Thursday morning shuffle:
Hawkwind, "Born To Go" (In Search Of Space)
Clifford Brown & Max Roach, "Flossie Lou" (At Basin Street)
Reinhard Voigt, "Liebe Deine Musik" (Total 5)
Ghostface Killah, "Josephine (Feat. Trife Da God & the Wire Cottrell Band)" (More Fish)
Warren Zevon, "Tenderness On The Block" (Excitable Boy)
Rammstein, "Wollt Ihr Das Bett In Flammen Sehen" (Herzelied)
David Bowie, "Blackout" ("Heroes")
Brutal Truth, "Fisting" (Sounds Of The Animal Kingdom)
Cynic, "The Eagle Nature" (Focus)
The Pogues, "Planxty Noel Hill" (Rum Sodomy & The Lash)
Black Sabbath, "Heaven And Hell" (The Dio Years)
Led Zeppelin, "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" (Led Zeppelin)
Pet Shop Boys, "West End Girls" (Pop Art: The Singles)
Joe Bataan, "Mambo De Bataan" (Riot)
Sunny Murray, "Suns Of Africa (Part 1)" (Homage To Africa)
Metallica, "Ride The Lightning" (Ride The Lightning)
Jimi Hendrix, "Drifting" (First Rays Of The New Rising Sun)
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
MORE NAPALM, PLEASE
Wednesday morning 20:
Grant Green, "Two For One" (The Complete Quartets With Sonny Clark)
Knut, "Bite The Bullet" (Challenger)
Death, "Cosmic Sea" (Human)
Discordance Axis, "Dystopia Pt. II" (Ulterior)
The Stooges, "No Fun (Full Version)" (The Stooges)
Lester Sterling, "Spoogy" (Dawning Of A New Era: The Roots Of Skinhead Reggae)
The Ramones, "I Can't Give You Anything" (Rocket To Russia)
Jason Moran, "Summit" (Black Stars)
Wayne Shorter, "Adam's Apple" (Adam's Apple)
AC/DC, "Rock And Roll Ain't Noise Pollution" (Back In Black)
Freiland/Frei, "Hot Love (Justus Köhncke Featuring Meloboy Remix)" (Kompakt 100)
James Gang, "Collage" (Greatest Hits)
Napalm Death, "Instruments Of Persuasion" (The Code Is Red...Long Live The Code)
Napalm Death, "C.S." (Scum)
DJ Shadow, "Stem/Long Stem/Transmission 2" (Endtroducing.....)
High On Fire, "Last" (The Art Of Self Defense)
Megadeth, "Mary Jane" (So Far, So Good...So What?)
Augustus Pablo, "Origan Style" (Screaming Target)
Eddie Palmieri/Cal Tjader, "Resemblance" (Bamboleate)
Pet Shop Boys, "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots Of Money)" (Pop Art: The Singles)
Grant Green, "Two For One" (The Complete Quartets With Sonny Clark)
Knut, "Bite The Bullet" (Challenger)
Death, "Cosmic Sea" (Human)
Discordance Axis, "Dystopia Pt. II" (Ulterior)
The Stooges, "No Fun (Full Version)" (The Stooges)
Lester Sterling, "Spoogy" (Dawning Of A New Era: The Roots Of Skinhead Reggae)
The Ramones, "I Can't Give You Anything" (Rocket To Russia)
Jason Moran, "Summit" (Black Stars)
Wayne Shorter, "Adam's Apple" (Adam's Apple)
AC/DC, "Rock And Roll Ain't Noise Pollution" (Back In Black)
Freiland/Frei, "Hot Love (Justus Köhncke Featuring Meloboy Remix)" (Kompakt 100)
James Gang, "Collage" (Greatest Hits)
Napalm Death, "Instruments Of Persuasion" (The Code Is Red...Long Live The Code)
Napalm Death, "C.S." (Scum)
DJ Shadow, "Stem/Long Stem/Transmission 2" (Endtroducing.....)
High On Fire, "Last" (The Art Of Self Defense)
Megadeth, "Mary Jane" (So Far, So Good...So What?)
Augustus Pablo, "Origan Style" (Screaming Target)
Eddie Palmieri/Cal Tjader, "Resemblance" (Bamboleate)
Pet Shop Boys, "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots Of Money)" (Pop Art: The Singles)
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
DOUCHEBAGS, MEET YOUR KING
So I got the new Burning Brides album, Hang Love, in the mail (I'll be writing it up for Alternative Press). As 90s-besotted post-grunge throb-rock goes, it's not that bad. At its absolute best, it reminds me of the last Melvins record, without the gang vocals and the double drumming, of course. The problem isn't the music; it's the unbelievably douchebaggy quotes from frontman Dimitri Coats in the press pack. Ready? Brace yourself for the awesomeness, if you dare!
