What MUSIC are you listening to? ARCHIVE

Michael Barnes wrote:

Suicide- One of my proudest rock nerd moments was when I saw Suicide about six years ago and I got to sing "Dream Baby Dream" with Alan Vega. I told him "thank you so much for coming to Atlanta" and he hugged me and said "No, thank you for coming to see us". Suicide isn't a band you listen to for songs, you listen to them for that SOUND. I've had the first two records on a lot recently. Hey, Springsteen was a fan...you should be too. Hear "Rocket USA" and "Ghost Rider" if you haven't before.

Yeah, Suicide is not fancy music. You only listen to them for the experience. That reminds me - Suicide and The Stooges (now with James Williamson back on guitar since Ron Asheton died) are having a concert together in London next year. I could really bite my ass, because they're here when I'm back in Germany Well, Iggy Pop will probably break his hip (as all the 60-year-olds do eventually) on stage and the performance will suck.

As retribution I have seen Gang of Four live on their 30th anniversary Entertainment! tour. They were totally awesome!

I've also seen some newer bands, the best of which are the CROCODILES. That's a duo from San Diego who write melancholic songs with distorted guitars and voice playing to a drum machine. They have their best songs on their myspace site, so check them out! They're a four-piece band now on their tour, so that the singer can do all crazy stuff like stage-dive (on an audience of 60) or roll around on the floor.

Other than that the Scars have re-released their only album on CD. They're a Scottish post-punk band which was active at the same time as Josef K. and the Fire Engines.

My current favorite album is Real Life from Magazine.

listening to spider bags and drinking whisky. woo, friday night.

here's a song (if you use spotify)

open.spotify.com/track/7BW6v107zQmJNhWZQCH7IA

Michael Barnes wrote:

Parliament and Funkadelic
Marvin Gaye- "What's Goin' On".
Sly and the Family Stone

If that's your thing, even temporarily, point your browser to wefunkradio.com ASAP. Two guys (and occasional guests) in Montreal that have been doing a weekly all-funk/R+B/hip-hop show for over ten years, with most of that tenure streamable on demand. I put this on all the time when I need to get something done. Curated funk perfection from people who know their shit.

(odd note: my brother toured in the sound crew for P-Funk a few years back. Some very gnarly stories from that job.)

I'm in a bi-weekly Call of Cthulhu campaign, and the other ST has stepped down for a while after wrapping up a psychedelic '70s adventure. So as a prelude to a more traditional Arkham Country campaign, I running No Man's Land, a scenario set during the Great War. I couldn't find any decent free war sound effects for that period, so I am instead going to play a mix CD of songs from the movie A Bridge Too Far and Pink Floyd's classic, The Wall. Yes, that is crazy. But I feel like the militaristic tone of certain tracks on The Wall will fit in, providing a strange commentary on the glory and insanity of war.

Go to this link and play the track titled "Gibraleón":

www.lala.com/#artist/The_Sidemen

This song is like some kickass live bar band music in an alternate reality where Quentin Tarantino is God. The track "Havana" is also exquisite, though very slow-paced.

A few random selections from my current playlist.

First up, Misty's Big Adventure. They're hippies. But they're cynical, hateful hippies. Who listened to Urban Guerilla one too many times and gone out looking for 'squares' to kick the shit out of. This demolition of the modern 'indie' scene is their finest moment. Not only does the video make fun of Franz Ferdinand (which can be nothing but a good thing), it achieves total joycore with some added Noddy Holder.



One of the most underated bands of the 90's, Hefner have the rare skill of managing 'sensitive' and 'vunerable' without combining it with 'whiny' and 'annoying'. Scientists have proven that they are more effective than Barry White at getting painfully beautiful indie girls to take their clothes off.



Dash Rip Rock are a good time rockabilly band. They sing songs about beer, girls and girls who drink beer. Perhaps inevitably, they're apparently good friends with Mojo Nixon.

Here's a lovely but melancholy song about a place I know well. Skip to the 1:30 mark for the actual start of the music:

That was Kid Dakota, playing 10,000 Lakes.

Ok, this isn't much of a song, but it is fun and funny.

Robots, by Flight of the Conchords:

popup.lala.com/popup/360569483825912820

Edit: apparently that link only lets you hear the song all the way through once. I will look for a better link.

Here's a live version, almost as good. Skip the first 45 seconds or so if you want to get to the good stuff:

Actually that live version of Humans are Dead I think is better then the version in the show.

I've been listening to a lot of Busdriver lately, pretty interesting hip hop. The guy has some seriously virtuosic ability as far as syncopation is concerned and his lyrics aren't stupid... although occasionally they are a bit pretentious.

Here's a pretty cool example...



Also Radioinactive has bee captivating me. Since I just retruned from Brazil Jacob Do Bandolim has been tops on my playlist (along with a lot of Choro, or "chorino") along with Chico Baraque de Holanda... great songwriter.

Also my Band just did a benefit gig for the Hati relief fund and we played a tune from our upcoming album with the working title "The Zombie Song". Although it will be more about Ghouls technically. It's a huge concept album with us as hero's of a sort trying to save the day from the evil energies being released through this porthole... actually, it's too convoluted to put in a post.




If anyone has any comments on the tune I'd appreciate it.

The only thing I've been listening to lately is Public Image Ltd., "Second Edition" in particular. What an amazing record. Yeah, I'm one of those people that like PIL better than the Sex Pistols.

I dragged out the records after seeing that they were on this year's Coachella lineup, which is FUCKING INSANE. Jay-Z, LCD Soundsystem, Echo and the Bunnymen, Gary Numan, the Specials, De La Soul, Faith No More...and FUCKING SLY AND THE FUCKING FAMILY STONE. Outrageous. What sucks is my work's home office is like 45 minutes away from Coachella, and god forbid they have an onsite meeting in April so I could go.

Oh yeah, I remember hearing about Busdriver back when I used to listen to underground hip hop.

I've been enjoying whenever Vampire Weekend pops up on my Pandora station. Maybe I have no taste and am just getting swept up in the buzz, but I like their stuff.

Michael Barnes wrote:

Yeah, I'm one of those people that like PIL better than the Sex Pistols.

Me too. I always found they're music more interesting (the actual music that is). He hired some intersting musicians occasionally and I think that John Lydon can be a pretty awesome front man. Very entertaining, especially in interviews.

Two of the greatest moments in TV history are PIL on American Bandstand (performing "Poptones" to a completely bewildered group of teenagers and a confused Dick Clark) and the interview that he and Keith Levene did with Tom Snyder. Tom Snyder plays the befuddled old man, PIL plays those crazy kids what with their bebop and all.

Yes, Lydon had a crack band back in the early '80s...that Jah Wobble/Martin Atkins rhythm section was a fucking powerhouse.