Another Post Before The Ice Storm

February 2nd, 2011

Short post tonight, but whatever, it has good music.

So far Pittsburgh has avoided Snowpacalypse 2011. Right now its just raining, and that rain isn’t even of the freezing variety. I’m sure we’ll get some form of wintery hell eventually however. So I’m not leaving my house until Thursday at the absolute earliest. The outside world is really overrated anyways.

Oh hey, I reviewed Pendulum’s new CD, go read that.

Also, while I didn’t review the new Duran Duran CD, my editor did. Read that, I think I like it more than him though. It’s pretty great. Its hard to find good pop music these days.

And hey, speaking of pop music(k)…

M
Pop Muzik (Britannia ’89 Remix)
Pop Muzik (Cabinet Remix)
Pop Muzik (The Hip Hop Club Remix)
Pop Muzik (The Hip Hop Remix)
Pop Muzik (Tolga’s Version)
Why not? I’ve posted a couple of these before, but if you’re like me and stuck in a fucking winter wonderland, then you might be feeling a bit down. Nothing like some good/great/godlike late 70s synthpop to really lift the spirits! These are all from various singles, CDs and other places. There are like 20 billion remixes of this song, so I’m not even trying to find out if these are available commercially still. I’m far too tired and slightly drunk to worry about that.

Posted in M., remixes | 2 Comments »

The Post Before The Ice Storm

February 1st, 2011

I buy a lot of vinyl.

I know, it’s shocking.

But I don’t just buy old out-of-print 12″ singles by synthpop artists, I buy new records too! I try to buy all new music exclusively on vinyl. I like to own something tangible when I buy music, and nothing is more tangible than vinyl.

Thankfully, a lot of labels and artists are picking up on this and releasing their records on vinyl the same day they are released digitally. This is cool of them, and it helps me keep faith that physical media isn’t quite dead yet.

However, they don’t always do it right, in fact sometimes the do it so wrong its just fucking insulting. Here are some of my biggest beefs with new vinyl releases.

No Digital Download
Yes, I buy vinyl partially because I think records sound better than MP3s, however, records sure as hell aren’t as convienent as MP3s. Its nice to have a digital copy of an album. And while I obviously know how to record an LP and convert it to MP3, not everyone does. So when they buy a vinyl copy of an album and it doesn’t come with a digital copy of the record they’re basically either forced to buy the album twice or steal it from a torrent site just to get the ability to play it on their computer or MP3 player. Labels shouldn’t make their customers resort to theft, they should give them the digital copy too. Not only that, if the person is buying the record from the artist or label’s official site, then they should get a link to download the tracks immediately and not have to wait for the physical copy to come in the damn mail. If I’m buying an album the day it comes out I want to listen to it the day it comes out, not wait two to four weeks for delivery.

ID Tags
Even if an artist includes a digital download with their vinyl release they can still find ways to fuck that up. One of the most annoying ways is when they don’t bother to create ID tags for the digital files. Sometimes they aren’t given track numbers, and other times album or even artist info is left blank! That’s just lazy and stupid. And that means that I have to fill that shit in. Is it the end of the world? No, but it’s really annoying. Everyone does this to some degree, but RJD2’s label seems to be particularly bad at it, which is annoying because I love his music and he’s a really nice guy. But seriously, how hard is it to make sure your MP3s are labeled properly?

Audio Quality
One of the reasons why I buy vinyl is because I hate over-compressed CDs that crank up the audio to levels that are far too loud. Vinyl actually can’t be too loud, the grooves can’t go that deep. Vinyl geeks like how vinyl sounds, so the MP3s that come with them should come from a vinyl source. Sadly, this is pretty rare. Most MP3 downloads that come with records are taken from the same digital, over-compressed, too-loud source that are used for the CD and digital release, so more often than not I end up recording my vinyl copy so I have a copy of the record for my iPod that actually sounds good. Is annoying. Of course, if they’re going to give vinyl buyers high quality versions of the songs then they might as well just give everyone those higher-quality versions, and we know that’s never going to happen. Nearly every digital download has this problem, I can only think of one notable exception: Beck’s Modern Guilt, which was actually taken from a master vinyl copy (you even hear the needle drop!) and it sounds amazing.

