How I Learned To Hate Rock And Roll

2011: Top Songs

2011-12-31T08:00:00.000-08:00

1. M83- Midnight City
2. Depeche Mode- Puppets (Röyksopp Remix)
3. Foster The People- Helena Beat
4. The Drums- Money
5. The Rapture- How Deep Is Your Love?

30 Day Song Challenge - Index

2011-08-19T20:00:00.000-07:00

Index
Day 01: Your Favorite Song Depeche Mode "Enjoy The Silence" 1990
Day 02: Your Least Favorite Song Deep Blue Something "Breakfast At Tiffany's" 1995
Day 03: A Song That Makes You Happy Bad Manners "Bang On The Drum All Day" 1985
Day 04: A Song That Makes You Sad Robyn "Call Your Girlfriend" 2010
Day 05: A Song That Reminds You Of Someone The Smiths "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" 1984
Day 06: A Song That Reminds You Of Somewhere The Wiseguys "Start The Commotion" 1999
Day 07: A Song That Reminds You Of A Certain Event Client "Radio" 2004
Day 08: A Song You Know All The Words To Oliva Theme Song 2009
Day 09: A Song You Can Dance To Kings Of Convenience "I'd Rather Dance With You" 2004
Day 10: A Song That Makes You Fall Asleep New Order "Video 5 8 6" 1982
Day 11: A Song From Your Favorite Band New Order "Every Little Counts" 1986
Day 12: A Song From A Band You Hate Dave Mathews Band "You & Me" 2009
Day 13: A Song That Is A Guilty Pleasure Ace Of Base "The Sign" 1993
Day 14: A Song That No One Would Expect You To Love ODB "Got Your Money" 1999
Day 15: A Song That Describes You Pet Shop Boys "Too Many People" 1993
Day 16: A Song That You Used To Love But Now Hate The Bravery "An Honest Mistake" 2005
Day 17: A Song That You Hear Often On The Radio Adele "Rolling In The Deep" 2010
Day 18: A Song You Wish You Heard On The Radio The Auteurs "Lenny Valentino" 1994
Day 19: A Song From Your Favorite Album Pet Shop Boys "It's Only The Wind" 1990
Day 20: A Song That You Listen To When You're Angry Nine Inch Nails "Wish" 1992
Day 21: A Song That You Listen To When You're Happy Junior Senior "Move Your Feet" 2002
Day 22: A Song That You Listen To When You're Sad Moby "Natural Blues" 1999
Day 23: A Song That You Want To Play At Your Wedding Freelance Hellraiser "A Stroke Of Genius" 2002
Day 24: A Song That You Want To Play At Your Funeral Fake Tupac "I Wrote This Song In '94" 2006
Day 25: A Song That Makes You Laugh R. Kelly "Trapped In A Closet" 2005
Day 26: A Song That You Play On An Instrument Edvard Grieg "In The Hall Of The Mountain King" 1876
Day 27: A Song That You Wish You Could Play The Killers "Human" 2008
Day 28: A Song That Makes You Feel Guilty Harry Chapin "Cat's In The Cradle" 1974
Day 29: A Song From Your Childhood Lionel Richie "Say You, Say Me" 1985
Day 30: Your Favorite Song At This Time Last Year Brandon Flowers "Crossfire" 2010

Postscript
Having completed the 30 Day Song Challenge I feel compelled to comment on it. I'm pleased that it forced me to "write" 30 entries, more than I did in the past year and half, because I had a deadline and I appreciate that it approached music at a different angle than I take. However, I can't but feel I failed because about halfway through, which is about how far I had written in advance, my entries became distinctly shorter and less interesting. Were the questions less inspiring? Perhaps, but it had more to do with fatigue creeping in while I found myself very busy with work which left the challenge on the back burner. I certainly failed at my original vision which was to tweet the challenge with links. I only managed to tweet 4 days of the challenge.
It came as a surprise that, as someone who is their mid 30's, my pics did indeed span my lifetime rather than just becoming a snapshot of my teen years.

Discovering that both of my favorite song and album were released in 1990 must be some sort of cosmic coincidence. I'm sure the same wouldn't happen to you, were you to attempt such a challenge.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 30: Your Favorite Song At This Time Last Year

2011-08-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

Brandon Flower's "Crossfire" was my summer jam of 2010.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 29: A Song From Your Childhood

2011-08-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

In my elementary school days I was convinced that every contemporary song on the radio was sung by the same person. I was wrong, there were actually two people. Phil Collins and Lionel Richie. Richie's "Say You, Say Me" takes me back...

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 28: A Song That Makes You Feel Guilty

2011-08-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

I have an amazing relationship with my father and my kids receive all my attention as they are the most important thing in my life but still Harry Chapin's "Cat's In The Cradle" leaves me wracked with guilt every time I hear it. No link, so you're on your own if you feel the need to listen to this one...

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 27: A Song That You Wish You Could Play

2011-08-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

If I could play The Killers "Human" like the fellow in this video my life would be complete.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 26: A Song That You Play On An Instrument

2011-08-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

As a live musician my technique is limited at best and so is my repertoire but the teacher of my high school electronic music class gave me the task of learning Edvard Grieg's "In The Hall Of The Mountain King". To this day I can play the piece by memory with both hands on the piano. I programmed two versions of the song for the class creating a traditional orchestral arrangement and a "rock" arrangement. This version is better than both of my takes.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 25: A Song That Makes You Laugh

2011-08-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

R Kelly's "Trapped In A Closet" is a full exploration of one of the most original song concepts ever.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 24: A Song That You Want To Play At Your Funeral

2011-08-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

I can not approach this question with any sort of seriousness because I'm just not built that way but the topic is still an interesting one. L7's "Pretend We're Dead" immediately springs to mind as do a couple of songs from The Smiths. "Cemetery Gates" would be a nice choice and "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" would be amazing if I died in a very specific manner. The over top emo thing to do would to drop John Cage's "4'33"" so everyone has to drink in the silence, but ultimately I would have to go with the fake Tupac song from Chapelle's Show. It was the dopest song I ever wrote.

Chappelle's Show - Tupac is Alive from Dundy on Vimeo.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 23: A Song That You Want To Play At Your Wedding

2011-08-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

I've been married for ages and didn't pay much attention to the music at our wedding. However, if I were to go back in time I would slip Freelance Hellraiser's "A Stroke Of Genius" on the soundsystem because marriage brings together two different people to create something better than they are alone. Also this would rock a dance floor.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 22: A Song That You Listen To When You're Sad

2011-08-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

Drink in the sadness listening to Moby's "Natural Blues".

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 21: A Song That You Listen To When You're Happy

2011-08-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

Junior Senior "Move Your Feet" is fantastic when I am happy and not nearly as good when I am moody.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 20: A Song That You Listen To When You're Angry

2011-08-09T20:00:00.000-07:00

Nine Inch Nails "Wish" is a great way to release some anger. Actually, the he whole Broken EP is a cathartic experience.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 19: A Song From Your Favorite Album

2011-08-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

Pet Shop Boys Behavior is my favorite album. It's "Only The Wind".

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 18: A Song You Wish You Heard On The Radio

2011-08-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

The year is 1993 and I am faithfully listening, as I did most Saturday mornings, to Rock Over London on Live 105 when I first heard this amazing blast of a song. Having listened to the show for some years at this point I knew that it often took awhile for the songs featured on the show to make it to the station's playlist. I waited patiently to hear The Auteurs "Lenny Valentino" on the radio again but that time never came. Was this due to the increasingly US-centric content of the Modern Rock station as grunge took over? I don't know, but I do know that I am still wishing this song received more than one spin on air nearly 20 years later. Listen and then tell me that I'm wrong.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 17: A Song That You Hear Often On The Radio

2011-08-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

Is there any other song so popular across the radio dial in 2011 than Adele's "Rolling In The Deep"? You can hear it playing on one station flip the dial and finish the song on another frequency. I can't knock the song's success even though it's not my cup of tea if only because some of my favorite bloggers proclaimed the genius of the song a year ago. Sometimes the public does get it right.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 16: A Song That You Used To Love But Now Hate

2011-08-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

Was there a time when I liked The Bravery's "An Honest Mistake"? Embarrassingly, the answer is yes. Picking up their album after I bought into the hype, strong write-ups in NME and the familiarity of the music what I discovered was the work of uninspired bandwagon jumpers. I'm not a fan of the former Skabba The Hut.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 15: A Song That Describes You

2011-08-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

There are times when I think that Pet Shop Boys "Too Many People" describes me well. Not all the time though.

Just as an afterthought, if you do not own Alternative then you should do yourself a favor and buy it today.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 14: A Song That No One Would Expect You To Love

2011-08-03T20:00:00.000-07:00

Do people expect me not to love ODB's "Got Your Money"? I do.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 13: A Song That Is A Guilty Pleasure

2011-08-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

Remember when Ace Of Base were huge? Chartrigger does, but I was against them from the start. They are musically close to so many things that I love in music, but they did it all wrong. They were the kind of band that I was so passionate about disliking that I lectured my friends on why AOB were so wrong as we drove around listening to a cassette copy of their album I had checked out from the local library. Did listening to "The Sign" open up my eyes? Let's just keep that part quiet.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 12: A Song From A Band You Hate

2011-08-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

Why do I hate Dave Matthews Band? As one of the first non-alternative bands to breakthrough in the mid-90s, their rise in popularity marked a conservative streak in music which symbolically ended the dominance of the left-of-center music in the rock world. At that time I described the act as music for admins, in part due to the only DMB fans I knew actually were administrative assistants but mostly because their musical inoffensiveness so defines them that background music for corporate busy work is their natural function. Over the years I have found that most of their fans only own a handful of albums because they just aren't into music which plays into a mention in The Onion that they are a sales powerhouse who rely "on the musical ignorance of their fans". "You & Me" is a song that I have the misfortune of hearing often at work. The chorus is a minefield of things that shouldn't happen in music. "You and me together, we could do anything" has to be one of the most generic expressions of love ever test-marketed which is paired with a melody so lazy it sounds as if it was created by a child on a playground. What really tops of the song is the faux jazz coda which adds absolutely nothing to the song but gives fans a reason to champion a very bland piece of pop rock as arty and innovative. They are so very wrong.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 11: A Song From Your Favorite Band

2011-07-31T20:00:00.000-07:00

"Every second counts when I am with you" and "I think you are a pig" don't belong in the same song. This didn't occur to Bernard Sumner and the world is a better place for it. I'm not suggesting that "Every Second Counts", the closing track on 1986's Brotherhood, is the greatest New Order song, but it does help explain their charm. The lyrics may be be bonkers but the band acknowledges it on this self-produced track by leaving Sumner laughing at his own words on the record because the song is much bigger than the lyrics. Little more than halfway through the running time the singing ends and the instruments take the melody soaring into a place that is almost too precious before the band's punk instincts take things down a notch.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 10: A Song That Makes You Fall Asleep

2011-07-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

New Order's "Video 5 8 6" was created for the opening of The Hacienda in 1982 and contains the raw DNA of "Blue Monday". However, it is really long and repetitive...

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 09: A Song You Can Dance To

2011-07-29T08:00:00.001-07:00

It wasn't so long ago that Erlend Øye and Kings Of Convenience taught the indie kids to dance. As for me, I'd rather dance with you.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 08: A Song You Know All The Words To

2011-07-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

Easy. My kids like the Olivia theme song. This plays into my theory that kids shows are as successful as their theme songs. Beware: The video loops!

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 07: A Song That Reminds You Of A Certain Event

2011-07-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Client's "Radio", released in 2004, takes me back a few years earlier to a time when there was no music on the radio.

