Philly’s Hail Social Gets Remixed, Release Party Tonight @ Medusa
Hail Social have a sweet new EP featuring remixes and re-envisioned by some of Philly’s best discoheads including Turbostation, Squid from Plastic Little and my personal favorites Crimp Yr Hair ft. Mike Robinson, whose distorted, nu-gaze remix of “All Night” should be listened to on repeat before heading out to the club. Sunglasses are required.
The Flamin’ Hotz Remixes EP is available now on Turntable Lab and features cover art by the super-talented Thom Lessner of Art in the Age and David Lee Nagel fame. If you live in Philly try to make it out to the party at Medusa, should be a good time!
Hail Social – All Night (Crimp Yr Hair/Mike Robinson Remix)
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Hot Lava Members and Friends Form a Cover Band: The Pretend Pretenders
Hot Lava’s singer Allison Apperson is just as silly as she is talented, and apparently she and her friends, Hot Lava cohorts Herschel and Andrew, as well as Matt from the Orioles, are only slightly obsessed with the legendary Pretenders. Slightly? Sha! They recently started a cover band and charmingly dubbed themselves The Pretend Pretenders. How rad is that? First song up…”Kid” and it’s making me have visions of Ms. Hynde, albeit through kaleidoscopic eyes. Chrissie are you out there? Can you hear this???
The Pretend Pretenders will be playing their first gig on Halloween, most likely in their home town of Richmond, a treat for the locals indeed.
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Jogging For Jesus With Leslie Harris
This is ridiculous. Leslie Harris and The House Of Fire sounds like what would happen if The Trammps were locked in a vacation bible school and forced to listen to exercise tapes on repeat.
“Everybody get up! We gonna have a run!” Thanks to the UbuWeb for yet another gem.
Leslie Harris And The House Of Fire – Jogging For Jesus
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Sink Into Elvis Costello’s Blue Chair
Elvis Costello’s “Blue Chair” single off the 1986 Blood and Chocolate album is one of my favorite upbeat songs about unrequited love. Produced by T-Bone Burnett, this pub rock classic is certain to help all the rebuffed “other men” in the world feel a little less dejected.
The bridge in this song is my favorite. Try to follow Costello’s lyrics – they are all over the place.
Down in the blue chair
We can watch our troubles rise
Like smoke into the air
And drift up to the ceiling
Down in the blue chair
You can feel just like a boy or a man
And next minute you can find yourself kneeling
Down in the blue chair
They’re boasting of loving the daylights right out of her in the small hours
Down in the blue chair
You say that your love lasts forever when you know the night just hours
Ah, it kills me! Pick up Blood and Chocolate over at Amazon, and remember it is the bonus track single version of “Blue Chair” that works so well. The one on the album is so-so.
Elvis Costello – Blue Chair (Single Version)
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Brian Eno’s Another Green World – The Perfect Cure For Anxiety
Truth be told, I’m no stranger to anxiety. At some point in the day tension pops up and usually lingers longer than it should. Deep breathing and wine will only go so far until my accumulated anxiety dissolves every last bit of patience I have, resulting in some degree of meltdown / explosion.
Apart from locking myself in the closet, Brian Eno’s 1975 album Another Green World is the only guaranteed remedy that offers any sort of comfort.
The album begins with the somewhat abrasive “Sky Saw.” Distorted synthesizers and dissonant strings shave away layers of tension that have been hardened throughout the day by internalization and manners. “Sky Saw” is an immediate stress-reducing auditory exfoliation, ideal for softening the spirit.
By the time the record gets to the title track, “Another Green World,” I’m generally fine. Tracks along the way like “St. Elmo’s Fire” and the eternally poignant “I’ll Come Running” aren’t bad for morale either.
Trust me, the next time you want to rip someone’s throat out, take a deep breath and listen to this album. If you don’t own it go to Amazon, buy it, and immediately import it onto your mp3 player. This is important! It’s for your health!!
Brian Eno – Another Green World
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Holy Sh*tballs! New Music From Wire!!
Wire is probably my favorite band of all time (or at least one of them) and hearing new music from them is always a cause for celebration, especially when it sounds as good as the sonically-charged “One of Us.”
Of course this tune is nowhere near as jaw-droppingly awesome as the songs on their seminal 70’s post-punk albums like Pink Flag, Chairs Missing, or even 154, but it is certainly a testament to a the longevity of the band and the insanely prolific and talented songwriting team of Colin Newman and Graham Lewis. Nice work gents!
Their upcoming new album Object 47 (which derives it’s name from being the 47th item in the band’s discography) has a tentative release date of July 8th and will be available via Post Everything.
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Yes! Sigur Ros Changes Up Their Sound For the Better on New Single "Gobbledigook"
It’s about time! I was getting really sick of the Sigur Ros status quo!
