Vertical Hold

Still Driving (Part 3)

2010-02-27T19:39:24Z

Previously on Still Driving (1,2)…David Stillman needed music for a road trip that would take him from Chico, CA to Boulder, CO. He would stay mostly on I80. Here is his playlist. Well, the last part at least.

Meat Beat Manifesto — Satyricon is an amazing piece of work. Jack Dangers, the mad genius behind MBM, should really be considered the father of “Big Beat” and this album clearly laid down the path for others to follow. Countless samples, distorted vox, and beats that refuse to let you sit still. If you’re into any kind of “electronic” music at all, this is a must-listen.

Morcheeba — Big Calm doesn’t fit in any single genre, but if I had to put one word on the label, it would be “chill”. Not “chill” in a boring way, just in a “we’re not going to kill you with guitars, drum loops, or vocals”. Also, the vocals are quite sexy.

Primus — Frizzle Fry is another “you damn kids should know you musical history dammit” selection. And no, I didn’t like School of Rock. The chalkboard scene was cool, but a scene does not a movie make.

The Rifles — Great Escape was passed along to me by Steven because he knows I love britpop. This is great britpop.

The Sisters Of Mercy — Vision Thing was included just to screw with David. I doubt he liked this at all, but there are some great driving tracks on this album. Also, he wanted stuff that he hadn’t heard before and I’m positive he hadn’t heard this.

Slipstream — Be Groovy Or Leave. Another europop band that never saw the light of day on this side of the pond. They were a NME poster band for half a week or so, but this album has some catchy tracks. Good britpop, not sure I would call it great though.

The Stone Roses — The Complete Stone Roses (CD only) was another “lets suck money from stupid Stone Roses fans while they keep waiting for the mythical ‘Second Coming’ album” label production. The upside was that they actually put tracks on it that weren’t widely available to people. So, that was nice. The Second Coming eventually did come out and everybody panned it because it didn’t sound like the first album. The Stone Roses are an important part of the history lesson of britpop, so this is why it made the playlist. Also, it’s just damn good music.

Symposium — On The Outside (out of print in the US) was in the same vein as Ash, a bunch of kids wailing on guitars making incredibly catching pop-punk. Again, what more do you need?

The The — Dusk was a bit of a stretch. It’s not really pop music at all and I hesitated to put it on the list, but one cannot survive on pop music alone. The lyrics on this album are quite amazing and Johnny Marr is on guitar.

Underworld — Dubnobasswithmyheadman and Second Toughest In The Infants (iTunes only) are great electronic albums. If you don’t think you’ve heard Underworld, their biggest hit (Born Slippy (Nuxx)) plays over the ending credit of Trainspotting. They tend to mix into some vocals, which makes it a little more accessible if overly beepy music drives you nuts.

White Lies — To Lose My Life … probably wouldn’t exist if there was no Joy Division. Sure, everybody thinks they’re an Interpol meets The Killers rip-off, but we know better…don’t we.

Wolf Parade — Apologies to The Queen Mary is a bit crazy. There’s this indie-Modest Mouse thing going on, but I think the music is better. It has less “we’re being weird for the sake of being weird” and more “rock music is awesome”.

Still Driving (Part 2)

2010-02-27T19:39:56Z

Previously on Still Driving…David Stillman needed music for a road trip that would take him from Chico, CA to Boulder, CO. He would stay mostly on I80. Here is his playlist. Well, the middle part at least.

The Final Cut — Consumed is hard to explain with going into the history of Wax Trax! Records and more importantly, Ministry, but lets assume both of those things are unknown to you. This album is undeniably industrial. Sure, Last.fm has Final Cut classified as an “electronica / (US-)Coldwave-band”, but this album is industrial. Chris Connelly, circa 1992, as a guest vocalist should speak volumes on this point. This is such a phenomenal release from that era and it’s so under appreciated that I tend to share it with anybody that can stand distorted vox and a drum machine.

Fugazi — 13 Songs is such a straight edge classic, how could I not include it?

Goldfrapp — Supernature Beepy? Check. Sexy vocals? Check. What? You need more?

Hard-Fi — Once Upon a Time In the West and Stars of CCTV I love brit-pop and this is some great brit-pop.