We begin the song with the vocalist in such a state that she “can’t be bothered to try to survive” because television news informs her of a world that is entirely a mess. There are no signs of light and she has no hope for comfort when even the solace found in workings of a great song is missing because there is no music on the radio. All this brings to mind the immediate aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks and emotional numbness of those, such as myself, who experienced the events of the day through a repeating media filter and directly echoes the experience of those who looked to music as source of consolation but could not find it on most US radio stations as many stopped playing music temporarily instead broadcasting news. It is remarkable, given that the lyrical content, that the song is not a dirge but the apparent contradiction between the music and the lyrics gives the song a more hopeful message that makes it even more effective emotionally.

(excerpt from an old review)

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 06: A Song That Reminds You Of Somewhere

2011-07-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

The Wiseguy's "Start The Commotion" is forever linked with Disneyland in my mind. First coming to my attention with "Ooh La La" on the Wall Of Sound compilation Bustin' Loose, which I played often during my college radio show, I had to come to think of The Wiseguys as being a strictly underground act in the US. However, in 2001 when "Start The Commotion" was featured in the Zoolander soundtrack and re-released as a single something changed. Maybe it was memories of Derek Zoolander performing a walk off or maybe it was a car commercial that shifted the climate but suddenly the song was an American top 40 hit. On vacation in the happiest place on earth, where "Who Let The Dogs Out" was heard many times, I was exiting the park into Downtown Disney when the song played over the PA. It suddenly sank in that they weren't just my underground band anymore.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 05: A Song That Reminds You Of Someone

2011-07-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

In high school my buddy, who helped turn me on to some great music, complained about not finding his dream part-time job at a pet shop. A few long months later he got the gig which led to some self-aware complaining about his job where he quoted a great line from The Smiths "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now". Looking back on it now he was a bit of a miserablist. No wonder we got along so well.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 04: A Song That Makes You Sad

2011-07-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

Robyn's "Call Your Girlfriend" makes me very uncomfortable. Breakup songs have been a staple of pop music since it began and Robyn found a unique angle, one I don't recall being used before, taking the point of view of the new girlfriend. The start of this new relationship is not a place of pure joy, but something that will wound the girlfriend no matter how well the situation is handled. How sad.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 03: A Song That Makes You Happy

2011-07-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

How could Bad Manner's take on Todd Rundgren's "Bang On The Drum All Day" not make you smile? Poking around the internet I discovered that Allmusic claims it is "downright awful" but they are completely missing the point. You see they don't want to work, they just want to bang on the drum all day. That makes me happy.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 02: Your Least Favorite Song

2011-07-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

There are so many popular songs out there that I have had the misfortune of being forced to listen to over the years that truly deserve spite. Deep Blue Something's "Breakfast At Tiffany's" is right at the top of my list. I didn't care for the song when it first a hit in the mid-90s and I can't stand it now. Why would I hate such a sweet little song with a catchy guitar riff? Because there is nothing there. All this song is the damn stupid chorus repeated over and over and over and over and over. Let's look at the structure for a moment. A verse, followed by the chorus, followed by a verse, followed by the chorus, followed be the first verse repeated, followed by the chorus, followed by the chorus before ending in the chorus.

The song has two verses, repeats the chorus five times and then gives the chorus an instrumental reprise.

Given this is a breakup song where "our" guy expresses just how sad he is there is a huge problem that he has no convincing argument for them as a couple. She is the only one who knew him yet they have nothing in common except a film she thinks she remembers. She might not even remember the film. She might be thinking about something else entirely. If you, dear reader, ever find yourself in a situation like this you should be filled with joy to be free of a relationship that never stood a chance of lasting. It is never, ever appropriate to write a sad repetitive song about the experience.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 01: Your Favorite Song

2011-07-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

The 30 Day Song Challenge, a "popular Facebook meme" that no one I know has attempted, calls upon the challenger to answer 30 questions about how they relate to songs over the course of 30 days. What a novel way to write about music. I used to write about music! Challenge accepted.

The first question is deceivingly simple because at this point in my life I love and have loved too much music too passionately to be tied to any one song's strings. That being said, the challenge demands an answer.
Depeche Mode's "Enjoy The Silence" was my favorite song when I was 15 and despite years of radio and myself overplaying the song it still gets to me.
Famously composed by Martin Gore as a ballad and rearranged into a synthpop masterpiece by Alan Wilder the song has so much going for it. The guitar line. The bubbling bass. The touches of synth choir. The deep lazer synth. That beat. Everything is just perfect from the unusually tense harmonic structure to the melody that is unshakable. Lyrically the song speaks of violence and pain but centers around the purest distillation of romance ever sung. "All I ever wanted, all I ever needed, is here in my arms". We know the dangers of love, but who can resist it when it's what we need.

Late Review: Freebass Two Worlds Collide EP

2011-04-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

Frustrated by the lack of progress of their respective projects Peter Hook (New Order) and Gary "Mani" Mounfield (Primal Scream) dreamed up an all bass group as the solution to their problems. Drafting Andy Rourke (The Smiths) the trio formed the core of Freebass, the least conventional supergroup ever convened.

This six track EP, released in 2010, collects the early efforts of the group as they were auditioning vocalists and producers. Details are difficult to find but the group's line-up was fluid at the point this was recorded, likely around 2005, notably featuring more of Rourke's guitar work than on their proper album and Lionrock's Roger Lyons, at the time handling programming for New Order's live set-up, who takes control of synths and production on three tracks.

Bookended by sound effect tracks that add a touch of atmosphere Two Worlds Collide offers a glimpse of what could have been in a project that easily could have gone a bit Spinal Tap. The first proper song "You Don't Know This About Me" finds Tim Burgess (The Charlatans) in an uncharacteristically lower register channeling Peter Murphy over a post-punk inspired backing track. Despite an odd middle-eight key change and a very familiar riff from Hooky the song is a contender as the group's finest moment. Fittingly it was issued as a single in it's own right. "The Milky Way Is Our Playground" changes gears to a slower, heavy take that is a bit Madchester-gone-space-rock with Pete Wylie (Wah!) bringing bonkers lyrics to the party. Things go off the rails with "Dark Starr" as the infamous UK drug dealer Howard Marks attempts to shock with a spoken word performance where he claims to be a pagan and a sinner. At best he comes across as an aging, rambling stoner which is hardly shocking at all. It is the longest track of the bunch featuring a riff which the group liked enough to reuse with a new vocal on "She Said", found on their It's A Beautiful Life album, but in this form everything wears thin. "Live Tomorrow You Go Down" is a different beast, a blast of raw dance music with a shouting Hook taking a turn on lead vocals asking us "which way do you want to go now" when the answer should be obvious to any New Order fan. More of this dance rock thing, please.

Freebass: A Family Tree

2011-01-10T23:10:00.000-08:00

Freebass, the super-group formed by Manchester bass legends Peter Hook (Joy Division/New Order/Revenge/Monaco), Gary "Mani" Mounfield (The Stone Roses/Primal Scream) and Andy Rourke (The Smiths), imploded shortly after the release of their debut album a few months ago. Curious to see who else was involved a bit research reveals a closely connected group.

The keystone of the project was Peter Hook, their biggest voice in the press as he talked up the group over the past five years, and the membership of the group reflects this. Hooky considered the similarly indie and Manchester-based The Smiths as New Order's "competition" and he produced The Stone Roses early single "Elephant Stone". Freebass keyboardist and programmer Phil Murphy also works with Hooky in the dance project Man Ray and drummer Paul Kehoe was a part of Monaco's live line-up. Singer Gary Briggs connection to the band stems from Andy Rourke. Joe Moss, former manager of The Smiths, discovered Briggs first band Haven who had an album produced by Rourke's former band mate Johnny Marr. It may be a small world, but Manchester stands united.

2010: Top Songs

2010-12-31T08:01:00.000-08:00

1. Gorillaz- Stylo
Easily dismissed on the first listen for adhering to the Gorillaz signature "first single" style this offers much more. The most memorable baseline of the year is a good starting point but Bobby Womack's electric vocal transports the song to "another world in the universe". Oooooh!

2. Brandon Flowers- Crossfire
A more subtle affair than Flowers' big singles with The Killers but to great effect.

3. Scissor Sisters- Invisible Light
Massive, massive disco tune.

4. Goldfrapp- Alive
The most perfect piece of electropop on a near flawless album.

5. Lindstrøm and Christabelle- Lovesick
Taking electro tempo down a bit this has been accused of being indie-dance circa-1990. Nothing wrong with that.

6. Swedish House Mafia- One
This should so not work. Pharrell's vocal sounds like it was conceived and recorded in five minutes, the riff is simple enough you can play it on an iphone synth and then the intro is basically a reworking of the breakdown from Fatboy Slim's "Rockafeller Skank". Much better than the sum of it's parts.

7. Robyn- Dancing On My Own
I had this idea that I would quote negative reviews of the songs on this list but after pages and pages of googling I gave up. Who could have something bad to say about Robyn at this point?

8. Deadmau5- Some Chords
The electronic underground buzz act of the year proves he has songwriting chops.

9. Little Boots- Mathematics
The US didn't get Hands until March of this year. This circling, dizzy track creates the perfect formula for "a heart plus a heart".

10. Freezepop- Doppelganger
Expanding their synthpop pallet the narrative involves a run-in with an ex with a definite type.

2010: Year In Review

2010-12-31T08:00:00.000-08:00

Say what you will about 2010 but no one could have predicted some of the odd moments that came to be in the past year. Modern synthpop alumni Brandon Flowers put his rock band on the back burner to record with super disco producer Stuart Price only to turn in an album that is doused with country twang. In a year where the line between dance music and hip hop has been blurred beyond distinction The Chemical Brothers, career long champions of dance/hip hop hybridization, created a rap free psychedelic album that came with custom visuals. Daft Punk and Johnny Marr went Hollywood, separately, contributing to heavily discussed soundtracks to blockbuster films. Then there was the usually lumbering Gorillaz, who unleashed two albums on the public with some of the brightest singles of the year. Who expected the Blur front man's hip hop side-project to be so dominant in 2010?

Album of the year: Goldfrapp Head First
Live television performance: Gorillaz "Rhinestone Eyes" (on Letterman with an awesome misfire early in the clip)
Teaser preview loop of the year: The Human League "Night People"
2nd best teaser preview loop of the year: Brandon Flowers "Only The Young"
Best ex-New Order song: Freebass "Live Tomorrow Die You Go Down"
Best smart phone app: Audiogalaxy (streams your mp3 collection to your phone by way of your computer)
Worst music download sales move (artist): BT releasing his These Hopeful Machines as two tracks: side A and side B (later re-released as 12 individual tracks)
Worst music download sales move (retailer): itunes charging extra for version of albums that include something beyond cover art
Amusing fan gripe: Human League fans who fawned over their heroes signing with Wall Of Sound, the label that refused to fund perhaps their third biggest star Mekon's 2nd album and convinced Stuart Price not to record as Les Rythmes Digitales anymore to avoid working with them, only to be shocked that the label isn't doing much to promote the album.
Announced 2006 release that saw the light of day this year: BT These Hopeful Machines

Ooooooooooh

2010-12-29T20:00:00.000-08:00

Pet Shop Boys tweeted "a change for the better" with a link to a New York Times piece about the recent trend in pop music vocals. The article uses the recent commercial fate Christina Aguilera, described as "one of the foremost practitioners of the overpowering, Category 5 vocal style known as melisma", to suggest that the era over-singing has come to an end. Melisma is "in its simplest form is a vocal technique in which a series of notes is stretched into one syllable" and the article details that in the past two decades "notes stretched louder, longer and knottier than most pop fans had ever heard" have made singing overtake songwriting as the focal point of pop music. While I take proclamations on the end of an era with a grain of salt nothing would please me more to see this trend fade away. Over-singing is among the crimes that Simon Cowell has inflicted upon music as even the terrible contestants feel that they should be inserting multi-octave passages that only distract from the true power within the songs they sing. The vocalists most of my favorite bands come from DIY punk ethic where you get out there and do the best with you've got. Is Bernard Sumner the most technically gifted singer? Of course not, but his singing contains comes from a place that is genuine. Over-singing is at the other end of the spectrum with as over-the-top histrionics plead for attention overwhelming what real emotion might exist in performance. What the article misses is what was hidden on Christina Aguilera's deluxe versions of her recent Bionic, namely her songs done with Ladytron. Particularly on "Birds Of Prey" she delivers an understated performance that works perfectly for the song. Perhaps her unreleased work with Goldfrapp could have revealed similar dividends since Alison certainly has a powerful voice but she never abuses it keeping her songs in focus. The article suggests that the "combination of vocal personality, arrangement, hook and songcraft" are what make pop music work. Let us not forget that.

