Jay Reatard on digforfire

Another excellent mini-doc video over at digforfire.tv, this time featuring the one band working harder than everyone else to save rock. I'm completely addicted to this website and this band.

Brian Wilson - Back Home (live)

Don't know what show this was for, looks like there's some SNL house players in the background, but can't say for sure. Anyways, here's a nice performance of the great late period Beach Boys tune Back Home (but curiously no Beach Boys are present besides Brian). He loses track of the lyrics at the 1:30 mark, but recovers nicely. Brian!

Tons of Waits

Thanks to this guy's sweet youtube page, there's an entire 1977 Rockpalast Tom Waits show on the internet and the footage and music is excellent, check out some samples below...

Step Right Up



Emotional Weather Report



Jitterbug Boy



There's also plenty of other good videos (Lou Reed, Beck) on that youtube page so look around a bit.

2 Music Videos From Rob Schrab

Whether it's through his comic book Scud or his directional flourishes on The Sarah Silverman Program, Rob Schrab's brilliant work puts a big smile on my face. Enjoy these two music videos that he directed. The Ween one, as far as I know, was a labor of love, not an official release, and the Death Cab one was for a DVD that they released. But official or not, Schrab's unique touch is all over these things. Everything here is lovingling handmade and endlessly fussed over, which are at least two of the many reasons these videos are so amazing. I dare you not stare at your computer monitor with an unabashed grin! Make that a double dog dare. (I skipped a dare)

Ween - Roses Are Free



Death Cab For Cutie - Crooked Teeth



If you liked these, check out these Bonus Schrab Links:

Twigger's Holiday

Rob Schrab's Home Page

Monk

There's some amazing Thelonius Monk clips on youtube, here's 3 of many...

Round About Midnight


Epistrophy


Blue Monk

Fluxtumblr

Fluxblog is absolutely one of the greatest music blogs ever, Matthew Perpetua reeeeeaaaallllly knows his stuff. So as a dedicated reader of that blog, I was surprised to learn today (as a result of the site's technical issues) that Matt also has a pretty great tumblr where he posts his more random musical musings called Fluxtumblr. Check it...

Built To Spill Covers 'Paper Planes'

WHAT!? Sweet!

3 Sweet Pavement Live Clips

More vids from the MTV Music site...

Cut Your Hair

Pavement |MTV Music

Stop Breathin

Pavement |MTV Music

Unfair

Pavement |MTV Music

The Proclaimers - I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)

Just looking around MTV's new music video site, (not bad, not bad at all) and when I saw this clip on the home page I had to post it. This video just brings a huge smile to my face.

The Proclaimers |MTV Music

Fluorescent Adolescent

Just discovered this great little video of Kate Nash putting her spin on the great Artic Monkeys tune. Enjoy!

First the original...



Now the cover...

Wilco On Colbert!

Apparently they wrote this song custom for The Colbert Report, but it doesn't sound like some tossed off quickie, it sounds like a fully developed totally sweet Wilco tune. Check it...

Ras Trent

This is hilarious! A DVD of Cool Runnings!

"Channel" - The Owls

The Owls "Channel" from Magic Marker on Vimeo.


I know almost nothing about The Owls other than what I just read over at the AMG blog (great great blog by the way). But if this song is any indication of the rest of their music, I'm really excited. This song is really easy on the ears and the video is pretty cool too.

The Owls on myspace

"One Hundred Years From Now" - The Byrds

I was listening to Sweetheart of the Rodeo the other day and when this song came on, I was completely struck with how relevant it seemed to be to the times.

One Hundred Years From Now

Pavement / Spike Jonze - Shady Lane

This video was not included on the Spike Jonze video collection that came out a while ago, but I think it's totally sweet and should have been. It's also one of my favorite Pavement songs, enjoy!

The Monkees - Porpoise Song (Theme From Head)

The Monkees off the wall experimental comedy Head could have only been made in 1968. Written by Bob Rafelson and Jack Nicholson, (Rafelson also directed) it goes out of it's way to subvert the manufactured nature of The Monkees fame to hilarious results. Whether The Monkees were truly in on the joke or not remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure, this is the coolest music they ever made. The Monkees tried on a lot of popular-in-the-moment sounds (to great success) during their run, but who would have ever thought they wore Psych Pop so well?

