Ernest Borgnine + Ernest Borgnine

Squarepusher - Theme From Ernest Borgnine [Feed Me Weird Things, 1996]

Variations on a theme

Dr. Wesley Pentz

Three songs. One break.

1. Brew Barrymore. See what Diplo can do!

2. Electric Relaxation. I don't want to say the best Tribe song ever, but between the sample and lyrics, it's definitely up there. I shan't repeat the song's best lines here, because this is a family blog, but I will hint that I have a soft spot for any and all puns on the now-defunct chain store, Seaman's Furniture. I am particularly sad that people just discovering this music now won't be able to catch the reference.

3. Mystic Brew: the song that started it all. Grinding, funky organs and lots of tasty vibes. Ronnie Foster was 22 when he wrote this song! Shame on all of us.

Diplo - Brew Barrymore [?]

A Tribe Called Quest - Electric Relaxation [Midnight Marauders, 1993]

Ronnie Foster - Mystic Brew [The Two-Headed Freap, 1972]

New Lindstrøm

nickname: el girafa

See how long that fool's neck is? I saw Lindstrøm (love those funky Norweigan characters) a year ago and the whole time he was bent over his synth-pad, moving his head/neck in time with the music. It was pretty hypnotic actually, it seemed like his head was entirely detached from his body or something. As a side note, Lindstrøm sounds great live, don't miss him if you get the chance.

Anyway, Lindstrøm has a new record out, and it's great. There are only three tracks, and here's the first one which clocks in just under 30 (!) minutes. There's a lot of styles in the mix here, and it comes out sounding fantastic.

Lindstrøm - Where I Go You Go Too [Where I Go You Go Too, 2008]

DJ Mujava

Warp is hyping this track, by DJ Mujava from South Africa, a lot. I only listened to it once but this will serve as a bookmark to come back and see if it grows on me.

New Black Devil Disco Club

Black Devil Disco Club, and all of Lo Recordings actually, has been one of my favorite discoveries of the past year. With all the talk of "Space Disco" it's good to see someone step up and put out releases that I think will have some staying power.

The cover of this Black Devil Disco Club (who I think is no longer pretending to be a long-lost disco producer from the 1970s and instead content to be a French person making electronic music) release proclaims that it is "the holy grail of space disco." Okay. I feel like if something is going to be the "holy grail" of anything, I shouldn't be able to pick it up at my local CD store, but maybe that's an issue I should take up with the marketing department of Lo Recordings.

These tracks are all really good! New Black Devil!!

Black Devil Disco Club - With Honey Cream [Eight Oh Eight EP, 2008]

Black Devil Disco Club - Never No Dollars [Eight Oh Eight EP, 2008]

I'm gonna gun you down

Two minutes of brilliance from Jamaica, 1969.

The Ethiopians - Gun Man

When I am tired

Here's a link to listen to Spiritualized playing "Shine a Light" at Pitchfork.

Quick Pitchfork recap

I will have some pictures to post but they're nowhere near ready yet. It may be a while before I have them so I want to get down some quick thoughts about a few of the bands that I saw.

Boris

I've not heard much Boris before this, and I haven't listened to very much metal of any kind, but this was really entertaining show. The drummer would hop out from behind his kit and yell at the crowd ("wooooooooaaaaaa!") with this crazed look on his face, like we were all on a roller coaster or something.

Health

Saw these guys by accident because we thought it was time for King Khan. After Boris' polished rock attack, it was pretty disappointing to see these LA boys jump around stage and try to act hard. When the dust settles on all this new noise music people will see how wide the influence of Liars will have been - but they've moved on to chase other sounds of course. Health sound (and act) like they wish they had thought of They Were Wrong So We Drowned... but they didn't. Read on for more on their general lameness.

King Khan and the Shrines

A good performance, the highlight was King Khan asking the crowd to wave dollar bills in the air for "Welfare Bread." I'll have a picture or two of that, KK jumped into the front and started throwing/ripping/eating bills. I saw the bassist later and he commented, fairly, that KK + Shrines are "not a festival band," but even performing at 3pm it was still a great time.

Spiritualized

This was a totally epic performance. I wish that Spiritualized was the headliner so they could have played at night with a real light show, but it was still beyond great, and there was pale twilight on them. I was way up front, it was SO LOUD but I didn't mind. They played "Shine a Light" and it was beautiful. At the end of the show Jason knocked over the mics with his guitar, destroyed an amp and threw his guitar at the drumset before stamping off stage. I think he was pissed off about the sound, at one point the whole PA cut out and at the end something went wrong with the guitar I guess. This was by far my favorite show though, well worth the price of admission by itself, and Jason came out after the band finished up the song to thank the crowd. Watching Spiritualized live is *actually* like being on a roller coaster. From the beginning, the sound they create is so powerful, but it seems so effortless to create on stage that when they really start to hit the next gear, you're really taken along with it. My stomach was in my mouth for all "Come Together," although maybe that was also because it was one of the loudest things I've heard in my life...

Dinosaur Jr.

I enjoy Dino Jr. quite a lot. They're super old by now but they sounded great.

Bradford Cox + King Khan

I guess Cut Copy were late for their gig or something, but as I was on my way out of the festival I noticed that these guys were up on stage playing random punk songs. It was pretty great, but there must have been a bunch of Cut Copy fans who were not amused, because at one point Bradford Cox said something like "hey, I wish Cut Copy were here too, you didn't choose us and we didn't choose you either, so let's just make the best of it." I think someone backstage must have just asked them to play some music to entertain people during the delay. Jay Reatard came on and played a song with them, the keyboardist from the Shrines got on the bongos, and someone else was on drums. At one point the lead singer from Health wandered on stage (to give B Cox a bottle of water or something?) and King Khan turned to him with a microphone and said 'hey man you want to sing a punk song?' It was pretty clear that he was giving him a challenge, but the dude walked off as if he hadn't heard him. REALLY LAME.

Sludge Rawk [Part Chimp]

Part Chimp:

• Used to be on Mogwai's label, Rock Action
  
• Titled one of their albums Chart Pimp
  
• Play really loud rock that sounds kind of like Mogwai
  
• Are way more punk rock than Mogwai
  
• Are one of those bands that it takes shuffle for me to listen to actively
  
• Rock really hard
  

End of post!

