Tole-Doh! Rock

April 30th, 2009

I’m heading for the not-at-all greener pastures of Toledo Ohio for the next few days. So this will be the last update of the week. I’m twice as depressed as you are about that fact, I can assure you. The stuff from tonight are all Record Store Day exclusives, most of them being from the Record Store Day 2009 Edition exclusive LP. Half of it was stuff that was already released or from upcoming releases, but there were a few choice rare/exclusive cuts, here they are.

Glasvegas – Daddy’s Gone (Live from KCRW)
I know very little about this band. I just know what my friend Lisa tells me, and according to her they are Jesus wrapped in awesome. Although I’ve learned never to trust her opinion when it comes to UK stuff, since she’s biased. Not a bad track though.

Raphael Saadiq – 100 Yard Dash (101 Yard Remix)
What I said about Glasvegas goes double here. Another good track, but I’m too lazy to Wiki the guy and see who the hell he is right now.

Franz Ferdinand – No You Girls (Vince Clarke Remix)
I’m seeing these guys Sunday in Detroit and I haven’t been so stocked to go to the Motor City Hellhole in years. I’ll give a full report of the awesomeness (and sure-to-be-annoying-Hipsters) when I return. This remix is by Vince Clarke of Depeche Mode/Yazoo/Erasure. Vince Clarke remixing a Franz Ferdinand song is the most gay thing that isn’t actually gay in the history of faux-gay ever.

Black Kids – Look At Me (When I Rock Wichoo) (Kid Gloves Remix)
This is probably the song I like the least on Partie Traumatic, good beat/groove on this remix though.

Slayer
Pyschopathy Red
I Am A Mistake Of Nature
I Am A Mistake Of Nature (Reversed and Sped Up)
Slayer motherfucker!!! SLAYER!! These tracks weren’t from the Record Store Day exclusive vinyl, but from a special single that was also available on Record Store Day. It’s blood red, big surprise. The song Psychopathy Red is about Andrei Chikatilo, the Russian serial killer. Typical happy happy Slayer stuff. The b-side is a slowed down backwards message, which I presume is a translated statement made by Chikatilo. I’ve gone ahead and sped it up/reveresed it for you, while also provided the original version. Enjoy the murder and I’ll see you Monday.

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

SLOW BONGO FLOYD FTW!!!

April 29th, 2009

Today was the first time since I broke my rib/joint/tendon that I was able to work out. I just got done lifting weights while listening to Fear. I could punch God in the face right now I’m so pumped.

On a completely unrelated note, I finally got around to updating my blog roll, check it out, there’s some good stuff there, especially Friendsound, who get deluxe bonus points for putting up a rare CD by Scanner, one of my favorite electronic acts.

Tonight’s post is full of weird, awesome and weird awesome.

Slow Bongo Floyd
More Than Jesus (SBF Mix)
More Than Jesus (Irresistible Force Mix)
Open Your Heart (11 O’Clock Mix)
Open Your Heart (Piano Mix)
Talk about a surprise. I bought this record on a complete whim, mostly because of the ridiculous band name, and was complete gobsmacked by the unbelievable awesomeness hidden in its grooves. This is some crazy-ass Madchester shit to the 10th degree, house beats layered behind wah wah guitars and trippy-ass vocals. I can find next to nothing on these guys. There seems to be a semi-official site dedicated to them, but it’s bloody awful only giving out the most basic of information. That site mentions two albums, Acid House Inspirational and Brenda Salmons. I can’t find the first one anywhere but it seems that Brenda Salmons was just re-released digitally and you can pick it up on Amazon for a cheap six bucks! I bought it and am listening to it right now. I’ll let you all know how it is in the coming days. However, if you liked The Stone Roses or The Happy Mondays you need to download this shit and check it out, it’ll blow your mind that you haven’t heard it before. If anyone out there has any other rare Slow Bongo Floyd tracks for the love of God hook a brother up.

