MYSTICS NOT WASTRELS

OH

2008-09-11T13:12:00.001-07:00

SALEM - Dirt (YSI) (ZShare)
SALEM - Brustreet (YSI) (ZShare)
SALEM - Minemine (YSI) (ZShare)

HI

WE DON'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE

BUT IF YOU WANT TO CHECK BACK

THERE WILL BE A LINK TO OUR NEW HOME SOON ENOUGH

IN THE MEANTIME

I HAVE A NEW RECORD LABEL

ACÉPHALE

I'M RUNNING IT WITH MY FRIEND RORY

WE JUST PUT OUT THE SALEM RECORD - YES I SMOKE CRACK

AND SOON WE WILL PUT OUT CFCF'S FIRST RECORD

SO

WHILE YOU WAIT

HERE ARE SOME MP3S YOU MIGHT LIKE

YOU CAN HOLLER AT craktrocks@gmail.com IF YU LOVE US

The Terminal Bitch

2008-06-04T10:16:00.001-07:00

If this song doesn't go Top Ten in the UK I might just have to kill all of you.

Nobody Loves No One

2008-05-28T22:17:00.000-07:00

Chris Isaak - Wicked Game (Trentemoller Businessman Dubby Games Remix) (YSI) (ZShare)

What a fucking dream of a remix (edit?) of a dream of a tune...

Paul you are so so so so wrong on this one - Ili, Mike, Andrew, Linus and a grip of others are behind me on this 2000%.

Chris Isaak - Wicked Game (YSI) (ZShare)

Spring Into Summer Jam 2008.

Rock On Sisyphus!

2008-05-27T11:07:00.000-07:00

When TTA told me all about their newest SY signing at SXSW over lukewarm Sparks in a treefort at 4 AM, I was pretty psyched. Then again, they could have told me that they were releasing a Jingle Cats remix album and I would have been stoked. More recently Eric confided that he didn't think I would like what I heard because of the language gap - so wrong. The first single from Nordpolen, "Skimret," is an uplifting pop delight regardless of your native tongue. I must have listened to it ten or so times on repeat whilst cycling the Lachine Canal this past weekend, all the while a grin on my face. SY releases seem to universally have this effect on me - look at how earnest I was when I first wrote about Air France! (They've also got a new release out, but more on that later.)

Anyhow, please enjoy the above video for "Skimret" (it looks even better here) and please make sure to support and encourage fantastic Swedish things by purchasing the release right here.

La lutte continue/'93 'til Infinity

2008-05-18T13:41:00.000-07:00

1993 is my '68. So while the world is celebrating the 40th anniversary of Mai '68 this month, I'm remembering a year ago, when we threw a party to commemorate '93. I've reproduced the set I played that night, which you will find below.

Souls of Mischief "'93 'til Infinity"
Wu-Tang Clan "Ain't Nothin' ta Fuck Wit'"
Nas "N.Y. State of Mind"
Bone Thugs N Harmony "Tha Crossroads"
Warren G "Do You See"
Cypress Hill "Insane in the Brain"
Dr. Dre ft. Snoop Dogg "Deep Cover"
The Pharcyde "Passing Me By"
The Beastie Boys "So What'cha Want" (Soul Assassins Remix)
Souls of Mischief "That's When Ya Lost" (Remix)
Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth "They Reminisce Over You (T.R.OY.)
Guru ft. MC Solaar "Le bien, le mal"
Notorious B.I.G. "Juicy"
Ghostface Killah ft. Raekwon and Cappadonna "Daytona 500"
Kris Kross "Warm It Up"
Bell Biv Devoe "Poison"
De La Soul "Take It Off"
The Beastie Boys "Sabotage"
Coffin Break "Kill the President"

Yr Emily Dickinson - La Lutte Continue/'93 'til Infinity Mixtape
(YSI) (Zshare)

HIRE THIS MAN

2008-04-27T19:50:00.000-07:00

DJ Tom Hanks - Pigeonkiller Mix (YSI) (ZShare)

The boy DJ Tom Hanks aka Matt Capozzoli posted his first mixtape on the Pandemonium Jones blog the other day and cause he is a dude among dudes I had to get it up on here. For those with bloghaus sickened souls this is Antidote Music aka 100% Jams. The dude has a severe case of the rocking awesomes so if you do parties in LA or anywhere in the western wasteland you should have him "enhance" your party by emailing him right here.