"We see ourselves as Robin Hoods of rock and roll."
"...our band is all about opposites. Even the name Burning Brides and the way we sound; there's a fine line between beauty and darkness."
"We [Coats and bassist/wife Melanie] started smoking pot and she'd come over to my apartment and listen to records. I'd turn her on to Sonic Youth, the Beach Boys or the cool Black Sabbath records. She was already into the Velvet Underground and the Beatles."
"I'd been playing guitar since the seventh grade, but it never occurred to me to try to write a song or sing. Melanie encouraged me to start writing and I taught her how to play bass."
"Pete is what a rock drummer should be. He rides a motorcycle, smokes cigarettes, fishes and drinks beers. All the girls like him. And if anybody looked at me or Melanie the wrong way, he'd push 'em against the wall."
"I get all these weird images in my head that are probably left over from bad dreams. I like to play guitar with the TV on but the sound off. I think a few images from world news leaked into my brain and resurfaced in 'Rosary.'"
"I'm writing ["Waring Street"] from the perspective of a serial killer in the summertime, around the Hancock Park area of L.A. The same way I'm all excited about rock and roll and playing guitar, this guy is excited about killing people. He's really psyched on it, and very cocky. He's good at it. I was thinking, 'How would a serial killer write this song?' He really considers killing an art form. There's beauty in it for him. I love the solo."
"I'm a Yeah Yeah Yeahs fan. I love that song 'Maps.' I was hanging out with Karen O, having dinner with her. I realized that she was torn up over a boy that I know but she also told me how she's crippled by anxiety. And I can relate to that. I get anxiety from time to time but it's a real ball and chain for her. So I'm actually singing 'Unglued' from the perspective of a girl, but it ended up being about anyone who's lost someone and doesn't want that person to go. I was gonna call the song 'The Unanswered Prayers Of Karen O' but then I decided it's more interesting to disguise the inspiration."
"It's ['Feel No Shame'] got that Black Sabbath-meets-ZZ-Top feel, the kind of song you're gonna play in your car while driving down the highway and feeling badass."
"I like playing off opposites. Love and Death. And even though I'm hanging from a noose on the album cover, it's not really about death. Or if it is, it's the death of rock and roll. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club had that song, 'Whatever Happened To My Rock and Roll?' When I heard that I said, 'Yeah! What did happen to it?' I feel a duty to rock and roll. I love the way the vocals turned out. I usually sing very loud but this time I wanted to try a different approach super close to the mic. I don't think I could have been more stoned."
"This album is a story of survival. It's about making it out the other end stronger than you were before. When you believe in something so strongly you have to fight against the odds and the fear and go for it no matter what. And in the end, regardless of whether you get what you want or not, the fact that you reached for it, that will set you free. If I died tomorrow, which I hope I don't, at least I know I have made what I feel is a great record. The kind of rock record you don't hear anymore. So I am free."
Thursday, May 10, 2007
TODAY ON PTW
SLEEPYTIME GORILLA MUSEUM
"Helpless Corpses Enactment"
from In Glorious Times (The End)
Are you easily bored and even more easily distracted, requiring near-constant stimulation? Are you also a pretentious, pseudo-artsy dork convinced nobody in gym class can ever truly understand you because you’re just too deep for your sterile suburban surroundings? Then have we (and by we I mean “the global youth subculture industry, avant- garde-fake-opera-metal division”) got a band for you. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum are a trio formed by two ex-members of Idiot Flesh (a Bay Area ensemble who ripped off the Residents and Gwar for several years to general apathy) and Carla Kihlstedt of Tin Hat Trio. Like Idiot Flesh, SGM shows involve lots of non-rock performance-type elements, including pseudo-scientific lectures, puppetry, interpretive dance—you know, the usual distractions intended to convey depth and ironic distance. This is their third album and their first for The End Records, a fine label also currently bestowing Lordi, Novembers Doom, Agalloch and Melechesh, among others, on the world. SGM stand out, though, because those other bands are all good. [Read the rest here.]
"Helpless Corpses Enactment"
from In Glorious Times (The End)
Are you easily bored and even more easily distracted, requiring near-constant stimulation? Are you also a pretentious, pseudo-artsy dork convinced nobody in gym class can ever truly understand you because you’re just too deep for your sterile suburban surroundings? Then have we (and by we I mean “the global youth subculture industry, avant- garde-fake-opera-metal division”) got a band for you. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum are a trio formed by two ex-members of Idiot Flesh (a Bay Area ensemble who ripped off the Residents and Gwar for several years to general apathy) and Carla Kihlstedt of Tin Hat Trio. Like Idiot Flesh, SGM shows involve lots of non-rock performance-type elements, including pseudo-scientific lectures, puppetry, interpretive dance—you know, the usual distractions intended to convey depth and ironic distance. This is their third album and their first for The End Records, a fine label also currently bestowing Lordi, Novembers Doom, Agalloch and Melechesh, among others, on the world. SGM stand out, though, because those other bands are all good. [Read the rest here.]
