Whoever said that nothing in life is free was a damn liar. Take into account, for instance, that the Black Keys just made a Free Live EP available from their MySpace page. If that wasn't evidence enough to convince you that "nothing is free" is merely a fable, also consider that if you head over to CamelSmokes.com and fill out their little registration form, you can print out a FREE TICKET for their show at La Zona Rosa on Saturday June the 16th.

Do it quickly, the word is out.

Below is one of the four live tracks you can covet from the MySpace.

• The Black Keys - "Girl Is On My Mind"

I know very little about the band Pink Mountaintops. I know that they just finished a big tour with the Cold War Kids, and I know that the band has put out a few releases on the constantly impressive Jagjaguwar record label. Jag has recently brought us Okkervil River, Sunset Rubdown, and The Besnard Lakes, among others.

Pink Mountaintops play music that is something along the lines of hippie-rock-blues, and their latest release Axis of Evol "pulses like a black-light lava lamp inside a stoner's soot-covered conversion van." Check out two nice cuts from the new release, they sound a bit like what you would find at the intersection of VietNam and Kings of Leon.

• Pink Mountaintops - "Lord, Let Us Shine"

• Pink Mountaintops - "Cold Criminals"

Get more:

• www.jagjaguwar.com/pinkmountaintops
• www.blackmountainarmy.com
• Band Interview
• @ eMusic
• @ Amazon
  

Welcome back from the holiday. Here are some electronic/DJ sounds along with the laid-back remix grooves of The Joe Beats Experiment. Enjoy, and if you dig it, use the links to get more...

The Rock:


I'm posting this first one for two reason. 1:, it is an outstanding track from a good album (out on June 19th via Monitor Records,) and 2:, to remind you that the Videohippos are coming to town very soon. June 12th at Emo's, to be exact. They'll be performing with Dan Deacon, who is up next.

The Chill:

One of the less frenetic cuts from Dan's new album, Spiderman of the Rings. It's out now, so go get your hands on it. As I said, Dan is in town on June 12 at Emo's. Get some tix.

Via Pfork:

...what came out of the PA was a barrage of cheap-sounding, rainbow-hued, breakcore-tempo electronic noise. It felt like I was hearing my entire childhood record collection of cheerful kiddie 45s sped up on a hotrodded Fisher Price record player. Deacon himself was dancing along with a joyous palsy, singing through a scrim of squeaky effects. In a night where I'd shown up wanting dance music, Deacon had completely upended my expectations. He also made me a fan for life. A small handful of the grouches stood with incredulous arms folded across their chests and everyone else proceeded to freak the fuck out, almost as wildly as Deacon himself.

Bonobo eats, breathes, and thrives on downtempo. Here is a taste from his debut album. Let it simmer...

Via Allmusic:

At first repulsive and overbrewed, Animal Magic slowly takes shape as a solid debut of narcoleptic down tempo. Which isn't too surprising: Bonobo's Simon Green is known for making friends with intelligent electronic adventurers Mr. Scruff and Amon Tobin, and choosing a moniker after a species of chimpanzee Chris Morris made famous. In fact, his fusion of encouraging trip-hop, helium voices, and sitars probably isn't the quickest way to get you humming in the bath. But intimation is rarely used in pop music, and when it's put up against an uncharacteristically emotional pallor ("Kota," "Sugar Rhyme"), you're rewarded for your patience.

The Super Nintendo:

Via Drowned in Sound:

Crystal Castles are a boy/girl duo from Toronto, Canada. They're named after She-Ra's castle. After being directed to their MySpace by a friend and almost instantly falling in love with their stuff, it turned out they were playing Barden's only a few nights later so of course I went down for a look... Boy stands behind his laptop, hooded with glittery eyes peeking out from behind a scraggly beard. Girl jumps on the spot in a big baggy t-shirt, whip and wire thin and strikingly pretty, hitting keys and shouting through heavy distortion and the raging, nasty bitcore and pounding drums of the backing track. Between them, they create a pulsating, violent racket, structured enough to be a malevolent kind of pop, but fucked up enough to sound densely punky and sandpaper rough.

• Crystal Castles - "Love & Caring"
• www.myspace.com/crystalcastles

Via MobiusBeard.com:

Mobius Beard, the debut record from Portland's Copy (a.k.a. Marius Libman), is an 8-bit masterpeice of fuzzy synth harmonies and innovative beats. Bustling with jovial melody and human frailty, it fits in well on E*Rock's Audio Dregs label and begs repeated listening.

• Copy - "Could You Like Her?"
• www.myspace.com/copy
  

The Dance:

Slant Mag:

Through DJ sets, remixes, label mixtapes, and MySpace posts, Simian Mobile Disco, who rose from the ashes of the now defunct British psychedelic band Simian, assaulted the indie dance community beginning in the spring last year, announcing in not so subtle ways that they were the new hotness and we were all invited to their coming out party. The soundtrack, of course, being some of the best post-punk-neo-rave-pro-hip-hop (pro-hyphenation!) dance cuts of the last 12 months: the grinding, menacing rap hybrid of "Hustler" (edited here to a far more digestible three-and-a-half minutes.)

• Simian Mobile Disco - "Hustler"
• www.simianmobiledisco.co.uk
• Attack Decay... @ Wichita
  

The Vintage:

Allmusic says:

Instrumental hip-hop can be a tough way to succeed, financially or artistically. The commercial world puts a low price on non-superstar productions and, for independent rap, the specter of DJ Shadow towers over all who come after him. Though it was overhyped, the full debut of RJD2 in 2002 (Dead Ringer) illustrated there was additional ground left to plow. Unlike the dozens of Shadow imitators, RJD2 isn't simply a resurrector of unjustly forgotten wax. He's a virtuoso on the sampler who recognizes that what's important isn't the beats, but what you do with them. To that he adds an implicit awareness of how to pace the songs on his albums for maximum effect. (It certainly doesn't hurt that, around that time, late-'70s rock and urban, his favorite genres to mine for samples, were closer to becoming cool than they had ever been before.) None of these traits were forgotten during Rjd2's journey to success, and his second production album refines the approach still further.

