Chrome - Slip it to The Andoid and TV as Eyes

I have been unpacking our CDs and tapes and came acoss my copy of Chrome's Half Machine Lip Moves. I had forgotten just how awesome these guys were. I mean this album was released in 1979. So many industrial/metal bands are influenced by these guys and don't even know who they are. I had a chance to see Helios Creed play live about 12 years ago. He looked like a real life Ignatius J. Reilly who had been on a serious bender for decades. The amazing thing was that he could still pull these songs off live, by himself (I think his wife, who looked like Morticia Addams, played bass) using analog samples.

Who knows, maybe I am the only one who is going to like this.

Chrome - Slip it to The Andoid and TV as Eyes

Ratatat - Lex

I am in a rut with my comments.

Ratatat - Lex

You can also check out Obscure Sound and stream a few other songs.

I am Robot and Proud - Learn from Mistakes

More crazy Canadians. I know nothing about them but they have plenty of other downloads on their site if you like this.

I am Robot and Proud - Learn from Mistakes

Roberta Flack - Compared to What

Big thanks to H Low and all his hard work. As much as I want to delete the Weird Al post, I will leave it, but only because he actually thought about what to say concerning each song much more than I ever have.

Make it real.

Roberta Flack - Compared to What

Dandy Livingstone - Rudy a Message to You

So, some guy asked for some "Jamican (sp) Soul" and Moistworks happened to deliver something in that vein.

After the stunt he pulled this weekend, he should take the lyrics to heart.

Dandy Livingstone - RUDY A MESSAGE TO YOU

Don't Download This Song - "Weird Al" Yankovic

Last post. Yes, I can hear the cheering.

Don't Download This Song - "Weird Al" Yankovic

(Page includes video and mp3)

I like the idea that the lifespan of a novelty album artist extends this far. This should be encouraging news to Andy Milonakis and Bryan Yasko.

Well thanks for reading my guest run. I hereby apologize to each and every reader. Yes, all five of you. All huge fans of Weird Al, too.

Bye!

Breaking News

Aaaieeeee!!!

iPodDisk

Something for MacOS iPod users:

iPodDisk

It works! I was going to extract a couple things off my iPod to post tonight but left my iPod transfer cord thing at the office.

They Took A Vote And Said No - Sunset Rubdown

A little elaboration on Spencer Krug's Sunset Rubdown, mentioned in previous post:

They Took A Vote And Said No - Sunset Rubdown

From the album, "Shut Up I Am Dreaming". Sounds not unlike his other band, Wolf Parade, doesn't it?

The album's sound is not as tightly focused as Wolf Parade's "Apologies to the Queen Mary" - off the top of my head there are maybe three tracks that could have been omitted - but it's worth a listen for Montreal completists.

All Fires - Swan Lake

Dan Bejar (Destroyer),

Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown)

and Carey Mercer (Frog Eyes)

join forces to form the Axis of Swan Lake:

All Fires - Swan Lake

From "Beast Moans", releasing November 21.

Un-Deux - Serena Maneesh

More from the land of Vikings and mighty-smashers-of-kitchen-appliances:

Un-Deux - Serena Maneesh

From the self-titled album.

Ba Ba Ba

Everything sounds a bit more appealing with a little Ba Ba Ba:

The ghost Mary and her friends - Pet Politics

Rent a Wreck - Suburban Kids With Biblical Names

(My roommate hates "Rent a Wreck")

I think there's a few Apples in Stereo songs that work the Ba Ba Ba, but specific song titles escape me at the moment.

Bonus! the Rent a Wreck video.

I really, really like this video, but you know that Beavis and Butthead would have had a field day with these dorks, huh-huh, huh-huh.

George Romero - Sprites

"Attention all shoppers, attention all shoppers": my nomination for Catchiest Song About Zombies 2006.

George Romero - Sprites

From upcoming album "Modern Gameplay", releasing in September.

You have to love a song that rhymes "George Romero" with "Dario Argento". It's just one of those rules.

