General Makeup of Techno Songs

The Daily Flashback: You May Come To Me Now

From Buck Rogers In the 25th Century - "Space Vampire" episode.

Electric Owls EP available now.

The Electric Owls EP, which I've had on repeat for two days now, will be released next week. It plays like a tapestry of atmospheres passed through in a dream state, adrift on arpeggiated chords, synth, and an acrobatic, yet intimate vocal delivery from the Comas' lead singer. You can get it now when you order a limited-edition, hand-stamped copy directly from Andy on his Myspace. Electric Owls will be playing at the Black Cat in D.C. this Saturday. I'll see you there.

Electric Owls - Magic Show (mp3)

The Daily Flashback: This Is Spinal Tap - "This Piece Is Called 'Lick My Love Pump'"

(Funk) Court's In Session

Judge, I got a boy that can't dance.
Can't dance??
Can't dance, your honor.
Well, that's 30 days. 30 days for the Boogaloo. And 30 days for the Shingaling. And 30 mo' for the Afro Twist.

Larry and Tommy - Here Come The Judge (mp3)
Ann Alford - Gotta Get Me A Job (mp3)

From SuperFunk, Vol. 1

Of Montreal, Live on The Current, 10-25-2008

The Daily Flashback: Spies Like Us - Cheating on the Foreign Service Exam

The Daily Flashback: Over The Top (Stallone)

The Daily Flashback: My Bodyguard - "You Broke My Nose."

Live from NYC: Sonic Youth, Broken Social Scene, and Fujiya & Miyagi

Broken Social Scene, Live at CMJ, 10-24-2008 (via KEXP)(mp3)
Fujiya & Miyagi, Live at CMJ, 10-23-2008 (KEXP)(mp3)
Sonic Youth, Live at Battery Park, 7-4-2008 (WFMU)

Vivian Girls, live at CMJ on KEXP (podcast)

From Gibson Showroom, 10-20-2008. Download the KEXP podcast here (mp3).

Pidgeon: California (Is For F**kers)

Lsat month, Pidgeon quietly released Might As Well Go And Eat Worms (on Absolutely Kosher), their follow-up to 2004's From Gutter With Love. Lucky for us, that is likely the only thing they will do quietly.

Pidgeon - California (is for F**ckers)(mp3)

Also: the original version of Mania in Lithuania, of which they said "We didn't put in on the record because we think we can do it better someday." An updated version is on the new record.

Careful Love

Listen to Jimmy Liggins and His Drops of Joy swagger. You believe the man. Originally released on Specialty records.

Jimmy Liggins and His Drops Of Joy - Careful Love (mp3)

Funk obscuritee

If you like the funk, you will love YouTube user obscuritee, AND her sister, obscuritee23. And to love them is to love their father, from whom they inherited their impeccable taste.

Here's one of the treasures posted by obscuritee:



And the mp3:
Bobby Womack & J.J. Johnson - Harlem Clavinette (mp3)

Lizzy Grant - Kill Kill

I remember hearing Thom Yorke in an interview a few years ago, talking about the power of ambiguity in words and phrases. Lizzy Grant's lyrical connotations are at once sexy and sinister, while her vocal delivery carries a slinky, determined innocence straight from the trailer park, supported by throwback grooves evocative of Nancy Sinatra, with a jazz attitude. Her visual messages are dangerously alluring. You won't be able to leave her songs without assigning your own personal meaning, and you are likely to be disturbed with what you come up with.

Lizzy Grant - Kill Kill (mp3)

See her at CMJ on the 24th, before she starts filling arenas.

Ra Ra Riot - live, Black Cat, 10-12-2008 (podcast)

The Ra Ra Riot show from the Black Cat on Sunday night is up on NPR.org. Download the podcast here (mp3).

Age of Rockets - What Story Down There Awaits Its End?

Here's a multilayered lullaby from a haunted future, courtesy The Age of Rockets. Listen for the mechanical music box notes near the end of its wind, and distant muted synth organ harmonies--floating languorously toward sleep, but somehow, keenly aware. Perhaps the most daring thing about it: it's the first track on the album.

The Age of Rockets - What Story Also Awaits Its End? (mp3)

Ra Ra Riot, Live at the Black Cat, 10-12-2008

Listen to Ra Ra Riot's inspired, impassioned live performance from the Black Cat in Washington, D.C. from Sunday night on NPR.org.

