music is the bestest

Fever Ray vs Crookers

2009-08-26T06:18:00.000-07:00

Fever Ray remixed by Crookers. Bangin, as expected.

Spotify Review

2009-04-15T12:31:00.000-07:00

Any time a new bit of music streaming software arrives, i have 3 simple tests. Here, you can see how Spotify does. These are tests that can be applied to any record collection, download site or ipod. Any device or service failing to fulfil the following criteria are, in essence, fundamentally flawed.

TEST 1: Q. Can i listen to Frank Zappa?

A. No. I can listen to a Jefferson Airplane featuring Zappa in the songwriter credits, but that's as close as spotify can bring me to the finest composer of the last century. As far as my requirements go, Spotify is off to a bad start. SCORE : 1/10

TEST 2: Q. Can i listen to Tool?

A. Not even a little. Tool are pretty picky when it comes to making music available online, and Spotify does nothing to change this. The biog on site is quite good though, and comes with a selection of pretty pictures of 4 funny lookin men, so i'll give it a couple of points for that. SCORE : 2/10

TEST 3: Q. Can i listen to the Baywatch Theme tune with vocals?

A. Here, spotify scores 5 out of 10. There are several version of the Baywatch theme tune available, but all are instrumental, omitting the wonderful vocal delivery in favour of a parps and toots. All in all, the versions available are good, but not great. SCORE : 6/10

FINAL SCORE: 9 / 30

depeche mode new album leak

2009-04-08T11:03:00.000-07:00

depeche mode's new album "sounds of the universe" has leaked, and it's also sounding rather good. even the bonus remixes are all over the newsgroups! the version i've grabbed is supposedly a 320kbps rip, but it sounds more like a 128 re-encoded. listenable for now, but my inner audiophile is desperate for the real deal. still, album sounds like the best for a while, and i'm looking forward to seeing them in december even more.

the forthcoming Modeselektor & Apparat album "Moderat" is also getting me pretty excited. theres one track availabe to stream on pitchfork so far, and it sounds great. check it oot.

in other news, i've unleashed my Touch N' Go! project upon the world. check it out here (link fixed)
its the best music ever recorded, or at least, Mickey Touch told me to tell you that. He's a bit of a gimp, but his heart is in the right place. yes, its in his chest.

News

2009-04-06T11:21:00.001-07:00

Been busy enjoying some freedom from the mac after 6 months of recording, mixing, editing etc, but now i've ascended to the dizzy heights of "entry level ipod touch owner" i can blog about music wherever there is wifi!

Its magic i tells ya! Magic!

-- Post From My iPhone

Radiohead Deluxe Editions

2009-03-19T07:36:00.001-07:00

Everything is going tits-up at EMI, but at least they've finally done something good with the Radiohead catalogue.

As of monday, you can own 2CD+DVD editions of "Pablo Honey", "The Bends" and, my personal favourite, "OK Computer". Unlike the cash-cow box set released a couple of years ago, which was basically the Radiohead EMI catalogue repackaged in digipak format and shoved in a box, these reissues contain a plethora of goodies. Sure, Radiohead die-hards will already own pretty much everything on here, but now they can own it AGAIN! IN A FANCY BOX!

So what are you getting for your appropriate currency? All the b-sides from the associated singles from each album, additional live/session material, and a DVD filled with live performances, the "Meeting People Is Easy" documentary, and various other audio/visual delights. They look the business, they're full of excellent material, and they kinda draw a line under what EMI can do to exploit the band. LOL.

So, as surprising as it seems, it looks like EMI are doing something right in the face of utter failure. Well done! Nick Cave re-issues to follow, although they've been delayed until next month, perhaps to give next months revenue sheets a bit of a boost...

Fever Ray : Fever Ray

2009-03-19T04:57:00.000-07:00

I love The Knife. I love Karin and Olof. They have an uncanny ability to make the simple seem sublime. They dress up beautiful music in sinister clothes, and do so with a level of panache that seems ludicrous in the internet age of dissection and mockery. They do what they do very, very well.

