Fish Story Will Save The World

April 14th, 2011

I’m as big a movie geek as I am a music geek, so great movies about music usually move me in ways that few other films can.

However, there are very few great films about music. Almost Famous. High Fidelity. Purple Rain (yeah, Purple fucking Rain, you got a problem with that?) are all excellent movies about music because they show the connections that people make with the music they love and create. Those films show the power of music: the power that it has to move people so much that it can actually change their lives for the better.

When a movie can do that it’s a beautiful thing. However, Fish Story, a 2009 Japanese film, manages to go above and beyond those films. It shows music can save the fucking world.

The film starts in the year 2012. In just a matter of hours, a comet will smash into Earth, destroying all life. Tokyo is deserted, except for one small record store. Inside, the clerk tells his sole customer (and a cranky old man eager for the end of the world) about “Fish Story.” It’s the first punk rock song, recorded by a Japanese band called Gekirin a year before the Sex Pistols formed. It didn’t sell, so no one has heard of it. The song is important though, the clerk says, because it’s going to save the world.

From there the movie jumps to 1982, where some college students discuss the mysterious song and a strange urban legend that’s associated with it. Then the movie shifts to 2009, where a cruise ship is taken hostage by a group of doomsday cultists. After that, the movie changes time periods again, this time going to 1975, where we are treated to the story of Gekirn and how Fish Story came to be.

Oh, and then the song saves the world.

I don’t feel like that’s a spoiler – as another review I read of Fish Story pointed out, no one is going to make a movie about how a song doesn’t save the world. The joy in Fish Story comes not from finding out if the song saves the world, but from finding out how the song saves the world. No, the record doesn’t magically transform into a Gundam robot and smash the comet into the sun (although that would be awesome), it’s a little more complex than that. But that’s all I’m going to say. The less you know about Fish Story the better. Its initial charm comes in how unexpected it is. But it still holds up on repeated viewings just by being so damn fun.

Although the idea of Fish Story is more than a little silly, its conceit is not. At its heart, Fish Story is about how music can connect with people and change their lives in unexpected and amazing ways. It shows how music can give us courage and hope, and challenge us to make ourselves and those around us better. It shows how a song, a stupid little song that almost no one in the world knows about, can drastically affect and change for the better the lives of people who have never even heard it. And when you think of it like that, it’s not hard to imagine that a song could, somehow, actually save the world someday.

It’s a brilliant, hilarious, heart-warming and intelligent movie. So, of course, it’s not available in America. But it was released in the UK, so if you live there you should run out and buy it right now. If you’re American (or in any other county for that matter) and have an all-region DVD player I enthusiastically recommend that you pick up that version. You can find it on Amazon and on Yes Asia. And if you’re looking for a cheap all-region DVD player, I recommend this one.

And if you’re wondering what a song that saves the world sounds like then hey, lookie here!

Gekirin
FISH STORY
FISH STORY (Silence 1975 Version)
Nothing
Nothing (Producer’s Version)
Kazuyoshi Saito
FISH STORY (Alternate Version)
Summer Days
When you make a movie about a song that saves the world, that song in question is damn good. Thankfully, “Fish Story” is a great track,  mimicking the sound of mid-70s punk rock while still sounding a little fresh and original at the same time. A composer/musician by the name of Kazuyoshi Saito wrote the track, although the fictional band Gekirin performs it in the movie. The version by Gekirin and a version by Saito are are included on the soundtrack, as is a version that has a minute of dead silence instead of a guitar solo. Why is there a minute of silence in the middle of the song? Watch the movie to find out.

“Nothing” is another song that Gekirin performs in the movie, and while it doesn’t save the world, it’s still a quality tune. The “Producer’s Version” is a joke, a version of the song slowed down for mainstream appeal, complete with organ overdubs. I have to admit that I find its cheesiness endearing for some odd reason.

“Summer Days” is a mellow acoustic rock song that plays over the end credits. It’s a chill track, but still good. I don’t think it will ever save the world, but who knows?

Finally,don’t forget that Japan is still struggling to recover from the devasting effects of the earthquake and tsunami. While you’re enjoying this amazing collection of Japanese rock from a Japanese movie, why don’t you head over to the Red Cross’ donation page and help them out?