Tracklist:

Hot Chip - Made In The Dark
Foreign Born - Union Hall
Panthers - Goblin City (Holy Ghost Disco Dub)
Black Mountain - Bright Lights
Crystal Castles - Crimewave
Glass Candy - Beatific
Hail Social - Cherry Cola Funk (STA Mix)
MGMT - Kids
Holy Fuck - Royal Gregory
Dan Deacon - Wham City
Blaqstarr - Smack
Santo Gold - Creator (Scottie B Mix)
The Tough Alliance - Neo Violence
The Shocking Pinks - How Am I Not Myself
Clipse - Wamp Wamp (Co.Fee Remix)
Ninjasonik vs. The Death Set - Negative Thinking About Tight Pants
Jay Reatard - It’s So Useless
The Exploding Hearts - Your Shadow
Shellac - Copper

OURIS

2008-04-25T14:27:00.000-07:00

Hundreds & Thousands - The Rise (YSI) (ZShare)

As a rule, if you can make a electro-ish synthy pop song that's sad and wistful I'll pretty much love it. Australian duo Hundreds & Thousands win all day long with me for this tune with its cute little mournful synth that drops out only to reveal a big sunny pop wave. More, please! Definitely a refreshing antidote to the jarring crunches that bewilderingly still seem to dominate the taste of the kids.

SHAKING

2008-04-24T14:28:00.000-07:00

Aeroplane - Whispers (ft Kathy Diamond) (YSI) (ZShare)
Coyote - Too Hard (Aeroplane Remix) (YSI) (ZShare)

The boys from Brussels are back! Easily one of my favourite new groups of last year, Aeroplane have made one the strongest tracks of 2008. Strong claim I know, but as soon as I heard it I knew it was a capital-T tune and have been listening to it multiple times a day since. London's Kathy Diamond brings an intimidatingly powerful vocal presence which elevates what could have been a banger of an instrumental to "big pop song."

The "Whispers" 12", featuring a remix from Hercules & Love Affair , is released May 12. Please purchase from Eskimo Recordings or your local independent record store.

TUFF ALLIANCE

2008-04-19T00:30:00.000-07:00

For those of us who live in arctic climates, the springtime is a big deal. We take off all our clothes and we start to act all crazy. But let us never forget that the springtime is also an emo time. The Tough Alliance, in their never-ending struggle between knowing, doomy critique and naïve and affirmative enthusiasm, taught us that.

I could quote Wordsworth:

. . . Abundant recompence. For I have learned
To look on nature, not as in the hour
Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes
The still, sad music of humanity.

but Wordsworth never said it with the pathos of S.E. Hinton. In the immortal words of Johnny Cade and Ponyboy Curtis:

Johnny: I've been thinking about it, and that poem, that guy that wrote it, he meant you're gold when you're a kid, like green. When you're a kid everything's new, dawn. It's just when you get used to everything that it's day. Like the way you dig sunsets, Pony. That's gold. Keep that way, it's a good way to be. I want you to tell Dally to look at one. He'll probably think you're crazv, but ask for me. I don't think he's ever really seen a sunset. . . . There's still lots of good in the world. Tell Dally. I don't think he knows. Your buddy, Johnny.

Ponyboy: Tell Dally. It was too late to tell Dally. Would he have listened? I doubted it.

tuff alliance presents:

Yr Emily Dickinson - NATURE'S FIRST GREEN IS GOLD
(YSI) (Zshare)

1. Ted Leo/Pharmacists "Biomusicology"
2. Lil Wayne "Lollipop" (Chopped and Screwed by DJ Young Redd)
3. The Badger King "Sermon of the 12"
4. Sleater-Kinney "Modern Girl"
5. The Tough Alliance "Lucky"
6. Cass McCombs "Windfall"
7. Howlin' Rain "Calling Lightning With a Scythe"
8. Scary Kids, Scaring Kids "Losing My Religion"
9. The Stone Roses "Sally Cinnamon"
10. British Sea Power "Tugboat"
11. Superchunk "Phone Sex"
12. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart "This Love Is Fucking Right!"
13. Flesh for Lulu "Postcards from Paradise"
14. Teenage Fanclub "The Concept"

Does lightning strike twice?