Porpoise Song (Theme From Head) mp3
Head Soundtrack - Amazon
Head DVD - Amazon
youtube links from the movie (check out the Frank Zappa cameo!)

Harry Nilsson - Sandman

Every 2 or 3 months I find myself re-obsessed with Nilsson's music and I go on a binge where I listen to him almost exclusively until I can listen no more and then I finally move on. It's been going on for 6 years or so, since I first discovered Nilsson Schmilsson in the dollar bin at Ameoba. The deeper you get into Nilsson's music & mythology (and the two are almost inseparable) the more you appriciate the post-Lost Weekend output less as just artifacts from a crazy man's career and more as someone writing music for an audience of his friends and devout fans. Usually, I'd say that's a bad thing, but since I believe EVERYONE should be a devout fan of this guy, Harry is the exception that proves the rule.

There's a lot of weirdness on this album, but underneath it all is a master songwriter who is still comfortable exploring the very fringes of his craft. Part of what makes this album so amazing is that at any second Harry could go off the edge completely, but somehow he never does, even as far out as he goes. But maybe I'm painting a too inaccessible picture of this album, after all there are plenty of songs that are just plain easy on the ears, and those also happen to be my favorites. Below grab I'll Take A Tango, Something True, and (Thursday) Here's Why I Did Not Go To Work Today. Enjoy!

Zip!

Amazon Link

Grant Green - Live at the Lighthouse

Doesn't Grant Green have the coolest album covers! This one is particularly brilliant. Live at the Lighthouse, like everything after '69, is very different from Green's early Blue Note albums. The bebop sound has been replaced with funk, but Green is still Green wherever he hangs his hat. Every song on the album finds him digging in with profound results. The album alternates between jumpy numbers and slow jams throughout. My personal favorite from the latter category is Betcha By Golly Wow, which I have posted below.

Betcha By Golly Wow

Amazon Link

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich - Zabadak 1968

Remember that part in the slow moving first half of Death Proof where that girl starts dropping knowledge about how Pete Townshend would have ended up in the band Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich had he decided to quit The Who? No? Here's a link. I'm grateful for that part, (and by the way, once that movie gets going, it's totally great, don't listen to the haters) because without it, I (and several others) probably would have never heard of these guys, and that would be a damn shame. Anyways, enjoy this old psychedelic live black and white recording of Zabadak. Every time I see how they used to shoot bands in the 60's & 70's on television it makes me wish that aesthetic had never left. Keep your Hi-Def technology, give me rear projection and fish eye lenses anytime!

Rock Snob Coffee Table Book

Snobsite.com bills itself as "The Online Home of Cultural Snobbery" and I think they mean that in a good way. I'm definitely going to pick up a copy of their Rock Snob Volume, one look at these selected entries will probably do the trick for yall as well. Sure I could use my reading time more wisely perhaps, maybe finally finish Moby Dick or start (but never finish) Infinite Jest, but eff that ess, I want to read about rock music man!

Amazon Link

Animals - Minilogue

Minilogue - Animals from ljudbilden on Vimeo.

Totally brilliant little video. Found this over at Kitsune Noir. Enjoy!

John Lennon - Nobody Told Me

Been listening to a bunch of Lennon lately which inevitably lead me to youtube which lead me to this sweet goof around video for Nobody Told Me that I'd never seen before. Check it!

John Lennon - Nobody Told Me
Uploaded by hushhush112

NPR's Weekly Jazz Sampler

I just discovered this and I have a feeling I'll be tuning in regularly. Every week the NPR site picks a Jazz Theme and streams five songs tied to that theme. This week is West Coast Cool: The Jazz Sound Of '50s California and I highly recommend all five tracks, especially Stardust by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. I always enjoy music so much more when I understand it's context and the site does a great job of briefly, but effectively, providing a context. Here's what they wrote about Stardust:

Unlike most of the musicians associated with the West Coast jazz sound, Dave Brubeck is actually a native Californian, as was his most important collaborator, saxophonist Paul Desmond. Both were born in the San Francisco Bay area, and the music they made together remains some of the most lyrical and popular jazz ever recorded. Brubeck was one of the first musicians to bring jazz to college campuses; his Jazz At Oberlin, recorded in 1953, is one of the quartet's earliest and finest live recordings. In their version of "Stardust," no one in the group ever plays the melody: Desmond and Brubeck imply the melody and explore it beautifully in their improvisations without specifically stating it. This recording is thought by many to be one of the best examples of Desmond's exceptionally lyrical playing.

