Saturday, March 26, 2005

...do you think it's serious?

Brief cassette mix for Terri Schaivo:

Girlfriend in a Coma- The Smiths
No Fun- The Stooges
One-Sided Love Affair- Elvis Presley
It'd be Nice (To Have you Around)- The Sights
How to Disappear Completely- Radiohead
Surgeon's Girl- Wire
Unconsciously Screaming- Flaming Lips
Don't Worry About the Government- Talking Heads
Ventilator Blues- Rolling Stones
The Body says No- New Pornographers
Show me Your Heart- Need New Body
Disconnect the Dots- Of Montreal
To Hell With Good Intentions- McLusky
Suicide is Painless- M*A*S*H theme

Any other sugestions?

Friday, March 18, 2005

Monkeyfilter mix pt 2!

"Even the Pretty Snow can Kill" by MDS35. Same criteria as below. (Title- Artist)

Any day Now- Elbow [Droning, meloncholy... T:3 A:3 C:1]
Johnny Cash- Sons and Daughters [Here we go. This one's up and boozy! Maybe Scottish... T:2 A:4 C:-2]
Ringing in my Ear- Adem [Soft and acousticy... I'm not a huge fan of this style of singer/songwriter stuff, and it doesn't follow the previous song well... T:2 A:2 C:2]
One More Time- French Kicks [Good, new wave-y. Scottish? Nope, from DC. T:3 A:3 C:1]
The shy Retirer- Arab Strap [No, wait. These guys are Scottish. I'm sure. T:3 A:2 C:1]
Real Shocks- The Soft Pink Truth [More post-new-wave? Are they... Scots? -nope. French.- Disco beat and acoustics... T:3 A:2 C:1]
Still see You- Secret Machines [Midtempo that switches up about halfway through. The second half is better. T:4 A:3 C:0]
Class Action Suit Against Earth- Man'sbestfriend [Glitch-hop. Decent. And a good pallette-cleanser. T:4 A:3 C:-2]
Melody of a Fallen Tree- Windsor for the Derby [Bouncy, MOR pop. I keep waiting for a big chorus, and it's not there... T:3 A:3 C:1]
List of Demands- Saul Williams [Goddamnit. This song reminds me of another song, some industrial tune, and I can't fucking come up with it. Arrrgh! Anyway, decent track. T:3 A:4 C:-1]
Untitled #1- I am Kloot [For some reason, tracks like this just don't grab me. Too pastoral, I suppose. T:2 A:2 C:1]
Don't Think- Lali Puna [This reminds me of Blechtum from Blechdum. Oh, and Hypnotiq liquor. But it needs a hook! T:3 A:3 C:1]
To the Expert eye Alone- pulseprogramming [This sounds like Black Moth Super Rainbow, only played from under a sheet. T:4 A:3 C:1]
The Girl's Distracted- Saturday Looks Good to Me [This is probably my least favorite SLGTM song. But I'm crotchety. I liked 'em better when they were dubby. T:2 A:2 C:2]
Bad Times- Lubricated Goat [Doesn't really fit, to my ear. T:1 A:3 C:-1]
Up all Night- The Double [Unreleased track from someone I've never heard? Extra T points then. T:4 A:2 C:-2]
Flying Dream 143- Elbow [Another song from them? T:1 A:2 C:1]
The Same Deep Water as Me- I am Kloot [Another song from them? It skips something fierce on my copy too... T:1 A:2 C:1]

The totals: T: 48 (avg 2.6) + 3 iTunes Bonus+5 packaging for 56 out of 90=62%. A: 48 (Avg. 2.66) out of 90 for 53%. C:6 (Avg .333) out of 90= 6%.

Recommendations: You'll like Gallon Drunk based on the Sons and Daughters track. You'd probably also like Crime and the City Solution and Scanner. Oh, and Sea and Cake. You'd probably like them too. But from this mix, I would have liked a little MORE cheese. This title seemed all too apt, like I was slowly dying in a space that I could just barely make out any details.

