"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

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Big Dipper Videos!

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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!