Wednesday, July 29, 2009

My Bloody Valentine/Serena Maneesh/Galaxie 500/The Field




I'm leaving for Richmond, V.A. tomorrow morning to see My Bloody Valentine at the National at 8pm.  I've heard about 19 different stories about what to expect. I heard at a show in NYC a kid left the show with blood dripping from his ear lobes. One person told me ear plugs are legally required. One person said the show wasn't that loud at first and then it got to a point where her bones were shaking in her skin and all she could hear were beautiful waves of sound. She was able to make out the songs so I know it's not just pure noise. I'm half way nervous and half way excited. It sounds like it's going to be a swirling pink roller coaster ride of sound. I might piss my pants.

I wish I could see this show my friend Vanessa but she won't be able to make it. I have had a lot of fun times with her listening to M.B.V. though.   

Due to the show tomorrow, I'll make this a shoegaze blog.


Serena Maneesh, a noise, pop, rock, psychedelic, shoegaze collective from Oslo, Norway. I heard them about 3 years ago and was pretty impressed with the intense rhythm that other noise/shoegaze groups weren't doing at the time. At the time bands were more spaced out and cool sounding. These guys/girls aim to kill. I love them for it. No bull shit! I really don't like their look, but that's why you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. I use to play a remix of one of their songs a lot, the song, "Sapphire Eyes High". I still really like that song.  

They are the second photo from the top. Actually the photos go in order from top to bottom of the artist listed. 


Galaxie 500 are perhaps my favorite showgaze band of all time. Pretty much good to listen to all the time. Not too noisy, not too jammy, not too intense. More of a slow core/dream pop band. These guys/girl just wrote really great songs. They were a 3 piece from Cambridge, M.A. who meet at Harvard University. Galaxie started with the band traveling back between New York City and Boston for school and shows.

Their first release was in 1988 with the song "Tugboat" which was produced by Mark Kramer. 
The bands main influences were Jonathan Richman, the Velvet Underground and Spacemen 3. Their sound once described as Jonathan Richman being backed up by the Velvet Underground.

Little Sister, thanks for the Fourth Of July single for Christmas. It's one of my favorites.


The Field is the whole reason I started this blog, and he (Alex Willner) from Stockholm, Sweden might be mentioned a lot. His new album Yesterday and Today is a shoegaze tingled electronic album with hints of minimalism, techno, and other electronic sounds. 

This album he's even touring the U.S. with a live band. I would have loved to go to Miami to see him, but I had a final in school the same night. 

I believe the Field to best while on a long drive or reading in a comfortable place. 



Monday, July 27, 2009

jj/Dum Dum Girls/Washed Out/Joker/Zomby






jj, the first band named in the blog come from Sweden. Usually when you think of Sweden you think of badass metal, the cold and the darkness. Yea, there's the Knife and the Field, but they sound cold and minimal, so it goes with atmosphere. This band sounds mildly cold and not so minimal. 
I heard the whole album, I think pitchfork giving this a 8. whatever the fuck, is highly ridiculous. I thought the whole thing was about as shitty as that new Johnny Depp movie...you know, the one that was a 2 hour car chase. I did however like this one track. It's a sexier female version of "Lollipop" by Lil Wayne, except not about blow jobs, it's about drugs. I dig. 


Dum Dum Girls are the act of one women from L.A.. The music is very reminiscent of Vivian Girls. For those of you who don't t know who that is, they are a lo-fi, punk, noise-pop all girl group whom seem to be getting more popular by the second. Dum Dum Girls just got signed to Sub Pop Records and are now among the same label as No Age and Nirvana. That's pretty rad. Hopefully she's not a one hit wonder and keeps bringing the noise. 

From the good old state of South Carolina, Washed Out, a one-man electronic act sounds more like Norwegian filtered disco tinted with lo-fi, shoegaze, than acts like Fleet Foxes. To me it sounds like the Field and Panda Bear got together and made some tracks with maybe some guests appearances by Glass Candy. I'm okay with all of that. It wouldn't be the most entertaining live thing, but it would sure be nice to be good and stoned listening to it. Washed Out is a  good way to end the night or start it off. 