Link - Take Five: A Weekly Jazz Sampler

Dear Deer - Kate Micucci

Check out this clever song & video directed by Raul Fernandez, it'll put a smile on your face. Watch it in all it's Hi-Res glory here! Click around Raul's site, there's some great stuff over there!



Kate Micucci's Homepage

'Pi' and 'Loud & Clear'

I first came across Hard n' Phirm when I was working for effinfunny.com and Pi was a track that stood out from the moment I heard it. These guys write really great songs that go in some very hilarious and unexpected directions. This incredible video was directed by the talented Keith Schofield, (who I know almost nothing about except he's very very talented). Be sure to stop by his website for a hi-res version of this video and several others (CSS, Death Cab, etc!).

***

Bonus Video:

This one is so good I just have to include it here...

2 Songs About Brian Wilson

What do Mike Love and John Cale both have in common? Almost nothing, except they both wrote awesome songs about Brian Wilson!

Brian Is Back: Rescued from oblivion by the gem packed Endless Harmony Soundtrack, this is a loving, simplistic gesture written for Brian when he finally broke out of his shell and returned to touring with the band. It is as over-the-top cheesy as any Mike Love song should be, but the sincerity and heart far out weighs this. And Carl Wilson is in perfect form, as always. (Amazon Link)

Mr. Wilson: I've been meaning to get around to John Cale's solo career ever since I laid eyes on the cover of Vintage Violence years ago, but for some reason, I'm just getting around to it now. On the heavy recommendation of Kyle over at Tall & Stupid, I picked up Slow Dazzle and was seriously blown away by the opening track, Mr. Wilson. It is an all out ode to Brian's genius, lyrically and musically. Like Mike Love's song, there are name checks to old Beach Boys songs, (amazingly Sunflower's Add Some Music), but here they are worked in artfully. (Amazon Link)

Both songs are excellent, so give them a listen! (Get 'em)

Down By The River, CSN&Y, Big Sur, 1969

Hey, just saw this over at Aquarium Drunkard and had to repost it here, this video will melt your mind.

16 Things iTunes Can Do To Improve On Their Next Update

1. A penny per listen. Why should people pay almost a full dollar for music they’re only going to listen to 12 times? How sweet would be if iTunes just tracked our listening habits and charged accordingly?

2. Also, once you listen to music 99 times, it stops charging you and gives you 4 free listens on any one song of your choice.

3. Then you are automatically sent a $1 e-tificate ($1 will be automatically deducted from your account). You can embed the e-tificate as much as you want on your myspace, blog, facebook, last.fm page or blog.

4. To keep people from stopping the song right before it gets to the end and opting out of paying their penny, once a song gets 10 seconds in, that will count as one half of a listen. Half listens can be combined from different songs to charge users for whole listens. That way people are encouraged not to start listening songs they’re not going to finish.

5. It should be noted that all these rules apply to both music purchased from iTunes Store and imported from other sources. This will be incentive for listeners to take advantage of the convenience and user friendliness of the iTunes store.

6. When you rate a song four stars or higher, iTunes will automatically charge you an extra half listen each time you listen to that song because you are obviously enjoying that song more.

7. This is also a bit of a convenience fee for making this song come up more on your shuffle.

8. Since this system requires that iTunes knows who’s listening to what music, users will be required to type in their Apple ID and password in between each song.

9. iTunes will require you to change your password once a week and change your username & password once a month to keep people from sharing accounts.

10. If you don’t change your password you will be locked out of your music.

11. If you go out of town and don’t have access to your iTunes library, you should either have someone change your password while you're away or let iTunes know how long you’ll be out of town.

12. I know what you’re thinking: what if there’s a group of people listening to music, like at a get-together? That’s what the Apple iGroup Code would be for. Listeners simply start up a new iGroup, enter their Apple IDs and passwords, come up with an iGroup password and then enter that password in between songs. There should also be a cool sidebar or something to check and uncheck people as they enter and exit the room or rooms in which the music is streaming so that they are not unfairly charged. Everyone hearing a song will be charged a full penny.