Monday, May 07, 2007
REVISITING CALLE 13
I finally got the official release of Residente o Visitante (I had an advance CD-R for about a month before the disc streeted), and I like it better this way. There's an extra song, "Un Beso de Desayuno," which isn't great and doesn't feature any kind of super-special guest star, so it's hard to figure out why it wasn't on the advance. Plus, the sequencing is totally different from the advance.
"Tango del Pecado," the still somewhat disappointing first single, is still the first proper track, but "Sin Exagerar," the collaboration with Tego Calderon, has been moved up to the #4 spot, followed immediately by "Mala Suerta Con El 13," a sexually charged duet between Residente and La Mala Rodriguez (who sounds a lot like an earlier Calle collaborator, Nelly Furtado, here) and "Llégale a Mi Guarida," which features Vicentico formerly of Los Fabulosos Cadillacs. So it's more front-loaded now than it was, and all those tracks are really good, too (as is track #3, "La Fokin Moda"), starting the album off very strong before it drifts into a weird psych-pop romantic interlude with the aforementioned "Un Beso de Desayuno," which is an acoustic-guitar-and-piano-driven love song that makes "La Jirafa," from the last album, sound like Mystikal's "Pussy Crook" by comparison. That's followed by my absolute least favorite track on the whole damn disc, "Uigi Guaye," which features a chorus that literally features Residente grunting like some kind of fucking troll or something. What's really disappointing is that "Uigi" is built on a really cool electro groove, with dashes of theremin in there, too, and the verses are okay, but then the chorus just completely ruins it. Maybe they need an outside set of ears to veto ideas this shitty.
At least the album picks up steam again after that - every song from track #9 ("Algo Con-Sentido") through the closer, "La Era de la Copiaera," is solid or better, with the possible exception of the slightly too weird for its own good "El Avión Se Cae." I think it's gonna be a mistake to release "La Cumbia de los Aburridos" as the second single, though, as I've heard they're gonna do. Two songs in a row making a big deal out of incorporating regional sounds makes them seem too hippie/arty. They should put out the pimp-walking "La Crema" instead - it leaked months ago, so everyone knows it already, but it presents a great opportunity for a new video, which has always been one of their real strengths. (The "Tango del Pecado" video feels over-thought to me, though; they don't look like they're having nearly as much fun as they were in "Atrevete-te-te.") Anyway, other than the exact middle of the disc ("Un Beso de Desayuno" and "Uigi Guaye"), RoV is a very strong album, even better than it initially seemed. What do you mean, you haven't bought it yet?
"Tango del Pecado," the still somewhat disappointing first single, is still the first proper track, but "Sin Exagerar," the collaboration with Tego Calderon, has been moved up to the #4 spot, followed immediately by "Mala Suerta Con El 13," a sexually charged duet between Residente and La Mala Rodriguez (who sounds a lot like an earlier Calle collaborator, Nelly Furtado, here) and "Llégale a Mi Guarida," which features Vicentico formerly of Los Fabulosos Cadillacs. So it's more front-loaded now than it was, and all those tracks are really good, too (as is track #3, "La Fokin Moda"), starting the album off very strong before it drifts into a weird psych-pop romantic interlude with the aforementioned "Un Beso de Desayuno," which is an acoustic-guitar-and-piano-driven love song that makes "La Jirafa," from the last album, sound like Mystikal's "Pussy Crook" by comparison. That's followed by my absolute least favorite track on the whole damn disc, "Uigi Guaye," which features a chorus that literally features Residente grunting like some kind of fucking troll or something. What's really disappointing is that "Uigi" is built on a really cool electro groove, with dashes of theremin in there, too, and the verses are okay, but then the chorus just completely ruins it. Maybe they need an outside set of ears to veto ideas this shitty.
At least the album picks up steam again after that - every song from track #9 ("Algo Con-Sentido") through the closer, "La Era de la Copiaera," is solid or better, with the possible exception of the slightly too weird for its own good "El Avión Se Cae." I think it's gonna be a mistake to release "La Cumbia de los Aburridos" as the second single, though, as I've heard they're gonna do. Two songs in a row making a big deal out of incorporating regional sounds makes them seem too hippie/arty. They should put out the pimp-walking "La Crema" instead - it leaked months ago, so everyone knows it already, but it presents a great opportunity for a new video, which has always been one of their real strengths. (The "Tango del Pecado" video feels over-thought to me, though; they don't look like they're having nearly as much fun as they were in "Atrevete-te-te.") Anyway, other than the exact middle of the disc ("Un Beso de Desayuno" and "Uigi Guaye"), RoV is a very strong album, even better than it initially seemed. What do you mean, you haven't bought it yet?
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