Archive for June, 2011

Because 66.5 Days is a Shitty Name for a Movie

Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

Thanks everyone for the blog suggestions, as you may notice, the blogroll to the right has been vastly updated and improved tremendously.

And thanks to everyone who recommended Burning The Ground. Now I have blog envy.

John Taylor
I Do What I Do…(Theme For 9 1/2 Weeks) (Film Mix)
I Do What I Do…(Theme For 9 1/2 Weeks) (Extended Club Mix)
Jazz
“I Do What I Do…(Theme For 9 1/2 Weeks)” was nominated for a Razzie (the “awards” for the worst in film) when it came out. And sure, this song isn’t a classic, but worst song from a movie in 1986? It’s not even close. I just think that they wanted to shit all over John Taylor (the bass player from Duran Duran, by the way) because they were jealous of his fabulous hair.

In case you were wondering, the “winner” that year was Prince’s “Love Or Money” from Under The Cherry Moon, while the other nominees included George Harrison’s “Shanghai Surprise” from Shanghai Surprise, “Life in a Looking Glass by Henry Mancini for That’s Life! and Thomas Dolby’s “Howard The Duck” from…Howard The Duck (duh, although wouldn’t have it been awesome if that song was from Maximum Overdrive?).

Okay, first of all, “Howard The Duck” is an awesome track from an even more awesome movie (that’s right, I said it) so the Razzies can go fuck themselves based on that alone.

Secondly, I do recall that Michael Mann’s Manhunter (wow, when you say it like that it sounds really weird) came out that year, and that soundtrack was more than worthy of a Razzie or twenty. Other songs that should have been up for nomination include any non-Queen track from the Iron Eagle soundtrack and any song that was in The Golden Child strictly because of guilt by association.

Anyways, these remixes (as well as the B-side “Jazz”) are from two 12″ singles for the song. I enjoy them in all their cheesy splendor. If nothing else they’re certainly better than the film 9 1/2 Weeks.

Then again, most things are.

Nitzer Ebb
I Give To You (Wilder Mix Full Version)
I Give To You (Elemental)
I Give To You (Pestilence)
Holy shit on a dumptruck this is a great track. Why don’t I own more Nitzer Ebb? I need to fix that. These are all from a 12″ single.

Posted in B-sides, Duran Duran, John Taylor, Nitzer Ebb, remixes, soundtrack | 9 Comments »

Tell Me Where To Get Music

Monday, June 27th, 2011

The majority of MP3 blogs I visit have gone dormant.

Comment and tell me some good MP3 blogs.

Thank you very much.

New music here either Monday or Tuesday.

Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments »

In A Huge Big Country Post

Saturday, June 25th, 2011

Five posts in one week, just like I promised. Let’s end it with a bang.

Big Country
In A Big Country (Pure Mix)
Chance (12 Inch Version)
Fields Of Fire (400 Miles) (Alternative Mix)
The Tracks Of My Tears (Live)
Balcony
Flag Of Nations (Swimming)
Just A Shadow (Extended Mix)
Just A Shadow (7″ Version)
Winter Sky
One Great Thing (Boston Mix)
Song Of The South
One Great Thing (Big Baad Country Mix)
Look Away (Outlaw Mix)
Giant
Wonderland (Extended Mix)
Heart And Soul
Lost Patrol (Live)
Man, that’s a lot of Big Country. Some of these are reposts, but I recently recorded them with better equipment, so if you did download them in the past I still suggest downloading them again. The majority are new, however, recent finds by me when someone sold their entire Big Country collection at Jerry’s Records last week.

Now, let me break these down. The first four tracks are from the Japanese EP of “Fields Of Fire.” The live version of “The Tracks Of My Tears” is not the same version that’s on one of Big Country’s live albums.

The two B-sides “Balcony” and “Flag Of Nations (Swimming)” are from the “Harvest Home” 12″ single. The two versions of “Just a Shadow” are from that song’s 12″ single, as is the B-side “Winter Sky.” I have two different versions of the single to “One Great Thing” which is where I grabbed those remixes, as well as “Song Of The South” and the “Look Away (Outlaw Mix).”

“Giant” is from the UK version of the “Wonderland” single, and it’s basically an instrumental version of the album cut “All Fall Together.” The final three tracks are from the Japanese version of the “Wonderland” single.