Fundamentals Of The Recorded Music Visual Experience

2010-07-08T23:48:00.000-07:00

Itunes is advertising a new feature that allows you to view liner notes. Very sad.

Itunes LP is trumpeted as the return to "the visual experience of the record album" with animated lyrics & liner notes, videos as well as "artist and band photos." Back in 2003 when itunes opened as the first mass market legitimate digital music retailer I always thought it was an oversight that there was such little attached to the file. Was this some sort of strategy since those getting music via p2p circa 2000 had more information attached to their music than your average current day itunes release? It might just be my music nerd nature but I like to know who was involved in the music I am experiencing. Here is a recent itunes purchase with the information that came with it.

If the goal of itunes is to replace physical music, aka CDs, then they should offer at least as much. Free from the limitations of a format developed in the 1980s this should be a relatively easy task but itunes fails miserably. I have to acknowledge the album title and year of release as a good start but there is nothing else here that wouldn't be in a mp3 file name. Even by their own low standard itunes leaves the composer form blank. Imagine someone hearing the difference in between the first two Depeche Mode albums having paid for digital copies on itunes and having no clue as to why that might be. At minimum the digitial information should contain the name of the producer and itunes has no form for that. Then there are all the other thing things a CD booklet contains.

Here is the back of the booklet of a CD that happened to be on the desk at the moment, Lush's Lovelife. It lists the band's members, the producers, engineers, the dates and studio it was recorded, mixer, mastering engineer, art direction, photography, management and how to reach the Lush information service. That is one page of eight in the booklet with the rest featuring lyrics, photographs and the names of additional musicians involved. That is what has been missing from digital music to this point and it is a shame. What really troubles me is that itunes is treating the inclusion of things they should have been doing since the beginning as a premium. A quick survey of a couple of online prices indicate there is only a dollars difference in paying for the albums on itunes that offer these special visuals and picking up the CD of the same album. Adding content you should have had from the start is no reason to overprice things and the idea that someone has to buy the whole album to get basic information seems rather backwards. Perhaps apple could work it into one of their bi-weekly updates.

My DMCA Takedown Should Have Never Happened

2010-05-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

The recent removal by Blogger of a post has been the source of frustration to me. This is not an mp3 blog and it never has been. For the past six years I have been very careful to only link to what I believed to be legitimate sites because I sincerely care about music and want people to financially support music that I also enjoy. Imagine my surprise when I logged into Blogger this week to discover a notice that a post from this blog had been removed because a claim had been filed accusing an offense of copyright law. The entry had been taken down last month, which speaks to how often I update this blog, and Blogger had sent me an email at the time to an account I rarely check. This is my DMCA takedown notification.

Puzzled as to what I am accused of I followed Blogger's path and found the complaint against me which was quite lengthy so it has been cut into three screen snippets.

I read nothing specific that I personally was accused of but the thrust of the complaint was that my post was one of many that contained links to "unauthorized copies of sound recordings that are freely available". This is simply not the case in my post. All the links I provided in my post linked to completely legitimate sites. One link would have taken you to the source of my Pitchfork quote, another to an official band page on download.com's version of mp3.com and the final link would have taken to free download of the Junior Boys song I was praising that was hosted on their label's website. If these are not legitimate websites what could ever be appropriate? Better yet, every single one of the links are no longer functional. The Pitchfork review is no longer at that address, music.download.com has been shuttered with the link now being redirected to http://www.last.fm/ and http://www.dominorecordco.us/downloads/Junior_Boys_In_The_Morning.mp3 now redirects Domino's music store where you can buy Junior Boys "In The Morning" after a brief search.
The origin of the complaint that removed my post is IFPI, or the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, based out of London, UK. The group describes themselves as an umbrella organization for "any company, firm or person producing sound recordings or music videos which are made available to the public in reasonable quantities" but make a point of their association with the RIAA on their website. The benefit of joining include "internet monitoring and closing of illegal sites" which lead me to believe that they are billing record companies for "services" like killing my post which directs readers to the record label's own website. I don't blame Google for removing the post because there are only so many lawsuits they can fight but I find it extremely distressing that a legal team that is supposedly doing record labels a service is shutting down posts that have zero negative consequences and have the potential to help sell some more of their product.

Free Download: Junior Boys- In The Morning

2010-05-17T01:07:00.000-07:00

The following 2006 post was removed by Blogger on April 19, 2010 after they received a DMCA complaint regarding the post. I am re-posting this because there is nothing offensive contained in the entry and there was no copyright infringement involved. What I believe to be the offending link has been modified but it is dead link to a promotional mp3 offered by the band's label suggesting this notice is the work of lawyers too lazy to check what they are claiming is creating copyright infringement:

I stumbled into a free and legal download of Junior Boys amazing new single "In The Morning" and just had to share it. I enjoyed their "Last Exit" album, but nothing on it, even the fantastic "Birthday", grabbed me as quickly as "In The Morning" has. Not convinced by my taste? Then consult the holy book of hipsterdom:

Everything overlaps seamlessly-- the verse and the chorus blissfully interchangeable, all pushed forward by that rhythm-- up until around the three minute mark, when things swell to a sudden build and the Boys introduce a shrill firecracker synth riff that sounds like one of Lil JonÃ‚’s, albeit pitched up and comically excited. As simple sonic moments go, its one of the most thrilling youÃ‚’ll hear this year. As for the track, same-- five minutes rarely rush by this quickly.

: Pitchfork reports that Junior Boys album "So This Is Goodbye" is out on the improbable August 17th (which is a Thursday).

Flashback: Pet Shop Boys "Screaming" (1998)

2010-04-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

Pet Shop Boys "Screaming" is one of the first tracks I experienced in the internet age. Accustomed to learning of upcoming releases from magazines or radio "Screaming" may be the first track I was first aware of from a site devoted to an artist. Given a spot on the soundtrack to Gus Van Sant's 1998 remake of Psycho the song seemed the perfect place for the PSB to strike for a stateside comeback in the "golden" era of movie soundtracks that produced hugely popular discs accompanying films like Romeo + Juliet and Trainspotting. The other artists on the soundtrack gave the Boys potential to reach a more youthful audience than they were receiving at the time with a bit of late 90s rock (Rob Zombie) and country filling out an album heavy on electronica with contributions from Howie B, Thievery Corporation, Mono, Lamb and Lionrock. There was recent evidence that PSB could turn out contemporary electronica (see the drum 'n' bass inspired "Betrayed") and their label was calling the song a "possible single" so the stakes were raised.
The track turned out to be a major disappointment. One of the least focused or memorable songs in their catalog it is mostly samples of screaming over a pedestrian beat that sounded very played out in the late 90s and absolutely elderly among their soundtrack-mates. Really the only redeeming factor is that the esteemed PSB commentator GeoWayne calls the lyrics "disturbing" in the context of the soundtrack. Given the track is a co-write with Tom Stephan, who seems to earn his living these days from not-terribly-inspiring remixes of Pet Shop Boys tracks, it seems all too easy to lay the blame at his feet but the whole soundtrack was a disaster with only Howie B's cheeky movie-sampling "Once Is Not Enough" holding up for more than a few listens. Tread lightly when you disturb a Hollywood classic:

: In addition to appearing on the Psycho soundtrack "Screaming" was also a b-side on the superb "I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Anymore" single a year later. Happily the Pet Shop Boys survived the song.

Video: Goldfrapp "Rocket"

2010-03-09T12:07:00.000-08:00

Goldfrapp are brilliant. The latest evidence:

: They have a new album out this month, but they are not the most effective users of the internet so you wouldn't know that from their official sites like their official blog. Americans can find the Richard X remix of "Rocket" free at amazon. Head First is out March 23.

Catching Up With Moby

2010-02-20T08:00:00.000-08:00

After a few quiet years Moby released his not terribly commercial ode to New York City nightlife Last Night and a remix album in 2008. Inspired by speech given by David Lynch he then announced he was no longer working with celebrity vocalists, not that there were any on Last Night, producing an album to be released on his own label without any conventional commercial inroads in the form of 2009's Wait For Me. Within six months Moby was promoting the re-release of the album with a hot new wave single and a facebook pyramid scheme that gains you sampler EP.

Without skipping a beat Moby just wrapped up a couple of recording sessions that go in yet another direction so he is now mulling over the album's worth of material contemplating "if putting out an acoustic/orchestral album will alienate the few remaining people who are willing to listen to my records". My advice, which Moby would know if he read my still-in-draft reviews of his recent work, is that he needs a producer or at least someone with an objective ear to whittle down his material so he releases focused material that is compelling to an audience outside of his hardcore fans. I am not saying that he needs to act like a chart obsessed pop princess but he should be aware that his muse needs to be sharper. Why should he listen to a guy who can't finish a review in the time it takes him to record two albums? Because I'm right. I followed him during his 180° turn with Animal Rights, the original UK rock version, and was one of the 6,000 worldwide who picked up Play the first week it was released. Stop flooding the market with singles full of mediocre remixes and get back to releasing music with real passion and purpose. The audience will find it.

Flashback: Everything But The Girl Temperamental (1999)

2010-02-13T08:00:00.000-08:00

I wrote this review for a college radio station a decade ago:

The stylistic makeover that began with their collaboration on Massive Attack's "Protection" is solidified on this album which firmly establishes EBTG's place among the electro-pop elite. Written while instrumentalist/songwriter Ben Watt was recovering from a life threatening illness, the melancholy disco songs of Temperamental, set to house, trip hop and drum 'n' bass beats, can be heard as music for the end to a long night out. The beats might be a bit generic, but the honesty of the songs coupled with Tracey Thorn's mesmerizing voice take the music to a level that is all it's own.

Rewind: A Decade Of The Pet Shop Boys

2010-01-25T22:30:00.000-08:00

Originally published 1/25/10 this post was removed by blogger on November 19, 2010 after they received a DMCA complaint regarding this post. The complaint came from IFPI claiming the post is "offering direct links to files containing sound recordings for other users to download". This is simply not true. Every link contained in the post was to a streaming video of a song.
Read for yourself to decide if the IFPI is doing the artists it claims to represent a service by shutting down posts such as this:

As the decade began there were significant rumblings that the Pet Shop Boys might call it day. Touching everything from country to disco this past decade Neil & Chris exhibited an energy few bands possess releasing three studio albums, fifteen singles, creating a musical, two Disco albums, embracing a new role as remixers and scoring a silent film soundtrack. Let's take a look back on the last ten years with the Pet Shop Boys:

2000
Single: "You Only Tell Me You Love Me When Your Drunk"
Remix: Fat Les 2000 "Jerusalem" & Bloodhound Gang "Mope"
Neil & Chris celebrated the arrival of the new century by closing out the wigged Nightlife-era with the country-flavored "You Only Tell Me You Love Me When Your Drunk". The song's guitar solo was a sign of things to come on their next "proper" album and the two remixes the Boys did that year signaled another new interest that would last throughout the decade.