• RJD2 - "1976"
• www.rjd2site.com
• Since We Last Spoke @ Amazon

Cool Find of the Week:

This one is highly recommended. The Joe Beats Experiment - Indie Rock Blues is an uninterrupted mix of songs from various rock groups remixed by a hip-hop producer from Rhode Island named Joe Beats. In 2005 Joe remixed thirteen of his favorite indie rock tracks using a 128MB RAM, Windows 98 computer. According to Wiki,

A great number of hip hop/downtempo/trip hop instrumentalists use laptops to perform live sets. Beats is vehemently against this for the simple reason the computer screen is seen only by the performer and not the paying audience.

For live shows Joe uses twin SP-404 samplers and, sometimes, double Numark portable turntables. Each of the twelve pads on the sampler represents a different sample or layer to the beat. He triggers each sequence live by hitting the appropriate pads with his fingers. For example if eight samples come in for the chorus, eight pads are all triggered at the same time. To play more heavily layered compositions, he will methodically palm all twelve main pads or balance both samplers at the same time.

Beats prefers using the 404 because of its unique size and LED buttons. Another integral piece of Beats’ live show is he refuses to play on stage. The lit buttons of the 404 and floor placement give the audience the option to see exactly what he’s doing if they so choose.

Listen to the uninterrupted bleed from Andrew Bird into Deerhoof. And listen the light breaks Joe adds to the somber sound of Songs: Ohia, making the track sound live every time you hear it. Good stuff.

• Andrew Bird - "I" (Joe Beats remix)
• Deerhoof - "Panda, Panda, Panda" (Joe Beats remix)
• Neutral Milk Hotel - "Naomi" (Joe Beats remix)
• Songs: Ohia - "Coxcomb Red" (Joe Beats remix)

Get the whole album (CD and vinyl too) from Joe Beats himself.

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Also, the Locals at La Zona Rosa second show is tonight. RSVP at Do512.com to get on the guest list.

First up, the Chicago musical duo Coltrane Motion. I have been getting emails about these guys all week, and the more I listen to their new album the more I understand why.

Coltrane Motion is heartbreak you can dance to, booty breaks dipped in indie guitar fuzz with an mess of synths, samplers, & laptops tearing it all to pieces. The result is an inventive mix of noisy indie rock, sixties pop, and experimental hiphop. Farfisa stabs give way to stomp/harmonica breakdowns, and power chords howl over a frenzy of soul breakbeats. If it sounds like nothing you've ever heard before, chalk it up to the group's penchant for writing their own sound software and even constructing new instruments from scratch for live usage.

This is the new album from Coltrane Motion, two small-town Ohio expatriates now residing in Chicago. Lead singer Michael Bond records sixties-obsessed electronic pop in his home studio, while guitarist Matt Dennewitz covers it all in wailing distortion and delay at their live shows - the result is a raucous wall of sound built out of drum loops and fuzzed-out melodies, held together by swirling synths and organ drones. It's an indie rock dance record that doesn't follow the DFA/NME template, leaning more on 90s shoegazers and 60s soul jams than the usual post-punk roll call. Their frantic live show has been described by the press as an 'exuberant seizure' and 'the cool kids in programming class', its dance-punk intensity a far cry from your usual laptop performances.

Listen:

Coltrane Motion - "Summertime"

Coltrane Motion - "How To Be"

Hear the entire Coltrane Motion album, Songs About Music, right here.

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Next up, Portland-based folk-tinged indie rock outfit The Shaky Hands, who were just voted Best New Band 2007 by Portland newspaper Willamette Week. Their self-titled debut album has been causing quite a stir across the internet, and it has been in my regular rotation since I first gave it a spin.

Willamette Week says:

The Shaky Hands are relatively straightforward: They're a rock-and-roll band. A jangly, acoustic guitar-loving, summertime soundtrack of a rock band, but a rock band nonetheless. They spend much of their onstage time with backs at least partially turned to the crowd—sweaty and/or shirtless by the end of many performances. None of this seems particularly purposeful or forced, and none of it seems awkward. Therein lies the magic of the Shaky Hands: You won't see these guys pulling synchronized air-kicks or clapping in unison, but being energetic and passionate comes naturally to them.

Holocene Music says:

Sliding bouncy go-go beats under shambling guitars and reedy, swooning vocals, Shaky Hands make the kind of catchy, soulful indie rock that’s tailor-made for brokedown car stereos and river-rat boomboxes. Their debut album’s 13 tracks glow with a sloppily romantic warmth that’s equal parts summer sunshine and candlelit mellow, pre-party buzz and scruffy day-after fuzziness. The result is a fully formed and confident debut; a big-hearted, starry-eyed bear hug of a record, full of youthful energy and tumbling vigor, just waiting to back new adventures and comfort old friends.

Listen:

The Shaky Hands - "Hold It Up"

The Shaky Hands - "Summer's Life"

Video for the single "Why & How Come"

Hear more, and pick up the album, at myspace.com/shakyhands.

Labels: Albums, Indie

From Portland, The Decemberists cover Fleetwood Mac and the Thermals take on Led Zeppelin. Both of these are found on Arena Rock's Bridging The Distance, which you can pick up (with 3 bonus tracks) at eMusic.


From Detroit, the White Stripes do a live cover of Nat King Cole, and the Detroit Cobras cover the Strokes.


Closing it out is AC/DC's "Baby, Please Don't Go" from 1974, originally done in 1945 by the blues musician Big Joe Williams. This was also the first song the group ever performed on television.