Want something in return for your troubles? The Songs For Japan compilation is a good collection of pop music for 10 bucks, all of which goes to to help Japanese relief efforts.

Like “chiptune” electronic music and want to help? Check out Chip In: Japan!

Finally, do you like drum and bass and want to help, but are kind of broke? Then go to Pendulum’s website and buy “Ransom” for a British pound, all profits go to the relief efforts.

Whatever you do, give! You don’t need an awesome punk rock song to save the world.

Although sometimes it helps.

Posted in Gekirin, Kazuyoshi Saito, soundtrack | 19 Comments »

I am a Champion of Justice

April 12th, 2011

I wrote this post Sunday night and then forgot to hit the “Publish” button. I think that’s the first time I’ve done that sober.

Björk
Joga (Alec Empire “Empire State Of Emergency” Remix)
I had a ton of Atari Teenage Riot lined up for tonight’s post. But you can get all of it on iTunes and Amazon apparently, so there went that plan.

I wanted an excuse to talk about the group though. They have a new album coming out soon, and you can currently download two excellent new singles from it here. They are one of my favorite bands from the 90s, and I cannot wait for their new album to blow new holes in my eardrums.

Thankfully, I was able to find this remix of Joga by digging around my music library. I’ve posted this twice before, but I do not care. It’s an amazing mix. And it’s shockingly not in print anywhere at the moment, so I’m going to run with it.

This is NOT the “Alec Empire Mix” or the “Alec Empire Hardcore Mix” this is a separate, different mix. I know its been on a few different Bjork singles, but I found it on an odd comp in the late 90s called Y2k. Other cuts from that gem? “Busy Child” and Apollo Four Fourty’s remix of the “Lost In Space” theme. It’s a weird little CD.

Röyksopp
Poor Leno (Sander Kleineberg’s Northern Beach Mix)
I try to lump all the artists with umlats in their names together, makes it easier. I’m not particularly fond of this track. It’s good, but held up next to other Röyksopp singles like “Remind Me,” “Happy Up Here,” and the fucking incredible “Girl And The Robot” it just kind of pales in comparison. That, and it makes me think of Jay Leno. Fuck that guy. This remix is from a 12″.

Front 242
Tragedy â–ºFor Youâ—„ (12″ Vox)
Tragedy â–ºFor Youâ—„ (Neurodancer)
Tragedy â–ºFor Youâ—„ (Punish Your Machine Mix 12″)
Tragedy â–ºFor Youâ—„ (Slo Mo Mix)
How did I create the triangle symbol? I didn’t. I cut and pasted it from Wikipedia. It took me forever to find a place that had that thing in the fucking title of this song.  I’m not a fan of random punctuation in band/song names. Random macro characters are just too much. These mixes are from a 12″ single. Listen to them while punching something.

Tomorrow (or later today) I will have a new post. In it there will be a song that can save the world.

Posted in Front 242, Röyksopp, remixes | 4 Comments »

They call ’em fingers but I’ve never seen them fing.

April 4th, 2011

I’m getting a new turntable Tuesday!

It’s a brand new Audio-Technica AT-LP120. I’ve heard very good things about this turntable, it’s direct-drive; comes with both a USB and traditional ports; has a built-in pre-amp; and even looks suspiciously like a Techincs 1200. Hopefully, it doesn’t suck. Expect a full report later this week.

Until then, I’m not recording much vinyl. Why bother recording on my shit ION USB turntable when I know a better one is on the way? Luckily, I have some stuff saved up. Such as this acid trip of a single.

Amorphous Androgynous
The Mello Hippo Disco Show (Yo-Yo_Single Remix)
The Mello Hippo Disco Show (She Sells Electric Ego)
The Mello Hippo Disco Show (Jacknife Lee Mix)
The Mello Hippo Disco Show (Slo-Mo)
The Mello Hippo Disco Show (Hippo-Drone)
The Mello Hippo Disco Show (Trying To Make Impermanent Things Permanent)
The Mello Hippo Disco Show (The World’s In Transience)
The Mello Hippo Disco Show (Life’s A Flow)
Anamorphous Androgynous is really Future Sound of London. Although considering how prolific they’ve become as Amorphous Androgynous, maybe it should be the other way around. I remember when FSOL vanished for a few years in the late 90s. Now it seems that they are putting out a new release every few months, whether it be an “archives” release, a collection of new material, or another CD in the A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Exploding In Your Mind series. I just can’t keep up. It’s a bummer since I really dig FSOL, but there’s just too much! Oh well, maybe when time, money and a desire to listen to other bands are no long an issue I’ll catch up.