Extras
You can buy a digital copy of The New Pornographers’ Together at Amazon for $8.99. The CD costs just a scant more at $9.29. The LP costs $16.99, that’s almost like buying two digital copies. I know LPs cost more than CDs or digital copies to produce and distribute, but the consumers who shell out the extra bucks shoulnd’t have to eat all of that cost. Why can’t the labels or artists give us something extra since we paid extra? The added content can come in the way of bonus songs on MP3. Since the album should have a digital download link anyways, they should just throw a few more songs on it. It would cost the label almost nothing and actually encourage the fans to shell out more for the more expensive version. Everyone wins! The vinyl copy of El-P’s Weareallgoingtoburninhellmegamixx3 comes with digital download links to the first two volumes of the series, which is nice. However, those downloads lead me to my final point, which is…

Don’t be fucking lazy
The digital versions of the first two mixes are a great inclusion for fans, but they sound like SHIT. And I don’t mean that they are overcompressed or too loud, I mean that they sound like they were taken from a CD that was dragged through a shredder. Its hard to tell if the audio quality is supposed to be bad on these, I’m sure some of the audio glitches are intentional, but its hard to imagine that all the scratches, clips and other oddball audio effects included on these mixes were intentional. Even worse, both mixes have audio watermarks!

For those of you who don’t know, many times promo copies sent out to reviewers have audio watermarks included, these are usually distorted voices that play over the beginning or end of certain tracks, saying things like “You are listening to ALBUM” followed by a warning or an individualized number. These are included to help discourage leaks. They’re annoying enough on review copies, the fact that Definitive Jux couldn’t be bothered to remove them from a fucking FINAL COPY of a recording that is intended consumer use? Inexcusable! Now, it may be that these horribly annoying audio warnings were meant to be included in the original mixes, and if that’s the case then El-P is a fucking idiot.

You know who else is a fucking idiot? Kanye West. I just bought the deluxe vinyl version of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. And that thing is a fucking mess. No digital download, the audio quality is pretty crappy sounding and the art is censored!

The vinyl version of the album comes with, as Amazon describes “frameable artwork.”

Here’s one piece of the frameable artwork.

In case you were wondering, this is what the art is supposed to look like.

If that wasn’t bad enough, they even censor the art on the actual album.

You can’t even see the art from the outside of the box, so censoring it serves no purpose at all. Doing something like that requires a special kind of stupid. It’s really quite remarkable.

Dipshits.

Foxy Shazam
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
You know you aren’t dipshits? Foxy Shazam! They’re the opposite of dipshits, they are godlike geniuses who create music so fantasically amazing that if it gets any better it might cure cancer, solve world peace and function as a free energy source. I saw them last week and since then my eyesight has improved and I think my IQ has increased by 100 points. I also think I may have de-aged 10 years overnight and learned how to play every instrument ever known without taking a single lesson. This song, which is amazing and might just change your life strictly by the power of its perfect awesomeness, is from a 7″ single to their equally brilliant song “Oh Lord.”

Nine Inch Nails
Only (Richard X Edit
Only (Richard X Dub)
Only (EL-P Instrumental)
Nine In Nails are also not dipshits, and neither is Richard X, who created two of these great remixes. We’ve already been over the dipshitness of El-P, however. Thes are from a 12″.

Posted in B-sides, Foxy Shazam is the motherfucking real deal, NIN, remixes, Uncategorized | 7 Comments »

Little Big Music

January 26th, 2011

Nerd Alert!

I’ve been playing a lot of Little Big Planet 2 (or as the kids say, LBP2). I’m at the point now where I need to do some co-op stuff to unlock the hidden goodies. I keep trying to do this with random people online. But all the random people online kind of suck. No one will let me join their game, and when I have them join my game they just grief me. Goobers.

So if any of my readers play Little Big Planet 2 and are looking for a co-op partner, send me an email so we can talk about it. My email address is on the right side under my disclaimer.

Okay, the video game nerd talk is over, onto the music nerd talk!