There are quite a few things that I want to cover over the next couple of days, so here is a quick, condensed version of the monthly UK entry.

Friendly Fires are a trio from St Albans who cover the dancier side of British punk music. Fact Magazine says: "The beginning of the third track of Friendly Fire’s recent debut twelve-inch (‘Photobooth’, out on People in the Sky) might be familiar to you. There’s the classic plink-plonk keyboard melody, and the hollow, three-note bassline. And then, just as you’re getting settled in, their cover of Jamie Principle’s Chicago house anthem, ‘Your Love’, explodes into something else entirely, recasting the original as a frantic punk-funk freakout. Suddenly, I need a whole new way to dance."


Talk about an unlikely combo......England's electronic/house duo The Chemical Brothers, and the acclaimed rock quintet from North Texas, Midlake. As unlikely as the partnership might have been, the resulting product that came out of it is a fine, downtempo closer to the Brothers' first new album in two years. We Are the Night is out on July 2nd.




Six-piece The Go! Team recently cut a new single, their first official release since the 2005 tour EP Are You Ready For More?. I had the pleasure of attending their first gig in the U.S., when they performed upstairs at Buffalo Billiards during SXSW 2005. People were jumping up and down for the whole show and you could feel the floor bending under your feet with each collective pounce. This was also one of the very few times that I've seen an act come out for an encore during an official showcase. The new single +1 from the tour EP, below...

Labels: UK

If you're not already familiar with Phosphorescent, make a note to do so. Basically, Matthew Houck is Phosphorescent, but someone has to fill in on the other instruments, right? Right.

Houck writes the songs, including the material on the 2005 breakout (masterpiece) album Aw Come Aw Wry, and he brings good friends along to supply two drum kits, four horns, two tambourines, a extra guitar, and a bass. I had the pleasure of catching this group in concert at SXSW two years ago, not long after experiencing the satisfaction of sinking my teeth all the way into Aw Come Aw Wry.

In December Phosphorescent stopped by the Daytrotter studio to lay down a few new tracks for everyone, which are now available at the link.

A few words from Daytrotter head honcho Sean Moeller: "Houck and group were touring behind A Hundred Times Or More and they looked hungry. They looked really hungry and it was obvious that it wouldn’t be a good paying night here. The condition was going to last. I bought a T-shirt with a cow on it. I thought it would help. Leaving town that night, we stopped at a convenience store for munchables and the clerk behind the counter had the Phosphorescent album playing. We told him that the band had just played a few blocks down and he was shocked. He said he would have gone. Let this set – mostly of unreleased material – serve as the sort of introduction to Phosphorescent that will make you adamantly attend their show whenever they’re near. Don’t be that convenience store clerk."

A new track from the Daytrotter recording, go here for more...

• Phosphorescent - "A Death, A Proclamation"

One from Aw Come Aw Wry (2005)

• Phosphorescent - "I Am A Full Grown Man"

And one from A Hundred Times Or More (2003)

• Phosphorescent - "Pretty Pt.2"

Labels: Albums, Indie

"Adult Swim.com's commitment to providing our audience with cool free stuff continues on May 21 (TODAY) when our biggest downloadable album yet hits the site like a tidal wave. Made of rock. Oh yeah. Sponsored by Esurance, the Warm & Scratchy compilation will feature 14 new and exclusive tracks from bands that sound . . . well . . . Warm & Scratchy."

I don't really know what Warm & Scratchy has to do with these bands, the only one that seems to fit that description would be Amusement Parks on Fire. Seemingly non-functional titles aside, this compilation is yet another reason why Adult Swim kicks a whole lot of ass. Fourteen new and exclusive tracks from some of indie rock's brightest stars, all neatly packaged and given away for free at AdultSwim.com.

There is very little on television that I actually watch, but I can't get enough of Adult Swim. Their nightly lineup is by far the best thing on TV after midnight, with a bunch of good shows including Family Guy, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Squidbillies, Moral Orel, and Robot Chicken. From time to time they'll throw in some Sealab and Space Ghost for good measure. I don't care for Saul of the Mole Men or Tim and Eric's show, but to each his own.

This isn't the first time that Adult Swim has partnered to release an album, via Wiki: "Adult Swim has been known to have a partnership with independent music label Stones Throw Records. Many of Adult Swim’s bumpers and packaging have used music from artists such as Madlib, Oh No, and J Dilla. In 2006, both Stones Throw and Adult Swim created a co-production album entitled Chrome Children. The network was also part of an earlier studio LP with DANGERDOOM, a musical collaboration between music producer Danger Mouse and rapper MF DOOM, entitled The Mouse and the Mask. In February 2007, Adult Swim and Definitive Jux joined up to release an EP entitled Definitive Swim."

Today they are back at it again with 14 tracks called Warm & Scratchy. Austin's own Sound Team provide a new instrumental track, TV On The Radio do this cool lo-fi thing with a piano & harmonica, and Les Savy Fav supply a good dose of the rock & roll. Other standout tracks come from The Raveonettes, The Rapture, and Asobi Seksu. There's good stuff here.

Tracklist:

1. TV On The Radio - "Me-I"
2. The Raveonettes - "Dead Sound"
3. Les Savy Fav - "The Equestrian"
4. The Rapture - "Crimson Red"
5. 120 Days - "Justine"
6. Broken Social Scene - "Canada Vs. America"
7. Sound Team - "Color of the love You Have"
8. The Good, The Bad and The Queen - "The Bunting Song"
   
9. The Brother Kite - "Half Century"
10. Jesu - "Silver (Original Beats)"
11. Amusement Parks on Fire - "Back to Flash"
12. Asobi Seksu - "Stay Awake"
13. Fennesz - "Winter"
14. Liars - "Sunset Rodeo"

If Britt Daniel lives in Portland, then why do I see him downtown almost as much as Leslie? I crossed paths with the Spoon frontman once again over the weekend at the White Denim gig at Beauty Bar, though I didn't even have time to mention that the new album sounds great. When I asked him at SXSW what he thinks of Portland, he just shrugged and said "I'm usually not able to spend a good amount of time there." Maybe the whole "relocation to Oregon" thing was simply a farce to keep overzealous groupies in the dark as to his whereabouts? I dunno.