YOUTH...VINTAGE YOUTH

2008-04-17T18:42:00.000-07:00

Pet Shop Boys - Always On My Mind (Julian Mendelsohn Extended Dance Version)
(YSI) (ZShare)

The original has been my jam forever (seriously that opening with the growl?), so how happy was I to come across this extended dance edit. Hands down BEST ELVIS COVER EVER. Crazily enough it beat out The Pogues' (now in?)famous perennial holiday hipster favourite, "Fairytale of New York," for the UK Christmas #1 in 1987 (quite a big deal over there for some reason).

Love this clip from the PSB film, It Couldn't Happen Here, waaaay more than the original promo.

I'm a fairly big PSB fan but have never been able to track down the Jack Bond film, more clips of which appear below.

pick your coffin and your burial spot

2008-04-16T11:24:00.000-07:00

This is somewhat of a happy accident for the NACHO LOVERS (Which I comprise 1/2 of. Our Fool's Gold podcast is still on the way, I swear. Any day now. Our Go On / Acid Life 12" on Fool's Gold is coming up too. Look out for that).

Playing The Big Kazoo 12" (Out now on Dirtybird, buy it) at 33 1/3 rpm + a late night + too much Redbull + Cutty Ranks = this edit right here.

Style Of Eye - The Big Kazoo (NACHO LOVERS ' Limb By Limb' edit) (Z-share)

Style Of Eye - The Big Kazoo (NACHO LOVERS 'Limb By Limb' edit) (YSI)

Just Something

2008-04-15T19:52:00.000-07:00

The Studio - West Side (YSI) (ZShare)
Rubies - Room Without A Key (Studio Version) (YSI) (ZShare)
A Mountain Of One - Brown Piano (Remake By Studio) (YSI) (ZShare)

Spent an hour or so today reading Virginia Woolf on the banks of the still icy Lachine Canal whilst listening to Studio. Everything seems to be getting better, thank god.

Please purchase releases by Studio from the Information webstore. Also, please purchase releases by Rubies from the House of Telle webstore. Also, please purchase the EP collection by A Mountain of One through Amazon here.

Dreamtiming (I)

2008-04-14T19:33:00.000-07:00

The Presets - This Boy's In Love (Lifelike Remix) (YSI) (ZShare)

Bloggers go apeshit for the Australian tunes at the moment, no? I don't have all my facts straight (and I am sure some would argue), but it would seem that this probably thanks in a large part to Modular's well-deserved international influence. And yes the Cut Copy album is fantastic, but to be honest I prefer the new Presets. The first single didn't grab me at the outset, but the video kept me coming back for more and I certainly could appreciate the darker sound and aesthetic. So when this Lifelike (composer of my favourite dance track of last year, the truly sublime "So Electric") remix showed up in all the regular places recently you can imagine my pleasure. Yes, the track has been posted anywhere and everywhere but I really can't get enough of it.

The new album by the The Presets, Apocalypso, is released next month. Please preorder from Insound.

But this wasn't meant to be a post about new Australian music, seeing as you can get that pretty much everywhere else on the internet. Basically I'm going to post up a bunch of Australian New Wave and whatnot over the next little while.

Flash & The Pan - Midnight Man (YSI) (ZShare)

Love love love this tune by Flash & The Pan. One of their mid-period singles, "Midnight Man" is certainly not their best known track (probably 1983's "Waiting For A Train"), but in my mind it has aged the best. I could go on about The Easybeats and why you should really make the effort to track down stuff by Vanda and Young, but I'll stick with the familiar. Basically George Young was brother to Angus and Malcolm of AC/DC and was the producer of High Voltage. Yup.

Well that was pretty shoddy.

POUR LIBATIONS AT HER FEET

2008-04-12T00:48:00.000-07:00

Eartha Kitt - I Want To Be Evil (YSI) (ZShare)

The only Catwoman for my money. Sadly (tragically?) the mp3 is not the audio in the video, which I've been searching out for over a year. If anyone can help out an email to the address in the sidebar would be ecstatically appreciated.