Enjoy and I’ll see you all next week.

Posted in B-sides, Big Country, remixes | 3 Comments »

The 80s Were Kind of Fucked Up

Thursday, June 23rd, 2011

The next time I promise to do five posts in one week I’m going to stick to stupid dance music that I can talk about in 100 words or less.

The Bunburys
Fight (No Matter How Long)
This is the kind of weird, stupid shit I can only find at Jerry’s Records. I got this track off of a 12″ promo single. The single had no art, just a label that read the following:

“In the tradition of famous pseudonyms like Dr. Winston O’Boogie, George Harrysong, Klark Kent, The Glimmer Twins, Suzy and The Red Stripes, Lord Chocice, and The Barbusters comes The Bunburys. The lead vocalist and guitarist on this track is a core artist on rock radio, who is currently at a crossroads at his career. One listen and the mystery will be solved.”

Oooh! So mysterious! That label is right though, as soon as you start playing this record it’s more than obvious that the singer/guitarist in question is none other than Eric Clapton (as if the whole “Crossroads” reference on the label wasn’t hint enough).

What’s weird about this is that the label makes no mention of the other artists who make up The Bunburys. This was actually not a side-project or pseudonym for Clapton, he’s just a guest on the track. Actually, The Bunburys was a pseudonym for The Bee Gees.

Details on how and why the Bee Gees decided to record as The Bunburys are a little hard to come by, although this site fills in the details good enough. Apparently it was their manager David English’s idea. He was working on a children’s cartoon that taught the importance of teamwork and…um…cricket to impressionable young Britons and he had The Bee Gees created a theme song for the show. That track, “We Are The Bunburys,” was was released as a single in 1986.

Now, what I can’t find out is how/why they decided to re-release the single in 1988, with this decidedly non-children’s song as the B-side. I also cannot find out how the hell Eric Clapton got involved, and I certainly can’t decipher exactly how or why this track ended up on the soundtrack to the 1988 Olympics.

I’m just going to chalk it all up to “wtf 80s” and be done with it. I can’t think about this stuff too much, it makes my brain hurt.

Wall Of Voodoo
Do It Again (Extended Mix)
Do It Again (Bonus Beats)
Do It Again (Single Version)
Do It Again (Dub Mix)
Further proof of my “wtf 80s” hypothesis.

This is a cover of a Beach Boys song by Wall Of Voodoo, or at least the band that was calling themselves Wall of Voodoo in the late 80s (lead singer Stan Ridgway and two other members of the classic line-up had left the band by this point). I was a child in the 80s, and while I do recall a prevailing theme of 1950s nostalgia throughout the entire decade, even that can’t explain how something as batshit crazy as this manages to will itself into existence.

Even more out there, Brian fucking Wilson from the Beach Boys appeared in the video, which is so freaky and trippy that I’m surprised it didn’t make the poor bastard relapse into another psychotic episode.

Posted in Eric Clapton, remixes, The Bee Gees, The Bunburys, Wall Of Voodoo | No Comments »

Religion and Cheerleading Go Great Together

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011

Tonight, I start with some controversial, classy “arty” music and end with…well..the opposite of that.

Brian Eno & David Byrne
Qu’ran
Okay, I’m going to tread lightly here.

In 1981 Brian Eno and David Bryne released My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts. It was their first album together, and was one of the very first albums to incorporate sampling, albeit in a very unusual way. The samples on My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts aren’t taken from records of popular music like most samples today. Instead, the samples are from obscure sources, such as the ramblings of a radio host or from found audio of an exorcism. The samples are then layered over creative beats and other musical creations by the two greats of art-rock.

Today it sounds a bit dated, kind of like early Art Of Noise, but it’s a great record and still worth picking up, even it doesn’t sound as revolutionary now as it did when it first came out.

But if you buy it today, the version you pick up will not have this track. This song, which features Algerian chants of the Qu’ran, angered some Islamic group in England, so Byrne and Eno pulled the song from all subsequent versions of the record.

I’m not going to rant about whether or not I think such a move is stupid. Readers of this blog can probably figure out my stance on such an issue, and I’m too tired to discuss it without probably sounding like a xenophobic idiot. I’m just going to say that I think “Qu”ran” is a beautiful track and worth listening to, even if others beg to differ.