Now that there is a new album (Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is out on July 10,) I feel compelled to compare it to the previous albums and rank them as I see fit. It's probably still way too early to compare the new album to the others, but after 3+ listens I put it as a close runner-up to Gimme Fiction.

Labels: Albums, Indie, Local

There's a bunch of good stuff going on in Austin tonight and tomorrow, so here's a quick one while I've got a minute. My inbox is kind of overflowed, but these are a few things that I found in there:

"You might have heard about this, you might have already seen it, you may have no idea what I’m talking about, but below is a link to the video of Dawn Landes’ bluegrass cover of Peter Bjorn & John’s “Young Folks.” Dawn recorded the song with WST (We Sorta Tried) Bluegrass Band from Austin, TX and it’s been making it’s way across the internet for a few weeks now. Kind of ironic as apparently, the youngest “folk” in WST is 67.

Who is Dawn Landes? Well, she came from Kentucky and she lives in NY and she’s been performing and recording with the musicians from Hem and The Earlies. She’s supported José Gonzalez, Suzanne Vega, Shannon Wright, Feist, Le Tigre and Andrew Bird. Oh, and she’s also a sound engineer—she’s already gotten the opportunity to record musicians like Philip Glass, Ryan Adams and Joseph Arthur."




(Girl Talk is a Peter Bjorn & John fan as well...)


The Beastie Boys offered up a batch of acapella tracks via their website encouraging people to create remixes and share them with everyone.

A gentleman named Leo Nevilo from Austria held up his end of the bargain, creating ten remixes and sending them over for me to have a listen. The two below caught my attention during the first listen, and you can check out the rest here.


I gave a preview of Black Moth Super Rainbow back in February, and next week their new album Dandelion Gum will finally be released. You can preview the whole thing right here.

The skinny: "Deep in the backwoods of Pennsylvania lives a five piece psyche-rock group called Black Moth Super Rainbow. It doesn't use 'high-tech' gadgets or computers. Members go by aliases like Tobacco (vocals) and Father Hummingbird (Rhodes and monosynth). Most folks refer to the band as being completely detached from the 'real world', while they're actually probably more connected to the 'real world' than anyone else. Its geographical and societal seclusion allows Black Moth to create pop songs uninfluenced by mainstream tunes. Songs are created with a fresh slate-- a complete naivety for 'what's hot' at the moment. Dandelion Gum completely affirms this notion by presenting a collection of fairy-tale psyche-pop that grabs listeners with obscure and unique hooks. Black Moth Super Rainbow gifts listeners with an equally addictive alternative to mainstream pop-- just as brilliant and much more creative."



Holy Fuck will be touring all summer, so if you're going to be in the area of any of their stops I highly recommend that you try to make an appearance. They're currently sharing the stage with !!!, and I've been reading some very good reviews from this tour. Here's a track from their latest EP that you can pick up on MP3/CD & Vinyl at the link, along with one of their short sets during SXSW, where the picture above was taken. During the final five minutes of the show they had a guest on stage with them, an MC named Broken Teeth.


Tour dates, descending:

Labels: Stochastic

Via Philly: "Phil Spector stepped out of his mansion with a gun in his hand at 5 a.m. four years ago and said, "I think I killed somebody," a chauffeur testified yesterday in the record producer's trial on charges of murdering an actress. It was the first time that Adriano Desouza, who has told the story to police and grand jurors, gave his account in public.

The chauffeur said he had delivered Spector and actress Lana Clarkson to the home about two hours earlier. He said he first heard a "pow," got out of Spector's car to see what the noise was and then got back into the car. A short time later Spector emerged, Desouza testified.

Spector said, "I think I killed somebody," according to the driver, who testified that he then asked, "What happened, sir?" The producer responded with a shrug, he said.

Desouza said he looked past Spector into the foyer of his castle-like home in suburban Alhambra. "I saw the legs of the lady," he said. "I stepped inside and I saw the blood on her face."

Veronica Bennett, a.k.a. Ronettes lead singer Ronnie Spector, was Spector's wife for 5 years. They got divorced because among other things he "showed her a gold coffin with a glass top in his basement, promising to kill and display her should she ever choose to leave him."

Phil Spector is a complete nut-job. He went bananas long before he murdered that actress at his house in 2003. But, long before that, he sold over a million records while he was still in high school, and was solid gold as a record producer and songwriter. He became a millionaire by the time he was 23, producing 15 hits in a row with artists such as the Ronettes and the Crystals.

Before Phil Spector eventually heads off to spend a few years in federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison, here's a look at some of the music that he had a hand in creating.










Brian Wilson cited the 1964 Beach Boys song "Don't Worry Baby" as his attempt to duplicate "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes, while he also attempted to mimic spector's production techniques in the studio. The Beach Boys later paid tribute to Spector in their song "Mona," with the lyrics "Come on, Listen to "Da Doo Ron Ron," now Listen to "Be My Baby"/I know you're gonna love Phil Spector."


"In 1970 Spector was invited by Lennon and George Harrison to take on the task of turning the Beatles abandoned "Get Back" recording sessions into a usable album. Spector went to work using many of his production techniques, making significant changes to the arrangements and sound of some songs. The resulting album, Let It Be, was a massive commercial success and yielded a #1 single, "The Long and Winding Road."

