Beck.com

The revamped Beck.com features four new songs on a snazzy Flash boombox. They're worth checking out, especially "Untitled Song 2," but Beck isn't meant to be played on tinny computer speakers. Well, okay, yeah, he is, but he wasn't meant to be played solely on tinny computer speakers. I saved the audio to burn a CD for my trip to Pennsylvania tomorrow. Yes, that means I'll be away (again) for several days. Until then, here are a couple of tinny Beck mp3s:

Beck - Untitled Song 2 (mp3)

Beck - Shake Shake (Black Tambourine) (adrock remix) (mp3)

Also, preview the remix album, Guerolito, here.

Beth Orton - Conceived

I heard Beth Orton's new single, "Conceived," twice today - on WRNR (Annapolis) this morning, and on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic online stream this evening. Something about Beth Orton's music grabs me. Maybe it's her unique voice, with that mysterious accent. Maybe it's the straightforward melodies, always pure and clean. Whatever it is, it cuts through the pop clutter and sounds new without coming off as trying to be avant-garde. I may or may not have been Soulseeking her forthcoming album, "Comfort of Strangers," due February 7th. I haven't found it yet. Too bad, because I have a feeling the winter would be a lot warmer with it.

Download "Conceived" at Some Velvet Blog.

Ohhhhhhh, The Weather Outside Is Frightful, Christmas Music Is Not Delightful...

...but Vince G is always welcome at the holidays

Tired of Holiday music already? Tempted to grab some of the nearest gift ribbon to strangle that person in the next cubicle who keeps playing Jessica Simpson's or Garth Brooks' Christmas album?

Let me offer two ways to preserve your sanity along with your sexy:

1. Fast-forward to New Year's Day, 12" style:

U2 - New Year's Day (12" wave remix) (mp3)

2. Next time someone asks, "Don't you have any Christmas music?" play this, only this, over and over:

Daniel Johnston - Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree (mp3)

It's weird, it's fun, and the food is amazing.

Here at the Smudge, we love pho. As you can see on the right. So to brighten up our Monday, from Khoi Vinh's account of his recent trip to Saigon:

I was born here but I left when I was three and a half. So just being back, in the midst of the quotidian and the unremarkable, is profound in a very private, intimate way. It's more than just being a visitor to a place one cherishes; it's like playing tourist in another course of events, sightseeing the attractions of a life I might have led if it weren't for, you know, global politics and war and all. Everywhere and everything is a could-have-been for me, superficially strange and foreign but, in an emotional way, also deeply familiar. It's weird, it's fun, and the food is amazing.

No recipes. A link to photos on Flickr though.

http://www.subtraction.com/archives/2005/1123_first_day_ba.php

Please enjoy.

Prince's 12 Inches

Since I'm going to be away until around Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, I'm going to sign out with a couple of impressive mp3s for your long holiday trips, and wish our U.S. readers/downloaders a Happy Thanksgiving.

We are thankful for each other, and for you.

Prince - Little Red Corvette (12")

Prince - Raspberry Beret (12")

Antonio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim

Elis Regina

When it comes to bossa nova, it's often sexier when you don't understand the words.

From Fotografia: Os Años Dourados de Tom Jobim, a compilation of the best of bossa nova legend Antonio Carlos (Tom) Jobim, released yesterday.

Águas de Março - Tom Jobim, Elis Regina (mp3)

Só Tinha de Ser Com Você - Tom Jobim, Elis Regina (mp3)

Fotografia - Tom Jobim, Elis Regina (mp3)

Lunch Time Review

Well, it's been awhile since your Uncle Tom has been a part of the smudge so today I am going to try something different. We here at the smudge enjoy the occasional dining out experience and by occasional I mean up to 4x a week. So with that being said, I am going to try and be a good blogger and post my review of the restaurant of the week. This week it was Hard Times Cafe in Bethesda. Since Canowine's Maryland Terrapins were playing yesterday in beautiful Maui and it was a locally televised game, we were expecting a crowded restaurant. We were pleasantly surprised that no one else was there and were ready for some fast service so that we could return to work defending our great Nation. We started with some appetizers of Texas Hot & Spicy chicken fingers that were excellent and had just the right amount of heat to satisfy the pallet. We then moved on to the entrees with RC666 and myself ordering Frito Chili Pie with Terlinqua Red sauce, Canowine ordered the Chili Bubba with Cincinnati Red and Terlingua Red. The Frito Pie turned out perfectly. The moist chili sauce softened up the fritos so that they were tender and not too crunchy. Canowine commented that his cornbread was the same with the sauces accenting the sweet cornbread superbly. Speaking of the Terrapins, they pulled off a 98-69 win over Chaminade whose name brings me back to a great little skit from The Muppet Show. Here is a link to a video clip for your enjoyment. Keoki found this orginally for us on the smudge so lets take the time to thank him for that. Canowine and the rest of the Terps will be playing Arkansas today so we wish him luck and we hope that his flight back from sunny Maui is pleasant (please bring us back some kick ass souvenirs). This is the first of what I hope to be many reviews of your local dining establishments, so if anyone has any suggetions for us, let me know and we will be happy to try out your requested restaurant. I will also be giving food and culture reviews from and about Korea when I will become a temporary resident starting in April 2006. Enjoy folks!!

-Uncle Tom

When The Adults Cry

In the Year Of Our Lord Nineteen Eighty Something, the hard-rockin' White Lion tamed their monster sound a bit and shat out this ballad, which, as you may remember, was about the plight of crying children. They touched the world with their social conscience.

This song kinda makes you want to cry, doesn't it?

Great White, er...no, White Lion - When the Children Cry (mp3)

Grave Nick Cave

If you've seen Nick Cave play, you know how sinister and dangerous he appears on stage. And you know how his music eats away at you, claws its way into your mind as you resist its dark truths. Listening to him is like sinning.

These creepy, minimalist mp3s are from his movie, The Proposition, a violent western set in Australia, starring Guy Pearce and Emily Watson. The OST will be released in the U.S. early next year.

Nick Cave & Warren Ellis mp3s, from The Proposition:

The Rider #2

Down To The Valley

Not My Experience...Not Even Ribbon

They say
the first love's most important.
That's very romantic,
but not my experience.

Something was and wasn't there between us,
something went on and went away.

My hands never tremble
when I stumble on silly keepsakes
and a sheaf of letters tied with string
— not even ribbon...

-excerpt from First Love, by Wislawa Szymborska, taken from Poetry Daily.

Levitating the Furniture

Listen as you read:

Idil Biret - Chopin - Polonaise-fantaisie in A flat major, Op 61 (mp3)

...When he listened to music, he listened with his whole body, as longingly as a condemned man aches for the sound of distant feet perhaps bringing news of his release. When spoken to, he didn't hear. Music dissolved the world around him just as it dissolved the laws of artistic unity, and at such moments Konrad ceased to be a soldier.