I hope you enjoy it.

Tom Tom Club
On, On, On, On… (Remixed Version)
David Byrne was, of course, the lead singer of Talking Heads. The Tom Tom Club features both Tina Weymouth and her husband Chris Frantz, who were also in Talking Heads. So that means the only person from Talking Heads not featured in tonight’s post is Jerry Harrison. Sorry, I don’t have any rare Modern Lovers tracks.

Tom Tom Club is a classic example of a band that I have mixed feelings about. Yes, they gave us both “Genius of Love” and “Wordy Rappinghood,” but they also brought upon humanity “The Man With The Four Way Hips”, a song I find so goddamn annoying that I’d rather rip out my own teeth and shove them in my ears than hear it again. This track falls somewhere in the middle. It’s not a classic, that’s for sure, but it doesn’t make me want to inflict dental harm on myself, so it’s not that bad. This version is a B-side to the 12″ single of “Under The Boardwalk.”

Toni Basil
Mickey (Special Club Mix)
Okay, so here’s how this happened.

I was going to post some Pet Shop Boys remixes, then I found out that they weren’t rare at all.

The next track on my list was a Peter Gabriel B-side I recorded a while a go, but I found out my recording has a skip in it that I have to fix.

The back-up to my back-up was the 12″ remix of Freur’s “Doot-Doot”, but it turns out that even that song has been re-released on CD and iTunes.

Which brings us here, a 12″ remix of Toni Basil’s “Mickey,” a song that is now stuck in your head, even if you have chosen not to download it (sorry about that.) This club mix is an extended mix in the classic sense, and not a drastic remix. In fact, it’s pretty much the exact same song with about two dozen refrains of “Hey Mickey!” thrown in to pad it out. So hey, if you’ve ever listened to this song and thought, “Geez, I wish this song was two minutes longer!” then you’re in fucking luck tonight! Rock out with your pom-pons out!

Posted in Brian Eno, David Byrne, Tom Tom Club, Toni Basil | 1 Comment »

Radio Friendly Pop Music

Monday, June 20th, 2011

It is day two of “Mavs Victory Lap” week at Lost Turntable, where I post almost everyday in celebration of LeBron James’ lack of a four quarter.

Today, music that one would never associate with professional sports.

Squarepusher
4026 Melt 1
4026 Melt 3
4026 Melt 4
4026 Melt 5
4026 Melt 6
Die-hard Squarepusher fans have my utmost respect, because that dude changes genres more often than I change clothes. He’s done acid house, acid jazz, IDM, drum and bass, glitch, ambient and industrial/noise – sometimes all on the same album, or even the same song. Shit, he even has an album that’s nothing but electronic bass solos. Appropriately enough, said album is called Solo Electric Bass 1, (the “1” is somewhat troubling).

One of his more critically-acclaimed and somewhat more accessible records was his 2006 release Hello Everything. Some versions of this record included a bonus 3″ CD EP called Vacuum Tracks, which is where the above songs originally appeared.

Now, while Hello Everything is a diverse and at times very melodic album, Vacuum Tracks is not. Do you like drone? Well then, you’ll be in monotone heaven with these five cuts. If you like, oh I don’t know, melody, notes, beats, anything resmbling something that might be considered music one would enjoy listening to on a regular basis, then you might want to pass on these oddities. (I listened to this EP once, I don’t think I ever will again.) Still, someone out there loves this shit, and for that person – I am here.

Björk
Where Is The Line (Fantômas Mix)
Where Is The Line (Matmos Rubber Band Remix)
Where Is The Line (Soft Pink Truth Glow Stick Museum Remix)
Who Is It (Vitalic Mix)
One of my friends is moving and she’s trying to unload some of her records (blasphemy!). When anyone I know (and several people I don’t know) attempt this, I am usually called in to go through the lot and determine if they have anything of value. Most of her records, while totally fucking awesome, weren’t of note to serious collectors.

But near the back of her crate were two white-label Björk 12″ with no identifying markers. These weren’t for sale, but she wanted me to record them. After noting that the singles consisted mostly of “Where Is The Line” remixes, I was able to use their running times to figure out the song titles. These remixes were never “officially” released outside of these 12″ singles, which were limited to about 400 copies each. Now, my friend is not a die-hard record collector like me, so I had to ask her where she found these records. Her response: “fucking Iceland.”