A year later he joined Lennon and Yoko Ono as co-producer on Imagine. Extensive footage of the sessions, showing the evolution of some of the songs, was compiled on a video documentary entitled Gimme Some Truth: The Making of John Lennon's Imagine."

Labels: Stochastic

This week I received a hefty shipment of tunes from a friend at CJSW 90.9 FM way up the road in Calgary. The cream of the crop is the debut album by an indie pop band from Toronto called The Bicycles. They write catchy pop tunes featuring multiple vocalists and some nice brass work via trumpet and trombone, at times with a sound reminiscent of early of Montreal/Elephant 6, other times they sound much like some of the popular indie pop coming out of Sweden.

Their debut The Good, The Bad and The Cuddly is a lengthy one at 17 tracks, but they come mostly in short, quick bursts with a handful of songs that don't reach the 2:00 mark. Check out three selections from the album below, and if you like what you hear simply follow the link.

The Bicycles - "B-B-Bicycles"
The Bicycles - "Australia"
The Bicycles - "Two Girls From Montreal"

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To round out the bicycle theme, here are a couple of demo tracks from a London-based trio of teenagers called Bombay Bicycle Club who have just released their debut EP. If I'm not mistaken, I believe I have featured the BBC once before on one of the It Came From The U.K. entries. I'll have a new one of those either this weekend or early next week.

Bombay Bicycle Club - "Open House"
Bombay Bicycle Club - "How Are You"

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The Decemberists self-released a debut EP in 2001 called 5 Songs, though the disc contained 6 tracks. The extra track is called "Apology Song," which was added to the album when it was re-released in 2003. Via Wiki: "The misleading title is due to the fact that the final track, "Apology Song" (originally sung into the answering machine of a friend named Steven as a legitimate apology for the loss of a beloved bicycle named Madeline), was written after the original self-produced CD was released. Lead singer Colin Meloy liked it so much that it was added to the album when it was re-released by Hush Records in 2003.

The track, "Apology Song" contains several references to the town of Missoula, Montana. The "Orange Street Food Farm" is a local grocery store popular with University of Montana students (mostly for buying beer). The "Frenchtown Pond" is a reference to Frenchtown Pond State Park located in Frenchtown which is approximately 15 miles northwest of Missoula. The bicycle has since been found."

Colin Meloy - "Apology Song"

Labels: Stochastic

The good folks over at Do512.com have joined forces with Direct Events on a series of shows for the next few weeks at La Zona Rosa, featuring some of the best Indie Bands in Austin. Starting tomorrow night and then continuing on Wednesday May, 30th and Thursday June the 7th, three local bands will be hitting the stage to showcase their skills and you can get free admission to any and all of the shows simply by adding your name to one of the guest lists found here.

Information on all three of the Locals at La Zona shows is listed on the nifty little e-card below, and by clicking on any of the artist names you will be taken to their respective MySpace pages. Doors are at 7, music starts at 8, with a full bar, my handsome face, and three good local bands a night putting on a free performance to entertain your socks off. Check it out.


Also happening this week: Beach House returns to Austin once again, this time performing in support of London-based retro pop quartet The Clientele, who have just released their first album since the cult favorite Strange Geometry landed in 2005. Tickets are $8 at the door, or at the link. Below is a selection from Beach House's self-titled debut, along with the opening track from God Save The Clientele which just dropped last week...

The Clientele - "Here Comes The Phantom" | theclientele.co.uk
Beach House - "Master of None" | beachhousemusic.net

Labels: Local, Stochastic

One of the highlights from my semi-weekly update from IHEARTCOMIX is a new set from Bloomington-area DJ Flufftronix, who ties together some of his own remixes and track edits with nearly an hours-worth of electronic dance cuts including artists from Justice to the Gossip to....Aretha Franklin? I could do without the Fergie (Space Cowboy remix) and whatever the hell that "In the Butt" song is supposed to be, but other than that this stuff is pretty cool, especially the Arcade Fire edit.


Tracklist:

• Flufftronix - Another Fix
• Justice - D.A.N.C.E (Eli edit)
• Sinden / Blaqstarr - Beeper / Shake it Down
• KW Griff & Booman - Pump Me Up
• Flufftronix - Softee’s Theme
• Chromeo - Fancy Footwork (Guns’n'Bombs remix)
• Fergie - Glamorous (Space Cowboy remix)
• Sneaky Soundsystem - UFO (Van She Tech remix)
• SebastiAn - Ross Ross Ross (Liggybaby edit)
• Justice - Phantom (Hatchmatik Edit)
• Rich Boy - Throw some D’s (DJ Tameil edit)
• Arcade Fire - No Cars Go (Flufftronix edit)
• Gui Boratto - Beautiful Life
• VirtuaDolls - Dynamo
• Gossip - Yr Mangled Heart (Linus Loves remix)
• Daft Punk - Da Funk
• Bonde do Role - Gasolina (Spruce Lee remix)
• ?????? - Rocky Theme
• Debonair Samir - Samir’s Theme
• KW Griff - Respect
• Samwell - What What in the Butt (Flufftronix remix)
• Miami Horror - Don’t Be On With Her
• DJ Pumpkin Patch - The Good, the Bad, and the DJ
• Bonecrusher - Never Scared (Acapella)

Labels: Mix, Tron

It's your very special day, mothers of the world. Thanks very much for giving birth to us, that was an awfully nice thing to do.

