mix exchange

RISEN FROM THE DEAD!!!

2007-11-16T17:57:00.000+09:00

5 Buff tracks

Metallica - Orion
You may know this as the riff Shadow used for "Number Song", but that song is pish compared to this track. It's fupping huge, and anyone who says otherwise needs some more hair on their chest and a gallon of mead in their belly(helps the former).

Bongo Ossie & the Moonlights - Black Society
This track is available on the PK Records compilation, "Glory Dominion Power Majesty" by Half Moon. I've been listening to a lot of dub and reggae lately, and this is just a perfect track. The whole comp is good in fact, actually everything they release is worth hearing.

Blonde Redhead - In Particular
They've never really broken out for some reason, but "Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons" is a dope album, and this is the pick of the tracks.

Midlake - Kingfish Pies
They've gone all Fleetwood Mac now, surprisingly well actually, given that I hate "Rumours", but this is spazz-kraut-disco par excellence. Check out the Stereo "Way Out East" skate video for a nice London sequence using this as a soundtrack.

Goblin - Mad Puppet
This is from the Profondo Rosso soundtrack, and the Psychonauts used it as the basis for their track "Circles". Goblin did so much amazing music, from gay disco to prog to synth madness, pick out any album and it is bound to be interesting. I've never actually seen Profondo Rosso, but Zombi 2 has an underwater fight between a zombie and a shark - how fresh is that?

Vinyl in Canada

2007-05-21T22:41:00.000+09:00

I was given an excuse to leave Japan and get back to Toronto for a few weeks. I was absolutely delighted. That meant I could buy CDs and records for less than 2500-3500yen, and mix CDs and samplers for much much less than 1200yen - srry spacemoth (though that mix CD is brilliant). Upon my return I realized how wonderful a state the Canadian record shops are in. CDs are now selling somewhere between $11 (feist) and $17 (blonderedhead) and new LPs are averaging $15 or $16 dollars -- most of them with a digital copy of the album included. The amateur economist in me thinks I should abandon this topic before I embarrass myself; the shopper in me is frankly embarrassed by how much I spent. But before I stop I have to share my prize find. In a record shop on Queen St. I found an autographed copy of Pet Shop Boys's Please on vinyl, which I bargained down to $5 (no tax). Isn't that just wicked?! Please is just such a brilliant album. West End Girls has to be one of my favourite songs in the universe ----- if--- when--- why ---- what --- howmuch have you got? Neil Tennant voice is perfect for the talk-rap! It is so thin. How wicked! ***sorry to my recipient for being late onthe mailout. Your CD is, however, in the post.***

Andrew's top 5 theme tunes and incidental musics

2007-05-17T17:41:00.000+09:00

I too have linked the titles to the corresponding videos on youtube.

1. The Mysterious Cities of Gold
I don't want to be some kind of copycat but I have to agree with Graeme and put this at number 1. This epic theme tune still somehow fills me with hope.

2. Ironside (incidental music)
Quincy Jones's theme tune is pretty reasonable (it's the one they used in Kill Bill) but it doesn't interest me, to be honest. The music I like is a brilliant bit of incidental music that happens only in some episodes, usually after a long period of quiet atmosphericity. It's a crisp, clanging, rolling drum solo. I can't find an example to link to, but for something similar listen to In a Silent Way/It's About That Time from In a Silent Way by Miles Davis, and listen to the change in the drumming about halfway through. That is exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about. I used to sit next to the TV so I could turn the volume up to maximum when this music came on for a mere 5 or 6 seconds. This was when I was a student and could have been getting my degree instead.

3. Pole Position
Pounding car-race excitement. Written by the presumably unpleasant media mogul Haim Saban. Sometimes it takes a bastard to write a truly exciting song though.

4. St Elsewhere
When I listened to this on youtube I realised that this is the music by which I judge all other music. When I am listening to something, a dark and confused part of my mind is silently comparing it to the St Elsewhere music. 'Yes', says my mind, 'but is it as good as the theme from St Elsewhere?' This is alarming, because it's really pretty bad. But listen to the bass! I could listen to that bass indefinitely. According to this title sequence the real and serious actor Denzel Washington was in this programme.

5. Petrocelli
This theme tune is a bit of a mish mash, but I bloody like it. And I now see that it was by Lalo 'Mission Impossible' Schifrin, which just shows you. Petrocelli - a lawyer with an excellent briefcase and a liberal outlook - usually ended up defending people for free so he drove a rubbish car and didn't have a proper house. His wife understood though. Just like real life.

nick f's top ten tv theme tunes

2007-05-16T19:00:00.000+09:00

Well, here is my top ten. For your multimedia, hyperlinked viewing and listening pleasure, all the programme titles are linked - via the magic of YouTube - to videos of the opening credits of the programmes in question...

1. Doctor Who
Like Graeme says: off the scale. It was updated every couple of Doctors, I think, but the early 80s version was the greatest, in my opinion, because it's the one with the big explosion at the end that you can join in with by making a big exploding sound and jumping off the sofa (which you have, of course, been dancing on). I find that to be the best way of getting into the mood for watching an episode of Doctor Who.

Actually, by a curious coincidence, only a couple of weeks ago I was watching an interview on YouTube from the mid-80's, in which a man from the BBC Radiophonics Workshop demonstrates the making of the Doctor Who theme tune. I think anyone with a fondness for synthesisers will find it 8 minutes and 22 seconds well spent. It may be viewed here.

2. Twin Peaks
Interestingly, the greatest TV series ever also had the second greatest theme tune ever.

3. Battle of the Planets
It is surely impossible not to jump around the room while listening to this tune.

4. The A-Team
A tune I regularly whistle, even to this day, as I walk down the street or purchase a sandwich, and which never fails to make me feel heroic.

5. Poirot
Excellently moody, with strangely acceptable saxophone. There was a moment in Poirot where the eponymous Belgian detective hero, on being served two boiled eggs for breakfast in a hotel restaurant, said: "I cannot possibly eat these eggs: they are of completely different sizes." That complaint has remained something that I regularly mull over to this very day.

6. Dallas
I have a memory from when I was about eight of being quite taken aback at being suddenly yelled at to SHUT UP! by a girl sitting across from me because I was singing the Dallas theme tune over and over and over while drawing. Ner-ner ner-ner ner-ner-ner-ner-ner-ner! I have a vague memory that Dallas used to be on after Dr. Who or the A-Team or something, so I'd always stay up just to watch the opening credits and dance to the music. I never actually watched it, though - not even one episode.

7. Mission: Impossible
Like Dallas, another programme I never actually watched. I'm hesitant to put it on this list because, unlike Dallas, I don't think I ever even caught the title sequence. However, I suppose I must have heard it somewhere or I wouldn't know it, and it is a brilliant, brilliant theme tune. It's also notable for being in an adventurous time signature (five beats to the bar, should you be interested...)

8. Grange Hill
Wa-wa wa waaaaah!

9. Fraggle Rock
Cast your cares away, worries for another day!

10. Knight Rider
For that sinister waka-chaka sound that goes through the whole thing.

alex`s top ten tv theme tunes

2007-05-16T18:00:00.000+09:00

1. This Life - by 'The Way Out'.
It makes me very nostalgic about that time in the 90's when it was all about Blur vs. Oasis and I was sitting my GCSE exams. I fucking LOVED this programme.
2. The Royle Family, 'Half the World Away' - by Oasis.
Classic Oasis from a time when they were half-good. Again, reminds me of past 'Cool Britannia' and that infamous album which the song is off. I always wanted the theme-tune to carry on, but it only lasted about 25 seconds. The show itself was comedy genius.
3. This Morning
Very muzak-y, saxophone driven. Could have been performed by Kenny G for all I know (who is someone I have an irrational hatred for). But, again, it is in my Top Ten for nostalgic reasons. I think I woke up to this programme for the entire 3 years of University. It is quite catchy in a way that makes you want to slit your wrists whilst learning new hair tips.
4. Queer as Folk (UK Version)
More nostalgia of being in my teens and watching this show with the door closed, hoping that no-one would walk in and catch me. The tune was all guitary and optimistic with a bit of tribal sounding yelps. So nineties, so brilliant.
5. Thundercats
I had a good amount of figurines and could be heard singing along to the theme-tune at full volume as a child/ adult.
6. Byker Grove - (inspired) by Kane Gang.
You'll have to be a Brit to know about this. This is special as it reminds me of every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon between about 4.50 and 5.20 pm when I had got home from school and was eating my family out of house and home sat in front of the TV. It was way ahead of its time ... a bit on the happy hardcore/ acid side of things. I liked the titles of the cast jumping on trampoline's. And, I liked the high pitched "ha ha, ha ha" at the end of the tune.
7. Eldorado
I guarantee I will be the only person in history to mention this short-lived soap-opera in a top ten of anything. I must have been the only person watching the BBC's serial about ex-pats living in the Costa Del Sol. The theme tune usually cleared out my living room, apart from me. I liked the sunny visuals and the euphoric ditty. Of course, the show itself was complete shite.
8. Friends - by The Rembrandts.
Yes, probably one of many people's most hated theme-tunes, but I happened to really like the show throughout my teens and will still watch it very occasionally at 25 years old. I remember being a quite excited 13 year old when the cast appeared in the video for the song and it was broadcast on 'Top of the Pops' on BBC 1. Christ, the magic of TV really dies as soon as you hit your twenties.
9.Cheers - by Gary Portnoy.
Probably one of the few theme-tunes i know word-for-word and have sung during karaoke in Japan ... more than once.
10. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air - by Will Smith & Quincy Jones.
Predictable, but it is a pretty good tune as theme-tunes go. I recently saw there was a group honouring it on 'Facebook'. Something like, 'I can recite all the words to the Fresh Prince theme-tune' group. I did NOT join. I like the theme-tune, but I still have respect for myself.

t.v. top ten by elnie

2007-05-16T01:14:00.000+09:00

1. Veronica Mars: "We Used to be Friends" by The Dandy Warhols

2. The O.C.: "California" by Phantom Planet

3. Freaks and Geeks: "Bad Reputation" by Joan Jett

4. Gilmore Girls: "Where You Lead" by Carole King

5. Grosse Point: "Sex Bomb" by Tom Jones

6. Buffy the Vampire Slayer

7. Beverly Hills, 90210

8. Fresh Prince

9. Blossom

10. Doogie Howser, M.D. For the most part, my love for the theme songs coincides nicely with my love for the show. And in all cases, I make some attempt (full-hearted to half-hearted, in the order you see here) to sing along. When trying to remember the Doogie theme-song, I may inadvertently shift into the 90210 theme song, but they really work together quite nicely. Maybe someone should make a remix. I admit I can't recall the Blossom theme off the top of my head, but I do remember that it was pretty much awesome, and the credits involved lots of hats and dancing and a somersault at the end. Whoa!

graeme`s top ten tv programme incidental music

2007-05-16T00:42:00.000+09:00

1 mysterious cities of gold
2 twin peaks
3 ren and stimpy show (particularly space madness sections)
4 lonely planet
5 def ii
6 thundercats
7 kids in the hall
8 nypd blue season one
9 moomin anime
10 stingray
11 fresh prince
# doctor who... it`s beyond being in the top ten, right?

favourites iv

2007-05-15T18:00:00.000+09:00

parte the fourth

although this is rapidly descending into a self-indulgent kevin costner-style vanity project, i`m quite enjoying trailing through my life and thinking about those albums that really stand out as having shaped my memories, or even my character in some way. there is a point to all this by the way. you`ll find out in the next post. anyway, this is probably the last of the `inbetween days` kind of stuff, and then i`ll get onto the more contemporary stuff which will hopefully stop you shuffling your feet in nervous embarrassment when you hear me talk so passionately about the next album, which just so happens to be, ah, eh, uh, um...

u2 - zooropa
i remember waiting in the car one saturday afternoon while my dad nipped into woolworth`s to buy the new u2 album achtung baby. sometimes when my brother would be playing at home, me and my dad would head out on saturdays taking the dog for a walk in remote country places, usually just hanging out and talking while he set up his equipment and waiting to photograph rare birds or whatever. but part of the fun was always listening to the music he played in the car. half of it i ended up despising (small faces, deep purple, stevie winwood, bob dylan) half of it undoubtedly had influence on me wether i like to admit it or not (kinks, big audio dynamite, mike oldfield). u2 riddle my early childhood, but had the next few minutes never happened, i`m always worried my cd collection may have slipped into the desolate wasteground that is the latest `now` compilation, mercury music prize winners and the soundtrack to `pulp fiction`. luckily my dad came rushing back, in the sunshine, hopped into the car, said "i heard this on the radio last night, son... listen to this!" pumped the volume up louder than any dad is technically allowed to, and as the car took off, the city faded away, the opening drum beats of zoo station kicked in, and THAT guitar intro followed, i had the shock of my life and was undoubtedly changed forever! fast forward two years, we`re on holiday in london, my mum and brother are off hunting for hi-tops at some market somewhere, my dad and me are flicking through a stall selling cheap bootleg cassette tapes from germany and there it is... "hey dad, isn`t that...?" "oh my god son! the new u2 album! and it isn`t even out yet! here`s your 50p mate. tell yer mum we`ll wait for her in the car". i don`t know if it was the fact even at that age i understood the concept of illegal material, or the fact it was such a cheap ass copy that sounded like it was recorded underwater, but sitting in that car with my dad a second time, on another sunny (london) morning, waiting for my mum and bro to catch up, and just listening to zooropa float in and out of nowhere remains one of the happiest memories of my life. and it changed my life in a completely different way than the last album had. i thought the lyrics were the most profound thing i`d ever heard, the title track being made up of slogans from advertising, babyface a song about a guy who falls in love with an actress he can freeze-frame on video tape, and numb well, almost like a manifesto, you can image the effect that had on an impressionable thirteen year old. ha ha ha. lots of people i know didn`t get the zoo tv thing at all, or think u2 are nothing but dumb corporate rock, but at that age i thought it was all just so damn clever. i`ll save my love for the zootv/zooropa concerts for another post. back to the album, the rest of that trip was soundtracked by it. we all came away with our favorite songs that in a way probably give you the simplest and easiest biography of my family out there... my mum liked somedays are better than others, my dad of course likes the wanderer, my brother still feels carsick when he hears babyface and thinks lemon is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. and me, it was always faraway so close despite the fact our bootleg tape ran it at half the real speed and i find the official cd version uncomfortably fast! another perfectly crafted ten song album, that just floats in and out like a dream and leaves you wanting more. this album should really be credited as zooropa by u2, brian eno and flood. devouring every last inch of the packaging and credits for hidden messages (of which there are many apparantly), zooropa is also the first time i noticed the importance of producers on albums, and personally i think it`s about time they started to get more recognition and credit among people other than music otaku, because even a shite band can sound amazing with the right people at the controls. if you don`t believe me, check out the aforementioned mercury music prize awards.*

* i know portishead won once, but that was in the early days. and the album pj harvey won for was just gash and an insult to her earlier work.

lush - spooky / slowdive - souvlaki
confession time: i was a teenage shoegazer! in between my love for vangelis and mo`wax headz being released, 4ad and the whole shoegazing scene came in and offered me a bridge. i`d made friends with the girl working at the local library who used to recommend me stuff that, looking back on it, was really a bit too sophisticated for my age and i`m not really sure i understand all the implications of it yet. anyway, i had spooky and souvlaki on either side of 90 minute cassette tape that i`d made my own artwork for, combining a piss-poor attempt at the anemone from the cover of former, and even worse line drawing of rachel the singer of the latter, and i thought it was the coolest thing ever! that`s one more thing i hate about mp3s… no chance slaving away cutting and folding card to make your own covers. anyway, anyone reading these posts must think my teenage years are torn between trying to justify bog-standard indie dirge as `deep`; and moping alone in my bedroom with the stereo up full when i failed. but i was an insomniac even as a kid and have lots of memories sitting up late, watching the rain and just listening to moody music drawing or teasing my cat or just writing letters or whatever. i liked this tape because both albums take you to a completely different world. it doesn`t really sound like music that real people could make. especially not british people. it sounds like the sort of weird filmic retro-future world you see in moebius comics and 2000ad. well, if those comics were primarily love stories... i don`t have either of these albums anymore, and as much as i want to hear them again, i`m worried they will never quite live up to my own memory of them.* lush`s for love and slowdive`s machine gun are still songs i sing to myself when i`m waiting for the bus at night or walking home in the dark when i find out i didn`t have enough money for the ticket.

*i remember listening to the morr music comp `blue skied n clear` for the first time before i realised what it actually was. and I was thinking, wait a minute, isn`t that... what the hell is this? i still find it difficult to listen to that comp these days for the nostalgia it brings…

here`s a picture of miki lush in a miniskirt... just because i`m the admin for this blog and can do what i want... complaints will be duly ignored...

curve - doppelganger
words can`t describe how much i love this album. i got a copy of it from one of my friends older sisters, with broken by nine inch nails on the other side. i was totally in love with her cuz she was cool and working and grown up, and everything that the girls around me were not. she introduced me to jesus and marychain and sonic youth and siouxie and the banshees and all that stuff...

anyway, i took it with me when i travelled through to dundee one time to hang out with this family friend who i was quickly beginning to despise now we were growing up. i must have been fourteen or fifteen at this point at dundee was a pretty far enough away place to be traveling to by myself. whereas my days were spent thinking about manga, chinese food and video nasties, my `friend` had a growing fascination with army surplus and `chicks` as he called them, but `hounds` is a word i would prefer to use. he took me into dundee saturday afternoon, to hang out in the shopping centre. i loved it because they had a newly opened virgin megastore with a place to listen to any cd/12” you wanted, and the complete series of twin peaks on video. but he kept coming in every five minutes, saying "come on we have to go" and i`d be like, "go where?" and it always turned out to be hanging OUTSIDE the virgin megastore with his bunch of obnoxious mates nervously trying to score with the usual crowd of nasty girls. i was having none of it, and kept disappearing back into virgin (ironic, huh?), and he would keep coming after me cuz i guess i gathered him extra attention being a new face or whatever. until it reached the point where we got so pissed off with each other i told him to fuck off, he punched me in the face and i ditched him to wander round the city by myself. i had no idea about dundee and got totally lost, but two great things happened that day. one was finding this old torn down church near a small park where all the goths and skaters and people i could actually be friends with hung out, and meeting a girl who was so much my type she eventually became my first girlfriend of sorts (as short lived as it was being two fourteen or fifteen year old kids living miles apart). the second great thing was not going to stay at his house for the night as arranged, but spending the last of my pocket money buying my own train ticket home and walking back in the middle of the night to anxious, and furious parents. and the only thing i had to keep me company that day was this tape of doppleganger, which i played for the first time as i walked away from my friend in disgust, crying and bleeding. i fell in love with the sound of it so much i played it over and over and never even made it to nine inch nails on the other side. i think toni halliday might still be my favorite singer actually, despite not really liking the last couple of curve albums. but every song on this is just gold, and once again the flood production is just mind-blowing. originally i was going to write about how garbage are just a complete rip-off of curve, but i guess i`m in a nostalgic mood today… anyway, the epilogue to this whole story is that having this tape on me, in my walkman, at that exact moment and taking the headphones out my ears to tell her what I was listening too was what initially sparked my girlfriends first interest in me. so doppelganger is an album given to me by a girl i was in `love` with, and passed onto a girl who fell in love with me… all in the space of one weekend. rather poetic considering the whole thing sounds like slow painful black death. but for me i listen to it and am just filled with hope and possibility.

favourites iii

2007-05-14T17:18:00.000+09:00

parte the thirde

the delgados - domestiques lots of delgados fans swear by peloton, which i like, and is definately more sophisticated but it just doesn`t catch the energy of their debut album. next to the cure, this has to be the best guitar album ever made. every song is an absolute gem. the production on it is amazing... it`s so jangly and loud and homemade, and there`s so many thrashy out of tune bits, weird strings, alternating male/female vocals, impenetrable lyrics, and unashamed scottish accents! i guess technically it shouldn`t work, but man, i wish all albums sounded like this. i remember when this came out i went to see a chemikal undergound night at the jaffa cake in edinburgh... delgados, urusei yatsura, and one of the first live shows by mogwai. delgados came on last and just blew the other two away. unlike those before, it was so dirty and rough and inspiring and completely unpretentious. i guess one of the good things about the delgados is they were constantly evolving, and changing their sound. but personally i wish they had done just a little bit more in this era. guess they were too busy setting up chemikal underground. all the singles and b-sides from this period are wicked too... i wish they would put out a `deluxe` cd (like everyone else) including monica webster and lazarwalker, cinecentre etc. it`s one of the few i would definately consider buying again. overall delgados are easily my favourite band, they didn`t recorded anything shite and they had the good sense to split up before they did recording anything shite. actually, i heard they split up because they were "fed up putting so much time and effort into something they never felt got the recognition it deserved". it`s such a shame, if you have time please drop them a line and remind them how much we do appreciate them, and how much they are missed!

the auteurs - after murder park the cover of this album is just amazing. it`s printed on this really rough card, and just looks, smells and feels like one of those scary blown-up black and white murder scene photos you find on late night documentaries accompanied by eerie piano numbers. you totally get the atmosphere of the album before you even put it in the player. (incidently, the inside photo features an early work by chris cunnigham, and the photo luke haines claims chris based his whole career on…) a concept album about a small town child murder... it`s a wonder luke haines doesn`t have more fans. a lot of people are put off not by the content, but by his gruff almost 80s soft-rock metal voice. but i never hear it that way, and i think it`s just perfect for the hardened mariner style tracks near the end of the album. i love the atmosphere of this album, dusty small country town at the turn of the century, during the dawn of early aviation. goggles, leather hoods and jodphurs. pilots and sailors facing each other off, drinking until sunrise in smokey pubs with petrified swordfish hanging on the walls. everyone gossiping about the missing child, knowing that the killer is probably among them. i always think of the town in the original `village of the damned` movie, or the country back-roads in tintin books. the cello is beautiful on this album, i wish more people would use one in rock music. there`s so many great lines in this album too... `came in contact with a svengali.../ he choked on a whalebone in a cantonese resteraunt / his nervous system had broken down` or how about `more hatemail through the door, didn`t know that sunday`s could be useful after all`. why this doesn`t make it into everyones top ten albums is beyond me. cuz we`re not all closet goths, huh!

pj harvey - to bring you my love here`s a trick... buy yourself a 90 minute tape, stick after murder park on one side, and this on the other and you have the perfect collection of murder ballads. it`s freaky but this album seems to compliment after murder park in every way. the same atmosphere, same production sound. even the original jackets were printed on the same rough stock. if you look hard enough you might even say a lot of the songs mirror the auteurs album in theme and storytelling. like pj and luke sat down over an ale and planned to write the story of small town village life from male and female perspectives. ach, maybe it`s all just coincidence for buying them both on the same day way back when... i still get a shiver down my spine everytime down by the water swims in. my one regret is the c`mon billy b-sides and the later that was my veil collabaration with john parish weren`t included on this album. but thanks to itunes, they do now! anyone else edit and combine their own albums out there?! cut out the duff tracks and bring in the forgotten b-sides... not to mention trimming guitar solos out of songs n` the like. i seem to be doing it all the time these days, that`s no dobut why all the shitey albums i`m listing here sound good to me...

oasis - definately maybe i`m not sure i really trust any british person, who was a teenager to mid-twenties when this came out, and doesn`t agree it`s probably the best and most influential album of the 90s*. it changed everything, for the better! and one of the few albums from the time that still sound good today. * (along with maybe nevermind and music has the right, i suppose...)

stereolab - emperor tomato ketchup the best album i never bought. i went into woolworths one day, with this really old copy of guns n fuckin roses lies lies lies! (which happened to be one of the first cds i ever bought). told them it was an unwanted birthday present (that`s why i didn`t have the reciept you see). i got really cocky about it too, saying things like my mum and dad do their best, but really they just don`t understand young kids tastes. and then asked if i could swap it for something else! to my surprise they said ok. even more incredible, they took me on my word when i said it had cost 14.99!!! the hardest part was finding something cool in woolworths to swap it for. but amongst the shelves of reduced indie and eurodance one hit wonders, to my surprise i found stereolab... for only 12.99. i don`t know why it was there. perhaps someone`s out-of-town cousin had tried to put them onto good music and bought them it for a birthday present, but they hated it so pulled the same trick i did and swapped it for eiffel 66 or something? anyway, i snapped it up immediately and i think i even grabbed some maltesers or a reduced menswear single or something to make up for the price difference. i took it back home, and this was another one were the inclusion on this list is largely down to the fact the first time i heard it was when i was home alone and could crank the volume up until the walls shook. if you don`t believe me, and havn`t heard it before, grab a copy yourself and do the same thing... it`s got probably the best intro to any album! so anyway, i think i had the guts to go back the next day, and try the same trick at john menzies. i tried to swap another shitey old cd for a copy of eraserhead or something. unfortunately i didn`t reckon on two important points: 1. they had a computerised cataloguing system with no record of any copies of fuckin crash test dummies being sold at any point in the last three hundred fuckin years or so. and 2. that whinging prick security gaurd they used to have pure fingered me as a troublemaker on account of having gotten myself thrown out of the shop (along with a few other members of this mix exchange i might add) for causing a ruckus at the magazine department a week or two ago (i think we were scanning mags for game cheats, which we used to always be a valuable way to kill time on a saturday afternoon). that security gaurd man, he was a prick. he had this weedy pencilly shoepolish brush moustache and he pure modelled himself on fuckin don johnson in miami vice or something. i wish i could remember some of the bad boy lines he used to throw at us. i seem to remember something like `if i ever catch you boys in a dark alley late at night, i`ll show you what for!` earning an instant reply (from guess who? not me!) that went something along the lines of: `aye right ye fuckin arse-bandit bufty bawbag` to the shock of all the onlooking middle-aged mothers. that left us all in his badbooks anyway, and he wouldn`t let me weedle my way out of it. so i ended up going home with crash test dummies (which i still have to this day) and having to pay the full ridiculous `art cinema classic` price of 16.99 for eraserhead. still, it was an 18-rated video and they didn`t even notice, the fools! and a couple of weeks later, i fuckin half inched dazed and confused from the same place just to learn the bastards!

the verve - a northern soul it took me a while to get into the verve. they were never really that popular back in the day, and not many people listened to them. it was niall on the exchange who had been into them since the first ep, and he gave me a copy of northern soul on a 90min cassette filled up with all the b-sides and some other stuff. i never even played it, until one day, my family were moving house, and they had driven over to dundee to puruse home stores and look for furniture, and i got bored and decided to wait in the car and listen to music. the car was parked in an odd place with not much too look at but corrugated iron, and i was fed up with the chemical brothers dj tape so i put this on. and i felt guilty at not having listened to it before because it was just amazing! my parents took so long i almost got all the way through it twice, and not having any other distractions at all i just kinda half dozed off and let the whole thing wash over me. the first few tracks are like a kick to the head, and it just keeps on going. i love it because it`s another album that sounds like a well constructed whole, with lots of musical and lyrical repetition and references. and there`s so much going on in all the tracks, i still listen to it and hear new sounds. i have to say my favourite track on the album (other than this is music and lifes an ocean) is the piano version of on your own which is actually a b-side niall tacked on the end. it`s so sad and beautiful, and true, it really rung home when i was sitting alone in the car on a sunny afternoon waiting for my parents to stop shopping. don`t take my word for it, just listen to it sometime. i remember rushing over to nialls house later that night and telling him how good it was and how we should go and see them live, and he told me something like they were just about to release their last single, history because they had just split up. i was gutted. until a few years later it turned out in fact they hadn`t completely split up, and came back with another album which to this day i have refused to listen to just on account that nothing could possibly live up to the first track, which, next to imagine, is undoubtably the best song ever written...

the doors - strange days never really sure where to put this one, so i`ll use it to round off today`s selection. doesn`t every teenage boy go through a stage where they listen to nothing but the doors constantly for three months on end? i think girls do it too, only with david bowie. i love every one of the doors real albums, but none as much as this. it`s so dark and moody and brilliantly put together. and again such a great cover. this is an album that even these days still finds it`s way to my cd player, and i don`t think i will ever tire of hearing it. that`s all I can really say.

quick poll

2007-05-05T05:55:00.000+09:00

For the sake of a very important project (v.i.p.) that a friend of mine is doing, please weigh-in on what you consider to be your top three choices for the Best American Rock Band. Stick 'em in the comments. Thanks! Oh, and I'll post the results once they've all been collected and tallied.

worse than being beaten with a blunt instrument

2007-05-03T05:50:00.000+09:00

I can't truly hate a song unless other people are falling over themselves loving it. I also can't hate a song just because it's bad. There are plenty of bad songs that I can't help but love. For instance, I did a Google search for "worst songs" and found a few lists. The Blender "50 Worst Songs Ever!" list, for instance, included such gems as NKOTB's Hangin' Tough. First of all, it's probably clear from my use of the acronym that I am lovingly familiar with this band. Second of all, um, hello? It's genius. Blender tells us that the worst moment in the song is the line "Don't cross our path or you're gonna get stomped!" It's pure brilliance!!! There was a Wahlberg in that band so you know there is no way they are going to pussy-foot around if you cross their path. Damn. Plus, that Joey Joe was just so adorable in his hats with the tops cut out. Also included on the list are such favorites as Aqua's Barbie Girl, Vanilla Ice's Ice Ice Baby, and, somewhat inexplicably (because, honestly, there are worse out there), 4 Non Blondes' What's Up? And I-eee say heeeyyyeeeee heeeyeeee heeeeey, what's going on!!!!! What better song was there to sing in the shower during high school? I myself prefer to take my seething hate to a more justifiable place. A place where songs are celebrated for supposedly being good. A place called The Grammys. A place where I may constantly be heard saying "are you fucking kidding me?" and finally, a place where James Blunt gets FIVE nominations (it's a comfort that he didn't win any, but not much). I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I mean, check the brilliance of the lyrics to You're Beautiful: My life is brilliant. My love is pure. I saw an angel. Of that I'm sure. She smiled at me on the subway. She was with another man. But I won't lose no sleep on that, 'cause I've got a plan. Be still my heart, he's got a plan!! Is that plan to turn the makings of a really bad pick-up line into a song? His plan worked!!! Is the plan to also dupe a bunch of 13 year old girls and middle aged women who don't know who this James Blunt fella is but he's sure handsome and his song sure makes me feel good about myself? Done! Oh, right, and is his plan also to make me break that cd as best I can and stab myself repeatedly in the heart with its plastic shards? Mission accomplished, asshole. I would go on, but I can't keep a sensible train of thought when my head is swarming with anger. I realize that it is somewhat misplaced. I also realize that I am spewing my bile about this particular song fairly late in the game. I apologize. I apologize even more if this only served to get that song in your head. Really sorry. Really.

