Archive for the ‘Blondie’ Category

Sighing to Prog Rock and Writing About Blondie

Tuesday, November 17th, 2015

I have nothing to say in regards to recent events that I feel like sharing with anyone aside from this: when faced with crippling dread and/or anxiety related to world suffering I find that prog rock helps.

I recommend Yes’s third album. It’s a good one.

I wish I had prog rock to share with you tonight, but instead some post-new wave disco remixes and Japanese covers of German techno will have to do.

Blondie
Good Boys (Giorgio Moroder Extended Short)
Good Boys (Giorgio Moroder Single Mix)
Good Boys (Scissor Sisters’ Gyad Byas Myax Mix Extended)
Good Boys (Scissor Sisters’ Gyad Byas Myax Ya Mix)
Good Boys (A1 People Full Version)
These are remixes of a track from Curse Of Blondie, the Blondie album nobody bought. I include myself in that royal nobody, so I can’t comment on the quality of said record. “Good Boys” is a pretty dope track, and the Moroder remixes really channel the frantic and dark energy of their classic “Call Me.” It’s no “Call Me,” obviously, and the weird Queen-esque rap is a bit out of place, but it’s still pretty good.

I don’t know what the fuck “extended short” means in terms of remixes though. That’s not a thing, Blondie, don’t say that!

Yellow Magic Orchestra
Radioactivity
If you’ve been reading my massive all-encompassing review of YMO’s work, you’d know that this song opens their most recent live album, No Nukes 2012. It’s a good live album, but the only thing that makes it stand out at all is this somber and haunting cover of the classic Kraftwerk tune, which I feel that YMO have made their own with this fantastic take on it. I hope one day that I get to hear YMO perform live in person. Takahashi has a new studio album coming out this year so hopefully I’ll at least get to see him sometime soon.

Blondie For President

Tuesday, October 30th, 2012

Got a great comment on my Romney Rant.

And by “great” I mean “fucking idiotic nonsense.”

Also, consider the very real possibility that people like Romney because Obama has been an unmitigated disaster. Take your pick:

ObamaCare
Attacking the church
Attacking small business
Benghazi
Israel
Iran
The economy, the economy, the economy, etc.

Romney, on the other hand, shines because none of the negative stuff you’ve posted is true. Obama’s re-election campaign has tried again and again to make stuff stick, but none of it works because IT’S NOT TRUE. The fact you’d believe any of it betrays the fact that you don’t know anything. Stick to talking about music.

I wrote a somewhat detailed response to this idiocy in the comment section for that post, and I suggest you look at it, but I wanted to talk about this a little more.

The above comment is pretty indicative of why America is going in the shitter: stupid liars who will stop at nothing to prevent change and progressive thought from taking a foothold in America. Obama isn’t “Attacking the church.” He’s never done anything of the sort. Demanding that religious groups treat women’s health the same as men’s health is not a “war on religion,” it’s a war against sexism and misogyny.

(And if you’re stupid enough to think that demanding religious organizations cover birth control in their insurance is a war on a church’s values, then why do those same religious organizations cover Viagra for men, even if they’re single or have no desire to have children? Yeah. Thought so.)

Like I said, I already went through all of these idiotic claims when I responded to twit, so I’m not going to do it again. But I want everyone to remember, this is the kind of shit that American progress is up against; idiots who will deny the truth even when its staring them in the face, all while slinging out their own pile of bullshit lies and distortions. I stand by my list of facts against Romney. Those are all true. Shit, nearly all of them are things he has said in public and stood by! The man is an bigoted prick who doesn’t understand the worries, concerns, needs and issues of the common person, minorities, the poor, the GLBT community, and just about anyone else who isn’t a rich white assholes. And trust me, rich white assholes love the dude and will continue to lie and distort the facts to help their own pocketbooks and fuck you over.

Is Obama perfect? No! Not at all! Not by a long shot. He has done a lot of things that I think are deplorable, but I think he’s the best bet America has had in a long time for the country to actually move in a direction that might  leave future generations better off. If nothing else, a vote for him is a vote against a racist, sexist, homophobic bigot, and that’s enough for me.

In other news, I hope all my East Coast peeps (and everyone else along the East Cost for that matter) are holding up alright. Remember everyone, even though America has a great system of disaster relief set up, it never hurts to toss a few bucks to Red Cross during these hard times. Even if they don’t need the money for this disaster, it will eventually come in handy. So do your part.

Now more Blondie!

Blondie
One Way Or Another (Damien’s Express Check Out Dub)
Rapture (K-Klassic Instrumental)
Rapture (Guru’s Fly Party Mix)
Rapture (Pharmacy Dub)
Rapture (Guru’s Fly Party Instrumental)
Rapture (Phactory Beats)
Rapture (K-Klassic Radio Mix)
Rapture (The Teddy Riley Remix)
Rapture (Dub Version)
Union City Blue (Diddy’s Power and Passion Mix)
Union City Blue (Vinny Vero’s Turquoise Mix)
Union City Blue (Burger Queen Peroxide Power Mix)
Union City Blue (OPM Poppy Mix)
Union City Blue (Burger Queen Babes In Toyland Mix)
Union City Blue (Vinny Vero’s Double Hand Dub)
See? Lots more Blondie! And most of these remixes are pretty great (aside from that “One Way Or Another” dub mix…ick). The singles that I culled these from actually had even more mixes, such as the full-length K-Klassic remix, but since you can get those on iTunes and Amazon, I didn’t include them here.

I already have most of  my next post written and I think I’m finally on the way to getting the “big announcement” ready! So hopefully this will be a pretty productive week.

I Hate Romney. I Love Blondie.

Monday, October 29th, 2012

I haven’t been writing a lot lately and it’s been getting me down.

Actually the reason why I haven’t been writing a lot is because I’ve been down. So I guess it’s a vicious cycle. I get depressed, so I can’t write, which makes me depressed and repeat until I’m banging my head into my keyboard, eventually giving up, and then walking away from my computer, turning on my Xbox and booting up XCOM. (Seriously, that game is dope.)

But what’s making me so depressed?

I couldn’t figure it out at first. I was just walking around with this huge, painful knot in my stomach and an unending sense of dread in my inner being, not knowing what was causing it nor what could make it go away.

Then I figured it out, the senses of dread, despair and desperation would hit their fullest whenever I looked at the news. Specifically, whenever I found an article about the election.

Simply put: The possibility of Mitt Romney being elected president of the United States of America is making me depressed.

Actually, a more accurate statement would be: the fact that approximately half of America is going to vote for Mitt Romney to be President of the United States is making me oppressively, destructively depressed, launching me into a perfect storm pit of rage and sadness that my soul has never known.

I just…I can’t wrap my head around it. My personality has always been an odd combination of pessimism and optimism. I’ve slightly misanthropic, but at the end of the day, I’ve always thought that most people are good, or at least have the capacity for goodness in them. Never in my most hate-filled, antisocial, misanthropic nightmares would I think that the majority of the American people would actively support someone as disgusting, sickening, stupid, evil, foul, repugnant and bigoted as Mitt Romney.

I need to rant about this, I’m sorry. I think it’s good for my psyche. And hey, if you’re a republican and you’re like “I don’t care about this, I just want some music!” Well, then fuck off. Of course you don’t care about what other people think. That’s what makes you a republican.

Basically, my internal despair and anger boils down to the fact that a shocking number of Americans either don’t know or just don’t care about all the horrible and disgusting things that Mitt Romney has done. It leaves me dumbfounded that a possible majority of Americans have no problem with any of the following things that Mitt Romney actually said and did:

Tortured his dog (and thought it was okay).
Gay-bashed a kid in high school for having long hair.
Doesn’t think that poor people in America die from a lack of health care.
WROTE OFF 47% OF THE FUCKING NATION.
Advocated the bankruptcy of the American auto industry.
Said that “gay people are having families and that’s not right.”
Called corporations people.
Used racist language and symbolism in both his ads and stump speeches.
Put words in Obama’s mouth and built his entire campaign (and autobiography) off of it.
Attacked and berated women who were seeking abortions for medical reasons.
Hasn’t ruled out an attack on Iran, despite no evidence that they’ve actually done anything “wrong.” (By “wrong” I mean have the same weapons use white countries have).
Is against any kind of environmental regulation at all, and he joked about it.
Would like to see abortion illegal and defund Planned Parenthood. (although he sure lies about that a lot). (Seriously, a lot.)

Oh, and one time his wife doped up a horse to sell it at an inflated price, and got caught.

So yeah, the fact that America might elect a racist, sexist, homophobic, isolationist, alarmist, classist, anti-civil rights, anti-human rights bigoted out-of-touch hypocritical asshole kind of bums me out just a little bit. And the fact that most people aren’t as bummed out about it as I am kind of bums me out a little bit more.

But hey, there’s nothing I can do about it huh?

Other than vote.

And if you feel the same way as I do. Please. Please. PLEASE vote. It’s, like, kind of important for the future of America and stuff.

It’s also important for the future stability of my mental health/this blog.

So now that I have that out of the way, here are a shitton of Blondie remixes.

Blondie
Atomic (Armand’s Atomizer Mix)
Atomic (New Disco Mix)
Atomic (Beautiful Drum And Bass Mix)
Atomic (Diddy Pushes The Button Mix)
Atomic (Boom Mix)
Atomic (Explosive Ecstasy Mix)
Denis (The ’88 Remix)
Heart Of Glass (MK 12″ Mix)
Heart Of Glass (Richie Jones Club Mix)
Heart Of Glass (Diddy’s Adorable Illusion Mix)
Heart Of Glass (Original Disco Version)
Heart Of Glass (MK Dub)
Heart Of Glass (Richie Jones Dub)
Heart Of Glass (Diddy’s Adorable Illusion Instrumental)
Heart Of Glass (Diddy’s Remix Edit)
Told ya. Shitton of Blondie.

Now, not all of these are bangers. A few of these mixes are way too tailored for the dance floor and consist of little more than one section of the song looped ad nauseum. This is especially true for some of the “Atomic” mixes, which is a real drag because I love the original version of that song. Still, most of these are worth at least one listen, if for nothing else other than the complete randomness of their existence. I mean, seriously, a drum and bass remix of “Atomic?” I don’t know why that exists, but I’m sure glad it does.

The “Heart of Glass” mixes fair far better. Sure, there are some clunkers and drab dub mixes, but the “Original Disco Version,” “12” MK Mix” and several others are all great, understated mixes that are well worth your time. They’re all also epic in length, so clear your schedule.

My fifth favorite Belgium EBM act. Also Blondie.

Sunday, August 12th, 2012

I guess NBC borked the Closing Ceremonies, cutting out Muse, The Who, Kate Bush and a ton of other amazing performances. I didn’t even bother watching it, because  I knew that would happen. I’ll just download the BBC’s broadcast in a few days. Once I do that, I’ll probably convert the whole thing to audio and then make MP3s out of the best songs. I probably can’t share them here though, because I hear the IOC cracks down pretty hard on any blogs that put up that stuff.

You guys know I’m on Twitter right? I mean…you should totally follow me on that.

*whistles innocently and walks away*

Front 242
Rhythm Of Time (12″ Remix)
Rhythm Of Time (Anti-G Mix)
Rhythm Of Time (Victor The Cleaner)
I’ve been trying to get into Front 242 for a long time, and will occasionally buy a 12″ single when I see one used, hoping it will be the track that finally gets me to appreciate them, but it’s always been to no avail. That is, until now, I think I finally found the song that will get me to dig into their actual records. Of course, it’s “Rhythm Of Time,” the closest thing the band ever had to a hit, so I guess that makes me a mainstream-leaning poser, but whatever, I like my hardcore industrial electronic body music to have a slight pop edge. Blame Nine Inch Nails.

Blondie
Call Me (The Ben Liebrand Remix)
Backfired (Remix)
I was going to start this description by saying that it would be impossible to find any connection between the Front 242 tracks and these Blondie remixes by producer Ben Liebrand, but then I went and found one. Liebrand is from the Netherlands. Front 242 is from Belgium. They are literally connected, sharing a border. So there you go.

These remixes are from 1989, several years after Blondie called it quits, and several years before they eventually reformed in the 90s. I think that Chrysalis Records just occasionally put these things out whenever they needed a quick buck. Still, I guess there are worst ways to pay the bills. At least they scored some great producers to have a go at these tracks. Ben Liebrand is a stellar producer/remixer who has worked with Genesis, TLC and Grace Jones, to name a few,  the fact that he’s still making and releasing mixes shows that he’s doing something right. As for the “Backfired” mix, that was done by Bruce Forest, a DJ who did mixes for The Soup Dragons, OMD and a ton of other great artists from the late 80s and early 90s. It’s good, but of the two I think I prefer Liebrand’s take on “Call Me,” thanks to its extended synth sections that really work to Moroder it up in a great way.

Bjork’s Book Of Blondie Love

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

Holy shit I’m back. Sober! Oh well. That might not last all week though (sorry mom)!

I’m also not feeling very talkative tonight, so I’ll be keeping things brief. I’ll be back to my ranting misanthropic self in a day or so. It’s late.

Book Of Love
Boy (Peter Rauhoffer Club Mix)
Boy (Headrillaz Extended Vocal Mix)
Boy (Headrillaz Dub)
Boy (Dubaholics Mix)
Boy (Dubaholics Dub)
Boy (Peter Rauhoffer Dub)
Boy (RPO Remix)

I have a feeling this song is big with “the gays.” I have no basis for that other than the fact than the lyric “I wanna be where the boys are” and the fact that one of my gay friends LOVES Book Of Love. Educated and mature I know. These are from a 2LP 12” that came out in 2000 for som strange reason.

Bjork
I Miss You (R.H. Factor Lovely Mix)
This mix is quite good, although I think proclaiming it to be “lovely” is a bit egotistical of the remixer. I have more remixes of this song on vinyl, and if I ever get that record to play without skipping like it’s on jello in the middle of an earthquake, I will share them with you all.

Blondie
Rapture (Guru’s Fly Party Mix)
This is a very weird remix. I’ve had it for a very long time, so long that I forgot where I found it. It is however the only remix of “Rapture” you can’t buy on iTunes, so I’m featuring it tonight. Much like the “lovely” mix, I think proclaiming this mix to be “fly” is a bit bold. It wouldn’t got that far for sure. It’s quite…groovy though.