Below are the best three songs that come up when I search my media player for the word mother, what are yours? A few others that came up for me were:

• We Share Our Mother's Health, The Knife
• Matilda Mother, Pink Floyd
• Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives, Voxtrot
• Mother's Little Helper, The Rolling Stones
• My Mother Was A Chinese Trapez Artist, The Decemberists

The first one is from The Kinks' BBC Sessions, a two CD set that features rare and previously unreleased recordings that the band did for BBC radio from their first sessions in 1964 up through 1977. This has to be one of the best albums I've ever found in the used section and picked up on a whim. You can pick it up from Amazon, who says "From the beginning, Ray Davies was a brilliant songwriter in the finest English tradition while his brother Dave could crank out guitar riffs like they were going out of style. As contemporaries of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Who, The Kinks' distinctly British musical outlook did hinder sales in the U.S. throughout the '60s, but they are now considered to be one of the few GREAT Rock bands of their generation. 35 tracks including a few interview segments and unique versions ot Kinks favorites including 'You Really Got Me', 'Waterloo Sunset', 'Death Of A Clown' and many more.

The Kinks - "Mindless Child Of Motherhood"

Song two is from The Veils, who I discussed once upon a time in this entry.

The Veils - "Advice For Young Mothers To Be"

The third track is from the final album by the now-defunct Beulah, who were associated with Elephant 6. Wiki: "Beulah themselves had stated that, if Yoko did not achieve gold status, the band would split. Though it received the best reviews of the band's career, scoring Universal Acclaim on Metacritic and described as a "career-spanning epic" by Dusted Magazine, the record still failed to achieve gold status, and consequently the band, after one final tour, split up, ending with a free concert at New York's Battery Park at Castle Clinton on August 5, 2004. Recently, a DVD chronicling their last tour in fall 2003, titled A Good Band is Easy to Kill (referring to the band's song "A Good Man is Easy to Kill", which, in turn, references lead singer Miles's love for Flannery O'Connor) was released, again to much praise. In 2005, all four Beulah albums, as well as the single "My Horoscope Said It Would Be a Bad Year," were released on iTunes after fans suggested they be easily accessible.

Beulah - "Your Mother Loves You Son"

May 21st a new batch of LCD Soundsystem singles are released, like so:




DFA has a nice little E-card with track previews and purchase links, right about here. John Cale, one of the founding members of The Velvet Underground, covers their newest single "All My Friends" and does a damn fine job of it. Headphone Sex has some words about that collaboration along with the song in question, and Muzak For Cybernetics does likewise for the Franz Ferdinand version.

The LCD cover of Harry Nilsson's "Jump Into The Fire" has been in heavy rotation around these parts lately, having originally been a B-side on the "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House" single. I think that tune, along with their cover of Joy Division's "No Love Lost" are the two LCD Soundsystem songs that lean the most toward rock.

LCD Soundsystem - "No Love Lost" (Joy Division cover)

LCD Soundsystem - "Jump Into The Fire" (Harry Nilsson cover)

Check out some live evidence...


If you hadn't already heard, LCD Soundsystem are indeed one of the confirmed acts on the Austin City Limits Festival website. Rejoice, rejoice. Here's a look at the rest of their tour:

• May 14: Webster Hall - New York,
• Jun 10: The El Rey - Los Angeles
• Jun 11: The El Rey - Los Angeles
• Jun 16: Hyde Park Festival - London
• Jun 17: Wireless Festival - Leeds
• Jun 30: Wertcher Festival - Wertcher
• Jul 1: Heineken Opener Festival - Gdynia
• Jul 4: Super Bock Super Rock - Lisbon
• Jul 5: Roskillde Festival - Roskillde
• Jul 13: Summercase - Barcelona
• Jul 14: Summercase - Madrid
• Jul 18: Ibiza Rocks Festival - Ibiza
• Jul 20: Vieilles Charrues
• Jul 21: Angouleme Festival
• Aug 3: Lollapalooza - Chicago
• Aug 4: V Festival - Washington DC
• Aug 17: Route Du La Rock - Saint Malo
• Aug 24: Carling Festival - Leeds
• Aug 25: Creamfields Festival - Liverpool
• Aug 26: Carling Festival - Reading
• Aug 31: Electric Picnic - Ireland
• Sep 1: Mandela Hall - Belfast
• Sep 2: Connect - Inverary Castle, Scotland

myspace.com/LCDSoundsystem

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While we're sort of on the subject of The Velvet Underground I will take the opportunity to talk about them for a minute, something I've been meaning to do. I bought my first Velvet Underground album (White Light/White Heat) sometime in 2004, and it has taken about three years for me to gain a strong affection for them. This long stretch leading to fanship wasn't born of unwillingness, it just takes time to reach some sort of familiarity with their music and history, and now that I have experienced much of this I'm able to really appreciate some the things that The Velvet Underground did.

I first heard in 2005 about Norman Dolph's original acetate pressing of the the Scepter Studios recording, which was a studio session recorded in 1966 at a decrepit recording studio where the band would cut the very first versions of the songs that would eventually end up on their debut album. The acetate, which is believed to be the only one of its kind in existence, was discovered at a flea market in New York with a price tag of 75 cents and eventually sold on eBay for over $25,000.

Here is some interesting text on the subject from Wiki:

"Actual recording at Scepter was done rather quickly in about two business days (roughly 8-10 hours) while the third was spent listening to the material and the fourth was spent mixing. Soon after, Dolph sent an acetate disc of the recordings to Columbia in an attempt to interest them in distributing the album, but they declined, as did Atlantic Records and Elektra Records. Eventually, the MGM Records-owned Verve Records accepted the recordings with the help of Verve staff producer Tom Wilson, who had recently moved from a job at Columbia."

"It wasn't until decades later that the album received almost unanimous praise by numerous rock critics, many of which making particular note of its influence in modern rock music. In April, 2003, Spin put the album at the number one spot of their list of the "Top Fifteen Most Influential Albums of All Time." Rolling Stone placed it at number 13 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in November 2003. In 2006, Q magazine readers voted it into 42nd place in the "2006 Q Magazine Readers' 100 Greatest Albums Ever" poll, while The Observer placed it at number 1 in a list of "50 Albums That Changed Music" in the July of that year. It ranks at number 7 on Rate Your Music's top albums of all time and number 1 for the year of 1967."