So the moral of this story is that if you want crazy rare Björk, then you have to go to the source.

Side note: the Fantômas mix is by Mike Patton and fucking sounds like it, so adjust your volume accordingly.

Posted in Bjork, remixes, Squarepusher | 1 Comment »

Kill Mother Fucking Depeche Mode

Monday, June 20th, 2011

It’s tough to be a “good fan” these days.

By “good fan” I mean someone who ignores the pre-release leak blogs, the torrent sites and the file-sharing services and actually pays their hard-earned cash to buy the album legit when it comes out. Someone who coughs up the extra dough for a physical version, not because they think it sounds better, but because they think music still holds some value, not something that’s as disposable as any other downloaded file on a hard drive.

I consider me one of those people. I try so hard to respect and value the bands I love, even when it seems like they are going out of their way to make it as hard as possible for me to do so.

I’ve expressed my disdain before for “exclusive” tracks. Simply put, I think they are bullshit, nothing more than a cheap way for a band to make a quick cash grab when music sales alone aren’t enough. Things have gotten a little better in recent years. It used to be that “exclusive” tracks on iTunes or on like services were only available if you bought the whole album. At least nowadays they’re usually available individually. So if a group wants to stick a B-side up as an “exclusive” track for iTunes or Amazon, I’m willing to live with it.

But sometimes it just goes too far. And if there’s any band who’s “good” at taking the whole “exclusive” thing too far, it’s fucking Depeche Mode.

When they released Sounds Of The Universe in 2008, they put out several versions. One of them was an awesome Deluxe Box Set Edition that cost around $100. That version came with not only the complete album and a ton of nifty booklets, postcards and neat bonus goodies, but two additional CDs of remixes and demos as well. Sure, it was pricey and a bit excessive, but when you got that version you felt like really got your money’s worth.

Well, not really. You see, there was also another deluxe version that was only available through iTunes on their now-defunct iTunes Pass service. This edition of the album included 18 or so additional remixes, most of which were not made available on the Deluxe Box Set Edition. It cost a bit more than the standard version, but it sure as hell cost less than the $100 that the deluxe box did.

Basically, Depeche Mode was saying that if you really wanted all the content associated with Sounds Of The Universe, then spending $100 for the Deluxe Edition wasn’t good enough. You were going to have to buy the album twice.

Now, I’m sorry, but I feel that if I spend $100 on an album, on the physical deluxe edition of the record, the one that I had to pre-order on import to get, then I feel like I should be getting the best version of that album. I should get the most bang for the my buck.

Well, apparently Depeche Mode doesn’t feel the same way, because they’re at it again. Two weeks ago Remixes 2: 81-11, their latest remix compilation, came out. When this was announced, I knew I had to get it on vinyl, if for no other reason than to match my vinyl copy of their first remix collection. So I went ahead and pre-ordered the insanely expensive 6LP edition.

Since I live in US, I had to pay import price for this box set, so it cost me over $100. I finally got it in the mail last Friday. I clawed my way into the packaging, eagerly anticipating to discover what my $100 got me.

Did it get me a download card with access to digital versions of all the tracks? Nope.

Did it get me any exclusive tracks? Nope.

Does nearly every other (far less expensive) version of the album come with exclusive tracks? Yup.

Did I go ahead and find all the exclusive tracks online with plans of hosting them here? You bet your ass.

Depeche Mode
Master And Servant (RSS Remix)
In Chains (Myer vs Wilder Deconstruction)
Sister Of Night (Ida Engberg’s Giving Voice To The Flame Remix)
Sister Of Night (Ida Engberg’s Walking Through The Light Dub)
Sweetest Perfection (Phil Kieran Vocal Miix)
Sweetest Perfection (Phil Kieran Remix Dub)
Personal Jesus (Alex Metric Dub)
I Want It All (Roland M. Dill Lunar Dub Remix)
The Sinner In Me (SixToes Remix)
The Sun And The Rainfall (Black Light Odyssey’s Further Excerpts)
The thing that really irks me about most of these exclusive cuts is that they aren’t really exclusive. For example, as Depeche Mode’s official site (which I am not linking to for obvious reasons) points out, “The Sun And The Rainfall (Black Light Odyssey’s Further Excerpts)” is an “exclusive” track for not only HMV in England, but also for Nokia in Finland; Napster in Germany; both FNAC and Virgin Media in France;  Net Music in Italy, and for Aspiro in other parts of Europe.

