Monday, May 26, 2008

Nobody Loves Me

Using Amazon's download store exposes you to what happens on their music forums and this thread title caught my eye: help!!! - I have been trying for over a year to find this song!!! 1994-95 they played it in clubs alot but I also heard it on the radio I think... starts out slow w/bass guitar notes that get lower "dun dundun dundun dundun dun" and then there... : naturally I had to read the post:

is a female's voice and this is where I get stuck!!! She sounds like she is in pain or something and the chorus has three words - something like I need you or I want you or You Kill Me or something desperate... I really want this song and don't know where to look!!! Know it's not much info to go on but can anyone help???


: Let's examine the clues. Is there anything that would lead you to guess this as the correct song this person was looking for? Amazingly the first person to guess got it right! That almost makes up for the four guesses after the song's identity had been confirmed.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Flashback: Pet Shop Boys "Discoteca (Trouser Enthusiasts Adventures Beyond The Stellar Empire Mix)" (1996)

A kind youtuber uploaded one of my favorite Pet Shop Boys remixes, one that always got me calls when I played it on my college radio show, with a video that reads suspiciously like a blog entry. Let's take a look and have a listen:



: Trouser Enthusiasts only lasted a couple of years but left behind a discography that included many remixes and the single "Sweet Release". Both Ian Masterson and David Green continue to create music but as Masterson notes on his blog "you'd think I'd be a lot wealthier than I am" given the artists they have worked with. Oddly enough the duo's other big moment came under their alias Flexifinger when they traded off production on Dannii Minogue's 1997 album Girl with another young production team Xenomania. Can you guess which one of the teams was just announced as the producers of the Pet Shop Boys next album?

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Pedestal



Portishead are one of the few bands that have fundamentally changed the way I listen to music so I celebrate the release of their new album Third. Since we last heard from them there has been a decided shift in the sound of the band and rather than simply ask "where did the tunes go?" I am going to hold off on any real comment until I have had time to absorb the album and decipher what it all means. I'll meet them on their terms and since it took over ten years for the band to deliver a new album I pledge to opine within the next five years.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Head On The Door

As Metallica headlines KROQ's summer concert I am reminded that there is nothing alternative about alternative rock radio in 2008. While KROQ didn't invent the Modern Rock format Spinner notes that "the station shunned the band for years in favor of alternative bands like Depeche Mode, U2 and the Cure" marking an end of an era. Exactly when that era ended is up to debate, some might argue that was when Metallica headlined Lollapalooza in 1996 almost killing off the travelling festival, but KROQ's reputation and the way it's playlist is shamelessly copied by other alternative stations across the country give this moment a sting.
In the Bay Area we have Live 105 which has had it's own flavor and they downsized their summer concert this year dropping ticket prices to $10.50 (see what they did there?). If they didn't play Red Hot Chili Peppers every hour on the hour I might still listen to the radio.