One evening in summer, he was playing a four-handed piece with Henrik's mother, when something happened...They were performing Chopin's Polonaise-Fantaisie and Henrik's mother was playing with such passion that the whole room seemed to shimmer and vibrate...It was as if music was levitating the furniture, as if some mighty force were blowing against heavy silk curtains, as if every ossified, decayed particle buried deep in the human heart were quickening into life, as if in everyone on earth a fatal rhythm lay dormant, waiting for the predestined moment to begin its fateful beat. The courteous listeners realized that music is dangerous. But the duo at the piano had lost all thought of danger. The Polonaise-Fantaisie was no more than a pretext to loose upon the world those forces that shake and explode the structures of order which man has devised to conceal what lies beneath. They sat straight-backed at the piano, leaning away from the keys a little and yet bound to them, as if music itself were driving an invisible team of fiery mythical horses riding the storm that circled the world, and they were bracing their bodies to maintain a firm grip on the reins in this explosive headlong gallop of unshackled energies. And then, with a single chord, they ended...

...The Officer of the Guards...said, "Konrad will never make a true soldier."

"Why?" asked his son, shocked.

...calmly, with the assurance of an expert, he said, "Because he is a different kind of man."

-from Embers, by Sandor Marai (Knopf)

Quote of the Day #2: Sergeant Kaplan

It's [Robert Kaplan's Imperial Grunts] about stories of individual soldiers and Marines—not generals and colonels, but sergeants and corporals. They don't lose morale, they don't get discouraged. On the ground, American soldiers and Marines speak a common language where they communicate very directly without nuance. It's a world of practicality, of mechanics, of doing things. It's not about thinking or imagining, it's about doing. What I've found is, never ask a sergeant what he feels; ask him what he does and he'll talk for hours...

Look, once we're fifty, all of us wonder, What would it have been like if we had done something different? That's very normal. I've been very satisfied with being a freelance writer for the last third of a century. I've had a great life. But if I were forced to choose an additional life, being a career soldier certainly would be something that would appeal to me. I think I would have enjoyed it better as a non-commissioned officer.

-From Warriors for Good, an Atlantic interview with Robert Kaplan

Field Music - If Only The Moon Were Up (video)

Field Music's latest UK single, out Monday, is "If Only the Moon Were Up."

Here's the super rad video: .mov / .ram

Quote of the Day: Welcome to the (sex) machine

"Here I am, this divorced Christian guy, not promiscuous at all, and here I am with a sex machine...I will require anyone ordering a machine from me to provide proof of marriage and a signed statement of intent to use only within that marriage. Kind of like a gun dealer that requires proof of age and proof of passage of a firearm safety test before selling someone a firearm. Sexual arousal is a doorway to a person's very soul and isn't to be messed with lightly."

-Jon Traven, a sex-machine inventor, as quoted in The Sex Machines Next Door, in Wired.

Friday Live

Here are today's Friday Live mp3s:


Fiona Apple - Never is a Promise (live on letterman)

PJ Harvey - You Said Something (live on letterman)

Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime (live extended mix)

Quote of the Day #2: Stud Farmer

"I am opening up a stud farm," Fleiss declared from her Hollywood home overlooking the Sunset Strip. "I am going to have the sexiest men on earth. Women are going to love it."

-From Heidi Fleiss plans 'stud farm', from CNN.com

Quote of the Day: On Rootkits

"Most people don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"

- Thomas Hesse, Sony BMG's president of global digital business, in an NPR interview on Sony's copy-protection scheme. From Real Story of the Rogue Rootkit, in today's Wired.

The Sounds, Live on Carson

The Sounds have finished their new CD, to be released in Spring 2006. They played one of the new songs, "Queen of Apology," on Carson this Tuesday.

This is what it looked like:
Sounds - Queen of Apology (Live on Carson) (.avi video)

And this is what it sounded like:
Sounds - Queen of Apology (Live on Carson) (mp3)

The lines and the hiss are from too much signal amplification on my cable. But you get the idea.

You can listen to the album version on their myspace page, or a low-quality webripped mp3 here. If you liked their debut CD (you should have), you'll like this song.

The Sounds are playing tonight at the Hiro Ballroom in NYC.

The Quote of the Day is from the Washington Post's Micro-Porn article

"I don't have one gay friend who would not have the new iPod," he [Michael Lucas, founder of Lucas Entertainment Inc] said. "Gay people are much more technologically advanced."

- From "Mini-porn could turn into mega-business," in Monday's Post.

Elliott Smith's Blues

Unreleased Elliott Smith material has been popping up here and there lately, including live unreleased songs at Elliott Smith B-Sides, as reported by Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands.

Last Thursday, someone posted this concert on the Live Music Archive, which includes this cover (mp3) of the Beatles' "Yer Blues." It's chilling when he sings:

The eagle picks my eye
The worm he licks my bones
I feel so suicidal
Just like Dylan's Mr. Jones
Lonely wanna die
If I ain't dead already
Ooh girl you know the reason why.

Black cloud crossed my mind
Blue mist round my soul
Feel so suicidal
Even hate my rock and roll
Wanna die yeah wanna die
If I ain't dead already
Ooh girl you know the reason why.

Weekly Cheese

I tried to post a crap song yesterday, but the one I was looking for, which shall remain unnamed, is apparently so bad that it has disintegrated from cyberspace and left no trace.


Donny Osmond, Captain of Cheesy Cliche

So, I'm left with no choice but to leave you with this shiny gem from a teen idol and role model extraordinaire: Donny Osmond. If being a great role model correlated with making good music...well, if only. He is a rebel, though, and he has a heart made of stone. That's how these awesomely original lyrics go, anyway:

So you heard that I'm a rebel with a heart made of stone.
I got a restless spririt that nobody can own.
If a picture tells a story won't you listen to mine,
I'm searching for the answer but it's so hard to find.

You'll see much deeper when you read between the lines,
'cause there's a fire burning in my eye.

Like a thief in the night, who can't get enough,
I am willing to fight,
'cause I'm a soldier of love.
Like a shot in the dark when the going gets rough,
I'ts a state of the heart
when you're a soldier of love.

I'm willing to fight.

The lyrics speak for themselves, and so I have nothing to add, except for the mp3, for your listening pleasure.

Donny Osmond - Soldier of Love (mp3)

It's About To Get A Whole Lot Harder

This track from The Films' The-Films EP is a damn good straight-ahead rock song that doesn't try too hard to be one. Complete with hand claps and genuine guitar solo.

The Films - Black Shoes (mp3)

The Junco Partner EP

Here are seven takes on a blues staple, from James Wayne to James Booker to the Hindu Love Gods to Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros, each with its own personality & soul.

Junco Partner mp3s, by:

James Wayne) (Sittin' In With Harlem, Jade & Jax, Vol. 1)
Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five (Let the Good Times Roll - The Anthology 1938-1953)
James Booker (Junco Partner)
(Live) - Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros (Give 'Em The Boot IV - VA)
Dr. John (All By Hisself: Live At The Lonestar)
Professor Longhair (Rum and Coke)
Hindu Love Gods (Warren Zevon with REM's Buck, Mills & Berry) (Hindu Love Gods)

Not Q & Not U

It was sad to see Dischord's Q & Not U disband, but I'm excited about the new projects - drummer John Davis is working with Laura Burhenn, and Chris Richards, a.k.a. Ris Paul Ric, has released the excellent, challenging Purple Blaze.

In a concert review, Popmatters said:

In talking with Richards, you realize how humbling it is to tour like this: a man, a car, a map. Completely free of rock star posturing, Richards is doing some serious soul searching on this go-round. The same can be said of his music. He is touring to support Purple Blaze, a quiet and haunting affair recorded and mixed earlier this year.