Joker, the 20 yr. old new comer to the dub-step game using elements of funk, soul and r and b to the dub-step game that I've ever heard. Sounding more like a new dub-step producer on Stones Throw than a producer from the UK. His record is coming out in the fall/winter of 2009 and it's sounding to be a real great. If you like these tracks, you should here his new mix he just put out. It's a great study or reading mix. 


Zomby is not as new of an artist as the last few I mentioned, but I have been listening to quite a lot of him lately and wanted to spread the word in case you haven't heard yet.  Zomby combines dub-step, hardcore rave, breakbeat, and the best N.E.S. sounding effects I've heard in yrs. His last LP, Where Were U in '92, was pretty remarkable and he's just about to drop he's new EP, One Foot Ahead Of The Other, and that be released Aug. 25th. 

I had to say goodbye to a good friend today. It wasn't all that bad though. She got pulled over on her way out of town driving to Miami speeding around 100 mph, dancing around, and  signing loudly in her car. When the cop pulled her over he asked what she was listening to and dancing along to. 
Her response has "I'm in love with a stripper" by T-Pain.He didn't believe her so she played him the song. He laughed and let her go as long as she didn't go faster than 80 mph.
The best part was that that was the first song on some silly, nasty mix I made her for her ride home. So in tribute to Maria(who I feel bad I couldn't hang with her last night but I had 9 hrs. of sleep in the past 3 days), the first song on this blog is for you. 

T-Pain: "I'm in love with a stripper"


Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Choice Summer Tracks

So far Jimmy Cliff's movie and soundtrack The Harder They Come has ruled my past 3 summers. The movie reminds me if Martin Scorsese made a movie in Jamaica with a classic western plot as the story line. After watching the movie, you will appreciate the soundtrack even better. I watched this movie before my road trip to Austin, TX, and so the soundtrack became our (my roommate and his girlfriends) soundtrack to Tejas. "The Harder They Come" is the perfect theme for the movie and soundtrack. 


The Avalanches Since I Left You is another summer time album that I put on every year and it only gets better with age. The group  is a DJ collective from Melbourne, Australia that started off as a punk band influenced by the Fall. The record Since I Left You contains over 3,500 samples throughout the recording. They haven't recorded their second record yet but maybe it will be released sometime soon. Here's the title track. The song's very disco and it's also a great start to a DJ set.


El Michels Affair is another group I've been digging this summer. The group was a recording experiment until the group got asked to do some songs for Raekwon from Wu-Tang Clan to tour with because the cinematic funk sound of El Michels Affair was close to that of the Rza's raw production on Enter the 36 Chambers. The group will soon have their own record out with originals. The group is not a one man effort though, even though the name is miss leading.


Glass Candy, a 2 piece group from Portland, Oregon is an electronic/disco group who refuses to do the usually 4/4 disco that everyone is use to. The members are Johnny Jewel and Ida No. Johnny started the label Italians Do It Better, due to his love of Italian disco. I first become introduced to the group by watching a midi festival video where I thought they did an excellent job. Here are some choice tracks and a video.



Phaseone, a dude hailing from St. Louis, Missouri keeps putting out 
these remixes that are killer. He doesn't take too much away from 
the original song but does change the mood. I opened up a DJ 
set with one his remixes and some hippie stoner kid came up 
and said "dude I'm stoned and I love whatever you're playing."
I Hope his record is as good as the remixes.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Demon Fuzz/Wavves/Lee Fields


Demon Fuzz was a late 60's/early 70's funk, breakbeat, latin-afro, psychedelic and  jazz fusion band from the UK, who unlucky for us, only put out one record, Afreka!
The record is great with little to complain about if you're fans of all the genres mentioned above. 

What's also great is if you scroll down to only the guys chest from the album cover, it looks like 2 eyes females kissing. I only hope thats' supposed to be there. Maybe that should have been the album cover. 


"Mickey Mouse", the new Wavves track sounds like if No Age played drums and guitar with Avery Tare of Animal Collective on vocals, with about the budget and sound quality that Slanted and Enchanted was made on. I like the track but I wish Mr. Wavves would go more in his own direction and not a direction already made by better bands. It's still a catchy track though. Way to go playing with a cast on. That was a surprise.  


