Seven Songs Blog Chain

"List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre,
whether they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they
must be songs you're really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post
these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7
other people to see what they're listening to."
The lovely and ever so sexy cletus_buckley has tagged me so in the read more is what ive been had on repeat a lot lately

so i guess a few words before each track is in order

this is off the sound track to Clockwork Orange, and is a reworking of the original by Walter/Wendy Carlos,Walter/Wendy Carlos is an American composer and electronic musician. She is one of the first famous performers of electronic music using synthesizers. In 1972, Carlos underwent sex reassignment surgery, (also love her soundtrack to tron) love listening to his song on the luas kinda baked and watching all the people get on and off.
MP3>Walter/Wendy Carlos & Rachel Elkind - Theme From A Clockwork Orange (Beethoviana)


Slick Rick (Real name Richard Walters,born January 14, 1965 in South Wimbledon, London, England) is an East Coast rapper, known for a series of hip hop recordings during the 1980s. He was blinded by broken glass as an infant and took to wearing an eyepatch from an early age. Walters moved with his family to the Bronx in 1975. Got the album The Great Adventures Of Slick Rick a few months back and is great old school stuff , and the song is great for the way the story telling especially for the time as well.

Slick Rick - Children's Story


MP3>Slick Rick - Children's Story


Led by rob crow (of pinback, heavy vegetable, optiganally yours, the ladies, goblin cock, physics, aspects of physics, orca, fantasy mission force, snotnose, remote action sequence project, altron tube, the alpha males, and surely more bands) Thingy formed in 1995 or 1996 after the dissolving of heavy vegetable, thingy specialized in a highly complex and melodic form of indie/rock type music with boy/girl vocals. always quirkly and playfully downtrodden. just of late been listening to their albums again , no real reason (no real reason needed their great).

MP3>Thingy - Destroy All Music


Don't think i could keep my street cred of being a Anticon addict if i didn't have at least one Anticon artist so heres Object Beings, Object Beings is Dose One, Why? and The Pedestrian.

Why & Pedestrian perform Attack of the Postmodern Patboones


MP3>object beings - Attack Of The Postmodern Pat Boones


Saw The Mae Shi play crawdaddy a few weeks ago as part of the Soundtrack festival and wow what a live show they put on , in and out of the crowd a big sheet thrown over the crowd and then held up like a little tent and them singing under it , really really good live show.

The Mae Shi - "Lamb and the Lion"


MP3>The Mae Shi - Lamb And The Lion


This is off the new Errors Album It's Not Something But It Is Like Whatever and i loving it (the song and the album) looking forward to a party when im allowed to put music on to play this.

MP3>Errors - Pump


And Finally something just a touch heavier then the rest Genghis Tron , if you have sensitive ear you might wanna turn down you speakers, but you should still listen to it. off there new album Board Up the House. heres a video of them playing on a truck bed like some sideshow act

Genghis Tron "Board Up the House"


MP3>Genghis Tron - Board Up The House


And I tagged the following folk
There Will Be Blog,the red scrapbook,the indiehour,thrillpier,Mp3 Hugger,Easy Music for Difficult Ears,You're Only Massive: DISCO-NNECT

Old Time Relijun

Old Time Relijun is a three-piece ensemble based in Olympia, Washington. With frequently rotating drummers (the current drummer is Germaine Baca, but past drummers have included Phil Elvrum a/k/a the Microphones), the main stalwarts are Arrington de Dionyso (vocals, guitar. Dionyso is also a respected throat singer and has a degree in ethnomusicology) and Aaron Hartman (stand-up bass). The band has added Aaron’s brother Benjamin to the mix, taking over the horn and woodwind work.

Pulling influences from no-wave sax machine James Chance, Howlin’ Wolf, and Captain Beefheart, Old Time Relijun creates a frenetic, challenging sound. Longtime members of Calvin Johnson’s K Records’ stable, Old Time Relijun has received divided reviews amongst critics. Many critics deride the band for being inaccessible but others see the band as visionary.

While there is a great split over their recorded albums, Old Time Relijun has a solid following amongst anyone who has seen their frenetic live show. In these live shows, it is not beyond Arrington to be playing in nothing more than his tighty whiteys while he and the band kick out the jams.