Armed with his black, duct-taped guitar, Richards opened the set with one of the strongest songs in his solo repertoire, "Valerie Teardrop" -- a compelling number that brought to mind Gary Jules' cover of "Mad World" in its emotional resonance and delivery. The psychedelic freak-outs that were the one-two punch of "Hanging from the Grapevines" and "Up in My Window" dissolved into a fascinating (if troubling and noisy) collage of sound.

Dusted magazine recently reviewed Purple Blaze, and concluded:

Purple Blaze has the material and the determination to become a dorm room classic, but the intelligence and restraint shown here lead to far more. It’s sentimental, explicit pop for people who don’t need their own pimply emotions whined back at them, and if Richards keeps up this level of quality on future releases, the world is his, ready to take.

It's one of those albums that you listen to, and it does something to your psyche, but you're not sure exactly what. You are sure, though, that you want to hear it again, now. So you pop it back in, and it's as challenging as it was the first time. Richards assaults your psyche with his acoustic guitar, incisive songwriting, and some subtle, organic effects via Tim Hecker. Once they get hold of you, you're theirs.

Ris Paul Ric mp3s, from Purple Blaze:

Purple Blaze

Valerie Teardrop

Ris Paul Ric is playing at the Black Cat tonight.

Final Fantasy Does Bloc Party

Owen Pallett and his drummer played a violin & drums version of Bloc Party's This Modern Love a couple of weeks ago. This very kind fellow posted a video of it here (megaupload). If you haven't had the chance to experience the energy of his live shows, this video will amaze you.

Here's the mp3:

Final Fantasy - This Modern Love (Live Bloc Party Cover, 10/25/05)

Please don't download the mp3 without also checking out the video. You won't quite get it if you don't see it.

Also, the Final Fantasy live performance on WFMU is here.

The tracklist is:

1. Spell for a Weak Heart
2. The CN Tower Belongs to the Dead
3. If I Were a Carp
4. What Do You Think Will Happen Next?
5. This is the Dream of Win & Regine

Remains of the Day

A while back, Keoki posted the two best tracks from the Corpse Bride soundtrack, the moving Victor's Piano Solo and the playful The Piano Duet.


You might try to hide and you might try to pray
But we all end up the remains of the day
-from "Remains of the Day"

Those tracks motivated me to see the movie and buy the soundtrack. It's fantastic, and does what a good soundtrack should - enhances the movie and keeps it in your mind long after you've seen it.

Here are two more of my favorite tunes, both darkened with warped humor.

Remains of the Day (mp3)

Tears to Shed (mp3)

The Weekly Poo: Jamie Walters

Nearly every day, I have to listen to this guy Randy urging me to bring back the weekly Shittiest Shit Ever Shat feature. So today I resurrect the poo.


Jamie Walters: Teen Idol 4-Eva!

If you browse your local record store's Teen Idols Bargain Bin, you might come across a Jamie Walters CD. Today's poo, How Do You Talk to an Angel (mp3), is from the soundtrack to The Depths. I mean The Heights. Jamie Walters was clearly influenced by Richard Marx. You can hear it in the please-shoot-me-now lyrics, the musak sax, and the guitar licks that you hear the-guy-who-still-sports-a-rattail playing in Guitar Center. I'd say he's just a notch below the Marx-man, and maybe just a notch above Don Johnson. Yes, I'd say he's nestled comfortably between the two. Picture that, Gay Men Of The World Who Are Stuck In The 80's.

Speaking of rattails, the one thing he has going for him is his uncanny resemblance to everyone's favorite Padawan, Anakin Skywalker, played by Hayden Christensen. I only mention Hayden because acting-wise, he's just a notch below Jamie Walters.


How Do I Talk to a Padme? Not very well, if you ask Anthony Lane.

Anyway, back to Jamie Walters. Where has he gone? Perhaps he, like many before him, has taken a sabbatical to ponder the meaning of that unnatural space between Tori Spelling's boobs, as they existed when he was on Beverly Hills, 90210.


Tori's terrain features.

P.S. Don't come looking for me when you find yourself humming this tune this afternoon.

Bloodshot in Earshot

For 11 years, Bloodshot Records has been home to no-nonsense acts who record beautifully jacked-up tunes. Bloodshot sums up that tradition in their new compilation, For a Decade of Sin: 11 Years of Bloodshot Records.

As Popmatters put it,

What's to be made of Bloodshot Record's 11th anniversary compilation, For a Decade of Sin? It's not a retrospective, culling seminal tracks from the first decade of the self-proclaimed "insurgent country" label's releases, but rather all new/unreleased music. And a good chunk of the 42 artists represented on this compilation aren't even members of the Bloodshot family! Not that these facts makes the album any less enjoyable, but still: Weird.

The weirdness lives on.

The Meat Purveyors' Little White Pills (mp3) starts as a southern rocking foot-stomper, but gets groggy when the the lyrics turn to the pills:

(allegro)
I was always tired
I was always blue
I found something that'll cure my ills
I'm talkin' about those little white pills

(adagio)
Those little white pills got me feelin' fine
They hurt my stomach and sharpen my mind...

Porter Hall, Tennessee lament fallen friends in a cover of Jim Carroll's People Who Died (mp3):

Teddy sniffed some glue, he was 12 years old
Fell from the roof on East Two-Nine
Kathy was 11 when she pulled the plug
on 26 reds and a bottle of wine
Bobby got leukemia, 14 years old
He looked like 65 when he died
He was a friend of mine

Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died

And Nora O'Connor's Two Way Action (mp3) is simply gorgeous.

It's available at Amazon.com for 13.99...that's 42 songs for 14 bucks. At 33 cents per track, it's a steal.

Humping Hard

Definition 2(a) for "humping" is "to exert (oneself)," on Dictionary.com.

Here's something to motivate you as you hump hard this Monday morning.

Sky's the Limited - Humping Hard (Pt.2)
The Maskman & The Agents - My Wife, My Dog, My Cat


From Superfly Soul: Riding Through the Ghetto (First Class Funk and Capital Grooves)

Annoying Word of the Day - Colour

The word colour spelled by a British or Canadian: okay.

The word colour spelled by an American: Drop the "u." It doesn't make you sound any smarter.

But, Soft! What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks?

It is Higher (mp3), the new single by Soft.

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend them your ears!

Soft make good rock music, cleanly played. Ever heard a song and thought, "this would be a great song to hear live?" Higher is one of those songs. I hope that when they go on tour again, you'll sing this one along with me.

From the self-released Soft EP.

Annoying Word of the Day

I'm pleased to announce a new feature on the Smudge: The Annoying Word Of The Day. It will be an adjective (most of the time) that is likely trendy and overused, and ought to be stabbed and sent directly to The Big Lexicon in the Sky. Words that might make you want to gag yourself. Words that that guy who says "in a nutshell" or "modus operandi" in office meetings might use.

This feature might not last long. In fact, today might be the first and last edition.

Suggestions are always welcome.

