Spititualized - Think I'm In Love (The Chemical Brothers Remix)

The single song download has killed the CD single. The only reason that I used to buy singles was for the B-sides. Bands would usually chuck their left over’s from the recording sessions on a B-side but sometimes some interesting stuff would be on it too. Like a reworked or stripped down version of a song, or an interesting remix.
Such as the B-side to I Think I’m In Love by Spiritualized that has a remix by the Chemical Brothers. They give it their full treatment to great affect. As if they took the song stripped it back to the vocals and then pressed a button that says Block Rockin’ Beats.

Download: Spiritualized - Think I’m In Love (The Chemical Brothers Remix)

Lanterns on the Lake - Gracious Tide, Take Me Home

I don’t listen to a great deal of English bands. The reason being that there’s not many good ones. If you listen to XFM all day and are therefore into landfill indie then you’ll no doubt think otherwise. But I’m not.
There’s plenty of good music coming north of the border but I’ve not heard anything much good of late on the other side.
That is until I heard the debut album from a band on Bella Union called Lanterns on the Lake who hail from England’s most northern county Northumberland.
Gracious Tide, Take Me Home is folk music that often soars to an epic landscape.
Certainly the best album from an English band that I’ve heard this year.

Download: Lanterns on the Lake - Keep On Trying

Elvis Presley - Heartbreak Hotel

In the area where I live there used to be an Elvis Presley themed restaurant. It was like a much more tackier Hard Rock Café where you can eat hamburger’s and fries while a Las Vegas period Elvis impersonator croons away in the corner. The place was thriving in the late 80s and early 90s but has long shut down as that sort of place is as dated as stone washed jeans and white linen suits with the sleeves rolled up.

Almost all Elvis impersonators do the fat jumpsuit period. Its easier than doing the lean sharp suited acoustic guitar swinging 50s Elvis.
In that period he was untouchable as a performer and had the songs to match. Like his first big hit Heartbreak Hotel.
Everything about the song is spot on. Elvis’ vocal range and phrasing, the double bass and brushed drums. Plus coming in at 1:22 is one of the finest guitar breaks in rock n’ roll, and it only last ten seconds. Then there’s the lyrics that are based on the suicide of a man who jumped out of a hotel window, with that and the songs haunting echo it’s kind of a Goth prototype.



Download Elvis Presley - Heartbreak Hotel by clicking on this link.

ZXYZXY - Subclass of the Dead

I’ve mentioned the work of Greg Pappas who goes under the name ZXYZXY before. Everything he puts out is very diverse, whether it be post-rock, ambient or one song that’s a forty five minute drone.
I’ve spent some time with the latest release Subclass of the Dead (available to buy here) and each listen I get more drawn in to its multi-layered world.
And clocking in at ninety minutes it’s a big world to get drawn to and lost in.
The guitars take a back seat on this outing. Instead there’s more electronic, chillwave and some outright weird stuff that phases in and out of tune.
Every listen I find something new and its on the way to being my favourite output from ZXYZXY yet.

Download: ZXYZXY - Rainbow Dash mp3

Howlin Wolf - Smokestack Lightning

I’m keeping on with my blues trip at the moment, so here’s a classic from Howlin’ Wolf, the man with one of the best (if not the best then definitely the grittiest) voices ever put to record.
Smokestack Lighting doesn’t follow the usual blues chord structure. What it does instead is locks into a riff and stays put.
It’s a song that’s been interoperated in ways before and after Howlin’ Wolf did it. But surely none better.

Download: Howlin’ Wolf - Smokestack Lightning

Elmore James - Dust My Broom

A recent purchase from the downstairs section in hmv is a two CD collection of blues man Elmore James. To my recollection I hadn’t heard any of his work before, but its old blues music from Mississippi so of course I had a pretty good idea. Its not going to be happy hardcore is it. And at six quid its worth a go.
Well its been on heavy rotation for the last couple of weeks. It starts off with the overdriven acoustic slide of Dust My Broom (with a riff that makes a regular appearance throughout) but some songs slip into jazz and swing with the piano or saxophone leading the way.
It was six quid more than well spent. And I can’t get that riff out of my head.

