Wooden Shjips - Aquarian Time (mp3)
And here's a hi-quality live video of them at a record store:
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Wooden Shjips - Aquarian Time
Seems like about our speed...
Wooden Shjips - Aquarian Time (mp3)
And here's a hi-quality live video of them at a record store:
Wooden Shjips - Aquarian Time (mp3)
And here's a hi-quality live video of them at a record store:
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Tom Waits on Music...and Keith
excerpt from Keith Richards' book Life, which I just finished. This is a quote of Tom Waits talking about Keith. What especially struck me was not necessarily the Keith aspect, but being right on about the wonder & mystification that music inspires.
Like all the great things in the world - women, religion and the sky...
oh and just because reading his book put me on a tangent, found this great live clip of Keith's X-pensive Winos from early '93. I saw them on this tour at the Beacon in NYC with my pal Jose - fantastic. The band he had and the two records they did are far and away the best Stones-related anything of the last 30+ years (since Some Girls basically).
Enjoyed the heck out of the Keith book, btw. There were periods he skipped over or gave little detail of, but considering the years -- and extent -- of excess, it's amazing he was able to retrieve as much detail as he did.
Like all the great things in the world - women, religion and the sky...
oh and just because reading his book put me on a tangent, found this great live clip of Keith's X-pensive Winos from early '93. I saw them on this tour at the Beacon in NYC with my pal Jose - fantastic. The band he had and the two records they did are far and away the best Stones-related anything of the last 30+ years (since Some Girls basically).
Enjoyed the heck out of the Keith book, btw. There were periods he skipped over or gave little detail of, but considering the years -- and extent -- of excess, it's amazing he was able to retrieve as much detail as he did.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Best 11 of '11 - Loud Version
For me, 2011 was a bit of an effort to find 'exceptional' albums. Ones I thought would be great were just pretty good; many artists I expected to deliver, came up a bit pedestrian. For music of the loud variety, the Wild Flag album stood out above most. Otherwise, stumbled on a good number of new discoveries with a track here or there, not so much by album...
For the mellower sibling of this list, check out Best 11 of '11 - Quiet Version.
The following order isn't so much my ranking as much as what I think goes well together as a playlist/mixtape. You can stream all the songs in this post using the ex.fm player at the bottom of the page OR you can just download the mp3 individually, (right-click the song title, save as, etc.).
Or download the full mix here. There's also a Spotify playlist.
*Note - the ex.fm player works way better in browsers other than IE - Chrome is pretty ideal.
1. Tom Waits Chicago (mp3) from the Bad As Me album
If you're not partial to Tom Waits, there's nothing here to change your mind. But if you're game, it has as much twisted, dusty charm as anything in his past couple decades. And great musicians as always.
This tune cooks and chugs and barks and does everything an album opener should. At least for a Tom Waits album.
Here's another swingin' one from the record:
2. Off! Blast (mp3) from the 3rd EP
Technically this came out in late 2010, but it first bashed me in the head in 2011. This is not indie or alternative or post-anything -- it's real deal punk rock like early SST or DK's back in the day. Even down to the Raymond Pettibon artwork.
The full 'album' of 4 EPs together clocks in at 18 mins total. Here's a good example of what former Black Flag/Circle Jerks singer Keith Morris and his other cred-heavy bandmates do live:
3. Thee Oh Sees Contraption/Soul Desert (mp3)
from the Carrion Crawler/The Dream album
This year I finally caught on to these Bay Area weirdos. It's like meatier, vintage-era B-52's with spazzier guitar and an incessant commitment to push the boundaries of freak-rock.
This live clip is a favorite of this year. Clearly there is something going on and it is commanding us all to get our freak on.
4. Wild Flag Electric Band (mp3) from the Wild Flag album
They all have had their moments, but I think this indie-chick supergroup is even better than the sum of the individual parts. I thought it would be interesting, but it was a pleasant surprise what an immediately compelling, obviously inspired record it turned out to be. Kicks total ass.
This is a cool, previously unreleased track they did live-in-studio in late 2011:
Wild Flag performs 'Nothing' on Sound Opinions from WBEZ on Vimeo.
And, well, the gals playing baseball in the 'official' Electric Band video is worth a view:
5. Spectre Folk The Blackest Medicine (mp3) from the The Blackest Medicine, Vol. II EP
This was a stumble-upon of a find that turned into one of my favorite weird little discoveries of 2011. One of those jams I can listen to again and again. And anchored by one of my favorite drummers, Sonic Youth's Steve Shelley.
I'm not so sure Pete Nolan's main band Magik Markers is exactly my bag. But this EP is a great little below-the-radar gem.
6. Moon Duo When You Cut (mp3) from the Mazes album
The first of two tracks featuring San Fran noisy psych guitarist/singer Ripley Johnson (see Wooden Shjips below). With its repetitive simplicity, sometimes I can only take this stuff in...err...doses, but when they catch a hooky trancey groove like this I can't turn it off.
I give credit for this song to an excellent music blog I keep tabs on - Gimme Tinnitus. Check out this well-made, if a bit creepy film from a tour EP later in the year.