DAEMON MEETING


Cold Water


wolves and wolverines



MP3>Old Time Relijun -Indestructrible Life!


MP3>Old Time Relijun -Vampire Sushi

Covers part 2

A while back I wrote about a few different cover versions I thought weere good. Bands putting a different spin on the original. It can be found here
since then ive heard some new good ones and remembered some classic that i can't believe i forgot so i present cover versions part 2 (in the read more)

First up we have Big black (in case you don't know Big Black was a noise rock band founded in Chicago, Illinois, United States, that was active between 1982 and 1987. They were headed by singer, lyricist, guitarist, and co-songwriter Steve Albini) doing a cover of Kraftwerk's "The Model" (or "Das Model") here's the original.

Kraftwerk - The Model


In Big Black's version the synths are replaced with that sick bass sound and high pitched guitar squeals to great effect.

MP3>Big Black - The Model


Next up I have Hot chip doing a cover of the original pimp himself Marvin Gaye all time classic Sexual Healing.

Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing


Now im not sure that the hot chip version will have the same effect in the bedroom department but it still sounds good.

MP3>Hot Chip - Sexual Healing


next we have 5 street walkers with a record contract or better know as the pussycat dolls being covered by xiu xiu , this is a bit of a weird one and as much as it pains me here is the original.

The Pussycat Dolls - Don't Cha


I much perfer xiu xiu version.
MP3>Xiu Xiu - don't cha


next we have Bonnie "Prince" Billy doing a cover of the real talking R. Kelly. the song in question is World's Greatest (I had never heard it before either).

R. Kelly - The Worlds Greatest


Will Oldam changes this RnB ditty into a country song as only he can and I have to say I love it.

MP3>Bonnie "Prince" Billy - World's Greatest


Next is Cansei de Ser Sexy putting their spin on the Grizzly Bear tune knife. I think you know what to expect so first the original
Grizzly Bear - Knife


and now the cover.
MP3>Cansei de Ser - the knife


Finally we have TV on the Radio covering a Daniel Johnston tune, one of my favorite Daniel Johnston, while his own version is raw and is really heartfelt the TV on the radio version really show off Daniels writing ability

MP3>Daniel Johnston - walking the cow


MP3>TV on the Radio - walking the cow


And now to show how wrong cover versions can be
Take That 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' 1995


yes they did this just a year after Kurt died

I tried to kiss her in the fourth dimension But the teacher gave me five days detention

The Chinese Stars are an American band from Providence, Rhode Island formed from the ashes of Arab on Radar and Six Finger Satellite. Their music has been put under the noise rock/dance category, but could best be described as having solid funk basslines, 4-on-the-floor dance beats and very trebly vocals and guitar work. Singer Eric Paul provides somewhat disturbing vocals, viewed by most fans as an exorcising of past demons.

Eric Paul and Craig Kureck before the bands collapse were the driving force behind Arab On Radar and likewise Richard Ivan Pelletier was the former drummer of Six Finger Satellite and, after Six Finger Satellite disbanded, joined The Chinese Stars on bass.
Their name is a reference to a fad in the eighties over Shuriken throwing stars from Japan, and the effect they had on terrified parents.
Their EP on Kitty Play Records was intended to be a split with Daughters but a tiff (allegedly at the fish and chips store where two of the members worked) prevented this.
Their 2007 album "Listen to Your Left Brain" recorded with Keith Souza at Machines With Magnets was released March 20th on ThreeOneG.

The Chinese Stars - Cheap City Halo


Chinese Stars "Girls of Las Vegas"


MP3>The Chinese Stars-Left Brain


MP3>The Chinese Stars -Panic in the Population


MP3>The Chinese Stars -Girls of Las Vegas

Do Make Say Think

Do Make Say Think is an instrumental group from Toronto, Ontario. The band formed in the 1990s as a recording project for one of the members' sound engineering classes in college. Their first rehearsals took place in an empty schoolroom where four basic verbs -- Do, Make, Say and Think -- adorned the walls. The group subsequently adopted the words as a name. Their music combines jazz-style drums with electric bass, synthesizers, electric guitars, wind instruments, and electronic effects.

