Blood Bank

The new Bon Iver EP, Blood Bank, is about what you would expect--dark, poetic, starkly beautiful, perfect winter music. I like what the critic at Pitchfork wrote about the first line of the title track--"I met you at the blood bank/we were looking at the bags"--about how that is the kind of line an aspiring novelist spends his career searching for. This guy has moments like that throughout, but in particular in that song, taking the idea of our blood hanging in rows of bags, how they are all the same color, and makes it into a meditation on identiy. I saw Bon Iver in December at Town Hall and he's got such an adoring following and he is a funny, gawky down-to-earth guy from Wisconsin who happens to write killer songs. DC, you will like it because he messes around auto-tunes on his voice, which is mainly found in mainstream hip-hop, your fav genre.

Squarepusher's redemption songs

For those like me who are disappointed with Squarepusher's last LP:

He's released a couple of EPs that are great. Really great. They're both on Warp Records, I believe.

Venus No. 17 - reminiscent of the darkness of Feed Me Weird Things and the uberprogramming genius of Go Plastic. I would put it up there with Squarepusher's best work so far.

and

Numbers Lucent - harkens back to the rave/techno influences of Hard Normal Daddy, but not nearly as cheesy.

Don't count out Mr. Jenkinson yet!

For GY!BE fans...

looking for some dark, slow, brooding post-rock?

Check out Eternal Return by This Is Your Captain Speaking.
Not as life-changing as GY!BE, but definitely worth listening to.

I am listening to...

....Black Moth Super Rainbow. No joke.

Love and Rockets "Earth Sun Moon"

I'd like to dedicate this blog post to my main man Matt Varnish, who turned his back on the WWALT blog because I think deep down inside he doesn't think he's cool enough (even though this is the guy who won a freaking Grammy for Chili Peppers Album cover?! Anyway...) Shouting this out to Matt Varnish because I distinctly remember rocking out to the cassette of this on the boom box in his basement in 8th grade, putting stickers on our OG Powell Peralta boards.

Great record that stands the test of time, I feel. Love and Rockets are the guys in Bauhaus minus Peter Murphy. They had a pretty solid career in the late 80's/early 90's. They had some MTV hits.

This record is the jam with solid rock #'s on the A-side (including "Buzz Bin" clip of the week or whatever the fuck it was called back then, "No New Tale To Tell"), but it's the flip that really does it for me now. This is just like Jane's Addiction "Ritual De Habitual" for me... I had both of them on cassette, and I basically wore out the A-side when i was a kid (rewinding, remember rewinding?) listening to all the rock jams, and then subsequently found both on vinyl as an adult, and wore out the B-side of the record checking out only the mellow introspective jams.

Since I'm blabbing anyway, can I nominate Side-B Ritual De Lo Habitual as one of the best sides to an album ever in the history of time?

Anyway, Love and Rockets "Earth Sun Moon", an old school classic.

TJ River, JKP, Gabino, Halterlein... any of your motherfuckers still down for this blog? It takes a village to raise a blog.

dc

The Empyrean - John Frusciante

When I was but a lad in northwestern Connecticut I found Red Hot Chili Peppers oddly appealing and different from the classic rock that I was weened on.  Also, I liked the rock 'n roll tennis commercials they did on TV with Andre Agassi - "Hit the ball as loud as you can!"

