Yura Yura Teikoku - Dekinai

"Dekinai"



"Dekinai (Extended Remix)"

LFO - "Nevertheless"

I'd long forgotten about this Warp band until watching Gaspar Noe's latest Enter the Void last night. This one's from Sheath.

Jib Kidder “Lossy Angeles”

Jib Kidder - Lossy Angeles [full] from Jib Kidder on Vimeo.

The Magnetic Fields - "The Saddest Story Ever Told"

OLDschool Magnetic Fields.

Loose Joints - "Tell You (Today)"

One of my favorites from Arthur Russell's seemingly endless disco production pseudonyms.

Roberto Cacciapaglia/Ann Steel - "My Time"

"My VCR collection VHS recorder"

Wendy Carlos - A Clockwork Orange

One of my favorite soundtracks. This music gets me pumped, but I can't listen to it while running, writing, reading, or anything else really. It's just a bit too captivating. Wendy Carlos' Moog-reinterpretations of classics. There's something still futuristic about this, even though it's already more than 40 years old.

William Tell Overture (Abridged)


March from A Clockwork Orange

Jun Togawa - Formless Station Ends

Here's a song from one of my favorite singers, Jun Togawa. There's certainly a broken quality to her pop ascetics, which follows through a lot of her work, but really hits the mark here. Even though the lyrics are a bit of a mystery to me, her childish vocals and the time-warped carnival atmosphere always leave me feeling a little stunned at how effectively she can express a mood that might stick with you throughout the day.

P.S. please ignore video!

Dig this CAN

Haven

Haven

Michael Andrews - Boy Moves the Sun

Here's a song from a mix posted on one of my favorite music blogs,

bruitage et mon cri dans l"escalier

the title of the mix is ΣLCTRNC MX 2, and this particular song I fell in love with right away.

Come on, dig that title. Boy moves the sun.

here's the link to the mix.....
http://die-fremde.blogspot.com/2009/05/lctrnc-mx-2_16.html

Hitoshi Matsumato - 'Visual Album'

動画検索エンジンFooooo[フー]で無料の動画を探す

Grasslung - Sincere Void

Mmmmmmmm...

Scarred Hands They Drifted

My Little Airport - 悲傷的採購

Don't know too much about this band except they're based out of Hong Kong and, as another blog has already laid claim, they sound a bit like early magnetic fields. Any thoughts on this, Mr. Bobby?

Digging the synth solo at 1:45, - swear I've heard this sampled somewhere before....

Michael Anthony Drunk Bass Solo

There is just too much to love about this video. Every second is priceless. Not sure if he's actually drunk here since I've heard that the Jack Daniels could have been iced tea, but who cares?

Factrix

I don't know much about this band other than the fact that they're one of the many post-punk/industrial bands out of San Francisco. I listened to quite a bit of Tuxedomoon yesterday and figured I should find something else in the same vane. Factrix taps into the uneasy curiosity of Tuxedomoon for me, and makes me bob my head and keeps me checking behind me in a constant state of paranoia.

Ballad of the Grim Rider


Phantom Pain

Comfort Fit - Bit by Bit (Polyshufflez LP)

NZ Book Council - Going West

Polmo Polpo - Like Hearts Swelling

Back when everything coming out of Montreal and on Constellation was the most interesting, epic, and listenable sound I wanted to hear... I dug this one up this morning and probably hadn't listened to it in five years. The song starts off as a massively growing rhythmic drone, and ends as a semi-dance rock song.

electric stimulus to face -test4 ( Daito Manabe 's friends )

Mathematiques Modernes - Disco Rough (12'' Version)

Get up and dance.

Ike Yard - "Cherish"

I stumbled across Ike Yard when I noticed a compilation Acute put out when I worked at the radio station. It instantly grabbed me. Josh definitely turned me onto a million post punk bands I still listen to today, so I figured I'd post a track I enjoy from a band we'd never talked about.

(from discogs.com)
Ike Yard was founded in 1979 in New York. Members are Stuart Argabright, Kenny Compton (bass/vocals), Fred Szymanski (synthesizers/ programming) & Michael Diekmann (guitar). Together they recorded for labels like Disques du Crépuscule and Factory. Ike Yard dissolved at the beginning of 1983. Their only album, 'A Fact A Second' (on Factory in 1982) is still a classic in the minimal genre and stood the test of time very easily.

Lasos (?)

Rene Hell - Rogue Camera

Another track from Rene Hell. This track is from Rogue Camera, the bonus cd to Porcelain Opera. Propulsive ambient music.

