20080630

Brussels scouts


I'm back and sitting on some lovely shit.

A taste:

The Chills - "Satin Doll"



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20080619

Summer 2004 (Lemonheads)


!

Friends, the time has finally come for me to offer you something really special. The story goes like this...

Back in February, within the first couple of weeks my wonderful (and continuing) work experience, the boss put on a great record that I knew I had to have. Not only would its sound have a nice little influence on my taste and my own music for the months to come, but I envisioned listening to these tunes in my favorite environment, Brussels in the summertime. Between not being able to find this shit ANYWHERE, not in record shops or the on the internet, I had the chance to put this album off and not wear it out up until now. That's because I finally got my act together and forced a new friend to help me manage my first vinyl rip.

BUT, as this is fucking lame shit, of course the vinyl rip was a semi-tone below normal pitch, thwarting my efforts to provide you with an exclusive musical offering. Well, FUCK IT. I just found a CD copy of the same goddamn record here with additional tracks! I strongly suggest checking out the rest of the great New Zealand albums that this person has to offer, but for now, I am gladly hosting this incredible record on my on dime right here.

juv
The cover of the record that I would've presented before you had I ripped her right

In my opinion, every track on this album sounds like a small victory. Simply triumphant.

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20080611

You down with D.O.B.?


It's my birthday today and everything is alright. Nothing spectacular, but just chill. The NYC heat laid off a bit today, which was a treat.

I really have been listening to tons of great music and would love to share it all. Blog ethics, strange internet connections, indecision, and awkward planetary alignments are keeping me from unloading a shitload of this material, including older mixes, new mixes, new original material, and crazy good albums that I've come across. However, a new little widget is giving me the opportunity to keep things interesting in the interim, and thankfully so.

So yeah, today I offer you a tune from the fabulous Poets. Pete wised me up to these guys after hearing them on one of the many Pebbles compilations; further exploration led me to The Rising Storm's entry on the group, which piqued my interest.

The Poets were an incredible Scottish 60's band who, under the management of Andrew Loog Oldham, were amongst greats like the Beatles and the Stones. And not just by way of their manager's caliber/clients, but in songwriting as well, IMHO. Definitely more beat-oriented and unconventional, The Poets' tunes were definitely little explorations of instrumentation and the studio as well, but built upon some pretty solid vocals and melodies. I suppose it sounds more dated than the Beatles' shit, but arguably way more exciting considering the context and comparisons!

The following tune isn't one of their more adventurous or exotic numbers, but just seems super sweet and kind of describes my pending return back home. I just wanted to introduce this fine group to you so that when we're hanging around, sparking and drinking, you can say "Hey, put on some of that Poets shit you were blogging about, you twitty twat". "Ok, mom".

"I'll Come Home":



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20080508

No Ego: Sounds Like Love


Whoa,

Been a while. Not too cool, but this is Fucking Lame Shit. I've kind of been sitting on this mix for a while and it finally started getting uncomfortable. First things first - I love mixes. Ever since I heard the last 40 mins of DJ Shadow's BBC Radio 1 essential mix, which comprised of near untraceable, practically nameless incredible psych with it's eery, religious overtones not to mention the flawless transitions therein, I was in it for good.

The notions of band names, personas, and time periods just seem to vanish in a mix, which was a new and refreshing concept to me when I first got turned onto the whole idea - the songs that once had a context within all of the above mentioned traits of a musical group were place on their own in an entirely new context, where the song had to speak for itself. When it's placed in between the right tunes, a song can take on a new appeal, and if it's done right, the listening experience can be spine-tingling. Another one of the merits of a good mix is that you might not just discover a new favorite band, but dozens of them. Ok, perhaps the song that made it onto the mix was the best that a certain group had to offer, but it always got me doing a fair amount of google detective work.

The people at online stations like Dublab, Viva Radio, and at blogs like Lovefingers all value and offer great mixes, the kind that have kept me looking and listening for more. Some of your favorite musicians in this day and age might take it upon themselves to put mixes out there, and recently sites like muxtape.com have allowed pretty much anyone with an internet connection to host their mixes freely on the 'net. If you dig electro parties or electronic music in general, it is very likely that you appreciate a good mix; great DJs can keep a party going for hours based on their mixing strengths, and it always gets the crowd off to hear one of their favorite jams creeping up on them at the end of a groovy beat, only to lead into the song that they've been waiting to hear all night.

Enough obvious ramble though, I'd hate to place too much emphasis on the mixer, although I tend to idolize them myself - I suppose it just makes me happy to hear that some folks have a startlingly unique ear for music. Yet tons of people, musicians or not, make mixes, for friends or lovers, to capture some moment in time. What I'm putting out here for you is a sort of a collection of songs that could capture this moment in time for me, but I am really trying to make something that both you and I can listen to and associate with good days to come. I call this series No Ego because I'm just trying to cut the bullshit. I believe that these are good songs, not exactly obscure, but rather a little less commonplace. Of course I hope that these songs sound new and interesting to you, but also easy to tune into and eventually, get lost in.

This mix focuses on love. I could've gathered tons of love songs, or just picked a bunch of songs that concern love and lovers. Wait, no I couldn't have, because there are a million fucking songs about love, it's practically never ending. Alright then, instead I just chose some tunes that sounded like love, hence the title. Whether in the lyrics or the music itself, these songs just sound like love to me, simply put. Either totally free, uppity, or miserable, these things all come with love in the sense that they are that much more expressive than your average rocky, droney, or dancey song. Don't get me wrong though, background music is something I can appreciate too.

Well, I already have a couple more stewing around in my head, but I'm not about to haphazardly rush them along their respective thematic guidelines, so be patient. The time has come for myself and all of you to be legit and rad, so I'll stop myself here because I'm not about to demystify anything more than I already have.

...although if you want a tracklisting, just ask.

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No Ego 1: Sounds Like Love