Facebook After writing up some bands lately whose names have either undersold or misrepresented the music they present, it's rather refreshing to have an artist whose public identity promises exactly what they have to offer. And that artist is Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny . A grandiose name, to be sure, and one that's matched by the title of their just-released debut album Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose . There's no way that labels like those could herald anything less than grandiose [...]
XTC : The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul [ purchase ] I don't like the label "post punk", but if I have to tell you what it means, I point to the music of XTC. Over a strong rhythmic pulse, you find crunching guitars and highly politicized lyrics. But XTC's leader, Andy Partridge, is also heavily influenced by the Beatles. So in 1986, Partridge got some help to expand XTC's sonic pallet, in the form of producer Todd Rundgren. The resulting album was Skylarking. Here, one hears nature sounds, there [...]
Woody Guthrie's New Year's Resolutions, 1942 After all the champagne is gone and the confetti swept off the floor, we're faced with a brand new year and a second wind of optimism. This year, you'll start running, you'll quit smoking, you'll waste less time, you'll kick television, you'll love more and eat less. Whether you're trying to save up or get your weight down, as long as your resolutions last, here's your soundtrack. Full track list after the jump! Track listing: [...]
Well the way that we're living, is all take and no giving, there's nothing to believe in, the loudest mouth will hail the new found way, to be king for a day
In the stream of excellent hard-hitting power-pop albums that were released in the aftermath of the punk explosion, there were bound to be a couple ones forgotten, or associated bands being relegated to one-hit wonder status. The Vapors, famous to anime fans and frequent listeners of the Dr. Demento show for their deliciously warped hit
Now that I have a great turntable and pre-amp, I've been visiting the archives to see which albums and singles deserve to be re-recorded and re-posted. Obviously, the soundtrack to Urgh! A Music War was one of the first on the list. These new recordings sound light-years better than my last attempt, and I highly recommended you download them even if you have an older copy I posted. I've talked about Urgh! several times over, so I'll keep the intro brief. It's an amazing document of a time period in music, when the punk [...]
Spirit in the Sky: Songs about Religion Since we spent the last two weeks already talking about the supernatural, [...]
While we're not great ones for themed mixes on MM, Halloween is one of the exceptions we like to make. Here is a perfect mix for whatever ghoulish event you've got lined up today! Fifteen corking tunes, from the skewed new wave pop of XTC and off-kilter indie of the Mountain Goats to the trashy surf rock of The Cramps and from the folk-stomp of the Men They Couldn't Hang and the gothic drive of Ghost Dance to the pounding blues rock of the Scissormen and 22-20s . Enjoy. [...]
Calm down folks! All of you who were waiting with bated breath for part 2 can relax now, it's right here: XTC: Runaways ( English Settlement ) Roxy Music: Avalon ( Avalon ) Paul Simon: I Know What I Know ( Graceland ) Ratatat: Montanita ( Classics ) [...]
PLAYLIST: The Jam - Pretty Green Carbon/Silicon - Caesars Palace The Boo Radleys - Vegas Sleeper - Vegas Dressy Bessy - Big Vacation Kitchens Of Distinction - Jesus Nevada The Fall - Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul Stone Roses - Made of Stone The Names - Night Shift Kaiser Chiefs - I Can Do It Without You The Pastels - Couldn't Care Less Vivian Girls - Damaged Super Furry Animals - The Placid Casual King Khan & The Shrines - I Wanna Be [...]
"Dear God" is found on XTC's seriously classic album Skylarking .
XTC : The Disappointed [ purchase ] XTC does not stand for anything. Say the letters out loud, and you get the word ecstasy. I don't know if the name was intended as a drug reference, but I prefer the older meaning of the word, because the band's music has always given me intense pleasure. The Disappointed is a sort of negative example of the power of vocal harmony. Almost half way through the song, all you have heard is Andy Partridge singing lead and some oohs, but never at the [...]
Labor Day weekend, folks. Party it up, you've earned it. Here in New York, we've recently weathered earthquakes and minor hurricanes and other inconveniences. So fire up the grill, put a cold beverage in your hand and turn up the mildly twee indie pop jams on this week's mix. Cover art photo was taken by Kate Bryant at the Friends With You inflatable sculpture park which is at the upper end of the Highline park. While Labor Day is seen as the end of summer, Summer Fridays mixes will continue to the Autumn Equinox... so you get two [...]
Download ten covers of songs by Iggy Pop, Britney Spears, John Jacob Niles, Kelly Clarkson, Snoop Dogg, Stevie Wonder, XTC, Kurt Vile, and Angus and Julia Stone!
For a split second in Empire Records , the philosophical Lucas can be seen contemplating his perverse victories of the day: he's lost $9,000 of the store's money, he's ensured that he and his boss will get fired, and his actions will force the other employees to hatch a plan to prevent the store's inevitable future as a soulless corporate Musictown. Hanging to his right on the balcony overlooking the sales floor is a massive promotional poster for XTC 's 1992 album Nonsuch . Though incongruent with the rest of the film's posters – comprised [...]
Sinds de cassette Future Nostalgia eind 2009 verscheen, wist ik het: Pure X heeft de potentie om een geweldig debuutalbum te maken, dat met gemak boven de grijze massa uitstijgt. De band (voormalig Pure Ecstasy, voortgekomen uit Silver Pines ) voedde die gedachte behoedzaam met de kwaliteitssingles Easy , Voices en de split 7" met Sleep∞Over . Eerder dit jaar konden we op de 10" Chain Reflection (korte recensie hier ) al horen hoe het er in de oefenruimte aan toeging, en het label Acéphale zorgde [...]
It's been too hot to really think of anything but nothing the past week. When I have had a thought, I've been trying to reconstruct my discovery of Rolling Stone magazine. (this all prompted by the recent death of Bill Johnson, who designed the magazine's logo ) The magazine was not readily available to me as a kid. I don't recall seeing it in the limited selection in the racks at either of the small, family-owned drug stores in town. I was familiar with Rolling Stone mostly through [...]
![SWEATY SUMMERTIME 2K11 [PLAYLIST]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/3573353_lg.jpg)
Summer time is really in full swing! With the oppressive heat also come things like BBQs, beaches, picnics and summer jams. We made a playlist of some of our favorite summer music, the songs to cook burgers too, to swim to, and to make out under the bleachers to (summer turns us all into 15 year olds again, it's a scientific fact). We've done you the service of creating a YouTube playlist for continual listening and posted all the legal MP3s we could. 1. "On Land" - TV Girl [...]
Summer, Summer, Summer...it turns me upside down. Well, not really. I live in the Northeast, as I've said in the past, because I'm not that big on the heat. A lot of folks love the summer weather. Heck, half of them don't even need air conditioning. That's definitely not me. I don't mind a good dip in the ocean, but I'm not going to work that hard to make that happen anymore. Something about all these extra pounds I figure. My friends go to Cape [...]
Science friction - XTC Early XTC. This is one of the records i inherited from my mother, and one of the most played of that lot because i'm dumb and i like dumb things. It was her birthday yesterday. I should get her to write today's song as a guest columnist. I never have known what she has thought of and how she has been affected by a lot of this music. She was six years younger than i am now when she was [...]
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Your Music Is Awful.com
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Sound Bites
Cover Me
Barryfest
MrBungle
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The Giant Panther
Adding Machine
Miike Snow – Paddling Out (Jacques Lu Cont Remix)
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