Heaven 17
Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry Parts One & Two (Uninterrupted Single Version)
Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry (Extended Dance Version)
I’m new to Heaven 17, having recently discovered how awesome early Human League was, I’ve branched out and picked up a few Heaven 17 singles and I have to be honest; I’m a little disapointed. I was hoping that the guys from Heaven 17 took the weird from Human League with them when they left, but it sounds like they didn’t. Based on the insanely dark name of this track I was expecting “Being Boiled” round 2, but instead I got an upbeat dance number about the opression of the working class. It’s not a bad song, but damn talk about not having something meet your expectations.

Lene Lovich
Blue Hotel (Dance Mix)
Lene Lovich was an American singer, but she found much more success in England, having signed to Stiff Records when all the cool kids (Elivs Costello, Ian Dury, Wreckless Eric) were doing it. This remix to one of her best tunes is from a 12” single. If you like it I suggest checking out her other stuff, it’s all pretty good.

Sparks
Rosebud (Extended Dance Mix)
Theme For Rosebud (Cinematic Mix)
Rosebud (FM Mix)
These guys are fucking weird. That’s all I got to say.

Posted in Heaven17, Lene Lovich, remixes, Slow Bongo Floyd, Sparks | 9 Comments »

Tubular Bananas in Tail Pipes

April 27th, 2009

I’m crazy busy reviewing awful music so just a quick post tonight, but before that some links to reviews of CDs that don’t suck.

Depeche Mode – Sound Of The Universe: I liked it, surprise I know.
Radiohead – OK Computer (Special Edition): Just fucking buy it.

J&B Orchestra
Tubular Bells (Club Mix)
Tubular Bells (Dub Mix)
On a list of tracks I thought would get remixed by a Disco Italo artist “Tubular Bells”…is actually pretty high up there. Disco Italo is weird, so it’s not that surprising. Imagine the corniest aspects of New Wave, Disco and House music…tha’ts Disco Italo. This remix/remake of “Tubular Bells” (AKA the song in The Exorcist) appropriately exorcises all creepiness from the track and turns it into a fun little club jam.

Harold Faltermeyer
Axel F (The M&M Mix)
Axel F (Extended Version)
I’ve been collecting records for 10 years now. I know I have a pretty impressive collection, but I’ve always thought something was missing. I looked at my shelves upon shelves of 12” singles with an emptyness in my heart, a lacking, a yearning for something I didn’t quite understand. But now that I have the 12” single to Axel F I knew that is what was lacking. That was the missing piece, the keystone if you will, to my collection. My collection is now complete (not really). These remixes are awesome and I suggest everyone listen to them whilst jogging and/or fighting to avenge James Russo’s death.

Side Note: The first mix has little, if nothing, to do with M&M’s…I think.

Posted in dubs, Harold Faltermeyer, JandB Orchestra, Mike Oldfield, remixes | 1 Comment »

A Monstrous Psychedelic Blog Experience through the candy-coated center of your third eye (or something).

April 23rd, 2009

Record Store Day was last Saturday, and between my hunting in Pittsburgh, my friend’s hunting in Toledo and my mom’s hunting in Colorado I was able to get a lot of the super-neato-keen exclusives that were available that day. The biggest (and most difficult) find was the 12” single of Oasis’ “Falling Down” which you’ll find more information about below, but I also got some other nifty swag. I’ll try to post more of this stuff later in the week, here’s the best of the best right now.

Regina Spektor
Better (Piano and Voice)
Better (Radio Recut)
Hero
Bartender
I already owned this album but I had to get this vinyl, so I can frame it and have Regina’s cute face look over me in my bedroom. Wait, that sounded creepy didn’t it? Um…nevermind. The vinyl version came with these extras special bonus cuts, which were previously only available on iTunes and on singles. The piano only version of “Better” is super-awesome, and the rest aren’t half bad either. Hey Regina, call me.