2001
Produce: Closer To Heaven Soundtrack, The Collaboration "Break 4 Love"
With the help of playwright Jonathan Harvey the PSB proved they are the rare act actually able to get an original musical to the stage. The show only had a short run and has an air of mystery to it since it was likely not professionally filmed (although some fan footage has surfaced on youtube). The soundtrack reunited them with longtime collaborator Stephen Hague as co-producers of an album that features cast members on vocal duty. With no singles released the project showed that Neil & Chris were willing to follow their own muse into uncommercial areas of personal interest. More of that to come.

2002
Album: Release
Single: "Home And Dry" "I Get Along" "London"
Radio: Peel Session
An emerging electro scene bubbling up around them Pet Shop Boys naturally made their "rock" album. While fans rank Release as the duo's worst the album has it's proponents like Rolling Stone who rate it tied for PSB's second best album behind Very. Much attention has been given to the guitar heavy sound but the songwriting is lifeless compared to their usual standards and the odd track selection left gems like "I Didn't Get Where I Am Today" as future b-side material. Fortunately a Peel Session at the end of the year proved they still had plenty more to give including material that still has not yet been released.

2003
Album: Disco 3
Compilation: PopArt
Single: "Miracles"
Produce: Kiki Kokova "Love To Love You, Baby"
Remix: Yoko Ono "Walking On Thin Ice" & Atomizer "Hooked On Radiation"
Write: Alcazar "Love Life"
On the surface the announcement of Disco 3 seemed to be an admission that the Boys had run out of ideas, but the actual product proved to be rather amazing. Throwing out the rules of previous Disco installments the album is a fifty-fifty mix of new electro infused songs with mixes from the likes of electroclash leader Felix Da Housecat resulting in a satisfying album that knows how to get down. They further signaled their approval for the new electro movement by producing an underground Donna Summer cover and remixing Atomizer and Yoko Ono. Lending a song to Swedish eurodance outfit Alcazar the PSB then compiled an updated singles collection that featured two new tracks including the epic "Miracles" that proved they still had strong singles in them.

2004
Single: "Flamboyant"
Remixed: Rammstein "Mein Teil"
Produce: Pete Burns "Jack And Jill Party"
The celebrity culture skewering second single from PopArt is top form PSB and the single featured a remix from the Scissor Sisters right before they became stars in their own right. The Boys next move was to record a fantastic underground electro track with Dead Or Alive's Pete Burns shortly before he resurfaced to mainstream attention on Celebrity Big Brother. They rounded out the year with an unexpected remix for German industrial rock band Rammstein.

2005
Album: Battleship Potemkin Soundtrack
Compile: Back To Mine
First performed live at Trafalgar Square in 2004 there is nothing pop about this largely instrumental soundtrack to Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 silent film. An experiment in creating continuous music for images it is the Boys first album to be released on a classical label which caused confusion among fans not used to the composer first format that put Tennant/Lowe atop the album design. Interestingly a DVD release of the eighty year old film, often described as communist propaganda, has been held up due to a dispute over the rights. They also curated an installment of the popular Back To Mine compilation series that gave a disc each to Neil & Chris.

2006
Album: Fundamental
Single: "I'm With Stupid" "Minimal" "Numb"
Produce: Robbie Williams "She's Madonna" & "We're The Pet Shop Boys"
Remix: Madonna "Sorry"
Live Album: Concrete
Documentary: A Life In Pop
Reunited with legendary producer Trevor Horn the PSB attempted to make sense of the post-9/11 world in an album that was hailed as a return to form. If they had included the Richard X-produced bonus track "Fugitive" and the b-sides "The Resurrectionist" & "Bright Young Things" it would have been a classic disc. They found time to contribute a couple of tracks to Robbie Williams Rudebox but it was a high point that the Boys remixed Madonna after nearly twenty years of anticipating working with her. Their mix went on to become the way Madge performed the song on her tour. As the subject of a well produced documentary featuring a number of musicians testifying to the power of their pop the year also saw the Pet Shop Boys release their first live album.

2007
Album: Disco 4
Single: "Integral"
Remix: The Killers "Read My Mind"
Changing the rules of the Disco series again Neil & Chris showcased their remixes of other artists material on Disco 4. The album gave them the opportunity to release their first download-only single "Integral" which many consider the strongest single pick from Fundamental.

2008
Produce: Sam Taylor-Wood "I'm In Love With A German Film Star"
Co-write: Girls Aloud "The Loving Kind" The Killers "Joseph, Better You Than Me"
Remix: MGMT "Kids"
Their production of Sam Taylor-Wood's take on The Passions "I'm In Love With A German Film Star" and a leaked MGMT remix made some waves but the highlight of the year was the PSB's first collaboration with Xenomania that may have caused the "disinclined" Girls Aloud to look for a dictionary.

2009
Album: Yes
Single: "Love, Etc" "Did You See Me Coming?" "Beautiful People" Christmas EP
Remix: Lady Gaga "Eh, Eh (Nothing More I Can Say)"
Write: West End Girls "A Little Black Dress" & Shirley Bassey "The Performance Of My Life"
The year kicked off well enough with Neil & Chris accepting a lifetime award and performing a career spanning megamix at the Brits but they weren't looking back. Producers Xenomania helped the Boys create Yes which Neil accurately described as sounding like a greatest hits album. Despite a plethora of potential singles their label made some odd decisions like making the second single a b-side of the first single and generally not giving the album promotional push it deserves. Their own tribute group West End Girls borrowed a previously unrecorded song for a single and the legendary Shirley Bassey received a new composition for her high profile comeback album. They performed Stuart Price assisted mash-up versions of their hits on a world spanning tour while wearing boxes on their heads and wrapped up some loose ends with the Christmas EP which saw them take on one of the decades biggest rock groups and finally properly release a fan favorite seasonal track that premiered nearly a decade before.

: Where do they go from here? A live DVD and album is planned for February and there are at least two major single contenders so far untouched from Yes. Hopefully their label will see the light and get at least one of those out there with a proper video. Neil & Chris did some initial work on an original ballet, have talked about doing another musical and there are rumors of a collection of collaborations as well another b-side compilation. Whatever they do commit to it is sure to be interesting.

2009: Top Songs

2009-12-31T20:09:00.000-08:00

1. Pet Shop Boys- All Over The World
Just about anything off the astounding Yes could have claimed this spot but this ode to pop music found a special place in my heart when my daughter IDed the riff sampled from Tchaikovsky's 1892 hit as being from that song I liked as the classic featured in a Little Einsteins episode. Also the chorus is amazing to shout along with in the car.

2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Zero
They had written amazing songs, just ask Kelly Clarkson, and flirted with electronics before but I never expected the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to take a left turn into my musical territory with such command. Truly the surprise of the year.

3. La Roux- Bulletproof
Earlier in the decade LCD Soundsystem sang about wanting to make a Yaz record, but Elly Jackson & Ben Langmaid followed through and actually made one. A good one too.

4. Tiga- Shoes
What's that sound? The most off the wall lyrics of the year, in a year that brought us "Combination Pizza Hut And Taco Bell", paired with the catchiest bassline of the year. Sheer genius.

5. Annie- Songs Remind Me Of You
Richard X returns in a big way on track that was apparently leaked years ago. The pure electro adrenaline of this song is timeless.

6. Calvin Harris- Flashback
It seems every few months over the past year there was another strong Calvin Harris single being released. After the dust settled "Flashback" ended up my favorite.

7. Little Boots- Love Kills
Found on the superb Illuminations EP this Freddie Mercury/Giorgio Moroder cover trumps Little Boots original material by thinnest margin as it directly connects the current wave of electropop to it's 80s roots with the cause of Mercury's death adding an unexpected poignant touch to a forgotten song.

8. Jay-Z- Death Of Autotune
The only entry on my list you can't tie into electropop on some level takes a killer backing track based on a funky jazz loop and add lyrics like "we facin' a recession/but the music y'all makin' gonna make it the great depression". Anytime you do that I'm hooked.

9. Röyksopp- The Girl And The Robot
I tend to be a bit hot and cold on both Röyksopp and Robyn which put me off this track when it was first released. Fortunately I gave it a second chance as I got into the rewarding Junior a bit late. Still they should have wrangled a Daft Punk remix to really make the song complete.

10. The Crystal Method- Drown In The Now
The Crystal Method tend to be very hit and miss (Divided By Night is heavily in miss column) and I generally dislike Matisyahu but this a strong song that was overlooked by just about everyone. Give it a listen.

Video: Pet Shop Boys "It Often Doesn't Snow At Christmas"

2009-12-25T09:21:00.000-08:00

The Pet Shop Boys performing their new single nine years ago:

An amped up new version is available on the Christmas EP. Merry Christmas.

Top 50 Tracks Of 2003

2009-12-12T09:25:00.000-08:00

Rescued from my now dead Geocities page is this list of songs featured on from my now dead internet radio station back in 2003. Since that time I have decided that blogging is the new djing and that twittering is the blogging but I thought this worth posting for the sake of posterity. Those interested in the 2004 & 2005 radio station lists can click on those links. Here is what I had to say at the end of 2003:

Compiling a list of the most-worthy songs of 2003 that were featured on the Box proved to be a difficult task. An amazing amount of great music has been released in the past year, much of it a return to electronic pop from artists with different approaches and musical backgrounds. A technical note: Not all the songs on the countdown were originally released this past year, some tracks were singles, but all received plenty of "air" play on the Box. Enjoy and please let me know where I went wrong.

1. Ladytron- Blue Jeans
2. Tomcraft- Loneliness
3. Pet Shop Boys- Miracles
4. Audio Bullys- We Don't Care
5. Client- Rock And Roll Machine
6. Goldfrapp- Strict Machine
7. Electric Six- Danger! (High Voltage)
8. Primal Scream- Some Velvet Morning
9. Chemical Brothers- The Golden Path
10. Groove Armada- Easy
11. Richard X vs Liberty X- Being Nobody
12. BT- Somnabulist
13. Jay-Jay Johanson- Automatic Lover
14. Freeland- We Want Your Soul
15. The Droyds- Take Me I'm Yours
16. Cause & Effect- Into The Light
17. Dave Gahan- I Need You
18. Erland Oye- A Sudden Rush
19. Dandy Warhols- We Used To Be Friends
20. Fluke- Zion
21. Alpinestars- Burning Up
22. Pet Shop Boys- Somebody Else's Business
23. Beth Orton- Anywhere
24. Massive Attack- Special Cases
25. Junkie XL featuring Robert Smith- Perfect Blue Sky
26. Chicks On Speed- We Don't Play Guitars
27. Client- Price Of Love
28. Groove Armada- Groove Is On
29. Tomcraft- Overdose
30. The Streets- Weak Become Heroes
31. Ladytron- Evil
32. Erasure- Solsbury Hill
33. Johnny Marr + The Healers- Down On The Corner
34. Richard X- Rock Jacket
35. Benny Benassi- Satisfaction
36. Placebo- The Bitter End
37. Goldfrapp- Train
38. My Robot Friend- We're The Pet Shop Boys
39. Cloudless- Some Distant Memory
40. Blank & Jones featuring Robert Smith- Forest
41. Massive Attack- What Your Soul Sings
42. Camouflage- Me And You
43. Miss Kittin & The Hacker- Stock Exchange
44. Martin Gore- Loverman
45. Royksopp- Sparks
46. Moonlife- Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
47. Junior Senior- Rhythm Bandits
48. The Sounds- Dance With Me
49. Basement Jaxx- Cish Cash
50. The Dysfunctionals- Payback Time

Video: Hot Chip "One Life Stand"

2009-12-11T10:05:00.000-08:00

Just a few years ago Hot Chip's unique sound was so far out there no one would have guessed how quickly it would be appropriated by acts getting heavy alt-rock radio play (see Passion Pit). Fortunately the band have the songwriting skills to match their roles as sonic innovators since "Ready For The Floor" and "Over And Over" are some of the finest electropop songs of the decade. "One Life Stand" follows in that tradition of great pop songs and has one of their signature quirky videos:

: "One Life Stand" is the title track from their forthcoming album which is due in February. More info is available at Hot Chip's myspace.