Speaking of the Monstrous series, I recently got my hands on the first volume and…damn. I can see why this is one of Noel Gallagher’s favorite records.

Look, I don’t do acid, but if you do, I assume that doing it while listening to that record would be a very good idea. I can say, with authority, that if you ever find yourself under the influence of prescription pain medication and looking for an album to listen to, that FSOL’s The Pulse EPs is an excellent choice. It’s also pretty good even if your not under the influence.

Anyways, these remixes of one hella trippy tune are from a CD single I bought last week. Enjoy.

Posted in Amorphous Androgynous, Future Sound Of London, remixes | 1 Comment »

Ultra Music Festival Is Evil

April 1st, 2011

Ultra Music Festival 13

Sigh. I don’t even know where to begin.

I guess I’ll start with the good stuff. With very rare exception, every DJ and band I saw totally kicked ass. If an act was playing for 50 people or 50,000, it didn’t matter, they played like they were rock stars, and their energy was always contagious. Also, when it all came together, and 75,000-150,000 were dancing to the same beat, it was truly a sight to behold and unlike anything I’ve ever been a part of. Moments like that almost made me forget about all the problems with the festival.

Almost.

I’ll start with the layout of the venue. Simply put, it’s a fucking mess. There were EIGHT stages at Ultra this year. EIGHT. This overabundance of stages created many problems, the most notable of which was noise bleed. Many of the stages were all right next to each other. So unless you were right up on the stage, you got to hear noise from the stage(s) next to you. Also, putting the stages so close to each other created crazy traffic and gridlock problems, especially later in the evening when people were rushing to get from stage to stage to catch big name acts.

This wouldn’t have been as big a problem if the all the stages were actually needed, but they weren’t. Many times the artists at the smaller stages were literally playing to no one. What’s the point? All they were doing was creating noise that hindered other nearby performances.

Then there were the grounds themselves. Most of the ground in front of the main stage was pavement. And yeah, that’s hot and not very comfortable, but it’s not that uncommon. Meanwhile, the ground in front of the live stage was mostly grass, and that’s nice, but right in front of the stage was nothing but dirt. When people dance in dirt, they cause miniature dust storms that get in your eyes, in your hair and if you’re really unlucky, in your drink. Ugh. It doesn’t take much to sod a field a few weeks before a concert. But it obviously took more than the Ultra organizers were willing to give. A common theme.

Two of the side stages had it even worse, instead of pavement or even dirt, they had gravel. GRAVEL. Have you ever tried dancing on gravel? Here’s a protip: Don’t. It fucking hurts! The little stones repeatedly got in my shoes and cut up my feet. Even worse, sometimes some asshat would run to the stage and start thrashing about like a madman, kicking little stones up into my face. That hurts. A lot.

The gravel pit dance floors were just one example that showcased the utter contempt Ultra organizers had for the audience. The restrooms were a fucking mess, just a smattering of porta-pottys off in a (very) dark corner. Getting to them was a nightmare, and if it was after dark you couldn’t see shit. Not only is this annoying, (and kind of gross) but it’s really dangerous. If I was a woman, I sure as hell wouldn’t want to wander into this poorly lit, at times sparsely populated, area – not with all the drugged out and drunken idiots milling about. I hate to think about what horrible acts probably went down around those porta-pottys.

But the biggest “fuck you” from the concert organizers to the concert goers was the water. A half-liter bottle of water was five bucks -and there were no refill stations anywhere in the park. That meant that if you wanted to stay properly hydrated during the 12 hour outdoor concert, you were looking at plucking down 20 bucks a day for water. I don’t even understand how that’s legal. The organizers of Utlra should be ashamed of themselves.

But onus for this dance-crazed clusterfuck can’t all be placed on the organizers, the assholes in attendance have to be partially to blame as well.

Truth be told, most of the people attending this festival didn’t really give a fuck about electronic music, especially any electonic music that was more than five years old. The majority of the audience talked over acts like Underworld and Duran Duran, while legends like Goldie, Ed Rush & Optical, and Hybrid played to half-empty fields and arenas. No respect for the history of electronic music was given by the audience here. They wanted to hear Top 40 club hits and nothing else. If it didn’t have a constant beat, more often than not the DJ or band might as well fuck off in their eyes.

