The Walrus is a Philadelphia-based music blog written by Michael. You may send me stuff through the send a tip page or email me. All mp3s should be sent as links. NO ATTACHMENTS, PLEASE. If I like your music, chances are I will write about it.
DISCLAIMER
mp3s on this site are for promotional purposes only. If you wish to have an mp3 removed please contact me.
“Version” from new UK band Patten is a looped-out, sexed-up electronic trance that builds momentum like the best LCD Soundsytem tracks, except with more fucked up sounding vocals. Dark and deadpan just how you like it.
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Even if you did have the balls, you would probably get sued. This was not the case for ’80s Kiwi band The Stones who named themselves after the world’s oldest living rock band as a joke. Although they didn’t make much impact at the time, (probably why no one made a stink about the name) they did influence future indie bands.
“Gunner Ho!” from their lone 1982 EP Another Disc Another Dollar is a Flying Nun stand-out, in line with their contemporaries (The Clean, The Bats), but with a bit more urgency. It’s unfortunate that they didn’t make more records. The Rolling Stones, however, are in studio recording their 56,353,739th album.
(via Kiwi Tapes)
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Oi Va Voi’s new video for the single “Everytime†was directed by Katarzyna Kijek & Przemyslaw Adamski using a paper shredding machine. Every third frame of the footage was printed, shredded and shot three times blended with adjacent frames by different stripes configuration. Beautiful!
The song can be found on the band’s new album Travelling the Face of the Globe available 5/11 from Amazon UK.
I recently tracked down the B-side “The Witch”, a haunting and surprisingly fresh sounding tune that could be considered the blueprint for new lo-fi girl bands like Vivian Girls.
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A great literary mind passed away over the weekend. The twisted, dystopian writings of JG Ballard influenced countless bands throughout the history of post-punk/new-wave/electro music. His tone and even references to his work can be heard in the music of Joy Division, Gary Numan, Cabaret Voltaire, Chrome, Empire of the Sun and one of my favorite electronic songs of all time, The Normal’s “Warm Leatherette”.
The chilling song was written and recorded by Mute Records founder Daniel Miller in 1978 as The Normal (it was his one and only 7″ b/w “TVOD”–a great song as well) and is often cited as the earliest example of minimal electro. The lyrics, spoken in haunting dead-pan by Miller, reference JG Ballard’s disturbing 1973 novel Crash. This is the description that Wikipedia offers:
“The book explores themes such as the transformation of human psychology by modern technology, and consumer culture’s fascination with celebrities and technological commodities. The human characters in the novel are cold and passionless, unable to become sexually excited unless some kind of technology is involved (typically architecture and cars). The gruesome damage inflicted on car-crash victims is not seen as shocking, but as the liberation of new sexual possibilities, that have yet to be explored, such as in one scene where a man and a woman have sex in a car that was involved in an accident, but rather than have vaginal sex, he penetrates a wound on her thigh that she received in a crash.”
(The book was adapted into into a film in 1996 which was directed by David Cronenberg and starred James Spader)
Read more about the legacy of JG Ballard on The Guardian.
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I wasn’t a fan of The Horrors previously, but I’m definitely liking their new direction, which trades in the manic spazz-punk of earlier songs like “Sheena is a Parasite”, in favor of a more spaced-out, hypnotic sound. The video for the opus “Sea Within a Sea” says goodbye to Chris Cunningham and hello to Andy Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable:
Here’s a cool little song from unsigned Neon Indian that I discovered over at GvsB recently. Warped synths and serene vocals come together over naive dance beats in a catchy tune, perfect for getting stoned to.
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Philly’s Drink Up Buttercup are slowly making a name for themselves and for good reason. The foursome’s fun 60’s psychedelic sing-a-longs are hard to get out of your head even after just a couple of listens. “Sosey and Dosey” is no exception.
Get the “Farewell Captain” b/w “Sosey And Dosey” 7″ (includes free download) now from Kanine Records.
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What if Kraftwerk reformed as a group of middle-aged IT dads from the early ’90s with a propensity for MIDI files, snazzy polo shirts and writing music about the things that matter most? Impossible you say? Think again:
Great job!
Watch more of Tim and Eric’s genius on Adult Swim.
UK’s Stegosaurus Trap, who emailed me the other day with a link to his free album Miniature Maze, makes music for one very good reason–the sheer fun of it. Indeed it is fun…and brilliant. This perfect collection of hazy vignettes with colorful, lo-fi production and pleasantly folked-out arrangements will suit you well on lazy days, whether rain or shine.
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Jason Queve’s Papercuts has a sound not unlike that of being caught in a dream-state, and the Ruby Suns‘ music is a psych excursion through tropical pastures. When they combine forces, this is the result.
The original version of the tune will be available on You Can Have What You Want, out 4/14 via Gnomonsong.
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