Tighten Up - Yo La Tengo

Ha ha, I lied. Here's an animation of Yo La Tengo's "Tighten Up".

Ok, I'm posting something new and non-YLT tomorrow: a solemn promise.

Teenager in Love & Everyday - Yo La Tengo

Hey hey another Yo La Tengo post. YLT circa 1988.

I found this the other night when I was trying to find information about Emily Hubley's short film "Enough" which was shown as a preview at IFC Center (before Wordplay).

Ok, I feel like I've satisfied my quota for Yo La Tengo posts for a while ... that's all, ok? Not that I hear anybody complaining ...

Speeding Motorcycle - Daniel Johnston + Yo La Tengo

More Yo La Tengo (I guess I'll just have to get this out of my system for the week), this one with howling folk genius Daniel Johnston.

The kids in the medical group - the art girls and the publisher who I used to talk about crime fiction with - used to go nuts for this song:

Speeding Motorcycle - Daniel Johnston + Yo La Tengo

They no longer work here.

(Part 2 in a continuing series which I will call, "No Longer Works Here". Part 1 here)

A great account of this recording can be read on the WFMU blog.

And, as mentioned earlier, don't miss the Daniel Johnston documentary.

Beanbag Chair - Yo La Tengo

If it's Tuesday, then Yo La Tengo is the greatest band of all time.

From their upcoming album, "I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass":

Beanbag Chair - Yo La Tengo

Releasing September 12.

Bounce That - Girl Talk (Gregg Gillis)

This stuff really has to be heard to be believed. Hurry up and get these before some RIAA killjoy forces it off:

Bounce That - Girl Talk

Hold Up - Girl Talk

Spoiler content (and an incomplete warning) below:

Wikipedia entry for Night Ripper

If you like to blast music at the office, you should be aware that the "Laffy Taffy" song breaks into the middle of one of those tracks ... but which one???

Further, (spoiler!!) I have to say, the Steve Winwood cut on Bounce That made me laugh for the first few seconds and then I was stunned by how perfect and bizarrely exhilarating it sounded in this context.

I do hope that this work adds leverage to the side of fair use in the intellectual property wars. Well, this should be interesting.

Heartbeats - The Knife

The song recently covered by José Gonzales. WOW.

(The '70s skate footage is also nice here)

Many Lives -> 49 MP - Final Fantasy

First, I like the idea that a lot of obsessed videogaming fanboys will do a search on the term "Final Fantasy" and turn up results for the musician-also-known-as-Owen-Pallet: Final Fantasy.

Many Lives -> 49 MP - Final Fantasy (Owen Pallet)

Second, a fun and true amazon.com story I've told a couple times recently.

I had my first shipping mishap with amazon.com. My order of 3 cds was lost in the mail but was tracking as "delivered". So I called the amazon.com number and got an operator with a heavy Indian accent: "... and the second CD you ordered, Final Fantasy, 'He Poos Clouds,' is that correct sir?"

Ha ha ha ha ha!!!! He Poos Clouds!! Thank you Owen Pallet, great album title.

Finally, a bonus! Found that link, dude. Final Fantasy covers Joanna Newsom's "Peach Plum Pear":

Peach, Plum, Pear - Final Fantasy

Enjoy, kupo!

Shirtiest Mixtape Boombox Blast

Something extra for the weekend. I may not be able to post tomorrow, as I'm trapped in Jersey mowin' the folks lawn and other fun suburban activities.

Look, it made me laugh, ok?

(Incidentally, Allen: what's the blog's policy on strong language?)

Let's Go Home Soon - Gelatine

I nearly blogged something else today, but this suits my mood better at the moment. Yes, working too late too often lately ...

Anyway, some years ago Billinger and I tagged along with his brother-in-law John to see a bunch of Japanese bands play at the Knitting Factory. Among the bands performing was the brilliant "Gelatine":

Let's Go Home Soon - Gelatine

It was an all-out manic assault of music and style. The guitarists were styled out somewhere in between psychedelic 70s (one of them had a way-oversized clown afro) and GWAR. The keyboardist "Aya" (I can't believe I remember this) was a bouncy, sugar-rush blur, and the lead singer was a howling punk tornado. The final bars of "Let's Go Home Soon" is as urgent and soul-wrenching as the pleading sounds of R&B ecstasy circa '72.

Enjoy. LET'S GO HOME SOON

Wrong Time Capsule - Deerhoof

My cubicle neighbor, let's call her ... "Lorraine" (that sounds phony enough), used to work with her headphones on most of the day. Meanwhile, I play whatever I feel like into the open office soundscape.

We were shooting the breeze a few months ago and I was playing Deerhoof's "The Runners Four" again. She told me frankly, but not in a mean-spirited way, that it sounded like torture.

Wrong Time Capsule - Deerhoof

She doesn't work here any more.

----

(It might be fun to allow you to draw the wrong conclusion by ending the post with that sentence, but really, her departure had nothing to do with music and plenty to do with a high-paying position elsewhere. I miss you "Lorraine"! You are hopefully working in an environment free from squeaky vocals and heavy guitars)

The Mistress Witch From McClure ( Or, The Mind That Knows Itself ) - Sufjan Stevens

Obviously: Sufjan Stevens' recently released album of outtakes and extras, "The Avalanche", will not be as completely satisfying as the final cut that was "Come On Feel the Illinoise". But it does have a surprising number of musical gems that make it an essential purchase for fans of Sufjan and Illinois.

Here's a song for you, really wonderful (even if I don't know precisely what he's singing about ... it's strikes me as impressionistic the way "Casimir Pulaski Day" was in "Illinoise"):

The Mistress Witch from McClure (or, The Mind That Knows Itself)

(I do like the alternate title better ... "The Mind That Knows Itself". Yeah, that's deep man)

You're Gonna Miss Me - 13th Floor Elevators (Roky Erickson)

I saw "You're Gonna Miss Me" (2006) at the Walter Reade last week. It's a documentary about rock prodigy Roky Erickson, who is widely credited as a founding father of psychedelic rock.

The comparison to "The Devil and Daniel Johnston" (2005) (I love that bobbing sidebar) is unavoidable: Austin rockers, mental sickness, asylums, the religious upbringing, etc. But in many ways the Roky Erickson story is weirder, sadder, and more disturbing in its ambiguity, especially in the way the movie ends.

"The Devil and Daniel Johnston" is an easier movie to recommend, and easily more fun to watch - but "You're Gonna Miss Me" is a very good companion piece, and is arguably a stronger documentary because it eschews the "fun" stylistic flourishes that are used in "Johnston": extra animations, frost-patterning overlaid on old family footage, etc.

Well, go watch them both if you get the opportunity. It's educational. And now, here is a song for you:

You're Gonna Miss Me - 13th Floor Elevators

Let me know if that link is bad

Hurra Torpedo - Total Eclipse of the Heart

(Testing, testing)

Just in case I'm not the last person to have seen this (video)

Hurra Torpedo - Total Eclipse of the Heart

... famously sung by Bonnie Tyler in the 80s, repurposed by Norwegian "Hurra Torpedo" into what boingboing aptly describes as "a mournful, appliance-smashing dirge".

Ha ha, sorry Allen!

Stevie Wonder - We Can Work It Out

This song could be dissected in so many ways. No matter how you slice it, its all good.

Stevie Wonder - We Can Work It Out

In other news, we hope to have a guest DJ soon so be on the lookout.

The Burnside Project - And So It Goes

OK, who wants more of this stuff? Does someone want to DJ for a while?

The Burnside Project - And So It Goes.mp3

Tree Wave - Sleep

More of these two from Austin. Apparently everything is made with re-programmed old Commodore and Atari game consoles and dot-martix printers. Killin' me!

Tree Wave - Sleep

Pavement - Shoot the Singer

I was rocking Sebadoh III the other day. So So Good. Here is something from the same time. It was a new day when this stuff hit the air.

Pavement - Shoot the Singer