Even worse was the treatment Erasure got. If the audience wasn’t ignoring the synthpop legends then they were actively heckling them. I heard many yells of “you suck!” and “get off the stage!” Even worse, I heard at least one drunken fucker yell “fags!”  I nearly cried.

But even responsibility for this can be partially blamed on the concert organizers. A band like Erasure, who has a cult following at best in America, should not be playing the main stage at 7:30 at night. They should be on the live stage, playing after a group like Empire Of the Sun or Royksopp. Sticking them on the main stage, between Benny Benassi and Pendulum, was just asking for trouble. Ditto for putting Underworld before Deadmau5. The jerks there to see mouseboy didn’t know who Underworld was, and they were all too high on cocaine or E (I saw more drugs here than any other place in my entire life, by the way) to be considerate to those around them. A pair of shirtless fucktards actually laughed at me for liking “Born Slippy .NUXX.” What’s it to them if I like Underworld? I just didn’t get it.

At the end of each night of the festival I came back to my hotel dejected and depressed. Sad over the fact that what should have been a great event was nearly ruined by poor planning and greed. By the last day, I had to listen to electronic music in my hotel for an hour just to work up the energy to brave the horribleness I knew I was going to endure.

Ultra is a fuck you to music fans. So here’ my fuck you back to Ultra.

Hey Ultra organizers. Fuck you. Fuck your five dollar water. Fuck your lax security. Fuck your shitty, foot-tearing gravel. Fuck your shitty stages. Fuck your poor scheduling. Fuck your horrible fucking website. Fuck your inflated ticket prices. Fuck your eyesore VIP section. Fuck your dangerous, poorly lit bathrooms. Fuck your useless sidestages. Fuck your shitty house emcee. And fuck your overpriced shitty merch.

But most of all, fuck your greed. I have never before been to a concert so obviously motivated by the bottom line. Ultra is an event designed solely to jam 150,000 people into a confined space and suck as much money out of them as possible. The people who put on Ultra don’t fucking care if the concert goers live or die. Once you give them your money you can fuck off for all they care.

So yeah, fuck Ultra Music Festival. Unless they address these problems, there is no way in hell I am ever going back to that disco shithole.

Hybrid
Airless
Airless (DJ Stephen & Jim’s Raw Traderz Mix)
Airless (DJ Tiësto’s Magikal Remake)
Even though Ultra was kind of a disaster, I still took away a lot of great memories from the festival. For example, I got to see Hybrid perform live! Hearing “Finished Symphony” live was one of the most transcendent musical experiences of my life. I will never forget it.

These three tracks by the legendary progressive trance act are from a 12″ I got in Miami. And yeah, I know that’s not a lot of music. But did you see how much I wrote? I’m tired! I’ll have more next week I promise!

Posted in Hybrid, remixes | 13 Comments »

I like my trance uncut

March 31st, 2011

My report on the Ultra Music Festival is coming soon. It will be epic, believe me. Until then, here are a couple classics to hold you all over.

The KLF
What Time Is Love (Pure Trance Original)
What Time Is Love (Pure Trance Mix 2)
During my time in Miami I found one record store, Uncle Sam’s Music in South Beach. It’s a very good store, and if you are ever in the greater Miami area and don’t want to blow all your money on blow, I suggest checking them out. That’s where I made this awesome find. These tracks are from the very first printing of “What Time Is Love” – the one labeled “Pure Trance 1” (KLF 004T) that was deleted soon after it came out. I never thought I’d find one of these in America, let alone for less than 10 bucks. The original version of this classic track is probably the best one. So download and enjoy. The second mix is a little out there, but still damn great and worth having.

Enjoy your trance pure and expect an epic post to go along with this epic music tomorow.

Posted in remixes, The KLF | 4 Comments »

Taking my Lack of Talent to South Beach

March 23rd, 2011

This will most likely be my only post for the week. Barring any further disruption (…long story) I will be heading to Miami this Thursday for the Ultra Music Festival to see Duran Duran, Underworld, Hybrid, Pendulum, Erasure, Royksopp, Ed Rush & Optical, The Chemical Brothers and about a billion other electronic acts.