Public Image Ltd.
Albatross (‘Melodrama’ Mix)
Death Disco (Swan Lake) (Unedited Monitor Mix)
I got these from a 12″ single that I’m fairly certain is a bootleg. If its not a bootleg it certainly doesn’t make its status as an “official” record obvious. There’s no label information, and no copyright marks anywhere. According to Discogs.com it was release in conjunction with John Lydon’s 2005 best-of compilation The Best Of British £1♫’s, which combined his best Sex Pistols and PIL tracks into one great 2xCD compilation. So maybe its one of those “official” unofficial things meant to appeal to hardcore collectors, who knows. I can tell you that this remix of “Albatross” does nothing to negate its status as one of the most abrasive tracks ever released by a major label recording artist, and that the remix of “Death Disco (Swan Lake)” is pretty much just an extended version of the already extended 12″ mix. If you have tolerance for Lydon’s lovey warble then you’ll probably dig both tracks. On a scale of 1 to 10 I would rate my love of Lydon at about a solid 7, so while I love the mix of “Death Disco (Swan Lake)” I think I would need to be paid to listen to that 10+ minute version of “Albatross” again. But hey, I’m sure me including here made some noise-rock loving hipster’s week, so I’m glad I can help spread dissonant joy around the world.

The Gossip
Listen Up (Tronik Youth Remix)
I have a bagillion remixes of Gossip tracks, one day I might actually buy a Gossip album. This is from a 12” single called “Indie Rock n’ Roll Remixed,” which also had that crazy version of Muse’s “Supermassive Black Hole” that I featured a few weeks ago. I’m fairly certain it’s a bootleg release as well.

Dalbello
Gonna Get Close To You
Wait For An Answer
Dalbello is a weird case. The Canadian born singer started out with happy-go-lucky disco in the late-80s, but in 1984 she completely reinvented herself (dropping her first name of Lisa in the process) and made a hard left from dance-pop into college-rock/alternative synth-pop with the release of Whomanfoursays, a collaboration between Lisa Dalbello herself and legendary David Bowie guitarist Mick Ronson. Its a tad dated, the sparse synthetic sound of the record isn’t exactly tearing up the pop charts of today, but that’s all part of its charm. Besides, Lisa Dalbellos’ voice powers through all of the the somewhat out-of-date production with a power that is nearly unmatched by more popular singers of her time.I don’t know why this album didn’t make a bigger splash when it came out, its a damn shame.

You can buy Whomanfoursays on Amazon for about 11 bucks. And you really should, so I’m not putting the complete album up here. However, I think more people should be exposed to the bitchin’ awesomeness that is Dalbello, so I’m going to share two of the tracks from the album. “Gonna Get Close To You” is the opening number, and really sets the stage for the whole record, with its emotional vocals, great guitar work and overall awesomeness. Oddly enough, it was covered by Queensryche just a couple years later. Their version is good too, and you can check it out here if you’re curious. “Wait For An Answer” is another standout cut, and probably features the range and power of Dalbello’s voice better than any other track on the album, which is really saying something since she sings like a mother on all the tracks.

So please, if you like these tracks do yourself a favor and pick of the album on Amazon. Like I said, its only 11 bucks, way more than worth it for those looking for amazing, well-written music by strong women who know how to rock, something that is sadly a rare commodity in pop music today (P!nk notwithstanding).

Posted in Dalbello, Public Image Ltd., The Gossip | 2 Comments »

Snow and Synths

January 21st, 2011

Its snowing.

Again.

You all have seen me rant about concert-goers, hipsters, video game companies, large retail websites, politicians, homophobes, sexists, racists, Jay Leno and Fergie. But man, I really hate shoveling snow. Unfortunately, there’s no point in ranting about how much I hate snow. When I go off about how much I hate rude concertgoers someone might read that and think “Hey, he’s right, I’m not going to talk at concerts anymore!” However, I highly doubt Mother Nature is reading my blog.

The nerve of her.

New Order
 Crystal (Digweed & Muir Bedrock Mix)
Crystal (Lee Coombs Remix)
Crystal (Digweed & Muir Bedrock Dub)
Crystal (John Creamer & Stephane K Main Remix)
Crystal (Creamer K Main Remix)
I don’t know if I’m more amazed at the fact that I found a New Order single I didn’t own or that the songs from the said single are not readily available online legally. A couple of these tracks can be bought at Amazon, but not individually, since they’re over 10 minutes you have to buy the whole album to get them. I hate that trick. I guess it makes sense for bands like Mars Volta, but it kind of fucks electronic artists over don’t you think? Of course, the worst is soundtracks. The fact that I can’t just buy “You’re The Best” from The Karate Kid soundtrack without being forced to buy the whole damn album is criminal! Bastards. There tracks are all from a 2×12″.

Dave Gahan
 Love Will Leave (Kap10kurt Remix)
Use You (Maps Remix)
Deeper And Deeper (T. Raumschmiere Remix Extended)
Saw Something (Onur Ozer Remix)
Deeper And Deeper (Sebastien Leger Remix)
I’m weird. I know this. Why? Because I own two Dave Gahan 12″ singles and remix compilation but I don’t actually own any of his albums. I had the same problem with Depeche Mode and New Order for a while too, before I went on a binge and bought all of their albums. It’s like I’m a reverse casual fan, who avoids the mainstream, easy to find releases but must have the bizarre, rare and hard-to-find stuff. These tracks are from an EP called Hourglass Remixes, which, as you can imagine, a collection of remixes of songs from the album Hourglass. There are eight tracks on that album, but three of them are available at Amazon, so I’m not putting them up here. Luckily, the awesome remix of “Use You” was not one of those tracks, so you get to enjoy it for free. I love this song, only Dave Gahan can make treating someone like garbage sound sexy.

Posted in Dave Gahan, Depeche Mode, New Order, remixes | 1 Comment »

A is for Awesome

January 19th, 2011

Tonight’s post is brought to you by the letter “A” because I’m too lazy sometimes to shift through my massive queue of future blog tracks.

The Alarm
Strength (Power Mix)
Absolute Reality ( Inpromptu Acoustic Version)
People have called The Alarm pretentious in the past, and I think that label is total bullshit. A pretentious band thinks highly of themselves while thinking less of those around them. The Alarm probably think very highly of themselves, but if the lyrics to songs like “Strength” are any indication at all, they also think very highly of their audience as well as the general population.

A better word to describe The Alarm would be “earnest.” Songs like “Strength” convey an overwhelming feeling of earnestness; they really want you to believe what they are saying because it’s some important shit! I get the feeling that The Alarm thought that songs like these were Incredibly Important and could change Things. And there’s a certain level of respect that should be given to them because of that.

“Strength” is one bad-ass song. Its the kind of song you listen to help get yourself out of a post-breakup doldrum, or possibly as the soundtrack to a really rough cardio workout. I’m sure it was a contender for a montage song in a Rocky movie at one point. The acoustic version of “Absolute Reality” is less blood-pumpingly good, but it’s still a really great tune. Both of these are from a 12″ single.

Art Of Noise
Dragnet (Arthur Baker Mix)
Acton Art
Dragnet (Art of Noise 12” Mix)
Dragnet (Art of Noise 7” Mix)
The Art of Noise have nothing in common with The Alarm, aside from the fact that both play music and start with the letter “A.” If The Alarm is earnest then these remixes of the Dragnet Theme are most certainly not. What’s the opposite of earnest? Goofy? Yeah, that sums these tracks up pretty damn well. I love the wacky lo-tech sampling of The Art Of Noise, taking a note, sampling it, and then adjusting the pitch to create different “notes” of that sound. There’s something so perfectly 80s about it, like headbands and Alf. So what I’m saying is that The Art of Noise are the Alf of music. Yeah, that makes sense. These are remixes of the theme of the 1980s Dragnet movie, meaning they are the probably the only tracks I will ever feature on this blog that will feature the vocal stylings of Tom Hanks and Dan Aykroyd.

Oh and that’s not a typo, that one track is called “Acton Art” not “Action Art.”

Posted in B-sides, remixes, The Alarm, The Art Of Noise | 1 Comment »

A blog post light years beyond your imagination!

January 14th, 2011

Man, you all gave me a lot of great guesses what the stupidest movie of 1983 was! And while none of you were right (okay, maybe you two who guessed Superman III were) I’m going to go out on a limb and say that neither was I. But here’s the soundtrack to one of the stupidest movies of 1983

Krull Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
After doing a bit of research I’ll no longer claim that Krull was the stupidest movie of 1983. That was the year when both Amityville 3-D and Jaws 3-D were released, and they are both some of the most epically stupid films ever made.

But before I defend the movie I previously bashed, I should probably tell you all what its about, since I’m willing to bet that most of you have barely even heard of the flick.

