Yeah I know, two EPs don't make an album but these are the tunes for this week. Yo Majesty is the feminine answer to electro hip hop masters Spank Rock or the new and wilder version of an up-to-date Salt 'n Pepa, and they even make a tribute to them in Kryptonite Pussy where they hum Push It . With only this EP in the market they've already signed to Domino Records for the next release. Their songs are fun and so are they, so they use to perform live topless, No Bra style. And they're going to be huge now that fat is cool (Beth Dito is their declared number one fan). Wait for Club Action to be a massive hit when somebody on TV discovers it and uses it in a commercial or as the tune for a TV series. CLUB ACTION
Spank Rock's mc, also called Spank Rock, has teamed up with Benny Blanco to make this Bangers and Cash EP. Five songs, all of them including a sample of 2 Live Crew, with dirty lyrics and dirty tunes. But even more dirty are all the different covers and art work they are preparing to promote this release. here you have some of them:
It's difficult to decide which one is more disturbing...
Tuesday, 25 September 2007
We all know the Don't look back series of events that take place in some venues around the world and commemorate mythic albums of mythic bands bringing them live from the first song to the last in the same order they were published. We've been able to see Slint's Spiderland, Teenage Fanclub's Bandwagonesque, Sonic Youth's DaydreamNation, Low's Things we lost in the fire, and some more. So they've proved that looking back is not always a retrograde and rancid activity done by some people who always think that, as Karina said, any past age is always better than the present, or "there's not good music nowadays". Sometimes is just a memory exercise to understand better the present or to remind memories and feelings we thought they were forgotten or impossible to revive again. So this is what I'm going to do with a new section, named with the not-so-original title "REAR-VIEW MIRROR", with unknown periodicity, order or criteria (this is my blog so I do what I really really want). And I'm going to focus more on bands than on records, bands that were important in one moment of my life and that they are still important nowadays, even if they don't exist anymore. So here we are, with the first opportunity of reminding our pasts (thanks, Youtube) and the first lucky group is no other than Spacemen 3. Spacemen 3 were a band formed in 1982 that split in 1990, basically run by Peter Kember and Jason Pierce who were meant to do something together as they were born the same day. We can define their sound as "hypnomonotony" or repetitive drones of two chord noise but it developed in many different ways until they published their last record that was recorded by the two of them separately, each one one side of the record, proving that the difference of styles they were into at that moment was obvious, which took them to split the band, and form Spektrum and Spiritualized respectively. And now let's watch the music with some of their most famous songs: REVOLUTION
And if the Sonic Youth revival was not enough to made me feel old, here we have K Records turning 25!!! Maybe not as talked about as Factory or Creation, but with a longer life and also a lot of influence in everybody who is interested in music. With a Do-it-yourself punk philosophy (originally the K is for punK), Beat Happening's Calvin Johnson, the founder and most important figure in the company, has presented us some of the most amazing bands during all these years, most of them in the 90s but still with many interesting things to offer. With the International Pop Underground series of events he presented unknown bands that later became so popular such as Nirvana, Bikini Kill or The Vaselines or influenced others like The Moldy Peaches. And as they are not doing anything transcendental for the celebration, the people of Ashmatic Kitty thought they could do something about it and they recruited some of their bands to cover some of the label songs that influenced them during these 25 years. You can listen to them online here: http://asthmatickitty.com/main.php And visit the K Records website for further information: http://www.krecs.com/ Let's remember some of the bands: Beat happening is no doubt the most emblematic band of the label. With their naive punk pop and Calvin's low voice they took to the limit the simplicity of the three cord song BEAT HAPPENING - HOT CHOCOLATE BOY
I probably was 17 when I first listened to Daydream Nation. I think it was my second Sonic Youth record after Evol. The influence Sonic Youth had in my late teenage years was definitive. It was the years I discovered bands like Dinosaur Jr, Yo la Tengo, Pavement, Beat Happening, Sebadoh and other American bands that marked my musical development and the general music development of the late 80s and first 90s. And now I had the opportunity to travel back in time and go to a concert to celebrate that I'm older and these times that I was in my parent's flat listening non-stop to these records will never come back. But the amazing thing of it all is that the sensation of Deja Vu was not as huge as I thought it would be. Maybe because the record got older so well, maybe because Sonic Youth did a pact with the Devil and they look younger than they are or maybe because most of the public in the concert was around my age. It was a nice experience. Check the performance of Teenage Riot one of the three nights in London
A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS The first album from this New York band is a compendium of songs that can remind when JAMC matter, mixing the best of the Psychocandy era with the industrial sounds of Automatic and accelarating and doubling the volume. Maybe they don't have great songs but they have a great sound. A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS - TO FIX THE GASH IN YOUR HEAD
APPARAT - WALLS The last Apparat album is his most accurate collection of songs, talking about the classic concept of pop song, covered in an electronic environment. What a shame that he chose one of the weekest instrumental songs for the video APPARAT - YOU DON'T KNOW ME
BEIRUT - THE FLYING CLUB CUP The only problem of Beirut's second album is his first album, but not even that. When you have a so particular sound and voice you maybe can fall into repetition and what was a great idea for a first album can be the death of the second coming, but it looks like it didn't happened to Beirut. The second record is even better than the first one, and we can see that the sound is not exhausted and they are already trying to find new ways of expression without doing something completely different. And the songs are great, inspired and thay filter deaply inside your veins from the first listening. Watch this magnificent performance in one of the Take away shows for the French Website. BEIRUT - NANTES
BLACK LIPS - GOOD BAD NOT EVIL Garage is back. Remember The Cynics or even more far away on time, The 13th Floor Elevators? So here we have Black Lips resurrecting the label with succesful fortune and a fame for beeing banned from some venues because of their wild shows.
BLACK LIPS - KATRINA
DEVENDRA BANHART - SMOKEY ROLLS DOWN THUNDER CANYON The new Devendra record is a consequence of his previous album, the Cripple Crow. Far from the acoustic bittersweet songs of his first three records he continues exploring electric passages and different styles. He discovered his own "The Band" and it didn't fit him so well. The album is too abstract, with the feeling you are listening to a compilation of jams and with hard to diggest moments too inspired but The Doors and other boring bands. But it also has some great songs like Bad Girl that makes you keep the faith not everything has been lost DEVENDRA BANHART - SEAHORSE
LITTLE DRAGON At the beggining of this year a great single appeared in a really small London label. This was Little Dragon's Test, and it has been spinning in my turntable since then. Now is time for the record and the waiting has been rewarded with a beautiful collection of soul pop electronic songs filtered with dub and jazz and one of the most personal voices since Tricky's muse Martina. LITTLE DRAGON - TEST
OKKERVIL RIVER - THE STAGE NAMES A lot of good things have already been said about this record, most of them in Pitchfork. This record is the logical progression in the ascending career of this band that everytime is less complexes about playing louder. Here you have the unstoppable hit that everybody is going to know by the end of the year. OKKERVIL RIVER - OUR LIVE IS NOT A MOVIE OR MAYBE
PJ Harvey is back. After the boring UH Huh Her, she comes back with a record based in piano compositions singing with a candid high voice that is sometimes a bit irritating. The single When Under Ether is a good example but I have to say that it sounds better when she sings it live. Check it in this version she did in the Copenhagen opera.
LCD SOUNDSYSTEM's new single, Someone Great, was first an instrumental fragment of the incredible Nike sport jogging dance symphony 45'33'' and ended up as a song in the singles factory that is Sound of Silver.
The new Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip single, The Beat That My Heart Skipped, probably based in the French film with the same title??, is not the automatic generational hit that was the anti-generational hit Thou Shalt Always Kill, but it's more radio friendly, so maybe now they are going to reach the international fame they didn't get with their first anthem.
And publishing in Lex Records as well, we have KID ACNE and his old school new single Roc Roc Radio
but if we talk about old school we better don't forget the new Dizzee Rascal single with the most famous acid-house sample.
The latest SHINS single, Turn On Me, with its camp video about disasters in the white trash American Hollywood type sub culture.
Shocking Pinks, once a band from New Zeland now just a solo project, have recently signed up for DFA. Three albums and some singles published during the naughties with no international success made them think that the first releases for LCD's label should be a compilation of the best moments published before. And the way to do it was no other than for EPs (three 7' and one 12') published in just one month (one per week)before the publication of the album called just Shocking Pinks. They are a limited edition of 500 each, they say we believe, and the packaging is just the same picture in a shocking pink color with combinations of blue, orange, green or red for each single. The B sides, some of them better than the A sides, are not going to appear in the record so hurry up if you want to get them. It is not a classic DFA band, no dance rock moments but shoegazing emotions of late eighties first nineties inspiration (Ride, Slowdive, Pastels, Vaselines...)mixing noisy fast melodies with quiet peaceful passages. Check this old video for End of the World
Siouxsie is back, no Banshees, no Creatures, no band, no husband (got divorced from Budgie, Banshees' drums and Creatures partner, after more than 25 years together), just Siouxsie. And she looks great in the video for what is her presentation as a solo career after 30 years in the business. Siouxsie - Into a swan
Animal Collective schizophrenic video for Peacebone
Video for delicate Beach House's Master of None
Finally Dan Deacon's Crystal cat is to be released as a single and here we have what we can consider the campest video of the year so far
No Age friends Mika Miko resuscitate riot grrrls spirit. Check it in Business cats
JENS LEKMAN - NIGHT FALLS OVER KORTEDALA After a lot of singles, EPs, CDRs and two albums compiling some of this previous staff for Secretly Canadian, we can say that this is the first international record with new songs by Jens. And it has all the ingredients that we've seen before in his recordings: Seventies lounge, winds, kaleidoscopic cheesy lyrics, and some great pop tunes.
ANGELS OF LIGHT - WE ARE HIM Ex Swans' Michael Gira comes back with a new record from his most recent project, helped by some members from Akron/family as some times before but with his best record under this name. As he explains in his website the album was supposed to be simple and basic but ended up calling a lot of friend to contribute in the final orchestration and choruses that accompany to the personally dark voice that Gira has.
THE GO TEAM - PROOF OF YOUTH With the new record The go team get more noisy than before. This is the basic difference from the previous record. From the title to the Bull in the heather cover that they make on the b side of the first single, they look now so influenced by Sonic Youth, apart from all the 70s/80s funk, old school hip hop and soundtrack stuff that we are used to. They know that their formula was good for a record but they had to do something a bit different not to repeat themselves, and the difference is not so big, but effective.
SPOKANE - LITTLE HOURS Spokane is one of this bands that you forget from record to record(they take their time to make them)but you love every record they make. Not many new things on this album, maybe the songs are a bit shorter now, but they keep playing with the vocal harmonies (with more feminine presence in Little hours) with ambient sounds and well-placed silences, leaving a pleasant atmosphere all around your bedroom, the place that this record is designed to be listened to.