I’m getting to South Beach on Thursday afternoon. The concert, however, does not start until Friday afternoon, so if anyone out there has any entertainment recommendations for someone who does not like to go to clubs, get shitfaced and have creepy anonymous sex with an equally shitfaced stranger, please let me know. I don’t have high hopes though, as that appears to be all there is to do in Maimi from what I’ve heard. Well, that and betray Ohio. Oh snap!

Anyways, musics!

Portishead Remixes
 Something For Kate – Easy (Portishead Remix)
Earthling – 1st Transmission (Earthead) Portishead Remix)
 Primal Scream – Give Out But Don’t Give Up (Portishead Remix)
Ride – Moonlight Medicine (Portishead Remix)
Machine Gun Fellatio – Horny Blonde (Portishead Remix)
I know very little, and in some case nothing, about any of these bands. I got these tracks off of a bootleg vinyl compilation called Portishead Remixes. In case you can’t tell from that incredibly creative title, it is a collection of remixes by Portishead. I love their remixes, because they somehow have the ability to take any track, no matter what the genre, and turn it into a Portishead song. Heavy metal, house, alt-rock, whatever, they Portishead the fuck out of it. Did I just make “Portishead” a verb? If you got a problem with that I will Propellerhead the shit out of you.

As for the bands, well, like I said, I know very little about them. I can tell you that the Something For Kate track reminds me of Bush in a good way, and that the Ride track reminds me of trippy Oasis, which makes sense since at last one of the dudes in that band ended up in Oasis. The rest, well, really sound like Portishead. Also, Machine Gun Fellatio? Best horrible band name ever.

Mantronix
Simple Simon (You Gotta Rock Hard)
Simple Simon (You Dubba Regard)
Simple Simon (Dub Gotta Rock Hard)
Damn. This is a great track. I really need to get me some more Mantronix. While browsing them on Wikipedia, I noticed that Pitchfork gave the deluxe edition of their self-titled debut an 8.08 out of 10. Well played Pitchfork, well played. (For those who don’t get the joke, click here) These are from a 12″ single.

Talking Heads
The Lady Don’t Mind (Extended Version)
Right now I’m watching Lopez Tonight on mute and fat bald priest is holding a raffle while an old Jewish man dances on a strip pole. I’m never unmuting my television again.

Oh, and this remix of “The Lady Don’t Mind” comes from a 12″ single. See you all next week.

Posted in Earthling, Machine Gun Fellatio, Mantronix, Portishead, Primal Scream, Ride, Something For Kate, Talking Heads | 9 Comments »

Cast a Dream for Dreamcast Vinyl

March 18th, 2011

I know I promised more stuff like my last post, but I’m going to have to interrupt that plan for a bit because today I got something utterly amazing in the mail.

 

 

Woot! My man in Australia came through in  spades and I am now the proud owner of a Dreamcast Collection vinyl record!

 

I talked about this ealier, but in case you aren’t familar; Sega recently released a new collection of Dreamcast games for the Xbox 360. The game was pretty much a worldwide release. But Australian customers who preordered the game got this exclusive free record as a bonus! It is totally the best preorder bonus in the history of preorder bonuses. Since I live in America and not Australia, I ended up begging my readers for help. One truly awesome dude from Down Under came through and now we all get to bask in its pearl white glory.

 

 

Mass Effect 2 can take its stupid armor and shove it.

The Dreamcast Collection game contains four complete Dreamcast games; Sonic Adventure, Space Channel 5 Part 2, Crazy Taxi, and…um…Sega Bass Fishing. Each of the games, except Sega Bass Fishing is represented somehow on the vinyl. Sorry fishing fans, better luck next time.

So what is exactly on this record? Let’s take a look.

Sonic Adventure
Crush 40 – Open Your Heart
This is the theme song to the original Sonic Adventure video game, which launched with the Dreamcast in 1999. Sonic Adventure is a…weird game that has not particularly aged well. Sure it was fun at the time, and that shit with the whale was totally awesome! But play it now. The controls are more than a little lacking, the graphics have not aged well, and the “adventure” aspects of the game are like pulling teeth. The game is best when Sonic is blazing through crazy 3D environments at light speed, which is sadly when you have almost no control over the character.

