Filed under: mp3s, music | Tags: Antony & the Johnsons, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Brightblack Morning Light, Destroyer, Devendra Banhart, Jamie Lidell, King Khan, Megapuss, No Age, TV on the Radio
A few weeks ago I picked up the newest from King Khan, this time backed by The Shrines. While my favorite record of his to date is his more garagey “duet” with BBQ Show, this latest effort, The Supreme Genius of King Khan & The Shrines, is a spectacular diversion that features a backing horn section and organ. Several songs from King Khan’s 2007 import release as well as even older tunes are given new treatment here, including my current personal anthem, “Welfare Bread.” It’s a cool idea for the Indian-French-Canadian singer to just re-record the songs instead of re-releasing them straight up for this domestic “greatest hits” offering on Vice. Fans of the Dap-Kings take note; this sound is equally legit.
King Khan & The Shrines — “Welfare Bread”
The new Jamie Lidell record, Jim, is a blast. This one’s definitely going on PIANOS!.
Jamie Lidell — “Where D’You Go?”
Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s new album is his most accessible cross-over attempt in a long while. It’s also quite enjoyable, and comes packaged in a Periwinkle blue jewel case. Here’s his duet with Ashley Webber (of The Organ).
Bonnie “Prince” Billy — “You Want That Picture”
On the hole I don’t enjoy Destroyer’s new album, Trouble in Dreams, more than his previous release, Destroyer’s Rubies. But this particular song is just fucking awesome. It begins with a classic Yo La Tengo-styled vamp before building to an amazing atmospheric bridge. What a great tune.
Destroyer — “My Favourite Year”
I’ve only listened to the new Brightblack Morning Light album a couple times, and so far it hasn’t grabbed hold of me quite in the same way their Matador debut of two year’s ago did. But this song encapsulates their hippie-psych-soul sound to a T. The dreamy piano and organ melding together with sax and high hat. And the dual vocals of Nathan Shineywater and Rachael Hughes backed by accompanying singers. Delicious.
Brightblack Morning Light — “Oppressions Each”
The new No Age record, Nouns, is more song-oriented and generally less caustic than their debut. It’s also considerably rooted in the ’90s, to my ears at least. While their noisy debut had hints of pre-Slanted and Enchanted Pavement, this record reminds me much more of British band Boyracer. This song, however, is total My Bloody Valentine bombast, and I love it.
No Age — “Sleeper Hold”
TV on the Radio’s new record is so good and so approachable, which surprised me. For example, I found myself taken aback by the funk guitar on this track. So. So. Good.
TV on the Radio — “Crying”
I leave you with a couple forthcoming releases due to drop a week from today. I doubt I’ll buy Megapuss’ debut on Vapor (Neil Young’s label). The duo of Devendra Banhart and Greg Rogove have provided some comic relief with their live performances, and the two songs I’ve heard from Surfing are enjoyable enough, but hardly necessary.
Megapuss — “A Gun On His Hip and a Rose On His Chest”
Like Devendra, Antony and the Johnsons is an artist that doesn’t leave much room for gray area; you either love him or hate him. I loved his 2005 debut, such a strange and moving piece of music, for the Secretly Canadian label. His new record seems to be in line with his last, as the other song I’ve heard from it is an emotive piano ballad. This song, however, is a lot different. The first half is essentially acapella, before Antony is joined by drums and skronking sax. Interesting.
Antony and the Johnsons — “Shake That Devil”
Bonus: On the off chance that you haven’t heard Fleet Foxes yet, here you go. They remind me of My Morning Jacket, if Jim James were more into Fairport Convention.