On the band’s new single “Gobbledigook” (far from it) from their forthcoming (one song is in English!) album Með Suð I Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust (translation: With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly), they climb out of the slowcore/shoegaze/orchestral muck, which they perfected early on but wallowed in for quite sometime. It’s a long-awaited goodbye to those other-worldly epics, and a friendly hello to some other-worldly folk.
Interestingly enough, I get that same sense of wonder when I listen to this song as I did with 1999’s Agaetis Byrjun, even though they are light years apart in terms of style. Mashing Animal Collective-esque looped harmonies and drum stomps with early Dungen psychedelia, not to mention the band’s gift for beautiful melodies, it all culminates into a joyful 3 minute pop tune. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but it’s certainly a refreshing change and it sounds awesome! Also, they made a video for the song and it has naked chicks in it, so there’s that.
Með Suð I Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust is due out June 24th. Get more info, including tracklisting and pre-ordering details on their site. Let’s hope all the songs are as good as this one.
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"Get F*cked!" Say Millie Jackson and Glen Branca
The other day WFMU posted a video from 1984 of Millie Jackson performing her “Phuck You Symphony.” She wrote this now infamous song in 1979, just around the same time Glen Branca penned his subjectively similar “Fuck Yourself.” I don’t know what was happening in the late 70s but soul musicians and avante garde punk rockers alike seemed to be pissed off about something.
The method behind delivering their respective messages was a little different but their idea was the same…
Glen was a little more aggressive with his sentiment. Far from adopting the humor of Miss Jackson… This song makes for the ideal buzzkill should you ever find the need.
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Todd Rundgren’s Philly-styled Phreak Pholk
Todd Rundgren’s 1972 Something / Anything album marked him as a heavy hitter in the music world. Not only did he play just about every instrument on the record; he wrote, recorded, and produced it all as well. AND when he played live, he rocked outfits that Devendra Banhart could only dream of pulling off.
Dig this pheasant themed live performance of the song that everyone knows from this record, “Hello It’s Me.”
Something / Anything is yet another required record you should own. Head to your local music store and pick it up on vinyl (which it was originally intended to be heard.) Don’t have a turntable? Amazon can help! Just don’t forget to listen to this record through headphones – there are all kinds of hidden treasures you won’t hear with speakers alone.
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Hello Sweden, Meet Florida: Black Kids Remix Lykke Li’s "I’m Good. I’m Gone"
One thing that Florida’s Black Kids and Sweden’s Lykke Li have in common is that the huge buzz surrounding them has been generated solely online. It’s pretty crazy, considering the fact taht neither LL nor the Kids have officially released an album in The States. However, this is nothing new within the A.D.D. blogosphere and, sadly, most of these bands die an early death. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that both of these artists can break that stereotype.
Collaboration is always a good way to keep things fresh and interesting, so it’s cool to see Lykke Li and Black Kids combining their efforts, like on The Black Kids’ remix of LL’s should-be-a-hit single “I’m Good. I’m Gone.” The Kids step up the tempo and give the tune a cool injection of disco funk. Perhaps, one day, LL will return the favor.
This remix as well as ones from Metronomy and Fred Falke can be found on Lykke Li’s new EP I’m Good. I’m Gone, available June 2nd on LL Recordings.
Lykke Li _ I’m Good. I’m Gone (Black Kids Remix)
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VISUAL NOTES: An Elegy for The Paper Record
The paper Flexi-Record enjoyed a short, albeit popular life before I was even born. Oh Flexi-Record, how I would have loved to witness the advent of your existence! I would have marveled at your grooves, pressed into hot acetate film by original Heidelberg printing presses in New York City print shops. You were cleverly adhered to a cardboard backing. How the children enjoyed your scratchy recordings of well-loved cartoon songs!
Mr. G & His G-etts – Occupied Riga
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Mr. G & His G-etts – Love Is The Tool
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Times New Viking Tell Their ‘Song-Stories’
Times New Viking, one of the more interesting bands around, visited Daytrotter last week and recorded a live session, while giving context and meaning behind some of their songs.
My favorite story and song of the bunch was “The Apartment.” As drummer Adam Elliott so eloquently puts it, “I always try to dedicate this song to anyone that has ever been paranoid. The title refers to the apartment that I lived in with Matt Horseshit during the recording and mixing of Rip It Off. It was fucking weird and their were tons of stray cats and drugs around. ‘Your friends my friend will just talk about it.’ I was convinced everyone had it out for us. Luckily, I was just high.” Ha! Awesome band, great session.
Times New Viking are currently touring Europe and their US tour begins June 4th (the Philly show is going to be fuckin’ rad). Check out their MySpace for more info and get yourself a copy of their excellent, noise-filled new album Rip it Off over at Matador.
Times New Viking – The Apartment (Daytrotter Session)
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