Today's word is:

twee

As in:

Ooh look, it's turning into Indie Pop Day here at Pitchfork News! Rose Melberg's back in action, the Clientele are spicing up their vinyl with free MP3s, and now twee gods/goddesses Belle and Sebastian have announced a tour in support of their forthcoming album, The Life Pursuit. Alas, only British and Irish dates have been scheduled as yet, so us B&S fans across the pond will have to keep tugging on the sleeves of our cardigans in anticipation.

(from Pitchfork)

This feature is inspired by Slim Clady, who went on a quest for adjectives to replace "awesome" earlier this week.

Friday Live - All Beck

Last month, Uncle Tom, Sugarduck and I saw Beck in Camden, New Jersey. Heavy rain, flooding, and Tom's broken down car almost ruined the night. They were stranded in the rain as the roads closed around them, and as the minutes passed, the waters rose. Luckily, they made it to the show, and warmed up with a beer and dry concert tees (fittingly, this one):



I hope that their wet memories fade and the dry ones remain, especially the memories of these songs. Maybe the surrealism of the night will permanently burn the entire experience into our neurons. One thing is for sure: the dinner table percussion during Golden Age and Clap Hands was unforgettable.

These mp3s aren't from the Camden show we attended, but they sound pretty much the same.

Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime/GoldenAge/ClapHands-Live in Japan 7-30-2005 (mp3)

Do You Realize? (Flaming Lips Cover) - Live in Detroit 9-22-05 (mp3)

He's A Mighty Good Leader/Hotwax - Live in Detroit 9-22-05 (mp3)
Lost Cause - Live in Detroit 9-22-05 (mp3)

Kiss Me

It's about to get real hot in the room you're in. Private Show bring summer back on Departure Lounge - World Grooves:

Private Show - Kiss Me (mp3)


Ive Mendes can make the coldest of hearts sweat, with just a bossa nova whisper.


Ive Mendes - A Bierra Bar (Sao Benitez Lush Mix) (mp3)

Divorce Movie Music

...I'll take it over TV teen drama music anyday, though sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference...


From The Squid and the Whale (OST):

Dean Wareham/Britta Phillips - Family Conference (mp3)
Blossom Dearie - Figure Eight (mp3)

Impressive Jazz Reworks

On this collection, remix and reverence co-exist comfortably. After all, Impulse never held preservation as a primary directive. It prioritized new sounds and new technologies, and treated all of its musicians as innovators, as revolutionaries in their own right. Perhaps that’s the label’s true calling card, the real reason behind the continued reverence. From the most challenging jazz to the most traditional, Impulse made it all sound equally, eternally modern.

- From the Spectremusic review of Impulsive! Revolutionary Jazz Reworked

II B.S. (RZA's Mingus Bounce Mix) (mp3)

Iconic bassist and composer Charles Mingus' output on Impulse Records remains his most alive, his most soulful and his most contemplative. "II B.S." not only showcased Mingus' lyrical bass-playing (especially its momentous intro), but also the rebellious, fiery nature that colored Mingus' life. The RZA is the production mastermind behind the Wu-Tang Clan, the Staten Island collective that turned hip-hop on its head with their gritty, grimey street-reared albums over the last decade. RZA, who has become a masterful composer in his own right (check his score for Jim Jarmusch's "Ghost Dog," or Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" movies), turns Mingus' original inside out, playing with the windblown horn stabs and chopping up the song's rhythms into a playful jazz-bounce.

-from vervemusicgroup.com

Mizrab (Gabor Szabo / Prefuse 73 remix) (mp3)

Gabor Szabo's free-wheeling, self-taught guitar style, personified the limitless creative palette that jazz had appropriated in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This composition, from the 1972 album of the same name, was one of his most astounding. The gorgeous, original "Mizrab," has become a favorite of many jazz-heads through the years, so it is no surprise that Prefuse 73 aka Scott Heren, chose to remix it for his contribution to Impulsive. Prefuse 73, who splits his time between Atlanta and Barcelona, has a wonderfully experimental sensibility when composing music, using electronics, samples and new ideas in sound compression to create formed, melodic mosaics. Here, he replicates Szabo's passionate guitar playing with his own fractured electronic melodies and the result is pure elegance.

- from vervemusicgroup.com

Antony Haunts

Antony's eerie vibrato might be the most haunting thing you hear all day.

From last week's performance on Letterman:

Antony & The Johnsons - You Are My Sister (Live on Letterman): mp3 / avi

Plantman Knows

While I was away on my trip, I met this guy who knows former Pavement drummer Gary Young. Gary played drums one of his band's songs. We sang this one together in class.

Gary Young - Plantman (mp3)

TGIF...

And TG I'm home. The sun shines down, and it's a perfect day for this:

Prince - Let's Go Crazy (12" Special Dance Mix) (mp3)

Sloppy Drunk Blues

Carr was the most influential male blues singer and songwriter of the first half of the 20th century, but he was nothing like the current stereotype of an early bluesman. An understated pianist with a gentle, expressive voice, he was known for his natty suits and lived most of his life in Indianapolis. His first record, "How Long — How Long Blues," in 1928, had an effect as revolutionary as Bing Crosby's pop crooning, and for similar reasons. Previous blues stars, whether vaudevillians like Bessie Smith or street singers like Blind Lemon Jefferson, had needed huge voices to project their music, but with the help of new microphone and recording technologies, Carr sounded like a cool city dude carrying on a conversation with a few close friends.

...although Carr died of an alcohol-related illness shortly after his 30th birthday, what made him a key figure in American music was his records, not his lifestyle. His followers dominated blues for more than 20 years and affected every aspect of the African-American pop scene.

-from elijahwald.com, originally printed in the New York Times.

Mp3s from Leroy Carr: Complete Recorded Works 3 (1930-32):

New How Long, How Long Blues, Part 2
Sloppy Drunk Blues
Hard Times Done Drove Me To Drink

Hahn and Zhu's Mozart Sonatas

From Minnesota Public Radio:

All four of these sonatas display a different personality. That's the great thing about Mozart, Hahn explains, "His writing is distinctive, and intriguing. You can identify his music immediately." The fact that Mozart was able to pull off composing one completely original work after another is a testament to his amazing ability. This new collection of Mozart sonatas with Hilary Hahn and Natalie Zhu is a wonderful testament to their talent, and to the legacy of a composer who has touched generations of music lovers.

The Intro is fascinating - listen to it before you listen to the tracks.

Wolfie is smiling.

Mp3s from Mozart: Violin Sonatas K. 301, 304, 376 & 526:

Intro (Hilary Hahn on women's equality in these sonatas)
Mozart - Sonata for Piano and Violin in F, K.376, 1. Allegro
Mozart - Sonata for Piano and Violin in G, K.301, 1. Allegro con spirito.mp3

Erotic City

Whether you're standing on the dance floor or kneeling in the convent, this 12" is guaranteed to bring out the freak.

Prince - Erotic City (12") (mp3)

Half Note, Fully Satisfied

For twenty-something dollars, Coltrane and his Quartet will take you places you never imagined.

From the two-disc live album One Down, One Up: Live at the Half Note:

Afro-Blue (live)(mp3)

The title track alone is worth the cost. I'm not posting the best stuff on the album, though, because that would be bad form.

I've Got The Blues, & An Uncanny Sense Of Smell...

It seems about half of the bluesmen from the 1930's were blind. You know, plus or minus a few percentage points.