7. The Black Keys Stop Stop (mp3) from the El Camino album
The Black Keys are hitting the bigtime and some purists long for the days of the sparse, raw twosome. But I embrace what they're doing - the live show I saw in 2010 blew the roof off. And I think the collab with Danger Mouse suits them well - this tune with its Motown-tinged groove and goodtime handclaps only takes Dan Auerbach's soulful, Akron-grit further.
Here's another full-tilt El Camino singalong live on Colbert:
8. Shepherdess Blackout (mp3)
Great little Boston band who I discovered on my favorite indie radio show, WMBR's Breakfast of Champions. This tune has an undeniable Breeders-y feel which is just great with me. Hoping to see their gig opening for Mission of Burma this month. Check out their bandcamp page.
And they're behind the Girls Rock! Camp in Boston - gonna aim to get my daughters involved with that...
9. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks Stick Figures in Love (mp3)
from the Mirror Traffic album
I am generally pro-Malkmus but I still haven't found the handle on this album as a whole. Lots of good-to-very-good, not many tunes that pop off the device as needing to repeat. Great band though.
And this here video starring Jack Black and the Office Space douchebag boss is totally worth a spin:
10. Battles (featuring Gary Numan) My Machines (mp3)
from the Gloss Drop album
While I'm not sure if I like this album quite as much as Mirrored, there are moments that really stand out. And I'm kind of a sucker for a good Gary Numan vocal.
These guys put on an impressive display at ATP Asbury Park this past fall (see fantastic photos from my pal Tim). And I actually loved the way they did the 'guest' vocalists as recorded hi-def video behind them. In fact, here's a real tasty filming of this song live in Paris:
11. Wooden Shjips Flight (mp3) from the West album
I'm not all about the fuzzy psych-rock, but I find myself reaching for it more and more. And what these guys do, they do really well. Clearly, the live show that Aubrey and I saw at TT's was an inspiration for Garagerator.
Here's a nice clip of another great track from West :
~~~~~
Enjoy... \m/
For the mellower sibling of this list, check out Best 11 of '11 - Quiet Version.
The following order isn't so much my ranking as much as what I think goes well together as a playlist/mixtape. You can stream all the songs in this post using the ex.fm player at the bottom of the page OR you can just download the mp3 individually, (right-click the song title, save as, etc.).
Or download the full mix here. There's also a Spotify playlist.
*Note - the ex.fm player works way better in browsers other than IE - Chrome is pretty ideal.
1. Tom Waits Chicago (mp3) from the Bad As Me album
If you're not partial to Tom Waits, there's nothing here to change your mind. But if you're game, it has as much twisted, dusty charm as anything in his past couple decades. And great musicians as always.This tune cooks and chugs and barks and does everything an album opener should. At least for a Tom Waits album.
Here's another swingin' one from the record:
2. Off! Blast (mp3) from the 3rd EP
The full 'album' of 4 EPs together clocks in at 18 mins total. Here's a good example of what former Black Flag/Circle Jerks singer Keith Morris and his other cred-heavy bandmates do live:
The Pitchfork Tunnelvision segment is also totally worth watching.
3. Thee Oh Sees Contraption/Soul Desert (mp3)
from the Carrion Crawler/The Dream album
This live clip is a favorite of this year. Clearly there is something going on and it is commanding us all to get our freak on.
4. Wild Flag Electric Band (mp3) from the Wild Flag album
This is a cool, previously unreleased track they did live-in-studio in late 2011:
Wild Flag performs 'Nothing' on Sound Opinions from WBEZ on Vimeo.
And, well, the gals playing baseball in the 'official' Electric Band video is worth a view:
5. Spectre Folk The Blackest Medicine (mp3) from the The Blackest Medicine, Vol. II EP
I'm not so sure Pete Nolan's main band Magik Markers is exactly my bag. But this EP is a great little below-the-radar gem.
6. Moon Duo When You Cut (mp3) from the Mazes album
I give credit for this song to an excellent music blog I keep tabs on - Gimme Tinnitus. Check out this well-made, if a bit creepy film from a tour EP later in the year.
7. The Black Keys Stop Stop (mp3) from the El Camino album
Here's another full-tilt El Camino singalong live on Colbert:
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Exclusive - The Black Keys - "Gold On the Ceiling" | ||||
| ||||
8. Shepherdess Blackout (mp3)
And they're behind the Girls Rock! Camp in Boston - gonna aim to get my daughters involved with that...
9. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks Stick Figures in Love (mp3)
I am generally pro-Malkmus but I still haven't found the handle on this album as a whole. Lots of good-to-very-good, not many tunes that pop off the device as needing to repeat. Great band though.
And this here video starring Jack Black and the Office Space douchebag boss is totally worth a spin:
While I'm not sure if I like this album quite as much as Mirrored, there are moments that really stand out. And I'm kind of a sucker for a good Gary Numan vocal.
These guys put on an impressive display at ATP Asbury Park this past fall (see fantastic photos from my pal Tim). And I actually loved the way they did the 'guest' vocalists as recorded hi-def video behind them. In fact, here's a real tasty filming of this song live in Paris:
And then just because it was of my favorite 'official videos' of the year
-- and includes a nice cameo from Gary Numan. This one's a trip - must watch!
Here's a nice clip of another great track from West :
~~~~~
Enjoy... \m/
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
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