Unofficial Video: Annie "Songs Remind Me Of You"

2009-09-12T18:22:00.000-07:00

Perhaps you have missed the much written about fuss over Annie's sophomore album Don't Stop as it has been delayed for over a year since it leaked presumably because of politics that none of us can ever expect to understand which led to her moving to a new label and altering the track listing. It is something I have been aware of but Annie's puzzling popularity with the US indie crowd that so often rallies around the cry of anything anti-synth and anti-pop has created a distrust of her in me even if there is nothing to dislike in her music. So it was with some trepidation that I clicked through one of several links in my twitter stream to see the "unofficial" video for her latest single but the first listen demanded a second and soon I was hooked. After laying low over the past couple of years it is clear that Richard X has returned in a big way because his distinctive fingerprints are all over this italo flavored track that, if I may steal from wikipedia (or their source MuuMuse), "Songs Remind Me Of You" is a perfect blend of "lush disco, breathy vocals, and intergalactic swarms of electronica". Filmed at the album's new photo shoot this unofficial video released by her management is a rather fantastic example of stellar execution of a simple concept:

: Among Richard X's recent projects he has remixed Pet Shop Boys & Dragonette but very excitingly Chart Rigger pointed out that it has just been announced that he is remixing the entirety of Saint Etienne's 1991 debut Foxbase Alpha which will be released as Foxbase Beta. Thinking back I remember when Annie's second album was going to come out in 2006, the latest reports say Don't Stop is due in the US this November.

Flashback: Daft Punk "Revolution 909" (1996)

2009-09-09T09:09:00.000-07:00

On this date in history: “There was an accident in our studio. We were working on our sampler, and at exactly 9:09 a.m. on September 9, 1999, it exploded. When we regained consciousness, we discovered that we had become robots."

While it has been ten years since tragedy turned Daft Punk robots there is something else on 9/09 that comes to mind. Released in 1998 "Revolution 909" was the last single to be pulled from Daft Punk's debut album Homework. Sirens and police demanding over a loudspeaker to "stop the music and go home" are only the beginning to this stomping dance track. The song even has a Roman Coppola directed video that takes an unexpected turn early on:

: Long before their robotic accident and finding their electronic way Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo were in an indie group Darlin' whose sole release was a joint limited edition single. Fortunately there is now an unofficial myspace page for the group that allows you to sample their entire recorded output. Perhaps they were human after all.

Video: The Juan Maclean "Happy House"

2009-08-22T09:40:00.000-07:00

The third single from The Juan Maclean's The Future Will Come is the first single. The initial "Happy House" release in March, 2008 targeted the dj crowd with over 12 minutes of disco glory and now that same song has been edited down to a spartan 3 minute pop song. The video starts out with some too close close-ups of Nancy Whang before evolving into something quite mainstream friendly with apparent un-ironic choreography:

: The "Happy House" single is out now and features a slew of remixes. Get your fix of The Juan Maclean info at their fancy website.

Video: Vitalic "Your Disco Song"

2009-08-15T08:15:00.001-07:00

Since his debut Poney EP in 2001 unleashed the hit "La Rock 01" on the world Vitalic has managed to become one of the most recognized electronica artists to emerge during this decade despite having only released one album. Maybe I've missed it but I was expecting a little more fanfare when I discovered when he returned last month with the Disco Terminateur EP. While the EP's other song "Terminateur Benelux" is equally strong, "Your Disco Song" is a fine track that adds a bit of 8-bit flavor to Vitalic's modus operandi. Not loving the video:

: Vitalic's full length Flashmob drops in late September.

Video: Calvin Harris "I'm Not Alone"

2009-08-13T10:50:00.000-07:00

It looks like the new Calvin Harris album will be released in the US so why not post the video for "I'm Not Alone"? Previously unavailable in the land of the free the single nabbed the number one spot on the UK chart back in April with a unique combination of indie and "stadium rave". I tend to be a bit hot and cold when it comes to Harris but this one is sticking around my mind months after first hearing it:

: While I see nothing on Ultra Records website or on the Calvin Harris myspace confirming the release the label's youtube page gives 8/18/09 as the digital release date which is the typical one day delay over the UK unveiling of Ready For The Weekend. The CD is due in October.

Video: Jay-Z "D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune)"

2009-07-29T21:35:00.001-07:00

Are hip hop tracks ever featured on this blog? Hardly ever. But how often do tracks as incredible as this come out? The No I.D. and Kanye West produced track is largely a subtly edited sample of Janko Nilovic & Dave Sucky's "In The Space" but the beat is undeniable. Jay-Z adds the icing and "old-man grumbling" to the cake with some notable lines asking if "I’m a multi-millionaire so how is it I’m still the hardest here" and announcing that hip hop's autotune abusers music are "going make it the great depression". Despite claims that "this ain’t a number one record, this is practically assault with a deadly weapon" this is one fantastic pop record:

: Jay-Z's new album drops in September and myspace has all the info.
Related: Autotune on Nova

Video: BT "The Rose Of Jericho"

2009-07-17T08:00:00.001-07:00

Things have been fairly quiet on the BT front since he released his "ambient symphony" This Binary Universe. The 2006 CD/DVD package was a unique project for the producer showcasing seven tracks mixed to be heard in surround sound all accompanied by specially commissioned short films. At the time of it's release BT announced another album that would be out the following year featuring collaborations with Imogen Heap and Stewart Copeland. Fast forward several years and we have "The Rose Of Jericho". BT is dipping a tentative toe into the water rather than jumping in the deep end with this understated sort-of-trance instrumental with a "Popcorn" lead synth. It's certainly an okay track but not something that inspires any passion in me. The video continues BT's recent tradition of marrying music to images with the most emotionally effective computer graphics seen since someone last turned on the random visualization mode in windows media player:

: BT's site seems to be the place to find all the latest on his still untitled album but stop by his facebook where his bio suggest it will be out sometime in 2006 before the release of This Binary Universe.

Video: Tiga "Shoes"

2009-07-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

What is that sound? Tiga's "Shoes" is one my favorite songs of the year yet I continue to find myself at a loss to describe it. Lyrically the song is an off the chart bizarre virtual duet between Tiga and pitched up "female" voice that was rumored to be Madonna where the man tells her he wants to fix her messy hair, nails and, of course, shoes all of which is delivered in an odd parental tone. Tiga brings plenty of top notch talent to the table with Soulwax, Gonzales and Jesper Dahlback helping out on the track which features some great electronics like the memorable bass line while it stays in a pop friendly zone. Assuming you don't pay attention to the lyrics.
The video is another highlight of the year with a superb execution of it's concept. A couple of models play out the uncomfortable lyrics under the pretense of a 70s talk show with a few shots of psychedelic happenings thrown in the mix. Brilliance defined:

: Out now, Tiga's new album Ciao! "has ideas and songs and the production is always spotless". Stop by his myspace to hear more.

Quiz Time: Know Your Crystal Method/Chemical Brothers

2009-07-05T16:42:00.000-07:00

With the release of the new Crystal Method album I got to wondering if they had ever broken free of the "America's Chemical Brothers" tag. They don't particularly sound similar these days but some of the two acts choices have a familiar ring to them. Here is a little quiz I threw together:

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

Quck Bits

2009-07-01T22:26:00.000-07:00

Pet Shop Boys have been playing a version of "Viva La Vida" on their current tour. Geowayne suggests the song was chosen in solidarity with Coldplay's plagiarism claims given that PSB were accused of the same (involving one of the same parties) with "It's A Sin". Since Chris has called it one of his favorite recent songs I lean towards the idea that they are playing "Viva La Vida" because it was the inspiration for the backing track of their current single "Did You See Me Coming?". The chord structure and main rhythm of both are strikingly similar (link takes you to a not quite a mashup)even if the melody and styles are completely different. A better reason to pick up tickets is that Stuart Price, who oddly enough remixed "Viva" for Coldplay, worked on the live PSB arrangements. Also they are also playing "Two Divided By Zero"!

Much hyped UK electro acts Little Boots & La Roux are rather interesting. Sorry it took me so long to check them out but I can't be bothered to follow every one-track internet sensation. Lost in the 80's has a great post about the original Giorgio Moroder/Freddie Mercury version of "Love Kills" that Little Boots has covered for her Illuminations EP. Both versions are great.

An additional note on Hooky's Freebass preview track: He has always made odd choices when it comes to previewing material on media outlets. See evidence in this circa-1990 tv performance of NO's "The Happy One", a Technique-era track that can only be found chopped into fifteen second intervals heard during transitional segments on the Substance video collection. The band released their only number one single in the same year.

Three Takes From The BPA

2009-06-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

While housecleaning Norman Cook, better known as Fatboy Slim, found a number of forgotten tapes containing unfinished collaborations with musicians who had stopped by his studio over the years. In an effort to tie up loose ends he created The BPA as an outlet for the finished product. Without a proper band Cook has been promoting the album I Think We're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat with Iggy Pop using the house bands of a couple late night shows to bring their take on The Monochrome Set's "He's Frank" to the masses.

Here is Cook on bass with The Roots on Jimmy Fallon:

: and playing the night before with Paul Shaffer & The CBS Orchestra On Letterman:

: Then there is the official BPA version:

: Stop by The Brighton Port Authority for all the info and some entertaining fake backstory.

Waiting For The Sirens Response

2009-06-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

Peter Hook did a lengthy chat on XFM this week covering the many projects of his lengthy career. Hadn't heard before that he wrote the melody for "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and that the song was written in about three hours but pretty much everything else about his past has been fairly well documented. On the news front his all bass playing project Freebass, which he has been talking up for the past four years, finally has a completed album in the mastering stage and he played a track from the project. "Stalingrad" is a reggae track that lacks a distinct vocal or anything to really latch on to. NewOrderOnline suggests fast forwarding the archive to 1:41:00 to hear the track but it doesn't sound like something that will make the album.
Most importantly Hooky revealed that he has been talking with Stephen, as Bernard is consumed with Bad Lieutenant, about releasing the half+ album they completed while recording Waiting For The Sirens Call. Is it too much to hope comes out within five years of it's originally announced 2006 release date?
Hooky's book (autobiography?) How Not To Run A Club is due in October so stop by his myspace for all the latest.