Joy Division — Unknown Pleasures is my attempt to teach these damn kids a thing a two about where their favorite music comes from. Don’t get me wrong, music as any creative medium is, should be expected to be derivative. But, please, credit where credit is due. Just like Kurt Cobain gave credit to the Pixies, we should thank Joy Division for helping give us U2, The Cure, Bloc Party, Editors, and — most importantly to me, Interpol.

Julian Plenti — Julian Plenti Is… Skyscraper is also the lead singer from Interpol. You know, the band I mentioned above as being really important to me. I’ve said it before, the first track will stab you in the heart. Lyrically speaking, of course.

Kaiser Chiefs — Yours Truly, Angry Mob is brit-pop. Enough said. Thanks, Steven!

Kasabian — West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum I first heard their track Club Foot on the tv show Numb3rs and was hooked. Their albums are a bit hit and miss, but this is clearly their strongest effort. Fast Fuse and Fire alone are worth the price of admission.

Leftfield — Leftism Toni Halliday and John “Johnny Rotten” Lydon cameo guest vocals on one of the best electronic albums ever released. Don’t just take my word for it though, check the den of lies.

Low vs Diamond — Low vs Diamond is a band that Kat found on twitter thanks to Rainn Wilson. His summary was pretty dead on, “kind of Killers meets Muse with an LA indie vibe.”

Manchester Orchestra — Mean Everything To Nothing despite the name, is not british. In fact, they’re from Atlanta. Yeah, the one in Georgia. With peaches and everything. I picked this up as an Amazon MP3 Deal of the Day because it was cheap and sounded a bit like Silversun Picksups. Good for I80. I think.

Stay tuned for part 3 which will take us from M to W.

Still Driving (Part 1)

2010-02-27T19:40:32Z

Recently David Stillman asked me to provide him with an 4GB iPod Nano worth of music for a drive from Chico, CA to Boulder, CO. Normally I love a challenge such as this, but this wasn’t just a road trip; this was him moving to Boulder. We were all sad to see him go, but happy that he’s embarking on an exciting new chapter in his life that includes lot of snowboarding and making little killer robots.

I wanted to provide him with music that was good for the road, especially I-80, but also new or at least new to him. I also knew that I didn’t really have the time to do a song-by-song playlist, so I loaded him up with whole albums. In fact, I put together the whole list after one of our weekly poker nights. I know I could have done a better job, but as with most things it was better to get him something than nothing at all.

The Afghan Whigs — Gentlemen was originally released in 1993. This was a bit before David was probably into music, let alone what was considered “alternative” at that time. Looking back it’s hard to see how this classification came to be. Wait, no it isn’t.

Ash — Trailer & 1997 are also considered “alternative” but come on…1977 was named for the release of Star Wars. They might be the best rock band you’ve never heard of. Unless you have, in which case they’re still really good.

The Avalanches — Since I Left You. I have a thing for beepy music, what can I say. So does David. Hence this selection. I had to laugh at how they are described on Last.fm though, “plunderphonics” sounds hilarious.

Bill Hicks — Arizona Bay, Dangerous, Rant In E-Minor, and Relentless. If you know me, you know I love Bill Hicks and clearly I think everyone else should as well.

Bis — Return To Central (apparently this is now out of print, please see your local used music store for purchase)

Aggressively primitative and defiantly childish, the Bis claimed to be at the forefront of “the Teen-C Revolution,” which apparently translated as young adults wishing they were still in elementary school.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

I think that’s all that really needs to be said.

Bomb The Bass — Clear (also not available for mp3 purchase). I probably only needed to include Bug Powder Dust as the rest is pretty mellow, but know this was a road trip that would take David through some of the emptiest areas of the country I felt that including the entire album would still be worth it.

Boy Kill Boy — Civilian. Last.fm says “British indie-rock”. I say brit-pop. It’s my blog, so I win. It was included mainly because I figured David hadn’t heard them before. They never really “made it” in America.

Bran Van 3000 — Glee. I find this hard to classify, which is exactly why I thought David would like it.

Curve — Dopplegänger (also unavailable for digital purchase). Way, way, way before Garbage there was Curve. Guitars, heavy pseudo-industrial beats, and a dead sexy vocalist (Toni Halliday, who you might have heard on The Killers Christmas single A Great Big Sled).

The Damage Manual — 1. I consider Blame and Demand to be one of the best driving songs ever. Even if you don’t like “industrial” music, give this a shot.