Anyways, the song. Yeah…it’s something else. I haven’t heard this tune since 1999 and I recall thinking it was pretty stupid then. Like the game it is from, time has not been kind to it. Still, it’s definitely fun in its own way, and would probably work great on a workout mix. Besides, have you heard any other arena rock songs have mention Choas Rings? Didn’t think so.

Space Channel Five Part 2
Naofumi Hataya, Kenichi Tokoi, Mariko Nanba and Tomoya Ohtani – Option Remix 2002 (Space Channel 5 Part 2)

The first Space Channel 5 was a game I always really wanted to like. It has an amazing look to it and some great music. However, I always found the goddamn thing hard as all hell. I’m used to rhythm games, but it was just too much for me. If you were off by one-tenth of a millisecond with the timing you were you totally boned! But hey, some people swear by the series, so who am I to judge? Like I said, it certainly looks amazing.

Like the name suggests, this is the music for the Options menu in Space Channel 5 Part 2. It is the best Options screen music you were hear all day. It’s great song, totally upbeat techno/lounge music that makes you wanna groove all night. Unfortunately it’s only 1:20 long, so get that repeat button ready.

I don’t know if I’m attributing it to the right people, but those are the names of all the composers who worked on the game. So one of them probably did it.

Crazy Taxi
The Days The Nights – Radical Sabbatical
The Juliet Dagger – Flinch
The Hooks – Get Out
Now this game was my jam when it came out. My friend Matt and I spent many a night in his dorm room trying to ace this game, fighting over bragging rights for the highest score in arcade mode while trying to desperately finish the insanely hard mini-game challenges. For a game that consisted of little more than driving recklessly to Pizza Hut while listening to The Offsrping ad nauseum, it offered surprisingly good times.

So if you’re like me, when you first saw the tracklisting for this record you thought , “Hey, I played Crazy Taxi hundreds of times and I never heard of these songs, what gives? Where’s my Offspring and Bad Relgion”

Well, “what gives” is music licensing issues. Sega most likely bought the rights to use said Offspring and Bad Religion songs for the original Dreamcast release only. Any derivatives or remakes do not feature those classic tracks. Instead they feature these newer songs.

How are they? Well, it’s a mixed bag. Despite its great name “Radical Sabbatical” is kind of generic, forgettable alt-rock. “Flinch” by The Juliet Dagger is alright, and it has a good tempo. However it kind of sounds like a song by The Hives, the name of which escapes me  at the moment. “Get Out” by The Hooks is the same, not bad, but not very memorable either. I see this band having some potential however. Still, all three probably fit well in the actual game, even if they don’t make well for casual listening.

So as a whole, the tracks on this compilation are great more for the novelty factor than anything else. But what a novelty! Dreamcast songs on vinyl! How cool is that shit? I hope they do this again when they undoubtedly release more Dreamcast games on the 360.

Hey Sega, Jet Grind Radio, do it. If they made a 2LP soundtrack to that game and charged me 100 bucks for it I would buy it. The music in that game is amazing. I don’t recall the music from other Dreamcast greats like the Power Stone series and Virtua Tennis as much, but those games need to get re-released in HD, and why not put out the music as well?

Video game music on vinyl. It has to start happening more often!

 

Posted in video game music | 1 Comment »

Clean Your Needle Before Playing Dirty Records

March 16th, 2011

Before I get to tonight’s weird-ass post, I would like to thank all of you who left words of encouragement after my last couple of posts. I wasn’t fishing for the compliments when I wrote the posts, but they were still nice to hear. In case anyone is wondering, I’m using a replacement turntable for the moment, which I will classify as “good enough.”

Sometimes it’s nice to be reminded that not everyone out there sucks. I have a hard time realizing that sometimes. Especially when you see jerks making jokes about Japan and comments about how it’s karmic payback for Pearl Harbor or some BS like that. I’ve been reading stuff like that for the past few days and it has literally made me sick. If you’ve said something like that in the past few days then I don’t want you to read my blog anymore.

I read a horrible article at Salon cautioning AGAINST donating money to help the people in Japan (because they somehow don’t need the help) and I’m fearful that ideas like that might take hold. Please, donate money to help the people in Japan. Sure, Japan is an industrialized nation with a stable, organized government but it’s a safe bet that they’re going to need all the help they can get. Red Cross. Go there. Donate. You can also do that text thing (REDCROSS to 90999 gives 10 bucks). If you’re aren’t living paycheck-to-paycheck then there is really no reason not to donate. Donate. Do it already. You can’t read the rest of this blog post until you do. And you’ll want to. I got some weird stuff for you all tonight.