Flashback: DeeJay Punk-Roc "My Beatbox" (1998)

2009-06-22T14:25:00.000-07:00

After an introduction borrowed from LL Cool J's "I'm Bad" warns all cars to be on the lookout for mean fellow with dimples carrying a beatbox we are launched into one the great jams of the big beat era. DeeJay Punk-Roc amps up the track with robo vocals and truly break dance worthy "Planet Rock"-style electro beats that drive the track to extremes. To this day I am puzzled as to why more people don't know about the song.
Maybe it is the video which is definitely of the time when all electronic music video were silly because Fatboy Slim had such crossover success with the intelligently silly "Praise You". This one doesn't quite cut it:

: DeeJay Punk-Roc's debut album ChickenEye, now out of print, contained a wider range of styles than "My Beatbox" suggests adding a heaver dose of the turntablism and old school hip hop. There was some controversy at the time in some of the UK press suggesting that Punk-Roc was just a Milli Vanilli-type front man for his co-producer Don Sergic, who has only a few credts to his name like his remix of Ill Disco's "Keep The Jam Going", never had substance behind them and were dismissed by Sergic. Stuart Price turned in an early and utterly fantastic remix of the track that didn't make the single, which did contain a Big Audio Dynamite mix, but can be found on the Respect Is Burning compilation.
DeeJay Punk-Roc released his follow up album Spoiling It For Everyone a couple years later to a quiet reception. After putting out a couple of mix discs Punk-Roc has all but disappeared. I hope we hear a comeback soon.

Coming And Going

2009-06-19T09:41:00.000-07:00

Bernard Sumner recently announced that his new project Bad Lieutenant will release an album this fall telling the BBC "I'm very proud of it, it's a very good album. It's pretty guitary too because we've got three guitarists in the band." He also spoke a bit about New Order's breakup "we split into two factions, there's me Steve and Phil. The other is Peter Hook." Ouch. Also of interest is that he made the initial announcement via fansite NewOrderOnline which got no press attention for a couple of weeks. See my previous post on Bad Lieutenant for more info on the project.

Founding Freezepop member The Duke, aka Kasson Crooker, is leaving the group to concentrate on his day job at Harmonix. His departure doesn't come as a huge surprise given he stopped touring with the band last year for the same reason. What music Kasson has time to make will be released as Symbion Project, an alias he has used for more than a decade as his outlet for electronia. As for the remaining members of Freezepop they have promised that new music is on the way.

Video: Depeche Mode "Peace"

2009-06-17T16:10:00.001-07:00

Revisiting the electronic sound of Some Great Reward is something that DM have never done before and it works exceptionally well on "Peace". The punctuated bass line, helium fueled leads, sparse arpeggios and even the string pad of doom that underscores a few lines all stir something deep within my soul that remind me why I became a Depeche fan. However I can't help but expect something more from the song. Perhaps it is just heightened expectations from listening to Violator recently, but there was a time when you could expect Martin Gore's songs to take you on a trip around the world and back developing organically in the course of four or so minutes which doesn't happen here. I have been trying to put my finger on exactly what draws me out of the song and while I have discovered that I am not a fan of the aimless organ part what is the deal breaker is the build up in the middle eight that leads to a cop-out fade out. It is like loading up the car for a road trip getting on the interstate and turning back around because you forgot where you were going. What does it say that this is definitely one of the two tracks that Sounds Of The Universe will be remembered for:

: The "Peace" single is out this week in most of the world although in the US the release seems to be limited to an addition to the content of the DM itunes pass. I'm sure depeche mode dot com has details buried somewhere on it.

Video: Felix Da Housecat "Kickdrum"

2009-06-10T18:30:00.000-07:00

Near the beginning of the decade Felix Da Housecat had an amazing run of singles and remixes that tapered off with his album from a couple of years ago. Virgo Blaktro & The Movie Disco was only three tracks deep, one of those being a rewrite of a Stuart Price remix, with nothing that rivaled the heights of the material that made him an electroclash icon. Things might be turning around for Felix on his new single "Kickdrum" which finds him singing the praises of drum machines. It is loud, raw and could have been banged out with Reason in about 10 minutes but you leaves wanting more just like a teaser single should:

: July brings He Was King. Hopefully his old magic will be back. Felix Da Housecat's myspace is the place for more info.

Video: The Prodigy "The Warrior's Dance"

2009-06-08T20:14:00.000-07:00

Prodigy's Invaders Must Die is a bit shy of standout tracks but their recent top 10 UK single "The Warrior's Dance" is definitely one of them. After the band's initial attempt at recording new material resulted in months of writers block things improved when Keith Flint challenged Liam Howlett to write something to be played live at last year's Gatecrasher festival. Howlett's retro track takes it's inspiration from two rave records released in 1989 with Final Cut's "Take Me Away" providing the vocals and a sample from Addis Posse's "Let The Warrior's Dance" helping the beat. The video is a self-aware edgy affair, they posted a preemptive notice of what to do when the video gets pulled from youtube, that features the band as literal firestarters, in the form of animated matchbook men, who controversially take on cigarettes:

: Visit Prodigy's site if the video does not work.

Video: Moby "Pale Horses"

2009-05-29T18:34:00.000-07:00

Moby has been talking up the uncommercial nature of his upcoming album as he has been doing the press rounds. So far his singles choices bear that out. The vocals for "Pale Horses" were recorded in a completely unconventional way pointing to the words, which include the line "all my family died", to a friend singing the song for the first time. The effect is not unlike one of the quieter tracks on Play. The video is an sad little animated treatment of the song that brings Moby's alien sketches to life:

: The single release of "Pale Horses", due June 22nd, features remixes from Gui Boratto, Apparat and Jason Bentley. Wait For Me is out June 29th.

Video: Pet Shop Boys "Did You See Me Coming?"

2009-05-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

The second single pulled from Yes is a rather nice example of PSB hitting their electropop stride with a generous touch of Johnny Marr guitar added to the mix. The single package should be amazing as it features three b-sides (one of which is the current Popjustice song of the day), Stuart Price's PSB Brit Award medley and a number of remixes including one from Richard X. However for the official video they take the performance video approach playing the song in front of the large video screen. Why shouldn't they remake the "Minimal" video a couple of years later and take out the interesting bits?:

: Actually there is a really great part where Neil works the jazz hands routine for a couple of seconds. "Did You See Me Coming?" is out June 1st (please release it digitally Astralwerks) and petshopboys.co.uk has all the info you need to keep track of the various formats.

Video: Rex The Dog "Bubblicious"

2009-05-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

Rex The Dog might be stalking Vince Clarke. Rex developed his distinct sound after buying a Korg 700S because it was used on Depeche Mode's first album so one of his first moves was to turn in a storming remix of "Photographic" that was one of the few redeeming tracks on DM's cash grab Remixes 81-04. Rex's most recent video moves the timeline ahead a year or so later borrowing Alison Moyet's vocals from "Midnight", an album track on Yaz's (that's Yazoo to those outside of the US) debut Upstairs At Erics. "Bubblicious" is an exhilarating track that marries the essence of synthpop's age of innocence with the spirit of today's retro-flavored floor fillers. The video finds Yaz reconnected through the magic of stop motion cardboard albeit with Rex stepping in for the mysteriously absent Vince:

: I held off posting on this song for some months now because I had hoped to post news of Rex The Dog's album being released in the US. Unfortunately that still hasn't happened and nothing has been announced that suggests it will happen which is a terrible shame.

Techno From Unexpected Faces: UB40

2009-05-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

Taking their name from a United Kingdom unemployment form UB40 were discovered by Chrissie Hynde who invited the politically minded reggae group to open for The Pretenders. Things really took off for the group in 1983 with the release their covers album Labour Of Love that featured their massively popular version of Neil Diamond's "Red Red Wine" giving the band a formula for success. They would go on to have hit covers of "The Way You Do the Things You Do", "I Got You Babe" and "Kingston Town" before having one of the biggest hits of their career in 1993 covering Elvis Presley's "(I Can't Help) Falling in Love With You" for the Sliver soundtrack. The song reached number one in seven countries including the UK and the US but the single was backed with a song that revealed a more musically daring side to the group. While the instrumental “Jungle Love” has been referred to as “an oddball "dub" mash up” it actually is an early drum ’n’ bass track that boldly wears it’s jungle influence down to the pitched up mc vocal sample. 808 State had released a “vs.” remix of the band‘s 1981 single “One In Ten” just the year before and UB40’s sound at the time heavily incorporated electronics so it was not a totally unanticipated move but discarding vocals and traditional songwriting to throw themselves into the deep end of the then emerging jungle scene is quite an unexpected move from a group that so often plays things safe. Ultimately the track didn’t quite hold up at the time and in the years that have passed it sounds really quite confused as if they attempted to distill an entire genre into a single track. However they do get points for trying:

Video: The Crystal Method featuring Matisyahu "Drown In The Now"

2009-04-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

In the last five years The Crystal Method created the first nike/itunes epic running routine download, mixed a compilation, built a studio, wrote a soundtrack and re-released their first album while fans waited for them to recorded a follow-up to 2003's Legion Of Boom. The wait is almost over as we have the fist single from Divided By Night in our figurative hands. "Drown In The Now" finds the duo courting the alt-rock audience, as they always have done, bringing Matisyahu in for vocal duties on a track that is less about raw beats than a fully formed song. Despite my reservations about the vocalist's popularity, that the only reggae hit on rock radio in the last decade is by an overtly religious white guy suggests novelty act to me, the track works well taking TCM in a direction they have not explored before:

: Divided By Night is out May 12. The Crystal Method will be touring in support of the new album and their myspace has details.

Video: Pet Shop Boys "Did You See Me Coming?"

2009-04-24T11:06:00.000-07:00

Even international major label artists can create low quality fan music videos. Shot on the lot of a German film studio, perhaps while shooting the official video, the Pet Shop Boys tour manager filmed this with his camera phone. According to Neil "It seemed like a good idea at the time":

: The "Did You See Me Coming?" single is out June 1st featuring three new b-sides plus remixes including the Richard X take on penultimate Yes track "The Way It Used To Be". You will undoubtedly find the official video at the Pet Shop Boys youtube page when it is unveiled.

Neil Tennant Silenced

2009-04-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

The forthcoming Chinese release of Pet Shop Boys Yes will feature an instrumental version of the album's closing track "Legacy" because the lyrical content offended government officials:

"Governments fall/Glaciers melt/Hurricanes bawl"; "Resentment remain/both east and west/Police expect/an arrest"; "They're raising an army/in the North/from York Minster/to the Firth of Forth/A pilgrimage of grace/you won't believe it/Such a human face..."

: While this is hardly incendiary material in the West this is right in the mode of the Chinese government's reaction to Bjork performing the "unapproved song" "Declare Independence" last year and I'm surprised I haven't found more in the press about it.

Super Synthpop Tuesday

2009-04-21T15:24:00.000-07:00

Both Pet Shop Boys and Depeche Mode have new discs out today. Click on the links to stream both albums.

Video: Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Zero"

2009-04-20T23:00:00.000-07:00

Better bloggers than me pointed this out months ago but Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Zero" is rather amazing. Their new album It's Blitz! finds the band adding electronics to the mix to great effect when paired with strong songwriting. The video finds Karen O out and about on the streets of San Francisco dancing on the roofs of cars in a neighborhood I've parked in before:

: The band, um, blitzed the late night circuit last week and left me wondering how such a moody group ended up with such a pleasant drummer. Listen to more Yeah Yeah Yeahs at their myspace.

Video: Moby "Shot In The Back Of The Head"

2009-04-14T23:48:00.000-07:00

After a couple of months of hinting Moby made the official announcement about his next album Wait For Me today. Inspired by a David Lynch speech about creativity without concern of a commercial audience being a good thing Moby recorded the album in his home studio with a few friends as guest vocalists. I'm not expecting a pop record. The first single has a faintly disturbing video directed by David Lynch:

: Wait For Me is out June 30th.

UPDATE: "Shot In The Back Of The Head" is available as a free download at Moby.com.

