Chemical Chords
I can’t wait for August. Specifically, I can’t wait for Stereolab’s new album to come out. Here is the first single, which I already love just for the backbeat.
Stereolab - “Three Women”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
In a recent interview (the link escapes me), lead-singer Laeticia Sadier mentions a real lack of French fans for Stereolab, and I wonder if these lyrics, fully developed in French, is part of an effort to pull a Continental audience. We shall see. You can visit the Stereolab site here.
Filed under Uncategorized | Comments (4)Bollywood Steel Guitar
Title: Bollywod steel Guitar
Label: Sublime Frequencies
Another funny compilation. I feel at this point I have to comment upon this trend of mine to buy novelty compilations without listening to or knowing any of the artists beforehand. Retro-novelty is driving me, and perhaps the music consumer scene as a whole, to seek something new in something old, something undiscovered in a sea of familiar music-turned-jingles. Until I work my words around this, perhaps only personal, problem, let’s focus on the music.
I love surf rock a lot. My favorite album during my senior year of high school was a scratched surf rock compilation I pulled from a Goodwill thrift box. Though that CD is somewhere in storage hell in Georgia right now, it is still dear to my heart. And now I have something to tug at those same heart strings. Bollywood Steel Guitar is an interesting collection of instrumental steel guitar songs from 1962-1986. Though track to track this album can seem a little monotonous, in little chunks it is charming and energetic background music. Perfect for the quirky and fun spot on your road-trip mixes.
Kazi Aniruddha - “Aao Twist Karen”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
If I were more talented I would record vocal tracks over this. It’s summer, y’all. Vamos a la playa.
Gautam Dasgupta - “Duniya MAne Bura To Goli Maro”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
This track is for the long, sunburnt drive home. Windows down, sand in your toes, an off-brand synth serenading the sunset. Visit the label site here. Or buy the album.
Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (0)From the Vault: Bunky
It’s been a long day, and I’m tired. I tried to listen to some new music, but it wasn’t feeling right. Luckily this band popped up on shuffle.
Artist: Bunky
Album: Born to Be a Motorcycle
Label: Asthmatic Kitty
Bunky is fun and childlike, bouncy and fresh, and they have a great blasting horn section. Definitely worth a listen if you didn’t catch this album a few years ago.
Bunky - “Baba”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
This song is loud and brash in a cute way with lots of competing horns and cymbals.
Bunky - “Yes/No”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
More horns, simple sexy lyrics, and again that bouncing quality that gets my feet moving. It doesn’t look like they have anything coming out very soon, but you should check out their label site for more info and similar artists. And buy the album if you like it.
Speaking of getting my feet moving, I bought a pair of tap shoes today. AGH! How impulsive of me. What have I done?! I’m pretty pumped to learn how to tap, though; I’ve been watching Gregory Hines, Eleanor Powell, and Liza Minelli videos online. I just have to find a good studio in the city. Ah dreams.
Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (1)Professor Steinski
Title: What Does It All Mean?
Artist: Steinski
Label: Illegal Art
Funkier than Zappa, smarter than The Avalanches, and happier than Negativland: Steinski’s works are listenable, infectious, and energetic beat collages that make you sway and stomp. This album collects both the early collaborations between Steve Stein and studio engineer Douglas Di Franco—the famous lessons series that buzzed from bootleg tapes to bootleg tapes after their radio releases—and also Steinski’s subsequent mashups and remixes. Quite good. For more info, you can visit the label site, or you can read Steinski’s own blog. And of course, you can buy the album.
Double Dee and Steinski – “Lesson 3 (History of Hip Hop)”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
This third installment of Steinski and Di Franco’s lessons trilogy is crazy good. A maelstrom of recognizable snippets and melodies, bucking beats melting into one another, and a hopping energy that unifies the entire track. This song is satisfying at each second.
Steinski (Rough Mix) – “Swingset (10 Beautiful Girls Mix)”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
I think when I heard the tap dancer beat ¾ through the song I got hooked. This is just one small section of Steinski’s magnificent mashup for Solid Steel/BBC London. Again, each moment satisfies.
Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (0)Disco Italia
Title: Disco Italia
Essential Italo Disco Classics
1977–1985
Label: Strut Records
Why do I buy compilations? Too often the main thrust of a compilation is novelty, and I forget, I forget, and I forget again how disappointing novelty can be. A unique concept sparks my interest, dynamic packaging assures me of its quality, and a mild review tips the balance. At home the excitement falls away: the best track comes first, the subsequent songs trace around similar themes, and I never listen to it again. Not even the twenty-page booklet revives the excitement felt while holding the unsealed disc. What a waste! So why?