subo`s favourites

2007-05-02T09:12:00.000+09:00

The Knife – We Share Our Mother’s Health
Whichever way you look at them – and whatever your taste in music – the Knife are fascinating. Most people will know them through Jose Gonzalez’s cover of their gorgeous Heartbeats. Having spent more than five years as firm underground favourites, the charismatic Swedish electro-goth duo have suddenly become the band du jour of cool kids and music aficionado all over Europe. And for people like me – who can best be described as ‘dabblers’ in electro (and at worst, clueless) – they provide one of the biggest and most rewarding challenges the genre has had to offer since the 80s.

The Knife’s music is complex, heavily layered, and completely unpredictable, but thankfully not in an indulgent Melt Banana fashion. The eponymous cover track off their latest (and arguably best) album, Silent Shout, appears to be fairly straightforward stuff, liable to appear on compilations like Ultimate Euphoria, but then the moody, distorted vocals set in and suddenly you’re in space, utterly lost and terrified. The Captain (and several other tracks) feature the unusual but strangely satisfying usage of steel drums, adding a dash of the Caribbean to the otherwise distinctly European flavour of the work. Some songs begin with the sound of water dripping off the ceiling. Others with a senseless cacophony that gradually resolves into beautiful melody. Others dive straight in to their central riff, and don’t look back till the end.

We Share Our Mother’s Health kicks in halfway through the album with a series of strange, swooping bass effects, dissonant and with no obvious direction. Within thirty seconds though the main riff’s kicked off, a whole chorus of electric twangs and pings have set in, and the song roars upwards like a freight train. One of the beauties of the Knife’s heavily layered approach is that every time you listen to it, there’s something new. Add to this the voice of lead singer Karin Andersson with its endearing Nordic twang, telling us in agonised tones that she fear that the end is always near. After building to a climax, they Knife unleashes a glorious, cascading chorus, the kind you try to hum to yourself but can never get quite right. All that matters is riding the wave till the crescendo of an ending that leaves you gasping for more.

The Knife are as much theatre as they are music – the duo refuse to be photographed without their masks on and their concerts resemble the ceremonies of a strange Goth-cult, complete with creepy visuals and dim lighting. If you get the chance, check out the videos for both Silent Shout and We Share Our Mother’s Health. The former was inspired by Charles Burns’ wonderful Black Hole (one of the greatest graphic novels ever written, in my humble opinion), the other was conceived and animated entirely in Japan. As with everything Knife related, they are quirky, frightening, and utterly mesmerising.

sonic pretention

2007-04-17T18:30:00.000+09:00

sonic youth vs boredoms in osaka tonight (sorry i refuse to write boredoms in that stupid fuckin pretentious infinity mark style they have adopted of late). at first i was like, wow!!! that`ll be amazing! then i thought, actually, no... when was the last time i listened to sonic youth anyway? and boredoms? who cares about them? no-one really likes them, they either say it cuz they want to gain power amongst their friends, or just cuz they fancy yoshimi. i`m not going, but i bet i can tell you how it will end anyway... with a 30 minute noise jam, with members slowly trying to out-pretention each other until they drop off one by one, leaving one guy left to fiddle around creating looped drones and feedback for a further ten minutes lost in his own world at the expense of everyone`s attention until he either a) walks of stage, in which a further 5 minutes of looped feedback ensues until the sound guys vote that it has indeed finished, then cut it off. or b) he will cut off the racket himself, suddenly, without warning, pick up his stale beer, in a trashy 80s t-shirt and look to the back of the hall through floppy hair, cooly wave goodbye (he practiced his cool wave in the mirror), and say either `domo arigato` if he`s american, `thank you` if he`s japanese, or `sorry, i fucked up and you`re all bored as hell, i am extremely sorry, everyone will get a full refund at the door on their way out, i can`t apologise enough, sorry, sorry, honto ni gomen nasai` if he`s jim o`rourke. i hate wanky noise bands. and encores? what is the fuckin point, it`s just masturbation. i wish all bands were like the make up or jesus and marychain...

Speed display

2007-04-14T06:00:00.000+09:00

Quickly!!!
Moebius-Plank-Neumeier - Zero Set

Racing Music

2007-04-04T15:11:00.000+09:00

Back when I used to be able to sit around and play games for hours on end without feeling guilty, game soundtracks were either a lot less important to the gameplay or were just less interesting in general. When I bought a fledgling home theatre, I had access to all my music in the same place that I was playing games. If a game's soundtrack was boring or non-essential, I would quickly hit the mute button and fire up the stereo.

I know I used this technique extensively while doing ridiculously dorky stuff like breeding a golden chocobo in Final Fantasy VII, but the music I listened to then hasn't really stuck to my memories of the game. Two games, Sega Rally 2 for Dreamcast and Rallisport Challenge for Xbox, however, have definite links to music.

Sega Rally 2 saw me listening to a lot of Counting Crow's 3rd album, This Desert Life. It's totally not racing music, but I borrowed it from a girl who I was interested in at work, so listening to it was a priority. Playing Sega Rally 2 was also a priority. Perhaps unsurprisingly, nothing ever developed between us. I don't hold Sega Rally accountable for that. Regardless, sitting around playing Sega Rally gave me the perfect opportunity to really listen to the album. Decent game; great album.

Rallisport Challenge was the only game I went through the excruciatingly slow process of loading songs onto the Xbox's harddrive for. I found that most songs didn't work very well on the short races I was doing in the game, but The Hives' Veni Vidi Vicious was perfect. The sings kick right into gear and can play completely through over the course of most races. Whenever I think of Rallisport, I think of The Hives. Great game; great album.

It's interesting that the musical connection with the games only goes one way. I think of the albums when I think of the games. When I think of the albums, the games don't cross my mind. It probably has to do with having listened to the albums while not playing the games, but I still find it interesting.

Also interesting, and something I just found out while writing this, is that the Japanese version of VVV has three bonus tracks. Time to hit up Tsutaya!

Mixtapes

2007-03-15T04:33:00.000+09:00

Top Shatta Vol. 81
I was given this by a guy I did some work for a few years ago. I think it was intended to be given away as a promo for his tee company but they never got round to it (it is mastered a bit low). I don’t suppose he would mind me hosting it here, and even if he did I wouldn't let that worry me unduly (plenty of backstory, but negativity can be left out of it).
The mix itself is by a guy named Toby and is a pretty dense workout; an all-live, one-take recording of tons of ragga and dancehall tracks. It is great in small doses but I would be surprised (impressed?) if you make it all the way through in one listen as it can get a bit repetitive. Also, there is only so many times you can listen to people imploring you to ‘burn dem batty boys’... I'm afraid I have no idea of the exact tracklisting, and it was given to me with little fanfare and no design or niceties. It is a good mix though.

sofia coppola must be stopped!