Blind Boy Fuller mp3s:

What's That Smells Like Fish
Big Leg Woman Gets My Pay
(from Blind Boy Fuller, Vol. 4, 1937-1938)

Sweet Honey Hole
(from Truckin' My Blues Away)

Birthday Wishes

Happy Birthday, Julie! Wish I were there to celebrate with you. I love you.

Jewel - Hands (Live, MTV/VH1 Katrina Benefit) (mp3)

Kelly Clarkson - Shelter (Live, MTV/VH1 Katrina Benefit) (mp3)

Those Brazilian Girls Don't Stop

Have you seen the live Brazilian Girls videos available on iTunes? No?? GO. See them. Buy them all. Trust me, you won't regret it.



Brazilian Girls - Don't Stop (Live in NYC) (mp3)

Whirlwind, Heat, and Flash

Yes, my royal friends, although I cannot hear you plainly, I know what you are murmuring.

The words to Louie, Louie are printed on Disc Two of Goo, Deluxe Edition.


Sonic Youth mp3s:

Isaac

Can Song

Blind Willie, Satisfied

Here in the northeast, the rain continues to fall, but I'm still satisfied. Still, the blues feels right in this weather.



Blind Willie Johnson mp3s (from Praise God I'm Satisfied):

The Rain Don't Fall On Me

Praise God I'm Satisfied

Why You Love Helena Noguerra

Because Helena looks great in chocolate. No, not the color...the food!


She wears chocolate well, at the Salon Du Chocolat.

Ummm...oh yeah, she sings pretty, too.

Helena mp3s, from Nee Dans La Nature:

Je T'aime Salaud

I Can't Get You Out Of My Head (...thinkin' 'bout ya, Kylie Minogue!!)

The Comas Videos

I just noticed that The Comas recently added videos for Tiger in a Tower and Sister Brewerton to their website, to go along with the other vids they posted (RealPlayer required).

The Strokes - Take It Or Leave It (.mpg video, Live on Letterman)

People have mixed feelings about the leaked Strokes songs. I've only heard "Juicebox," and I love it.

Here's an old clip from Letterman that might sum up how they feel about the hype/anti-hype.

The Strokes - Take It Or Leave It (.mpg video, Live on Letterman)

Pete Seeger & Arlo Guthrie - Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (Live)

Wasn't Scorcese's documentary on Dylan fantastic? I loved the footage of Pete Seeger, sweating and dismayed after trying to pull the plug on Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival, but the plug wouldn't give.

No plugs in this favorite of Dylan fans.

Pete Seeger & Arlo Guthrie - Don't Think Twice, It's Alright (Live) (mp3)

From Together in Concert

Ramones - MTV Medley

This is taken from the 1995 MTV Movie Awards. It's the Ramones, playing a medley of all the nominations for Best Movie Song, in about 2 1/2 minutes. The nominated songs were:

Above the Rim (1994) - Warren G.
- For the song "Regulate".
Lion King, The (1994) - Elton John
- For the song "Can You Feel the Love".
Pulp Fiction (1994) - "Urge Overkill"
- For the song "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon".
With Honors (1994) - Madonna (I)
- For the song "I'll Remember".

Ramones - 1995 MTV Movie Awards Medley (mp3)

Lalo Schifrin - Lap Dance Club (mp3)

From Starsky & Hutch, Season 1.



Lalo Schifrin - Lap Dance Club (mp3)

Sia - Breathe Me video

Astralwerks describes it as "an amazing clip created with 2,500 Polaroids, proverbially making this video worth 2,500,000 words."

Real: Hi / Lo

Windows Media: Hi / Lo

Five Years Of The Arcade Fire

The Arcade Fire covered David Bowie's Five Years during their show in Austin on September 25th. They also played intense versions of No Cars Go and Headlights Look Like Diamonds. You can download the torrent here (registration required, and worth it).

Arcade Fire (Live, Austin, 9-25-05) (mp3):

Five Years (David Bowie cover)
No Cars Go
Headlights Look Like Diamonds

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

There Goes My Bandwidth. Here's a Recipe.

Yes, my bandwidth limit has been exceeded, and I can't do anything about it until I get back home.

So today, instead of serving up an mp3, I've got a recipe for you, from Venus Magazine. It's Country Cornbread, from Viva Voce singer Anita Robinson's kitchen.

Country Cornbread

1 Cup Martha White self-rising cornmeal mix
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup light sour cream
1 cup creamed style corn

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together well and pour into a hot, greased iron skillet.
Bake at 325 F for 30 minutes.

Let me know how it is. I won't be able to cook it for a while.

Thirteen is your lucky number.

...When it's an Elliott Smith cover of Big Star. There's supposed to be a version of this on the Thumbsucker soundtrack, but I don't know if it's this one. No matter. Here's a version.

Elliott Smith - Thirteen (Demo, Big Star cover)

Don't bother Daddy during the Superbowl, I will take you to the emergency room on Monday

from Scientific American, Watching World Series Causes Drop In Hospital Visits

When is an emergency not quite an emergency? According to a new study, the answer depends on how well your favorite baseball team is doing. A report published in the October issue of the Annals of Emergency Medicine reveals that the number of visits to emergency rooms in Boston-area hospitals was inversely related to how well the Red Sox performed in the 2004 World Series.

Friday Live - Sonic Youth - Sunday (Live on Letterman)

Here's the early Friday Live post. It's old, but it's damn good.

See you all again with more old stuff on Monday. I can't wait to get back to civilization. I'm saving money on CDs, anyway.

Sonic Youth - Sunday (Live on Letterman) (34.5 MB video (mpg))

a portal into the People's Republic of China staffed by Mexicans

Best description of Walmart ever. See #7.

From F**ked company to F**ked Industry. 7 entire sectors that the Internet will nuke

The Piano

I was able to drag Julie to the Freer Gallery to look at this and other great paintings at Pretty Women: Freer and the Ideal of Feminine Beauty, which closed at the Freer Gallery this weekend.

Gonzales - Gogol (mp3)
Gonzales - Manifesto (mp3)

Both tracks from Solo Piano.

Brian Wilson - Love and Mercy (Live), Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine (Live)

I'm not home, and I can only access the internet at the local library for the next six weeks. That means two things: 1) No guarantees, and 2) Shorter posts. Not that I ever guaranteed anything or wrote long posts in the past, anyway.

So here are a couple of mp3s from the ReAct Now! broadcast for Hurrican Katrina victims. These tracks were not made available on through Sony Connect, where you can purchase other downloads while contributing to the Red Cross or Salvation Army.

You can still watch the streaming video of the performance at mtv or vh1.com.

Brian Wilson - Love and Mercy (Live)(mp3)

Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine (Live)(mp3)

Friday Live - Beck

Beck, Live in Japan, 7-30-2005, Fuji Rock Festival.


Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime > Golden Age > Clap Hands (mp3)

Girl (mp3)

Beercan (mp3)


From this torrent. Flac files converted to mp3.

Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies) Live on Letterman (mp3 and avi)

Last night, the Arcade Fire summoned Thor and brought great thunder upon Letterman's studio audience with a rousing version of Rebellion (Lies). Here is a large video (avi) file and the mp3 to stir your blood.