Alec Eiffel

Fiona and Neve's newest love is the Pixies.  I used to get weird high-schooly feelings when I would listen to them in adulthood, but now... as I watch them hang onto Kim Deal's every word and pretend to be her while screaming "GIGANTIC, GIGANTIC!", I'm brought back to that fledgling appreciation I had decades ago.



This is their favorite song. And it's this song that inspired Fiona to ask for a guitar and lessons for her birthday. Ahem, Uncle Josh???

Slowdive - "Country Rain"

Slowdive's brand of a certain "country space rock" perfectly channeling the Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks.

WTF? Brian Eno Signs to Warp

Not sure what's up with this yet. Just got this email since I subscribe to Warp's newsletter.

Deutsche Wertarbeit - Deutsche Wertarbeit (1981)

(from Crack In The The Cosmic Egg)

The name Deutsche Wertarbeit was the working pseudonym for a one-off project by Dorothea Raukes, the lady synth/keyboardist from Streetmark. The LP she made was mostly of a melodic and sequential type of synth music (performed entirely on Korg equipment) with the accent on rhythm and catchy tunes on most tracks, typical of the early-80's.

Taps right into the playful synth experimentation that makes krautrock so inspiring to me. The most mindblowing part is that I've NEVER heard this woman's name referenced with the genre. The song "Auf Engelsflugeln" resonates with me particularly since it seemingly serves as the model for a ton of current synth-dance stuff I'm listening to today.

Guten Abend Leute


Auf Engelsflugeln

The 6ths - Wasps' Nests

Stephin Merritt is by far my favorite living pop song writer. I can almost honestly say that not a day goes by that one of his songs (-hundreds of songs released under almost as many band names) doesn't get stuck in my head. Heartbreaking melodies with words that make fun of heartbreaking melodies. His lyrics are hilarious, depressing, haunting, and joyful all at the same time.

The 6ths' first album was created by Merritt as a tribute to himself. Apparently he felt the need to create one since no one else had by 1996. As with many of his recordings up to this point, Merritt wrote and plays each instrument on these songs. Each track (other than one) has a guest artist to fill in the vocal duties: everyone from Mark Robinson (Unrest, Flin Flon), Chris Knox (Tall Dwarfs), Mac McCaughan (Merge Recs, Portastatic, Superchunk), Anna Domino, Ayako Akashiba, Mitch Easter, and Lou Barlow.

Here's a couple songs from the debut album, "Wasps' Nests," which furthers the tongue-twister of the project name. Georgia Hubley (a love of my life second only to Ro Nay Nay) from Yo La Tengo guests on the first one, followed by Dean Wareham from Galaxie 500 and Dean & Britta. Perfect summer pop. I absolutely adore the production of both of these songs, but the Arthur Russell-esque drum sound on Georgia's song.

Movies in My Head (feat. Georgia Hubley)

Falling Out of Love (With You) (feat. Dean Wareham)

Rene Hell - Porcelain Opera

Rene Hell's Porcelain Opera has been in my head(phones) constantly for the past couple weeks. It's dark but enjoyable, inspiring and invigorating. Works well in many settings and moods.

ROEDELIUS - CAFE CENTRAL - JARDIN AU FOU

I walked into Other music yesterday and they had Roedelius's album Lustwandel playing (Bobby have you heard this yet? Bobby, you should hear it....) and that sound, this sound from Jardin Au Fou, immediately brings back the blissed out feeling of youth. Maybe you'll understand when you hear, but the associations I have with Cluster will never grow far from those late nights spent aimlessly driving to nowhere in particular, just enjoying the ride, enjoying my time.

Boyd Rice/NON - "Terra Incognita: Ambient Works 1975 - Present"

I feel like I've posted this track already, but hey...

Chet Atkins - Mr. Sandman (TV 1954)

Øystein Sunde - Nattoget

My life just got a little brighter

Masayoshi Fujita & Jan Jelinek - Bird, Lake, Objects

Absolute beauty. This one takes its time to develop and the outcome couldn't be nicer. The higher the volume, the better.

R.I.P. Harvey Pekar

"Alex Meets Autotune"

Stereolab - "(Varoom!)"

One of the earlier Stereolab releases that I'd never heard before. I absolutely love this one. A perfect throwback to the hey day of Too Pure. This makes me want to hear nothing other than old Electrelane's drone pop and Th' Faith Healers/Quickspace's noise pop.

Just make sure you wait for the Suicide/Cluster-homage at roughly 3.5-minutes.