My dearly departed uncle knew I liked this band and saved an article about them in Rolling Stone so I could read it.  This must have been when Mothers Milk was just released because the article was focused on new guy, John Frusciante.  In the article he talked about his influences, and he mentioned how excited he was because Maggot Brain had recently been released on CD or something like that.  Because of that line in the interview, my uncle "lent" me his copy of Maggot Brain on vinyl.  I'm not really a vinyl guy, but I'm happy to have this nugget.  Anyway, I'm reminded of this touching tale because upon listening to the first track on John Frusciante's newest offering "The Empyrean" all I could think about was Maggot Brain, and it's pretty awesome.  After the opening track, the jury is still out.  It's very polished, and it sounds good.  There are obviously amazing guitar parts and sounds, including masterfully reverby wah parts.  Unlike some critics, I like John's singing voice.  Also, Flea plays some sweet bass parts.  I'm not sure how into the songs I am, though.  I've listened to it twice threes times thus far, and none of them are sticking with me (with the exception of the Maggot Brain sounding one).  I think that the songs may be missing the geniusy stylistic hooks that I've come to expect from the man.  I have a feeling it will grow on me as I become familiar with the concept behind this concept album.  I really want to like it.  I have a deep affinity for John.  I even bought most of those solo records he put out a few years ago even though I don't listen to all of them.  I'm just glad he exists and that he does what he does, especially considering the fact that there are so many whom I wish would stop doing what they do altogether.  

Does that sound negative?  I like it, don't get me wrong.  It is totally worth checking out, but I guess I expected a masterpiece.  I wanted to like it more.    

Yawning Man: Vista Point

I remember watching these dudes play at the mall when I was in high school. I didn't really get it, now I do. They have been around since 1986 in some form or another.
3 piece instrumental surf/Spaghetti Western rock. There is the familiar heavy reverb guitar sound, but I don't really hear many recycled Dick Dale or Ventures riffs here. Lookout for Theremin on one of the tracks. Vista Point has 14 tracks, they combined their two releases into one disc. This is not the "stoner rock" the southern Califonia desert is known for. The drummer played in QOTSA and bassist Mario Lalli is a damn good guitar player in his other band Fatso Jetson. This track reminds me of El Ten Eleven. Check out the slow dirge of Manolete. You gotta love a track named Sony Bono Memorial Freeway!

Jack Rose

Also listening to Jack Rose today, American guitarist, someone you'll like if you're into the James Blackshaw, John Fahey thing--open tunings, experimentation. Some of the stuff he does is folk sounding ("Kensington Blues", is one album), and it's cool, but the really hip stuff is on "Raag Manifestos" and "Opium Music", where an eastern, foreboding sound dominates, more sitar than acoustic guitar.

TNT

Listening to Tortoise this cold, sunny Sunday afternoon in NYC. This is my favorite Tortoise album--what's yours? I read that they will have a new album out in 2009, first one in, what, five years?

John Eaton on the Syn Ket

I recently did a music trade and got 8 GB of electronic avant garde stuff. Lots (and lots and lots) of it is abrasive weird sounds that i probably won't listen to often, but there are some jams that are actually enjoyable, as well as some gems like this:

John Eaton is a guy who played a rare synth called a Syn Ket. I have a record of his, but it is more weirdo sounds, not funky like this 7" that was included.

My Girls

Screw it, let's just call it Animal Collective week.

This video is pretty cool. They are getting away from their hippy trippy imagery, and getting more into bugged out spooky space man imagery (?)

Lots of close ups of gear, which is cool. After listening to this album A LOT this week (and this is one of the stand out hits) it's cool to see the way they actually make the sounds.

AC/Panda Bear

I got that new Animal Collective joint. It's pretty good.

Here is a picture that i got from "Brooklyn Vegan.com" (?!?! some site that Rootless follows). This is noteworthy to me, maybe not so much to you... Panda Bear is rocking 2 Boss SP-404's and Mackie mixer... he also has a little drum set and a keyboard up there.



dc

Single Ladies

I am sorry I haven't posted for awhile.  Also, I am sorry I am posting this, but it is music related, and entertaining for at least a minute.  

School of Seven Bells

I've been reading the brooklynvegan blog lately, lots of good music info on there. They had a post about a show by the trio School of Seven Bells that got me to check out their album "Alpinisms". When I read stuff about "downtempo ambient beats mixed with textured kraut synths" and then about "vocal interplay that hints of Middle Eastern melodies over heavy tribal drum tracks", it's generally something I at least want to check out. And this was actually a huge score for me, really cool band, wish I saw them the other night at (le) possion rouge in the village. These guys toured with M83 and Prefuse 73, so that'll give some more insight into their sound. They sound a bit like Radiohead or that German band Lali Puna, and other times like M83 (they definitely have an 80s thing going on), and a bit of Boards of Canada. And I guess the two girls are twins and they're into lucid dreams, far out, man.