13. A lot of people send each other music through Instant Messenger programs and websites like yousendit.com. The new iTunes can really take advantage of that by:

14. Charging 8 pennies to send a friend a song.

15. Once they listen to the song 8 times, 8 listens are withdrawn from your friend’s account and placed into yours, plus you get one free extra listen to spend on the listening to of any of your own songs for your trouble.

16. If they fail to listen to a song 8 times, no big deal, you will just receive an error message every time you try to listen to that song until your friend listens to the song 8 times. This is to promote spreading music around. It’s good for bands.

By: Danny Jelinek & Matt Duffy

SZ Aug '08 Mix

Here's a new mix I've been listening to plenty lately, hope you guys enjoy it. I grabbed that Stars track over at the Mondo Salvo tumblr. If you haven't been there, you really should check it out, you'll find out about a lot of cool music from some of the best mixes on the net.

Zip!

Track List:

1. A Wolf At The Door - Radiohead
2. Bad Reputation - The dB's
3. Hello There - John Cale
4. Fractal Dream of a Thing - Stereolab
5. Tell Me Why (Neil Young Cover) - Radiohead
6. Saved By Old Times - Deerhunter
7. Id Engager - Of Montreal
8. Plaza Trinidad - Destroyer
9. Home - David Byrne and Brian Eno
10. Why I Want To Save You - Stars
11. Come All Ye - Fairport Convention
12. Mirando (YACHT Mix) - RATATAT
13. The Revolution - David Byrne
14. Rollaroll - John Cale
15. The Boy With The Thorn In His Side - The Smiths
16. Elephant Gun - Beirut
17. Veni Vedi Veci (Diplo Remix) - Black Lips

3 Beautiful Live Recordings of Beach House

I'm sure plenty people have seen these already, but I mostly just want them on SZ so I can find them nice and easy. These were done for Pitchfork.tv and they're just excellent, both musically and visually and they fit Beach House's Blurred-Fi sound perfectly (you think that'll catch on?). They remind me of the way performances were shot in the 70's. Enjoy!

"Gila"


"Holy Dances"


"Apple Orchard"

Guest Reviewer Matt Duffy (sort of) Reviews New Byrne / Eno Album

At work my co-workers and I have a little something we call the "album of the week". We post a CD and a review of an album to the bulletin board for the rest of the office to enjoy. It has gone largely unnoticed and I don't think anyone has actually taken advantage of it, but still, we persist. This week we've chosen to honor the new David Byrne and Brian Eno album Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. Usually Duffy finds a positive review via Allmusic or Pitchfork for the posting, but the lack of an advance release means that none of the major review sites will be posting those for a least a week or so. So Duffy went ahead and wrote a Pitchforkian review of it, and since I think this shit's hilarious, I'm posting it here. Enjoy...

I can still remember the summer of 1992 -- mowing lawns every day until my piggy bank was full. I rode my bike over to Groovestax and traded in those meager earnings without hesitation for a cassette tape of Kris Kross’ Totally Krossed Out. I can still hear the crinkling of the cellophane as I opened my prize. How many hours did I spend lying on my back, staring at the image of those two youngsters, with “Jump” blasting from the boombox and me unable to understand a single word of the new, as yet unfamiliar urban parlance?

A lot has changed since I bought my first album, but thankfully David Byrne and Brian Eno have not. In this long-awaited follow-up to their 1981 My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, the duo deliver a nice pup to the doorstep of your very own pre-fab dreamhouse, nestled in the suburbs of your alienated, modern, CGI mind. I haven’t really listened to the whole thing yet, but I can tell I won’t need to – the Devil is still in Byrne’s teeth, and Eno’s knack for studio wizardry seems only to have improved with age.

You can’t buy this one in the record stores (yet), but kids today won’t need to. Even if they did, they couldn’t. Because record stores aren’t selling it. But what kid worth his salt wants to go to a dusty old record store anyways? They probably don’t even know what a “record” is. Bunch of punks. Their parents don’t teach them any respect. I shudder to think where the country might be headed in 20 or 30 years.
--Tavis Giarzhiccienne, PitchforkMedia.com

Zip! - Home & One Fine Day

Buy it here!

Big Dipper Videos!

Check 'em out...