Part Chimp - 30 Billion People [Chart Pimp, 2003]

Artist: [Spank Rock]

So, Spank Rock. These guys are the best bunch of music-makers to come out of Baltimore maybe ever. Wonderfully danceable, cut-up rap over huge, enormously huge electro beats. In short, a really really really good time.

Before I dispense with the music, however, I want to discuss something. These guys taken some flack from some quarters for their, er, fairly sex-obsessed, lady-insensitive lyrics, and if possible, I'd like to take a moment to address this point. For one, the only reason Pitchfork gave them a 6.5 and not a 9.9 was due to reservations about this very issue:

Moving bodies is as worthy a goal now as it was when Little Richard sang, "Good booty, if it don't fit, don't force it". But Spank Rock's unspoken nihilism-- or, more pointedly, chauvinism-- has been getting a pass.

Here, friends, is where I must contest: It's (very likely) high-octane satire! Yes: I may just be rationalizing here, but I can't help but find myself in the 'its ironic so just enjoy the party!' camp. Just look at the Bangers & Cash album cover and say it ain't so! To be fair, the Pitchfork critic accounted for this outlook in his review:

You may be thinking, "Rap writer comes down on innocuous, possibly ironic good-time MC for sexism, continues ignoring Interscope artist's crimes." Fair point.

Fair point indeed. So: I say: when you hear them using the b-word, and the h-word, and various other generally objectifying terms, I ask you: take these folks with a few grains of salt, and try to realize: the songs are too smart to have been composed by a bunch of idiots.

In the end, Like the Pitchfork reviewer, I realize I may be wrong to take this stance, and I am open to differing opinions on this issue (i.e., satire perpetuates the beliefs it purports to skewer by giving them more oxygen). Please let me know if you feel I am a dum-dum. In the meantime, however, pleasepleaseplease enjoy the party.

Spank Rock - Put That Pussy On Me (Diplo Tonite Remix) [2008]

Spank Rock - Put That Pussy On Me [Spank Rock EP, 2006]

Spank Rock - Backyard Betty [YoYoYoYoYo, 2007]

Moderately good Argentine rock [NerdKids]

Hey, expectations need to be set low here from the nation that gave us Los Ratones Paranoicos. Although I will say that 'Sigue Girando' can sometimes enter my head when I least expect it. Look at that totally gratuitious mp3 link! I will DEFINITELY be monitoring the stats on that one to see how many people it infects.

Down to the business of NerdKids. I know some of this audience lives in or around Silicon Valley, so let's take a quick step back and say: in a lot of places in the world, such as Argentina, people don't go around calling themselves 'nerds.' So major props to the band for naming themselves NerdKids, and for naming first track off of their album "Este es el tiempo de los chicos raros," or "This Is The Time of Strange Boys." (It's worth pointing out that there are 2 girls in the band but chicos refers to them all)

According to this press clipping, they say:

"We're strange boys. We have to do with what makes up the nerd part of society: comics, movies and books. We're neither heterosexual nor homosexual: we're sexual. We're in the future and we have to leave aside a whole bunch of primitive ideas.

This is a breath of fresh air in the almost universally stale world of Argentine rock: at last, an idea! So does the music live up to this rhetoric? Yeah! This rock is really good at sounding like it's from the 1990s. It's nothing ambitious, and I can totally tell that this band idolizes the Smashing Pumpkins, but I did too so that's not a problem. This is 'emotional' rock in the way that Dinosaur Jr. is... the singer's lyrics are pretty pathetic, although there's more hope here than with Dinosaur Jr. I don't know of any other frontman of an Argentine rock band who is willing to suffering without sounding fake.

NerdKids - Videos+Discos [Bubbleglam, 2006 <--start here]

NerdKids - Este es el tiempo de los chicos raros [Bubbleglam, 2006]


NerdKids - Estaciones [Bubbleglam, 2006 <-- 'epic' rocker]

Yet another musical piece to accompany your summer [Aaron Robinson]

During my younger, more freewheelin' days at college, when "responsibility" was more of an idea than actual practice, a friend of mine passed along this great electronic music DJ mix by a man named Aaron Robinson. Smooth transitions abound and filled with killer electronic tunes, this mix is another perfect complement to a hot summer day. Full mix below!

Aaron Robinson - March 2006 DJ set [don't let the title fool you - it's pure summer!]

Sorta old school stuff that came up for me on shuffle

One day I'm hearing Naughty by Nature on shuffle, the next I'm again pleasantly surprised by how much I like Treach:

How dumb is it that I had to convert this Naughty by Nature song from a WAV into an MP3?

Naughty by Nature - Let the Ho's Go

Rakim - The Punisher

Showbiz and A.G. - Party Groove (Bass Mix) [Runaway Slave, 1992 - i want to reward people searching for this, if you want the album just ask]

King Khan and the Shrines at The Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, 7/11/08

Fair warning: this post is kind of NSFW

kk + four shrines

This is the summer of King Khan and the Shrines for me, as I'll be seeing them three times over the course of a month and a half. At a certain point of this show, I had to put my camera away because I was having too much fun. I don't have anything to say about this concert, hopefully the pictures explain why. I'm gonna shoot more at the next two shows - Pitchfork this weekend, and the free Black Lips/Deerhunter/King Khan concert in August. (in nyc, duh)

The first three tracks from King Khan's album What Is?! follow.

King Khan and the Shrines - (How Can I Keep You) Outta Harms Way [What Is?!, 2007]

King Khan and the Shrines - I Wanna Be A Girl [What Is?!, 2007]

King Khan and the Shrines - Welfare Bread [What Is?!, 2007]

Guilty pleasure #178 [Cicada]

Electronicpoptastic

I don't know how this got to the bargain bin, but it's a crime it did. July 4 weekend I was out In San Francisco with Dan, and as is customary with a trip out to California, I went to Amoeba Records. When skimming through the electronic music section, I came across a little gem of a group called Cicada, which produces some poptastic electronic similar to contemporaries Mylo and Spektrum.

