Nick Cave first hit the music scene back in the late seventies, with his band The Boys Next Door (later renamed The Birthday Party ), and later as a solo artist, with The Bad Seeds , and more recently with Grinderman . Over his four decade long career, he has never had any massive hits. He does, however, have a huge fan following, and the majority of his albums, books, soundtracks, and movies have garnered critical acclaim. [...]
A while back, I did a little post on the best American punk band ever, bar none. In case you missed it, I'm referring to Big Black . At the time, I wasn't specializing in rarities, so I only included one non-album song in the post. Looking back, that seems a shame, since they have so many fantastic songs that weren't on the albums. So, to make up for it, [...]
The Waterboys formed in Scotland in the early eighties. Throughout their 25+ years, the only constant member has been leader Mike Scott . The band has gone through three distinct periods since its inception. In the eighties, they had a “Big Music” sound, typified by their hit “The Whole of the Moon”. In the late eighties, Scott moved the band to Ireland and transformed them into what has been called a “Raggle Taggle” band. After breaking up in the nineties, they later reformed as an experimental folk-rock band. [...]
Wondrous Oblivion is a British film from 2003. It wasn’t a block buster, and it didn’t have any big name actors, aside from Delroy Lindo ( Gone in Sixty Seconds , Get Shorty , etc.) It’s basically a story of an eleven year old Jewish kid trying to learn Cricket from his new neighbor. But that neighbor happens to be from Jamaica, and this is the 1960s, so racism rears its head. [...]
The early nineties in Seattle, the major record labels were scrambling to sign any band in sight, to try and make a big splash after Nirvana hit. Many of the bands that got major label deals in the era were well deserved, and did well with the “grunge” crowd. These were the days of Alice In Chains and Pearl Jam and Soundgarden , etc. etc. Screaming Trees became well known around then for their song “Nearly Lost You”, [...]
Last week‘s post (which included a Dukes of Stratosphere cover) reminded me that I have never put up any songs from XTC . It‘s time I changed that. “New Wave” popsters XTC formed in Swindon, England in the mid seventies. In their nearly thirty year career, they had several hits, and many critically acclaimed albums. They also had a huge amount of songs that didn’t make it to their albums. Normally I would be [...]
John Flansburgh and John Linnell are the core of They Might Be Giants . The two Johns met as teenagers and began writing music together while still in high school, though they didn’t become TMBG until years later. Around 1981, they began using the name, and performing as a duo (with drum machine backing) around Brooklyn. To help spread the word about their music, early on they began putting music on an answering machine, and advertising the number as They Might Be Giants’ [...]
By request. . .Here’s some more INXS . Most of ‘em are good quality. One of them is really really scratchy (recorded from vinyl) and one of them is really low bit rate, but it’s the best I could get. Enjoy. INXS - “Space Shuttle” B-side of “The One Thing” 12” single. INXS - “Go West” B-side of “Don’t Change” single. This is the scratchy [...]
I felt like posting something with a bit harder edged this week, so I pulled out some old Skunk Anansie . Skunk Anansie were a rock (or alternative, or hard rock, or political rock, or, as the lead singer labeled it, “clit-rock”) band formed in England in the early nineties. Lead by an angry bald black woman going by the name of Skin (born Deborah Dyer), they tooled around for several years, releasing such lovely tunes as “Little Baby Swastika” and “Selling [...]
INXS was formed in Sydney, Australia in 1977. They had a string of hits in Australia in the early eighties, and made it big world wide a few years later. You probably know the rest of the story. They kept going fairly strong until 1997, when lead singer Michael Hutchence was found dead in his hotel room. His death was ruled a suicide, though his baby-mama, Paula Yates , hinted at it being the result of a sex act. Soon after, [...]
Pornography of Despair (Part Two) As promised, here’s the rest of what may have been The The ’s Pornography of Despair . For a good chunk of an interview with Matt talking about Pornography , go to this wiki . 01 The The - “The Nature of Virtue” 02 The The - “Leap Into the Wind” [...]
