Executive Slacks

Just an update to my earlier post on Dig: For those of us who missed it in theaters, it's already being shown on the Sundance channel. They aired it last night, although I didn't find out until about halfway through but I'm guessing it will be aired again soon.

And also on tv last night, I recognized Ratatat's "Seventeen" in a Hummer commercial. Sad.

Now that I've got the sound working on my computer again, I resumed listening to random mp3s. Here we go.

WFMU has a cool collection of assorted mp3 oddities. Check out On the Download where you can find these gems and more:
George W Bush covers U2
Do all Nickelback songs sound the same?
Alessandro Moreschi is the only castrati to ever have been recorded. I've been meaning to buy his album but here he is singing Oremus Pro Pontifice.

I found this one through an email list. Using vintage video game consoles and old computer equipment, Tree Wave recorded Sleep. Click here to see how they made it.

The Delia Derbyshire website put up this tribute to John Peel.

THE BODY, THE BRIGHT LIGHTS, and TINY HAWKS @ Woodser (Brooklyn NY) - Nov 20, 2004
Learning about this show on the indiepop list and not having heard of some of the bands, I had certain preconceptions as to how they might sound. I was wrong.

Tiny Hawks are a two piece (guitar/vocals and drums). They look like an indie pop band. They come across as very polite and, just like an indie pop band, maybe even a little shy. But they play hardcore. Screamingly loud hardcore, and they were pretty good at it.

I heard of the Bright Lights before. I knew one of the members used to be in Boyracer and one night even saw a video aired on public access tv. The video was quite good. They were dressed like dimestore superheros and went on the rides at Coney Island. The sound was lo-fi and the picture was even grainier, but there was something achingly beautiful about it. Live, the band is everything indie pop should be: enthusiastic, shambolic, and irresistibly catchy. Songs would start, stop, and then start up again; the bassist kept knocking into people; the drummer couldn't stop smiling and no matter how much fun the band looked like they were having, the crowd seemed to love them even more. Very good. I'd definitely go see them again.

Just watching the Body set up, I knew they were going to be very loud since I've never before seen so many cabinets for just one guitarist. Like Tiny Hawks, they too were a two piece which played hardcore but they were heavier and the vocals had more of a roar to them. Coupled with the samples they were using throughout the set, the show ended on the bleakest note possible -- perfect exit music for a drizzly walk back to the subway.

Damn indie slacker. I wanted to see Dig, the documentary about the Brian Jonestown Massacre and the Dandy Warhols. Not by any stretch of the imagination could I ever be considered a fan of either band, but Anton Newcombe just sounds like a certifiable lunatic and the thought of watching his antics on the big screen would be quality entertainment. When I passed by the Sunshine Theater last week, I saw it was playing last Thursday and Friday night. I planned to see it this week, but now it doesn't seem to be playing anywhere in New York anymore.

I was afraid this would happen. I bought someone a Clay Aiken and a Ruben Studdard cd on Amazon.com last year for Christmas and now my email inbox is cluttered with reminders that the American Idols have new cds available now.

Much of this afternoon was spent on a quest to find a take-up reel and some splicing tape for my reel to reel recorder. It was a journey which took me from Brooklyn to Times Square to the Village to Chinatown before finally finding a store which sells empty reels ($4.33 each at 319 Canal St, in case you're interested), yet I struck out looking for the tape.
I initially avoided the store in the Village since I knew it would be around the corner from Other Music and, despite having a long list of cds to buy, I just couldn't spend the money on them today. So instead I took my first shot at the place in Williamsburg, which just happened to be next door to Earwax. Mission delayed for approximately 20 minutes while I shuffled through their selection.

With the exception of a Libertines cd I know I can get cheaper elsewhere, they didn't have anything I was specifically looking for. About to leave empty handed yet satisfied, I noticed Attilio Mineo's Man in Space with Sounds lurking in the "Incredibly Strange" section. I recognized the cover as being the inspiration behind this Man...Or Astro-Man? album cover and for that reason alone, I wanted to buy it. But in order to pay with a credit card, I would've needed to get a second album just to reach the minimum payment so that's when Deep Note entered into the equation. Deep Note could've filled an awesome void in my record collection since 1) I've already written about my need to acquire a few albums with naked girls on the cover, and 2) I am lacking in the porn soundtrack genre. As it turns out, I left the store without getting anything but since I've been thinking about them quite a lot since I left, I may be taking another trip to Brooklyn next weekend.