“Regional exclusive” and “exclusive” are not the same thing. Of course, all those stores want you to think that their version is special for some reason, so they won’t mention that.

And in some cases, like with the iTunes or Amazon exclusive tracks, if you don’t live in America or England, you’re just fucked and you cannot buy them. For some reason, if you live in the “wrong” country you aren’t able to buy digital music from other counties. Apparently MP3s can’t be imported and exported. I’m sure there’s a reason for that, and I’m sure it’s for the benefit of billion-dollar record companies and not the consumer.

What’s really fucked is that these aren’t even all the exclusive remixes! The online music store Beatport actually has an exclusive version of the album, but I don’t know if I consider that to be the same thing. Beatport is for DJs primarily, and the versions they have are almost all dub and instrumental cuts for DJs, so I’m not going to share those. But the fact that there’s a whole other version of this album that’s only available digitally and not to people who shelled out $100 for a deluxe vinyl set is kind of fucked up.

And even if you think “exclusive” tracks are just great and not fucking over hardcore fans, the fact that I was still able to find all of these tracks online in just 30 minutes of searching shows that, at the end of the day, they’re a pretty fucking useless way of encouraging MP3 sales.

Posted in Depeche Mode, rant, remixes | 31 Comments »

808 States And Heartbreaks

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

Go Mavs!

Aw shit, now I have to update my blog five times next week!

Oh well, it if means that LeBron James is sad and angry then it’s worth the work.

808 State
Cubik:98 (Victor Calderone Remix)
Cubik:98
Cubik (Tomix)
Ooops (Utsula Head Remix)
Ooops (Mellow Birds Remix)
Ooops (Eric’s Kup of Hysteria Remix)
Ooops (Eric’s Kup of Hysteria Edit)

So this is weird.

I found this 12″ to “Cubik” a couple week ago, which I promptly bought and listened to. After rocking out to it for a bit I decided to revisit Ex:El, the classic 808 State album from which it came.

Now, I have Ex:El on both vinyl and CD, and I never got around to ripping my CD version. When I popped it into my computer, I discovered that the CD version of Ex:El that I have has a drastically different mix of “Cubik” on it.

Nearly every release of Ex:El just as the regular version, while some also have the Pan Am mix and other additional mixes on a bonus disc. My version of the CD doesn’t have any of those, instead it has a crazy nine minute version of the track that isn’t on any other version! After doing some digging on Discogs, I discovered that this is the “Tomix” version.

Still, it’s weird that no other version of this album has that mix. How the hell did that happen? It’s totally the best version!

Since no digital version of Ex:El has the “Tomix” mix I’m including it here for your listening pleasure, as well as some remixes of the Bjork-featured “Ooops,” which are all from the 12″ single. Enjoy the mixes while I frantically plan to create five day’s of content for next week.

 

 

Posted in 808 State, remixes | 11 Comments »

This Post is Fucked Up and So am I

Sunday, June 12th, 2011

I’m writing this before game five of the NBA finals.

If the Mavs win this series I promise to update this blog five times next week.

There, so if you don’t give  a shit about basketball and you like my blog then you should still root for the fall of LeBron James.

In order to hype myself up for the game I’ve been listening to Fucked Up all day. You should join me.

Fucked Up – Let Likes Be Cured By Likes
Generations
Colour Removal
Black Iron Prison
No Pasaran
The Light That Never Comes On
Last Man Standing
Circling The Drain
Zezozose
Police
Outro
Opening Reversed
Outro Reversed
Okay, this is a fucked up record…no pun intended.

It was originally released on Schizophrenic Records in 20o4 on a clear single-sided 12″ record. According to Dicsogs, this first printing was limited to a scant 444 copies.

Two years later, Schizophrenic re-released the EP, this time as black-and-blue marble colored record. There are only 400 copies of this one, making it oddly rarer than the first printing. Unlike the first printing, the second printing is double-sided, but the B-side is just a copy of the A-side.