Sex Is My Business
Side 1
Side 2
I buy a lot of records, and a lot more than music has been released on vinyl. There are children’s stories, audiobooks, radio plays, interactive storybooks, exercise programs, educational programs, historical documentaries, interviews, you name it, it’s been released on vinyl. I don’t buy a lot of those non-music records. Most are pretty stupid, and not in an entertaining way. But I have to admit that the name, and that cover, of this little gem peaked my interest. Also, it’s blue!

 

Sex Is My Business (1960) is a very odd record, even in the very odd market of “party records.” I’ll let the copy on the back of it speak for itself:

“The record is not available in record stores. It is one of the most startling and compelling records eve produced. SEX IS MY BUSINESS is the result of actual interviews with prostitutes, homosexuals, pimps and “Johns” in which we hear them tell the fascinating and almost unbelievable story of their lives; their experiences, how they work, what they do and why, the money the receive and the money they pay; their fears; anxieties, hopes and stranges loves…all in their own words in a frank, graphic and revealing description of a way of life few of us know or understand. This record may shock you. It’s meant to do just that! It’s a vital, true life documentary of a social manifestation in our culture that should not and cannot be ignored. This record is for adults only.”

Basically, its a collection of alleged interviews with real-life prostitutes. One kinda-sorta pimp is included near the end, but he seems more like a gigolo. And aside from a couple mentions of bisexual Johns and one lesbian encounter by a prostitute, the isn’t much in the way of homosexual content, so that copy is a bit of an exaggeration.

I don’t know if the interviews on Sex Is My Business are real or not. If anyone has any insight on that please email me and let me know! They do sound fairly convincing, and if they are faked performances then they are performed very well. Some parts are really sad,  some are really funny, and some are just plain weird (the story about the dude with the “velvet fetish” is a standout). Don’t expect any very explicit talk though. Sure, it’s an “adult record” but it’s still from 1960, so no details about specific acts nor talk about birth control and abortions or anything like that.

Real or not, this record is freaking fascinating. It’s a great product of its time, showcasing just how taboo topics like this were that you had to order a record about it through the mail to hear about it. But even that was hard. In 1961, Fax Records, the makers of Sex Is My Business and other fine adult records like “Stories Mother Never Told You” and “Sin Along With Us” was prosecuted by the federal government for sending obscene materials through the United States Post Office. Read about it here. I would love to find out more about that case.

I have some more weird records like this that I plan on sharing later this week or early next week. Hope you like the temporary change of pace.

Posted in Non-Music | 5 Comments »

Everything Is Wrong

March 11th, 2011

So, remember how I said I was just going to let my audio difficulties slide and embrace the minor flaws of vinyl?

Yeah, that was a lie.

Out of curiosity I took a couple problem records to a friends house to see if they would sound any better on her system, which is a piece of shit belt-driven turntable she bought at Target for 30 bucks. Guess what? They totally did. So then I dug out an old turntable of mine and hooked it up to my system. It sounds like shit in its own way, but the problem I was having was absent. Which only means one thing, my turntable is totally fucked up.

It’s a maddening problem. Not all records sound bad, just some. But the ones that do really sound bad. The worst case is a track called “Beautiful Lies” from a drum and bass artist named B-Complex. Here’s a zip file with a clip from versions of the track. The one labeled “shit” is taken from my turntable, while the one labeled “good” is from a CD. Listen and compare. Any idea as to what the hell is going on here? I’ve played the record on other turntables and it sounds fine! I’ve also replaced every cable in my setup, and even replaced/cleaned/adjusted my needle and tone arm to no avail. I’m at wit’s end. I’m taking the turntable into Jerry’s to hopefully get fixed tomorow, and I will be borrowing my old USB turntable that I gave to a friend until this issue is resolved. It doesn’t sound great, but it is more than serviceable.