Krull is a bizarre sci-fi/fantasy hybrid set on the semi-magical world of…Krull. A young princess and prince are about to wed, but on the day of their wedding an evil space alien referred to only as The Beast crashes the party and kidnaps the bride-to-be, hoping to make her his own. Now its up to the prince, with his awesome boomerang of death called the Glave,  to rescue her! It’s just like Super Mario Bros. but with less magic mushrooms. On his quest to rescue her, the prince and his merry band of cannon fodder encounter one calamity after another, including surprise quicksand, shapeshiting demons and seemingly endless armies of evil cyborgs with lasers. In the end, the prince and the princess literally defeat The Beast with the power of love and live happily ever after.

No, that’s not a spoiler, did you really think he’d fail?

1983 saw a lot of sci-fi/fantasy combos, and Krull isn’t even the stupidest one of them. There was the atrocious rotoscroped monstrosity Fire And Ice; the straight-to-video scholckfest of Deathstalker; and  the notoriously bad prehistoric/sci-fi abomination Yor, the Hunter from the Future.

But why so many sci-fi/fantasy mashups? Just think about it.

It’s 1983, Star Wars is tearing up all box office records. What’s another big hit? Conan The Barbarian. The hacks of Hollywood (and Italy, in the case of Yor) must have collectively thought “Man, if Conan is big and Star Wars is huge then if we combine them we’ll be unstoppable!”

Of course, they all bombed epically, Krull included.

And yeah,  Krull is big stupid bomb, but its a really fun big stupid bomb! While a lot of these flicks are obvious rush jobs designed to make a quick buck, you can at least say that a lot of heart went into Krull. The sets are gorgeous, the action not half-bad, and lot of the actors (including Liam Neeson and Robbie Coltrane -who is dubbed) make the most of the corny material.

More on topic, it also has a great score by James Horner! Its so great that he blatantly stole portions of it while doing the score to Aliens a few years later. Listen to the last few tracks, and you will totally hear the finale to Aliens. Aside from (or perhaps because of) that, it’s a pretty great score, very heroic.

Tonight I am sharing a rip of the vinyl soundtrack to Krull. This is not the complete score. That is only available on a two-disc CD set that costs a bloody fortune now. And, I’m sorry, while I love Krull, I don’t love it that much.

Enjoy it. Listen to it while mountain climbing or something.

Posted in Complete Albums, soundtrack | 8 Comments »

Drew Barrymore could kick The Prodigy’s Ass

January 10th, 2011

Its going to be another week of weird/stupid/bizarre soundtrack selections at Lost Turntable! I know they’re everyone’s favorite. And by “everyone” I mean the copyright police. So get them fast.

Firestarter Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – Tangerine Dream
Crystal Voice
The Run
Testlab
Charly The Kid
Escaping Point
Rainbirds Move
Burning Force
Between Realities
Shop Territory
Flash Final
Firestarter was by far the best movie from 1984 about a pyrokenetic pre-teen girl. It starts Drew Barrymore as the title character, who is on the run with her father from The Shop, a covert government agency whose experiments gave both Drew’s father and mother psychic powers that she somehow inherited. Its about as silly as it sounds, but it has its appeal, mostly because its fucking BRUTAL. The dad has mind control powers that he uses to force people to commit suicide, and at the end of the movie Drew unleashes hell (almost literally), setting about what seems like half of the greater New England area in the process. Its pretty epic. The effects of people getting set ablaze are pretty excellent, and I still don’t know how they engineered some of the scenes where you see people get lit up and fly 50 feet in the air.

While Not as blazingly amazing as that finale, the soundtrack to Firestarter is pretty good. It’s by no means Tangerine Dream’s best, Risky Business, Legend, and even Flashpoint are better, but its still great ambient music. Listen to it while meditating, or to maybe help develop your psychic powers.

Later this week I will be posting the soundtrack to the dumbest movie of 1983. A no-prize to the first person who guesses what that is.

Posted in soundtrack, Tangerine Dream | 4 Comments »

I’m more like an A380

January 8th, 2011

When I proclaimed that “The Time (Dirty Bit)” was the worst song of the millennium behind “My Humps” I had not yet heard “Like A G6” by The Far East Movement. So she wants to be like a private jet that drinks purple drank? Yikes. Sometimes I just wanna give up on pop culture and move to Yemen or something.

Yellow Magic Orchestra
 Limbo
S.E.T. 1
The Madmen
S.E.T. 2
Chinese Whispers
S.E.T. 3
You’ve Got To Help Yourself
S.E.T. + YMO
Shadows on the Ground
S.E.T. 4
See-Through
S.E.T. 5
Perspective
S.E.T. 6
Just like I promised, here’s some more from Ryuichi Sakamoto! All these tracks are from Service, which is the only Japanese Yellow Magic Orchestra album I own. Not surprisingly, it’s also the weirdest. While the Americanized versions of their albums are just all music, most of their Japanese albums also included comedy bits by the Super Eccentric Theater (or S.E.T.). YMO performed most of their songs in English, the bits by S.E.T. are strictly in Japanese. So, unless you speak Japanese, they’re pretty much pointless to listen to. As far as the actual music goes…well, it’s okay. Its a very good 80s synthpop album, but their earlier albums are much better and far more experimental. This was the last YMO album proper, and the group didn’t record together again until a decade later.

Posted in Ryuichi Sakamoto, Yellow Magic Orchestra, YMO | 2 Comments »

Some Dirty Shit

January 5th, 2011

Has anyone out there heard The Black Eyed Peas’ “The Time (Dirty Bit)”? I managed to avoid it for a while because I don’t listen to pop radio. But the gym I workout at has started playing it over and over (and over and over) the past few weeks, so now I can’t escape its inhuman fury. If you are really curious as to the level of its awfulness, watch the (equally awful) video here. It’s bad. You’ve been warned.

Next to “My Humps,” “The Time (Dirty Bit)” is probably the worst piece of pop shit that The Black Eyed Peas have ever unleashed onto the public. For those of you who just want a brief explanation as to why its so bad, I think Deadspin’s Drew Magary says it best:

GAHHH IT’S EVEN FUCKING WORSE THERE IS NO JESUS! IT’S LIKE YOUR MOTHER BEING KILLED AND SOMEONE AUTOTUNED HER SCREAMS OF AGONY!

He sums it up quite well. But allow me to elaborate a (dirty) bit.

“The Time (Dirty Bit)” might just be the first song to feature every single thing I hate about modern pop music and mash it all together into one unholy abomination of shit. There’s the blatant sample of a classic used only to create a radio hook; the overused autotune, the meaningless lyrics about partying and fucking; the hideous chiptune-inspired melody that sounds like it was lifted from a broken NES game. It’s all there and it’s all shit. Shit that gets in my damn head and refuses to leave until I force it out with an injection of Madonna, Kylie, or some other artist who can actually create, good, catchy pop music.

I mean, my GOD. Its horrible. Its success makes me weep more for the youth of America than any other shitstained style-over-substance piece of computer-enhanced trash they seem to be going for as of late.

Sure, there are worst bands out there than The Black Eyed Peas, but what makes me so upset is that they used to be good! I bet you didn’t know that The Black Eyed Peas used to be a critically acclaimed alternative rap group! Its true! Check out the awesome video for Joints & Jam. See that amazing woman singing the chorus (which is a tasteful lift from the theme to “Grease” that isn’t a blatant attempt drawing pop appeal)? That’s Kim Hill.

Kim Hill is the shit. She left the group before their (not bad) second album came out. I read an interview with her once where she said that the label was pressuring them to write songs that would eventually become booty-anthems like “My Humps” and she didn’t want any part of that. Kim Hill is an intelligent woman who wants to be taken seriously as a singer and writer. She wanted to be taken seriously so much that she literally walked away from millions in order to maintain her integrity and avoid degrading herself for cash.

Luckily for Will.I.Am and the other two remaining members of The Black Eyed Peas they found Fergie, a woman who obviously has no such qualms about objectifying herself for the sake of a quick buck. Want someone to sing about their “lovely lady lumps” and then put on a girl scout outfit and roll around in candy? Fergie’s your woman! The sad thing is that Fergie isn’t that bad a singer, she just allows herself to be degraded and shit upon for the sake of album sales. Maybe she’s afraid to do something honest and real because she doesn’t want to end up like Kim Hill and chucked out of the band for another pop tart who will eagerly take her place? Geez, that’s even more depressing.

Man, now I’m bummed. I’m going to go listen to “Request + Line.” Hopefully the group that made that track will record another album someday.

Ryuichi Sakamoto
Love And Hate (Hate Mix)
Love And Hate (Message Mix – Single Edit)
Love And Hate (Love Mix)
Love And Hate (NYC Personal Mix)
Moving On (12” Mix)
Moving On (No Drum Pass)
Moving On (Radio Mix)
Ryuichi Sakamoto is the keyboardist to Yellow Magic Orchestra, a band I love. He also is an Oscar-wining composer, having done original scores for films like The Last Emperor, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence and Snake Eyes. He also did the score to Seven Samurai 20XX video game. What I’m saying is, the dude gets around. I don’t have much of his solo pop work, just these two singles. However, if they are any indication as to the quality of his work, I should really get some more. Anyone have any recommendations? I hear good things about Neo Geo.

The  vocalist on the “Love And Hate” mixes is Holly Johnson, who you may know as the lead singer of everyone’s favorite band of perverts, Frankie Goes To Hollywood. I do not know who handles the vocals for “Moving On” so any help would be appreciated.

Hopefully I’ll have more Sakamoto-related work later this week.

Paperboy
Ditty (Radio Mix)
Ditty (New Hype Mix)
Man, now THIS is a jam. What happened to hip hop man? Sure there’s some good indie and alternative shit out there. But now its all Autotune and programmed beats. Its a drag! Someone recommend me good new hip hop that doesn’t use Autotune! That’s a requirement, no Autotune. These are from a 12” single.

Posted in Paperboy, rant, remixes, Ryuichi Sakamoto | 11 Comments »

Happy .NUXX Year

December 30th, 2010

This will most likely be my only post of the week. By extension this makes it my last post of the year! So lets send off 2010 with a bang and hope that 2011 is better!

Underworld
King Of Snake (Barking Mix)
King Of Snake (Fatboy Slim Remix)
King Of Snake (Slam Remix)
King Of Snake (Straight [Mate] Mix)

Jumbo (Future Shock Worlds Apart Mix)
Jumbo (Jedis Electro Dub Mix)
Jumbo (Jedis Sugar Hit Mix)
Jumbo (Rob Rives & Francois K. Main Dish)
Cups (Salt City Orchestra Vertical Bacon Vocal)

Push Upstairs (Adam Beyer Remix)
Push Upstairs (Darren Price Remix)
Push Upstairs (Roger S. Blue Plastic People Mix)
Please Help Me
Bruce Lee (Dobropet)
Bruce Lee (Short Version)
Bruce Lee (The Micronauts Remix)

Born Slippy .NUXX (Darren Price Remix 2)
Born Slippy .NUXX (Deep Pan)
Born Slippy .NUXX (Nuxx & Darren Price Remix)

Underneath The Radar (12” Remix)

In my research of Underworld while reviewing their excellent new album Barking, I came across this. Now, as Beaucoup Fish is one of my favorite albums of the 1990s, the fact that this existed and I did not know of it came as quite the shock to me. I was obsessed with Beaucoup Fish when it came out, listening to “King Of Snake” at a frequency that no doubt drove my then college roommate absolutely bonkers. My other favorite tracks on the album were “Bruce Lee”, “Jumbo” and “Push Upstairs.” And there was a box set that included remixes of these songs and I didn’t know about it! Man, I’m slipping.

Well, luckily for all of you, my discovery of this set was was so delayed (11 years or so) that by the time I picked it up it was out of print. Since you can’t get it new legally anymore, I feel as if it is my civic duty to share the amazing remixes on that set!

The “King Of Snake” mixes are the best, although the first two do end rather abruptly. The Fatboy Slim mix, like everything that bald bastard was putting out at the time, is freaking brilliant. The Dave Clark mix of the track is also on that disc, but my vinyl rip of it sounds better than the CD one, and you can find that here.

The “Push Upstairs” mixes are all very good, but the highlights from that disc are really the remixes of “Bruce Lee” which take that nonsensical ode to Kung Fu and make it even more epic with throbbing beats and pulsing rhythms ripped straight from an all night rave circa 1997. The B-side “Please Help Me” is also excellent. Take everything I just said and repeat it for all the remixes of “Jumbo,” many of which are better than the original version.

But wait! There’s more! All this Underworld reminiscing got me thinking about their seminal classic “Born Slippy .NUXX.” So I dug some remixes of that banger out of my virtual vault. And just to show how much Underworld has changed over the years, I’m also throwing up a remix of their synthpop-era track “Underneath The Radar,” a superb example of 80s pop and dance that I bet most people don’t know about.

Enjoy the beats and have a safe New Years everyone! Don’t get as drunk as I’m planning to!

Posted in B-sides, remixes, Underworld | 8 Comments »

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