An Extraordinary Position

2008-04-11T14:11:00.001-07:00

The Tough Alliance - Lucky (YSI) (ZShare)

As promised the other day, here is the b side to TTA's latest 7" single, Neo Violence. It's a fanatastic cover of fellow Swedes Lucky Twice. The more jaded of you might be inclined to think of this as an attempt at irony, but as with all things TTA it's as genuine and heartfelt as can be.

Please purchase the "Neo Violence" single from the Sincerely Yours webstore. While you're at it, be sure to cop this tastefully minimal, limited edition t-shirt. Smalls and larges are already sold out, so if you happen to be a medium - get on it already!

Lucky Twice - Lucky (YSI) (ZShare)

The Fabulous. Most Groovy.

2008-04-10T09:21:00.000-07:00

Since I've been on a nostalgia trip with my music listenings lately, peeping all my old Beastie Boys records, Stones Throw joints and DJ Shadow B-SIDES AND RARITIES, I couldn't resist buying a copy of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's Orange on vinyl yesterday. And let me say: oh boy it has been a treat. Remember that time in the late 90s when all the musicians were friends and coinciding with each other? I remember being just so stoked that Jon Spencer, Beck and Dan the Automator could conceivably spend a day together bowling or some shit. Didn't it just seem like they were the center of the 'hip world' back then?

So I pulled out my copy of the Experimental Remixes EP they put out on Matador in 1995 and decided to post some of these gems. An UNKLE remix by Tim Goldsworthy, who everybody knows and loves these days as one of the talented producers behind DFA? Yay! And (oh shit, this one made me cream my jeans back in the day) a GZA REMIX FEATURING KILLAH PRIEST.

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Bellbottoms ('Old Rascal Mix' by UNKLE) (YSI) (zshare)

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Greyhound Part 2 (GZA remix featuring Killah Priest) (YSI) (zshare)

While I'm at it, I figure I might as well post some equally dubby nightmare shit that I've been digging lately from the new EXCEPTER lp, Debt Dept. This is the most terrifying shit I've heard since the last time Sunn0))) put out a record that wasn't just a wanky collab (that would be Black One). Dub beats, ye olde synth basslines and SCREECHES OF TERROR.

Excepter - Sunrise (YSI) (zshare)

And here's the video for "Kill People" which is pretty close to inspiring me to do just that:

Now Yor A Ghost

2008-04-09T21:19:00.000-07:00

Apache Beat - Tropics (Bitchee Bitchee Ya Ya Ya Remix) (YSI) (ZShare)

I figure that I should do a few updates on what's happening with Summer Lovers. We've been very busy over the past few months - releasing a slew of records, doing the SXSW thing and getting our summer releases set up. I always meant to post stuff up on here when we had a new release out but tasks or AIM always got in the way.

We put out Apache Beat's debut 7", Tropics/Your Powers Are Magic, not too long ago. Since then they've toured the UK and Europe, appeared in the NME (Lead singer Ilirjana was named, and I quote, "quite possibly the coolest woman in New York... OOOOOOO, right?) and opened for a bunch of hipster bands. On the 26th, (I'll remind you, don't worry) they will be playing their first headlining show in NYC at Union Pool with notable notables Chairlift and Holy Hail (both on the always awesome Kanine Records). AB are incredible live so don't miss...

Anyhow, this remix of Tropics didn't get around as much as it deserved, so here it is in case you missed it on RCRD LBL. I love Bitchee Bitchee Ya Ya Ya's work and this is certainly no exception - the fuzzy drums are especially refreshing.

We still have some copies of the 7" left, but they won't last long as the release is limited to 500 copies (hand numbered by yours truly). Please purchase from the Summer Lovers webstore. We've also got their next release, the Blood Thrills/The Western 7", up for preorder here.