The nine tracks on the Scepter Studios Norman Dolph Acetate are recordings that would make it onto the final version of The Velvet Underground's debut album, though many are different mixes of those recordings and three are different takes entirely. Certainly this is not the best starting point for someone looking to familiarize themselves with The Velvet Underground, but this recording is not only the band's starting point, but what's even more interesting is that this is how they wanted these songs to sound in the first place, before producers and record labels added their own influence.

Quoted: "With the affirmation of a label, three of the songs, "I'm Waiting for the Man", "Venus in Furs" and "Heroin", were re-recorded in two days at a stay in Hollywood later in 1966. Tom Wilson then edited and mixed the tapes to polish some of the rough edges, somewhat against the wishes of the band. As the record's release date was bumped back time after time because of production problems, Wilson also took them into a New York studio in November 1966 to add a final song to the track listing, the prospective single "Sunday Morning." The production on that song is far more professional and lush, aimed as it was at radio playtime." Check out two selections from the album below, and if you're into it I've heard that the rest can be found at zShare.

The Velvet Underground - "Femme Fatale" (Different Mix)

The Velvet Underground - "I'll Be Your Mirror" (Different Mix)

The Velvet Underground Web Page

Labels: Stochastic

It's starting to feel like summer out there, even though we're still a few weeks away from the official start. Here are a few exciting facts:

• In general, seasonal changes occur earlier in coastal regions, so countries close to oceans have an earlier start to summer than inland contries.

• The unofficial start of summer is a matter of convention: in Ireland it is as early as May 1, in many countries it is considered to be June 1, while in others it is as late as July 1.

I'd rather not procrastinate on the start of summer, I say let's all go to Ireland tomorrow. I put together some songs for the trip and everything. I've heard that Ireland is a pretty interesting place to visit, but I haven't had a chance to go check it out. I doubt they have heard of very many of these artists, we could burn them a mixtape as a peace offering and maybe we could score some free beer.

Labels: Mix

Sometimes its hard for me to find a radio station that I can get in to, so I put together these long stretches of songs to fill the space. This one is 30 minutes of nothing but Austin artists, many of which I have mentioned previously. This is my first time to feature a few of them, specifically Bill Baird, The Early Tapes, and Yellow Fever.

These are all new songs for most of the artists that I chose to include, so even if you're familiar with them I encourage you to give this a spin. There's one from Peter and the Wolf's new tour cd, one from White Denim's forthcoming release, and a new one from the four-piece instrumental band Cue, who I reviewed at the old site.

Most of this is lo-fi or acoustic, and if you're into it please show these artists some support by checking out the links provided.


Tracklist:


Artist: White Denim

Track: "I Can Tell"

Album: Let's Talk About It

Web: MySpace




Artist: The Early Tapes

Track: "She'll Be Coming Home"

Album: The Early Tapes

Web: MySpace




Artist: Yellow Fever

Track: "Alice"

Album: Cats and Rats

Web: MySpace




Artist: Bill Baird

Track: "Sunset's Bathtime"

Album: {{{Sunset}}}

Web: BlondeBill.com




Artist: Peter and the Wolf

Track: "Images"

Album: Fireflies

Web: MySpace




Artist: The Lovely Sparrows

Track: "Chemicals Change"

Album: Pulling Up Floors, Pouring on (New) Paint

Web: MySpace





Artist: Cue

Track: "The Last Good Year of My Life"

Album: SXSW 2007 Demo

Web: MySpace


Artist: The Channel

Track: "The Network Of Eaves"

Album: Sibylline Machine

Web: TheChannelSounds.net



Artist: Bill Callahan

Track: "Sycamore"

Album: Woke On A Whaleheart

Web: DragCity.com




Artist: Li'l Cap'n Travis

Track: "Steady As She Goes"

Album: ...In All Their Splendor

Web: LilCapnTravis.com

Labels: Local

Here is some old stuff to keep things fresh. In the 1990's, where I grew up these were some of the songs that everyone was listening to.

If you are alive, and you're from this planet, then you have heard this one before. Yes sir, that's what they call double Platinum. In 1991 Summertime reached was the #1 Rap Single on the billboard Hot 100.


Ah, Boyz II Men. These guys were all over the place in the 90's. I think I still have a cassette tape of Cooleyhighharmony around here somewhere. I was twelve years old when this song hit #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1991.


I had no idea this band was Dutch until today. This song might as well have been their one and only recording, because I seriously doubt anyone ever heard anything else by this one hit wonder. "Deeper Shade of Soul" samples the 1968 Ray Barretto song of the same name, and it topped at the 21st spot on Billboard's Hot 100 in 1991.


Totally Krossed Out is certified 4x Platinum, and I still have no idea why they wanted you to jump. I think I was in the 6th grade when that song hit #1. It was a toss-up between that one and Warm It Up for inclusion here, and I went with the latter. Did you know this album was produced by Jermaine Dupri? I didn't know that...


On my very first visit to California I made sure to stop by Fat Burger before I left, all because Ice Cube stopped by there at two in the morning and put it in a song. It peaked into the top 20 in the Billboard Hot 100, number 7 on the R&B charts and it was also a huge hit in the UK Charts, peaking at #27.


Another one hit wonder was Positive K, aka Darryl Gibson from New York, whose song "I Got a Man" peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1993. I had mostly forgotten this song until hearing it again on DJ Kicks: Hot Chip.


Obviously, "The song is a "rags-to-riches chronicle" detailing his early years in poverty, his initial dreams of becoming a rap artist and early influences, his time in drugs and crime, and his eventual success in the music business." It was certified platinum by RIAA in 1995, and used recently by Girl Talk in the song "Smash Your Head."