Yes, I still heart the Arcade Fire. Even more than David Bowie does.

Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies), Live on Letterman 9-15-05: audio (mp3), video (avi)

The Like - Live on KCRW

When I got home from my weekend trip yesterday, my copy of The Like's Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking was waiting for me on my doorstep.

Just a few minutes later, I visited the KCRW site and was surprised to see that The Like was playing in the KCRW studio on MBE with Nic Harcourt.

Here are the songs (mp3s) from their giggly, energetic performance.

June Gloom
Mrs. Actually
What I Say And What I Mean
The One
(So I'll Sit Here) Waiting
Too Late
Waves That Never Break

Watch the entire show here. It's worth a look. The Like are frighteningly hot.

See their video for "What I Say and What I Mean" here.

Buy their CD.

Beck Live Acoustic Performance of Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime

Watch this brilliant solo acoustic guitar and harmonica version of Beck's cover of the Korgis' Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime and other live performances from the ReAct Now Concert for Katrina victims here. Beck makes this version raw and spare, but no less soulful than his cover on the Eternal Sunshine soundtrack.

Download the song, and all of the other live performances from the benefit, here. Your 99 cents gets you mp3s of rare live performances and help victims of Katrina. All proceeds are donated to The American Red Cross, The Salvation Army and America's Second Harvest.

The Ramones - I Don't Want To Grow Up (Video - Live on Letterman, 1995)

I'll be on the road Monday, and possibly Tuesday as well. So here's something to make up for my absence.

It just might bring a tear to your eye.

Ramones - I Don't Want To Grow Up (Live on Letterman, 1995) (32.3MB mpg video)

The only thing missing is Dee Dee.

This one is especially for Arethusa, to whom I promised a Ramones post a long time ago.

Wang Dang Doodles

For today's Friday Live, here are a few versions of the blues classic, Wang Dang Doodle.

PJ Harvey - Wang Dang Doodle (Man Size CD Single)

Ratdog - Wang Dang Doodle (1997-07-12 - Polaris Amphitheatre)

Grateful Dead - Wang Dang Doodle (1990-10-22, Festhalle)

Howlin' Wolf - Wang Dang Doodle (From Best Of)

Radiators - Wang Dang Doodle (8-19-2004, State Bridge Lodge, Bond, CO)

Trumpets Underwater

New Orleans is a jazz town, but also a funk town, a brass-band town, a hip-hop town and a jam-band town. It has international jazz musicians and hip-hop superstars, but also a true, subsistence-level street culture. Much of its music is tied to geography and neighborhoods, and crowds.

All that was incontrovertibly true until a week ago Monday. Now the future for brass bands and Mardi Gras Indians, to cite two examples, looks particularly bleak if their neighborhoods are destroyed by flooding, and bleaker still with the prospect of no new tourists coming to town soon to infuse their traditions with new money...

"A lot of the great musicians came right out of the Treme neighborhood and the Lower Ninth Ward," said the trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, temporarily speaking in the past tense...Mr. Ruffins, one of the most popular jazz musicians in New Orleans, made his name there partly through his regular Thursday-night gig over the last 12 years at Vaughan's, a bar in the Bywater neighborhood, where red beans and rice were served at midnight. Now Vaughn's may be destroyed, and so may his new house, which is not too far from the bar.

On Saturday evening Mr. Ruffins flew back to New Orleans from a gig in San Diego, having heard the first of the dire storm warnings. He stopped at a lumberyard to buy wood planks, boarded up 25 windows on his house, then went bar-hopping and joked with his friends that where they were standing might be under water the next day.

- From Jazz Musicians Ask if Their Scene Will Survive, in today's NY Times.

Kermit Ruffins - When I Die (You Better Second Line) (mp3, 2004 sxsw)

White Stripes, Live on KCRW

Yesterday morning, KCRW played an energetic White Stripes MBE performance. The songs are below, and the entire broadcast, including the illuminating interview, is here.

The White Stripes - Live At The Village (mp3s)

The Denial Twist
Red Rain
My Doorbell
As Ugly As I Seem
Folk Singer (Brendan Benson Cover)
Instinct Blues
Sugar Never Tasted So Good

Did you know my name?

This sounds like They Might Be Giants without the quirkiness, singing for - I don't know, the Wallflowers?? Gasp... But behold, it is actually pleasing to the ear.

Randy Weeks - Transistor Radios (Demo) (mp3) (radio rip)

If Nellie McKay Needed Someone To Love

If only, right?


Who would I call?

Nellie McKay - If I Needed Someone (Beatles cover) (mp3)

From This Bird Has Flown - 40th Anniversary Tribute to Rubber Soul

Bloc Party - Two More Years (Video)

Stream the video for the new single here.

Three REM Non-Album Tracks

Why Not Smile is one of my favorite Post-IRS REM songs. The version on Up starts slowly with harpsichord and fingerpicked acoustic guitar, an intimate setting that helps Stipe relate to a sad listener. The song builds in complexity and tempo as he brings the listener to jubilance.

This version, taken from the Daysleeper EP, remains spare and quiet, and you almost feel as though the singer is asking himself the question. He wants you to be happy, but how can you when you hear the pain in his voice. The harpischord is gone, and the more sustained fingerpicked guitar notes linger. And the organ with the electric guitar...

REM - Why Not Smile (Oxford American Version) (mp3)


Tongue is more playful. This is a pretty straightforward version from the Vancouver Rehearsal Tapes. The electric guitar is huge when it comes in at just over the 2:00 mark.

Tongue (Vancouver Rehearsal Tapes) (mp3)


The Nightswimming EP version of Belong is less jangly and more of a folk song. The always contemplative Stipe has a way of transporting you into a different setting as you listen to REM songs, and you are in the room with a young mother and her child, watching her hopeful, worried eyes as she speaks to the child by the thin pane of glass that both separates them from and connects them to the world.

Belong (Live, Charleston, WV 4-28-91) (mp3)

Even if you have all of REM's albums, don't overlook the EPs and singles. You'll find little treasures on each.

Friday Live

Neil Young - Winterlong (Live from ??)

Mazzy Star - Into Dust (Live - Fade Into You B-Side)

Lou Reed - Halloween Parade (Live in Cincinnati, 1989)

Bob Dylan - Blind Willie McTell (Bootleg Series Vol 3)

Jill Scott - Natural Woman (Live from VH1 Divas 2001 Tribute to Aretha Franklin)

Lizz Wright -Trouble (Live Video)

Watch Lizz Wright perform Trouble here, from the Borders Listening Station.

A Hard Rain Falls

Though the New Orleans skies are cloudless, the hardest rain continues to fall.

"Victims of Hurricane Katrina are attempting to recover from the massive storm that is still making its way across the Mid-Atlantic States. American Red Cross volunteers have been deployed to the hardest hit areas of Katrina’s destruction, supplying hundreds of thousands victims left homeless with critical necessities. By making a financial gift to Hurricane 2005 Relief, the Red Cross can provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to those in need."

Donate.

Bob Dylan - A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall (Live Version)(mp3) from No Direction Home.

Ghetto Soul Food

With the rise of Hip Hop/R&B came the demise of soul. Or was it the other way around?