All Going Out Together


Younger Bums


Faith Healer (Official)

"Big Sky"

Big Sky definitely ranks pretty high up there amongst my favorite Kinks songs, so I was pretty happy to see that one of my favorite bands (and WFMU's resident cover band) Yo La Tengo took on the song back in 1986 on their debut LP Ride The Tiger. It's a very faithful cover of the song, maybe even a little too faithful, but they definitely do it justice. I only recently picked up Ride The Tiger and while they're not yet at their peak, it is a really really great first album. Grab the zip file for both versions of Big Sky and my favorite track from Ride The Tiger, The Cone Of Silence.

Zip!

From The Fire: Part 3

David Byrne - Uh-Oh
(Amazon Link)



I was extremely happy when we pulled this one from the box of burned cd's because it is just one of those albums I had always wanted to pick up, but for some reason or another never did. First off, this is easily my favorite album cover from ANY Byrne project, solo or otherwise. Every time I look at it I smile. And the album does it's best to live up to it. Coming out 4 years after Naked (wait, whaaaaa? $0.85 on Amazon? Get that!), the final Talking Heads album, Byrne pretty much picks things up right where that album left off by continuing to fuse and filter the rest of the world's music through his own unique and brilliant sensibilities. While there may not be anything here as instantly catchy and beautiful as Totally Nude or (Nothing But) Flowers, it's still well worth your time. Let's face it, it's David Byrne, just watching the guy step up to the plate is exciting. Enjoy the three tracks here, and if you just can't get yourself enough Byrne, pick up a copy of Look Into The Eyeball ($1.70! What's going on here???), for me, it's the best of his solo work.

In the zip you'll find three of my favorite tracks from the album:

1. Now I'm Your Mom
2. Hanging Upside Down
3. A Million Miles Away

Download!

SZ July '08 Mix

Hey, haven't posted in a looooong while, so I figured I put together a mix of the tunes I've been listening to a lot of lately. Hope you enjoy it!

Download!

Track List

1. Socs Hip -Lilys
2. Akula Owu Onyeara -The Funkees
3. Army of Ancients - Dr. Dog
4. Bros In Arms - The M's
5. Achoo - Sparks
6. Fairfax Rag - Harry Nilsson
7. I'm Lost Without You Here - Rocketship
8. fri/end - Thurston Moore
9. Bonnie - Big Dipper
10. Seven Fingers - Black Francis
11. Amplifier - The dB's
12. The Sublimation Hour- Destroyer
13. Million Dollar Bash - Fairport Convention
14. Soy Solo Para Ti - Victor Boa Y Su Musica
15. Gone - Travel by Sea

“Lovey Dovey” & “Nip Sip”

The Clovers popped onto my radar after Oxford American featured their amazing cut One Mint Julep on their 2007 music edition. I’ve since got a copy of this outstanding compilation featuring 22 brilliant Rhythm & Blues tunes. These tracks just ooze doobie-di-does, bar room smoke and truly inspired vocal arrangements. Two of my favorites are Lovey Dovey (so that’s where Steve Miller got the line, “really love your peaches, want to shake your tree”), and Nip Sip (the White Light / White Heat of R&B drinking songs). Dig the tunes…

Retread Sessions

Thanks to the great blog Flux=Rad I now have a new regular pit stop on the internet: The Retread Sessions Vimeo Page. Great acts like Akron/Family, Jose Gonzalez, Do Make Say Think and many more are up on the site already. I really love the aesthetic of these videos. Here's a particularly awesome one below. If you like the sample, make sure you go to the actual Vimeo page to watch 'em in HD.


No. 6 Bill Callahan - "Nothing Rises To Meet Me" from Retread Sessions on Vimeo.

Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Been

Do I really need to tell you about this album? Isn’t that album cover enough? No? Ok, here we go…

I’ve only recently discovered Spider John Kroener, but already the encroaching stages of obsession are upon me. First, I stumbled across Running, Jumping, Standing Still (psst…) and just let it play day in and day out, but that wasn’t enough. I needed to hear more. So I immediately got Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Been, and it’s absolutely brilliant. To crib a sentiment from the liner notes, he makes these well-worn songs sound fresh again, as if he’s the one who originally wrote and performed them. Hell, the guy even rescues Cotton-Eyed Joe from it’s jock jam peril, that alone earns him major kudos. Here’s a couple of diddies that go down particularly easy, enjoy…

“Headache” Video

You gotta love randomly typing “Frank Black” into a youtube search and getting an awesome video you never knew existed for one of your favorite songs. This thing is hilarious, (especially those back-up singers). Still have to pick up that new mini-album, heard it’s pretty great. Enjoy…

Big Dipper!!!

If you listen to The Best Show On WFMU, you may be familiar with the Boston rock band Big Dipper. Not only has Tom Scharpling sung their praises on his show, he also contributed to the liner notes in the box set. That solid endorsement coupled with the tracks posted on their myspace page was all I needed to go out and buy the beautifully packaged 3-disc set. The compilation collects all their minor label albums along with a whole disc full of unreleased material. "That's all fine and well Danny, but how's the music?" you ask. Fucking awesome! Just song after song of pop rock gems. There's 49 tracks here that are thankfully rescued from obscurity and so far I'm loving them all. Honestly, there's nothing I can say here that Scharpling doesn't put perfectly in his liner notes, so after you sample these tracks, I HIGHLY recommend you pick up the very reasonably priced box set. And if you just want to listen to the tunes, you can download all 49 of them on Amazon for a mere $9. I'm posting All Going Out Together, Loch Ness Monster and Faith Healer from the particularly strong first disc, but rest assured, there's lots more where those came from!

Unhalfbricking

For the last week or so I've been completely hooked on Unhalfbricking, the album from the influential British Folk Rock band featuring Richard Thompson and a bunch of other amazingly talented musicians. The whole album is just beautiful, but these two tracks are my favorite: Million Dollar Bash, one of three Dylan covers here, and the long jam A Sailor's Life. If you think I'm out of my mind during the first couple of minutes of A Sailor's Life, please hang in there, you'll know what I mean when Thompson and fiddler Dave Swarbrick take over. I'm expecting the follow up to this album, Liege & Lief, in the mail any day now, if it's anything as brilliant as this, I'll be a happy man.

50's & 60's Magic, Part 2 of 2

As promised, here's the second installment! Keep those oldies alive!

Zip!

50's & 60's Magic, Part I of 2

So my friend Pedro, (aka memofromturner) put together this really great compilation of 50's and 60's songs. I've been listening to them all morning and it's fantastic. It's like listening to Magic 104.3* without the lame car commercials, but there's also stuff in here Dick Biondi would never play. Enjoy Part 1, check in tomorrow for the next batch.

*On a side note, I just learned that the Oldies Station I grew up listening to in the Chicagoland Area has recently changed to a Jack FM, is nothing sacred?

Zip!

Unit 4 + 2 - Concrete and Clay

I'm hooked on this song right now! And this video just rules, such a simple, straightforward concept that thematically ties in with the song's chorus. Why can't more things be this easy to digest?

Get It!

New Smoking Popes Musics!!!

While sifting through the news section over at Pitchfork, my jaw hit the keyboard when I saw that Smoking Popes had a new album in the works. And while it's not coming out until early next year, they've put a few tracks on their myspace page, and they're sweet!

Growing up in Chicago, I got to catch these guys play their hearts out at the Metro all the time. I'm reasonably sure that they headlined the first show I ever went to without my parents. I came home with the near perfect punk pop ep Get Fired and played it to death on my shitty boombox. Here's two of my favorite tracks from that ep, Not That Kind of Girlfriend and Let's Hear It For Love.

Beck's New Video

Beck's video for Timebomb is pretty awesome, but I couldn't help but think of another socially conscience video (see below) I thought was totally awesome back in the day! Here's a hint... Crystal Pepsi anyone?

The Dead Trees

Any band that cracks the top 4 on Malkmus's myspace (check out sweet tracks from his new album while you're there) is definitely worth checking out. Run over to daytrotter and download the four songs from their session, you won't be disappointed. For your listening pleasure I'm streaming Television, a beautiful slice of Wilco-esque folk that's destined to find a home on many playlists.

On Myspace
6 Song EP - Fort Music

CO-OP

Depending on what song you’re listening to, CO-OP is either making your toes tap or making the earth shake, and occasionally, both. Mixing elements like upbeat keyboards and Eno-esque vocals with grind core guitars sounds like it’d be a tough trick to pull off, but that’s just what they do, exceedingly well. Below I’m posting a track more on the toe tapper side of things called Lo Volume. I often find myself visiting their myspace page just to hear this song. They haven’t released anything official yet, but I’ll be sure to post something when they do. If you’re in the LA area tonight, be sure to catch their show at The Scene.