Oasis
Falling Down (A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Remix)
Just putting this one up on a blog doesn’t really do the complete package justice. I have it labeled as “A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Remix” but the front cover goes all out, calling it “A 20 minute cosmic dozescape psychedelicized by the Amorphous Androgynous. A monstrous psychedelic bubble exploding in your MIND.” Hyperbolic? Not at all, because this mix is fucking insane, and absolutely incredible. A must have for fans of anything that doesn’t suck. Important side-note, Amorphous Androgynous is the psychedelic pseudonym of The Future Sound Of London, one of the top five electronic acts of all time. So yeah, it’s a must have. On the vinyl version of this it was split in half, with parts 1 and 2 on one side and 3 through 5 on the other. I did you the pleasure of mixing them together, so you can have one 20 minute freakout session. Don’t take the brown acid.

Posted in B-sides, Oasis, Regina Spektor, remixes | 9 Comments »

Dreaming Of Tangerines In Space

April 22nd, 2009

Haven’t gone through all the links yet, but I’ve already discovered some pretty sweet ones thanks to you people. There are so many good sites out there but for every quality blog there are 50 that are pure shite, so thanks everyone for acting as my filter. Now here’s some music no one will want as a reward.

FM – Black Noise
A great Canadian rock trio that specializes in space-themed prog. Rush? Fuck no! I’m talking about FM! FM is awesome, well at least this album is, I haven’t been able to find anything else by the group. How awesome is FM you ask? Well, for starters they don’t have a guitar player! That’s right motherfuckers, they rock it with glockenspiels, mandolins and electric violins! Need more proof? One of their early members was a guy called Nash the Slash, and look at him! Black Noise is all sci-fi insanity, with amazing song titles like “Slaughter In Robot Village,” “Dialing For Dhrama” and “Phasors On Stun.” If Rush is too low key and subtle for you then FM is your band. Much better lead singer too – although that’s not saying much when your comparison point is Geddy Lee. According to Wikipedia (which is always right) Black Noise is in print, but I can’t find a copy new anywhere – only overpriced and used. So its hard enough to find for me to justify putting the whole thing up.

Flashpoint – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Treat Williams and Kris Kristofferson find a wrecked Jeep in the desert that had a dead body, a rifle and a shitload of money. The dead dude is the guy who killed Kennedy and the money was his reward. So of course Kirstofferson and Williams try to keep the money. Sounds like the best movie ever made doesn’t it? But wait, Rip Torn is in it! It IS the best movie ever made. Need further proof? Tangerine Dream provided the soundtrack, well most of the soundtrack, the title track is by a band called The Gems and it has to be one of the worst pieces of shit ever put to vinyl. This is another one of Tangerine Dream’s out-of-print and overlooked 80s soundtracks to a movie no one ever heard of, and is worth a listen if you like them. The opening track is especially good.

Posted in Complete Albums, FM, soundtrack, Tangerine Dream | 4 Comments »

Hopped Up On Goofballs

April 17th, 2009

So I broke/tore/snapped/fucked up a joint in my ribs by lifting an aquarium. I didn’t even know my ribs had joints. Regardless, that hurt a lot. But I’m flying high tonight thanks to painkillers.

This post is brought to you by Vicadin, the letter “H” and the number “pink.”

Woah, I think this shit is starting to kick in. I better make this quick.

Quick note too, I’m still looking for some good blogs, so please share any links you have (that’s not to say the links submitted weren’t good, I just haven’t looked at them that much yet). And contray to what shitstains out there may think, posting a link to your own blog isn’t trolling. Being a little moron and picking fights is though.

New Order
Here To Stay (Felix Da Housecat’s Extended Gltiz Mix)
Here To Stay (Scumfrog Dub Mix)
This is not a cover of th Korn “classic” (although that would have been wrong/AWESOME), instead its a track New Order released for the soundtrack to 24 Hour Party People, a movie about Factory Records. Makes sense. The track was produced by The Chemical Brothers, and has a definite house vibe to it, especially the remixes, big beats abound.

Breakfast Club
Expressway To Your Heart (The Shep Pettibone Mix)
The band Madonna was in before she was Madonna. They never released anything with that version of the line-up. This is a cover of the Philly Soul classic originally released by The Soul Survivors back in the 60s. This remix is from a 12” single and it takes what was already an 80s-tarded update of the tune and rockets it to mega80starded proporations. Yes, I said 80s-tarded, I just invented it. I’m gonna copyright that shit.