Young people like Van Hunt, Alicia Keys, John Legend, and now, Leela James are here to bring it back. Leela sings about her personal longing for the music, and the singing, on her new release, A Change Is Gonna Come.

Ghetto (mp3)

Soul Food (mp3)

Check out the video for her soulful Music here.

Bob Dylan Approximately

As promised yesterday, here are some tracks from the free September UNCUT CD, Highway 61 Revisited Revisited.



TRACKLIST:
Like A Rolling Stone -- Drive-By Truckers
Tombstone Blues -- Marc Carroll
It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry -- Paul Westerberg
From A Buick 6 -- Richmond Fontaine
Ballad Of A Thin Man -- Willard Grant Conspiracy
Queen Jane Approximately -- American Music Club
Highway 61 Revisited -- Dave Alvin
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues -- The Handsome Family
Desolation Row -- Songdog

Tangled Up In Music Mags

In anticipation of the upcoming PBS Scorcese documentary, the September issues of MOJO and UNCUT are both offering free discs with exclusive covers of Dylan classics.

Today we've got tracks from the MOJO, and of course, we'll have some from the UNCUT tomorrow.

Here's the MOJO tracklist:

Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity - This Wheel's On Fire
The Hollies - My Back Pages
Nancy Sinatra - It Ain't Me Babe
Hugh Cornwell - Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues
The Stands - Lay Lady Lay
Ben Weaver - Ballad Of A Thin Man
Roger McGuinn - Up To Me
Michael Weston King - Simple Twist Of Fate
The Flying Burrito Brothers - To Ramona
Chris Whitley - Spanish Harlem Incident
Andrew Bird And Nora O'Connor - Oh Sister
Fairport Convention - Si Tu Dois Partir
The Long Ryders - Masters Of War
John Martyn - Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
M. Ward, Conor Oberst & Jim James - Girl From The North Country



MOJO also features interviews, and a top 100 Dylan singles list, as voted by artists such as Arcade Fire's Win Butler, Frank Black, Bono, Nick Cave, Neko Case, Beck, and others, along with their comments.

Friday Live

...digs into the archives today.


Johnny Cash - Live at Folsom Prison & San Quentin - I Still Miss Someone (mp3)

Aretha Franklin, Live at Fillmore West (1971) - Respect (mp3)

Neil Young & Elvis Costello, Bridge School Benefit Concert - Alison (live) (mp3)

The Dead Milkmen Live at the Trocadero - Punk Rock Girl (mp3)

REM (from Murmur: The IRS Years Vintage 1983)- Gardening At Night (Live) (mp3)

Happy Birthday Uncle Tom!

Guess who's birthday it is? See that guy in the bowl of soup over there to the right? It's Ech, AKA Uncle Tom. Please join me in wishing him a Happy Birthday.

Here's a song for you, Ech. Just imagine the words "Uncle Tom" in the place of "Mr. President."

Marilyn Monroe - Happy Birthday to You (mp3)

Take Off In Your Soul Ship and Visit a Billion Different Distant Stars In One Second

(from Soul Transportation)

If you are still deciding whether to donate to autism charities by picking up a copy of the Dimension Mix, you're already wasting time, allowing yourself to be disconnected. The cosmos, including Beck, Stereolab, Fantastic Plastic Machine, Apples in Stereo, Eels, Oranger, and From Bubblegum to Sky, is awaiting your buy-in. As a whole, the disc is otherworldly, transcendental, funky, weird, and fun. If my vague adjectives haven't convinced you to make a trip to your local record store, maybe these will:

DJ Me DJ You - Soul Transportation (mp3)

Anubian Lights - Walking Eagle (mp3)

Listen to Beck's version of Funky Little Song and compare with the original here.

And as the efficient mp3blog surfer that you are, you are aware that there is other stuff from the CD floating around. But take my word: buy it. You'll love the packaging, the colorful, informative booklet, and you'll feel better.

Bloc Party Vs Death From Above

Some of the remixes I've heard from Bloc Party's forthcoming Silent Alarm Remixed are disposable. Listen closely once, then throw away or keep as passable background music. Others are keepers. And then, on a higher, heavier plane, there's this one.

Bloc Party - Luno (Bloc Party vs. DFA) (mp3)

Compare to the original track here.

Patrick Swayze's Greatest Hits

The title wouldn't surprise me.

From the Chicago Sun-Times article, Isn't greatness required for 'greatest hits'?

A greatest-hits album once stood as a watershed -- a milestone chronicling a collection of top-rated hits, culturally significant songs or the end of a stellar career.

But in recent years, a flood of ''best of'' titles from acts with only few years in the business -- and performers with even fewer hits -- have called into question how great a greatest-hits collection is.

Among the more questionable greatest hits collections that have popped up in recent years: ''Toy Soldiers: The Best of Martika'' (with one hit from the 1980s); ''The Best of Mandy Moore,'' from an entertainer who had more success as an actress than she ever did as a singer,...And while teen queen Hilary Duff has sold millions of albums, she has released only two discs -- the first one in 2003 -- and neither spawned a top 10 hit. Her ''best of'' collection, ''Most Wanted,'' hit record stores Tuesday.

The Latest Jazziz On Disc

...SMOKES.



From A Little Blues In The Mix:

Tony Monaco - Every Day I Have The Blues (mp3)

Pavlo - Mediterranean Eyes (mp3)


The disc also features great songs from Miles Davis, Otis Taylor, Ahmad Jamal, and Jason Moran, among others.

Friday Live - Mostly Jazz

And one Arcade Fire song.


Django Reinhardt - A Minor Blues (mp3) (From Django In Rome 1949-1950)

Sarah Vaughan - Black Coffee (mp3)
(From Linger Awhile: Live in Newport and More)

Thelonious Monk - Body And Soul (mp3) (From Monk In Paris Live At The Olympia)

Thelonious Monk - April In Paris (mp3) (From Monk In Paris Live At The Olympia)

The Arcade Fire - No Cars Go (mp3) (White Session, France 9 March 05)

Peter Buck Presents

His fist on a drunken British Airways flight.

That, and this mix CD courtesy Uncut magazine...


(had to put this photo up per popular unrequest...this is the Mikey Mills issue)

1. Ry Cooder - Poor Man's Shanghai
2. The Turn ons - New Jesus
3. The Pernice Brothers - There Goes The Sun
4. Espers - Meadow
5. John Doe - The Losing Kind
6. Orange Juice - Poor Old Soul Part 1
7. Smog - Rock Bottom Riser
8. Martha Wainwright - Factory
9. The Go-Betweens - Darlinghurst Nights
10. Richard Thompson - My Soul, My Soul
11. Stephen Malkmus - Pencil Rot
12. Belle & Sebastian - Lazy Line Painter Jane
13. Jeff Klein - Put You To Sleep
14. Sufjan Stevens - Jacksonville
15. Rem (Same track as the Stipe CD)

Stipe Presents

By now, we all know the story about how REM got together - Michael Stipe frequented Wuxtry Records in Athens, Georgia, where Peter Buck worked. Each admired the other's taste in music, got together for drinks, agreed to form a band, and voila.

I've often imagined the two of them browsing through the dusty vinyl in Wuxtry Records, and wondered what records they pick up to buy these days.