This is a live album, recorded on 8-track in 2002. If you only know Fucked Up from their more recent releases, then the songs here might be a bit of a shock to you. While Fucked Up is still a hardcore punk rock band, in recent years they’ve shown they haven’t been afraid to embrace other genres and styles of music. The Chemisty of Common Life does open with a freaking oboe solo after all.

This shit is straight-up hardcore – and could stand up stylistically with Black Flag, Circle Jerks or early Bad Brains. Melody? Fuck that shit. This is as fast, loud and rough around the edges as punk rock gets. It’s definitely not for everyone, but if you want 10 songs in 18 minutes delivered so fast that if you tried to headbang to them all you’d end up tearing your own head off, then this right up your alley. If you want (slightly) more polished versions of these tracks, most are available on Fucked Up’s two singles compilations Epics In Minutes and Couple Tracks.

Finally, there are two secret bits on Let Likes Be Cured By Likes, backwards messages both start and close the album. The last two tracks listed here are those backwards messages playing forward. So if your mom overhears you listening to this album and thinks you’re listening to music with hidden suicide instructions, you can set her straight.

Oh, and go buy Fucked Up’s new album David Comes To Life. It’s a fucking masterpiece.

And go Mavs!

Posted in Fucked Up | 3 Comments »

Occular Remixes

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

Ever go kinda sorta blind in one eye for a while? Yeah, that’s not fun.

I’m feeling much better now though. I just thought that was a great excuse for delay in updates.

Madonna
True Blue (The Color Mix)
True Blue (Remix Edit)
True Blue (Instrumental)
Ain’t No Big Deal
There are not a lot of classic-era Madonna that can be safely called “rare” but most of these tracks fit the bill. “The Color Mix” of “True Blue” is on some versions of the album, and it’s even on iTunes. However, if you want it on iTunes you have to buy the whole album, which is a giant pile of horseshit. I can’t believe they still do that, it’s so 2002.

Truth be told, “The Color Mix” isn’t that radically different than the original, it’s just a little longer, with an an added instrumental interlude about two-thirds in, with some random vocal samples thrown in for no apparent reason. As for the “Remix Edit”, I’ll be honest, it’s been so long since I heard the original version I couldn’t tell you how this version is different.

“Ain’t No Big Deal” is kind of an oddity. Madonna first recorded the track in 1980 with a producer by the name of Stephen Bray who Madonna worked with a lot during her early years. That version, along with most of the other stuff she recorded with Bray, remained unreleased until 1997, when Bray released it on an album called Pre-Madonna, which included many of her earliest recordings.

This version of the song, as far as I can tell, has never been released on a proper Madonna album. I have no idea why, it’s a fun little song, very 80s and pop. Sure, it doesn’t really stand out when compared to other early Madonna songs like “Material Girl” and “Borderline,” but it’s totally worth a listen.

Gus Gus
Very Important People (Dune Remix)
Very Important People (Francois K. Mix)
Very Important People (Masters At Work Main Mix)
Very Important People (Q-Burns Abstract Message Remix)
Oh, those Icelandic people and their chill electronic music. After buying several GusGus 12″ singles over the years I finally caved and picked up an actual GusGus album – 1999’s Is This Normal. One day I might listen to it even. Sigh. I have too much music. The original version of this track is from Is This Normal, which many people have told me is a very fine album. I dig these remxies very much, especially the “Francios K. Mix,” it has a 70s funk vibe that I find totally groovy. All of these mixes were taken from a 12″ promo single.

Midnight Oil
Blue Sky Mine (Food On The Table Mix)
I haven’t posted anything by Midnight Oil in forever! Not since 2007 to be exact. Well hey, it’s not my fault that they didn’t release a copious amount of remixes and 12″ singles. This mix of “Blue Sky Mine” is odd. It starts out by sampling “Bed Are Burning” before continuing as normal, only to break it down at the end with a drums-and-vocals only bit, followed by a fairly manic guitar bit before it closes once again with the opening notes of “Beds Are Burning.” It’s a Midnight Oil megamix! But not really. Still, it’s good.

Posted in B-sides, GusGus, Madonna, Midnight Oil, remixes | 3 Comments »