Death In Vegas — Dead Elvis is classic late-90’s “big beat”. You’ve probably heard their hit single Dirt.

DJ Shadow — In Tune And On Time. It’s not that I didn’t think David didn’t have any DJ Shadow, but maybe he didn’t have this live concert. It’s amazing stuff.

Drum Club Drums Are Dangerous (out of print). More 90’s beepy music from Europe. Ah, the good old days…

Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3 as we travel down the alphabet.

Recently Overplayed

2010-02-21T18:12:28Z

I have a longer 2009 wrap-up piece in the works, but I want to get a few recent albums in front of you that I can’t get off my currently played list.

Matt & Kim — Grand (iTunes|Amazon)
Yeasayer — Oddblood (iTunes|Amazon)
Vampire Weekend — Contra (iTunes|Amazon)
Low vs Diamond — Low vs Diamond (iTunes|Amazon)

Hot August Tunes

2009-09-29T04:18:44Z

Phoenix — Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Amazon|iTunes)
Julian Plenti — Julian Plenti Is… Skyscraper (Amazon|iTunes)
Franz Ferdinand — iTunes Live: London Festival ‘09 EP (iTunes)
Kasabian — iTunes Live: London Festival ‘09 EP (iTunes)
Oasis — iTunes Live: London Festival ‘09 EP (iTunes)
The Fratellis — Live from London (iTunes)
Hard-Fi — Once Upon a Time In the West (Amazon|iTunes) & Stars of CCTV (Amazon|iTunes)
Metric — Fantasies (Metric|Amazon|iTunes)
Kasabian — West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (Amazon|iTunes)
The Rifles — No Love Lost (You can’t buy this in the US, you’re money isn’t good here.)
Jet — Shaka Rock (Amazon|iTunes)
Ned’s Atomic Dustbin — Session (Amazon|iTunes)

Well, I guess I found the iTunes Live albums. Nothing really “new”, but some great live sets. So, if you like live music check them out: Franz Ferdinand, Kasabian, Oasis, and The Fratellis. Yes, all brit-pop. It’s how I roll.

Phoenix is just about as far down the fluffy indie rock road that I’m willing to go. But this album is very catchy and was worth the $5 (from AmazonMP3). You’ll recognize it from the teevee commercial for some Caddy. If you’re a pop music whore like me, you need this.

Julian Plenti is the lead singer/guitarist, Paul Banks, from Interpol. If you like Interpol you will like this. It even starts out like an Interpol album with ‘Only If You Run’, which will lyrically stab you in the heart. Seriously, even if you’re only into the first Interpol album, this is worth picking. There is crooning, there is straight up rock, there is something for you. Trust me.

Hard-Fi. How in the hell did I miss these guys? I’m not sure, but they’re on my radar now and they should be on yours. They are brit-pop. They hint of some mixture of The Farm, Oasis, and and ton of other late 90’s brit-pop bands. You know, everything that I love about music. It’s good stuff.

I first heard Metic from their free iTunes single ‘Combat Baby’. It was catchy, sickly sweet pop music with amazing female vocals. More of the same. If you buy from the band, you get some extra acoustic Pink Floyd covers. Neat!

Oh, Kasabian… You really want to have that Oasis reputation. You want people to fear and respect you. Well, forget about that crap and keep making good music. You’ll last longer that way. More ass kicking in your music, less in NME. I wish this had been a ‘Deal of the Day’ special, but there are some truly kick-ass tracks (Fast Fuse and Fire) to make it worth it.

No Love Lost is the first album from The Rifles. You can’t buy it. This is what’s broken with music right now. How in this day and age is there music that you can’t buy because of what country you live in? How can an industry literally tell you that your money is not good enough for them and they would rather not have it. This is insanity and I hope they rot for making it our reality. Oh, but if you could buy it you totally would because it’s brit-pop and it’s awesome.

Finally we have Ned’s. If you don’t remember Ned’s you should revisit God Fodder because it’s some of the best music 1991 had to offer. Yes, I’m well aware that Nevermind was also released in ‘91. This release is them getting together and recording all their old songs. It’s neat for true fans, but if that isn’t you just stick to the original releases. They’re far better in ‘91 than in 2008. I’m sure they same could be said for me though…

The Songs of Early Summer

2009-08-31T14:09:57Z

The first rule about not blogging is to not write about not blogging. So, on with the show.