John Fahey

Listening to John Fahey's "Days Gone By", perfect music for waking up, snow on the ground, drinking coffee. I have five of his albums and I think this is my favorite, though I like the title of another the best, "Old Girlfriends and Other Horrible Memories". Fahey plays solo steel-string guitar that probably sounds more like folk than anything, but has strong elements of blues and even classical. His style has been called "American Primitivism", which I think is a cool description. On "Days Gone By" there is a two-part song called "A Raga Called Pat" that has some cool sound effects, a train going by, weird jungle birds, with the guitar lines moving in and out of focus in the background; the title track has trippy voices in the background. Recorded in 1967, it sounds timeless and ahead of its time.

Madlib part 2

After seeing the previous post, I felt compelled to mention Stevie by Yesterday's New Quintet. This is a really dope recording. Stevie Wonder compositions "re-imagined" by Madlib and his "band". I also have a digital recording of Elle's Theme and the Bomb Shelter EP too, if anyone's interested in a copy. Maybe someone else has a Madlib listening experience as well?

Madlib the bad kid

I've been listening to Yesterday's New Quintet, "Yesterday's Universe" today, such good stuff. How does the man do it? I mean in terms of being so prolific, having so many different projects that sound unique. And how does this music literally get made? I guess sometimes playing along with a classic jazz album, sometimes totally original instrumentation. Madlib the Beat Konducta!!

All right, you  afro-beat hipster motherfuckers...I rocked Afghan Whigs, Gentlemen tonight.  I don't know....I'm just sayin'.  Ever been in love with a girl, and maybe it didn't work out?  Ever wondered, like David Bryne, "Oh my God, what have I done?"  Yeah.  Yeah.

This is one of my fave songs ever

Sa Ra is a production crew (?... "band" isn't the right word) out of LA. The rest of the album is pretty OK but this is the joint right here. So unquantizied and funky.

dc-elbow

vacation iPod...

I haven't checked out too many new things lately, but a couple things here and there that I like; The Music Tapes and This Is Your Captain Speaking, for example.

But the real mark of what I am listening to (and that's what this blog is all about after all) is what makes it on my iPod when I leave home for a long period of time, like on my recent vacation to California and Oregon. (West Coast, son!!!)
So here are the most-played of my most-played items, the cream of the crop from my iPod vacation selections:

Bee Thousand - Guided By Voices
Chicken Run - Hallelujah Chicken Run Band (killin band from the '70s from Zimbabwe)
all of the Fleet Foxes stuff
the Funky 16 Corners "Funky Nawlins" mix/podcast
Heart Of The Congos - The Congos
Led Zeppelin IV
The Good The Bad And The Ugly - Ennio Morricone
Out There - The Heliocentrics
Studio One Rockers
The Sun - Fridge
A Thing To Live With - Fond Of Tigers
Trap Door II Mystery Mix
most of the Nirvana records
all Boards Of Canada recordings (yes Don, even the Beautiful Place EP)
Venus No. 17 - Squarepusher
4-Track Recordings - Green Arrows (another bad-assed west African band from the '70s)
White Light/White Heat - Velvet Underground
Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives - Prefuse 73
Standards - Tortoise
...and a bunch of Turkish gypsy stuff, mostly Selim Sesler. You know, this guy!
Turkish rom clarinet master!

VINYL

I'm not a big record collector, like...say...DC Looch. In my defense, whenever I see a cool record cover or a record I know is hot shit, I drop the bread and add it to my small but (self-proclaimed) awesome collection. Case in point:




Juan Garcia Esquivel was a Mexican arranger and composer. His is known mostly for his wacky, zany, '60s arrangements of standards that are anything but standard. He has an album called Space Age Bachelor Pad Music, and that pretty much sums up exactly how his music sounds. How could you pass up a record with a cover like that???