Now, when I first moved to NYC I constantly hit up this great dance music store called Satellite Records, which tragically shut down this passed Winter (vinyl is even less profitable than CDs these days). While shopping there, I came across this record by Cicada called "Cut Right Through", which though was pretty standard fare, had a phenomenal remix that I would constantly spin on my tables at home.

Flash forward to this past Sunday. Cicada's debut album, which includes "Cut Right Through", is sitting in the electronic music section at Amoeba for a mere $5 (markdown from $18, and this is an import, for crying out loud!). I had to buy it, and so I did. While there are some duds, there are fair amount of absolute electronic pop screamers, including "Electric Blue", and a track with moderate fame, "The Things You Say", which are posted below for your listening pleasure.

Cicada - The Things You Say [Cicada LP, 2006]

Cicada - Electric Blue [Cicada LP, 2006]

Serge x Herbert

caption

I got in to "Bonnie and Clyde" after downloading some Gainsbourg comp. I'm pretty sure I've heard it somewhere before, but I'm very much more in to it now. This Matthew Herbert remix of the song is excellent.

Serge Gainsbourg - Bonnie and Clyde (Herbert's Fred and Ginger mix)

Serge Gainsbourg - Bonnie and Clyde [this is an m4a, sorry]

Balearic bounce [Studio]

"Life's a beach"

Summer grooves continue here at Hey! Student with the positively fluid sounds of Studio. Based in Gothenburg, Sweden, Studio churn out intricately composed space disco grooves with percolated guitar work, a variety of airy synthesizers, big piano sounds, and [gasp!] steel drums, all of which perfectly accompany a summer sundown or ride home from a raging party at 5 AM.

West Coast, the group's proper full-length, is well-paced with only six tracks, though each one is epic in sound and production, ebbing and flowing so beautifully that you feel as though you're living in slo-motion. In particular, the album's first track, "Out There", is a 16-minute magnum opus that twists and turns and is filled with so many differing musical themes that keep you guessing all along the way.

In many ways, West Coast is very similar to a Hey! Student stalwart, Out Hud, and there debut album, S.T.R.E.E.T. D.A.D., which also has few tracks, but each one is an elaborately composed instrumental work with unique musical story arches. However, while Out Hud recall the No Wave movement of the late 1970s/early 1980s, Studio is steeped in Italo-Disco sounds and the Balearic dance movement of the 1980s. Either way, both are engaging listens, and for your listening pleasure (and next summer freakout), check out "Out There", posted below and sure to get you all in a twist.

Studio - Out There [West Coast LP, 2007]

Letting commenters inspire posts

ryan has left a new comment on your post "AFX Coachella set [Aphex Twin]":

I never seen Aphex live, but this image reminds me of a CMJ show I heard about in 1998: Merzbow vs. Alec Empire. I was actually in town seeing the Grand Royal showcase (bis, buffalo daughter), but I can't imagine the pain that must have gone on for those that were there (at CBGBs)

I've been meaning to post this Buffalo Daughter song for so long, because I love it. Back at WNUR I used to enjoy pulling it from the stacks because it was pressed on yellow vinyl. Wild! Anyway it it's finally the right time to post it, Justin can bear witness to this. I like how I've managed to incorporate my two most lame topics into this post, namely the weather in San Francisco and the halcyon days of college radio.

As for the Atari Teenage Riot song, I was really in to this in the seventh grade or something like that. Not that I was into anarchy, I just liked the song.

How will other Hey! Student readers inspire future posts?

Buffalo Daughter - Cold Summer [a 7" on yellow vinyl, sometime in the 90s]

Atari Teenage Riot - Atari Teenage Riot [who knows/cares anyway]

Mad decent [Diplo]

"I like turtles"

In keeping with fresh sounds for the summer, feast your ears on Diplo's hot I Like Turtles mix. While Jackie Mittoo's warm reverberated keyboard work is a perfect complement to a relaxing summer day, I Like Turtles will surely get your booty shaking and your body perspiring during those endless summer nights. Filled with tongue-twisting reggae, baile funk, crunktastic hip hop, smooth electronic and lots of tracks from Diplo's former muse, MIA, this mix slowburns and blazes all at once.

My advice: throw on some Jackie Mittoo at your next BBQ. Then, as the day becomes night, and a steady stream of alcohol is coursing through your fellow party cohorts' veins, do a 180 and kick things into high gear with the two tracks below. People need to sweat during the summer, and what better way to do so then to get people dancing and crazy? This shit is mad decent!

Diplo - I Like Turtles, Track I [I Like Turtles (A Diplo Mix) LP, 2007]

Diplo - I Like Turtles, Track II [I Like Turtles (A Diplo Mix) LP, 2007]

How to enjoy your summer [Jackie Mittoo]

The "keyboard king"

This weekend I made myself feel like a functional member of society by walking into a record store and buying a bunch of CDs. Now I can be more OK with distributing mp3s on my blogspot. (SEO yall!!)

Here are two songs off of the Jackie Mittoo album "Featuring Winston Wright at King Tubbys." Honestly I've picked them randomly, they all pretty much sound the same, i.e. great. I recommend this for summer, if you have that, i.e. if you live somewhere in this hemisphere outside of San Francisco. Jackie Mittoo is a great keyboard player, and although King Tubby didn't actually produce this album, it was recorded at his famous dub studio. This is all instrumental, so just put it on at your BBQ or something and enjoy. We'll have those in October out here.

Jackie Mittoo - MPLA Rock [Featuring Winston Wright at King Tubbys, 1970X]

Jackie Mittoo - King Girls [Featuring Winston Wright at King Tubbys, 1970X]

New stuff: Лейдитрон е отлично

that's to grab extra bulgarian hits, don't you know

I worry some people might have the impression that Ladytron is a one-hit wonder, since "Seventeen" appeared in a commercial for American Eagle and stuff like that. Not the case! All of their albums have a few awesome songs, and here are two from their newest one. Why does hearing Bulgarian make me want to move?