Which is why i'm so excited by the forthcoming album from Karin Dreijer Andersson. The debut album from her solo project Fever Ray will hit record stores at the end of this month, and is available on i-tunes right now. And i'm happy to report that is doesn't disappoint. The overall tone is as dark as anything from Silent Shout, the instrumentation is as warm and bouncy as anything from Deep Cuts. It's another great record from the house of Dreijer.

1-0 to Karin. Olof, how about an album of minimal techno? That would be just lovely.

There's a leak!

2009-03-17T14:41:00.000-07:00

you already know

Money makes the world go round.

2009-03-17T08:02:00.000-07:00

Michael Jackson is evil.
Trent Reznor is good.

2 very well established facts, but further evidence of these facts (in the shape of MORE FACTS) has come to my attention in the last couple of days.

Jacko's 3000-show run at the O2 Arena in London has been under the media spotlight for all kinds of reasons. Who's in the band? Whats he gonna play? Are these farewell shows? Will there be a creche? (answers are: no idea, no idea, no, and definitely, although finding it might be tricky.) But it turns out that the ticketing agent has been accused of scalping tickets for these shows.

Shock! Horror! Media Frenzy? No, not this time. Mainly because it's common practice. Promoters, Bands, Crew, Agents, Labels... everyone's been at it for years. Even here in humble little Glasgow, i can name 3 promoters that i know for a fact employ scalpers outside their own shows, selling tickets for "sold out" shows at massive mark-ups. It's been going on for decades.

But Trent Reznor went and blogged about it, speaking honestly about the established "practices" that go on in relation to ticket allocations for high-profile concerts. It's an interesting read, and you can check it out on nin.com here.

As serious a subject as this may be, there is still a funny side to it. When things go wrong in these kind of situations, it's always hilarious to observe. Like when Coldplay played in Glasgow a few years back, and sold out the first night almost instantly. Promoters eagerly booked them for a second night, which undersold by at least 8,000 tickets, meaning that the entire stage had to be moved forward about 20ft to make the venue seem a little less empty....

Greed is the foundations upon which the established music industry is built, and hopefully raising some awareness of the true profiteering, backstabbing shite-hawks that carry out such activities is a step in the right direction. If scalping - and i mean the true scale of scalping practices, industrywide - comes to an end, we'll all be better off.

But eventually, you'll be bidding for tickets. Thats the way its gonna go, because it's open to corruption, and - even better than regular corruption - it's gonna be entirely faceless. Don't say i didnt warn you! When you're paying £350 for a shit seat to see Faith No More's 10th reunion shows in 2030, you'll be no better off than you are now, but you'll feel a little less ripped off.

Is there any way out of this mess?

Record Store Day 2009

2009-03-16T14:25:00.000-07:00

Wow. This is gonna be special. So much rare vinyl from so many great bands, all unloaded in an orgy of money and musical euphoria. Goddamn, it's gonna be good. Check out the list:

Tom Waits 7-Inch (Anti)
Live from the Glitter & Doom Tour 2008
Side A: Lucinda / Ain't Goin' Down To The Well - 5:40 - live in Atlanta
Side B: Bottom Of The World - 6:38 - Live in Edinburgh

Booker T Jones 7-Inch (Anti)
Side A: Warped Sister - 4:46
Side B: Reunion Time - 3:49

Pay No Mind 7" (Matador)
A1: Sonic Youth: "Pay No Mind" (Beck cover)
B1: Beck: "Green Light" (Sonic Youth cover)

Hang Them All 7" (Matador)
A1: Jay Reatard: "Hang Them All"
B1: Sonic Youth: "No Garage”

Blood on the Tracks – A Domino Records Vinyl only compilation (Domino)
Eugene McGuinness - Fonz
The Kills - Night Train
Franz Ferdinand- Katherine Hit Me (Blood version)
Junior Boys - Hazel (radio edit)
Max Tundra - Playboy (Hot Chip cover)
John Hopkins - The Wider Sun
Juana Molina + Devendra/Vetiver - Hay Que Ver Se Voy
Benjy Ferree - Grand Canyon (Magnetic Fields cover)
Cass McCombs - One Way To Go
King Creosote - Curtain Craft

