April 30, 2009

XTC


XTC is one of the more interesting bands to spring from England's 80's post-punk / new wave movement.  The band was much more popular with critics than with public consumers, though XTC did see some moderate chart success later in their career.  The first two mp3's come from their 1982 album, English Settlement.  The third is a cover of one of their more popular singles, "Making Plans For Nigel", performed by Primus.  God bless you, Les Claypool.




from English Settlement (1982)

from Primus' Miscellaneous Debris (1992)
April 25, 2009

David E. Sugar



David E. Sugar - Although You May Laugh

David E. Sugar - I Still Like Your Clothes

David E. Sugar - To Yourself

David E. Sugar is an indie electronica artist from the UK who's released a few quality EPs, singles and standalone tracks in the past couple of years. He started out as an 8-bit chipcore artist programming songs on his Gameboy, but has since evolved to his unique sound of today, somewhere between house and chipcore, but with a dash of guitars and his own vocal work. His tracks are catchy and danceable, and I hope he'll take the step into making a full-length album soon. It's not going to happen this year, though - he has another, perhaps even bigger, project going. Sugar's ambitious project for 2009 consists of releasing 12 (!) little EPs on his own record label, one for each month. His fourth EP just came out, so it looks like the he's keeping up to his promise of hyper-productivity. One to watch out for!
The Octopus Project is a personal favorite of mine. Their album Hello, Avalanche, is one of the most consistently fun and addictive albums I've ever heard. Their sound is a mixture of analog and electronic instrumentation, with an extremely solid rhythm section that faithfully drives every song. 

from Hello, Avalanche (2007)

The Octopus Project Website

The video is for the song Truck.


Black Moth Super Rainbow is another band along the same lines as The 
Octopus Project, though a bit more experimental and laid back. They 
collaborated with The Octopus Project on a split album entitled The 
House of Apples and Eyeballs, but I have been unable to get a 
hold of it yet. They have a new album on the way entitled Eating Us. 
Anyway, enjoy the video and the mp3s.

from Start A People (2004)

Black Moth Super Rainbow Website
April 23, 2009

Shugo Tokumaru

Shugo Tokumaru's Exit was one of my most anxiously awaited releases. Critically acclaimed, multi-talented, and always surprising, Tokumaru has a gift for creating extremely inviting music that involves a very intricate interweaving of both traditional and eclectic sonic palettes.



In other words, this is some good shit.

From Exit (2008)

Shugo Tokumaru's website

April 22, 2009

Fischerspooner

I found Fischerspooner while watching old Coachella footage at home a few weeks ago. This song and video, for some reason, completely blow my mind. Every video of decent quality that I found on youtube prohibits embedding, so I'll have to post a lame link to it here.

Emerge
April 21, 2009

Caribou's "Melody Day"


This song is not new, but it is to Yousuf, so all of you can enjoy it again (or for the first time if you haven't heard it either.)

from Andorra (2007)
Melody Day

and...
Melody Day (Four Tet Remix)
April 18, 2009

Jack Scolloquial: Attempt Dos

Found a temporary hosting service. It sucks, so hopefully boxstr will come back soon. Here's my second song.

Hello

State of the Site

So we use a service called boxstr.com and we don't know if its just Athens, GA that boxstr has recently decided to not work for, but we can't log in to monitor our bandwidth use or more importantly put up new mp3s. We're looking for a more reliable free service. Thanks for understanding
April 16, 2009

Wolf Vs Pig

Showmanship








All I'm saying is when you perform in a diaper, you're destined to be famous.
April 13, 2009

Jesse 79


Jesse 79

Hahaha
April 12, 2009

Papercuts


from You Can Have What You Want (2009)
A Peculiar Hallelujah
Future Primitive
You Can Have What You Want
April 10, 2009

Minus The Bear - Soundwave 2009 Promo


Minus The Bear is apparently working on a new record.  Fucking killer.

Ice Monster & Knights from Planet of Ice (2007)

Minus The Bear homepage
April 8, 2009

Why You Should Listen To Metal: Cynic


Metal is an underappreciated genre. Granted, the current trend of lyrical delivery that most contemporary metal bands employ is in many cases an aquired taste, and in many more an immediate deal-breaker. Metal still lies for the most part outside of the mainstream. But underneath all of this lies an abundance of aggressive compositions unexplored in most modern pop music and an emphasis on technical mastery seen little outside of most jazz clubs.

Cynic was one of the most influential and experimental groups to emerge from the early 90's Death Metal scene then experiencing its birth in Florida. Pioneering a complex and innovative brand of what can best be described as jazz-metal, Cynic released a groundbreaking debut, Focus, in 1993. This album explored the aggression, technical prowess, and speed typical to other death metal releases, but set Cynic apart from other bands with smooth clean breakdowns, rhythmically challenging songs, and an interesting mix of death growls and vocoders.

Cynic's most recent release, Traced In Air, takes the band in a much more mature direction, abandoning the laser speed and chug based riffs in favor of slowing down and mellowing out without pussying out, leaving them with a more balanced, and overall much more awesome sound. This band is without a doubt one of the most shining examples of what metal has the potential for. They come with a very high recommendation.


How Could I? from Focus (1993)
King of Those Who Know from Traced In Air (2008)
from Incredibad by The Lonely Island. The following video for "Like A Boss (ft. Seth Rogen)" was shown on SNL this past weekend. Enjoy.



P.S. Phoenix was their musical act that episode. Here's "Rally" from their album It's Never Been Like That (2006).

The Walkmen


from You & Me (2008)
Dónde Está la Playa
Seven Years of Holidays

from Pussy Cats (2006)
Subterranean Homesick Blues (Bob Dylan)
Don't Forget Me (Harry Nilsson)

from A Hundred Miles Off (2006)
Louisiana
Another One Goes By (Mazarin)

from Bows + Arrows (2004)
The Rat
Little House Of Savages

from Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone (2002)
Wake Up
Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone
Revenge Wears No Wristwatch

The Walkmen have released five studio albums (the fourth, Pussy Cats, is a song for song cover of Harry Nilsson's 1974 album Pussy Cats.) I'm kinda partial to their first two albums as well as their latest. Idk, 2006 just wasn't their year in my opinion, not to diss the song "Louisiana" (the highlight of that album).
April 5, 2009

Policemen and Planes



This song is old news, but I don't think anyone ever heard the news. I remember trying to find this to download after hearing it on Pandora when I was still going to the Univ of West GA.


Mission of Burma were an influential Bostonian punk group active in the early 80's.  Pushing past earlier, simpler punk formulas of kicking ass and taking names in an effort to weave more thoughtful songs, with deeper lyrical and compositional currents than their predecessors.

This is from their debut EP Signals, Calls, and Marches.


Clem Snide's cover of Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" can be found on their Beautiful EP (2003). If anyone is really begging for an mp3, leave a comment.