Monkeyfilter mixes!

I told the people in my Monkeyfilter mix group that I'd post my thoughts on their mixes onto my blog. So here we go.
Keep in mind that I am a cruel mix mistress. I believe in rules, hard and mean rules, that may only be broken in certain instances. I will award points and capriciously take them away.
But... I'm also not really taking this as seriously as that might seem. I'm not going out of my way to be a dick, just, you know, critiquing things honestly. And honestly, a couple of these mixes I probably won't listen to again (after I rip the couple songs off of them that I want). That doesn't make the mixer a bad person, it just means that we have different tastes.
However, back to the cruel part: Mixes will be rated in the order recieved. Technical points will be given for exemplary flow, for variety (extra points for crossing genres� and no, electronica is not separate from indie rock) and for working in minor leaguers (non-major label bands that I haven't heard. Entirely subjective) and packaging. Technical points will be deducted for poor transitions, using more than one song by the same artist or using more than one song off the same album. A bonus may be earned by having your mix already in iTunes, so I don't have to do the tagging myself.
Artistic points will be given for good songs, especially songs that I haven't heard before. Points will be deducted for songs that I don't find interesting. This is subjective.
The final metric will be "cheese." Points will be earned by putting on "intellectual" or "pretentious" songs, and will be deducted for "cheese." THE GOAL OF THIS CATEGORY IS TO SCORE ZERO BY PROPERLY BALANCING CHEESE WITH "CRED." (That's why you put your smart songs on there, paco, so that you can spend your cred on that cover of "Total Eclipse of the Heart").
Afterwards, I'll make recommendations for albums or artists that weren't on the mix that I think the maker would enjoy. Hopefully these will be albums that they will then buy and love, thus vindicating my tastes.
Oh, yeah, and they're all gonna be 1-5. Just so you know the scale.

First Mix:
Mofilalala by Mandyman
The Man in Me- Bob Dylan [Lots of lalalas. I believe this to be the theme. T:3 A:2 C:2]
Roller Derby Queen- Jim Croce [Do all his songs sound like "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown"? Yes, they do. T:3 A:2 C:3]
Family Affair 1973- Mother Father Sister Brother [Instrumental funk. T:3 A:3 C:2]
Carnaval Batucada- Brasil 66 [Decent song, a bit overlong though. Gets cheesy near end. T: 3 A:2 C:3]
Tudo que Voce Podia Ser- Quarteto Em Cy [Ah, Brazilian pop. T:4 A:4 C:4]
Casa Nova- Mia Dio Todd [After the fun of the foriegn language, this is a bit of a let down. And still cheesy. T:3 A:2 C:3]
Norwegian Wood- Brasil 66 [OMG Cheese! Heh. I would have gone with just this one or the other one from Brasil 66. T:1 A:3 C:4]
Sao Paolo- Chic [I know it goes with the Brazillian thing goin', but this is elevator music... T:3 A:1 C:5]
Rainy day Man- Bonnie Rait [Ah, some easy country... T:3 A:2 C:3]
Use Me- Bill Withers [Awesome funk/soul. I need to buy some Bill Withers if it's all like this. Listen to that squared-ff organ! T:2 A:4 C:-1]
I Need a Gun- Damon Albarn [Another good track. Points! T:3 A:4 C:-1]
Crazy on You- Heart [Cheese, but good cheese. You saved me from having to download this track. T:2 A:3 C:4]
Liar Liar- Debbie Harry [A cover of an ol' Nuggets track. OK, but I kinda like the ripping riff of the original. T:2 A:2 C:3]
You're Lying- Linx [More cheese disco. Would be fun on its own, but with the mix, it's just a little much for me. T:3 A:2 C:3]
Confusion- Electric Light Orchestra [Heh. Jesus, I think this is the cheesiest song EVAH! That calliope! Those chimes! T:3 A:3 C:5]
I Want to Hold Your Hand- Al Green [Erm. Ok, but you've already got a Beatles cover on there... T:2 A:2 C:3]
I Don't Know What I can Save you From- Kings of Convience [When it started out, I was thinking 'Cool, glitchy.' Then it brought in that cheesy guitar... Song just didn't grab me at all. Sounds like Primative Radio Gods. T:2 A:1 C:3]
All his Exes- Sylvie Lewis [Sounds like 'Que Cera Cera.' Ok. T:3 A:3 C:3]
California Dreaming- Jose Feliciano [Another cover... I really like the original, but this seemed kinda blah... T:2 A:2 C:3]