Madonna
Human Nature (Runway Club Mix)
Human Nature (I’m Not Your Bitch Mix)
Human Nature (Bottom Heavy Dub)
And here’s Madonna, I didn’t even plan that synergy, it just kind of happened. I think. I don’t remember. I think I should go lay down.

Posted in Breakfast Club, Madonna, New Order, remixes, Vicadin is a hell of a drug | 6 Comments »

Before They Were Has-Beens

April 16th, 2009

I recently pillaged my blogroll of dead and out-dated links and am in need of MP3 blogs to discover and link to. Everyone leave suggestions in the comment section – whore yourself if you want, it’s fun and all the cool kids do it. My blog is read by literally…um…a few people everyday and a link from me will totally make you hot shit forever.

A quick little list of things I look for in a blog:

  • No rapidshit or other download service links – pay for your own server, it’s cheap.
  • No complete album downloads of albums that are easily available
  • At least halfway decent writing
  • A layout that doesn’t look like a monkey shit it out

Most importantly, if you have ever ripped off something I posted and then re-posted it as your own, I will find you an do very bad things to you., like make you listen to Katy Perry records.

I’m currently nursing a rather nasty muscle injury and my mind is not what it usually is, so I apologize in advance for the rather shitty writing you are about to read.

Beats International
Dub Be Good To Me (Norman Cook’s Excursion on the Version)
Dub Be Good To Me (Norman Cook’s Excursion on the Hip Hop Version)
Dub Be Good To Me (Smith and Mighty Remix)
Dub Be Good To Me (Smith and Mighty Mellow Mix)
Dub Be Good To Me (Acappela)
Beats Unlimited was the brainchild of Norman Cook, AKA Fatboy Slim, and was his first foray into music after The Housemartins broke up. A pretty big change of pace if I may say, considering The Housemartins were best known for their acapella renditions of Christian songs. This is clearly a transitional group for Cook, who would go through a few more aliases before settling on Fatboy Slim and making big beat history. Despite being called a dub song, this is classic old-school house with a dash of pop thrown in, and is as dated as 80s dance gets (even though it techincally came out in the 90s). These remixes are from a 12”.

Ministry
I Wanted To Tell Her (12” Remix)
I Wanted To Tell Her (Tongue Tied Mix)
A Walk In The Park
I thought I had all the early Ministry singles, so imagine my joy when I stumbled upon this gem, finding it in Toledo of all places (I guess there ain’t no synthpop party like a Toledo synthpop party). “I Wanted To Tell Her” was the second single off of Ministry’s 1983 debut album With Sympathy, and the highest charting one as well. Like everything on With Sympathy it sounds nothing like what was to come from Al and his not-so-merry band of industrial misanthropes, and yes he does sing with a fake British accent, and yes it’s totally awesome. These are from a 12” single.

Exotic Birds
No Communication
No Communication (Instrumental)
Demon Dance
Demon Dance (Instrumental)
I’ll Never Say Goodbye
Yes, Trent Reznor was in this band, but he’s not on this single. He didn’t sign up until a few years later. My plans for an all “before they were stars” style post isn’t a complete bust however, since the group’s frontman, Andy Kubiszewski, went on to form Stabbing Westard. After that he went on to produce for t.A.T.u, which means he’s probably filthy stinkin’ rich now.

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »

When it Rains it Rains Shit

April 13th, 2009

April. I hate April. I’ve detailed my reasons why before, I’m not getting into those past pains again. I will tell you though that so far this month I’ve had five of my fish die, pulled my abdominal muscles and faced something so weird I’m not even getting into it here. The sad thing is that the month isn’t even halfway over yet.

I really gotta look into getting that April/Nuclear shelter built in my basement, stocking it with 12” singles, a TV and an Xbox and just sitting this whole month out next year.

Also, every nerd that reads this should go to my friend Anna’s blog. She’s cool and she knows more about computers and video games than you do.

Daft Punk
Musique
Da Funk (Armand Van Helden Remix)
I don’t find a lot of Daft Punk at Jerry’s that much. I think it’s like Dark Side Of the Moon, if you bought it you probably intend on keeping it. On the off chance that I score a Daft Punk single it’s usually worn to hell and back. I’m still morning the horrid condition of the “Better Faster Stronger” 12” I got a few months ago, thing barely played. However, this one played amazingly well and I get to share it’s amazing awesomeness with you amazingly awesome people.

Komakino
Man on Mars (Extended Club Mix)
Man on Mars (DJ Tibby Remix)
Man on Mars (DJ Jan Remix)
Man on Mars (Talla 2XLC Remix)
There’s not enough space-themed electronic music, don’t you think? Doesn’t make sense. Someone needs to get on that, I think the astronauts deserve more than Hawkwind and Rush records. I think this is a pretty good trance track, even thought I’m not a huge fan of the genre outside of progressive trance like Hybrid – who are also kind of sci-fi themed. Maybe I just like spaceships in my dance music, who knows? Interesting/useless bit of trivia, there was also a rock band named Komakino, which proves that no matter how obscure the Joy Division reference you may come up with, someone else beat you to it. These are from a 12” single.

Pussy 2000
It’s Gonna Be Alright (Rockdapussy Mix)
It’s Gonna Be Alright (Hard Pussy Mix)
It’s Gonna Be Alright (DJ Sneak Vocal Edit)
It’s Gonna Be Alright (Original 2001 Mix)
Yes, it’s official, that is the worst name of a house DJ act I have ever seen. Pussy 2000? What the hell were they thinking? Not only is it disgusting, it instantly dates them! It’s gross and impractical! What a horrible combination! It’s a shame too, because this track, which samples The Clash’s “Rock The Casbah” is actually kind of good. I’d also like to state that I picked up this 12” because the credits had Joe Strummer on it, and not because the name of the group. Seriously. I’m serious.

Stop judging me.

Posted in B-sides, Daft Punk, Komakino, Pussy 2000, remixes | 4 Comments »

Grunged 4: Angry man behind the desk in a medium-sized town

April 9th, 2009

I was planning some grand epic post about how Pearl Jam have managed to survive and prosper while the other grunge bands have died (literally) or fallen apart by now. It was supposed to mention things like the band’s intentional alienation of their mass audience, their audacious urge to experiment musically and most importantly their epic live shows. I was also going to mention how they’re one of the only bands in America that has never sold out or compromised their integrity for record sales (and in fact did the opposite). It was going to mention all kinds of amazing stuff about all that shit.

But everything I want to say has probably been said before. People still listen to Pearl Jam because they are a great motherfucking band, and Pearl Jam is still around because they are truly a band, working as a cohesive unit to create good music, entertain their fans, and fight for causes they believe in. Pearl Jam work so damn well as a band that they should put out self-help books for troubled marriages. The adversity and hardships that Pearl Jam has fought through would kill most anyone else, but instead they come out stronger, better and more determined to succeed each and every fucking time. Pearl Jam proves time and time again that you can succeed on your own terms, and that if you have the talent, desire and determination the people will come around to you and not the other way around.

Pearl Jam is the best band in the world, and don’t you fucking forget it.

Heavy handed much? Yeah, but I don’t care. Moving on to the music….between Lost Dogs and the new special edition of Ten nearly every single Ten-era rarity from Pearl Jam is now easily available. But there are still a few tracks that have slipped through the cracks, lets take a look at some of the best (that I have).

Pearl Jam
Alive (Live)
Even Flow (Re-Recorded)
Wash
Dirty Frank
These four tracks have all been on various singles and EPs, but I got them from the Japanese version of the “Alive” single. The live version of “Alive” and the re-recorded version of “Even Flow” have never appeared on any proper Pearl Jam album. “Wash” And “Dirty Frank” were on Lost Dogs, but the versions that appeared there weren’t the originals for some strange reason – these are. “Dirty Frank” is an awesome song, and as the linear notes to Lost Dogs points out, the best song about a serial killer bus driver you’re ever likely to hear.