Bonus Video, this is older and their sound is moving in a different direction, but who can resist a video about two misunderstood friendly robots…

From The Fire: Part 2

Jimmy Smith, Midnight Special



I was really happy to see this one in the box of burnt CDs. I've owned it for years on vinyl along with it's companion piece, Back At The Chicken Shack; both of which were literally recorded on the same day in 1960 (ahhh, the golden days of Blue Note!). And even though Chicken Shack is probably the better of the two, Midnight Special gives it a run for it's money. Smith, along with Stanley Turrentine, Kenny Burrell and Donald Bailey, sounds loose and relaxed on these long playing jams. You can just feel the good times. My favorite is the opening and title track Midnight Special, check it out below.



*Bonus Track, while trolling around imeem I found this awesome Jimmy Smith cover of Suicide Is Painless (The Theme From M.A.S.H.), not sure what album it's off of, but it's really good!

California Girls

Oh man, the new The Magnetic Fields album, Distortion, is just beautiful, but so far the stand out track for me has to be California Girls. I'm not sure if Stephin Merritt penned this song or not, but the lyrical wit really shines on this one; taking the well defined notion of what California girls mean in popular culture, and turning it on it's side. And musically, it's shimmering guitars and far away vocals make the whole thing feel like a dream, (that pretty much goes for the whole album too).

Private - My Secret Lover

I learned about these guys from my friend Kyle over at Side Selecter (great new playlist this week btw) and I keep forgetting to post about them. I don't know much about them other than that they're from Copenhagen, Denmark and that they sound a ton like Thriller era Michael Jackson. Really though, what more would you need to know, right? Below is the title track from their album My Secret Lover. It's so infectious and fun you won't even bother wondering why they keep saying "my bullets in the gun".

Okay, now the bad news, this album is impossible to find for a reasonable price anywhere, and it's not available through download on Amazon or iTunes. So if you need a copy... well, you know.

From The Fire: Part 1

Brian Eno and John Cale, Wrong Side Up


So, me and some folks I work with found two full boxes of smelly, ash filled, smoke damaged CDs on the WB lot yesterday. It turns out that once you ditch the cases and wipe off the discs, not only are they perfectly fine, but there's a lot of great albums in there! So I'm starting this little series and I'll update it as I absorb this new found music.

Today's installment is the 1990 album from art rock figureheads Brian Eno and John Cale, Wrong Side Up. I've had it on repeat all morning and I don't think I'm going to break that cycle anytime soon. This album lives up to the promise of the two names on the cover and I HIGHLY recommend picking it up, ideally in a box of scorched CDs. Here's the link!

For your listening pleasure, here's the first two songs off the album, they'll win you over immediately.

Jake Shimabukuro On Conan

What a performance! I have to get this album right away!

Jake Shimabukuro's Website
Gently Weeps - Åmazon Link

My friend Pedro has a last.fm page where he's recently started posting quick hit recommendations. This guy is a music expert, so you're bound to discover some gems! Here's the link...
memofromturner's last.fm

Groovallegiance

One Nation Under A Groove came out near the end of Funkadelic's unstoppable reign of creative output, and to me at least, Groovallegiance is one of the most remarkable tracks among their numerous accomplishments. It's laid back Caribbean vibe mixed in with melodic keyboards and Michael Hampton's guitar work make this song pure magic. It's one of the only songs I can honestly say feels short at 7 minutes.

Devon Williams - Elevator

This video isn't going to be set the world on fire any time soon, but the song Elevator more than makes up for it. This fella's opening up for Destroyer in May and from listening to the tracks on his myspace he's very worthy. While you're there you can download Elevator as well. He was also in a pop punk band called Osker that's worth a listen.

The World's Greatest Music Collection (Seriously, it is)

Got an extra $3,000,000? If you do, you may want to pick up this RIDICULOUSLY GIGANTIC music collection that ebay user jpaulhenderson5a4e has put up for auction. If anyone's up for splitsees let me know. Here's a bit of his description...

From Thomas Edison to American Idol, this is the complete history of the music that shaped and defined five generations. 3 million records and 300,000 CDs containing more than 6 million song titles. It's the undisputed largest collection of recorded music in the world. About half of the recordings are new and never played, and every genre of 20th century music is represented. There are countless rare recordings worth hundreds, or even thousands of dollars each on the collectibles market. Organized and cataloged, the collection is meticulously maintained and housed in a climate-controlled warehouse. The estimated value of this amazing collection is more than $50 million.

