Ballboy
In honor (or honour) of the final Star Wars installment, the wonderful Scottish band Ballboy have posted a home-recorded power pop gem called “Light Saber” which closes each line with that walkie-talkie static that used to make it so fun to play stormtroopers (“there she is, set for stun…shhk”). When not giving in to good side of The Force, Ballboy’s approach to songwriting can be summed up by the chorus to “The Art of Kissing”: “A little despair will go a long, long way.” And does it ever…
New MP3 From The Hold Steady
Bunky
A playful, boy/girl pop duo from San Diego backed by members of area scene stars: Pinback, Black Heart Procession, Rocket From the Crypt, and Castanets. This is a band who, in the album credits, refers to drums as “boomkadittles” and bass and guitar as “thunderstick” and “lightenin’ stick” respectively. Not sticklers for spelling, but sticklers for something much more important: making music that makes you laugh and dance and in the case of the ending of “Yes/No,” check outside your windows for UFOs.
Ursula 1000
An oldie but a goodie (like 2003 is old!). Ursula 1000 is one Alex Gimeno, a New York DJ who delightfully blends samba, bossanova, and 60’s groove with smart beats. Sure, it’s nothing new, but Ursula 1000 is a leading adherent of the genre, and “Samba 1000” is awfully catchy. Dada…dada..da..da..da…
The Raging Family
Here’s a brief recap of The Raging Family’s bio: raised and home-schooled by bohemians in Upstate New York; lived in Eugene, Oregon until driven from their house by local authorities because of noise and behavior complaints; settled down in an enclave somewhere in the hills outside of town to focus on music and art. If you ask me it all sounds a little cultish, and at the risk of becoming Sharon Tate to their Manson Clan, I’m gonna throw my support behind The Raging Family’s latest “concept” album. Black Holes is ostensibly a journey through space and time, but how they get us there is through an eclectic collection of styles ranging from the knob-twisting and wax-scratching exploits of Land of the Loops and Prefuse 73, the found-sound rebelliousness of Negativland, the electro-clash abandon of Meat Beat Manifesto, the jazz exploration of Miles Davis and Sun Ra Arkestra, and even the psychedelic guitar masturbation of Carlos Santana’s Illuminations period. It’s a whole lot of styles to wrap your noodle around, but luckily the band has posted the entire album on their website for us to take it all in (the links below are just some highlights), and there are other entire albums there fully linked for the taking — but beware, the money you save on music today may go to pay for the cult deprogrammer you’ll need tomorrow.
Bill Murray: Star Wars Theme
Rilo Kiley
I’d love to find newer and better-quality Rilo Kiley MP3s on the Internet, but I guess these will have to do. (I know there’s a downloadable track on the Barsuk website, but it sounds like it was recorded on one of those little microphones they used to have on boomboxes.) The stellar voice of Jenny Lewis sounds like summer to my ears, especially on “With Arms Outstretched,” a big old smile of a song that features both clapping hands and a rag-tag chorus. I’ll mess around with my favorite line from the song to thank Katherine for cluing me in to Rilo Kiley and wish her well in Chicago: I hope your days by the lake don’t go too fast.
The Lovekevins
There nothing quite like blindly buying an album at the local record store and finding something you just love. Trust me, I’ve bought some real junk over the years (Betty Boo circa 1990, anyone?) in that pursuit. But I’ve found some really good stuff. Sometimes it’s the album cover (Jessamine), sometimes it’s the record label (Henry’s Dress), sometimes it’s just a good vibe (Super 5 Thor). Even today, in the new millenium, that still happens with the world wide web. I stumbled across a real gem of band, the Lovekevins, on the online store Delicious Goldfish Records. Fantastic Swedish pop that soars and bounces and captivates and I just have to go listen to “Stop Being Perfect” again right now.
Invincible Overlord
As a kid I always had trouble convincing my parents that the members of the Dead Kennedys were talented musicians, that they chose to play the music they did, sing the songs they sang (“Kill The Poor” or “Let’s Lynch the Lanlord”) to make a statement. They wouldn’t have it. Although today, after suffering through four sons with similar tastes in music, they get it. Invincible Overlord proves my point. Many popular musicians are (gasp) actual musicians. This is the moonlighting project from a member of a band that will remain unnamed here. I’ll leave that for you to discover. These songs are an old school take on a new school style. Instrumentation over samples. Like Four Tet unplugged or Prefuse 73 pre-digital cut and paste. Invincible Overlord concentrate on the I and the M in IDM.