Why Go (Live)
Deep (Live)
Alive (Live)
These live cuts were B-sides to the “Oceans” single and are from a performance at the 1992 Pinkpop Festival in the Netherlands.

Footsteps
A long time fan-favorite and one of the first three Pearl Jam songs written, this track finally got the album appearance it deserved on Lost Dogs, but once again that version differed from the original, and included some slightly annoying harmonica. This is the version that appeared on the “Jeremy” single.

Dissident – Live In Atlanta
Okay, so this isn’t Ten-era stuff but I don’t think anyone will care. Dissident was a pretty big hit when it came out, and there were a ton of different singles, each with different live cuts serving as the B-sides. The live cuts were all taken from the same concert and when combined formed a nearly complete concert. Later on all of the singles were compiled into a massive three-EP set called Dissident/Live In Atlanta. This EP is an entire concert (minus three tracks from Vitalogy) and must have been an amazing deal when it first came out, it was an even bigger deal for me when I bought it used for seven bucks. You can find the tracklist here. I’m not including the studio version of “Dissident” because well, what’s the point?

Posted in B-sides, live, Pearl Jam | 5 Comments »

Grunged 3: Fell On Whack Days

April 8th, 2009

No more suicide/death talk this week, unless you count the creative death of Chris Cornell.

Soundgarden
Fell On Black Days (Video Version)
She Likes Surprises (International LP Version)
Like Suicide (Acoustic Version)
Jerry Garcia’s Finger
Cold Bitch
Exit Stonehenge
My Wave (remix)
Rhinosaur (remix)
Spoonman (Steve Fisk Remix)
Dusty (Moby Remix)
I’m not the first person to ask, but what the fuck is wrong with Chris Cornell? Have you heard anything from his new solo record? It’s fucking awful. And it’s not just awful because it’s not “rock” its awful because it’s shitty fucking music. This shit would sound like shit no matter who sung it, whether it be Chris Cornell, Freddie Mercury or motherfucking Curtis Mayfield (random selection I know but you get my point).

I understand that Cornell wanted to branch out and try new things, but this was not the way. Hiring the hack plagiarist Timbaland to put up shitty beats behind some shit songs that he didn’t even write by himself wasn’t the way to go. People have defended him by saying that he should have the right to do what he wants with his music, and yes that’s true, but don’t go say he did this shit because of some artistic belief or cause, the dude wants to make money and he figured this would be an easy way to do it. Thankfully the record is bombing.

Someone should get Rick Rubin on the phone STAT to guide this motherfucker back to the light.

Ah, but Chris Cornell wasn’t always a two-bit has-been, he used to be the frotnman for the bigget, baddest, rockingest grunge band in the world, Soundgarden! I remember an article in Spin that said while Nirvana saved “rock” Soundgarden saved “RAWK,” bad-ass, balls-to-the-wall ass-kicking metal made for bikers and weight lifters. I agreed at the time, Soundgarden was my first favorite grunge band, and Superunknown was my favorite album. I remember thinking that the album had to be the longest record ever, it was over 70 minutes long! No filler! Bad-ass supreme shit featuring Cornell’s heavenly wails! There hasn’t been an epic rock album as good as Superunkown since. I listened the shit out of that album.

Soundgarden also has an epic amount of b-sides, remixes and rarities. And since there is still no box set collecting them all finding them can be quite a drag; here’s what I managed to drag up. The first four tracks are from an EP called Songs From The Superunknown, and the second two are from the CD single of “Spoonman.” The remixes are from various EPs and singles…I think, I really don’t know where some of those are from. These are all excellent tracks, but the Moby mix of “Dusty” is a real standout, he deconstructs the shit out of that motherfucker. Maybe Cornell should call Moby for his next album, could save both of their careers.

Posted in B-sides, remixes, Soundgarden | 2 Comments »

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