Mark Lanegan - Bubblegum

For a while now Mark Lanegan has become Mr voice for hire. Queens of the Stone Age, The Twilight Singers, Soulsavers, Unkle, Isobel Campbell and various others have required his services. It seems like the only creative output that he’s done of late is with Greg Dulli under the name The Gutter Twins. Need a rich baritone growl of a voive? Then give Mark a call.
All of this work is fine but he hasn’t released a solo album since Bubblegum in 2004. Which for me is the finest piece of work that Lanegan has ever put his name to. Including The Screaming Trees.
Its so sparse and yet so dirty with deep throbbing bass lines that compliment Lanegan’s voice so well.
So come on, make another solo album will ya.



Download Mark Lanegan Band - Wedding Dress from this link.

Mogwai - Mogwai Fear Satan (Live)

The days of multi platinum albums are albums almost gone, but what is extinct and has been for some time is the big selling live album.
I have a few live albums but I seldom give them a listen as the studio versions of the songs are always superior. Songs that took weeks or in the studio to get right are put onto an album that is often badly recorded.

The exception is Mogwai. Who‘s live recordings are on par with the studio versions. Like on Government Commissions: BBC Sessions 1996-2003 which contains a mammoth eighteen minute version of Like Herod and a superior version of New Paths To Helicon Pt I.
And the version of Mogwai Fear Satan on the recent live album Special Moves is just stunning.
As good as the live recordings are, seeing Mogwai play live is something else.



Download Mogwai- Mogwai Fear Satan (live) from this link.

Quadrophenia - The Real Me

When I was in my late teens I had a VHS tape of the film Quadrophenia that I watched many times. Back then it was one of my favourite films and I used to think that the main character Jimmy was so cool. I’ve watched it recently and although I still think it’s a good film I’ve realised that Jimmy was a bit of a twat.
After watching the film I listened to the soundtrack by The Who for the first time in a few years and it sounded just as good as the last time I heard it. Its maybe the best album they did.
And one of the best tracks on the album has to be The Real Me. As good a drummer as Keith Moon was sometimes he tended to overdo it with constant drum fills and symbol crashes. On The Real Me all of that is still going on but its played around a driving rhythm and it lets John Entwistle’s bass guitar go off in a virtuoso world of its own. But to great effect.

Work Drugs - Swimmer Girl

To get a sample of the new album from The War On Drugs I was searching around a few blogs to download an mp3. When I played it I thought ‘this is a new sound for them, smooth indie dream pop, but fair enough, sounds pretty good'.
When I played it again I realised that iTunes was wasn’t playing The War On Drugs but I had downloaded some band called Work Drugs (similar sort of name, so that’s where I went wrong).
I’d never heard of them but it turns out that they’re a duo from Philadelphia (also like The War On Drugs) who according to their website make music specifically for boating, sexting, dancing, yachting, and living.
I don’t know what that means but to mean its decent indie dream pop.



Download an mp3 of Work Drugs - Swimmer Girl from this link.

Great Cover #9 Nirvana - Here She Comes Now

The Velvet Underground have had their songs covered many times but I’ve never heard one version that is a match to the original version. That is apart from the Nirvana recording of Here She Comes Now that was originally on a split single with the Melvins but ended up on the With The Lights Out box-set.
The original is a short and gentle song from the otherwise abrasive and avant-garde second album White Light/White Heat. But Nirvana give it their full treatment and considerably boost it up in volume and length.
I would say that its actually better than the original.

Download Nirvana - Here She Comes Now from this link.