Janes Addiction 7-Inch (Rhino)
Side A: Mountain Song
Side B: Standing In The Shower Thinking

The Stooges 7-Inch (Rhino)
Side A: 1969
Side B: Real Cool Time

MC5 7-Inch (Rhino)
Side A: Kick Out The Jams
Side B: Motor City Is Burning

The Smiths 7-Inch (Rhino)
Side A: The Headmasters Ritual
Side B: Oscillate Wildly

New Order 7-Inch (Rhino)
Side A: Temptation
Side B: Hurt

Graham Coxon 10-Inch Etched Vinyl (Transgressive)
Side A: In The Morning
Side B : Etched

Magnolia Electric Company 7-Inch (Secretly Canadian/Pias)
Side A: It’s Made Me Cry/Rock Of Ages
Side B: The Compass, The Candle,The Bell/Protection Spell

12.30 Records Toreism – A Thrill Jokey Collection (Thrill Jockey/Pias)
Mountains-Windows
Tortoise-High Class Slim Came Floating In
Double Dagger-Stagger Lee
White Hills-Eye To Eye
Trans Am Featuring Tim Soete-Wounded Monkey

This LP Crashes Hard Drives – Vinyl Only Compilation (Numero/Forte)
Los Destellos-Guajira Sicodelica
P.E. Hewitt Jazz Ensemble- Bada Que Bash
Group Doueh-Way Waya
Noor Jehan-I Am Very Sorry
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble-Marcus Garvey
Pisces Feat.Linda Bruner-Sam
The Monks-Pretty Suzanne
Myron & E with The Soul Investigators-Cold Game
John Heartsman & Circles- Talking About My Baby
Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens-What Is This

Jesus Lizard – Inch The Touch And Go singles collection
9 x 7 inch singles, each in a full colour sleeve and housed in a flexible plastic wall display that measures 22 x 30 cm.

Wilco – “Ashes Of American Flags” DVD (Nonesuch)
Upfront copies for participating stores. Official release May 4th.

Wooden Shjips - lp/cd – With Free Bonus Mix CD(Holy Mountain/Forte)
Brand New LP/CD 2 weeks upfront with exclusive Wooden Shjips mix CD made especially for Record Store Day shops.

take that you lousy economy!

Tidal : Lost At Sea

2009-03-16T10:49:00.001-07:00

My first adventure into the world of piano composition and orchestral string/percussion arrangements. I ended up making a 10 minute track in 4 movements, which i have called the "Lost At Sea" EP.

Get it for FREE at my music distribution site www.ineedmusik.com

Now Shipping...

2009-03-16T10:43:00.001-07:00

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!

I just got my UPS shipping number for this:

i. cannot. fucking. wait. for. this.

Justin K Broadrick / Jesu / Greymachine

2009-03-16T05:19:00.000-07:00

Anyone that enjoys sloth metal (you know, its heavy, its slow, it shits on you from a great height) will be pleased to know that Professor Godflesh (aka Justin K Broadrick, aka Jesu, aka Final etc etc) has unleashed a few new recordings recently. 4 albums of electronic adventures as far as i can tell. They're on my shopping list, but so are about a million other things.

To be honest, i'm still catching up with all the other stuff he's released over the last 8 months. The split with Battle Of Mice was tremendous, the "Why Are We Not Perfect" EP less so, and the split with Envy was nothing short of .. well, really fucking good. And that's not even beginning to mention the Final material thats been trickling out of late too...

In amongst the offering up of 4 new download-only albums (available from the avalanche store right here) was the news that the debut Jesu EP "Heartache" will be reissued this year with an additional disc containing an unreleased EP from 2003. Hooray!

Cpt. Allan takes Bloggington by force.

2009-03-16T04:58:00.000-07:00

That's right dweebz, i'm here to write some stuff about music.
If you don't read it, you wont know what i said.