Do Make Say Think consists of Ohad Benchetrit (guitar, bass, saxophone and flute), David Mitchell (drums), James Payment (drums), Justin Small (guitar) and Charles Spearin (bass, guitar and trumpet). Jason Mackenzie (keyboards and effects) departed after the first album. Justin Small is also involved in a side project entitled Lullabye Arkestra, as a drummer with his partner, bassist Katia Taylor. They have been produced by Benchetrit, who -- along with Spearin -- records and tours with the Toronto supergroup Broken Social Scene.
Do Make Say Think are routinely joined onstage by Brian Cram, who performs with James Payment in a metal band called Gesundheit.
In 1997 the band independently released their first full length CD, Do Make Say Think, which was quickly picked up by Montréal based label Constellation Records (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Fly Pan Am, A Silver Mt. Zion…) and released worldwide. By mid-1999 the band had finished recording their second album Goodbye Enemy Airship the Landlord Is Dead—a title taken from an anonymous art installation erected in the alleyway behind the home of the three roommates in Chinatown—and were preparing for their first European tour at the end of the year.

The recording approach to Goodbye Enemy Airship… became a kind of template for the records to follow: find a location, preferably rural (in this case Mackenzie’s grandparent’s barn near Port Hope, Ontario), free from distractions and complaining neighbours and move in for a few days to record lightly sketched out bed-tracks. After that, the songs are brought back to Toronto where overdubs are recorded and mixing is done over many months. The recording, mixing and mastering on all the albums so far have been done by Ohad Benchetrit and Charles Spearin with help from Justin Small.
In 2002, the band’s third LP & Yet & Yet was released; in 2004 Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn; and in February 2007, You, You're a History in Rust, which features guest vocals by Akron/Family, Alex Lukashevsky (Deep Dark United), and Tony Dekker (Great Lake Swimmers), as well as Do Make Say Think themselves singing on the closing song “In Mind”.
The song "Chinatown" from 2002's & Yet & Yet is featured in the movie Syriana, starring George Clooney, as well as The Corporation.
The song "Fredericia" is named after a small town in Denmark the band has visited multiple times, and was also written in that town after a concert.

do make say think "Horns of a Rabbit" Live


Do Make Say Think - The Universe!


Do Make Say Think - A Tender History In Rust


MP3>do make say think -minmin (live)


MP3>do make say think -The Landlord Is Dead


MP3>do make say think -reitschule


MP3>do make say think -HOORAY! HOORAY! HOORAY!

New (old) Madvillain Video

Filmed in 2004 and off there debut album Madvillainy, released for the first time on Stones Throw 102: In Living the True Gods.

Madvillain - Accordion


Madvillain is the moniker and stage name for the underground hip-hop collaboration between MF DOOM (MC) and Madlib (producer).
Their debut album Madvillainy was met with critical acclaim for its unique approach - short songs, obscure lyrics, few choruses and a sound which was generally unfriendly to commercial radio. This was directly opposite to the formulas of popular hip hop of the time. The album features a host of guests from stones throw including MED, Wildchild and Doom/Madlib aliases Viktor Vaughn and Quasimoto respectively.

While the video isnt groundbreaking if it gets a few more people into Mf Doom and Madlib it will be something.

MP3> Madvillain -Accordion


MP3>Madvillian [Four Tet Remixes]-accordion


MP3>Madvillian [Four Tet Remixes]-money folder


And finally a song off Mf Doom excellent album MM Food (one of my favorite hip hop albums of all time) one beer remixed by madlib

Mp3>MF Doom -One Beer (Madlib Remix)


MF DOOM and Madlib are currently working on a second installment of Madvillainy. One track, 'Monkey Suite', was premiered on Fat Beats Radio in July 2006.


the dvd Stones Throw 102: In Living The True Gods is out now and features other great video like this other Madvillain video
Madvillain - All Caps



the dvd also features
Music videos:
Madvillain “Monkey Suite”
Madvillain “Accordion” (previously unreleased)
Oh No ft. J.Dilla and Roc C “Move”
Quasimoto “Rappcats Pt. 3”
J Dilla “Nothing Like This”
MED “Push”
James Pants “Do a Couple of Things”
Madlib “Take It Back”
Gary Wilson “Gary's in the Park”
Quasimoto “Bullyshit”
Aloe Blacc “Busking”
Roc C ft. Aloe Blacc “My Life”
Lootpack “Crate Diggin’” (prev. unreleased on DVD)
Baron Zen “At The Mall”
Stones Throw Singers “Rain Of Earth”

