Sam Beam once again enchants us with his newest singles album, "Boy With a Coin." Melodic acoustics (as always) with simple drums and what sounds like hand clapping bring this song to life. Music doesn't have to be complex or difficult to be beautiful. Sam Beam demonstrates this with all of his heart.Iron & Wine - "Boy With a Coin" [Removed]
Cheers,
Pipe.
Labels: iron and wine
This photo has nothing to do with the post. It just happened to be what was on TV when I was making this post; and as Steven Seagal is a badass the music on this post is badass, so let us continue.Last night around 3AM I gave TakeoffZebra a phone call to talk about nonsense. He was letting me know what music he has recently got a hold of. After some talking he asked me, "Have you got the new Chromeo CD yet? Fancy Footwork?" "No?" "It's really good, every track is amazing." Taking his advice I immediately attained Fancy Footwork as soon as possible. Sitting at work I'm starting to close down the station... so I think to myself, why not check this stuff out while I close up? I'm thinking to myself. Great another electronic/pop album... however I was blown away. Chromeo combines a great 80s feel with a modern feel to his music. It's hard to describe, so just listen. Oh and go get the album or purchase it here.
Chromeo - Bonified Lovin' (Tough Guys) [Removed]
Indie rock band Cursive hailing from Omaha, Nebraska was a huge part of my late high school life. This is the first song from their debut album "Such Blinding Stars for Starving Eyes." The band has since then signed over to Saddle Creek Records. The song is simple and truly gives off that indie rock feel with highly emotional lyrics.
Cursive - After the Movies [Removed]
Hooray! Finally got my grubby little hands on the 1999 Shins EP, "Nature Bears a Vacuum." The song is cheery and uplifting as most Shins songs are. I've always thought they provided perfect driving music. So cheery. Its hard to get a hold of this bad boy however I'll be sure to post the rest of the songs in futures posts.
The Shins - Those Bold City Girls [Removed]
Portugal. The Man's second full length album "Church Mouth" was released July 24th 2007. The album leaked over many peer to peer networks. This is what the band members had to say about the issue, "Go Download it. Give yourselves taste. Feel free." So here's your taste of Church Mouth the first track off the album. Although the band was so nice as to say it was "O.K." to download the new album illegally we still encourage you to support the band here. This bands mysterious sound and melodic vocals are truly what their music is all about.
Portugal. The Man. - Church Mouth [Removed]
Cheers,
Pipe.
Labels: chromeo, cursive, portugal. the man, the shins, thirsty thursdays
Hello, and how ya doin?First of all... Jesu is awesome buy the newest full length here.
Jesu - Conqueror [Removed]
Things are finally settling down in the lives of Pipe and TakeoffZebra. I've finally got my drivers license unsuspended and my birthday is coming up here in another month (August 28th to be exact; Hooray). My finances are starting to balance out, which is always a good thing. Soon I'll be out of this hell hole known as Stockbridge, GA. However now ToZ is going through the exact same situation as I was just a few months ago! He has to take a driving course before his license becomes suspended... yeah bummer. So keep your fingers crossed for him. Anywho, I know I haven't been able to post a bunch lately but I'm still recovering from the loss of my computer, and have yet to be able to transfer my music harddrive information over to my new laptop. Soon as I get that done (hopefully by next Thirsty Thursdays) I will be able to get all of our wonderful blog readers some great rarities and new music. Take care.
Labels: jesu
Subject: Billy Corgan.Allegged crime: Greed with blatant disregard for fans.
Exhibit A: Corgan claims Pumpkins reunion in 2005, but come time for the new album, Billy and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin are the only ones sporting tacky reunion picnic t-shirts.
Exhibit B: Multiple, proprietary versions of the new album.
Concerning Exhibit A; I'll give Corgan the benefit of the doubt and say the reason to switch back to the SP name was artistic. Besides, I'm sure it'd be hard to pull James Iha away from his successful collaborations with acts like A Perfect Circle, The Sounds, America, Whiskeytown, etc, and D'arcy is busy with her horse farm and antique shops. (By the way, one of the first bass guitars I ever played on was formerly owned by D'arcy.) However, the whole reunion business feels very empty when you realize that Jimmy Chamberlin never parted ways with Corgan after the Pumpkin breakup. He continued to crash cymbals in Zwan and hammer beats for Billy's solo outings. It was more of a name change than a reunion.