Great Opener #3 Massive Attack - Angel

Angel is the opening track from the Massive Attacks third and best album Mezzanine (Blue Lines comes a close second).
It fades in with a brewing bassline that can only be out looking for trouble. When Horace Andy’s vocals come in they’re more understated than on his previous tracks with the band but it only adds to the tension that’s building underneath.
Something has to give and after two and a half minutes boiling point is reached when some rock is added to Massive Attack’s trip-hop sound with a distorted guitar riff and beefed up drums.
I can’t separate Angel and the cover art to Mezzanine they both represent the album well, as in dark.



Get an mp3 of Massive Attack - Angel by clicking onto this link.

60 FT. Dolls - The Big 3

For me one of the best albums of the 90s and one that I still regularly listen to is by the Welsh rock trio 60 Ft. Dolls. After a string of great singles starting with 1994s Happy Shopper their debut album The Big 3 came out in 1996 (1997 in The States where they got picked up by Geffen Records) and there isn’t a dud song on it. Straight up tuneful rock songs.
The second album Joya Magica from 1998 saw them expanding their pallet with some piano, strings and horns. There’s a couple of acoustic songs and some in a more Brit-Pop style (one with a bouncy rhythm, Shed Seven type horns and lyrics about the summer. All the worse traits of Brit-Pop.) that don’t hit the mark. The best songs on the album are when they do what they do best, which is play tuneful rock songs.
The band soon split and another Welsh rock trio came on the scene to have a lot more success. But the Stereophonics have never made an album as good as The Big 3.

Download an mp3 of 60 Ft. Dolls - Happy Shopper from this link.

Howe Gelb - Felonious

“The piano’s stealing Lou Reed licks, licks that he probably stole."
Whether it be with Giant Sand, solo or various side projects such as The Band of Blacky Ranchette, Arizona Amp and Alternator or OP8, Howe Gelb’s musical output has been nothing short of prolific. There’s also many official bootlegs to go with the many official albums.
Out of all of them one of my favorite is 2003’s solo album The Listener. There’s the usual sound of Gelb’s picking at scabs acoustic guitar style, but it also features a lot of laid back piano and sparse string arrangements. Such as the second song Felonious with its brushes drums and Gelb’s close to the mic dusty tones in which he pays a homage to Lou Reed.
“The piano’s still stealing Lou Reed licks, licks he probably stole."

Download an mp3 of Howe Gelb - Felonious by clicking on this link.

Sonic's Rendezvous Band - Slow Down (Take A Look)

Been going through my hard rive and giving it a good cleanout. Mainly been deleting music files. Tracks that I have no intention of ever listening to, such as bad filler tracks on albums that only have a couple of good songs. Out! Live versions from bands who’s studio versions I rarely play. Out! Downloaded tracks that I was testing out but I never liked. Out!
Its tedious work, but I did come across some really good songs that I forgot I had.
Like the song Slow Down (Take A Look)from the Sonic's Rendezvous Band that I got from CD that came with a music magazine. I’d never heard of the band, but after looking into them it turns out that Fred "Sonic" Smith of the MC5 and Scott Ashton from The Stooges are in the band.
That makes sense as their raw garage rock sound is unmistakably from the Detroit Michigan area.

Download Sonic's Rendezvous Band - Slow Down (Take A Look) by clicking on this link.

Sigur Rós - Inni

There has been no action from Sigur Rós since 2008. Then last month their website revealed a trailer for Inni which is a DVD and double CD of the band's live performances at London’s Alexandra Palace.
I was at one of them gigs, and in truth it was a bit of a disappointment. Mainly because the main proportion of the show featured songs the recently released album Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust which I didn’t get on too well with as their ethereal soundscape and sawing strings were replaced with playful up-tempo songs or ones with only singer Jonsi and a piano.

Another reason why I didn’t enjoy the gig as much as I thought I might is that Alexandra Palace is not a good place to see a band. Its not meant for rock music, also to get a drink you had to buy tokens and then go to another line to order the drink. So I spent way too much time in the venue queuing up.
But I’m sure that that won’t come across on the live CD, and as the songs are taken from two nights the track listing will hopeful span over their five albums.