I used a song by Beefeaters on the ORGANS! comp, and I’d like to follow up with a bit more about them since they’re widely unknown to most people. Not to be confused with the pre-Byrds group The Beefeaters, this Denmark band got its start as a beat group in 1964, touring in support of big names like The Kinks and The Pretty Things. About the time that most bands were morphing into psychedelia, Beefeaters instead followed John Mayall into the blues. They released a self-titled full length in 1967 that is decisively bluesly yet still in the garage rock vein, toured in support of Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd, then followed that release in 1969 with Meet You There, which fully transitioned the band out of the garage rock category and into blues rock. On their 1967 release, they sound like a tougher Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers, minus the horns. Beefeaters were not above recording bluesy piano ballads alongside covers like “Crossroads” and “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag.” It’s from their 1967 record that I took “Hey Little Girl” for ORGANS!. The following two songs also appear on the same album and showcase Farfisa organist Morten Kjærumsgård and vocalist Peter Thorup. Enjoy.
Beefeaters — “I Want You”
Beefeaters — “Let Me Down Easy”
It’s been a while since I posted a photo of a bare-chested guy. I apologize.
Paul Newman passed away at the age of 83. He was the lead in one of my Top 10 favorite movies, Cool Hand Luke, a nice little non-conformist flick from 1967 which gave us the famous line, “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate. Some men you just can’t reach.” Of course, he was in several more heralded and commercially successful films, like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Hustler, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Sting, and The Color of Money, but I tend to like his more quirky movies better (like, for instance, Slap Shot). I’ve long wanted to purchase the movie poster for Cool Hand Luke, which is just too cool (and oddly psychedelic, a result of the time of its release, 1967, rather than the content of the film).
“Come on safety pin — POP!”
Another great scene.
ORGANS!, the long-awaited (by me anyway) follow up to last year’s smashing success, HORNS!, is ready to hit the shelves. If you’d like a copy, leave me a comment.
01 Introduction
02 Memphis Black: Why Don’t You Play the Organ, Man?
03 ? and the Mysterians: 96 Tears
04 Elvis Costello & the Attractions: The Imposter
05 The Small Faces: What’cha Gonna Do About It?
06 The Clean: Tally Ho!
07 Kim Fowley: Bubblegum
08 The Cyrkle: Red Rubber Ball
09 Adrienne Posta: Something Beautiful
10 Beefeaters: Hey Little Girl
11 Jonathan Fire Eater: Give Me Daughters
12 The Crazy World of Arthur Brown: I Put a Spell on You
13 Yo La Tengo: Sudden Organ
14 Blues Magoos: (We Ain’t Got) Nothing Yet
15 Status Quo: Green Tambourine
16 Mouse & the Traps: Cryin’ Inside
17 Clinic: Distortions
18 Rocketship: I Love You the Way I Used to Do
19 Camera Obscura: If Looks Could Kill
20 Adventures in Stereo: Down in the Traffic
21 Chubby Checker: Stoned in the Bathroom
22 Elfstone: Louisiana Teardrops
23 The Artwoods: One More Heartache
24 The Modern Lovers: Old World
25 The Lyres: She Pays the Rent
26 XTC: Are You Receiving Me?
27 The Galaxies IV: Piccadilly Circus
Mojo called White Noise’s 1969 album An Electric Storm one of the 50 most mind-blowing records of all time. I wouldn’t go quite that far, but the group’s often lighthearted, sometimes sexual, usually weird brand of space pop is a lot of fun and certainly pioneering for its time. White Noise is David Vorhaus, an American son of a black-listed Hollywood director who moved to Great Britain to avoid the Vietnam draft. While overseas, he studied classical music. Soon, his love of science was coupled with his growing fascination in electronic music. The result, which was released by Island Records, is this album, played on homemade equipment by a knob twiddler. The second tune, “Here Come the Fleas,” features collaborator Delia Derbyshire, a pioneer of British techno, on vocals. The song also, supposedly, features more tape-splice edits than the whole of Sgt. Pepper’s. There’s also some less poppy material on this album, but I excluded it from sample because it’s also the lengthier material.
White Noise — “Firebird”
White Noise — “Here Come the Fleas”
Filed under: stupid stuff
While we’re loosely on the topic of flatulance, Boing Boing reports on a man in handcuffs who should of put a cork in it.
It’s been a long time since I’ve been to one of these.
I’m glad I wasn’t running. But my nephew, running in his first 8K as a freshman in college, finished seventh on his team. He ran quite splendidly.