Bonus features:
• J Dilla, 2003 interview in The Netherlands - previously unseen in its full length form.
• “Move” Behind The Scenes
• Quasimoto (?) Live at Justice League Fimed in San Francisco, CA, Summer 2000
• Jaylib Live at Conga Room Filmed in Los Angeles, October 2004
• Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf “Studio Time 92” - a newly assembled mini-doc of the group, with VHS footage circa 1992.
• The Funky 16 Corners Rehearsal, 2001

House of the rising post-rock

Over the last Few years Japan has released some of the finest Post-rock/ math-rock to be heard. Im going to try and just give a brief introduction into some of my favorite Japaneses bands

But first just to clear up a few things about post rock and math rock
The term post-rock was coined by Simon Reynolds in issue 123 of The Wire (May 1994) to describe a sort of music "using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes, using guitars as facilitators of timbres and textures rather than riffs and powerchords."
Originally used to describe the music of such bands as Stereolab, Disco Inferno, Seefeel, Bark Psychosis and Pram, it spread out to be frequently used for all sorts of jazz- and Krautrock-influenced, instrumental, electronica-added music made after 1994. Bands from the early 1990s such as Slint, or earlier, such as Talk Talk were influential on this genre. As with many musical genres, the term is arguably inadequate: it is used for the music of Tortoise as well as that of Mogwai, two bands who have very little in common besides the fact that their music is largely instrumental.
Closely related to post-rock is the genre known as Math rock, characterized by more percussive timbres, and more dissonant harmonic gestures.

LITE
LITE is a more math rock oriented instrumental music. Formed in 2003 in Tokyo.LITE played many gigs around Tokyo and self-released two demo CDs.
They have released one mini-album, "LITE", and one full-length ("Filmlets") through Transduction in the UK and Cargo in Europe.They toured the UK and Ireland in 2006, and have received critical acclaim in Japan. In July 2007, they played at Fuji Rock Festival in Japan and followed that with another UK & Ireland tour in September, co-inciding with a split release with Funanori (Kaori Tsuchida from The Go! Team and Mike Watt from the Minutemen). Titled "A Tiny Twofer", the split CD features three songs each
MP3>LITE - I miss seeing all


LITE "Human Gift"


Mono
Mono are a post-rock group from Tokyo, Japan. The songs, all of which are instrumental, are usually focused on layered guitar melodies. Strings and pianos are also prominently featured in some songs. Mono are known for their powerful live shows and their complex guitar work. Their first EP, titled "Hey, you" appeared in September, 2000. So far, they have released four full albums: "Under The Pipal Tree", "One Step More And You Die", "Walking cloud and deep red sky, Flag fluttered and the sun shined" and "You Are There". They also have several other records, including a remix album, a collaborative split record with Pelican, an album collaborating with World's end girlfriend and another EP, titled "Memorie dal Futuro".

MP3> Mono - are you there


Mono - Moonlight


Miaou
Miaou is probably the most delicate and fragile side of the Japanese post-rock scene.They reach a very deep emotional level without the need of screaming or exploding in noise.Miaou were formed in 1999 by Tatsuki Hamasaki and sisters Mayumi and Hiromi Hasegawa.
Their 2005 release, 'Make These Things Alright' saw Miaou develop their sound with a wider range of instruments, and truly mark themselves with a unique style in Japan

MP3>Miaou -boom 0


miaou - tiger note


Toe
They’re less math than Lite.Sometimes technical sometimes simple and sweet.Toe is comprised of Kashikura Takashi on drums, Mino Takaaki on guitar, Yamane Satoshi on bass guitar, and Yamazaki Hirokazu on guitar. Toe has formally played with this line-up since the band’s inception in 2000. The vast majority of the music is instrumental and features the swift and acute drumming of Takashi. The band is also known for its melodic, clean guitar settings. Additionally, the compositions have repetition from typical rock motifs, but use very subtle changes in beat and rhythm to form a unique sound. The band has changed their sound over their musical tenure by incorporating acoustic guitars, rhodes piano, and vibraphones in their most recent releases