2007-03-13T15:28:00.000+09:00

well, not just her, but she`s one of the biggest villans in this crime. when i was a teenager, i was a mad jesus and marychain fan. i used to mope about in my room dancing like a nut to the reid brothers, until i was lucky enough to see them live for real. like many kids my age, their music soundtracked a lot of our high school days. and they were still a band i could stick on the stereo and enjoy listening too. until now, thanks to the queen of dullness, her royal coppola, whenever i pop in psychocandy, i have to quickly skip past just like honey because if i don`t this big image of that washed-up old fuck bill murray and that talentless munter scarlett johansen emo-ing it up in tokyo pops into my head. likewise, now i can no longer listen to bow wow wow or adam ant without cringing at the image of that equally ugly kirsten `face-like-a-bulldog-chewing-a-wasp` dunst, dragged up, stuffing her face with luminous girly chocolate. and to make matters worse, she may have ruined one of the greatest openings to one of the greatest albums of our generation by her raping of the cure`s plainsong in that diabolical wedding scene.

i think there should be a law against filmmakers being able to use pre-existing songs in films. you don`t get this problem when they make songs especially for the film. let`s take an example... how about the beach*? went to see it at the cinema, didn`t think much of the film. my ears perked up when i heard some good new music by moby, angelo badalamenti, orbital... even the all saints. listening to the full versions on the soundtrack cd after the film, the music quickly becomes it`s own thing. you can remember vaguely what songs were in which scenes, but soon you start to layer your own memories on top of that. chances are you won`t watch the film again for a long time, then when you do, because you know the music originates from the film, you aren`t pissed off when it turns up. if anything you become quite nostalgic, and you want to dig out the cd again after.

but taking well-known songs that already have cultural weight, and undoubtably a lot of emotional and nostalgic value for many people, and grafting inescapable images of hack actors and bad film-making on top of it... it`s a rape of both art and spirit and it must be stopped!

yes sofia coppola, darron arondjdsejhdjaskovsky, david fincher, baz lurhman, lynn ramsay, quentin tarantino, channel four, the bbc, the folks who made tank girl and that cunt who made donnie darko... you have been tried by the court of music protection and found guilty! i sentence you a life sentence of watching ninja turtles two and cool as ice on repeat until you learn not to fuck with people`s memories, and the value of an original tailor made soundtrack! particularly one feat. ya kid k!

and don`t get me started on fuckin adverts...

*forgetting for a moment the completely unneccesary attatchment of lonely soul on the credits.

hate!

2007-03-12T11:29:00.000+09:00

WHY I HATE “SMOOTH,” BY ROB THOMAS & CARLOS SANTANA by katherine The spring of 2000 was an excellent time of life for me. I was finishing high school. The Michigan spring was unusually warm and pleasant. I was in the middle of one of those rare and precious lilfe situations where I had zero responsibilities and infinite freedom. This was also around the time that “Smooth,” one ofthe greatest Adult Alternative hits of the decade, began to have regular airplay on the local radio stations. Like any catchy pop song, I admit to mildly liking it the first, oh, 20 times or so that I heard it. Then, one day, on the drive to school, I heard the familiar opening drum beats of the tune on my favorite radio station and realized I’d had enough. I didn’t hate it yet, I was just indifferent to it and was ready for something new. I changed the station,but “Smooth” was playing there, too. So I changed it again. SMOOTH. The same song was simultaneouslyplaying on 3 different radio stations, all purporting to offer vastly different genres of music. I felt like Bill Murray in a musically-themed version of“Groundhog Day.” Now, I can think of many reasons to strongly dislike this song, though not necessarily hate it (I’ll get to that in a minute). For one, the monotonous, cheap salsa beat that sounds like it’s coming out of a ridiculously expensive Casio “Salsa” button. It makes me sad to think about talented musicians being utilized like a sound machine. Then there’s Santana’s predictable and uninspired guitar work. Now I know he’s a notorious born-again Christian, but I bet Jesus liked him better when hewas rocking out the soul-churning groovy solos of his more heathen years. And, of course, Thomas’ cliched and almost nonsensical lyrics (“You’re the reason for reason”....what?) It`s so far out of character for him, too. Rob Thomas never sings about simply adoring someone in his own songs. There’s always an interesting caveat, like “I love you, but you have such low self-esteem...please don’t kill yourself.” Or something like that. Anyway, there are countless pop songs I dislike forsimilar reasons. The reason I hate “Smooth” with such venom is the same reason it aired on three different radio stations in Michigan one warm spring morning in2000. It’s so...safe; it has zero personality. Therefore, it easily fits in anywhere, because it says absolutely nothing, neither musically nor lyrically. Maybe we could expect this out of a formulated boyband, or 16-year-old teen queen. Fine. There are people out there who enjoy that kind of thing. But this was a song of banality coming from two artists we KNOW have more to say than how smooth some chick is, accompanied by a lame guitar solo. I hate “Smooth,”because it’s the product of two artists’ laziness. It’s a squandered opportunity to discover something interesting through music. It’s representative of the dark side of “business” winning out over “art.” It’s the mute, albino child of two artists who compromised to the point that they cancelled themselves out. I would have preferred a song called "Bumpy".

amber`s favourites

2007-03-11T11:16:00.000+09:00

I have a thing for songs that tell such a detailed narrative i canpicture them down to the scene changes. That just begins to describe"Die a Virgin" by The Divine Comedy. When a song pulls you into thestory so deeply you see yourself mouthing the words - as "Virgin" does- that's even better. I feel a special affinity with the singer because I too don't want to die a virgin, as I'm sure most of us do not want tosuffer such a fate. And when the song's super sexy on top of that? forget it!

Speaking of sexy, How sexy do you feel when you hear "Wig Wam Bam" by Sweet? Or is it ridiculous? -- it's one of the two. But I really think Sweet had something with their song about carnal native american relationships (is that racist? I can talk about it because I have native blood in my veins, so that makes Sweet the racists). I truly think Spinal Tap was based on Sweet, but that's for another post. GM said he spared me from sharing about an embarrassing song but i think i just shared about that anyway. Look, I just want to dance and i can do that with both songs - plus it's fun to say both titles in a sentence.

behind the scenes

2007-03-09T10:51:00.000+09:00

thought you might like to see how i go about assigning everyone`s exchange partners. not exactly high tech, but it sure is colourful!

Trawling 2.

2007-03-09T07:56:00.000+09:00

Turns out there is all sorts of good stuff on the web! The following website is a Spanish blog with download links to lots of albums you may or may not be interested in: http://violaovelho.blogspot.com/2006/03/index-de-posts-09-03-2006-20-03-2006.html You have to jump through one or two hoops, but I just got the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, way hey!