Pret-ty amazing. Pret-ty pret-ty amazing. See the ebay page here!

Grizzly Bear and the Los Angeles Philharmonic

Talk about the ultimate indie rock date night! I'm really excited for this show, it should be something special. The only other time I've been to the Disney Concert Hall is to see Brian Wilson perform SMiLE and that was just about as good as it gets. The sound quality there is nothing short of amazing, it's almost as if you can hear every individual note. Information and ticket links below.

Disney Concert Hall

Ticket Link - Hopefully this one works, it may be one of those randomly generated ones.

Beulah - Handsome Western States

So my friend Abed gave me this album a while ago and I FINALLY got around to listening to it and now it's all I can listen to! Well this and the new Gram Parsons & Flying Burrito Brothers release. In any case, this is Beulah's first album and it's pretty much a straight listen through, yep, that's right, you won't be needing that skip button once this is on. According to allmusic this is their lowest ranked album so I'm psyched to check out the rest of their albums because if that's true I'm in for a real treat. But that can't be true, this album is too good for that to be true. It's out of print, so unless you're prepared to pay upwards of $40, here's a link to the Amazon download. Here's my favorite two tracks from Handsome Western States so far, now get your NoCal on!

Pre-Fergie Black Eyed Peas

There was a time when I actually got really excited about a new Black Eyed Peas single instead filled with dread of having whatever new gimmick track Will.i.am. cooks up being shoved down my throat for 15 months, (except I do actually have a soft spot in my heart for Clumsy I must admit, but that's the exception that proves the rule ya see). B.E.P. Empire is one of my favorite tracks from their golden era, and even the crap festival their music's become doesn't tarnish it's shine. The video is excellent as well, but time has added a layer of irony to it that makes it even better. Watch as the Black Eyed Peas poke fun at how commercial rap was becoming only to become the ultimate target of their own venom a few years later.

Black Eyed Peas - B.E.P. empire

Side Selecter

Side Selecter is my friend Kyle's excellent weekly music blog where he posts sweet mixes of what he's been listening to, and he listens to some really cool stuff. You can stream the mixes right on the website or download them for portable listening. Personally, the shuffle function on my iPod has been collecting dust since he's started posting these. This week I did a guest set for him, so go over there and have a listen!

Dan Deacon / Ultimate Reality

I went to the Dan Deacon / Ultimate Reality / H.E.A.L.T.H. / Abe Vigoda show at the El Rey last night and it was really awesome, but the biggest surprise was Ultimate Reality. They were the only band in the show I hadn't heard of before and they completely blew the crowd away. From what I can figure out, they're sort of an extension of Dan Deacon's music, but I can't find any albums under that moniker. I'll try to describe it as best as I can, but it really has to be seen to be believed.

Two drummers sit motionless and expressionless in front of a projection screen while a Deacon created loop plays hypnotically. Text scrolls on the screen, and a guy comes out and does his best to read it as fast as he can, it is a prologue to a nonexistent movie that mashes up the plots of Terminator, Kindergarten Cop, Junior, and some other Schwarzenegger movies. That guy leaves, the loop grows more intense, and suddenly without warning the two drummers break into perfectly synchronous drum activity while behind them distorted images from the various Schwarzenegger movies play in sync with the music. And it never stops, it just keeps building and growing.

Truly amazing stuff. I grabbed this off of Deacon's myspace page, it's some of the visuals from the Ultimate Reality set, so you can get an idea. Don't miss this show!

Vote The Rock

Hey I know you guys are all responsible citizens doing your research on all the candidates, but if you also happen to dig The Fiery Furnaces, you should definitely go over to their website today so you can cast your vote for what their next opus should be in their comments section. There are some really solid album ideas up there, but this one was my favorite:

Archer Ave. Cupid’s Corner
Chicago Fall album. (The band and the season (the band The Fall and not the band Chicago).) Music in imitation of the early 80’s, double-drumming Fall, but the ensemble consisting not of that sort of band but, instead, a 18th-century-performance-style outfit like the old Il Complesso Barocco or La Petite Bande. (Though with rock drum kit also, often.)

Not bad eh? Also, I finally picked up Widow City and it's fantastic! (Side note, it's cheaper at Best Buy than at that Amazon link.) Here's my favorite song from the album below!