My Oncles Are All Dead

2008-04-09T20:23:00.000-07:00

Rough Trade - High School Confidential (YSI) (ZShare)

I read Carole Pope's autobiography, Anti Diva, a few weeks ago. Part of me thought she was awesome, the other (bigger) part thought that she came across as an overly self-important, fundamentally insecure namedropping hipster. You know those people on Myspace with all the pics of them posing with various indie "celebrities" (mostly bloghouse producers/djs it seems)? The ones who might also have a photo section displaying all the times they were on Last Night's Party/Cobrasnake? Basically if Carole was a twenty-something blogger with headbanded bangs, AmApp leggings, and an iPhone she would queen this shit in less than a week.

On the other hand she was fucking Dusty Springfield for a while, worked with General Idea, and wrote sapphic jams that challenged the sexual mores of pop decades before the Britney/Madge/Xtina "shocker."

On a similar note, how much do I want to read Patrick French's new V.S. Naipaul biography?

Can you tell I'm in a bad mood?

Dunno Really

2008-04-08T11:52:00.000-07:00

The Tough Alliance - Neo Violence (YSI) (ZShare)

My favourite dudes have a new 7" out! "Neo Violence" is the second single off of the best album of the last five years - A New Chance - which will be seeing release in North America at the beginning of the summer. I could go into how incredible they were live at SXSW but really the show needs to be experienced. More to come - I'll be posting up the b side, "Lucky," over the next few days.

Please purchase the "Neo Violence" single from the Sincerely Yours webstore. While you're at it, be sure to cop this tastefully minimal, limited edition t-shirt.

Overwhelm U.

2008-04-07T14:02:00.001-07:00

Usher - Love In This Club (Chopped and Screwed by DJ Young Redd) (YSI) (ZShare)

It just so happened that I heard Young Redd's version first, and now I can't listen to the original - this is about a billion times better...slow is sexy, right?

Lil Wayne - Lollipop (Chopped and Screwed by DJ Young Redd) (YSI) (ZShare)

This edit of "Lollipop" kills me as well. The chorus just gets so damn emotional when it's crawling.

DJ Young Redd on Myspace

TEH JOY JOY

2008-04-07T12:14:00.000-07:00

Did you hear that abortion of a remix by Yuksek? This nonsense had better end soon.

NOVA SCUM

2008-04-06T19:29:00.000-07:00

"Images - millions of images - That's what I eat - Cyclotron shit - Ever try kicking that habit with apomorphine? Now I got all the images of sex acts and torture ever took place anywhere and I can just blast it out and control you gooks right down to the molecules - I got orgasms - I got screams - I got all the images any hick poet ever shit out - My Power's coming - My Power's coming - My Power's coming"

Gary Glitter - Suspicious Minds (YSI) (ZShare)

YOR STILL A LOUSY FINK

Sharkey Major Where R U?

2008-04-05T19:44:00.000-07:00

Oh man. So everyone seems to be in agreement that video for "Rolex" is pants, right?

Saw this over at Prancehall - cue spit take. Perfection, simply.

Wiley - Rolex (Extended Edit) (YSI) (ZShare)

And how delightful to be reminded of this gem of a video:

Paul McCartney - Ever Present Past (YSI) (ZShare)

I Also Can Post Old Music Videos

2008-04-04T05:12:00.000-07:00

Three more wuss rock songs for you all—

Teenage Fanclub "Hang On"
Ciao Bella "Details from the Deep End"
Tripping Daisy "Sonic Bloom"

And if there was a corollary to the wide-scale popularity of wuss-rock (née power-pop) in the early 90s, it would have to be backpack hip-hop (a.k.a. "conscious" hip-hop). It was tuneful, meek and non-threatening, and some of the performers wore glasses and you'd hear it on college radio, so it appeared to be the civilised and educated alternative to the aggro mainstream culture.

In the early 90s, the greatest backpackers of the era, De La Soul, were a pale imitation of De La Soul in 1988. The difference, of course, was the absence of Prince Paul's production. But what if they tried to fill that void with the greatest wuss-rock band of moment?

Well, proving nothing other than the fact that mainstream music was a lot more interesting in 1993 than 2008, fifteen years before this Kanye and Coldplay bullshit, or that Kanye and John Mayer nonsense...

Appreciation

2008-04-03T12:50:00.000-07:00

Dude, "Black and White," Odo and the T-1000. Bow down.

Godley and Creme - Cry (YSI) (ZShare)