Summer is only about half over (at least it was when I started writing this post), but I have enough new music to write about that I’m better off getting a post out now. But before I dive into the new I would like to quickly look back at spring and highlight what I’m still listening to and what I’m not. Don’t worry, it’s a short list consisting of White Lies and The Crystal Method. These are the only two albums from spring that I would listen to start to finish. The other albums have great tracks, but I’ve rated the good ones in iTunes so they show up in smart lists and the other tracks have faded in the dusty corners of my hard drive. Going even farther into the past two more bands have stayed in heavy rotation, MGMT and Cut Copy.

June

Franz Ferdinand — Blood: Franz Ferdinand (iTunes|Amazon)
Moby — Wait For Me (iTunes|Amazon)
Mos Def — The Ecstatic (iTunes|Amazon)
Paul Van Dyk — Volume (iTunes|Amazon)
Rancid — Let the Dominoes Fall (iTunes|Amazon)

I’m not sure why, but June was an odd month, musically speaking. Moby, Paul Van Dyk and a remix album from Franz Ferdinand was balanced out with Mos Def and a worthy effort from Rancid.

I’ll start with Rancid because I (and a lot of other people) have been waiting patiently and impatiently for them to come out with a follow-up to Indestructible — a truly awesome album. It’s good, but it doesn’t have the coherency that the previous effort had. It sounds like a collection of tracks from their entire history. It annoyingly meanders around their various styles, but at least all the individual efforts are strong. The first single “Last One To Die” is probably my favorite track.

I blame this Paul Van Dyk album for introducing both Britney Speaks and Justin Timberlake to my iTunes library. Sure, I could delete them, but them what would I have to complain about?

Moby. Not my thing. This album, that is. Not Moby in general. The track “Mistake” is the only one I’ve bothered to rate (★★★). Oh, and Mos Def? This album just never really intrigued me. Oh well.

A word on remix albums: they usually suck. The last full-on remix album that I can remember actually being good is the first Bloc Party release, “Silent Alarm”. “Blood” isn’t bad, but too many of the mixes just drone on doing absolutely nothing, well, except for curing insomnia.

July

Yeah Yeah Yeahs — It’s Blitz (iTunes|Amazon)
Paul Oakenfold — Perfecto Vegas (iTunes|Amazon)
Jamie T — Sticks ‘N’ Stones EP (iTunes|Amazon)

Kat listened to the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs on the last flight we were on and really liked it, so magically it appeared in the iTunes Library. There are some really catchy tracks on this album and it’s certainly not like a lot of their previous stuff that I’ve had a chance to sample. Overall, a win.

Oakenfold. Vegas…really? Why do I buy these again?

Now, Sticks ‘N’ Stones is easily my most played track over the last few months. I can’t stop listening to it. I will definitely buy his next release unheard.

The Music of Spring

2009-08-12T03:54:26Z

Previously I had been hunting for new music, and I did a pretty good job finding bands that I liked. Then I took a little break from “new” and went back to “tried and true.” Mostly. The last two and a half months have seen releases from some of my favorite groups and they did not disappoint. For the most part. Please note that I’ve restricted myself to just albums released in 2009.

March

White Lies – To Lose My Life… (iTunes|Amazon)
U2 – No Line on the Horizon (iTunes|Amazon)
KMFDM – Blitz (iTunes|Amazon)
Gallery of Voices – EP (iTunes|Amazon)
The Prodigy – Invaders Must Die (iTunes|Amazon)

Over on These Three Bands I said “White Lies sound like The Killers covering Interpol with The Bravery producing.” It’s dark brit-pop with very polished production values. I love it. The U2 album wasn’t bad, but it’s certainly not something that I queue up. If I hear a track it’s only because I have my iTunes Smart Lists set up so that I actually listen to the new music I buy. But, I don’t hate it either and I assume that artists would rather inspire a feeling (positive or negative) rather than indifference. KMFDM have brought back a lot of “the sound” that drew me to them in the first place. Well done, gang! Gallery of Voices was recommended to me by Greg. It’s 80’s synth-pop and it’s glorious. The Prodigy. Yeah, I know…really? Yes, really. This album is great fun and has some great running tracks. Or driving fast tracks. Whichever.