I didn't buy this next one, but it's at my house now, and I just thought I'd mention it. It's an album of standards sung by Tony Perkins. Yes, that's Anthony Perkins from the iconic film Psycho. He wears a creepy trenchcoat and croons.

Noteworthy

Savath y Savalas, Prefuse 73's cooled out latin side project, which is awesome, is now signed to amazing left coast label Stones Throw Records for their new LP due out in 2009.

"If you don't know now you know...."

Son Lux

The album is called At War With Walls and Mazes.  It's the creation of this guy nobody's really heard of previously, Ryan Lott, and it's awesomely strange.  It's trip-hop, electronic, emo rock, classical, and the songs sprawl and morph until I feel like I'm in a 15 minute Godspeed epic where you wind up on a different planet from where you started, though the longest track is 5:41.  His voice took me some getting used to, his singing sounds like he's about to cry, and lyrically he makes sufjan stevens sound like a godless tough guy, but the melodies are strong and the lyrics usually just 1 or 2 lines repeated over and over, so you make it through the first 30 seconds and the payoff comes when the beat and/or other sonic oddness kicks in.  

I just discovered there's a cover of don't you forget about me on his myspace, but I like him anyway. 

Merriweather Post Pavilion

Do any of you vinyl heads have this yet? I'm dying to hear it and it doesn't come out digitally for a while.

The Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton found dead at 60

Christ I am truly saddened, as crappy as their reunion stuff is Funhouse is my fucking Sgt Pepper. Anybody with me?

Monday Night's Records

I don't know what the fuck Lenny Breau is all about, never heard of him. Anyone? Got it for $1.00 at a flea market or something and it's awesome. I guess i can look him up on Wikipedia but like the fact that this is random goodness.

Also, those Music of Sudan joints are great. North African traditional music is funk-y.

dc

aventgardeproject.org

I've been getting more and more into early electronic music/avant garde stuff lately (Stockhausen, Cage, Mimaroglu, etc.). Early music research studio type stuff when synthesizers took up an entire room and you had tape delay machines, not Pro-Tools plug-ins.

It's crazy how much we take it for granted. You can go to Rite-Aid and get a $10.00 Fisher Price Synth, and you press "violin" and it sounds like a violin, and you press "xylophone" and it sounds like a xylophone. But that is not a violin or a xylophone, it is a sine wave compressed and accentuated a certain way, a tone which is molded electronically to resemble a particular instrument. These guys invented that.

Anywho, if you are into this type of shit or want to look into it check out aventgardeproject.org. Damn, the archive page has 130 rare recordings of "20th-century classical, experimental, and electroacoustic music digitized from LPs whose music has in most cases never been released on CD". Uhhh... word?

They are bit torrents with CD quality WAV files (or MP3's if you don't give a shit like me).

Rootless, check the copyright policy.

If this appeals to you at all, run don't walk over there (virtually), this is like the equivalent of the funky16corners blog but for early electronic avant garde ish.

D-Nice

The Foley Room

happy new year, y'all.

gonna rap about this one, in case you don't know it.
Amon Tobin's The Foley Room.
Honestly, I was pretty lukewarm about this album, until I saw a documentary (that comes on a DVD along with the CD) about how it was made.
I totally respect this guy now. His approach to sound is very unique.
He used to make all of his albums (all of which are on Ninja Tune and are great!) by ripping samples from vinyl. Beats, basslines, melodies, noise, whatever; all sampled. Basically, your standard DJ approach a la Shadow or Rjd2.


But for this one, instead of using samples, he recorded tons of shit in a studio (the Foley room) and even more field recordings. Live drums. Toys. Machines in a manufacturing plant. Lots of weird home-made instruments abound. His buddy helped him record the sound of some insects walking. And for those of you more into the avant-garde, the Kronos Quartet was also recorded live. Then Tobin took all the raw recordings (which went to a reel-to-reel tape, nothing digital here) and worked his magic, creating really interesting stuff.