By doing Google searches for both of those albums upon returning home, I stumbled across Vampyros Lesbos Sexadelic Dance Party. I honestly don't know how I've lived my life thus far without owning a copy of this.

I won't believe it until I see it, but Pitchfork is reporting that Bright Eyes has both the Number 1 and Number 2 singles in the country. "Lua" and "Take It Easy (Love Nothing)" each debuted in the top slots this week on the Billboard Hot 100 Single Sales chart. But when I went to the Billboard website today to confirm this, I found out you need to be a paid subscriber to access that chart. Oh well. It's still hard to imagine Bright Eyes edging out the likes of Kelly Clarkson, Eminem, or the Nelly/Tim McGraw collaboration.

I'm reminded of that scene in High Fidelity (the book, I never saw the movie) when one of the clerks put up a flyer in the record shop with the hope of forming a band. Years went by before he had his first inquiry. It's been six years now since I first noticed it and I have no clue how long it's actually been running, but each week in the back of the New York Press is this ad:

BASSIST AND DRUMMER Wanted by East Village guitar rocker with own, free, professional studio in Manhattan. Call 212-673-0003

I'm very intrigued. Who is this guy? Why can't he find a rhythm section? Do his songs suck or is he a terrible guitarist? Are none of the people who answer his ad good enough to play with him? If he's taking the time to renew the ad every two weeks (as per the paper's policy), he must still be interested in putting a band together.
Please, someone, give him a call. 212-673-0003

This past Halloween, one of the channels was running a dual Munsters / Addams Family marathon. The one Munsters episode I watched involved a man who offered the Munsters a ridiculous sum of money to rent their house for a weekend. They took him up on his offer, checked into a hotel, and a rock band moved into the house. Of course, the band found the place to be delightfully creepy and decided to throw a party. Conversely, the Munsters found the daylight and fresh air of the city too much to handle and returned home early to find a house full of teenagers watching a rock band in the living room. Eddie Munster immediately recognized the band and was quite excited to see them. In no time at all, Herman was trying his hand at beatnik poetry and Lilly, "the swingingest chick from Transylvania," entertained the crowd with her singing and harp playing. It was a good time for all.

The Standells were the band and they lip synched two songs on the show, one of which was a not so impressive cover of "I Want To Hold Your Hand." Not quite sure if they were a real band or not (they looked a bit too tv-friendly), I put the power of Google to use.
They were real. Formed in 1962, they started as a squeaky clean cover band and their ever-changing lineup at some point or another featured an ex-Mouseketeer, a future member of the Walker Brothers, and an Italian immigrant who spoke broken English. They toughened up their image in the mid Sixties and re-invented themselves as a garage/proto-punk band. Their biggest hit was "Dirty Water," which charted as high as number 11 in 1966, and they went on tour with the Rolling Stones.
In addition to the Munsters, they made various other tv and movie appearances, including the cult film Riot on Sunset Strip.

For more info:
You can read about the here and here. You can also check out their AMG entry. Not surprisingly, Sundazed has reissued two of their eps.

I made a very successful, and rather Scandinavian, trip to Other Music over the weekend.


SAVAGE ROSE s/t (Polydor)
The classic 1968 debut from this Danish band. They were featured in Richie Unterberger's Unknown Legends of Rock 'n' Roll and the accompanying cd included "A Girl I Knew," which just blew me away. After countless attempts to actually find this album in any stores, it's mine now. With a good blend of Sixties' psychedelia, jazz, and art rock, it was well worth the wait.


DUNGEN Ta Det Lugnt (Subliminal Sounds)
This is the work of Swedish multi-instrumentalist Gustav Ejstes. It opens with a drum solo and delivers the most intoxicating psychedelic pop album I've heard in a while. Familiar and hummable melodies with a Sixties feel updated for today. Very good.