Tommy Lee Jones - Japanese Alien

Watching Tommy Lee Jones scowl and grimace in his films is one thing. Watching him use the same effect as he plays an alien visitor attempting to decipher Japanese culture.....

My Bloody Moratorium

Firstly, I'm sorry for the blog delay. I am the father, who has abandoned his child. Now, can we play catch again?

thank you, so very much, all ye faithful children - Bobby and Dera, you have my love.

As Bobby has been posting the most fresh and recent music, I shall now go for, a finely aged youtube song - mind the mold.



This song isn't on Loveless, so maybe you haven't heard it yet... Apparently this song is about oral sex, but the kids running around my store don't seem to notice.

I have no idea who's reading this, and it's kind of like typing into a void

Arp - "White Light"

Here's a fantastic little jam for you. Warm Velvet Underground guitar loop coupled with Faust-ian dicking around. There's something absolutely perfect and endlessly listenable to this gem. Solo project from a member of Tussle. The album "The Soft Wave" (pictured above) comes out 9/7 on Smalltown Supersound.

The Books - "A Cold Freezin' Night"

Musique concrète at its absolute-poppiest. The new Books album , The Way Out, is due out July 10th and will be the band's first album on Temporary Residence. Let's hope it's a return to form for the band.

"Why do you always get away with these things? I'm gonna kill you; so you'll stay alive as long as I want you to, so I can kill you.... Probably by cutting your toes off, and working my way up to your brain."

Ulf Lohmann - "Because Before"

There will always be a special place in my heart for Kompakt's trademarked Pop Ambient compilations. Known more for European minimal techno/house music, the Pop Ambient series allows a handful of the less prolific artists on the Kompakt roster a chance to showcase their brand of "poppy" ambient music.

I just stumbled across this full length by one of the usual names tapped for the series. Never heard an album by Ulf before, but I'm really enjoying this one... The cover art equally blows and rules at the same time...

Warm Ghost Tracks

I'm not sure why I didn't post links to the new Geographic North material on here sooner. We just released the debut EP by Paul Duncan's new electronic/atmospheric pop project, also known as Warm Ghost. The Claws Overhead EP is almost a completely new direction for Paul, as his previous releases were rooted more in the folk world. The new sound is somewhere between Solid Space, OMD, AFX, and Fennesz. I know those "sounds like" descriptions are either entirely misleading or downright false, but I figured I'd give it a shot.

Paul's new songs are the result of recent collaborations with drone/"sound" artists such as Oren Ambarchi and David Daniell. The Claws Overhead EP is limited to 500-copies on white vinyl, with artwork designed by Geographic North, and includes a download code for the album's songs and exclusive remixes by Ekkehard Ehlers, David Daniell, Ateleia and Oren Ambarchi.

Song from the EP - "Open the Wormhole in Your Heart"
Open the Wormhole in Your Heart by GeoNorth

Warm Ghost remix of Bear in Heaven's "Ultimate Satisfaction"
Bear in Heaven - Ultimate Satisfaction (Warm Ghost mix) by GeoNorth

Emeralds - "Now You See Me"

It's taken me several weeks of passing the new Emeralds off to finally give it a serious listen. "Drone" albums that come out of nowhere and somehow top EVERY single current list of online music magazines, record store lists, etc... just don't rub me the right way. It's nothing like "It's popular, so I won't like it" or anything like that.

Anyway, I gave the new one, "Does it Look Like I'm Here?" a listen and absolutely love it. There's some serious channeling of the analog Cluster/Eno collaboration-vibes going on here.

Felt - Primitive Painters

Summertime bliss in this one. Robin Guthrie, of Cocteau Twins, producing. Elizabeth Fraser, of Cocteau Twins, on back-up vocals.

(disregard boring video; the audio is key)

Hello?

Did I miss MMP's funeral?  Please someone post something quick so that it doesn't look as if I'm the one who finished it off?

Guilty (of LOVING this song)

Werking Out*

Terry- husband, music benefactor, driver, and incurable straggler.
Dera- wife, music heiress, passenger, and (all too often) stranded.

Yesterday, Terry offered to go to the Farmer's Mkt. with our children, while I spend some always-welcomed alone time at the YMCA.  Being the one-car-family that we are, I was dropped off out front, while he unknowingly drove away with my phone and wallet.

(insert sweatbands, purple leotards, Jane Fonda, high-top Reeboks, and the Rocky theme song here for an entire hour.)

Once clean, dressed in clothing that isn't made of cotton spandex, and ready to go home and eat a bowl of mashed potatoes, I realize that I have no means of communication on me.  I'm stranded at the Y... of all places.  It's a mild nightmare. 

But how long could a person grocery shop, right?  I took the rare opportunity to go outside, enjoy the unseasonably beautiful 70º weather we were having, and listen to Terry's ipod in the meantime.

I pulled up a lounge chair alongside the closed pool.  I was alone, and I had nothing to do.  No children, no games on any iphone, no magazines, not even a writing utensil.  I was stranded on an island with only a pair of headphones.  (A huge first-world problem.)

So, I began to scroll through the names of artists on his ipod, looking for anything recognizably good.  Some, like, Kool and the Gang or somethin.

But, in the spirit of pushing myself to do something that is slightly outside of my comfort zone (like exercising), I made myself skip over New Order, Kool and the Gang, and Stereolab.

I went to work- Kraftwerk, that is.

The warmth of the sun (after a long cold spell in the south, I might add), the satisfying ache of a post-calisthenics, and the absence of small people begging for flavored milk, I fell into a trance of sorts... a meditative state that was better than anything I thought could come of my first true Krautrock experience.  I haven't listened to this band since college.  And for good reason.  There are few times in my day that I'm eager for a noisy accompaniment to the glamorous job of making up beds and scrubbing toilets.

But placed under these already wonderful conditions and forced to listen over an hour of whatever, I closed my eyes and let my mind go everywhere (other than making up beds and scrubbing toilets).  It was like I took a hit of acid.  Better than any massage, yoga class, facial, or bowl of mashed potatoes I've ever had.

The first song, Ruckzuck, was so familiar.  But truthfully I'm more aware of their (very different) later werks, like Autobahn and Radio-Activity.  It finally came to me, with a little help from Google.  It was the theme song from the old PBS show, Newton's Apple, that my parents used to watch waaaay back when cable television was reserved for fancy folk. 

(disregard the long intro)

Even more interestingly, Ruckzuck translates to "very quickly" with a slight connotation of "push-pull", or so says Wiki.  All I kept thinking as I listened was how beautifully orchestrated the ebb and flow of these 2 albums were, and how amazed I was that they could keep my interest for over an hour of uninterrupted listening.

Magically, Terry picked me up at the end of Kraftwerk 2.  If you are familiar with these albums and their lengthiness, please take a moment to add up how long I waited for him.  

But it was a nice hour and a half.

The moral of the story: pleasure comes in unusual forms, usually discovered with a little self-coercion. Also, forgo Kool and the Gang for a little Krautrock.  Also also, use the term Krautrock more than once in a paragraph and you are a bonafide pain in the asshole.

*I've already told my brother this story, only to have him say, "Wow. That's really cool.  I'm in need of getting excited over something that's not very exciting.  Kinda like this."  Yup.

Nostalgia

Growing used to be the only thing I cared about. This is a very important video document of that very important time in my life:

Growing live in Saint Louis. Spooky Action from joseph raglani on Vimeo.

-p.s.- their new album is coming out on Vice Records (wtf?) next month. From what I've sampled, it'll be better than I was afraid it was going to be.

Takashi Ito

Moondog - German Years 1977-1999

I've never really given Moondog a chance. Vaguely eccentric recording pseudonym. Legendary life of esoteric mystery. Possibly homeless?

I know Josh has been a fan of this guy for a while (even adding a post to this blog back in the day), so I downloaded this one for its comical (to me) cover. It's been on endless repeat in my headphones lately. The opening track, "Bird's Lament," just served as an epic soundtrack to forming hamburger patties and mandolin-ing potatoes into french fries.

John Cale - Seducing Down the Door

Now, aside from some of Lou Reed's more notorious solo material, it's taken me a good long time to branch out from the Velvet Underground's discography. But, finally, i've come across a collection of John Cale's solo output which is fantastic in it's variety of style and more than enough to whet the pallet of even the swiftest Ipod song cyclers.
I've had this song on repeat....




Here's the link to the collection:

http://www.amazon.com/Seducing-Down-Door-Collection-1970-1990/dp/B0000033AE

OOP? Might just post the whole thing if so....

The Roches - "Hammond Song"

Something about this track really kills me. I must have listened to it ten-times today. Maybe it's the fact that I was expecting a mere 30-seconds of displeasure before skipping to the next curious band I stumbled across at work, but this one's a sweet, sweet killer.

The Roches are a trio of sisters from 1960's New Jersey and create some pretty resonant harmonies. The song might be a bit longer than necessary (5:46), but reels me back in every time the chorus cycles by with a touch of the Frippertronics. Honestly, how did this group get involved with Robert Fripp in the first place?