I've contrived to miss them the last three times they've played San Francisco, but after listening to "Black Cat" many many times, I'm ready to drop everything to see them.

Ladytron - Black Cat [Velocifero LP, 2008]

Ladytron - Deep Blue [Velocifero LP, 2008]

Bonus track: "Black Cat" by Broadcast, which is also great.

Broadcast - Black Cat [Tender Buttons LP, 2005]

Bounce It

Kilo.

So, New Orleans Bounce. Taken from Diplo's write-up:

For those unfamiliar with Bounce: it is a fairly unique strain of club-oriented hip-hop that originated in New Orleans sometime around 1991. 20 years later, Bounce still dominates the urban club and block party scene in New Orleans with very little major label backing. The best club music seems almost always to thrive on calculated simplicity, and Bounce is no exception, relying on MC work that is based on simple call and response chants, straightforward rhyme schemes/patterns, and repetitive dance refrains.

In short: these songs are simple, but the Spank Rock-y vocal cutups, echos, cutesy artist names*, and big, big beats make sure they stay a lot of fun. See for yourself.

Kilo - Pop Dat Tattoo [Shake, Twerk and Wobble, 2008]

Gotty Boi Chris - Cut It Up [Bouncedown 6, 2008]

*One of the prominent Bounce rappers is named Peac-a-choo, ostensibly after the Pokemon.

Artist: The Avalanches

Avalanche Rock

In light of our recent deluge of posts on Steinski, Girl Talk, and The Field, you might have thought, "Hey! There are probably no sample-based artists left to talk about!" Well if you thought that, you were wrong.

Which brings us to the Avalanches, the brilliant Aussie DJ team who, in my humble opinion, rank among the best of the best of the samplers. It has been 8 long years since these 6 fellers proved their chops with the fantastic Since I Left You, but dangit if that album didn't contain 8 years worth of goodness to hold us over. Next to Endtroducing, it may well be the best all-sample album ever made.

Since then, they have left an adoring public with only tantalizing details of their next project:

We're sure you're gonna love it when it arrives ... One day when you least expect it, you'll wake up and the sample fairy will have left it under your pillow.

Argh. 8 years! Bring it on guys.

Anyway, until the new album arrives, I leave you with something almost as good, the Gimix. This mix was the precursor to Since I Left You...a lot of the same songs, with a bunch of interstitial stuff thrown in, including a fine Jimi Hendrix/Cyndi Lauper masheroo. It is, needless to say, great. Enjoyyy!

The Avalanches - Gimix

Beach House - Gila

Manohman, this song is the perfect summer stargazer jamm. Happy early 4th!

New Girl Talk

So, the new Girl Talk, Feed The Animals, came out this week. Before I review it, I want to make two things clear: 1) I loved loved loved his last album Night Ripper, and anything said about this record must be weighed against the fact that Mr. Gillis brought 40 minutes of sheer greatness into our lives but two years ago, and 2) I wrestled for a while with this post, because I don't like being a negative nelly, and this site is supposed to be a way for us to broadcast what we love, not what we don't.

That said, it's a bit of a disappointment.

The long and short of it is, whereas in Night Ripper he focused on the mash first and the sample second, in Animals, he tends to go for the immediate Pop Song Recognition Factor. For example, he'll put Lollipop over Under The Bridge, even if they don't go particularly well together, simply because he loves the idea of Lil' Wayne over RHCP. There are a lot of other examples (R. Kelly over Bizarre, Inc.! Whoa!!), but I shan't waste your time with them.

In sum, there are a lot of nice moments here (Shut The Club Down has a shockingly good Rod Stewart sample, for one, and Hands In The Air works fine), but unlike his work in Night Ripper, they just don't blend into a cohesive piece. Anyway, Here's hoping GT can learn from this lesson, pull up his britches, and get back on track for the next one. I know he has it in him.

Girl Talk - Hands In The Air [Feed The Animals, 2008]

AFX Coachella set [Aphex Twin]

One of my favorite 'artist images' ever; this is from AFX's official site at warprecords.com and has been up for years

The Aphex Twin fans in the picture above do not look like they are having a lot of fun. This image made me somewhat terrified to ever see Aphex Twin live, even if I had the chance. There are other stories floating out there, like how some fancy New York club paid him loads of money to play a gig, and he got up on stage and put a microphone in a blender for 20 minutes. Aphex is a true joker, but how would it feel to have the joke played on you? Not very pleasant I'd guess.

When I came across a recording of his set at this year's Coachella festival I figured it would be worth checking out, if only to see how brutal it might be. Turns out it's actually pretty listenable, especially for the first 25 minutes. Even after he starts bringing in harder drum and bass stuff it's still good, at least to my ears. (The first transition from soft to hard is rough, but it gets better.) He stars it off with Public Enemy and Run-DMC! Full respect, I'll definitely check Aphex out if I get the chance... not like I wouldn't have anyway though.

EDIT: I was way too restrained with my praise for this mix. It is AWESOME, best played loud, and will only get better the more you listen to it.

Aphex Twin - Coachella 2008

NSFW: Para estimular la espina dorsal [Calle 13]

I dunno if The Implex has found this blog, but either way this one goes out to him. This is not new music, but I've come around to Calle 13. Enjoy this for what it is.

You can't embed the actual music video, so here's a clip that some Argentine dude threw together. It's actually pretty funny, and not really that NSFW, but still.

Orville Redenbacher got the dopest microwave popcorn [Count Bass D]

he really said that on record

I haven't played with Amazon recommendations too much recently, but I'd like to give them a big shout out for turning me on to lots of good music in what I'd call the proto-Pitchfork era of the development of my musical taste. It was pretty cool to look up a CD I liked and then find some generally useful suggestions. I think this is how I found Count Bass D, who's been chronicled before on this blog.

Count is a very fundamental beatmaker, there's nothing fancy happening here but the sound is very smooth. Here are a couple of remixes that he did off of the Some Music Pt. 3 CD, which was a giveaway with his last album. Remix One is "Saga Of Dandy, The Devil & Day" by Ultramagnetic MC's, Remix Seven is "Country Grammar" by Nelly and of course it's not to be missed. It's worth noting that these are both really short tracks. I'm also posting a track from the album.