Okay, so this is where I’m kind of insane. Since now I know some of my recordings sound fucked up because of my turntable, I no longer can stand any of them. so pretty much everything I recorded in  the past two months is now a complete waste that won’t be on this blog until I can try to re-record them on a decent system. This is a problem. I have a few things saved up, but not much. So if I can’t get this fixed soon, expect the blog to go into “Greatest Hits” mode for a while, putting up stuff from old posts. Oh well, another excuse for me to talk about Big Country’s “Wonderland.”

Ian McCulloch
Faith & Healing (The Carpenter’s Son Mix)
Toad
Fear Of the Known
These tracks sound good enough. I’m noticing some slight distortion on the first one, but nothing worth scrapping the whole post for. Sigh. I’m so pissed off right now…

Anyways, these are good tracks recorded by the lead singer of Echo & The Bunneymen during that brief period where they existed as a band but without Ian on vocals. I like “Toad” especially.

Now if you excuse me I’m going to go drown my A/V sorrows in alcohol-infused whipped cream.

Posted in Ian McCulloch, remixes | 7 Comments »

Hell of a Good DJ

March 9th, 2011

Thank you everyone who gave their input in regards to my audio quality issues. After reading through all your input and doing some additional research on my own I’ve determined that the main issue is that the records I buy are usually used, and used greatly at that. I guess it comes with the territory. Still, if anyone has any specific advice on how to deal with that “lispy’ sound issue I’d be much obliged.

I also noticed that many people were making assumptions about the gear/set-up I run. So I thought I would just explain that right now to get it out of the way.

My turntable is a Stanton STR8-80, which I got used for about 80 bucks – a steal. It’s s straight-arm model, and I know that those aren’t the best for audio quality, but it’s always been a delicate balance for me when it comes to finding a turntable that can play at high quality and one that can play stratched, fucked up records. I know that straight-arm turntables can usually play more busted-up records, so that’s why I went with it over a curved-arm model.

The STR8-80 has a standard RCA cable attached to it, which I run to a pre-amp that cuts down/eliminates annoying R/F interference. Then I run the cable out of that to my computer via a RCA-to-line-in cable. Right now its hooked up to the computer’s onboard soundcard. While that’s not perfect, its not half bad either, and seems to be doing the job right now. I did a comparison between the onboard audio and my external Soundblaster and didn’t notice any difference, so I’m not going to bother with an external soundcard for now.

I use Creative’s cheapo recorder for recording the audio, and then I use Sony’s Sound Forge to touch it up and cut the raw WAV files into individual MP3s. I almost never use any automated “vinyl recording” features that touch up audio files. Sure, they can be great at removing pops and clicks, but they also remove high hats, finger snaps and any other similar sound. I do it all manually. I’m crazy like that.

Then I use MP3tag to tag the files. I used to use iTunes for this, but I was finding out that iTunes was leaving some fields black in the actual tags, and whenever I had to re-install iTunes I was losing information, which was incredibly annoying.

Nearly everything I use has been replaced at least once, and the “lispy” audio and slightly of-kilter audio balance have always followed to some extent, so until I get a really super high end turntable (i.e. A Technics SL-1200mk2) I’m now officially no longer caring about my audio quality unless there’s something free and easy that I can do to make it sound better. So, please don’t send me feedback telling me how I’m fucking everything up unless you have a no-cost, preferably software solution. I’ll give an automatic process a chance if it can fix this problem.

Or if my audio quality really bothers you then just send me a Technics SL-1200MK2 turntable for free. Hey, they’re only 600 bucks! Buy me two!

Beastie Boys
Intergalactic (Professors of Technology Remix)
Intergalactic (Fuzzy Logic Remix)
“Intergalatic” was the track I used to test my tonearm weight. The line “when I wrote graffiti my name was slop!” line was a good test of that “lispy” sound. The original version of the track had that problem pretty bad, but these remixes are fairly clean. Regardless of audio quality, they’re all funky as shit.

Hell
Follow You (Dominik Eulberg Remix)
I love Hell, the dude, not the concept of eternal damnation. I usually can’t stand minimal techno either, so the fact that I think this dude is the best DJ on the planet really says something about how awesome he is. He’s the only person not playing at UMF this year who I wish was.

Oh yeah, by the way, I’m totally going to UMF (Ultra Music Festival) in Miami this month! If anyone wants to recommend any DJ/artist let me know! There are SO MANY playing that it’s kind of hard to keep track of them all.

Posted in Beastie Boys, Hell, remixes | 4 Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »