June 2009
66 posts
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The Feelies- Dancing Barefoot (Patti Smith cover)
After listening to this, you can pretty much guess where R.E.M. got their sound from.
What a fucking fantastic cover. The first and second Feelies’ albums are golden.
May 2009
70 posts
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Kid Vinil - A Gata Comeu
It’s hard to find much (English) info on Kid Vinil, but he was basically a Brazilian who saw punk bands in UK and then did music, DIY-style.
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The Pretenders- Tattooed Love Boys
Punk with a literate, virtuoso edge. Impressiveley dense, but anchored by that addictive little clairon call arpeggio.
Great Guitar Hero song. Also, it’s solid female-led new wave. That matters.
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Julian Plenti - Fun That We Have
Paul Banks, the dreamy leader of Interpol, is releasing a new solo record under the name Julian Plenti in August, and well, it’s surprisingly much more different in tone than you’d expect. Fun That We Have, the first song to reach the airwaves off of it, is repetitive and electronic, but still retains a very vague chamber atmosphere about it, reminescent of his band’s trademark.
Yeah Paul, sounds like you’re having a blast. This should be an interesting record.
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The Fall - Louie Louie (live 1977)
I’ve been trying to incorporate this song into the next mix I post here, but it’s positively unlistenable and untransitionable. It’s young Mark E. Smith fucking up the classics as much as he can. I love the Fall.
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Delia Derbyshire - Proto Electronica Demo (BBC Archive)
vruz:
from the lost and found tapes
Interesting article. This techno track was apparently recorded assembled from slices of tape in the late 60’s.
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The Apology Line
The Apology Line was/is an art project created in 1980 by an Alan Bridge, otherwise known as Mr. A. The idea of the project was to give people a non-religious outlet to express feelings of guilt and remorse. The line recieved hundreds of calls daily from 1980 up through the mid-90s.
I recorded these mp3s from a tape that The Apology Line created and circulated titled The Apology Line: Uncut Gems From Year Zero (1980-1981) which I bought at the WFMU record fair in 2004. I didn’t bother breaking up the individual confessions into separate mp3s, and decided that it was just easier to offer each 22 minute side of the tape as its own track.
Please bear in mind that many of these confessions are very upsetting, and some of the callers seem to be genuinely disturbed individuals. There is a caller on side B who is especially creepy, who sounds like a psychopathic murderous rapist version of Woody Allen, and there is another caller at the beginning of side A who admits to brutally attacking homosexuals. This is not easy listening. However, there are some lighter moments here and there, and other bits that are just straight-up bizarre. The tape is an amazing document, and an often fascinating peek into the minds of total strangers. It’s also an incredible time capsule of NYC during one of its greatest lows.
Those of you interested in the Apology Line should check out This American Life’s segment about the line in their January 3st, 1997 episode titled “Justice”. If you listen, you will find out the shocking fate of Mr. A, and get to hear several apologies not found on the tape.
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Lester Bangs and the Delinquents - I Just Want To Be A Movie Star
Holy fuck this is country plus feigned retardedness.
Egg City Radio » Lester Bangs and The Delinquents: "Jook Savages on the Brazos" →
eggcityradio.com
To say that the influence of the late rock critic Lester Bangs is widespread is to make a gross understatement. Practically everyone who writes a blog today follows in the tradition of the drunken, amped-up, overheated and deeply personal work of Mr. Bangs, who wrote from such rags as “Creem”, “Rolling Stone” and “Playboy”, just to name a few.
Few know, though, that he once attempted being a rock frontman himself, alongside an Austin, TX band called The Delinquents. Some have described this record as sounding “alt-country”, but it equally smacks of the NYC CBGB’s sound, and Bangs’ voice does sound much like Tom Verlaine or Richard Hell at times.
(ht: davidjhanus)
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Wire - Pink Flag
Well, I wish you would.
Come pick me up. Take me out.
Fuck me up. Steal my records.
Screw all my friends. They’re all full of shit. With a smile
on your face. And then do it, again. I wish
you would.It’s like emo Monday overhere.
IT’S FUCKING WIRE MAN
(fixed that for you)
“Most punk bands couldn’t stand Wire because our mere presence made them look tacky. Just because you have limited means, you don’t have to be shambling. I never got that as an aesthetic. Why would you make records that sounded like bumbling? For me, it doesn’t matter how basic it is, it’s that it’s cleanly executed. So it was just logical to do it like that: to do our best.”
—Colin Newman of Wire. (via bmichael)
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Men’s Recovery Project - They Found My Body Near By The River
Since I’ve started this “postpunk” tumblr, I’ve made it a point to listen to as much unfamilar postpunk music as possible, just in case I find another HOLY FUCK song like “Celebrity Art Party”. It’s like the opposite of “Losing My Edge”: I’m an internet seeker with 25 compilations of the minimal synth genre abortion called flexipop—again, just in case there’s some awesome like “Do The Standing Still”.
Most of the music is EXPERIMENTAL like this song with weird noises galore and with profound nonsequitors like he cowrote a popular song about a fabric softener. Which is great on songs like “Reality Asylum” by Crass. The big fucking misnomer here is the word flexiPOP. Ugh. I love the audacity, but I’m at best neutral about the music.
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Meat Puppets - Lake of Fire
Within five seconds we’re in batshit transcendental Meat Puppets territory.
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Broken Social Scene - Love Is New
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Papa Sprain - U Swell
Papa Sprain were lost even by the standards of the “lost generation” - I remember, what, one Wire article? They shared space in that piece, and members, with Joe Cassidy’s much fruitier Butterfly Child. Anyway - 1993, British, independent, post-rock before things were defined as such, wilfully low-key.
I keep hearing bits of OK Computer here.
Love Tore Me Apart (100 Times) →
lovewilltearusapart.tumblr.com
This was overdue.
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Deerhunter - Circulation
Has everyone heard Rainwater Cassette Exchange yet? You probably should. It’s like 15 minutes long, and if you ask me, Deerhunter is the most interesting rock band around these days. But you probably know this. ANYWHO “Circulation” accounts for a third of the new EP, and it’s all shoegazey drama and bliss.
Kate wrote a nice post about "Be My Baby" →
friendssharingmusic.tumblr.com
Every review of JAMC’s “Just Like Honey” mentions the song.
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The Clean - Tally Ho
I recently got a comment on Love Is All’s “Wishing Well” asking if I can hear this song in there. AND HOLY SHIT YES IT’S LIKE AN OPTICAL ILLUSION I CAN NEVER UNHEAR THE SONG NOW!
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Devo - Space Junk
Favorite Talking Heads?
I say “This Must Be The Place (Stop Making Sense version)” and “Born Under Punches”.
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XTC - Mermaid Smiled
A couple weeks ago I acquainted myself with XTC’s Skylarking, and aside from the musical-waiting-to-happen “1000 Umbrellas” (dancers with umbrellas, misery! misery!—think about it), the standout track for me was “Mermaid Smiled”. XTC make nods to contemporary sophistipop and world-music-by-white-people, but that’s immaterial. All that matters is that sweet resolution, those two words, the mermaid smile.
I was surprised to learn that the song was cut from U.S. editions of the record to make room for the just-okay “Dear God”. I get the whole subversive letter to God thing, but if the band wants to challenge supernatural divinities and sublime transcedence, beat the angels at their own game and make more “Mermaid Smiled”s! (Yeah, that was bit much—I’ve been drinking, okay!)
“if xiu xiu is considered post punk, i’ll stop following this blog”
—
I’m losing my edge.
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Xiu Xiu - I Luv the Valley OH
The 00-04 music chatter made me think of Xiu Xiu. It’s not best of the decade stuff but 15 years from now, someone will impress their friends by playing this—MY BEHIND IS A BEEHIVE. THERE’S A BUZZ IN MY BACKSIDE—and their most popular song will be their cover of “Ceremony” or the song with “Ian Curtis” in the title.
