Best of 2008?

Screw that last post....

The best albums of 2008 (so far, and in order):

1. Parov Stelar - Shine
2. Rubble Bucket Orchestra - Rubble Bucket Orchestra
3. Portishead - 3rd
4. Raconteurs - Consolers Of The Lonely
5. Jack Johnson - Sleep Through The Static
6. Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons, Paint That Shit Gold
7. Mike Doughty - Golden Delicious
8. Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts
9. Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs
10....

Pretty good albums of 2008:
Moby - Last Night, Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple, Sebastien Tellier - Sexualality, Sia – Some People Have Real Problems

Worst albums of 2008:
Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head, Alanis Morissette - Flavors of Entanglement

Someone point me in a good direction. I'm not seeing a ton of good music this year so far (though I've found some good stuff from past years).

2008

Albums I'm keeping my eye out for:

14th Jan
Sia – Some People Have Real Problems

21st Jan
Rivers Cuomo – Alone: The Home Recordings Of
Eels – Useless Trinkets
Cat Power – Jukebox

4th Feb
Jack Johnson – Sleeping Through The Static
Nada Surf - Lucky

11th Feb
Sebastien Tellier - Sexualality

19th Feb
Mike Doughty - Golden Delicious

25th Feb
Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree

3rd March
Black Crowes – Warpaint

14th April
Portishead – The Third

15th April
9th Wonder & Buckshot - The Formula

22nd April
Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint that Shit Gold
Blind Melon - For My Friends

Unknown release dates:
Alanis Morissette - Flavours of Entanglement [Apr]
Antony & The Johnsons – The Crying Light [Apr]
Busta Rhymes – Back On My BS
Erykah Badu – The Kahba
Black Eyed Peas - The E.N.D. (The Energy Never Dies)
Counting Crows - Saturday Nights And Sunday Mornings [17th Mar]
The Cure – tba
Gnarls Barkley – The Odd Couple
The Grid – Doppelganger [Mar]
Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry – Repentance [May]
Massive Attack - Weather Underground
Moby – Last Night [10th Mar]
Murs - Murs For President
Muse - The Haarp Tour : Live From Wembley
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig Lazarus Dig!!! [3rd Mar]
Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero Part 2
The Orb – The Dream
Raconteurs – tba
The Real Tuesday Weld – The London Book Of The Dead
Santana – Multi-Dimensional Warrior
Shirley Manson – tba
Sigur Ros - Odin's Raven Magic [Feb]
Spiritualized – tba
Streets – tba
Sufjan Stevens – tba
Von Bondies – Love Hate And Then There’s You [Feb]

Stranger Things Have Happened, I Know

"You are not alone dear loneliness. You forgot but I remember this". Cryptic, but poignant. We all know that our world is in a state of upheaval (at least the ones without blinders on their eyes), and maybe a bit of upbeat defiance can help.
"There's a world out there. Don't you deny it. Give it one last wish" I won't sit hear and attempt to break down the love I feel for this album. Is it enough to say that with many thousands of songs to choose from, I choose to listen to these 13 over and over again. I guess I do it with many albums, but Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace surprised me and brings out great feelings of joy at the same time as I take a hard look at the world. Like what the Daily Show allows me to do. Thank you, Foo Fighters.

There is such great beauty in the world, and such ugly violence and hate, and yet it is all part of this vessel, earth. There is no good without evil, so much of the writing I have read has stated. The yin and the yang. So what does this mean to the state of the world? Have we, mankind, doomed this little blue, green, and white ball to wither because we can't seem to find a balance with this vessel we have been set to steward. We have upset the balance, and we are tipping this planet. Is it too late to right the course? I don't know, but we can ONLY act as if we can. If we don't act as if we can, then it will not happen. Do we really ONLY need to beleive, and we are not? Are we really waiting for Neo<-(see if you can read this jump in logic)? Or are we really supposed to somehow ALL make the jump in belief?

So I will make a few little observances of the album. David Grohl seems to be staving off the celebrity worship that is in place in 'Statues'. "We're just ordinary people, you and me". Both placing the listener with him, and at the same time saying that time will solidify us in only memory in the end. "Time will turn us into statues, eventually"

Even the instrumental, the Ballad Of The Beaconsfield, is beautiful.

Defiance: "My time has come, this means war." - Bonus track, 'Once And For All'

If you read this message and want to hear the album, go out and grab this off the Internet(s) for testing purposes. Let me know if you don't know how. Then buy it when you see the band at a show. Or listen to clips of it here, once it is released: Foo Fighters Official Site.

Daily Show, Canada!

"Let the man who makes the most mistakes, but repeats the least, learn the most."
I may very well be heading in the right direction.
When you seem fairly certain that the society in which you live in is heading in the wrong direction, how do you learn to cope with the knowledge and still function in that society?
-I think I've found that the only way to cope is to look at the beauty in the world, and hold hope in your heart, and search for solutions. We must at least try to move in the right direction, even if it does appear that we are living in the 'post' era.

I very much like that living in Stowe allows me to watch the Daily show on the hour three hours in a row starting at 11. I think I'll go watch the Canadian showing now.
-Damn, Alberto Gonzalez stepped down, and Jon Stewart played the clip where he spoke about his 'memories' of his time as an attorney general. This is just following Jon noting how his show has mad a amnesiac character out Gonzalez' repetition of "I Don't Recall"

The commercial for Resident Evil makes me think of the days when the movie will be released TO advertise for the video game, as they will be made on the same platform. Doesn't Final Fantasy kind of already do this?

Alan Greenspan just imparted a good deal of knowledge on the nation on the Daily Show. I love the way Jon framed him in the interview to ask the questions I'm often thinking of. I hope you were all watching. If not, got watch it on Onegoodmove.org


I love the new Foo Fighters album. I listen to it over and over. They have managed to make me have hope for Rock music, still, even on it's seeming deathbed. Maybe the few (Incubus, RATM, Foo) can hold the flag for the true Rock, the thing that looks to be only left to the realm of memories and the School Of Rock. More about the Foo later...

Daily Show - Week of August 24th

photo by: Norman Jean Roy

The Daily show is on an absolute role, and Jon Stewart is at his best as Rob Riggle enters Iraq (For REAL) and shows footage of what many of the soldiers feel about some statements made in the political arena, and making a general jackass of himself in front of the soldiers (usually humorous).

The guest tonight (the 23rd of August 2007) was general (citation needed) Nigel who helped develop the US counter insurgency field manual. This document outlines the ways to try to be more effective in the current state of warfare we find ourselves in. Though the reasoning to begin the war was false, we still need an effective strategy to deal with the situation we are currently in. It was nice to see someone who is actively attempting to better the situation the soldiers are in. It is good to see someone taking the lives and welfare of the Iraqis as equally important, on both a humanitarian level and a logical level. The logic of the general was in such amazing juxtaposition of the amazingly ironic and invariably idiotic statements of the president. The day's moment of zen: "Can't you see the humor in that" of course I can't. It is so sad, you the president, can't see the humor in your statement on delusion (citation needed).

Jon's guest yesterday was Barak Obama. I am proud to say it seems in this early stage that Vermont is very much getting behind him. If he has to run on one thing, returning common sense and logic (and of course compassion) to the office of the president is a great thing to run on (watch the interview). It will help bring the many who believe there is no logic or compassion in the current state of American 'politics' (fear mongering). Obama was GREAT on the show, and I hope he is on as many chances as he gets. He was even funny. From yesterday's show, the true highlight was Jon going through the casual stages of American problems (self created) in the Middle East (and Afghanistan). Just in case you are reading this and didn't see the episode, news citation here. He went through the history of 'rescuing' the Middle East after the news that the US is giving Saudi Arabia, including when Dick Cheney said going into Iraq (original desert storm) would cause a quagmire. Very funny. Very not funny. SON OF A ..... WHAT THE F..... and we don't rescue ourselves...

What did Jon mean by 'midnight basketball?'?

-Brief political rant. Bread and Puppet: "We're all screwed" Hahahahaha...

Fuct

D

The Best Of 2007

The music released this year has been wonderful. Here are my favorites:

The top 20 of 2007
1. Radiohead - In Rainbows (Vocal Post Rock)
2. Amon Tobin - Foley Room (Symphonic Breakbeat)
3. Serj Tankian - Elect The Dead (Hard Rock)
4. Explosions In The Sky - All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone (Post Rock)
5. Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience And Grace (Rock)
6. Free The Robots - Free The Robots Ep (Psychedelic Indie Electronic Rock)
7. Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero (Apocalyptic Industrial Rock)
8. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank (Indie Rock)
9. White Stripes - Icky Thump (Lo-Fi Indie Rock)
10. The Good, The Bad, And The Queen - (Self Titled) (Rock)
11. Cinematic Orchestra - Ma Fleur (Post Rock)
12. Blockhead - Uncle Tony's Coloring Book (Instrumental Hiphop)
13. Low - Drums And Guns (Shoegazer)
14. John Butler Trio - Grand National (Jam Rock)
15. Flow Dynamics - Flow Dynamics (Funk)
16. Kate Nash - Made Of Bricks (Punk Folk Pop)
17. Quantic Soul Orchestra - Tropidelico (Latin Infused Funk)
18. Hooverphonic - The President Of The LSD Golf Club (Triphop)
19. Chemical Brothers - We Are The Night (Big Beat Electro)*
20. Cocosuma - Pointing Excitedly To The Sky (Post Rock Folk Pop)

The next ten (21-30):
Wax Tailor - Hope And Sorrow
Belleruche - Turntable Soul Music
God Is An Astronaut - Far From Refuge
Gudrun Gut - I Put A Record On
Bamboos - Rawville
Dub Pistols - Speakers And Tweeters
Ez3kiel - Naphtaline
Au Revoir Simone - The Bird Of Music
Money Mark - Brand New By Tomorrow
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha

The next ten (31-40):
Porcupine Tree - Fear Of A Blank Planet
Pilote - Pop Will Make Us Free
Unkle - War Stories
Feist - The Reminder
Tomahawk - Anonymous
Beastie Boys - The Mix Up
Emilie Simon - L'Olympia
Jumbonics - Talk To Animals
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Isis EP
Rjd2 - The Third Hand Instrumentals*

The next ten (41-50):
Laura Veirs - Saltbreaker
Eddie Vedder - Into The Wild
Bjork - Volta
Jose Gonzalez - In Our Nature
And So I Watch You From Afar - This Is Our Machine And Nothing Can Stop It EP
Marilyn Manson - Eat Me Drink Me
Joanna Newsom And the Ys Street Band - EP
Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist
Black Moth Super Rainbow - Dandelion Gum
Joss Stone - Introducing Joss Stone

Other albums of note: Sigur Ros - Hvarf/Heim, Nostalgia 77 - Everything Under The Sun, Ben Harper - Lifelines, Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass, Air - Pocket Symphony, Tori Amos - American Doll Posse, Sage Francis - Human The Death Dance, Pg.Lost - Yes I Am, Marsmobil - Une Affaire De Mode Et De Musique, Holy Fuck - Holy Fuck EP, Cake - Bsides And Rarities, Burning Spear - The Experience

Fair (but not great) albums (usually with a few good songs): Satellite Party - Ultra Payloaded, Nightwatchman - One Man Army, Underworld - Oblivion With Bells, Chris Cornell - Carry On, Velvet Revolver - Libertad, Groove Armada - Soundboy Rock, Will.I.Am - Songs About Girls

Unheard albums:
Ulrich Schnauss - Goodbye
Talib Kweli - Ear Drum
Trey Anastasio - Horseshoe Curve
Kula Shaker - Strangefolk
Caribou - Andorra
Athlete - Beyond The Neighborhood
Iron And Wine - The Shepard's Dog
Mum - Go Go Smear The Poison Ivy, Let Your Crooked Hands Be Holy
Wyclef Jean - The Carnival II

Bands I want to try to listen to their 2007 releases: Panda Bears, Spoon, Bright Eyes, Deerhoof, Shins, The National

Possible 2008 Releases:
Sia - Some People Have Real Problems (Jan 8th 2008)
Black Crowes - Warpaint (March 4th 2008)
Massive Attack - Weather Underground
Mike Doughty - Golden Delicious
Murs - Murs For President
Moby - Last Night
Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero Part 2
Blur?
Cannibal Ox?
Cure?
Peter Gabriel?
Gnarls Barkley?
Jack Johnson?
Muse?
Portishead?
Scott Weiland?

* The vocals on RJD2's album 'The Third Hand' are a disappointment. The instrumental version is much better
* Do It Again (the first single) is the worst song on the Chemical Brother's album 'We Are The Night' except Salmon Dance. Most of the rest of it is phenomenal.

The Best of 2006

The top 20 albums of 2006:

20. Soul Position - Things Go Better With Rj And Al (Hiphop)
19. Sufjan Stevens - Avalanche (Illinois B-sides) (Indie Folk Rock)
18. Thom Yorke - Eraser (Electronic Post Rock)
17. Dj Andy Smith - Freestyle Mix (Funky Electronic)
16. Ray LaMontagne - Till The Sun Turns Black (Folk Rock)
15. Tool - 10,000 Days (Dark Progressive Hard Rock)
14. Quantic - An Announcement To Answer (Electronic Downtempo Soul)
13. Gotan Project - Lunatico (Electronic Downtempo Jazz Tango)
12. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones (Minimalist Raw Rock)
11. Rodrigo Y Gabriela - Rodrigo Y Gabriela (Instrumental Guitar Duo)
10. Nightmares On Wax - In A Space Outta Sound (Electronic Downtempo Funk)
9. Murs (With 9th Wonder) - Murray's Revenge (Hiphop)
8. Muse - Black Holes And Revelations (Electronic Rock)
7. Regina Spektor - Begin To Hope (Eclectic Punk Folk)
6. Alice Russell - Under The Munka Moon II (Downtempo Electronic Soul)
5. Incubus - Light Grenades (Electronic Rock)
4. Philippians - Goodnite Life (Indie Electronic Rock)
3. Alexi Murdoch - Time Without Consequence (Downtempo Folk Rock)
2. Ratatat - Classics (and 9 Beats)(Indie Eclectic Rock)
1. Kid Koala - Your Mom's Favorite Dj (Turntablism)
-------------------------------------------------------
The next ten (21-30):
Lone Wolf And Cub - Wonder, Is Ground On Frost (Post Rock)
Ellen Allien And Apparat - Orchestra Of Bubbles (Electro)
Hybrid - I Choose Noise (Symphonic Breakbeat)
BT - This Binary Universe (5.1 DTS Symphonic Electronica)
Zero 7 - The Garden (Downtempo Electronic)
Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere (Gospel Rock Hiphop)
Black Grass - A Hundred Days In One (Hiphop)
Booka Shade - Movements (Smooth Progressive House)
Tiny - Starring: Someone Like You (Symphonic Post Rock)
Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped (Indie Rock)
-------------------------------------------------------
The next ten (31-40):
Joanna Newsom - YS (Folk Rock)
Matisyahu - Youth (Reggae Rock)
Bonobo - Days To Come (Downtempo Electronic)
Broken Keys - Gravity (Indie Funk Rock)
Audioslave - Revelations (Hard Rock)
Mono - You Are There (Downtempo Electronic Post Rock)
Jedi Mind Tricks - Servants In Heaven, Kings In Hell (Hiphop)
Quantic - One Offs And B-sides (Electronic Downtempo Funk)
Junkie XL - Today (Electronic)
Beck - The Information (Indie Rock)
-------------------------------------------------------
The next ten (41-50):
Foo Fighters - Skin And Bones (Acoustic Rock)
Faithless - To All New Arrivals (Triphop)
Beck - Guerolito (Indie Rock)
John Mayer - Continuum (Pop Rock)
King Biscuit Time - Black Gold (Rock Fusion)
Sergio Mendes (With Will.I.Am) - Timeless (Hiphop Bossa Nova)
Sean Lennon - Friendly Fire (Pop Rock)
Beth Orton - Comfort Of Strangers (Folk Rock)
Placebo - Meds (Brit Rock)
Grizlly Bears (Downtempo Folk Rock)
-------------------------------------------------------
Other albums of note: TM Juke - Forward, Lily Allen - Alright Still, Dub Tribute To Radiohead - I'm Not The Only Record For You, Easy Star All Stars - Radiodread, Ben Harper - Both Sides Of The Gun, Black Crowes - Lost Crowes, Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam, Neil Young - Living With War, Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium, Jack Johnson - Curious George Soundtrack, Cut Chemist - The Audience's Listening, Jurassic 5 - Feedback, Aceyalone And RJD2 - Magnificent City, Triforce Omega - Triforce Omega, Roots Manuva - Alternately Deep, Dr. Octagon - The Return, Charlotte Gainsbourg - 5:55, Corinne Bailey Rae - Corinne Bailey Rae, Teddybears - Soft Machine, Zero DB - Bongos Beats And Basslines, Freddie Cruger - Soul Search, Plan B - Who Needs Actions When You've Got Words, Dj Logic - Zen Logic
-------------------------------------------------------

Parov Stelar - Makes stellar music

Marcus Furder (Parov Stelar) makes some great downtempo music. He's not afraid to chop up his smooth jazz tones and kicking drum beat with the occasional record scratch, all while never bringing it beyond the realm of the downtempo. Think of it as Groove Armada removed from the British electronica scene, or a jazzier version of Zero 7 without Sia's amazing vocals.

Marcus has released two albums under the moniker Parov Stelar (Rough Cuts, Seven and Storm). He heads up the label you will find his records on, Etage Noir, though there doesn't seem to be much output from the rest of the label roster outside of him.

What I find most amazing about this artist is the seeming contradictions in his music. It seems minimalist and simple, yet engaging and subtly complex. It doesn't fall into the droning monotony of many of the other artist who fall into the downtempo field. His music never seems anxious, yet never seems to stand still, once again drawing references in my mind to Zero 7. Anyway, sorry about being away for so long. I'll try to get myself back into this. Comments and page hits will always encourage.

---------------------------------------------------
Songs:
---------------------------------------------------
Parov Stelar - Charade
Parov Stelar - Phong Temp
Parov Stelar - Wintersun

---------------------------------------------------
Albums:
---------------------------------------------------
Parov Stelar - Seven And Storm
Parov Stelar - Rough Cuts

The Best of 2005

So there are all kinds of lists out there of the 'best' of 2005. First of all, M.I.A. and Diplo are the MOST over rated musicians I've ever heard of (unless you're talking about how HOT M.I.A. is). For all you mash up kids out there, have fun with them. For everyone else, who agree that Dangermouse had a COUPLE good ideas on the Grey Album, forget the hype. Unhappy overlapping and beats fighting each other are not my cup of tea. I love Kid Koala, I love Amon Tobin. Listen to them for a while, and then try and come back and tell me Diplo has any skills. Oh, and I won't even go into how messed up it is that the 'hipsters' are jumping on the Kelly Clarkson bandwagon. I'll admit I liked her interview in Blender... but that does not make me like her music any better.

So here goes, my (revised) top 20 albums of 2005:

-20. Daft Punk - Human After All
They make electronic robotic music sound beautiful. This is their most robotic album to date, and in my opinion, their best.
-19. Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine
Was it worth the wait? Probably. The better question is which version of this album is better, the early mixes which got released on the internet or the official release. I think the early mixes are slightly better for most of the songs.
-18. Seu Jorge - The Life Aquatic Studio Sessions
I don't care if you thought the movie sucked, Seu Jorge's acoustic laid back (and Portuguese) versions of David Bowie's songs were wonderful.
-17. Herbalizer - Take London
Herbalizer has yet to make a bad album, and each they make is better than the last. Let's hope this continues in the future.
-16. Matisyahu - Live From Stubbs
The Hasidic reggae artist isn't just a novelty. He's got the talent to back up the unique background.
-15. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
I REALLY didn't want to like Sufjan. Too much internet buzz. But you can't not like him. He makes heartfelt, smooth, endearing songs. Sufjan for President.
-14. Breakestra - Hit The Floor
It's like a mix tape, but all the music is done by the same band. This is the BEST party cd of the year, and deftly combines funk and electronica.
-13. Quantic Soul Orchestra - Pushin' On
Z-Trip has nothing on these guys. Soul, Mo-town, and Hip-hop combined with downtempo electronica. Oh, and they make their own music, they don't just spin it. Nuff said.
-12. Sigur Ros - Takk
Not as beautiful or sweeping as their past albums, it's still better than almost anything else released these days. It's the decade of the Scandinavian Invasion.
-11. System Of A Down - Hypnotize And Mezmerize
Along with Incubus, System Of A Down is proving that main stream hard rock doesn't have to suck, and it can even make you think.
-10. Jack Johnson - In Between Dreams
Following a slight sophomore slump on On and On, Jack Johnson follows up with his best (and least radio played) album yet.
-09. Gorillaz - Demon Days
Without Dan the Automator or Del, Gorillaz sophomore effort is suprisingly still great. Danger Mouse has done a good job, though releasing Dirty Harry as the first single was a VERY bad idea. Fire coming out of the monkey's head with Dennis Hopper is transcendental.
-08. Mike Doughty - Haughty Melodic
Proving that he could make good music without Soul Coughing, Haughty Melodic isn't as progressive as anything Soul Coughing made, but it's still great.
-07. Jose Gonzalez - Veneer
Beautiful. With Elliot Smith out of the picture, who will hold Nick Drake's torch? I think it's Jose Gonzalez. This is a great prequel to his vocals on Zero 7's Garden.
-06. One Self - Children Of Possibility (And Children Of Possibility Instrumentals)
I think DJ Vadim is finally home. Blu Rum 13 is a TOTALLY underrated MC. This album will slip through the cracks.
-05. Skalpel - Konfusion
Cut off Amon Tobin's sharp edges, and you get Skalpel. Ninja Tune forever!
-04. John Butler Trio - Sunrise Over Sea
John Butler should be 1000 times more famous than he currently is. Radio stations, please play his music.
-03. The Tiny - Close Enough
Their music haunts me day and night. Long live the Scandinavian Invasion!
-02. Alice Russell - My Favorite Letters
The Quantic vocalist gets her own album. Step aside Norah Jones, Joss Stone, etc.
-01. Blockhead - Downtown Science
Instrumental Hip-Hop is the sound of the future, and Blockhead does it the best.

Honorable mention: White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan, Yonderboi - Splendid Isolation, Amon Tobin - Chaos Theory Soundtrack, Parov Stelar - Seven And Storm, Nine Inch Nails - With Teeth, Imogen Heap - Speak For Yourself, Doves - Some Cities, Audioslave - Out Of Exile, John Mayer Trio - Try! Live In Concert, Nada Surf - The Weight Is A Gift

For now, since I'm still in process of getting a server for listing files, here are a couple tracks (courtesy of betterpropaganda) of the above artists:

Sufjan Stevens
Blockhead
Skalpel

Jets Overhead - The bridges between you and me

Thank God (Jesus/Satan/Al Gore/Etc) for the Internet. Without it, I highly doubt I would have ever come across Jets Overhead (or the vast majority of the music I listen to now). Most recently, the internet was able to BRIDGE the gap between me and this wonderful Canadian band.

Jets Overhead have recently released their first full length studio album, Bridges, and let me be the first to guide your tired feet onto their causeway.

The sound of this band is not entirely progressive. They are somewhere in between Belly and Explosions in the Sky, and they wander through the this landscape with great success. Their post rock tendencies are what really bring this band forward for me. Basically, they have yet to amaze me, but have yet to disappoint. What I enjoy the most about this band is their consistency. Their entire catalogue is available from their website, and here you can see an obvious growth from the demos to the EP to Bridges, but in each step ALL of the songs are great. If the step up from the EP to Bridges is any indicator of where this band is heading, I'll follow their bridges where ever they build them.
I definitely recommend going to their site and downloading ALL of their songs, however I've included my three favorites from Bridges for your listening pleasure. As always, a big thank you goes out to the band for producing and providing these wonderful gems.

Jets Overhead - All The People
Jets Overhead - Bridges
Jets Overhead - No More Nothing

Ani Difranco - Punk folk music

So I've recently been on a hiatus... no biggie, I was having a hard time finding the mp3s I really wanted available from the artists OWN website. Well, I just came across a wonderful nugget from the self made woman herself, Ani Difranco.
Ani is the truly independent music producer, and walks the avenue few musicians have the guts or grit or luck to do by owning and running her own bootstrap record company (Frank Zappa is among the few others to have been successful in this avenue). Her output is inconsistent in style and in quality, but everything she does is 100% Ani. Her better output is among the best music EVER made.
I was very reluctant to get into Ani's music initially. Being labeled 'chick music' I was under the impression that it would be along the lilith fair crew sound and totally foreign to my male perspective on life (aka militant lesbian). However, I quickly came to realize that its a lot easier to write Tori Amos off into this field (though heterosexual) than Ani. Ani is BI-sexual (she dated many women and a few men before marrying her husband and pissing off the hypocritical portion of the gay and lesbian community). Due to this open outlook, the man hating seems to be more balanced with a general hate of all the evil PEOPLE of the world. Her battle songs are one part Bob Dylan, one part Saul Williams. Even her softer, happier stuff can be some of the most well crafted insightful songs you can come across.
Anyway, she's recently been on a more introspective and softer kick, but that doesn't mean she's put away the boxing gloves. When everyone else was laying down in the face of government pulling our rights away from us at the end of 2001, Ani was fighting back with songs like self evident. Enjoy, courtesy of Ms. Ani D.

Ani Difranco - Self Evident
2 Bonus songs from betterPropaganda.com:
Origami and Studying Stones (click on 'listen' to download the songs)

Bullfrog - Turning the prince into a frog

In my humble opinion, the world needs more bands like Bullfrog. Unfortunately, due to the amazing skill of the members of this band, I don't think this is really a viable possibility. The cast members of note are as follows:

Eric Sans (aka Kid Koala) - You may or may not know who Kid Koala is. But in all likelihood you've heard something Kid Koala has done. Through his work with Gorillaz, he hit the main stream from behind the curtains. He also worked on Deltron 3030 if you're a underground hip-hop head (essentially the Gorillaz with more emphasis on Del and less on Damon Albarn). On his own he's released some VERY experimental turntablist albums (not recommended for the faint of heart), but to see him live on the turntables is an transcendental experience, especially when he puts the headphones away and keeps spinning the wax.

James Sobers (aka BluRum 13 aka The Killa Platypus) - Not known in many circles, his slow smooth rhymes are among my favorites of ANY rapper. I put him on par with Del and Chali 2na, but that's just my opinion. The newest release apparently does not include James, but he's still in the Bullfrog fold.

Mark Robertson - Mark brings the funk, and is the guitarist and helm of Bullfrog.

Other variable members - Peter Santiago, Massimo Sansalone, and a few others.
Bullfrog makes music that fits somewhere in between funk, jazz, hip-hop, and electronica. Basically, the greatest party music EVER created. Koala's cuts fit perfectly into the mix, without overshadowing the funk. BluRum 13's vocals are amazingly witty, funny, and well placed.

Their self titled release on Rope-a-dope records is a great album, with a stand out song in "Reverse Psychology", however to get the real experience you'll need to wait until the band gets back together to tour again. Hopefully they'll be doing so soon, and hopefully BluRum 13 will be with them despite not being on their most recent release "Deeper Shade Of Green". Below I have supplied links from their website for two songs off the new album (Mark on vocals) and one off their self titled album (Mark and BluRum 13 on vocals). I have also included 'The Bullfrog Theme' thanks to the link on Rope-a-dope records.

Bullfrog - Deeper Shade Of Green
Bullfrog - Winter Song
Bullfrog - Nice Try
Bullfrog - Bullfrog Theme

How I learned to stop worrying and love Blockhead

I will be the first to admit, in protest to the RIAA's hard line stance against file sharing I have greatly reduced my CD purchases in recent years. I spend most of my time downloading free LEGAL mp3s released by bands, and occasionally buy a used CD here or there or a CD from a band I have just seen in concert. I hate the industry, I love the artists. I would rather go without their albums then hand money to the 'man'. However, when my favorite record label (Ninja Tune) releases a new CD by one of my favorite DJs (Blockhead) with a bonus DVD and I get to listen to it in my local independent record store (Pure Pop), I lay down the $13 and walk out happy.

Blockhead is best known for his production work with Aesop Rock, but he has really shown in his solo work. His debut was Music By Cavelight, a DJ masterpiece easily on par with the best work of RJD2, DJ Shadow, or UNKLE. You've Got Maelstrom is THE SONG out of my entire collection I have listened to the most since over the last year, and I'm still not tired of it. Now to the new album, Downtown Science.

Here's what you'll get when you buy Downtown Science (currently on backorder if you try to get it directly from Ninja Tune):
1. An Amazing Album
2. A DVD covering 3 visual work ups to accompany Music By Cavelight. The visuals vary from bland to inspired, but if you don't already have Music By Cavelight, its like getting two albums in one.
3. As usual with Ninja Tune the artwork is well done and fitting for the artist.

Now to the music. Blockhead continues to grow now that he's been released from the shadow of Aesop. The tracks are sweeping, emotional, and extremely well layered. The use of samples is well placed, and the increased use of blazing guitar doesn't take away from the feeling of the album. Instead, the guitar injects the album with a slight tinge of post-rock. I think this is an inevitable move in this genre, and I can't wait till the exploration goes even further.

Blockhead - Carnivores Unite

Blockhead - Insomniac Olympics (Video)

The Tiny - Big music

The Tiny is my favorite band I've recently discovered. I say this about once a year (1 Mile North was the last winner). I am tending to lean more and more to 'post-rock', but the more orchestral and less dissident versions of 'post-rock'. The beauty that can be found in combining the sonic masterpiece which is classic music with rock has just begun, and is something to behold in its fledgling state. Oddly enough, the Tiny barely fit into this category. They don't have enough guitar to fit into the 'traditional' idea of post rock (when did the stupid term post-rock get to be traditional...?). Instead, this 'tiny' trio consists of a cello, an upright double bass, and the haunting vocalist on the piano.

I guess the best way to describe this band is to put Portishead's general sonic landscape in a blender with Sigur Ros' mastery of sound and Bjork's 'the world is dying but that's no reason not to be happy' attitude. They haunt my mind, and I can't listen to them enough. I HIGHLY anticipate the next time they tour through the US, and if you have any info on when this will happen PLEASE post a comment.

Thanks goes to Paul Irish over at Aurgasm for introducing me to the Tiny and supplying the link for Closer I have listed below. Thanks to the Tiny for the Christmas version of No Money. Merry early Christmas everyone!

The Tiny - Closer

The Tiny - No Money (Christmas Version)

(Coming tomorrow - a review of a WHOLE album - or How I learned to stop worrying and love Blockhead)

The Cranes - Beauty is haunting

So I came across the fact that this band had toured with the Cure recently. Anyone that Robert Smith picks to open for him is worth looking into. And this band definitely is. They've been around for a while (they've released 6 albums), but they are an independent band and rarely cross the pond to do US tours.

The sounds are haunting. They seem soft and soothing, yet concurrently dark and ominous. The sonic imagery brings thoughts of Belly, Portishead, and Lamb to my mind. Far Away is a particularly amazing piece.

Like all other bands I will be promoting for the time being, they have the mp3 samples right own their own homepage. Thanks guys! Come to the US some time soon, I'd love to see the magic in concert.

The Cranes - Don't Wake Me Up

The Cranes - Shining Road

The Cranes - Tangled Up

The Cranes - Far Away (Live)

Mike Doughty - Life after Soul Coughing

The master of nonsense words and melodic non-sequitur (more like ranting) is back... despite the fact that he never really went away in the first place. Mike Doughty was the lead singer of Soul Coughing, a seminal band of the nineties who brought a fusion of rock, jazz, drum and bass, and non-sequitur to the 'main stream'. They put on an amazing show, and I feel very lucky to have seen them before they disbanded.

Mike Doughty has plowed on since the end of the band, working back up from the bottom, selling his CDs out of the back of a van, and working hard to get signed as a solo act. Initially, this was an entirely solo effort, and in this venue Doughty seemed hit and miss. When he was on, he was on fire. When he was off, I would walk away from the show wondering where Yuval Gubay was and how I could finagle getting Soul Coughing back together.

Now, Mike Doughty has finally come into his own. He's picked up a backing band, he's honed his songwriting skills (moving away from the non-sequitur but not leaving the nonsense behind entirely), and he's been signed by the label ATO and is finally getting some station recognition again.

M. Doughty is still at his best when the lyrics really don't make any sense (Ossining on Rockity Roll) and when they make little sense (27 Jennifers on Rockity Roll) but now the heartfelt ballads like 'Grey Ghost' and the amazingly insightful 'Looking At The World From The Bottom Of A Well' from 'Haughty Melodic' work into the mix, bridging the sound of Doughty on his own with the sounds of the 'coughing. Take a look at his homepage (I'm linking to it for the MP3s... thanks Mike!). It's a well designed site, has a ton of info, and you gotta love the Flash paint by numbers portrait on the bio page.

Mike Doughty - Looking At The World From The Bottom Of A Well

Mike Doughty - Your Misfortune

Mike Doughty - 27 Jennifers

Mike Doughty - The Only Answer

Blues Traveler - They have their moments

Blues Traveler has got to be the band that proved that the record industry can't keep a good band down. After years and years of touring and hundreds of shows, they finally hit the charts big with Run Around. The amazing thing about the band is that their best work came out in the days before they hit it big, working the grind of the road and the emotional turmoil of a man who grew up like so many of us, unpopular, picked on, and alone. Instead of a bunch of depressing and angry songs, his songs were of love, happiness, and the beautiful tragedy of life. John Popper (lead singer and harmonicist) was the ying to Kurt Kobain's yang. He was never given the looks, or the instant popularity, but he was given an amazing talent at the mouth harp, and prevailed despite the many obstacles our society gives to those that aren't deemed pretty or popular.

Travelers and Theives is one of the greatest albums of all times. I'll just leave it at that, if you disagree write me a comment. Four was a slight let down, but its what put the band on the charts. After Four was released, the band basked in the glory of their popularity. Then they faded away, with a lackluster album which several people I know contend they stole the title of from Percy Hill.

Now, John Popper has reinvented himself, lost weight (thank god, I was always worried for his health), and the band is definitely back on top of their game.

Many thanks go to Blues Traveler for making these WONDERFUL b-sides available on their website. And thanks to the 13 people who came to the site yesterday, proving I'm not just writing to myself.

Blues Traveler - The Path

Blues Traveler - 12 Swords

Blues Traveler - The Traveler Suite

Harvey Danger for President (of the RIAA)

So I'm still procrastinating on my original plan to start this blog with the center of my music collection. In fact, I've been totally dragging my feet on doing regular updates. Mostly, this has been due to the fact that ONLY 35 people have visited this blog since I started it. So in response to this, the new policy is that I will do a new post each time one of the two following scenarios happens:

1. I receive a comment on my post (advertising and SPAM do NOT count)

2. 10 or more unique people come to the page on one day. This has only happened once, on September 6th, and it was 20 unique visitors (more than half the total site traffic I have so far. I need to figure out the reason for the spike.)

So once I'm sure I'm not just posting for myself, I will either post a song or set of songs from the epicenter of my music collection (if I can ever figure out a good free server for mp3s) or I will do like today, and post something new and important.

Almost everyone in the nation knows Harvey Danger's breakout hit single (or one hit wonder), flagpole sitter. A great uptempo song with upbeat macabre lyrics and a penchant for insanity. It hit the airwaves in a big way in the late 90s, and managed to even break into just about all the various types of radio stations I listen to. The song was great, and despite the amazing amount of play time I never really got sick of it. Then they fell off my radar.

Now, they are back, robbing from the rich (the RIAA) and giving to the poor (the public) in hopes that the quality of their music will bring them in the front of public consciousness. And I think they just might succeed. Think of their music as similar to the Refreshments but with a darkness and occasionally sonic arcs that pull them into the territory of REM. They even occasionally throw in some politically charged lyrics. Enjoy their new album, direct from the source itself. I wish all bands were this cool.

Harvey Danger's new album, Little By Little

John Butler Trio - Opening bands that out rock the headliners...

Simply put, the John Butler Trio put Assembly Of Dust to shame, even when AOD got a little help on bass from Mike Gordon (of Phish fame). So here goes: the good, the bad, and the unfortunate.

The Good:
I walked in with my friends minutes after John Butler started. I think I heard the first note as we walked through the large wooden double doors at Higher Ground, but for all I know we missed the first song. However, according to the VERY accurate concert schedule we missed one song at the most. So we walked in, having no idea what to expect from this band that we had all only heard one song by on the radio in the last few weeks. The quad I was there with shuffled our way into the middle of the crowd and chatted it up as would be expected for an opening band. But as we stood there, a pattern of silence started. People would trail off in mid-sentence and stare at the stage. Within two songs, we realized this was no 'opening' band. This was THE band we were there to see. If he's not selling out arenas in the near future, there is no justice in the music industry. He has all the potential to be the next Dave Matthews; his songs are radio friendly, but in concert there is SO much more there.
If one were forced to describe John Butler's music in one word, it would have to be 'roots'. He brings in all of the old, the reggae, the blues, the rock, and the tribal, and brings it together like it was never meant to be apart. As unfair as it is to try to quantify a musician into an amalgamation of other artists, I'd say John Butler is one part Rusted Root, one part Live, and two parts Ben Harper. And he does it all with a backing of two. And he's picked up QUITE the duo to come along.

The Bad:
Apparently the guy we totally bagged out on seeing was pretty good. But I doubt it. Look at Kyle Riabko's website, and watch his music videos. Did they clone Hanson, but only one was successful?

The Unfortunate:
Nate Wilson, what's up? Why are you wasting your time with Reid? I'll desist from ranting about Reid's shortcomings, but my real disappointment with AOD was Nate. Personally, I had never before seen Nate have a bad show. He was the center of Percy Hill, the guys understood it and played accordingly, and he seemed to feed on it. He smiled a lot, and was the one that brought me back to see Percy Hill time after time.
Percy Hill was/is a band. AOD are not a band, they are a group of musicians. Maybe someday they will be something more. Today, they have no cohesion. Maybe this is a result of not doing full blown tours together, maybe it is something else. Until they form together, they are what Strangefolk was the last time I saw them two years ago, bits and pieces of greatness without the glue to hold the pieces together. I will keep hope up for them, as individually they all have the potential for greatness, but together they do not equal the sum of their parts.
Mike Gordon made it apparent that the bass is the weakest piece of AOD, but he also seemed to walk into the haze of 'who goes now' and 'what do I do next' that seem to constantly arise in AOD even when they're playing with no guests.

John Butler Trio - Funky Tonight (Live 2004-08-13)

John Butler Trio - Far Away (Live February 2003 on Channel V)

The Assembly Of Dust - Listener Appreciated

I have trouble liking the Assembly Of Dust, but at the same time I also have trouble NOT liking the Assembly Of Dust. The first opinion stems outside of the musical realm and more into the nostalgic, and really so does the second...

The Assembly Of Dust's core members began as Strangefolk and Percy Hill, my two local favorites during my high school years growing up in Stowe Vermont. I have probably seen those two bands in concert more than all other bands combined. Personally, I always like these two local jam bands better than their contemporaries which hit it big, Phish included. Of these bands, I always saw Nate Wilson on keyboards as the standout of Percy Hill and Jon Trafton on lead guitar as the standout in Strangefolk, but the lead vocalists of both bands were more than capable. Joe Farrell of Percy Hill could outdo Sting on a Police cover, and Reid Genauers could wrench an amount of emotion out of his vocals which is rarely seen in the jam band scene.

I saw these bands grow and prosper, gaining national recognition and musicianship from month to month. Percy Hill put out one of the greatest studio albums of any of the jam bands in recent history, Colour In Bloom, and Strangefolk looked poised to follow in Phish's footsteps. Strangefolk even followed Phish in playing the (my) Stowe High School Prom (please contact me if you have a bootleg of this show, I've heard they exist).

Then, on the Strangefolk message boards in the summer of 2000, I heard that Reid was leaving the band to go to business school and get married. Personally, I had always seen Reid and Jon AS Strangefolk (Erik and Luke are great, but interchangeable), so to me this was the end of Strangefolk. This was not to be so, and Strangefolk continued without Reid. They were never the same, as they have not been able to replace Reid's amazing vocals and are essentially a different band now.

Percy Hill went on hiatus slightly before Strangefolk broke apart, so I was suddenly left with a void. I went to a few Strangefolk shows and they did not bring out the same feeling they used to, so I stopped going to hold on to my memories of the old band. Don't get me wrong, they're still great, but personally I'd rather see Jon playing lead guitar in a new band, or at least see a new SINGER in Strangefolk. Jon's a capable singer, but as a backing vocalist or the occasional song... think of Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam.

So when I heard Reid was playing shows under the name 'The Assembly Of Dust', I was kind of pissed off he had not reformed the original Strangefolk. This aggression grew as I heard he had recruited Nate Wilson and John Lecesse of Percy Hill to play in his new band. But this was quickly alleviated when I read that Percy Hill would still be playing together when Assembly Of Dust was taking time off and the rest of the band was available. I'd always liked Reid, and I can understand his reasons for not wanting to continue on the road. So I eventually came to be ok with the idea of The Assembly Of Dust. I was even excited at the prospect of hearing what Reid and Nate would be doing together. The live recordings I've heard get better and better the later they have been recorded. The Assembly Of Dust website has a bunch of songs to download for your pleasure. Take a listen to my favorites I came across on their official site. I think you may like it....

Oh, and if you're lucky enough to have tickets to the WNCS listener appreciation show which the 'Dust and the John Butler Trio are putting on tomorrow, I'll see you there.

PS - Much love and sympathy goes out to Jon Trafton in his battle with cancer. He looks to be on the road to recovery, but there is still much to go through. I am pulling for you Jon.

Assembly Of Dust - The Deed (Live)

Assembly Of Dust And Derek Trucks - Blues Tune (Live)

Assembly Of Dust - Roads (Live)