Exhibit B is what gets the most fuss from the public. To put it in numbers, there are 10 different versions, 6 different tracklistings, 5 different cover art colors, and 3 different packaging styles to Zeitgeist. The worst part is, many of these versions are associated with 2 of the most feared and least attractive words in music culture: CORPORATE and PROPRIETARY. Look at it this way, let's say you're an american Pumpkins fan, but you don't use iTunes, and don't live near a Target or a Best Buy. Without paying ridiculous prices for imports, what will your options be? You could get the standard version, completely void of any bonuses, or the deluxe version, which includes a 76 page booklet. You'd be missing out on all 3 bonus tracks and 5 tribute cover songs. If I'm somehow missing the point of all these versions, please clue me in, but I believe the aim was to force fans to buy multiple copies of the album in order to get all the songs and spend more money.
But alas, here's the part of the post where I shock the crowd and actually defend Billy Corgan. First and foremost, it is unfair to place all the blame on Mr. Corgan, and I seriously doubt it was his idea to scattershot his songs over various markets. I believe (and hope) it was either an evil, number crunching robot in the basement of headquarters' skyscraper, or a gluttonous corporate pig in the penthouse of said skyscraper. Also, the way Zeitgeist was released was really an overexaggerated version of the way many singles are released these days. I mean, it's not uncommon for a single to have two 7" vinyl editons and a couple of CD releases as well, with different songs on each. While trying this method on an album surely crossed the line, it's not an original idea. And finally, Smashing Pumpkins' previous (and largely unnoticed) album "Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music" was released in an ultra-limited printing of only 25 copies that included the 2-LP album, and 3 seperate EPs. These were mailed out to a few select fans with instructions to distribute by any means necessary. Naturally, this meant internet downloads. In light of this, I believe a little bit of money earning can be forgiven. I mean, they gave away an entire double album and three EPs, c'mon. So as a word to all the frustrated people out there, I understand why you feel the way you do, but if you just try to understand, and go a little deeper than initial instinct, all can be forgiven. But it is now time for The Judge to present the sentence.
"With the power invested in me by the whole of The Fan and Consumer Collective, I hereby sentence thee, Billy Corgan, to a few signs of remorse (not just plugging you're new album at Live Earth without mentioning Earth itself), and the release of an international, one-format EP that includes, but is not limited to the three bonus tracks from Zeitgeist. Um, thank you and have a nice day."
Okay, so the trial's over with, so hopefully you read it and didn't just scroll down to these mp3s. First up is the opener to Machina II, "Glass' Theme", then another M2 track, "White Spyder". Both are pretty heavy and sound nice and dirty since they were recorded from the vinyl. Then, from the 5-disc set called "Mashed Potatoes" that Billy Corgan put together back in '94, it's a humorous live rendition of Steppenwolf's "Sookie Sookie" that the Pumpkins did sometime in 1990.
Smashing Pumpkins- "Glass' Theme" [Removed]
Smashing Pumpkins- "White Spyder" [Removed]
Smashing Pumpkins- "Sookie Sookie (Live 90)" [Removed]
Oh, and here's their latest single "Tarantula" recorded live at Live Earth.
Smashing Pumpkins- "Tarantula (Live at Live Earth)" [Removed]
Also, the entire "Machina II" album and the three EPs can be downloaded here. Enjoy.
Labels: smashing pumpkins
First of all, Hello everyone and sorry for taking like 10 days to get a new post up! Last night TakeoffZebra (ToZ) and I had the privilege of being witness to the Drinkchronicity/Farewell Tour of Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine. It was an honor to be the last few to possibly see Richard Cheese and his band play in Atlanta live.Richard Cheese - Rape Me (Nirvana) [Removed]
The set began with a lounge based (of course) intro in that Mr. Richard Cheese was welcomed to the stage. Cheese introduces himself, "Hello, I'm Drunk." The performance was amazing, and as expected comical. When Cheese wasn't asking women to show him their pussy or to flash the band he would walk around the croud singing to individuals and adding pieces of that persons life to the song he was singing. He also managed to get an 8 year old kid on the stage (under the influence of 20 dollars) to finish a chorus of Sir Mix Alot's "Baby Got Back." So you can also say you were some of the last few to see Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine live, this is a list of their final tour dates:
JULY 18 - Atlanta (You missed it; twas awesome...)
JULY 21 - New Orleans
JULY 27 - San Diego
AUG. 5 - Las Vegas
AUG. 14 - Portland Oregon
AUG. 17 - Seattle
AUG. 22 - Sacramento
AUG. 28 - San Francisco
SEPT. 8 - Chicago
OCT. 5 - Santa Barbara
OCT. 13 - Salt Lake City
Get Tickets HERE.
I have always been a huge fan of Jesu and Justin Broadwick however I did not own any of their foreign releases until recently when I managed to get a hold of the Japanese version of Silver (EP). The song Silver has always been a big Jesu hit however, the Japanese version blew me away. Its electronic overlay and beautiful underlay of simple guitar notes reminds me as to why I love blogging so much, being able to share beautiful music like this with you. "Silver is just another Gold."