Pornography of Despair (Part One) Matt Johnson is The The . Occasionally with a few other blokes as well, but for the most part they’re just him. For those who are familiar with The The, you’re already aware that they have several legendarily unreleased albums. Spirits , Gun Sluts , See Without Being Seen , Silent Tongue , and the one I’m dealing with today, Pornography of Despair . [...]
American born singer-songwriter-guitarist Ben Harper plays a mix of folk, blues, rock, etc. etc. You ever get tired of reading these things? Does anybody even pay attention? I'm betting not. Anyway, here's the music you're actually here for: Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals - “Wicked Man” B-side of “Ground On Down“, later issued on the Music For Our [...]
Here’s another one of those if- you- haven’t- heard- of- him- you- should- just- stop- trying- to- pretend- you- know- about- music posts. Tom Waits was born in California in 1949. He began his professional recording career in 1973, with an album of bluesy beat-poet style songs. Over the years he has evolved into an avant garde singer-songwriter (and actor) whose style spans the range of jazz, folk, blues, experimental, rock and funk. And probably a few more that aren’t popping to mind at the moment. But [...]
Mick Hucknall is Simply Red . Him and anyone else that he decides to put in the band at any point. They, or rather he, came out of England back in the eighties playing a mix of pop, jazz, and blue-eyed soul. Breaking on the scene with the massive hit “Holding Back the Years”. A few minor hits later, they sunk back into obscurity in the states, but remain a big name act elsewhere. Big name with good reason, Mick has a hell [...]
They came straight outta Scotland in the early eighties, playing a brand of lengthy dramatic rock songs that can only be described as progressive. At this point in the write up comes the obligatory reference to Genesis . Originally calling themselves Silmarillion (after a J.R.R. Tolkien book), they shortened their name to Marillion a bout the time lead singer Fish joined up. [...]
Alrighty, here’s the poop on one Luka Bloom . His real name is Barry Moore . His brother is the Irish singer Christy Moore . The stage name comes from Suzanne Vega ’s “Luka”, and the character, Bloom, in James Joyce ’s novel Ulysses . Luka has been recording, first under his given name, and later under the pseudonym, since the seventies, with much critical acclaim, but little mainstream success (here in America, anyway). That’s alright, though. Mainstream, [...]
I mentioned the Irish band Hothouse Flowers once before, in the post about fellow Irishmen The Frames . Back in the late eighties and early nineties, the Flowers were among my favorite bands. Strange because at the time I was big into angry and depressing stuff, which is the opposite of Hothouse Flowers. By the mid-nineties, the original line up had split (alright, it wasn’t the original line up, but the line up from the first album), and I haven’t really taken the [...]
Consider this a congratulatory post. Peter Garrett, former lead singer of the Australian band Midnight Oil , was recently named Minister for Environment in the Australian government. Those who are familiar with Midnight Oil, beyond the mega hit “Beds Are Burning”, know that Peter has long been an environmental advocate. We here at the Pile of Vinyl offer our congratulations. Let’s hope Peter retains both the power and the passion. (ouch, that’s a groaner) In [...]
The Boomtown Rats hailed from the town of Dun Loaghaire (pronounced dun leery), near Dublin, Ireland. They formed in the mid-seventies, and stuck around for a little over a decade. Until lead singer Bob Geldof got all political, and went and organized that Live Aid thing. Best known for their international hit “I Don’t Like Mondays”, they had several other big songs in the UK (“Rat Trap”, “Looking After Number One”, etc.) When they split up in ‘86, they left behind six albums of [...]
deadbilly's steaming pile of vinyl
Cher’s “Woman’s World” is Now on iTunes, Finally
Deer Tick – “The Rock”
Escucha el ruidoso regreso de M.I.A.
White Lies Stream Track From New Album
