Oy. I’ve been busy as shit. First I had a Gary Numan concert in Detroit (which as totally fucking awesome) and then I was off to Chicago for Lollapalooza. Lollapalooza was a great show and I got to see some amazing bands (check out my photos here.)
Some highlights:
The lead singer of Be Your Own Pet headbanging so much she puked.
This chick.
This dude.
This sign.
Gnarls Barkley (’nuff said).
Meeting the dude from She Wants Revenge (I’m on the right…duh.)
So yea, busy couple of weeks. But I return with bitchin’ tunes from Chicago. I wanted to make this an all Lolla-related post, but I just got too much good shit to share. I’m going to try to make up for lost time and post a lot of stuff this week. Here’s some stuff for starters. I’m going to have to get a new turntable or turntable needle before I record any other vinyl though, it’s sucking up a storm.
Muse – Crying Shame
Muse – Plug In Baby (Live)
I had some misgivings about Muse’s new album since the single ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ was so much unlike anything I’ve ever heard them do. My doubts were put to rest when the album came out a few weeks ago – because it’s typical amazing Muse. I don’t know how Matt Belamy makes his guitar generate the noises it does, but when he does it right it sounds downright godly. ‘Crying Shame’ is the B-side to the picture-disc single of ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ and the live version of ‘Plug In Baby’ is off of the Symmetry Singles Box Set (which was never released here in America.) The original version of ‘Plug In Baby’ appeared on the album Origin Of Symmetry, which was released in 2001 in every country but America, where it didn’t appear until AFTER the follow-up Absolution proved to be a big hit. Plug In Baby is undoubtedly one of the best singles of all time, and it features one of the best guitar riffs ever recorded in the history of rock music. Had it been promoted and released in America I’m sure it would’ve skyrocketed up the charts and made the record company buckets of dough. And the RIAA wonders why record sales are down…
The New Pornographers – Your Daddy Don’t Know
This is off the soundtrack to a movie called FUBAR. I know nothing about the movie, but I sure as hell dig The New Pornographers. They were at Lollapalooza and even though they were lacking a Neko Case they still put on an incredible show. They closed with ‘Sing Me Spanish Techno’ which caused half of the audience (including me) to start one huge dance-train. It was one of the best concert experiences of my life. This song is a cover of someone, but I don’t know who.
Sex Pistols – God Save The Queen (Dance Mix)
The idea of a dance mix of one of the most influential and important punk songs of all time may be a little off-putting, but if give it a chance and you just might like it. This is off of the two-disc version of John Lydon’s Greatest Hits, which I scored this at the Virgin Megastore in Chicago, which is an awesome place if you love imports because they have an entire floor of them. If you know a lot about Lydon and his post Pistols work, this remix shouldn’t be much of a surprise. He did after all form the revolutionary post-punk dance group Public Image Limited in the late 70s, he collaborated with Afrika Bambaataa for the Time Zone project, and he has also worked with the dance music production team known as Leftfield on more than occasion. This remix is as minimalistic as a dance song can get and still have a beat, and gives you an idea of what The Sex Pistols’ catalog might have sounded like if recorded by Public Image Limited.
The Hardsonic Bottoms 3 – Do It Anyway You Wanna
I have no idea as to what this is. I picked it up a Jerry’s a while ago on a whim (it was only three bucks) and haven’t been able to find any information on it since. It’s some sort of bizarre dance song, probably from the mid-80s. It ain’t half bad (it ain’t half good either ) if anyone knows anything about it, let me know.