Video: Freeland "Under Control"

2009-04-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

Adam Freeland made some changes to his approach before embarking on his second album of original material Cope™ imbibing a shot of rock and roll to loosen up his decidedly club oriented roots. Despite the changes there is something incredibly familiar about the album's first single "Under Control" because the project's new singer Kurt Baumann channels LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy (who you may have heard is massively influenced by Mark E Smith) so precisely that it seriously distracts from the song. Like Freeland's previous hit "We Want Your Soul" the lyrics work on a political level this time taking on the war on terror as the powers that be tell us to "relax 'cause nothing is under control" but all I hear is "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House":

Freeland - Under Control - Official Video from Freeland on Vimeo.

: Freeland offer a free download of the song in remixed form at their site. Cope™ is due this June.

First Look: Bad Lieutenant "Sink Or Swim"

2009-04-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

Last month Bernard Sumner did a lengthy sit down interview special for British television. Bernard Sumner Songbook is one of the best interviews I've ever seen with the legend as he opens up on his songwriting process and discusses the entire span of his career including how he & Hooky would fire early drummers with a box of chocolates to the demise of New Order being brought on by his love of electronics. Over the course of the special a song each from his major projects ("Love Will Tear Us Apart", "Bizarre Love Triangle", "Getting Away With It") was performed with acoustic accompaniment and they premiered a song from with his new project Bad Lieutenant. Here is the acoustic version of "Sink Or Swim":

: Bernard announced Bad Lieutenant at the Control premier a couple of years ago and it appears they have been logging some serious studio time. The group picks up where NO left off involving Stephen Morris and Phil Cunningham while adding Jake Evans, Matt Evans (Rambo And Leroy), Alex James (Blur) and Jack Mitchell (Haven) to the mix. No word if the project will release any of the songs written for New Order's never finished 2006 album that would have included their work with producers Brian Higgins and Tore Johansson.

Flashback: The Trip Hop Test, Part One (1995)

2009-04-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

The very definition of trip hop was in flux when Moonshine Music released The Trip Hop Test, Part One in January of 1995. The term had already surfaced in the US characterizing the downtempo music coming across the pond from Bristol producers like Tricky and Massive Attack but those listening closer to the underground also described rave music influenced equally by hip hop and psychedelic music by the same name. Was it the same movement? The Trip Hop Test doesn't answer the question but instead presents evidence allowing the listener to decide. Compilations almost always take related tracks to make a statement on a scene or time so taking the risk to ask questions about a scene is one of the most endearing things about the collection. Impressively the disc also manages to catch many of the major players of electronic music before they came to prominence in the later half of decade. Here is the track listing and some thoughts:

Saint Etienne "Filthy"
Originally the b-side to "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" the oldest track on the collection dates from the Saint Etienne's early days when they only had guest vocalists here featuring British rapper Q-Tee who was only 15 when she recorded the track. The song was later remixed by Monkey Mafia and included on the band's Casino Classics remix collection.
The Dust Brothers "My Mercury Mouth"

Actually a track from The Chemical Brothers taken from the last EP they released as The Dust Brothers before going chemical for legal reasons. The reason to buy the disc since the track is closer to delicate ambient techno than anything Brothers have released since becoming album artists.
Step Disk "Boing Dragon"

The disc's first misstep from a group that faded away shortly after releasing this. Notably "loose" production emphasising samples demonstrate the sound of the time but it is extremely repetitive.
Skylab "Sea Shell"

This was a massive track on college radio at the time that introduces an unusual laidback beat to an ambient template. This group effort is the first time future Bjork and U2 producer Howie B appeared on my radar.
Paul Weller "Wild Wood (Portishead Mix)"

Who would have guessed the sole representation of the Bristol sound would come from The Modfather? Portishead weave their Dummy-era sound around the original song's structure incorporating the best of both worlds. A must for Portishead fans.

The Aloof "Society"

This group is probably better known for their work in other projects which include The Sabres Of Paradise, Red Snapper and the vocals to Luke Slater's 2002 electropop masterpiece Alright On Top. This track is a bit shouty and has sirens but fails to effectively convey the talent involved.

Tranquility Bass "They Come In Peace"

More music branching out of ambient adding hip hop beats to the mix. While they would go on to release higher profile albums this is as good as Tranquility Bass ever got.
The Crystal Method "Dubeliscious Groove"

American electronica's great hope turn in an early ambient techno track that sounds unfinished. Try the far superior Fly Spanish Version from the Keep Hope Alive EP for something that will stick to your brain.

Single Cell Orchestra "Transmit Liberation"

Another college radio hit here from San Francisco artist Miguel Fierro. One of my favorite ambient techno tracks of all time.
Lemon Interupt "Minneapolis"

When Karl Hyde and Rick Smith left behind the gothic gloom of their first Underworld outing they added Darren Emerson and gained some techno edge but chose to release their initial offerings, and production on Saint Etienne's Tiger Bay, under the name Lemon Interupt. This b-side to "Dirty" shows them working their new sound out even if it falls short of essential.

Tales from the Woodshed "Brainclog"

Proto-big beat from a duo that would shorten their name to The Woodshed before disappearing a few short years later.

: Moonshine Music would go on to release another two volumes of The Trip Hop Test before branching off into other ventures but they deserve credit for taking a snapshot of electronic music at the crossroads and not giving us the answer key.

Hot Cover Alert: Faith No More "Glory Box"

2009-04-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

Sometime before going on hiatus the best hard rock band of the 90s Faith No More played a version of Portishead's "Glory Box" live. It's pretty fantastic:

Video: Larry Tee featuring Mel Merio "Hipster Girl"

2009-03-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

Larry Tee is one of those people who you expect to disappear from the face of the Earth who somehow manages to find a way to survive. From producing Rupaul in the 90s to trademarking Electroclash at the turn of the century Tee is nothing less than a true dance music survivor who has done things his own way without ever really becoming an album artist. His latest offering pairs him with Mel Merio, probably best known for working with Christopher Just ("I'm A Disco Dancer") on a cover of PSB's "Domino Dancing". Missed that one? Me too. Regardless, Tee & Merio have stumbled into something interesting here creating a new wave tune that strums along nicely before an insane middle eight brings the Justice rumble bass elevating the song to another level. Did I mention it features the cowbell? Give it a listen:

: Both Mel Merio and Larry Tee have myspace pages featuring their varied musical projects.

Video: The Juan Maclean "One Day"

2009-03-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

The Juan Maclean return next month with The Future Will Come. Last year John MacLean was deep into rave territory on the more than twelve minute "Happy House" making the modern day new wave of the album's proper pre-release single "One Day" an unexpected turn. This is perhaps the most pop record DFA has released yet with a proper string part and a distinct Human League vibe as John trades off vocal duties with LCD Soundsystem's Nancy Whang. Did I mention that Whang is singing rather than working out of her standard shouting modus operandi? Yes, this is a synthpop record:

: Good news, the song is this week's itunes free download in the US so you can download the track for free. The Future Will Come is due out on April 21st, aka synthpop release, so keep up to date with all the latest news at The Juan Maclean website.

Still Happy

2009-03-26T08:50:00.000-07:00

Röyksopp celebrate the release of their much praised Junior this week with this lovely alternate take of "Happy Up Here":

Video: Client "Can You Feel?"

2009-03-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

There is something very familiar about the first single from Client's new album Command. At first blush Sarah Blackwood and Kate Holmes appear to be in top form on the driving "Can You Feel?" flavoring the strong vocal with a crunchy disco beat and the always welcome Peter Hook-esque melodic bass but the arrangement is keeping me from loving the song. After a month of attempting to pinpoint the problem I suspect the deal breaker is the combination of the octave bass and piano both of which have been featured many times over in the Client discography. This has created The Erasure Effect for me where it becomes difficult to differentiate between the songs that are of simply decent quality but sound similar to past favorites you have loved from the truly great new songs. If a bit ambivalent about the song I can recommend the video as one of Client's strongest visual efforts:

: Client Online is the best place to find info on the band at the moment and this interview with Sarah digs into how the duo work even if it doesn't answer what I would ask (Why did the Dubstar reunion fall through? You really believe everything on wikipedia? Really? What's up with the rotating third member of the band that never appears to write or record with band?). Command is out now. I hope to fall in love with it.

Promotion

2009-03-21T03:23:00.000-07:00

Signing to Astralwerks in the US was the clearly the right move as billboards are popping up all over the Bay Area with "Love Etc." printed in huge letters. Obviously it is a bit cryptic as they don't mention the Pet Shop Boys by name but in this age of viral ad campaigns I'm sure of the public will catch on.

You can hear Yes in it's entirety with the widget below. It's rather good.

(photo from piperaudrey's photostream)

Some Thoughts

2009-03-17T17:34:00.000-07:00

The most consistently thoughtful music blog ever XO's Middle Eight is turning five years old this month. I don't know how he maintains such high a level of excellence while working a day job but the blog is always a pleasure to read.

Does it seem odd to anyone else that the two surviving synthpop powerhouses (apologies to Erasure) of the 80's, both newly signed to the same parent label, are releasing albums on April 21 in the US?

Pet Shop Boys are hitting the press in support of Yes. Chart Rigger has a great collection of links to interviews and I highly recommend The Guardian's podcast with the Boys where they discuss how they write songs. "Love Etc." is out digitally in the US next Tuesday with all the b-sides intact.

The Modern are making another attempt at getting an album out. Life In A Modern World should be released within the next month.

My favorite itunes user review of the new Prodigy album includes the following line: "Don't get me wrong, Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned was a great album." Sure it was...

Voltage tipped me off to Thru You which is an amazing visual example of creating cut-and-paste music. Well I actually read about on Moby's myspace blog first but it is still worth watching even if it's not usually your type of thing.

One More Reason To Love Chromeo

2009-03-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

I just can't get over this recent appearance on Yo Gabba Gabba!:

: It really brings home that Chromeo are that rare band that are likable. Even on bizarre television shows targeted at preschoolers.

(via Disco Potential)

Video: Röyksopp "Happy Up Here"

2009-03-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

"Happy Up Here", the first single from Junior, uses their early single "Eple" as a jumping off point for a subtle pop song that is surprisingly catchy. While I am a fan of the track it does seem a bit premature, given this is only their third album, for Röyksopp to be recycling past hits as the lead in to new material. I'm all for postmodern art but this seems a bit extreme. The video is a treat which realizes Space Invaders as it might play out in a higher resolution reality. The director Reuben Sutherland has previously created an ad for a modern alien invasion game so he has probably been mulling this over for a while now:

: The song has inspired me to revisit Röyksopp's first album Melody AM which sounds utterly brilliant. Hear some of Junior ahead of it's March 23 release at their myspace.

Video: West End Girls "A Little Black Dress"

2009-03-09T23:47:00.001-07:00

The pinnacle of PSB fandom must be West End Girls, the Swedish duo who perform nothing but Pet Shop Boys songs. Neil and Chris, clearly flattered by the tribute, have allowed the Girls to record a version of "Little Black Dress" which is the new single from their forthcoming second album. Originally written for the Boys musical Closer To Heaven the song failed to make the final cut although I have heard the original version had a vibrant life on p2p programs at the turn of the century:

: If you would like to see an incomplete site that tells you nothing current about West End Girls then please stop by their official website.

Video: Depeche Mode "Wrong"

2009-02-26T11:49:00.001-08:00

The arresting new Depeche Mode video was officially unleashed on the internet today marking the complete roll out of the song within the week. The Depeche team, or Mute/EMI, have really played things right with "Wrong". The song didn't leak until the day of it's first live performance at Germany's Echo Awards last Saturday and they wisely got the track up on itunes on Tuesday just as the initial wave of excitement spread across the internet. The song finds DM returning to their sound of the Music For The Masses-era, as Electronically Yours noted there are hints of "Pimpf", so it is not as immediate as some of their better known work. Which is not to say it hasn't been stuck in my head all week. The video was directed Patrick Daughter, the man behind those fantastic Feist videos, taking us on an unpleasant ride that you just can't turn away from. At the risk of sounding too adolescent it is freaky:

: Depeche will be touring the Universe all year so you know I'm looking forward to seeing Andy clap off the beat. Sounds Of the Universe is out April 21st so visit Depeche Mode Dot Com for all the latest.