The August editions of Uncut give us a clue, with three "REM Collection" CDs accompanying each edition. These tracks are from the Michael Stipe Presents CD (Disc 2).

Tracklist:
1. Now It's Overhead - Reverse (Live)
2. Karen Elson - Coming Down (personal recording) (Jack White's supermodel wife)
3. Papercranes - Knew You When (Singer Rain Phoenix is River's sister)
4. Tilly & The Wall - Nights of the Living Dead
5. The Citizens Band - Je T'aime Scumbag
6. Flash to Bang Time - H The President (Michael's sister, Lynda Stipe, is the band leader)
7. The Checks - Mercedes Children
8. Vic Chestnutt - Aunt Avis
9. Magnapop - Favorite Writer (Live)
10. Angela McCluskey - Hidden Song
11. Leona Naess - No Boys (Live)
12. Joseph Arthur - In The Sun (Live)
13. Patti Smith - Wing (Live)
14. Bright Eyes - We Are Nowhere And It Is Now (Live)
15. REM - Boy In The Well (Live)

Sometimes I'm talkative and sometimes you're not talkative, I know.

Mark your calenders for October 15th, when Animal Collective's Feels is released. Earlier this week, Stereogum directed us to these excellent streaming tracks on Boomkat. Here's another solid, drum & rhythm guitar driven track from Feels. The orchestral part around the 3-1/2 minute mark is a heavenly blend of voices, drums, piano, and guitar.

Animal Collective - The Purple Bottle (mp3)

A Swarm of Words Inside His Belly

Blue Dementia


In the days when a man
would hold a swarm of words
inside his belly, nestled
against his spleen, singing.

In the days of nightriders
when life tongued a reed
till blues & sorrow songs
called out of the deep night:
Another man done gone.
Another man done gone.

In the days when one could lose oneself
all up inside love that way,
& then moan on the bone
till the gods cry out in someone's sleep.

Today,
already I've seen three dark-skinned men
discussing the weather with demons
& angels, gazing up at the clouds
& squinting down into iron grates
along the fast streets of luminous encounters.
I double-check my reflection in plate glass
& wonder, Am I passing another
Lucky Thompson or Marion Brown
cornered by a blue dementia,
another dark-skinned man
who woke up dreaming one morning
& then walked out of himself
dreaming? Did this one dare
to step on a crack in the sidewalk,
to turn a midnight corner & never come back
whole, or did he try to stare down a look
that shoved a blade into his heart?
I mean, I also know something
about nightriders & catgut. Yeah,
Honey, I know something about talking with ghosts.

- Yusef Komunyakaa, from the Spring 2005 issue of Ploughshares.

Odetta - Another man done gone (mp3), from Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues

Johnny Cash (with Anita Carter) - Another man done gone (mp3), from Blood, Sweat and Tears

Antony & The Johnsons with Good ID3 Tags

I keep forgetting. Sorry.

These mp3s from Antony & The Johnson's WNYC Spinning in-studio performance (8/5/05) (see previous post) have good ID3 Tags.

For Today I Am A Boy
I Fell In Love With A Dead Boy
The Lake

Mysteries of Love

Friday Live - All Antony

Today's edition of Friday Live features Antony & the Johnsons, because their in-studio performance on last Friday's WNYC Spinning On Air session was the most soulful music I heard all month, and maybe all year.

Antony & the Johnsons mp3s from WNYC Spinning in-studio performance (8/5/05):

For Today I Am A Boy
I Fell In Love With A Dead Boy
The Lake


From their May 2005 performance on XFM:

Hope There's Someone
You Are My Sister

And a non-live "somewhat available" track ripped from the WNYC Spinning session:
Mysteries of Love

Listen to the entire interview and performance here. Antony talks about Edgar Allan Poe, the disturbing children's letters in the I Am a Bird Now liner notes, and details about the songs he performed.

If I Give You Sugar

Yummmmm......



Ladytron - Sugar (mp3)
(radio rip)

Buy (UK)

The Visual Guide to Fresh Mouth vs. Meth Mouth

Fresh Mouth



Meth Mouth (from NPR news story, 'Meth Mouth' Strains Prison Health-Care Budgets 10 Aug 05)



Fresh Mouth



Meth Mouth (from St. Louis Today news story, Rural dentists report surge in "meth mouth", 25 Jul 05)

And a public service cartoon here, from Hail Dubyus.

Beck and Heavy Metal Aerobics

BECK: That was when I was in a punk-metal band called Loser...I'd play most of the set in a closed coffin, and I wouldn't come out till near the end when I would do the big solo. The door would kick open and I'd come ou, wailing on the guitar. We also considered making an aerobics video.

BLVR: A heavy metal aerobics video?

BECK: Yeah. In a graveyard. Cause, you know, if you're gonna be a head-banger, you have to maintain neck musculature. And you can't rock out with flabby thighs.

- From this year's Believer Music Issue.

I mourned yesterday when I looked at the new Beck tour dates, and realized that I will be in New Jersey when Beck comes here to the D.C. area. But then I rejoiced when I looked a little lower on the list and saw that Beck is playing in New Jersey when I'm there.

And dig this:

Beck - Missing (Remix by Royksopp) (mp3)

The Stride in Blue Moods, Sex, The Dream, and Jungle Drums

It's not a weird post title. They're the names of the three songs I'm posting today.



James P. Johnson was one of the originators of the stride style of piano, which was a bridge between ragtime and jazz. You can hear elements of each in these recordings. He influenced Count Basie, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Art Tatum, and Thelonious Monk.

In Blue Moods, Sex (mp3), he foreshadows Monk by holding some notes for just a moment longer than you expect, and by creating harmony with dissonant keys. It's slinky, sly, and playful.

Jungle Drums (mp3) has no drums, but you hear them anyway. I don't just mean that you feel the rhythm; if you have any imagination at all, you hear the drums in there. Aggressive and forceful.

Dream (mp3) is a masterpiece of timing and finger acrobatics. You can't play this.

All solo piano mp3s from The Original James P. Johnson: 1942-1945, Piano Solos.

More .ram files to listen to here.

The Visions of Bliss

Gentle "chill out" music usually bores me to tears.

Last night, though, I came across the U.S. edition of Quiet Letters, the new album from Bliss. I tried to resist, but some of the songs surprised me with pleasant contrasts--I won't give you specifics, but you can hear some in the first track below, and I smiled at the visions (hey, I'm vacation-rested and open-minded) I had while listening. Maybe Bliss will do the same for you. You'll have to listen with headphones, though. Meditative postures optional, along with incense and any other smokes.

Long Life to You My Friend starts out like Donnie Darko background music, and morphs into an amalgam of international sounds. Just when you think it's going to be lame and boring, the uplifting African vocals come in. My vision during this track? That great epic Shakespearean tragedy, The Lion King. If Timon and Pumbaa were to say farewell to the hakuna matata days and part ways, this might be the theme music. Kinda makes you want to cry, doesn't it.

Bliss - Long Life to You My Friend (mp3)

Right There brought visions of a great Shakespearean comedic drama - the High School Prom. It's the perfect prom theme song. It will take you back to your ballroom dance floor, when you wished you were slow dancing with someone else as you sucked face and groped ass with your high-haired pimplefaced date. Too bad it will never be played at a prom.

Bliss - Right There (mp3)