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Tag Archive for 'saturday-playlist'

Weekend Listening…

Published by James June 18th, 2006 in Free Tracks and Lists. 0 Comments

After a rough Friday I decided to take it easy over the weekend and per usual was listening to my collection on random. However some artists and albums bubbled to the surface that pulled me in for a closer listen.

Kad - Societe
He’s been compared to both Manu Chao and Serge Gainsbourg and it holds up. Societe is a fun and sometimes campy, romp with a tropical splash of Brazilian Electronica to round things off.

Pitchfork - 2006 Pitchfork Music Festival Sampler
Twenty-Four tracks. Free. Hot. Get it. Now.

Banco De Gaia - Farewell Ferengistan
Eighties inspired Ethno-tronica with a heady political edge. Dreamy yet informed.

DJ Cheb I Sabbah - La Ghriba, La Kahena Remixed
Incredible followup to last years excellent La Kahena sees those tracks reformed into French-Algerian rap numbers, swirling and thrashing dance numbers, and trance inducing minimalist techno pieces.

Guido Möbius - Klisten
Glistening layers of guitars and other instruments makes for a wonderful companion to Bibio’s sublime Hand Cranked. Delightful music for heady summer evenings.

Saturday Play List 5/27

Published by Scott May 28th, 2006 in Meta-Chatter and Album. 0 Comments

Only listened to a couple of full albums yesterday:

764-HERO - Nobody Knows This Is Everywhere (2002)
I was very happy this popped up on eMusic the other day. I’m familiar with their first three but had never heard this final release. It’s excellent. They sound kind of like a cross between Built to Spill and Versus. AMG calls them “emo-core,” which is a label I do not understand. To me anything labeled “emo” sounds like something I should avoid. I’d say they’re “indie-rock” but what do I know? John Atkins is also half of both The Magic Magicians and The John and Spencer Booze Explosion. I wonder if either of those projects are still going?

Holly Golightly - The Main Attraction (2001)
One of these weekends I’ll run out of Holly Golightly albums to write about. Or maybe I should just give up now. What else can I say except that all of her albums are consistently good? Here’s another collection of 60’s influenced, somewhat garagey pop-rock. This was her second album, which means it was probably originally released around 1996. “Just Once” is one of my favorite songs by her. Great stuff.

Saturday Play List 5/20

Published by Scott May 20th, 2006 in Meta-Chatter, Free Tracks and Review. 1 Comment

Secret Square - Secret Square (1997)
I grabbed this out of print album from the fine Elephant Six themed blog, Optical Atlas. It’s a side project of Apples in Stereo / The High Water Mark’s Hilarie Sidney along with Lisa Janssen, who has a Neutral Milk Hotel connection. Some pretty wonderful psych pop that borders on shoegaze. More than once I thought of the band Lush. Naturally it’s a bit Apples in Stereo-ish too. You can grab it free for a limited time here.

Josh Rouse - Subtitulo (2006)
I’m just now getting around to this one, although I did play it twice today. I loved Nashville and believe it or not that’s the only other Rouse album I’ve heard. I know his other works are held in high regard but sometimes I’m a freak like that. I didn’t even realize until I went to college that The Smiths had more albums than The Queen Is Dead and Louder Than Bombs. I was just so happy with those two that it didn’t occur to me to seek out more. I think maybe I don’t want to be disappointed by an artist’s other works when I come across something I really connect with. Then again I can think of a zillion other bands from whom I’ve heard one thing and rushed out to acquire the rest of their catalog. Who knows what my deal is but I thought Subtitulo was pretty good. I’d read some mixed reviews so wasn’t sure quite what to expect. It is pretty mellow and folky but there are moments of pop brilliance. The one-two punch of “His Majesty Rides” and “Givin’ It Up” is particularly awesome. I’m sure I’ll start working my way backward through his discography sooner or later…

The Flaming Lips - Oh My Gawd… The Flaming Lips (1987)
It’s quite a novelty to hear old Flaming Lips. They used to be pretty punk, although it was punk steeped in all things psychadelic. I think I heard this back in the day. Not when it came out but around the time Transmissions From the Satellite Heart broke big. Yes, that’s when I caught on. If only I had been more with it I might have caught the legendary show with Nirvana opening for them at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor during my freshman year at the University of Michigan. Oh, well. What can I say? One thing- All these years later Oh My Gawd is worth listening to. It’s not great but I enjoyed it. “Everything’s Explodin’,” “The Ceiling Is Bendin’,” and “Prescription: Love” are all choice cuts.

And of course I couldn’t give Billy or Holly the day off:

The Milkshakes - In Germany (1984)
Punk meets early Beatles and Kinks. A solid album although after a couple of listens there’s no single track that jumps out at me. The whole thing has got a curious reverb quality, like Billy and company recorded it live in a huge room. Without liner notes I can only guess.

Holly Golightly - Truly She Is None Other (2003)
Holly had drifted away from the garage by this point. It’s still a “rock” album though and reflects various 60’s influences. Every album I hear I think, “Is this her best one?” I’m leaning toward Serial Girlfriend as my favorite but Truly is outstanding. “She Said” (also on the Down the Line comp) is my favorite song of the moment.

Saturday Playlist 5/13

Published by Scott May 14th, 2006 in Review. 0 Comments

My daily dose of Billy Childish:

The Pop Rivets - Greatest Hits (1979)
I’ve been listening to this all week and am impressed each time I hear it. Most of Billy Childish’s music involves traditional rock and roll filtered through his unique vision. The Pop Rivets were his first band and they were very much of the time. This is Class of ‘77 punk and does not sound derivative. “Beatle Boots” is classic. He mentions that particular fashion accessory a couple of other times over the course of the album too. A precursor to his “headcoat” fetish, I suppose.

The Milkshakes - Nothing Can Stop These Men (1984)
Here’s the Billy that overtly refers to his influences. You might even say he cops their riffs and styles. In this case it’s heavily weighted toward the early Beatles and Kinks with a rough edged punk snarl. “Dull Knife” is a scorching surf instrumental.

Also checked out these recs from friends:

Blue Rodeo - Casino (1991)
Byrdsy Americana from these Canadians. I have to admit I didn’t love it. I think I’d actually heard a track or two before, probably on the Windsor “Alternative” station when I lived in Michigan. It was a decent listen but a bit on the light side.

Slow Jets - Good Morning, Stars (2002)
I enjoyed this. Couldn’t find out much about them except that they’re from Baltimore. They play 90’s style indie-rock, which is probably the defining musical era for me. In other words, I’m a sucker for alternate tuned guitars playing ramshackle pop-rock songs. Pavement is an influence and can be clearly heard on the opener, “Instant Lover.”

Soulwax - Nite Versions (2005)
I’ve never listened to this Belgium band before but I will definitely be seeking out more. What an excellent album! I don’t know all the details but from what I gather it’s remixes of some of the songs from their Any Minute Now album that came out the same year. I’m curious to hear what the originals are like. Anyway, this is electronic dance music with guitars. It sounds cool and it rocks.

Saturday Playlist 5/6

Published by Scott May 7th, 2006 in Review. 0 Comments

Here’s a few things I checked out yesterday:

Junkyard Dogs - Good Livin’ Platter (1997)
A favorite go-to album. The ‘Dogs are really The Supersuckers in disguise. They play loose, acoustic singalong cowpunk. There are a couple of originals but most of the songs are covers, including “Gates of Steel” (Devo), “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” (Ramones), “Breakin’ the Law” (Judas Priest), and “Born to Cry” (Dion !!). This here’s drinking music.

Thee Headcoats - Elementary (2000)
This is a singles collection from what I’ve gathered. I would love to read the liner notes but it came from eMusic so no such luck. The second “disc” has a far more serious vibe than the first, which makes me wonder if the tracks are grouped chronologically or thematically. The whole thing is pretty awesome though. I got a real chuckle out of the Sherlock Holmes inspired “My Dear Watson” and the outtro to “She’s Got a Strange Attractor,” in which the narrator (Billy) quotes/imitates that “great feline free-thinker, Snagglepuss” to sum up his philosophy of life: “If it gives you pleasure, do it already.” Indeed. My Billy Childish bender continues…

Holly Golightly - Serial Girlfriend (1998)
… As does my Holly Golightly one. This is another first-rate album by her. I hadn’t heard it before but there are a few songs here that are also on the Single’s Round Up I wrote about a couple of weeks ago. She has some other albums on eMusic missing from my collection that I think I’m going to have to get.

Acid House Kings - Everyone Sings Along With Acid House Kings (2006)
The idea behind this EP is that the band asked a few of their favorite vocalists to sing their favorite Acid House Kings song. This was my first exposure to the Swedish pop band and to be honest it may also be my last. A bit too twee for my tastes. It doesn’t quite make sense that I really like Belle and Sebastian but can’t take this. I’ll probably give it another spin before I write them off completely.

Weekend Playlist 4/22 - 4/23

Published by Scott April 23rd, 2006 in Meta-Chatter and Review. 0 Comments

Spent Saturday and Sunday with Billy Childish and Holly Golightly. Okay, not literally. Listened to some of their stuff from the fine British indie label Damaged Goods that was just added to eMusic. Actually heard each one twice, no small feat considering the lengths of the comps. I thoroughly enjoyed all of it and hope to pick up some more when my downloads refresh Wednesday.

Holly Golightly - The Good Stuff (1995)
Her first album as a solo artist. She was also a member of Thee Headcoatees at the time too. I like her best when she’s rocking out in the garage and there’s plenty of that here. Highlights include “Virtually Happy,” “Expert,” “Comedy Time,” and “Without You.” The whole album is pretty great.

Holly Golightly - Single’s Round Up (2001)
A singles collection, if you couldn’t tell from the title. They’re basically lined up A-side / B-side in chronological order. The B-sides are of equal quality so it works out to be a really strong anthology. You’ve got the whole range of Holly: garage, indie-rock, twang, and blues. This would be an excellent place to start if you were unfamiliar with her work.

Billy Childish - 25 Years of Being Childish (1998)
A two-disc set, although that’s pretty much meaningless in the mp3 age. Let’s just say it’s 114+ minutes of his recordings through the years. His catalog probably rivals Robert Pollard’s, so here again is a great starting point for the uninitiated. I had some of his stuff before but won’t even pretend to be an expert. There were only a couple of songs out of the forty-two that I recognized. I don’t know how many bands he’s fronted, but all of the ones I knew are included: Thee Headcoats, The Buff Medways, Thee Mighty Caesars, The Milkshakes, and The Pop Rivets. There’s even some Holly Golightly / Thee Headcoatees songs. First rate, all the way.

I also checked out these, from our Belgian correspondent:

Yuppie Flu - Toast Masters (2005)
I was given Pavement and The Strokes as comparisons for this Italian guitar-driven indie-pop/rock band. Sure enough, you can hear bits of both occasionally. Sounded good the first time through. I especially liked the song, “Make a Stand.”

Triola - Triola Im Funftonraum (2004)
Wow! I really liked this one. I’m pretty ignorant as far as electronica artists go, so I have no idea who to compare them to or which of the many sub-genres in which to categorize them. It’s krautrock-ish in a mellow, ambient with a beat kind of way.

Saturday Playlist (4/15)

Published by Scott April 16th, 2006 in Random, Album, Review and 2006. 0 Comments

Okay, it’s actually Sunday. The Easter morning egg hunt and excitement is over, so I’ll take a moment to reflect on some things I listened to yesterday.

Soul Asylum - Closer To The Stars: Best Of The Twin/Tone Years (2006)
I thought I’d be familiar with some of this early stuff but it turns out I only know back through 1988’s Hang Time. This is an excellent anthology, full of fast, raw songs. They were a lot more punk early on than I would have imagined.

Mogwai - Mr. Beast (2006)
There’s plenty of their trademark slow build to a roar on this latest, but I notice it’s not always on a quiet to loud arc. For example, on some tracks the guitars becomes increasingly intense over a strong, melodic piano line. I tried to work in the awesome “Travel Is Dangerous” on a recent mix but it didn’t fit with the character of the rest of the songs. Mogwai is a bit on the dour side in case you hadn’t noticed.

Built To Spill - You In Reverse (2006)
I won’t harp on how disappointed I was with their last album but this is by far a superior effort. There’s plenty of weird song structures, tasteful guitar workouts, and a even a few idiosyncratic pop songs. I’m especially hooked on “Mess With Time,” which starts out with a Middle Eastern flavored lead and radically changes to an upbeat reggae vibe for the last couple of minutes. World Music, BtS style!

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