Here are the first four (mp3s):

Each Year
St. Peter's Day Festival
Oh, La
Winter '05

Of Montreal, Live at the 9:30 Club, 10-9-2008 (mp3 podcast)

Download here; stream it here. Of Montreal's Skeletal Lamping is receiving intense universal love right now, and everywhere.

Subscribe to the All Songs Considered podcast.

Juliette Commagere - Queens Die Proudly

Juliette Commagere was joined by Ry & Joachim Cooder on her forthcoming album, Queens Die Proudly. You'd swear that she also recruited Owen Pallet (aka Final Fantasy) for the looping string work that you hear at the beginning of this study in transformation, which explores pop, new wave, and disco, blending high synth notes with hyperarpeggiated chords and simple, sweet vocal melodies.

Juliette Commagere - Queens Die Proudly (mp3)

You dance to Tom Jones now.

...guaranteed, you will dance to this crossover classic soul surprise. The beat, the brass, the smoothness of it all.

Tom Jones - If He Should Ever Leave You (mp3)

Tom Jones' forthcoming album, 24 Hours, is out in the US on November 25th.

Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt, Live on The Current, 10-10-2008

Liz Phair - Exile In Guyville (Live) Podcast Download

I just noticed that Liz Phair's live L.A. performance of her classic Exile In Guyville is up on NPR's podcast site. You can download it here (mp3). Not sure how much longer it will be up - it may soon be replaced with shows from Ra Ra Riot at the Black Cat and Of Montreal at the 9:30 Club.

Related Videos: Frank Black - Goodbye Lorraine (live acoustic) & Bruce Springsteen - Brilliant Disguise

Frank Black - Goodbye Lorraine (live acoustic)


Bruce Springsteen - Brilliant Disguise (live vocal)

Jean On Jean, Tonight!

Molly Schnick, formerly of the edge-dwelling leftists Out Hud, embarked on a solo journey as Jean On Jean, with a tinny acoustic guitar, Casiotone (wah and all), intimate whispers, Spectoresque vocal/hand-clap interplay, and dark cello. It feels like living room music from an empty abandoned inn, a sweet blend of innocence and eeriness born of new independence.

Jean On Jean - Tonight (mp3)

The Dead Trees

People are raving about The Dead Trees' live shows. Not surprising, since their music swaggers, drenched in young southern guitar-driven vigor. They're on tour now, and you should catch them while they're still in their little room.

The Dead Trees - Shelter (mp3)

Their Daytrotter interview is here.

Juana Molina - Un día

Somewhere between her last album and this one, Juana Molina shifted from spare, electronically tinged bossa and folk to experimental, complex rhythms and alternate acoustic guitar tunings, at times off-tune. Conventional notes and chords are used sparingly. Musically, it's a continental drift - sexy, urban South America to the dark corners of jungle islands. With this album, she has broken ground on untread soil.

Un Dia, available tomorrow, was recorded entirely by Juana at her home outside Buenos Aires. It is essential.

Un día (mp3)

Rachael Yamagata - Live on The Current, 10-3-2008

Rachael Yamagata performed for Minnesota Public Radio's The Current yesterday, and despite a case of the flu, or maybe even because of the flu, her set was magnificently hard and saw-toothed.

Songs performed: "Faster," "Accident," and "Sunday Afternoon."

Get her double-cd Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart.

Beck - Back Stage Interview On The Current, St. Paul, 9-30-2008

...I was very frustrated at my early attempts to play blues and old country because I just sounded like a 12-year old...maybe I was always a little bit of an old man, you know...

Final Fantasy - The Butcher (Video)

Okkervil River, Live on KEXP

These are from an in-studio KEXP show, recorded on Sept 17th. All three mp3s are from The Stand Ins, one of the very best albums of this year.

Okkervil River - Live on KEXP, 9-17-2008:

1. On Tour With Zykos
2. Singer Songwriter (mp3)
3. Pop Lie (mp3)
4. Starry Stairs
5. Calling And Not Calling My Ex (mp3)
6. Maine Island Lovers
7. Blue Tulip
8. Lost Coastlines (mp3)
9. Our Life Is Not A Movie, Or Maybe
10. Unless It's Kicks