The totals! T: 44 (Avg. 2.3)+5[iTunes bonus]+3[packaging]=52 out of 95 (.54), A:47 (Avg. 2.4) out of 95=.49, C:80 (Avg 4.2) out of 95=84.5% cheese.

For me, it's the cheese factor that is the dominant attribute of this mix. Bands that I would recommend: Tim Monger. Monger's an orchestral pop singer with a great falsetto. You'll love the hell out of his album Summer Cherry Ghosts. Traffic: You probably already own some, but if you don't, do yourself a favor and go buy The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys. T.Rex: Same thing as Traffic; you probably already own some. If not, I recommend Electric Warrior. You'd probably also enjoy the samba compilations put out by F�nkstorung. They have VWs on the cover, if that helps. And check out Fae Wong, who does another excellent version of "California Dreamin'" on the soundtrack to Chunking Express (it's also on her solo stuff). You'll dig her!

Thursday, March 17, 2005

It's like... without the Kevin Bacon.

Short chains are easy. Anyone can connect Big Brother and the Holding Company with Derrick and the Dominos (7 steps is the best I can do, though). But to get the longest chain? So far it's Bonzo Dog Band to Burzum in 18 steps.
Try your luck with the Band-to-band.com connector.
Reportedly, there's a 37-link chain in there somewhere...

Hurra Torpedo!

Hey, I'm mirroring the Hurra Torpedo "Total Eclipse of the Heart" video for the next couple days. It's a 25mb Quicktime file (.mov)

That means that the last 25mb EP I put up is now dead. Shoulda got 'em while you could, folks.
(Oh yeah, I got it from here).

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

The face of Kitsch to come

Classic, Modern, and futuristic.

There's a thread of irony that goes through the presentation of these three (as, arguably, the guys doing Apache didn't know they'd look retarded in 25 years), but they're also good music (at least the last two).
For all of these, what I mean by irony is the simultaneous position of attracting and deriding each work: The Apache video is fun because it's goofy and over-the-top, but if there was no resonant chord of nostolgia for that time, there'd be no reason to notice it. Similarly, the "Dragostea Din Tei" video (the second one), lets us both enjoy being that goon who sings along with infectious pop and ridicule that part of ourselves. And the third one, "Galanga-alanga-alang-a" by Tamil/Brit artist M.I.A. has both the love of the '80s aesthetic and a conscious reappropriation within it.
It's future-kitsch, something that will be remembered tomorrow not for the references it makes to the past but for being part of the past, inspererable from the currents that produced it. If someone in 2050 sees this, they won't be able to differentiate the '80s from the aughts, but will see it all as a melange, and it will remind them not of the '80s nostolgia but of a similacrum of '80s nostolgia.
It's also goddamn catchy. This is the future of kitsch.
(EDIT: Thanks Brandon. Apparently, Kitsch is spelled with an "s" in there. As a guy who took German for too long, you'd think I'd remember things like that. If I weren't, you know, retarded.)

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Da, da, da

Never let it be said that Russian music is limited to DJ Vadim and the Leningrad Cowboys (who are really from Sweden anyway).
Here's a cool blog full of all of that New Kids on the Bloc and Jon Bon Jovski Soviet music that we unknowingly promoted with our MTV and our Coca-Cola.
Ex-Soviet.blogspot.com