No Doubt the song Svefn-g-englar that first grabbed my attention to the band will be on it. An old flatmate of mine came into my room when I was playing it and said "What is this poncy whale music shit?"
Yes it might sound like that but its a great piece of music.

Download Sigur Rós - Svefn-g-englar by left clicking on this link.

I Heard Her Call My Name

I recently went to visit my parents, and while in their garage going through boxes of C.D.s and cassettes I found a recording of me playing my first electric guitar. Saying that I was playing it is me being very generous to myself. At the time I knew a few chords but didn’t know any scales, though that didn’t put me off doing guitar solo’s where I played random notes up and down the fretboard. It didn’t help that the guitar was terribly out of tune either.
Its awful but not much more than Lou Reed’s erratic guitar solo’s on The Velvet Underground song I Heard Her Call Me Name. It sounds similar. It’s out of tune, abrasive, high pitched, metallic and sounds like it played with the same Yamaha guitar and cheep Peavey amp that I used.
Technically it’s the worst guitar solo put to record, but I find it endearing and its all part of one of my favourite Velvet Underground songs.

Hank Williams - The hmv Downstairs Section

Whenever I walk into the flagship hmv store on Oxford Street a nauseous feeling rapidly consumes me. After a very quick browse at what they have in the ‘new biggest ever sale’ I soon make my way downstairs to the blues/country/world/classical/soundtrack/ musical/folk/jazz/comedy section to get away from the crowd and the new Rhiannon or Kaiser Chiefs release that’s getting blasted out from the sound system.
I know this sounds like I’m old before my time but downstairs is just an all round better shopping experience. Okay so maybe not if you don’t like any of the music they have but even if I did want the new offering from Rhiannon or the Kaiser Chiefs I would still go down there to pay as the queue is almost non-existent.
Luckily I do like a lot of the music in the downstairs section and its where I bought my best ever value for money music purchase that is Hank Williams Greatest Hits. A two CD album with forty great songs for the price of six quid.

Get an mp3 of Hank Williams - Lost Highway by left clicking on this link.

Great Cover #8 (kind of) Beck - Burro

This is a great cover of the Beck song Jack-Ass by err… Beck. It first appeared as a B-side to the single but has since appeared on the deluxe edition of Odelay. Okay so it’s a re-working of the song but it sounds like a cover as its done in a full on mariachi style, complete with Beck singing in Spanish.
One of the main components of Jack-Ass is the sample of Van Morison’s old band Them performing Bob Dylan’s It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.
So Burro is sort of like a cover of a song that’s based on a cover of another song.
There’s another version called Strange Invitation which is stripped down to an acoustic guitar and strings. Its good but Burro stands out because it’s so different from the original.

Download an mp3 of Beck - Burro from this link.

Bon Iver - Blood Bank

When Bon Iver’s first album For Emma, Forever Ago came out three years ago the story of the album - After the break up of his band and a relationship Justin Vernon went back to Wisconsin where he recuperated in his fathers isolated cabin out in the woods - along with rave reviews was a great selling point, and I soon bought it without even hearing a note. In the main it lived up to what I hoped it would be, especially with the songs Skinny Love, For Emma and Flume.
So where did Bon Iver go with the recently released follow up? Well in some parts he's gone back to the 80s with bad sounding synth and keyboard. On the last song there’s even some cheesy 80s saxophone. Also the vocals are in a falsetto that has as much range as a water pistol.
It’s a huge let down. Especially after the in-between EP Blood Bank. With the title tracks slightly distorted chords, varied vocal range and well written lyrics its with out doubt my favourite Bon Iver track.
Shame that on the second album he decided to sound like fucking Enya.

Download an mp3 of Bon Iver - Blood Bank from this link.