Top 5 in no particular order and off the top of my head*

2007-03-09T07:31:00.000+09:00

1. Tim Hardin- Reason To Believe. I was told about this by my former Modern Studies teacher Mr Davidson, the ginger whinger as he was also known. Beautiful American folk music written and sung by a heroin addict who died young. Which, given that Kula Shaker ended up covering one of his best songs, Red Balloon, is probably no bad thing... 2. Galaxie 500- Boxset. I know it is a cheat to include a boxset as an album, but I have so tough. Arrived in the mail for my 20th birthday from an ex-girlfriend and immediately burrowed its way into my heart. I love Galaxie 500 so much. They're about the only band where I've heard a saxophone sound good (Blue Thunder alternative saxophone take in case you are wondering), with the notable exception of Jimmy Barnes on the Lost Boys soundtrack. Sample lyric "I wrote a poem on a dog biscuit, but your dog refused to look at it." Brilliant. 3. Luxury Car- Annie's Well. Best album of last year and my favourite band. 2 brothers from Perth who sound like what New Order were meant to sound like, but better. So much better. Songs about astronomy, lesbian vampire killers, golf, teenage female assasins, physics, hunger artists and so on. All set to guitar and electronics, like Joy Division meets Autechre meets Scott Walker meets New Order. Whatever description I give this album and no matter what hyperbole you may think I write about it, nothing can really do it justice. It's just fucking great. 4. Beach Boys- Smiley Smile. I saw Brian Wilson a few years back when he first started touring again. Hand on heart, it was one of the best gigs I've ever seen although he was clearly still a mentalist. Speaking of which, this album was put together after Brian discarded the sessions for the Smile album (less said about the one he did recently the better). During the original recording of the album Brian sat about in a fireman's helmet in a sandpit and insisted the classical musicians doing the orchestral pieces do the same whilst recording. He may have been a loon, but this album is better than most people will ever get near to doing and it is a collection of outtakes! This and Pet Sounds convinced me that I'd never be a musician. I felt, and still feel to a degree, that if I couldn't get near producing something as good as those two albums I probably shouldn't bother. All through the Brian Wilson gig people were shouting GENIUS at him. Although I wasn't one of them, I agree with every single shout. He did also insist on having a shouting competition with the audience though, with the benefit of having a massive PA system to back him up. Ever tried shouting down a bunch of middle aged Glaswegians? No mean feat, PA system or not. 5. Make Up- I Want Some. I absolutely love The Make Up. Pretentious as hell, but brilliant! Free Arthur Lee was one of my favourites, but only because Michelle Mae was singing on it. I saw Weird War live as I was too late to see Make Up play and it was great- Ian Svenonious jumping about like a loony tune and acting like the messiah. Hilarious. Really fun, really smart and yet absolutely stripped down bare music. And of course they all look hot as hell. Quiffs, sharp suits and the Gospel Yeah Yeah Sound. I could and do listen to it all day long. * subject to change

Nick F's favourites from 2006(ish)

2007-03-09T05:23:00.000+09:00

Although seven of these are from approximately the last year or so, the last three aren't at all, but are here because were new to me. Yes, I could be stricter, but this way it's a better list, ok? 1. Imogen Heap - Speak For Yourself Immaculate electronic pop songs, with shades of almost everything I like. One of the few records of recent years that actually fully soaked its way into a whole section of my memories of the times and places where I listened to it. 2. Tom Waits - Orphans One triple album containing more good songs than are to be found in most musicians' whole careers. Also the only record in living memory to make me laugh loudly in a public place at the brilliance of its lyrics (the song where he likens the Earth to an 'overturned... pisspot', in case you're interested. It's that pause...) 3. Amy Winehouse - Back To Black Good, old-fashioned pop music, done with gusto. And brilliant horn sections. And words like 'fuckery'. 4. Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase I don't think the Boards of Canada have ever put out a bad track. I thought this album was pretty much exactly as good as the previous two - ie. very good. 5. Thom Yorke - The Eraser The prospect of a solo album from Mr. Yorke didn't really excite me much (famous people's solo albums never do, really), but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is, in fact, rather good. Nice artwork too. 6. The Dresden Dolls - Yes, Virginia Mainly because it brings back memories of their gig at the Roundhouse last November, which was possibly the best gig I've ever been to. It might well be that you need to see the Dresden Dolls live to understand quite how good they are. 7. Roots Manuva - Awfully Deep Like Boards of Canada, (above), Mr. R. Manuva is consistently great. ---- 8. Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator) Simple, beautiful, and ends with probably the best 14-and-a-half minute song ever. 9. The Pentangle - Anthology The Pentangle took traditional old folk songs and made something completely unique out of them. Jazz rhythms, double-bass, and sitars. They should really be much more famous than they are, because they're as good as, say, Led Zeppelin. (ie. very good). 10. Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth I can't put my finger on why I keep coming back to this record. Sparse, sparse 2 minute songs with just guitar, synthesiser and a laconic girl voice. Apparently Kurt Cobain was a big fan. Even though I'm not sure whether I even like it that much, I seem to keep coming back to it.

Trawling.

2007-03-08T01:14:00.000+09:00

I like to trawl the web occasionally to see what delights it springs up at me. Recently I've been hunting for music downloads put up by other people. I'm no great fan, but if you like Bob Dylan, here's the backcatalogue:

1962 - Bob Dylan
1963 - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
1964 - The Times They Are A-Changin`
1964 - Another Side of Bob Dylan
1965 - Bringing It All Back Home
1965 - Highway 61 Revisited
1966 - Blonde On Blonde
1967 - Greatest Hits
1967 - John Wesley Harding
1969 - Nashville Skyline
1970 - Self Portrait
1970 - New Morning
1971 - Greatest Hits Vol. II
1973 - Pat Garret & Billy The Kid
1973 - Dylan
1974 - Planet Waves
1974 - Before The Flood Part 1
1974 -Before The Flood Part 2
1974 - Blood On The Tracks
1975 - The Basement Tapes 1
1975 - The Basement Tapes 2
1976 - Desire
1976 - Hard Rain
1978 - Street Legal
1979 - Live At Budokan
1979 - Slow Train Coming
1980 - Saved
1981 - Shot Of Love
1983 - Infidels
1984 - Real Live
1985 - Empire Burlesque
1985 - Biograph 1
1985 - Biograph 2
1985 - Biograph 3
1986 - Knocked Out Loaded
1988 - Down In The Groove
1989 - Dylan & The Dead
1989 - Oh Mercy
1990 - Under The Red Sky
1991 - The Bootlegs Series Volumes 1-3
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
1992 - Good As I Been To You
1993 - The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
1993 - World Gone Wrong
1994 - Greatest Hits - Volume 3
1995 - MTV Unplugged
1997 - Time Out Of Mind
1998 - The Bootleg Series Volume 4 - The Royal Albert Hall Concert
Part 1
Part 2

2000 - The Essential Bob Dylan
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
2001 - Love And Theft
2002 - The Bootleg Series Vol. 5 Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue
Part 1
Part 2
2004 - The Bootleg Series Vol. 6 Bob Dylan Live 1964, Concert at Philharmonic Hall
Part 1
Part 2
2005 - The Bootleg Series Vol. 7 No Direction Home The Soundtrack
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
2005 - Live At The Gaslight 1962
2006 - Modern Times

Let's face it, it's not like he needs the money. Or perhaps he does to get his voice fixed. Miaow!

favourites ii

2007-03-01T16:00:00.000+09:00

i can think of three genuinely happy periods in my life, and unsurprisingly music played a big part in them all. so today i`m gonna write about the first of those. guess i`m writing these for myself really, but you might find it interesting and be inspired to do the same. despite no-one else taking me up on the offer, i would be interested to read similar `confessions` from the rest of you! 1994-1995 perhaps beginning a little bit in 1993, i have a suspicious feeling these two years represent the best period in music history! i don’t know anyone (in the uk at least) who was depressed at this time. and for me it all started with...

tindersticks this album came out in 1993, but I discovered it in 1994. the second album actually has my favourite song on it, and possibly my favourite album cover... but the first album is so well crafted, it`s probably one of the few times music can genuinely be referred to as `art`. in my own dream world this is the soundtrack to my life. when i first heard it, i hadn’t had much experience with girls, so i would listen to this and think `so this is what it`s like to be in a relationship`. thirteen years later, it seems every aspect of this album has come true for me, and sometimes i wonder if i hadn’t subconsciously steered my life in the direction of the mistakes sung about here. on an aesthetic level, i have ripped the structure of this album off so many times for my own mixes (and even my comic stories, if you are lucky enough to own one you may spot similarities!) tindersticks always plan out their albums in terms of record sides. this album has four, all marked by a symbol of the moon in progressive states of fullness. for me there is two complete strokes of brilliance on this album. the first is having one song presented in two different versions near the start and end of the album, which create such a weir, almost nostalgic feeling when you`re listening to it . and the second stroke is the song sweet sweet man which they decided to split into three parts and place at relevant points in the album. you`ll have to listen to it to understand why they did it, but it’s such a brilliant idea i keep stealing it for my own mixes! i know stuart staples voice is difficult for some people, but this is another great lonely late night album. and patchwork has to be one of the most beautiful songs ever written.

portishead - dummy one night in 1994 i sat up late watching bbc2s weird night festival because they were going to be screening david lynch`s the grandmother short at about 4am or something. (i think they also showed man with the x-ray eyes and debuted the x-files in the uk on this night too). but what really got me was the music in the between-programme announcements! this dark moody hip hop track... only not really hip hop. but with lots of noise and interference and an old gramophone record playing under it. i`m sure when the credits rolled at dawn they told you who it was, but i must have missed it. so i just phoned up the bbc the next day and they were really helpful! it was this nice english guy who chatted for a little bit, asking what i had thought of the night, and the x-files in particular. then he told me who the tracks were by and i went out and bought it that day. (i think on the same day i picked up pisces iscariot and a copy of the nme with this free fort apache studios tape on it, sebadoh, lemonheads, fuzzy, sugar etc... so it was a good day for music). anyway, as you all know from my highly secretive title, the music was by portishead. i can`t tell you how amazing it was to hear that album at that time for the first time. it was like suddenly all the loose strands of my record collection had been brought together, and something more added into the mix. at the time, i always imagined portishead were making the type of music i would like to make if i had any talent (although many years later i found something more perfect). and the coolest thing about them was they were making these weird, dark short movies too! when i was dj-ing i used to go into the club early just to play mysterons and strangers on a bad-ass sound system. but numb remains my favorite track. another short, perfect 10 track, 45 min album. i think from 94 to 96 at least i was playing this album at least once a week. in 1998 i went to t in the park when monkey mafia were playing, and hooked up with the most beautiful, perfect girl i was going to meet until i came to japan. we arranged to meet at the end of the evening, but i went to see portishead play and they played... and played... and played. and i watched all of it. when it finished i went to meet her about an hour late and of course she was nowhere to be found. all i knew was her first name. i was gutted. i went home to a house my mum and dad were redoing and i remember sitting in the bath looking at the broken pipes, inhaling concrete fumes and swearing i would never listen to portishead again. and funnily enough i kept that promise until only just recently, when i decided after almost 10 years i was unlikely to ever see that girl again, and if i did, i`m sure she wouldn`t be as cool as i remembered. and the album sounded much better than i ever remembered it. and one final ironic point about portishead... even though i discovered them on bbc2 television, by the late 90s i think they remian the best example of why a band should never, never, NEVER license their music to cheap tv dramas, commercials or films. but more about that later.

headz 2A (disk ii) - various artists mo` wax at it`s prime… easily the best compilation cd ever made, a fantastic line up, amazing packaging and artwork by 3d. it`s another one i remember hurrying down to the record store after school just to get it on the day of it’s release (which, now that I think about it, was 1996 wasn`t it? oh well...) the whole 4 disk set is brilliant, but 2A disk ii remains my favourite. another dark, cold, lonely album. it makes me think of lost underwater ice caverns and trapped giant blue whales. actually, just going over the tracklist again, i`ve noticed this one has the most recognizable bands on it. but you`d never know it if someone was just playing it to you for the first time asking you to guess who each one was. (although i have a sneaking suspicion most of the bands are just carl craig in disguise)! some days i think the second, third and fourth tracks are my favourite pieces of music ever. i remember coming home in a rage after some girl broke my heart and sticking this on the stereo, just staring out the window into the dark and listening to every weird click, noise, beat and drone until the sun came up. every track flows together so well, it’s the perfect transition music from 3am until dawn.

tricky - maxinquaye from portishead to tricky via mo` wax! i always tell myself after making this album tricky got so fucked off with the press calling him a `genius` he retaliated by making 4 or 5 of the most awful, terrible, tuneless, boring noise albums set down on tape and one day… one day… he`s gonna say `now that no-ones listening to me anymore, i`m going to make the REAL follow up to maxinquaye. which i`m sure he`s had sitting on his shelf this whole time, only passing out to friends because he doesn`t want the press, marketing agencies or college grads working for cheap bbc2 dramas to get their grubby hands on it. i find it hard to believe someone who could make maxinquaye doesn`t have more of the same inside him. this is another album where the packaging, artwork, structure, production just all comes together in a stroke of brilliance (especially the wedding photo!). i think with most of the albums on my list it`s not only the music i`m writing about but the whole package. the best moment on this album, and one you know he probably did just to fuck off journos at the nme who were hyping him up without ever hearing any of his music... is he just waits... and waits... and waits... to make his first solo singing appearance, which doesn`t come until the fourth track. the album begins with a reworking of karmacoma the song that brought him to everyones attention anyway, but he decides to remove himself from the vocal part and have martina sing (which is such a brilliant move in itself and what a message to send). then we go onto ponderosa which is my favourite song on the album. it has the best drum track i`ve ever heard, with all these separate parts just weaving in and out only coming together at certain points. and tricky still hiding, mumbling somewhere lost in the background. it sounds like it`s just gonna fall apart at any moment. and when it does we go straight into what has to be the best cover version of a song ever recorded (apart from wilco`s `gin n juice`) lots of punk drumming and... guitars?!! but still no tricky. then after all that racket, in shuffles a dirty, dirty, crippled version of the same issac hayes sample portishead used, and tricky finally appears, drunkenly, stumbling around giving what may in fact be my favourite rap lyrics before disappearing back into the darkness and leaving us with a smashing pumpkins sample and a model on vocals. ithink the above proves i can`t really write about music, but don`t knock me for trying! my best memory of this album was being at my friend dean`s house one rainy summer sunday afternoon. we had the house to ourselves and were fucking about with his sampler and decks making a lot of noise, trying to record the thunderstorm but not having much success. we stopped to make nachos for lunch, and we were just hanging out by the open kitchen door watching the rain and talking about how the thunder seemed to be crashing in time to tricky`s aftermath which i`d left playing at full volume on the stereo. dean was complaining about how the track never ended, and i was just about to tell him it`s because i was running it on repeat, when this giant, giant FUCK OFF spider fell from the door frame onto his back. i`d never seen anything like it before, which is another reason this song is ingrained into my mind. i was stuttering to dean trying to tell him what it was when he reached behind him, trying to scratch what he no doubt thought was an itch and felt this monster on his hands. he just yelled and ran into the rain throwing his t-shirt onto the ground trying to escape the thing. i was laughing so much i didn`t see him bring it over to me and throw it down the back of my t-shirt! i jumped into the rain too, trying to get it off me, and there we were, the two of us topless, getting soaked, jumping around in a thunderstorm, trying to kill this giant spider with tricky booming in the background. it must have been the weirdest thing his neighbours had ever seen. but ever since that day i only ever play maxinquaye in thunderstorms, which is maybe one of the reasons i`ve never gotten bored of it...

that`s the first part of 1994-5 over. it`s kinda long, so i`m going to wait until next week to type the rest...but if you think the web is better off without these stories, please let me know!