Count Bass D - Remix One [Ear Regardless (Some Music, Pt. 3), 2007]

Count Bass D - Remix Seven [Ear Regardless (Some Music, Pt. 3), 2007]

Count Bass D - Internationally Known [Act Your Waist Size LP, 2007]

Muxtape #2

Muxtape #2 has dropped.

Being as it's summer, we're diggin' back into time and gettin' funky with our collective bad self. Muxtape #2 is a collection of funk, soul and "mutant disco" jams from the 1970s and early 1980s, including works from Hey! Student staple Kid Creole and the Pointer Sisters, a couple of Tom Moulton productions, and much more.

Summer is back. Did you miss it? We sure did.

Further dicta from the patron saint [The Fall]

Mark E. Smith

The Fall are back again, with a new lineup. Surprise! Actually, this time I think that the wholesale band replacement wasn't due to an M.E.S. hissy fit. In 2006, Mark sacked the band in the middle of a U.S. tour - this was more of a hissy fit, and involved a banana getting thrown at the patron saint of this blog. Some Americans (the first Yanks since Brix) were drafted in immediately to finish out the tour. They ended up sticking around long enough to record Reformation T.L.C., but they wanted to go back to the bands they’d left behind. I'm a little bit sad because the drummer's name was Orpheo McCord, and that's just awesome.

So here's the latest Fall album, Imperial Wax Solvent. M.E.S. sounds as grouchy as ever, probably a little more actually. (There's an 11-minute song called '50 Year Old Man,' which should be pretty much self explanatory) 'Wolf Kidult Man' has more snarl to it than any Fall song of recent memory, the guitar line here is menacing. This is very hard stuff. The other song I’m posting off the album is 'Taurig,' a proto-electronic track that could sort of be mistaken for the work of a bedroom banger producer.

There's not much else to say. The Fall have never been about subtlety, and these two songs bludgeon the listener with the same groove over and over. I still can't get enough.

The Fall - Wolf Kidult Man [Imperial Wax Solvent LP, 2008]

The Fall - Taurig [Imperial Wax Solvent LP, 2008]

New Metronomy [Metronomy]

Please listen to the new single by Metronomy. I'm pretty sure it won't let you down, if you enjoy electronic music.

[via EDI'mT]

Original Pirated Material [Steinski]

"Okay children, what does it all mean?"

How did a white, Jewish ad agency professional single-handedly change the face of hip-hop? In 1982, Steve Stein, working for advertising firm Doyle Dane Bernbach, began experimenting and later formulating sample-based hip-hop along with partner in crime Douglas Di Franco, a sound engineer who did commercial work. Ultimately, using magnetic tape and razor blades, the two individuals, better and affectionately known as Double Dee And Steinski, created the landmark "Lesson 1 (the Payoff Mix)", a song entirely composed of samples. Apart from being a dope hip-hop song, the composition laid the groundwork for Steinki's subsequent mixes, which would be lessons in pop culture as much as killer party songs. Even after over two decades, Steinski's sound collages sound as fresh as ever, and have left an indelible impact on hip-hop and sample-based artists such as DJ Shadow, the Avalanches, Coldcut and De La Soul.

Unfortunately, as you probably guessed, it is completely unprofitable and downright unfeasible to try to clear the infinite amount of samples Steinski used in his songs, relegating "Lesson 1" and Steinski's subsequent works to clubs and bootleg recordings from radio broadcasts. Until now.

Illegal Art, home of another popular sample-based artist, Girl Talk, has done the improbable and released What Does It All Mean?, a compilation containing all of Steinski's released material. My advice: get it before the RIAA wakes up and realizes what the hell just happened.

Here's the original "Lesson 1 (Payoff Mix)":

Steinski and Double Dee - Lesson 1 (the Payoff Mix) [What Does It All Mean? LP, 2008]

A few of the numerous samples used in "Lesson 1" include Diana Ross's "Stop in the Name of Love", Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca, Herbie Hancock's "Rockit", Culture Club's "I'll Tumble for Ya", Funky 4+1 "That's the Joint"and Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache".

In addition, for your listening pleasure check out "Voicemail (Sugar Hill Suite)", another sample-laden piece from Steinski that will get your body all in a quiver.

Steinski - Voicemail (Sugar Hill Suite) [What Does It All Mean? LP, 2008]

WTF?: Some more crazy Providence jams [Javelin]

One of the better youtube vids of recent memory

Providence, Rhode Island is a hotbed for hipsters, avant garde music acts and, so I hear, really awesome Chinese food. Actually I had the best hamachi of my life in Providence, AND you can listen to exclusive RISD tunes on this blog. I think there's more to come on that front, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Today's dosage of Providence culture is Javelin, a group of two dudes who cobble together songs with a really strong 80's aesthetic.

I'll go ahead and say that these two tracks are some of the most enjoyable I've heard lately - the keyboard line in this remix of "Shimmy Shimmy Ya" is so head noddable. The second one is a helium rap song that addresses the ways of the mysterious KANGAROO and Japanese smash hit game SUDOKU. I don't think these tunes are created to last for very long, but judging by the attitude of the guys in their video above, I think they cultivate this tossed-off style.

Javelin - Shimmy Shimmy Ya

Javelin - Oh Centra

Live Review: Post-Modern Madness [Bang on a Can NYC Marathon]

The Winter Garden, Site of Bang on a Can's Annual NYC Music Marathon

In my most recent posts, I have expressed my deep respect and admiration for minimalist music. While I have already articulated my admiration for one of the greatest composers of our time, Steve Reich, there are several promising and forward-thinking artists today purporting minimalism and post-modern music. Enter music collective Bang on a Can and their essential annual marathon of avant-garde composition in New York City.

I originally heard about this great, free music event last year and had the distinct pleasure of seeing Steve Reich’s seminal composition, Music for Eighteen Musicians, performed during a transcendent sunrise. Immediately impacted by the event, I subsequently wrote a review on my personal blog and knew immediately that I would be a repeat attendee of the marathon. Both last year’s and this year’s marathons were held in the Winter Garden shopping center at the World Financial Center, which although ironic, has airtight acoustics that allows sound to reverberate and breathe beautifully.

