat Beat”.

Download Mr. Oizo – Flat Beat

Now go buy stuff. It’s Xmas. Hooray capitalism!