Video: Pet Shop Boys "Love Etc."

2009-02-24T17:09:00.000-08:00

The first single from the Xenomania produced Yes is different from anything that the Pet Shop Boys have done before. Nothing in the Boys extensive catalogue sounds quite like the combination of unconventional structure, shouted male chorus and swinging synths. Fortunately it is still amazing.
Dutch artist Han Hoogerbrugge created the bouncing cut and paste video that creates a video game version of the song:

: Yes is due most everywhere March 23rd although no US date has been announced. Also the Boys just confirmed that their long talked about ballet, based on a Hans Christian Andersen story, is planned for 2011. Neil and Chris have written about a third of the score which is expected to combine electronics and orchestra.

Video: Ladytron "Tomorrow"

2009-02-20T08:00:00.000-08:00

Ladytron have spent so much time over the past few years proving they can rock it is easy to forget that they can write pretty songs too. "Tomorrow" is one of those tracks that got lost in the sonic sameness of Velocifero but it is stunner when given a little room to breathe. The video is rather fantastic mixing folksy and futuristic as only a Ladytron video should:

: "Tomorrow" is released as a single on March 3rd. Ladytron continue to promote Velocifero on the road touring North America with The Faint in April in what I hope will be billed as The Monsters Of Electro-Rock before joining Depeche Mode on their Tour Of The Universe in Europe. Visit their myspace for more info.

Sometimes You're Better Off Dead

2009-02-19T00:14:00.000-08:00

Pet Shop Boys celebrated their Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the BRITs with an epic performance of their hits last night. In over the top award show fashion they appeared as giant talking heads first thanking everyone for the award as if they were unable to attend before taking the stage surrounded by surreal Very visuals, guest appearances and dancing businessmen. Importantly their medley was produced by Stuart Price who has been the most obvious choice to produce the Boys for a decade now. Hopefully this will lead to a proper collaboration on new material soon. Over a dozen songs were touched upon as we caught bits of "Love Etc" along with another taste of Yes with as they teased "All Over The World" before Brandon Flowers created a highlight dueting with Neil on "It's A Sin". The most problematic moments came from the bland Lady Gaga's involvement. I simply don't understand her appeal at all or what the Boys see in her. Catch the medley before it disappears from youtube:

What I Do Like I Love Passionately

2009-02-09T23:48:00.000-08:00

Pet Shop Boys "Love etc.", the first single from the forthcoming Yes, was first played on the radio today and has been making the rounds since it leaked several days ago. It's rather amazing. Equally amazing is that the Pet Shop Boys Entertainment Tonight interview that was sampled in "Paninaro" just turned up on youtube:

: Get remixing.

Video: The Prodigy "Omen"

2009-02-06T10:18:00.000-08:00

The Prodigy have returned with new material ahead of Invaders Must Die, the album they originally expected to release in 2006. The title track was available last year as "non-single" limited time only free download from the band's site and didn't do much to raise expectations. There is a video for the song but people like Billy Suede have pointed out "Invaders Must Die" is essentially a remix of a Does It Offend You, Yeah? track which speaks to Liam Howlett's limited songwriting abilities.
The first actual single "Omen" is much better. There hints of melody with a vibe part and a "No Good (Start The Dance)"-style lead synth which play off Keith Flint's first Prodigy vocal since "Baby's Got A Temper". Give it a listen:

: Invaders Must Die is out March 3 so stop by their myspace for more information.

This Day & Age

2009-02-02T19:37:00.000-08:00

"We live in an age wherein people usually listen to random tracks from an album, but... a beautiful and cohesive body of work will ideally make sense when listened to from start to finish." That is a bit hacked out of context from the blog announcement that Moby is beginning to mix his latest album, tentatively due in June, but it makes a point that has been floating around my mind recently. The technology that allows unlimited instant access to almost any song you can think of is amazing allowing us all to expand the limits of our musical knowledge but along with it we have lost something. Part of that is the journey an artist can take you on as an album that frames songs within a context that brings a greater meaning than they have alone but another important thing we have lost is silence. It has been an issue since the age of dual cassette players and multi-disc CD players but there the gravity that silence brings to a piece as it allows reflection on what just took place. Maybe it is just a question of how we view music today as Count Popula recently commented on a XO mixtape about how "people used to really LIVE with their music rather than treating it like a commodity". How do we get back there?

Late Review: Client Zerox Machine EP

2009-01-28T00:11:00.001-08:00

(note: the following review was written ages ago)

Zerox Machine
Loose Talking
Zerox Machine (IDC Mix)
Zerox Machine (Jonny Slut/Atomizermix)
Zerox Machine (Robert Görl Strange Pistol Mix)
Zerox Machine (Club Mix By Covenant)

In a conspicuous break from the purely electronic pallet that colored their previous material Client have gone rock with their spunky version of Adam & The Ant's "Zerox Machine". Sarah Blackwood's vocal delivery reflects a consciousness that one does not expect to find in a run through a genre chestnut as she breaks up the phrasing of the word "copyright" so it becomes "copy, right?" turning the song into a response to the band's detractors that claim they simply imitate. The lyrics also touch upon ideas that Client have explored before such as identity, masking and control which further suggest the band's personal investment and ownership of the song. Despite the familiar lyrical touches the track's producer Youth plots a new course for the band musically as he brings a focus on "live" elements highlighting the work of Client's new bassist Emily Strange, the sharp rhythms of Blur associate Simon Tong's guitar and the machine-free drums laid down for the track. Even with the shift in style it is the theremin synth lead of Client's sonic architect Kate Holmes that brings the track to life during the chorus providing the link between old and new directions for the band.

"Loose Talking" finds the band using a lot more synths as they rework a number of familiar elements into a song that toys with sweet sadness. There are some promising bits but the song fails to follow through making for an unsatisfying listen.

Remixes of covers are always a dicey proposition because the distance from the original source material makes it difficult to find an unique angle but that problem is danced around here as parties from different scenes are given mixing duties. IDC play things straight incorporating much of the original while the confusingly named Jonny Slut/Atomizermix (thus named because they couldn't settle for just listing one alias that he records under) brings stutter edits and an electro flavor to the table. Recruiting D.A.F. member Robert Görl for a mix must have been quite a moment for Client as they list them as a major influence but Görl turns in an oddly unmusical mix that adds a bit of occasional 16th note trance synths to an uninspired beat leaving the affair a lost opportunity. Ultimately it is Covenant that bring the goods with their EBM flavored mix that takes the liberty to ignore much of the original as they form an effective dark dance track.

Late Review: Client Lights Go Out EP

2009-01-27T23:40:00.000-08:00

(note: the following review was written some time ago)

Lights Go Out (Single Edit)
Northern Soul
Lights Go Out (Oliver Koletzki & Sebastian Meindl Mix)
Lights Go Out (Basteroid Mix)
Lights Go Out (Spetsnaz Mix)
Lights Go Out (Boosta Mix)

Client use "Lights Go Out" to tell the story of a woman who goes to extreme lengths to win the affection of an undeserving partner she finds herself "guilty of loving". Over the course of the song the narrator offers, in a pop friendly turn, to be the "guilty pleasure" of what we learn in the final verse is a promise breaking lover that forced her to "learn the hard way" that there are "no guarantees". Given the band's recent split with Toast Hawaii/Mute this redefinition of the band's mission statement, first laid out in Client's self-titled song that was their public debut, of "satisfaction guaranteed" suggests meaning for the band outside the song's narration. However as interesting as it is lyrically the song is musically a mishmash of ideas they have explored before. The swinging beat of "Pornography" and the ominous string sound of "Radio" are clearly echoed here but "Lights Go Out" lacks the clarity and melodic vision that was so vivid in Client's earlier material.

"Northern Soul" is better than average b-side fair flair despite noticeably recycling the riff from "Rock And Roll Machine". Really any song that had the audacity to declare "you need a bit of Northern soul" and that they "know the girls to give it" would be worth a listen and fortunately this tune has even more than that to offer.

If the original "Lights Go Out" lacks greatness then the single goes on to prove that a song cannot be saved with a little magic remix dust. Oliver Koletzki & Sebastian Meindl's deconstruction is full of stutter edits and vocals cut from the single version of the song which makes for some interesting moments but it is ultimately less than satisfying. Basteroid and Boosta flavor the song with their own respected arty electro seasonings but achieve uninspired filler at best. Spetsnaz begins his mix with enough promise that there is hope that a François Kevorkian-inspired spin on the song could develop but unfortunately the mix crashes and burns about a minute in quickly devolving into an amateurish mess. All in all it's the least appealing package that Client has assembled to date.

Video: Shinichi Osawa "Star Guitar"

2009-01-25T20:00:00.000-08:00

I originally dismissed Shinichi Osawa's cover of "Star Guitar" without hearing it. If an artist covers a hit song as their lead single and they work in the same genre chances are they are hiding their lack of artistic merit and making a blatant cash grab in one swoop. Fortunately Crap For Genius recently reminded me of the cover and while I don't rate it as highly as he does the subtle update of the Chemical Brothers tune works really well taking the song out of the trance genre and shining a spotlight on the nearly hidden vocals of the original:

: The Chemical Brothers based the original song around a short guitar sample from David Bowie's "Starman" and have often performed the song live mashed up with the Brothers cover of New Order's "Temptation" so this really is just adding another layer. Shinichi Osawa's "Star Guitar" is out on CD single this week in the UK on Norman Cook's Southern Fried Records so stop by his myspace to get all the info.

Pop! Chart

2009-01-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

Erasure are shortly due to finally update their classic singles collection ~~Hits: The Very Best Of Erasure~~ Pop! with the eagerly anticipated Total Pop!: The First 40 Hits. Naturally the two disc collection contains 41 tracks, 39 songs and omits the Union Street single "Boy". It's not all bad because the title suggests an alternate universal where the top 40 charts would be dominated by Erasure tunes. It might look something like this:

1. Oh L'Amour
2. Chains Of Love
3. A Little Respect
4. Blue Savannah
5. Chorus
6. Who Needs Love (Like That)
7. Victim Of Love
8. Drama!
9. Ship Of Fools
10. Breath Of Life
11. Star
12. Love To Hate You
13. Take A Chance On Me
14. Always
15. Am I Right?
16. Sometimes
17. You Surround Me
18. It Doesn't Have To Be
19. Solsbury Hill
20. Rock Me Gently
21. Stop!
22. Breathe
23. Fingers And Thumbs (Cold Summer's Day)
24. The Circus
25. Stay With Me
26. Sunday Girl
27. Freedom
28. Heavenly Action
29. Don't Say Your Love Is Killing Me
30. In My Arms
31. Here I Go Impossible Again
32. Rain
33. Run To The Sun
34. I Could Fall In Love With You
35. Don't Say You Love Me
36. Moon And The Sky
37. I Love Saturday
38. Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)
39. Storm In A Teacup

: If we were to group those singles by the albums they were taken from and assigned a value of 39 to the highest ranked single and 1 to the lowest ranked then we would end up with a chart like this:

: Overall this indicates a slight drop off in amazingess in the I Say I Say I Say era which was Erasure's first album following the original Pop!. It is also worth noting that 85% of my top 20 appear on that first compillation despite my continuing to follow the duo after the general public lost their scent making this new greatest hits useless to all but the most dedicated fans. Still stop by Erasure's myspace to hear some flawless tunes.