This year’s 12-hour event, though not as lengthy and packed with as many artists as last year’s 27-hour affair, was equally impressive, beginning last night at 6 PM and culling a wonderful variety of electronic, classical and rock collectives from around the globe under one roof. Accompanied by my friend Hanly, I arrived at the Winter Garden at around 12:15 AM, in time to catch a beautiful Steve Reich piece Daniel Variations being performed by music collective Signal. The piece, written in 2006, uses the best elements of Steve Reich’s unique compositional style, filled with achingly beautiful strings, enchanting marimbas and xylophones and soaring vocalwork.

The next notable event was music collective Alarm Will Sound’s orchestral re-interpretation of the Beatle’s “Revolution #9” sound-collage off the their 1968 White Album. Though the piece didn’t quite sit with me, the performance was solid, with individual members doing a great job of both playing their instruments with precision and providing their own vocal interpretation of the multiple sampled voices in the original work.

Next was So Percussion’s performance of The So Called Laws of Nature, a piece composed by Bang on a Can founding member David Lang. A highlight of the night, the piece was performed at the marble stairwell at the back of the Winter Garden, with So Percussion performing each of the three movements at three different levels of stairwell. A video of the second movement is provided below for your viewing pleasure. As a side note, I have a bit of soft spot for So Percussion, as I engineered their live, on-radio performance of Steve Reich’s Drumming, the precursor of Music for 18 Musicians, at my college radio station, WNUR.

The next two highlights of the night came at 4 AM. First, Baltimore electronic musician and video collagist Dan Deacon presented us Ultimate Reality: Part III. The piece is a beautiful and, to put it bluntly, mind-blowingly trippy, mixing video and electronic/rock freakout, and was easily the craziest event of the night. Much of the music up until Dan Deacon was played at pleasant pace, so to hear the bombast of Deacon’s work was like a shot of caffeine directly to the vein. The video collage itself transformed and manipulated Arnold Schwarzenegger’s finest moments on screen and tie-died them with a wide array of colors. The best justice I can give to this part of the night is a brief clip of the performance below, which is still not enough to describe this absolute aural and visual onslaught.

The last events I saw for the night were Contact’s back-to-back performances of Allison Cameron’s 3rds, 4ths& 5ths and Brian Eno’s Discreet Music. Both pieces were absolutely beautiful and provided a striking dichotomy against Deacon’s performance. Like last year’s Music for 18 Musicians performance, Discreet Music was played against a rising sun, providing a transcendental backdrop to an already beautiful piece of ambient music. A video of the performance is below.

After Discreet Music, Hanly and I exited Winter Garden at around 6 AM in a trance-like state, greeted by a newly risen sun over the Hudson River. Seeing this musical event is an absolute must, and proves to be a truly unique and special experience. More than anything, the marathon creates a defined mood and setting to accompany the already surreal notion that your normal sleeping hours are being substituted by post-modern musical works played in a shopping center filled with all walks of life. Ultimately, the event proved to be as exceptional as last year’s, and is one of the NYC music community’s greatest public offerings. Let’s start planning for 2009.

Artist: Fleet Foxes

Seattle's Fleet Foxes are today's answer to 1970s Southen Harmony rock à la Allman Brothers. Their February EP, Sun Giant, is a gorgeous, rambling , and addictive example of uniquely American music, done as it's meant to be. Their self-titled debut is out this week.

Lay back and enjoy, friends.

Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal [s/t, 2008]

Bombastic Very Fantastic [Spiritualized]

"Taking Drugs to Make Music to Take Drugs To"

As noted in Matt's posting below on the "takeaway show," certain artists revel in intimacy. While the acoustics of the backseat of a car are certainly enchanting and, what some might call, "rustic," nothin' beats bombast, baby!

Case in point: Spiritualized. I've had the distinct pleasure of seeing Jason Pierce, a.k.a. J. Spaceman, and his band Spiritualized, twice in concert, and if there is one thing that this group doesn't shun its layers upon layers of instrumentation. Pierce has been called by some as a "post-modern" conductor of sorts, backing the group's distinct blend of blues rock, soul, shoegaze and drone with full piece orchestras. Hell...their 2001 album Let it Come Down had over 110 session musicians. Man...that must have been one cramped up studio!

While each Spiritualized album has their own unique sound, there are two standouts that everyone must pick up: there 1997 breakthrough Ladies and Gentleman We Are Floating in Space and their subsequent live album, Live at Royal Albert Hall. Ladies and Gentleman We Are Floating in Space is an absolute tour de force, taking the drone and shoegazing elements of Spiritualized's first two albums, Lazer Guided Melodies and Pure Phase and combining them with blue-eyed soul, british rock and beautiful orchestrations. Live at Royal Albert Hall is a perfect companion piece and has stood the test of time as what I think is the best live album ever recorded. Spiritualized thrive in the live environment, and, for them, bigger is always better.

Here's their video for "Stop Your Crying" from Let It Come Down, which features a bunch of tuxedo-clad orchestra members actin' like rock stars. Classical music is the new punk!

take awayshow

#52.1 - Axe Riverboy vs Of Montreal - Part 1
by lablogotheque

So I may be years behind the curve here, but I just learned today of a fellow by the name of Vincent Moon, who makes these mini-videos called Take Away Shows -- essentially, artists performing acoustic in interesting situations (R.E.M. in a car, Arcade Fire in an elevator). Anyway, here is one of the nice ones; Of Montreal and Axe Riverboy doing the Zombies' 'Care Of Cell 44.'

If my middle school memory serves me, they are singing a "round."

FULL SHOW: Indie Rock Suckfest, Jamaican edition

Oh man, it's all heating up now isn't it. Fresh off of Matt's Lee Perry post, here comes the full Indie Rock Suckfest Jamaican show. I posted a segment of this earlier, it was definitely one of the best shows we ever did. I remember listening to the recording for a couple of weeks afterwards, because it works as a solid mixtape. Yes there is Bob Marley on here, yes there's Lee Perry - yes, there's even Matisyahu, because we were truly on top of our game, delivering then-unheard music to the masses, or at least to milk delivery men of the greater Chicagoland area.