This single by the Oakland rap duo Luniz was certified platinum by the RIAA on October 31, 1995 for individual sales of one million copies. It samples Club Nouveau's "Why You Treat Me So Bad" (1986) and Kool and the Gang's "Jungle Boogie" (1973). Did anyone outside of the south really listen to this one? I was under the impression that it was purely a southern thing...


I don't know about the rest of the country, but this next song was large in clubs all over the south (for about two weeks) when it was first released in 1996. I'm still trying to track down a decent quality mp3 of this, so for now it will have to be 128k. Crucial Conflict are from Chicago, and apparently they're still making music.


I didn't quite understand why this band became so insanely popular, but this song was always a staple of summer soundtracks. From Wiki: "Doin' Time" is a loose cover of "Summertime" by George Gershwin, composed for the opera Porgy and Bess. The track heavily samples a cover of "Summertime" by jazz floutist Herbie Mann, a live bossa nova version from his album Herbie Mann at the Village Gate. Future Long Beach Dub Allstars DJ Marshall Goodman appears on the recording and is mentioned in the lyrics.

Labels: Stochastic

(For Thomas)


(For invisible)


(For Chris, who's in love with Ra Ra.)


And for whomever...

I think this band is the tops. They've got originality, a distinctly unique sound, managed their abundant mainstream success without "selling out," and they produce great tunes using a wide array of influences and musical styles. I recall hearing not too long ago that the Gorillaz had decided to call it quits, and I had been under that assumption until I read what I thought was good news on their Wiki page:

"In the November 2006 edition of Billboard magazine, Murdoc was asked in a Q&A about the future of the Gorillaz, he said "Ooh baby, have we got something special lined up for you. I can't say let you in on it yet, but needless to say it makes the Gorillaz Demon Days period look like a warm up act."

At this point I was saying hell yes, let's do it. But shorty afterwords I came across a more up-to-date release from Gorillaz ringleader Damon Albarn that reads:

"Damon Albarn has confirmed that Gorillaz will release no more studio albums. The Blur singer said that the only project left for the cartoon band will be a film featuring a score composition, that has previously been linked to filmmaker and ‘Monty Python’ mastermind Terry Gilliam. Speaking to BBC Radio 2, Albarn said: “We’re trying to make a film next, starting in September hopefully. It will be a film score. There won’t be another pop record."

Well shit. I guess you can only take a band composed of four fictional animated characters so far. Still, I would love for them to do at least one more album. I'm hesitant to say that Gorillaz had a "good run." Not because of the quality of their output, but the quantity. There were only two official studio albums, the self-titled debut in 2001 and 2005's Demon Days, but there are a couple of remix albums and a dozen non-album tracks for anyone who wants to have the entire Gorillaz catalog. Plus, they put out a compilation DVD in 2002 featuring the videos and animatics related to the release of the band's first album. Two more DVD's came in 2006, a live DVD of Gorillaz performances from 1 November–5 November 2005 at the Manchester Opera House, and a second "videos and animatics" compilation for Demon Days.

Since the Gorillaz appear to be no más and I've got a hoard of their B-Sides and Remixes saved up, I thought I'd share some rare cuts that you might not have heard previously. Click on the image to pick up each album, respectively.

Labels: Mix, Stochastic

Looks like I've got some server issues that I need to get to the bottom of, but things should be back to normal tomorrow.

In the meantime, go visit any of the quality sites listed on the lefthand column over there.

Today I'm paying homage to that invaluable instrument so often taken for granted, the hand clap. Each of the tracks below are some of my favorite songs that feature hand claps a' plenty, and under that I'll go ahead and list some of the other songs that came to mind when I was putting this together. Feel free to add in any that you think of...

I'm a big fan of any type of hand percussion in general really, claps, snappin' yo fingers, both of them work great in a song. Plus, they're always handy. (boo-hiss)

• Awesome Cool Dudes - "Clap Clap"Album - Website

• Oh No! Oh My! - "I Have No Sister"Album - Website

• Spoon - "Jonathan Fisk" (Demo)Album - Website

• Tap Tap - "100,000 Thoughts"Album - Website

• The Boy Least Likely To - "Faith"Album - Website

• El Perro Del Mar - "I Can't Talk About It"Album - Website

• The Knife - "Heartbeats"Album - Website

• Fujiya & Miyagi - "Collarbone"Album - Website

• Beck - "Clap Hands"Album - Website

• Beastie Boys - "Hey Ladies"Album - Website

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Honorable mentions:

• Hot Chip - "A Glue Too Thick"
• Hot Chip - "Over & Over"
• Hot Chip - "(Just Like We) Breakdown"
• Amy Winehouse - "Rehab" (Hot Chip remix)
• Beck - "Go It Alone"
• Beck - "Where It's At"
• Beck - "Cellphone's Dead" (Jamie Lidell remix)
• The Rapture - "House Of Jealous Lovers"
• Eagles Of Death Metal - "Flames Go Higher"
• The Ramones - "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker"
• The Romantics - "What I Like About You"
• John Mellencamp - "Jack And Diane"
• Queen - "We Will Rock You"
• Cake - "Opera Singer"
• Spoon - "Back To The Life"
• Belle & Sebastian - "Women's Realm"
• Ol' Dirty Bastard - "Baby I Got Your Money"
• Nina Simone - "Sinnerman"
• Kings of Leon - "Holy Roller Novacaine"
• Gorillaz - "Dirty Harry"
• Radio Citizen - "Nightingale (feat. Bajka)"
• Feist - "1 2 3 4"
• Devendra Banhart and Jana Hunter - "A Bright-Ass Light"
• Led Zeppelin - "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp"
• AC/DC - "Baby, Please Don't Go"
• Tokyo Police Club - "Cheer It On" (Trey Told Em remix)
  

Labels: Stochastic