Thursday, April 07, 2005
sorry for the neglect
Further: "California Bummer"
Further: "Quiet Riot Grrrl"
Unwound: "Go to Dallas and Take a Left"
Yes yes yes, this site has been slipping, and I apologize, to both of you. The wife and I have been getting ready for Mexico, and thus I have not taken the time to rip any new mp3s. Next week will be updateless, at least from my end, but hopefully I'll have one last for real post up before heading south on Saturday. Yes ma'am. Until then, here are a few random odds and ends floating around on my pc.
So I don't care that Further were once in some bad major-label pop band, or that their full-lengths were generally bland and uninspired. There were many reasons to dislike this band back in the day, but for the duration of one record, at least, they were worth listening to. In 1995, they released the damn fine Golden Grimes ep, an overlooked and underrated gem from the twilight of indie-rock's heyday, that proved that Further could write catchy, noisy, awesomely shitty-sounding rock music as well as almost anybody else. "California Bummer" and "Quiet Riot Grrrl" alone elevate this fourth-rate band to, at the very least, third-rate status. I wouldn't recommend them to people who can't get into early Pavement or Sebadoh, but those weaned on that early '90's lo-fi nonsense might get a kick out of these two tunes. Apparently these dudes are somehow involved in / responsible for those bands Beachwood Sparks and the Tyde.
I was only a tentative fan of Unwound when I first saw them live. I had bought New Plastic Ideas towards the end of 1995, and although I absolutely loved some of it, at least half the record was too angsty and turgid for me. About six months later I wound up working a double shift in the box office of a local theater. It was the day The Rock opened, and business was insane. It was also the last day of school, when most students got out early after finals, and everybody was chomping at the bit to see Connery and Cage blow some shit up. We were absolutely slammed, with non-stop business all day, lines consistently reaching out into the parking lot and around the area where they were building the new Harris Teeter. Normally I could read a hundred pages or so in a typical six-hour shift, but on this day I was working non-stop. I finally got off around eleven, and pretty much at the spur of the moment decided to drive down to the weird sports bar place on Northside Drive that was hosting an Unwound / Blonde Redhead concert. Unwound were pretty awesome, and, between their undeniable rock prowess and super-cheap merchandise prices, won me over for good. Three months later, the first cd I bought as a UGA student and Athens resident was their 1996 release Repetition. Although still kind of dull in spots (I don't think there's a single consistently great Unwound album), there are a number of fantastic highlights, including "Go to Dallas and Take a Left". At first merely sort of catchy, it gradually picks up the pace, commences to rock, and then gets all splattered up with some nice, random, free-jazzish nonsense at the end. When people start to rave about how experimental and ground-breaking and forward-thinking those dolts in Radiohead are, this should be one of the thousands upon thousands of examples used to bust that argument up but good.
Further: "California Bummer"
Further: "Quiet Riot Grrrl"
Unwound: "Go to Dallas and Take a Left"
Yes yes yes, this site has been slipping, and I apologize, to both of you. The wife and I have been getting ready for Mexico, and thus I have not taken the time to rip any new mp3s. Next week will be updateless, at least from my end, but hopefully I'll have one last for real post up before heading south on Saturday. Yes ma'am. Until then, here are a few random odds and ends floating around on my pc.
So I don't care that Further were once in some bad major-label pop band, or that their full-lengths were generally bland and uninspired. There were many reasons to dislike this band back in the day, but for the duration of one record, at least, they were worth listening to. In 1995, they released the damn fine Golden Grimes ep, an overlooked and underrated gem from the twilight of indie-rock's heyday, that proved that Further could write catchy, noisy, awesomely shitty-sounding rock music as well as almost anybody else. "California Bummer" and "Quiet Riot Grrrl" alone elevate this fourth-rate band to, at the very least, third-rate status. I wouldn't recommend them to people who can't get into early Pavement or Sebadoh, but those weaned on that early '90's lo-fi nonsense might get a kick out of these two tunes. Apparently these dudes are somehow involved in / responsible for those bands Beachwood Sparks and the Tyde.
I was only a tentative fan of Unwound when I first saw them live. I had bought New Plastic Ideas towards the end of 1995, and although I absolutely loved some of it, at least half the record was too angsty and turgid for me. About six months later I wound up working a double shift in the box office of a local theater. It was the day The Rock opened, and business was insane. It was also the last day of school, when most students got out early after finals, and everybody was chomping at the bit to see Connery and Cage blow some shit up. We were absolutely slammed, with non-stop business all day, lines consistently reaching out into the parking lot and around the area where they were building the new Harris Teeter. Normally I could read a hundred pages or so in a typical six-hour shift, but on this day I was working non-stop. I finally got off around eleven, and pretty much at the spur of the moment decided to drive down to the weird sports bar place on Northside Drive that was hosting an Unwound / Blonde Redhead concert. Unwound were pretty awesome, and, between their undeniable rock prowess and super-cheap merchandise prices, won me over for good. Three months later, the first cd I bought as a UGA student and Athens resident was their 1996 release Repetition. Although still kind of dull in spots (I don't think there's a single consistently great Unwound album), there are a number of fantastic highlights, including "Go to Dallas and Take a Left". At first merely sort of catchy, it gradually picks up the pace, commences to rock, and then gets all splattered up with some nice, random, free-jazzish nonsense at the end. When people start to rave about how experimental and ground-breaking and forward-thinking those dolts in Radiohead are, this should be one of the thousands upon thousands of examples used to bust that argument up but good.
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
no, no no no, he's really dead
Various Artists: "Legend of a Mind" (from Moody Bluegrass: A Nashville Tribute to the Moody Blues"
Various Artists: "Your Wildest Dreams"
Here are a couple of songs sent in by LD, from a record called Moody Bluegrass: A Nashville Tribute to the Moody Blues. Basically a ton of Nash Vegas’s top pickers done played the Moody Blues all hoe-down style, and did it pretty damn well. When LD first mentioned it to me I immediately thought of those horrible tribute records where anonymous musicians do bluegrass or string quartet covers of popular bands, like these Radiohead and Dave Matthews cash-in trash-heaps. Moody Bluegrass is different from those, though; instead of cheap, disposable rip-offs blatantly calculated for nothing more than some quick bucks, this record seems to have been made with some degree of care and attention. Instead of nameless hacks and obscure nobodies, real-life, honest-to-God, notable bluegrass musicians play on this one, like Allison Krauss, and… um… tons of people I’ve never heard of. So hell, maybe they’re not so notable after all. In this one instance, though, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, and assume that NPR knows what it’s talking about when they call these folks “top musicians.”
Anyway, the bluegrass backing of “Legend of a Mind” highlights the ridiculous absurdity of the psychedelic lyrics. I think I would have enjoyed flying the astral plane with Dr. Leary, were I thirty years older, and not mortally ascared of drugs. But this is a nice adaptation of a mediocre song about a guy who was generally just a giant dipshit. “Your Wildest Dreams” really starts up about thirty seconds in, and when it does, the melody sounds a lot like the first line to “Legend of a Mind”. It’s a pleasant song, though, and, unlike “Legend of Mind”, if I didn’t know any better, I wouldn’t be able to tell that it wasn’t originally a country song.
Various Artists: "Legend of a Mind" (from Moody Bluegrass: A Nashville Tribute to the Moody Blues"
Various Artists: "Your Wildest Dreams"
Here are a couple of songs sent in by LD, from a record called Moody Bluegrass: A Nashville Tribute to the Moody Blues. Basically a ton of Nash Vegas’s top pickers done played the Moody Blues all hoe-down style, and did it pretty damn well. When LD first mentioned it to me I immediately thought of those horrible tribute records where anonymous musicians do bluegrass or string quartet covers of popular bands, like these Radiohead and Dave Matthews cash-in trash-heaps. Moody Bluegrass is different from those, though; instead of cheap, disposable rip-offs blatantly calculated for nothing more than some quick bucks, this record seems to have been made with some degree of care and attention. Instead of nameless hacks and obscure nobodies, real-life, honest-to-God, notable bluegrass musicians play on this one, like Allison Krauss, and… um… tons of people I’ve never heard of. So hell, maybe they’re not so notable after all. In this one instance, though, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, and assume that NPR knows what it’s talking about when they call these folks “top musicians.”
Anyway, the bluegrass backing of “Legend of a Mind” highlights the ridiculous absurdity of the psychedelic lyrics. I think I would have enjoyed flying the astral plane with Dr. Leary, were I thirty years older, and not mortally ascared of drugs. But this is a nice adaptation of a mediocre song about a guy who was generally just a giant dipshit. “Your Wildest Dreams” really starts up about thirty seconds in, and when it does, the melody sounds a lot like the first line to “Legend of a Mind”. It’s a pleasant song, though, and, unlike “Legend of Mind”, if I didn’t know any better, I wouldn’t be able to tell that it wasn’t originally a country song.
Friday, April 01, 2005
Breathe Deep the Waft of Nilsson
Harry Nilsson: "Don't Leave Me"
Harry Nilsson: "Many Rivers to Cross"
Harry Nilsson: "Down to the Valley"
Crushes McLean, Simon, Chapin, Browne, Taylor, Lightfoot, Stevens, Jacks, Fogelberg, Croce, and most solo Lennon. Probably draws with Cohen, and falls short against Waits. Can’t leave a scratch on Arcesia. I don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about. I just learnt me some English today.
“Don’t Leave Me” is Love once Arthur Lee goes manic retard. “Many Rivers to Cross”, though, is completely excellent, and makes every solo Beatles song sound like horse-cock (except “My Sweet Lord” and [maybe] “Instant Karma”.) "Down to the Valley" is a jaunty little sing-along that can be thoroughly enjoyed by kids, idiots, and discerning adults alike.
Suggested and supplied bythe Dissenting Ranks Mr. and Mrs. Brown, one of whom has been kind enough to post more extensive comments on each song.
Harry Nilsson: "Don't Leave Me"
Harry Nilsson: "Many Rivers to Cross"
Harry Nilsson: "Down to the Valley"
Crushes McLean, Simon, Chapin, Browne, Taylor, Lightfoot, Stevens, Jacks, Fogelberg, Croce, and most solo Lennon. Probably draws with Cohen, and falls short against Waits. Can’t leave a scratch on Arcesia. I don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about. I just learnt me some English today.
“Don’t Leave Me” is Love once Arthur Lee goes manic retard. “Many Rivers to Cross”, though, is completely excellent, and makes every solo Beatles song sound like horse-cock (except “My Sweet Lord” and [maybe] “Instant Karma”.) "Down to the Valley" is a jaunty little sing-along that can be thoroughly enjoyed by kids, idiots, and discerning adults alike.
Suggested and supplied by