April

Skold Vs. KMFDM – Skold Vs. KMFDM (iTunes|Amazon)
Pet Shop Boys – Yes (iTunes|Amazon)
Depeche Mode – Sound of the Universe (iTunes|Amazon)

Tim Skold does great stuff and in general I love when he works with KMFDM. This is no exception. Pet Shops Boys. Yes, yes…I know, and I don’t care. I am a fan of pop music. Pet Shop Boys used to make incredible pop music. They hit a bit of a dry spell, in my mind after Bilingual. They’re back. In my mind this is their best work since Very. Depeche Mode are old. They look old and sometimes they sound old. There are some great songs on this album, but as a body of work it’s just okay.

May

Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse – Dark Night of the Soul (NPR)
Passion Pit – Manners (iTunes|Amazon)
Green Day – 21st Century Breakdown (iTunes|Amazon)
The Crystal Method – Divided by Night (iTunes|Amazon)

Danger Mouse has once again shown the world that the major music labels don’t know what they’re doing. He’s not alone in this effort, of course, but he is a bit of a media darling and so it helps get the message out. Good. The methods of production and distribution are no longer in the hands of the labels. I guess they’re still good for payola schemes though, so there’s that. The album is interesting, but not something I’ll put on heavy rotation. You should pick up Passion Pit if you want to like MGMT but need something more accessible. Green Day is Green Day. It’s fun, punk-pop. The Crystal Method have been quiet for too long. I know they’ve been doing a ton of work, but TV show themes and DJ albums were not enough to satisfy my needs. I’m still giving this album time to grow on me. It’s good, but I don’t know where this album goes on the scale compared to their other works. If you’re a fan of She Wants Revenge you’ll love the 4th track (Kling to the Wrekage) with Just Warfield on vocals.

Hunting for Tunes

2009-03-01T20:16:15Z

It’s a rainy Sunday, so I decided I would camp in front of the computer and demand new tunes from the intertubes. I wasn’t especially impressed with what Amazon or iTunes had to recommend, so I went back to my adopted roots, britpop. When I want britpop news, for better or worse, I go to NME.

NME told me that there is this thing called The Download Festival, which looks awesome. Now, because I’m an old curmudgeon, I don’t go to festivals. Festival line-ups are, however, great places to look for new tunes. My review process is simple:

Get name of band
Search for band in iTunes or at AmazonMP3
Listen to the 30 second samples
File under: Yes, No, or Maybe

Now, the festival site has a download section where you can download one track from each artist. While that’s a cool gimmick, I’ll stick with my process. Here are my results (Remember, you will file music in your own way and that’s okay! This just happens to be my take.):

Yes

While I would buy or have already purchased tunes from these bands, White Lies and Louis XIV were the ones that I immediately knew were for me.

White Lies (Amazon, iTunes)
The Duke Spirit (Amazon, iTunes)
Ghostland Observatory (Amazon, iTunes)
The Airborne Toxic Event (Amazon, iTunes)
Cut Copy (Amazon, iTunes)
Louis XIV (Amazon, iTunes)

No

Yeasayer
Mates of State
Brand New
Mutemath
Rjd2
Blitzen Trapper
Alberta Cross
Vedera
The Parlor Mob
Caribou

Maybe

Datarock
M83 (I still can’t pull the trigger on these guys)
The Whigs
Tapes ‘n Tapes (latest release doesn’t seem as strong as the previous release)
Elephone
The Night Marchers (if I run out of Social D, these guys will be perfect)

Aerial Recollections, Continued

2009-01-08T05:21:58Z

I’ll spare you, fine reader, the before and after presentations. You, being of keen mind and sharp wit, no doubt know what atrocious originals these shots came from.

Going through these old single megapixel shots reinforced a very important photography lesson for me — the best camera is the one you have with you. Without that little Canon, I would only have what images my mind can store. Digital file corruption and data loss pales to what happens in my mind.

San Francisco Aerial Photography

2009-01-06T08:25:22Z

Aperture 2 is an amazing piece of software. I’ve been going back through photos that I long ago gave up on and seeing how Aperture might bring them back to life. Sure, in this set I had to give up on color and crank the contrast up to 11, but in the end the shots are at least viewable now. The starting files are from a Canon S110. In other words, crappy little JPEGs.

Pro tip: plane windows suck to shoot through.

Before	After