I buy compilations because sometimes a really dynamic, well made, and fun album comes out that renews my interest in reissues and compilations. Disco Italia is one of them. Unfortunately, this means I will now continue to buy other, disappointing retro-novelty discs. Luckily, I will now have something good to listen to after their spark has faded.
Disco Italia collects some of the best Italian-produced dance songs from the late 70s through the early 80s. And it is the general production that joins the songs together: energetic and often dark melodies with great synth sounds and layered percussion. Otherwise the songs run the gamut. Here are two songs, which may not be the best cuts from the album (what a tease) but nonetheless illustrate the variety contained therein.
Freddy The Flying Dutchman & The Sistina Band - “Wojtyla Disco Dance”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
“Wojtyla Disco Dance” matches the darker quality of the first half of the album. The rough bass, low drums, and hypnotic synth roll in the background while the tinny guitars, soaring saxophone, and chanting vocals rise up.
Rainbow Team - “Dreaming”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
“Dreaming” is quite different. Upbeat across frequencies, the song is more structured, straightforward, and happy. I like both, and I’m glad they can exist on the same album.
To hear more samples, check out the album’s mini-site.
And of course, if you like it, buy it.
Chris Joss - Teraphonic Overdubs
John David has been bugging me to post more regularly, so I have decided to write more reviews and reports. So, here is to new attempts at keeping this blog running.
Today I will be reviewing a new album.
Title: Teraphonic Overdubs
Artist: Chris Joss
Release Date: Sept. 2007
Label: ELS
Rating: 6.5 of 10
Author info (from allmusic.com):
“Frenchman/producer/multi-instrumentalist Chris Joss constructs funky downtempo music that’s heavily influenced by the film music of Lalo Schifrin, John Barry, and Quincy Jones. Joss made his debut in 1996 with The Man With a Suitcase. Dr. Rhythm appeared in 2002 and was followed two years later by the soulful You’ve Been Spiked. That same year, You’ve Been Spiked was picked-up for an American re-release by the ESL label, home of the like-minded Thievery Corporation.”
Review:
Fabulous percussion and unique melodies (a bouncing mix of guitars and loops, light “la-la-la” vocals, and an array of world instruments) make this a wonderful album to hear in the store and on the stereo the first couple of times. Lack of strong, concise song structure makes this a less satisfying listen afterward (but maybe that is my downfall when it comes to instrumental music). In general it reminds me of a really great instrumental remix of Broadcast and Blaxploitation artists. Every song is good, but none hits the mark completely. Some songs come close: “I Want Freedom,” “Count the Daisies,” “Summer Springs,” and “Luna Rides Back.” All good, but I wouldn’t play them at my wedding or anything.
Blonde Redhead & I’m from Barcelona
In one of my classes I read selections from Dorothy Wordsworth’s Grasmere Journals. I remember being both bored and amazed by her lifestyle: gardening, letter writing, poem transcribing, letter writing, walking, eating, letter writing. That’s about it. What a strange daily life. There was such a sturdy difference between that world and mine, I thought.
Today I feel differently. I have no job. It is raining. The cable is broken. Today I woke up, put on a clean shirt, read, stared off, checked my email, read, made a phone call, read, stared off, checked my email, and now I’m blogging. I think I might take a walk later, perhaps after reading, staring off, and checking my email. It isn’t even noon yet, and I am not even Dorothy Wordsworth. I don’t have a garden. That may be the problem.
Or perhaps this morning just seems slow because yesterday was so fun. I went to a free concert day in Brooklyn. During the summer they hold these “beach party” festivals in a gigantic abandoned pool.
I got there very early (2PM) and waited in a very long line for a very long time. Inside the promoters had set up a waterslide, a water volleyball net, and a dodgeball court. Stands along the perimeter sold overpriced hotdogs, hamburgers, beer, and water. The opening band really didn’t catch my eye or my ear, but the second act I’m from Barcelona was really fun. It reminded me of the fun Athens collective bands I am now missing. They even threw beach balls into the audience:
When I figured out how to use zoom, I could actually get a shot of the band. Here is my favorite out of the group:
I was lucky enough to run into some CPC kids there and finally had some company among the huge crowd. After a long break, Blonde Redhead finally came on stage and really gave a good show. I haven’t bought the new album yet, but I think it will be my next CD purchase. This was a good idea to go. I had been trapped in my apartment living my Dorothy Wordsworth life for two days before Sunday, and I was ready to get out. 
One final note:
I’m sure everyone is relieved to hear that the hipster clap is still well and alive in Brooklyn, along with skull-fitting, angular haircuts and $100 shirts that look like they came out of the dumpster. Great people watching, though. All the cool kids from Brooklyn and Manhattan seemed to be there, and as the beginning snare and whistle of Peter, Bjorn, and John’s “Young Folks” spread from the concert PAs, I could hear faint, fanboy screams reverberate across the peeling pool floor: