case of the mondays

some hip hop to start off your week. no reason in particular. haven't posted much at all and am completely braindead from a weekend with my head in the clouds the entire time. so there.
spreadin' the jams like a butta knife...

Still the greatest song ever written about consumer culture, by anyone. Says more in 3 minutes than an entire Adbusters mag. Sage is righteous.
Sage Francis - Narcissist

Enter here for a chance to win Ghostface's robe! I really hope some suburban white kid wins it. Irony wields it's ugly head in the form of a plush purple pimp robe.
Ghostface - Jellyfish

The new Murs album is out, and imho it's better than 3:16. Check it. Also, if he comes round your way I'd urge you to see him. He puts on an amazing show and jumps around more than the average emcee.
Murs - Murray's Revenge (The End)

and if you think you got it bad...you don't.
Cage - Shoot Frank

wilco

in a Wilco mood tonight...from Summerteeth:
My Darling
When You Wake Up Feeling Old
Summer plans here.

Bollocks to the Arctic Monkeys

The king of rock battle in the UK has been won by those Milquetoast Monkeys (whose album I still can't enjoy front to back) critically, but Test Icicles put out a rager of an album which sounds like some early Mike Patton project mixed with scary, 80's Iron Maiden riffs, with some sprinklings of old school hip hop beats thrown in to throw you off. It's understandable for the album to pale in comparison critically to the Monkeys, but if you're in the mood to wild out Brit style, dig this:

Circle Square Triangle
What's Your Damage
All You Need is Blood
Party On Dudes (Get Hype)

Test Icicles? Do band names get any better? Pick up the album "For Screening Purposes Only" here.

Beck does Nick Drake

I noticed these on his website awhile back, but stumbled upon more accesible versions. I think he does it damn well.
Per request...
Parasite
Which Will
Pink Moon

Instrumental Wednesday...

a one and a two and a...

El-P is the brains behind Def Jux and his production talents are well known dating way back to Company Flow in the early to mid-90's. Little known are his arrangment talents with living, breathing humans. Thirsty Ear's Blue Series tabbed him, along with NYC jazz heavyweights William Parker and Matthew Shipp (among others) to record a jazz album. This is my favorite track off of High Water Mark.
El P - Sunrise Over Brooklyn

From the "Reads the Books" EP (collabo with The Books)
Prefuse 73 - Pagina Dos

And the song that will be playing when my first son, Kingsley Zissou Quagliozzi, is brought into this lovely world.
Mark Mothersbaugh - Ping Island/Lightning Strike Rescue Op

life it ain't that funky, unless it's got that pop

Belle and Sebastian were the first pop band I truly loved, and this song was the first track off the album of the same name that got me hooked in high school. I still think B&S are the finest pop-storytellers around. The Life Pursuit is decent, but I haven't given it the chance it probably deserves.
Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister

Death Vessel is a delightful collective from NYC who apparently tore it up at SXSW according to something I read. I have Stay Close, and I'd have to say that I've been pleasantly surprised by it. Cleverly molded, tightly-knit songs...but I just like the name of this one, because it epitomizes "wishful thinking".

Death Vessel - Tidy Nervous Breakdown


Whether you like Kraut-Rock or not, you're lying to yourself if you disagree with it being the coolest named genre of music in history. Faust rules.
Faust - It's a Bit of a Pain

good night and good luck

Monday morning coming down...

Vacation is over. Back to school. Here are 3 songs that have nothing to do with vacation, school, or Mondays. Today may one of the very few days I wish that I was working in an office.
Wilderness - Beautiful Alarms
Karate - Sever
and finally, because I miss Northampton today...
Sebadoh - On Fire

Friday nighters...

If the DFA crew can't get you up at at 'em, then my friend, I don't know what will.
I need oodles of motivation to get 'er going for my last night of vacation. I found it in the form of these:

Squarepusher - A Journey to Reedham (7AM mix)

LCD Soundsystem - Yeah (Pretentious Version)

Baker

Baker serves up some bouncy pop that is very "Kinky". Of course I'm referring to the actual band the Kinks, although Baker's songs are pretty damn sexy.
You be the judge.
Baker - Reputation

Destroyer, not the metal band....sorry.

I'm not a New Pornographers fan at all, but Dan Bejar has vaulted to the top of all of my lists recently. Destroyer's Rubies is an amazing, emotional assembly of songs. Very infectious stuff. I've been humming Looter's Follies for weeks now. Even one of my students picked up on it. Those crazy kids.
Destroy!
Destroyer - Painter in my Pocket
Destroyer - Looter's Follies

Nadler/Hunter

Get beautiful on your Friday...
Marissa Nadler - Old Love Haunts
Jana Hunter - Restless
My fellow Needham High alum and Jana apparently will be doing the Europe thing together throughout the month of May. My, how I would love to join.

Oh joy!

I now have an outrageous amount of hosting space thanks to the kind folks at ezarchive, so to celebrate I threw my pod on random and decided to post the first 3 songs that came on. Oddly, all three are instrumentals (mostly). The Four Tet track is especially delicious. That cat is bad.
Brian Eno - Another Green World
Four Tet - Sun, Drums, and Soil
Manitoba - Crayon

This is going to be fun.

Live update...

The toss up between Islands and Subtle was decided for us by the high school kids queued up at 7 eager to file into the MidEast. I also came to the realization that the Islands album just isn't really anything special upon a last minute listen yesterday.
Our decision was confirmed by Jel himself, who went to see his anticon cohort Why? (opening for Islands next door) and was taken aback by the "150 high school kids lined around the corner". School vacation is a double edged sword indeed.

We, in the end, proved to be the lame ones, as we bounced early before Subtle even got on. Caught Jel, and most of Fog (who was entirely uninteresting). Jel was equipped with a laptop, his SP 1200 and a drum machine and played most of the tracks from "Soft Money" which suited me fine. Seeing his 40 minute set alone was worth it.

jel - nice last
jel - all around
end communication...

liars vid

Liars - Let's Not Wrestle Mt. Heart Attack
From perhaps my favorite 06 album thusfar.
Drums Not Dead ain't easy at first, but once it "clicks" it's the most beatifully chaotic record I've heard in awhile. Oh yeah....Mr. Yorke is quite fond of it as well.

Spank Rock

If I were a DJ at Emerson, or any college station for that matter, this quickie would be mired in the obligatory "slammin", "bangin", "off the hook" or other proper indicators of dopeness. Thankfully, I don't have to talk like that. However, some of the aforementioned adjectives are bound to slip while conveying how awesome the new Spank Rock album sounds. These lads from Baltimore/Brooklyn have served up an analog mix of Miami Bass, fiendishly juvenile wordplay ("behind my gameboy, I got game girl, it comes easy..."), plain old dirty funk, and electro-madness. Parts of it sound like Diplo meets Odd Nosdam, but then both get kidnapped by some Brazilian meth addict with a drum machine. I'm curious to see how it's received.



I've found my summer album already. Now if it would only warm up enough to roll down my windows and rage this out my blown speakers. Plus, one of my favorite people in the world sings on Sweet Talk and if she reads this, she better email me to say hello!
ciaoser

Spank Rock - Rick Rubin
If you don't take my word for it, this guy will tell you.

Anticon takes on Vanderslice

Alias v. John Vanderslice - Exodus Damage

This is significant, not just because it's an interesting remix, but because those smug bastards of Anticon somehow managed to preside over two venues within spitting distance of each this coming Wednesday evening in Cambridge. Why? is playing with Islands at the MidEast, while the DoseOne project Subtle is undoubtedly filling up TT the Bear's with fellow Anticon-ers jel (whose new album is DJ Shadow style sick) and Fog.
So what's a boy to do?
I remember when white rappers didn't look like they worked at Whole Foods.

The newer of the John Vanderslice albums has been successfully figuring out ways to be played on my ipod constantly.

I mean, I used to snag my sister's

You know you're marquee when you adorn the pages of a teener mag. Those wiry sex-pots Apollo Sunshine are featured on some compilation that Seventeen magazine just put out, and their beardy grills are in the actual print version itself. So go for the period advice, and stay for the Sunshine!

Kevin Smith is trying to be funny again...

but i dunno how well it's going to work out. I would think it would be difficult to replicate a movie that originally was financed on 5 maxed out credit cards, but I suppose he's the dude to do it. At least Affleck isn't in the trailer.

Jay doing the Q Lazarus dance at the end might be reason enough to drop 9 bucks on a lazy Sunday.

Easterings....

Leave it to me to try to rope everyone back in, then bail for 3 weeks. My humblest apologies. There's been a slew of other things tantamount to blog posting going on in my brain. Things that certainly ain't blog worthy, but of utmost importance.

What is important is that I'm on vacation, because I really needed it. The last week of work consisted of me having a particularly ornery 13 year trying to separate my hand from the rest of my arm with his teeth. He failed.

So Happy Easter. I celebrated by dipping out of my family obligations with my mom to go see "Thank You For Smoking", which was hilarious. Pretty dead on depiction of those soulless PR lackeys.

Wold Parade last week was unreal. Those kids put on quite the show. I love Canada.

Here is some of what has kept me relatively sane lately:
John Vanderslice - Trance Manual
Okkervil River - For Real
Flaming Lips - Mr. Ambulance Driver

be good.