Lee Fields has been making records since before I was born. Soul records are hard to get right. I think I've only heard maybe 30 that are almost flawless in my life. I play this record every morning when I wake up and it hasn't gotten old yet. GET IT!

Monday, July 20, 2009

Mayer Hawthorne: A Strange Arrangement

Mayer Hawthorne's record is finally coming out after 2 solid singles and with 2 equally great b-sides. The Release date is Sept. 8th and if you order the cd, it comes with a free 45 with 2 tracks. The new album has 12 tracks including all the singles. Here's the track listing...
1. Prelude
2. A Strange Arrangement
3. Just Ain't Gonna Work Out
4. Maybe So, Maybe No
5. Your Easy Lovin' Ain't Pleasin' Nothin'
6. I Wish It Would Rain
7. Make Her Mine
8. One Track Mind
9. The ills
10. Shiny & New
11. Let Me Know
12. Green Eyed Love

The 45 includes "Love is Alright" and "When I Said Goodbye" (demo version). So far I believe this to be one of the best modern soul records I've heard in a while. Here's a track from the newest single.

Mayer Hawthorne: " Maybe So, Maybe No" 

Mayer Hawthorne - Just Ain't Gonna Work Out from Stones Throw on Vimeo.






Sunday, July 19, 2009

Moon

The new movie Moon looks killer. In the tradition of sounds like, I choose a song by the artist Boxcutter, whose new album I can't stop listening to. The album is entitled Arecibo Message and hits several different genres. The album starts off in the Dubstep electronic range, coming off a lot like Burial (at least the first track). Barry Lynn (Boxcutter) then takes back into what he's known for, dubstep, jazz, drum 'n' bass, hip-hop, electronica and house. He adds a few new elements to the table so we don't get stuck with the some old thing. This time we get more analog beats and some space funk added in as well. My favorite moments on the record are the funkier tracks. The song "Spacebass" especially wins with some electronic spaced out P-funk.  The track "A Cosmic Parent" also hits hard on the funk side. I don't know if there other northern Irelanders that are this spaced out, but I'd like to hear more of it. 

Walkabout

The new Atlas Sound (Bradford Cox) drops in October on Kranky Records. The first track I heard was a bright and sample happy song featuring Noah Lennox (Panda Bear) of Animal Collective. The song came about by Bradford Cox touring with Animal Collective and Noah teaching Bradford a thing or 2 about sampling and adding drums to a sample. The song's great. I can't wait for the whole album.  



Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Winner!



Prince Fielder wins all.  23 balls of string knocked out of the park. Along with that comes one more add on to the Rock and Roll bands to check out, the Almighty Defenders. They're King Khan + Black Lips + Mark Sultan= The Almighty Defenders (Super Group). 

Their album drops in September and they're bound to throw up on you when you see them (or a least Cole from the Black Lips). The record will be put out on Vice Records and is probably going to kill the virgin ears that hear it. The music is still rock and roll but with more gospel influence.  



Monday, July 13, 2009

Home Run Derby


Since the home run derby is tonight, I decided to do an all rock and roll post. Some of this shit is new, some of it might be a little old. All and all, it's somewhat new. 
Anyway, my friend Andre' s brother plays in the Jacuzzi Boys. They're a lo-fi, rock and roll band, drenched in bar-b-q sauce, riding around a swamp in an air boat in Florida, while blasting the Stooges at full volume, shoot gunning your favorite shit beer. A Miami Favorite of mine.


Ty Segall is similar to Jacuzzi Boys but with more reverb and heavier on the psychedelics and from San Fran. This song's entitled "Pretty Baby" and it kills. These dudes better get to Florida sometime soon. 


King Khan is another group who the world should of 
heard of by now. They hail form Atlanta and from what
I heard put on a killer show. They haven't came to 
Gainesville yet, but hopefully soon. This is the video for
"Fish Fight".



The Black Lips...need I say more. This is from there new
record, buy it now! This song is called "I'll be with you". If
you ever get a chance to see them, do it, they put on a
killer show.



Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Nu Noise


These are some current noise makers that kick more ass than most of those pussy indie pop assholes that are polluting the airwaves. We need less Decemberist and more of this...