MP3>Toe -Mukougishi Ga Shiru Yume


Toe - Everything Means Nothing


Envy
Since their formation in 1992, Envy has become a dominant band in the independent hardcore and screamo scene in Japan. Their music has evolved over the years to incorporate hardcore, screamo, and most recently, the epic tendencies of post-rock. Envy is characterized by their ability to master screamo's loud-soft dynamic to evoke both crushing brutality and gentle beauty, often within the same song.
The band has become increasingly popular among the post rock scene in the last few years for their incorporation of Mogwai-esque sound and composition dynamics into more traditional screamo songs. This new influence can be most easily identified on their last three releases, "All The Footprints You've Ever Left And The Fear Expecting Ahead" released by Dim Mak,"A Dead Sinking Story" released on Level Plane and "Insomniac Doze" released on Temporary Residence Limited

MP3> ENVY -Scene


Envy - A Warm Room

Pissed Jeans

Pissed Jeans are a rock and roll combo from Allentown, PA.The sound of their music is a combination of sludgy bands from the early Eighties,like Flipper and Tad, and the noise assault of the Jesus Lizard.

In an interview with Tony Rettman of Blastitude, Pissed Jeans' singer described their sound and intent with the following: "The idea was to start a different kinda punk band focused on dead ended carnal cravings, sexual depression…that sort of thing. Mainly we just wanted to bludgeon the listener with dull, monotonous droning rock music that just sucks the energy out of you, the musical equivalent to watching a toilet flush."

Pissed Jeans - I've Still Got You Ice Cream


MP3> Pissed Jeans-closet marine


Pissed Jeans are another amazing band playing ATP Vs Pitchfork in may

Something For Your Eyes And Ears

This is a mix off the 2007 Caribou tour cd.

On the 30min mix Dan Snaith shows his mindset with a mix of songs that are as varied as the ingredients that make up Andorra, and complements Andorra perfectly. The artwork above was done for us by the amazing eleanor and you can check out more of her work on her myspace here.

I had to make it smaller to fit on the page but a full size version can be found here (it should be the album art on the mp3 when you download it)

click for mp3

Songs from the Black Hole

Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo came out last week and i was able to get my grubby mits on a copy.

What had my juices flowing was that some of the track on the cd where lost tracks from Songs from the Black Hole, Songs from the Black Hole is an unreleased, unfinished Weezer album. A space themed rock opera/musical, it was originally envisioned as the follow-up album to The Blue Album, but over the course of recording, the album's concept was discarded and the album was transformed into Pinkerton. Its story arc follows: a five-person (plus one mechanoid) crew of a spaceship on an important mission, our noble protagonist Jonas is given a meaty role while crewmates Wuan and Dondo are one-dimensional avatars for womanizing and partying.

Blast Off!

The leadoff track for Songs from the Black Hole is a dramatic rock song with a high-reaching melody and shifting dynamics. The lyrics are a conversation between the main character Jonas and his shipmates Wuan and Dondo. Jonas is excited yet reserved about the prospect of doing what he thinks is his dream job. Wuan and Dondo are much more upbeat about the experience. In the middle of the song M1 (the mechanoid) interjects via vocoder to remind them of the task at hand. In the last verse we find that a female character has entered the scene and that Jonas had a ‘relationship’ with her back at Star Corps Academy

Who You Callin’ Bitch?

Jonas and Maria continue the conversation started in Blast Off!

Superfriend

The song is a conversation between Jonas and (presumably) Laurel. In it, Jonas chides himself for giving into the seduction of Maria, even though he does not love her. Laurel urges Jonas to grow up and be better than that. Jonas finds himself smitten with Laurel, but she can see through his act and tells him to get real.

if all this is a bit weird remember these were written with the help of painkillers as Cuomo healed from leg surgery.

the album in general is good, has weak and strong moments, but the real thing for me was to be able to hear some tracks off Songs from the Black Hole. That said is also has Cuomo doing an Ice Cube cover (The Bomb), and most of the tracks were recored before 1996.

well, i leave you with the demo version of Buddy Holly off Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo.