my beloved dudes and dudettes: i am so sorry for failing to update this blog for like the past forever of time. i have been so busy drinking booze and hanging out with my babe i have ttly not even had time to write anything, ever.
also, i just bought rock band and omfg if i have not been playing that game and drinking tons of booze like non-stop for the past 3 days.
so here are some newsworthy things:
item #1: alan made me listen to the new beck album, modern guilt, and even though i don’t ever really listen to beck (like, ever), and have never really listened to beck, and never really got into any of his seminal work (even though i don’t hate him), this is a pretty good damn record i’m not going to lie. you should probably listen to it. thanks, alan. i love you (but you already know that)
item #2: the new albert hammond, jr. record is so atrociously fucking bad i am not even going to write more than this single sentence about it.
item #3: finally! new cansei de ser sexy (css). omfg i have been waiting for so long. unfortunately, the new album (called donkey aka a giant wtf @ that for a record title) is like 10x more boring than their last, but still it’s pretty good and i can’t say i’m not going to be listening to it a bunch.
item #4: new fucking walkmen, bitches. O.M.F.G. yes. it’s called you & me and it’s ttly good, and also, it gets better with each listen (it was like 100000million times better today than it was yesterday, which was still good). track #3, “on the water” is pretty much completely amazing.
item #5: fantasy baseball, i hate you. i hate you. why is my team so amazing when it doesn’t have to be, but when i just need like basically nothing to beat the worst team in the whole fucking league i can’t even manage 1 hr and 3 rbi’s for the entire week.
item #6: i can’t believe i just recently discovered tourette’s guy on youtube. best videos i have ever seen, ever. why has no one showed me these like 4 years ago!!! where are you people !??!
item #7: oh yeah. i made this new mix, for my new babe, which is pretty cool. you ttly might like it if you like chillaxed kite-flying sunday-afternoon type mixes with acoustic guitars and shit like that. you can download them, if you want.
1. this will destroy you - leather wings
2. mazarin - another one goes by
3. why? - the hollows
4. islands - creeper
5. yeasayer - wait for the summer
6. portugal. the man - shade
7. margot & the nuclear so-so’s - quiet as a mouse
8. voxtrot - kid gloves
9. murder by death - ash
10. meredith bragg - turns out you won
11. sparklehorse - hundreds of sparrows
12. okay - natural
13. beach house - d.a.r.l.i.n.g.
14. folksongs for the afterlife - dark room
15. mazzy star - halah
16. rocky votolato - silver trees
17. n.lannon - spy
18. wilco - impossible germany
19. modest mouse - willful suspension of disbelief
20. band of horses - lamb on the lam (in the city)
[download (73.7mb)] single file mp3
[download (73.6mb)] .zip with individual tracks
item #8: re-reading that tracklist, i realized i have never written about how AMAAZINGFLY AWESOME that new murder by death album (red of tooth and claw) is. so so good. go listen to it right now.
——i promise i will try to update you, dear readers, more often than this. i am a bastard. i am a douche.
i am back from being dead, sort of. lots of updates to fill you dudez+babes in on. here are some:
• weezer’sred album is pretty rad/good/amazing/average, all at once. “pork and beans” is one of the greatest songs cuomo has ever written, not to mention the video is possibly the greatest thing EVER MADE EVER (below).
other highlights are “heart songs”, with absolutely brilliant lyrics; including this gem:
Back in 1991 I wasn’t havin’ any fun
‘Till my roommate said “Come on and put a brand new record on”
Had a baby on it. He was naked on it
Then I heard the chords That broke the chains I had upon me
and also, the completely insane “the greatest man that ever lived”. overall this record is leaps and bounds above the subpar make believe
• the dandy warhols’ new record, earth to the dandy warhols is also pretty damned good. i’ll admit i wasn’t digging it much at first, but after leaving it on repeat all night it grew on me just as much as their others. “now you love me” is a stunning fuzzed-out lovefest on par with “good morning”, “heavenly”, etc.
• ratatat - lp3 is pretty good, albeit, somewhat more chill than their first two albums. the opening trifecta of “shiller”, “falcon jab” and “mi viejo” are particular good. “gipsy threat” is just weird and creepy as hell.
• mates of state’s latest, re-arrange us, is pretty happy-go-lucky, as we’ve come to expect from such a lovestricken husband-and-wife duo. but that’s, of course, a good thing when it comes to mates of state. still, i can’t say i liked this as much as their more recent efforts, especially the epic bring it back.
• a few albums that i missed last year: the first, (i had no idea that) meredith bragg & the terminals realeased a new album in 2007. which they did, titled silver sonya, and which also, is amazing — even greater than their debut. HIGHLY recommend this record, which would have easily been in my top 15 or so of ‘07. another which i keep meaning to write about, that i learned about from good old sebastian, is junius, who play a brand of post-hardcore similar to the more melodic aspects of deftones or the more fuzz-drenched passages of maserati or cave in. their jawdropping self-titled debut was far and away one of the better records of 2007. “hiding knives” is just unreal.
• also thanks to sebastian’s writeups, i have recently been revisiting wire’s seminal work. i have been particularly enjoying 1979’s 154 and ’78’s chairs missing. though admittedly it takes a bit of work to fully begin appreciating them, i’m still not quite sure what took me so long to be able to love these albums.
• the hold steady has a new album (stay positive), but as someone who has never really enjoyed the band that much (save for the unquestionably amazing “how a resurrection really feels”, from 2005’s separation sunday), i won’t write too much about it. i’ve given it a couple of listens, and can’t say i dislike it, but as per usual, nothing sticks out either.
• finally, dead meadow released their new record some 5 months ago now, and i keep meaning to post a review of it, but my laziness has fucked you again, dear reader. nevertheless, in my opinion, it’s their best to date, which may mean that it’s your least favorite (if you’re a legit dead meadow fan). because the same things that make me like it most (it’s more structured, more pop-oriented, more accessible), are probably the things that are turning longtime fans away. the first half of the album is particularly impressive. “down here” is brilliant.
Tall Firs Too Old To Die Young [Ecstatic Peace!/Mar 18]
Like a Wilco-ish Sonic Youth is Tall Firs (whom I just heard for the very first, very amazing time). Beginning in grandiose style with the haunting-but-nonchalant “So Messed Up”, Too Old To Die Young (the band’s second album, apparently) meanders and stumbles through muddy melodies and half-drunk confessionals that are equally intrinsic and calming and sad and accepting of themselves. Dave Mies’ fatalistic vocals seem at peace, (like some sort of reincarnated, non-nasally Neil Young, or something), and meld perfectly with the intricate guitar arrangements; softly brooding, as a moon does, setting in the sun’s sky.
I have never really been able to get into The Unicorns. I tried several times back when pitchshitfork was blowing their load all over them, but their brand of quirky, happy-go-lucky pop just isn’t for me, I guess. Coversely, though, I have always loved everything Islands has put out. Their latest (second) full-length finds them coming into their own as a band with an actual voice instead of just a post-Unicorns project. Arm’s Way is significantly darker than its predecessors, but damn, it’s dark in that sort of way that makes you kind of want to just solitarily confine yourself while you listen to your own insanity and dance happily and think about murdering past lovers and then dance some more. This record is loaded with creepy hooks (“Creeper”, with its intense but hilarious lyrics. “Pieces of You”, tongue-in-cheekily named after the Jewel song), and each listen brings out more of the quirky attitude that led to The Unicorns success. But while the band’s sense of humor is evident, these songs retain a certain maturity that doesn’t rely on eccentric weirdness to get the point across. Arm’s Way is by far one of the best albums released so far this year.
I have no idea why I’ve (sadly) not listened to French Kicks for some five or six years (I remember loving their earlier albums), but after randomly grabbing and listening to their latest release, it’s a mistake I plan to remedy. Swimming actually reminds me a lot of early Walkmen tracks — what with its waves of reverb, mellow vocals and slowly unwinding song structures that gradually ascend to an unheralded and understated breakdown. The triple-punch of “New Man”, “Said So What” and “Atlanta” is particurlarly flattering, as Nick Stumpf’s airy, laid-back vocals lay atop a backdrop of trashy drums and jangly guitar lines that pefectly compliment his nonchalance — at times sounding like Grizzly Bear while other times reminiscent of Radiohead. Swimming is the type of album that definitely gets better after multiple listens, and I am pretty sure I’ll be giving it plenty.
Four long years since the magnificent What Ever Happened to P.J. Soles?, Local H return with their sixth release — 12 Angry Months. A concept album about breakups, this record perfectly encapsulates the withered energy required to sustain a useless and fruitless relationship. Musically, the band moves forward where P.J. Soles left off — at times willing to bare some vulnerability (the unequivocally brilliant closing track, “Hand to Mouth”) while still maintaining the thunderous power of past releases (“24 Hour Break-Up Session”). As usual, Scott Lucas’s lyrics are witty and on point and smothered in a backdrop of pummeling, skullcrushing rhythmic passages. 12 Angry Months is the evolution of everything that P.J. Soles hinted at, and itself an outstanding continuation of the band’s familiar conceptualism (all from a two guys who still sound like four).
The Black Angels Directions To See A Ghost [Light in the Attic/May 19]
The Black Angels’ second full-length harkens back to the 60s even moreso than their first (which I honestly didn’t think was possible), resulting in an undeniably amazing trip through a dreamed-up-decade of faux Vietnams and LSD and Woodstocks. Alex Maas’s androgynous, neo-Jefferson Airplane vocal stylings are drenched in retro-60s psychedelia and enamored with hallucinatory artifacts, as if his voice alone is creating a sort of time loop between then and now. Yet, as much flower-power decade nostalgia The Black Angels possess, they still manage to sound simultaneously modern, which gives them resonance and reason to look back on the past and recreate it on their terms.
Tokyo Police Club Elephant Shell [Saddle Creek/Apr 22]
I (and many others and probably you) have been waiting for this debut since the band’s 2006 A Lesson In Crime EP. Measuring in at 28 fucking minutes long (yes this is a full-length, btw), Elephant Shell has unfortunately shed most of that raw, energetic charm that gave those early EPs such flavor and excitement. Which sucks. The record is still pretty good, just not in the way most of us had hoped (which most likely wasn’t the made-for-The-O.C.-and-Hollister soundtracks that this album sounds like). But an indie prick I am not, and whether or not these songs eventually end up being played for teenagers while they shop will not stop me from enjoying the album. That said, I expected more and am left looking somewhat like this :/
Add Why? to the list of bands I for some reason have avoided until recently. Considering their relation to Anticon/cLOUDDEAD/Doseone, I really have no excuse not to have checked this out the second Yoni Wolf half-sung-half-spoke his first word. Regrets aside, though, Why?’s music isn’t easy to categorize, as Wolf’s vocals are all over the map — ranging from Anticon-styled freestyle hip-hop to the strangely deep, lethargic baritone of Butthole Surfers (yes, seriously) or even Stephen Merritt — yet all the while retaining a consistent vibe that allows the record to flow flawlessly. The surrounding music is as typically atmospheric as usually found on Anticon acts, but it sounds completely different here when fronted by Wolf’s humorous lyrics and strangely hypnotic vocals. A strange album indeed, but strange in a good way… like watching a dog eat a flower.
this is a mix i made about six years ago for a friend of mine. i just recently found the tracklist and decided to edit it together to let it flow. it turned out quite nice. you might enjoy, despite the seemingly strange song selection, and the fact that this is so old i even broke the sacred rule of not repeating the same band on one mix. (three times in a row). a few of these tracks would turn up on later mixes as well. still, i quite like this one.
1. idaho - for granted
2. nick drake - pink moon
3. audioslave - like a stone
4. doves - rise
5. the dirtmitts - fix and destroy
6. the dirtmitts - bank card
7. cat power - metal heart
8. cat power - evolution
9. moonbabies - have you ever said goodbye
10. moonbabies - im insane but so are you
11. the church - under the milky way
12. interpol - leif erikson
13. ms. john soda - unsleeping
14. massive attack - angel
15. new order - crystal
16. starflyer 59 - too much fun
Explodingnow is basically a bloggy online zine (isn't that what most of the internet is these days?). Mostly it's about music, sports and culture. You will love it, I promise.
You can email me, dja AT explodingnow DOT COM.
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