You have to click here first. Then download the first file on the page.

Perry Part 2

Two days ago, I had the honor of seeing the amazing Lee 'Scratch' Perry in Berlin. The man is 72 years old and still going strong.

He spoke in magical rhymes on a number of subjects, including Jesus, sex and vegetarianism:

I love Berlin! If you don't believe me, ask Merlin. If you don't believe him, ask Whirlwind.

No more meat I eat! Take it to the supermarket and park it.

I am the Internet and the Winternet.

When the show was over, I found myself bathed in a sea of satisfaction, regretting only that it might be long before I could hear any of Mr. Perry's morsels of wisdom again. Fortunately, I soon discovered an entire website full of Perryisms.

Lee, bless you.

Lee 'Scratch' Perry - Black Panta [Blackboard Jungle Dub, 1973]

Another great find of 2008: Vivian Girls

Don Cavalli had a good run for a couple of weeks, but recently I've been unable to stop listening to this song, "Tell the World" by Vivan Girls. It comes courtesy first of philmeanslove.muxtape.com and then this (ahem) highly useful greasemonkey extension. Maybe should have given a "nerd alert" there.

Vivian Girls are playing a show next Monday, Memorial Day in San Francisco, with the legendary T.I.T.S., at the Knockout. I'll definitely be there representing for Hey! Student.

Vivian Girls - Tell the World [probably from a forthcoming album on Mauled by Tigers]

The Steve Reich Influence

Steve Reich, more than any other minimalist composer of the 20th century, had a profound impact on popular music. In particular, several prominent electronic music and rock music acts, such as the Orb, DJ Spooky, Tortoise, Spirtualized and Oval, cite Reich as a major influence. It's no secret why: minimalist music, much like the works of dance music, post-rock and, to a lesser extent, space rock, are wrapped in repetition, progressing via minimal change, requiring the listener to pay closer attention to the music at hand.

Though many of Reich's work are seminal, particularly 1976's ethereal Music for 18 Musicians, Electric Counterpoint (1987) is Reich's most sampled work in popular music. Broken down into three movements, "Fast," "Slow" and "Fast," the piece is a blend of Reich's early tape recording works and melodic beauty of works like Music for 18 Musicians. The technique of the piece is simple: a soloist records an electric guitar riff, loops it, and repeats the process. Ultimately, the piece has up to 10 guitar loops playing against the one live guitarist.

From personal listening experience, I know that the work has been sampled by three popular music artists: the Orb ("Little Fluffy Clouds"), RJD2 ("the Proxy") and Bullinuts ("Pizzle Road Rhapsody"). Here's the first movement of Electric Counterpoint, "Fast," followed by "Little Fluffy Clouds" and "the Proxy." Enjoy.

Steve Reich - Electric Counterpoint (Fast) [Different Trains/Electric Counterpoint LP, 1988]

The Orb - Little Fluffy Clouds [Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld LP, 1991]

RJD2 - The Proxy [Dead Ringer LP, 2002]

Massive Attack: A Retrospective

"I was lookin' back to see if you were lookin' back at me to see me lookin' back at you"

When Portishead recently released their first album in over ten years, Third, I began digging back into my catalog of what the music elite have conveniently dubbed “trip-hop.” Hatching from Bristol, England, in the beginning of the 1990s, the trip-hop movement was a revolutionizing fusion of two prevalent musical movements of the 1980s: hip-hop and British dance culture. While trip-hop eventually gave birth to sleepy, coffee-shop acts such as Thievery Corporation and banal DJ mixes from Costes, it also created inarguably some of the most interesting works of modern music. Though many cite Portishead as the landmark group of trip-hop, I always had a stronger appreciation and respect for the founders of the movement, Massive Attack. Their first and third albums, Blue Lines and Mezzanine, respectively, are easily two of the greatest musical works of the 1990s.

Blue Lines (1991)

A striking amalgam of hip-hop, dub, soul, house and jazz, Blue Lines is a startling work. The speak-song of Robert Del Naja (aka “3d”) and the tongue-twisting raps of Tricky strike a delicate balance with the more prevalent voicework of songstress Shara Nelson and reggae artist Horace Andy, creating a sublime work of contrast. As with all subsequent Massive Attack albums, the production is top-notch, sounding modern and timeless nearly two decades after its release. Standout tracks include the powerful opener “Safe from Harm,” percussive hip-hopper “Daydreaming,” and, of course, “Unfinished Sympathy,” one of the greatest singles from the 90s.

Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy [Blue Lines LP, 1991]

Mezzanine (1998)

With the lukewarm reception of their second album, Protection, Massive Attack set out to break the trip-hop mold with Mezzanine, a work strikingly darker in tone then their previous works. Recruiting Cocteau Twins singer Elizabeth Fraser to provide her shimmering vocals, Mezzanine absolutely shines in both production and writing. “Angel” is an opener equally as impacting as Blue Lines' “Safe from Harm,” starting with crisp drum machine beat before collapsing on itself in a wave of distorted guitars. 3D’s patented sing-song is employed perfectly on “Risingson” and “Intertia Creeps”, which are clouded in an absolute feeling of paranoia. Arguably, the album’s standout track is the stunningly beautiful “Tear Drop,” with Fraser’s angelic voice wrapped around a dusty groove and achingly beautiful harpsichord arpeggio.

Massive Attack - Tear Drop [Mezzanine LP, 1998]

Don Cavalli - "New Hollywood Babylon"

This is basically the weirdest song I've heard this year. I really like it. Mexicans... Chinese!!!!!

Don Cavalli - New Hollywood Babylon [Cryland LP, 2008]

Kid Creole

New Hey! Student blogger Matt recently posted this video to his personal blog. Could he have known that this is one of my favorite songs ever? Hey Matt, when you get back from running around Europe, post some more of this goodness over here!

Also, I dunno if this is why Matt posted this video, but there's a whole compilation of Kid Creole that just came out. Amazon link here. I first heard of Kid Creole from (erstwhile?) Hey! Student blogger Justin, who passed along a compilation called Mutant Disco, which I highly recommend. It features Kid Creole, Lizzy Mercier Descloux, and lots of other zany disco folks like Cristina.

The real new M83

The title of this post is a Fall reference. So here’s a track that’s actually off of the new M83 album. It starts off with a now-trademarked cheesy voiceover, and jumps right off into a tremendous buildup of sound. The voiceover works for me in a really strange way though, it adds this sort of forced dramatism to it. I always read about how Mogwai or (especially) Explosions in The Sky were “cinematic.” M83 is just working backwards here, they're scoring their own dialogue. This music is slower than their other stuff... when the “Highway of Endless Dreams” ends after 5 minutes, it feels like it’s just gotten warmed up.

M83 - Highway of Endless Dreams [Saturdays = Youth LP, 2008]

L.S.P. + A.W.K.

Lee 'Scratch' Perry in the studio with Andrew W.K.

I don't know how fate had it that these two fellows crossed paths, but I do know we are all lucky to be able to witness it.

dip dip dip.

An earlier incarnation of this song first appeared on Diplo's album, Florida. It featured a notable verse from Jamaican rapper Vybz Cartel, which has become fixed in my brain as one of the most romantic in music history -- namely the line:

Three things in my life are certain: Death, You, And Income Tax.

I think this will be my wedding vow.

I think this is the new M83

But I don't know, really. Any ideas?

Were you aware?

Have you ever watched the Buster Poindexter video, Hot Hot Hot? I mean, really watched it? Because if you have, you may have noticed this little introduction:

Buster: Now, not all you kids may remember this. About 15 years ago, as a matter of fact, I was in a band called the New York Dolls.

Yes, you heard that right. Buster Poindexter, the tux-wearing, pelvic-thrusting mambo cheeseball, was, in reality, no more than a character played by protopunk icon David Johansen, frontman of the New York Dolls. For me, this was probably the most insane "same person!" revelation since Norman Bates turned out to be his own mother. Although the new information left me feeling obviously chagrinned on Johansen's behalf, in truth, I was also a bit doleful to learn that no real Poindexter ever existed. That such a charismatic guy never walked the earth in earnest is no doubt a loss for all of us. The fact is, the man was a catalyst for a lot of zany, fun times, and if he were still around, he would definitely be owning the Don Ho/Jimmy Buffett party circuit.

As you may know, Mr. Johansen eventually succeeded in shaking the shadow of his alter ego, and returned to his New York Dolls roots with some fanfare. He still refers to his turn as Poindexter as "the bane of [his] life," but I think he secretly knows that he wouldn't be the showman he is without that little bit of Buster in him.

In conclusion, despite some serious ups and downs, everything seems to have turned out fine for good old Davy J. I feel the lesson we can all learn from this amazing story is, "Be yourself."

Words from the Patron Saint

LONDON (AFP) - An animal protection group is investigating claims made by British band The Falls Mark E. Smith that he killed two endangered red squirrels and condones the deliberate running over of seagulls, it said Thursday.



The revered but unpredictable frontman of Manchester band The Fall said that he would not hesitate setting about a squirrel with a pair of hedge-clippers.



"Squirrels mean nothing to me. I killed a couple last weekend actually. They were eating my garden fence," Smith told Uncut magazine, although it was unclear whether he had confused the animal with their more prevalent American grey cousins.



The singer, whose group has gone through 50 different members and produced 27 albums in their career, also said he "wouldn't have a problem" with people purposefully driving over seagulls in their cars.



"The comments made by Mark E. Smith are extremely irresponsible and he has basically admitted to committing an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act by killing two red squirrels," the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) said.



"These animals are highly protected and anyone killing, harming or taking red squirrels from the wild is liable to prosecution and can face up to six months in prison and/or a fine of up to 20,000 pounds. Likewise, running over gulls is also an offence, the group said.



"To suggest in a magazine read by youngsters that it is a good idea to harm wildlife is both extremely stupid and highly irresponsible."

Thanks, Dan

Surprise: I'm really digging the new British Sea Power

I didn’t spend too much time with the new British Sea Power album at first; I listened to it once through and wasn’t really blown away. A couple of days before their March show at Bottom of the Hill, I thought to myself, “I’ll probably go to the show and end up loving the album.” That’s pretty much what happened. Much like Cornelius, British Sea Power plays straight-ahead rock. They're probably one of the few bands left in 2008 that owe anything to Echo and the Bunnymen. Nobody else is on that really epic rock tip these days, I think.

They led off their concert with “No Lucifer.” When I first heard this song I thought it was a little too blunt to be a BSP song, but I think it's just fine now. There's no question that Do You Like Rock Music? is not as challenging as The Decline of British Sea Power. I’m sure some people will roll their eyes at this album for its aspirations of rocking on a larger scale, and it's not for nothing that the name U2 has cropped up in some reviews. But actually ‘selling out’ isn't about your music. Even with more stadium-friendly production, British Sea Power aren't pandering to their audience. That’s a sign of a band that's ready for the big time.

British Sea Power - No Lucifer [Do You Like Rock Music? LP, 2008]

British Sea Power - Canvey Island [Do You Like Rock Music? LP, 2008]

British Sea Power - Open the Door [Do You Like Rock Music? LP, 2008]

Finally, finally

The Hey! Student Muxtape drops!

Concert suggestions for April

If you live in San Francisco, here are some concerts that would be worth checking out this month:

4/2 Black Keys @ Warfield

4/5 Autechre @ Mezzanine

4/5 Maurice Fulton @ Gun Club (!)

4/24 Excepter @ Hemlock Tavern (!)

4/25 Sic Alps @ Hemlock Tavern

4/25 Booka Shade @ Mezzanine

4/26 Goldfrapp @ Warfield

4/30 Akron/Family @ Rickshaw Stop (!)

4/30 The Field @ Independent

My list is biased against The Independent, because I think it sucks. There are a number of head-to-head matchups this month, but I'd side with Maurice Fulton - Booka Shade - Akron/Family if you're looking for guidance.