Jesu - Silver (Original Beats) [Removed]
Muse's CD has a major political influence behind it, however if you listen closely in all the tracks you'll notice some more underlying themes. Such as space and aliens? The CD is named Black Holes and Revelations; the music video for Knights of Cydonia is set in a futuristic wild west. With laser grappling robots and cowboys of the future. Many of the songs have spaceship sounding effects in the background also. But who cares? The keyboard and synth effects never fail to "wow" me. Lets hope Muse continues to release great music.
Muse - Exo-Politics [Removed]
The Rapture was a influence in starting this blog, so why the fuck haven't we been posting more material by them?! WTF! Time to fix this. This amazing remix of Crimson Red just feels so right. But sorry... there's no cowbell in this one.
The Rapture - Crimson Red (Remix) [Removed]
Hold your milk jugs high! Whats coming up next? Our farewell tribute to the Shameless Complacency blog, and TakeoffZebra's thoughts of the new Smashing Pumpkins release and Billy Corgan. Cheers!
Labels: jesu, muse, richard cheese, the rapture, thirsty thursdays
I'm so sorry that we haven't been able to make a post lately (10 Days) however Zebra and myself have been having some conflicting schedule issues but here's a preview of whats to come!!!Concert review of Richard Cheese and the Lounge Against the Machine that myself and ToZ attended (it was awesome) and Thirsty Thursdays XIII. We will also be bidding a farewell to a great blog Shameless Complacency which has recently gone into an indefinant hiatus.
Peace love and rock n roll
Pipe
Okay, this song kept playing when I set my library to random and the song wasn't labelled. It was bothering me for a long time and I finally found out who it was. Their name(s) is/are Matt & Kim, a drum and synth duo from Brooklyn. This song, "Yea Yeah", is a happy, exclamatory celebration of youthful shenanigans, with the easiest sing-a-long chorus I've ever heard. Yeah. Below are the pre-master version (the one I'd been listening to) and the album version, which can be found on the recently released s/t album.Matt & Kim- "Yea Yeah [Pre-Master]" [Removed]
Matt & Kim- "Yea Yeah [Album Version]" [Removed]
But the Yea Yeah's don't end there folks. For some extra fun, I've got the incredible Flosstradamus remix of the song. It hits heavier, soaks deeper, and dances harder. Plus it's got hand claps and super sweet tweets in the mix.
Matt & Kim- "Yea Yeah [Flosstradamus Remix]" [Removed]
Okay guys, thanks for reading, now go get your Yea Yeah's out!
Labels: matt and kim
Hey sorry for not posting in so long but I've had computer problems. So here we go!It happens all the time; one band, one song, one placement on the top 40's chart. Today we'll be covering some of my personal favorite one hit wonders from the 70s and 80s. (Featured above is Europe, check out that hair; you know you love it.)
A hit single in 1986 by the Swedish rock band Europe swept the worlds top 40 charts. That song was "The Final Countdown." Inspired by David Bowie's "Space Oddity." The Song has over 8 covers and is considered to be a rock 'n' roll great. Of Montreal even used the song for an introduction to their own hit song "Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games." However the reason it is considered (like other songs on this post) a One Hit Wonder is because it was the bands only song to break the top 40 charts. This rock "anthem" is mostly noted for its keyboard riff by the bands vocalist Joey Tempest composed 4 years before the song was even released. (It also has a pretty sick guitar solo).
Europe - "The Final Countdown" [Removed]
Released in 1979 "My Sharona" was the hit song released by The Knack. The songs guitar riff remains popular to this day. The song is considered a definitive of early 80s rock and power pop. The song has a myriad of covers, we even have a hardcore cover by the group The Number Twelve Looks Like You (here).
Finish this sentence: "Everybody was..." If you don't know the answer then you're not familiar with the historic one hit wonder by Carl Douglas, "Kung Fu Fighting." Released in 1974. Carl Douglas disappeared as fast as lighting shortly after.
Carl Douglas - "Kung Fu Fighting" [Removed]
Can you feel that? The nosie? "Cum on Feel the Noize" originally done by the band Slade in 1973; revived and made famous by Quiet Riot (in 1983) is among the best one hit wonders. Great guitar solo; really energetic song.
Quiet Riot - "Cum on Feel the Noize" [Removed]
Labels: carl douglas, europe, quiet riot, the knack
Yesterday was the 4th of July, a day to celebrate the struggles our forefathers endured in order to gain independence. Today is the 5th of July or, according to the Church of the SubGenius, X-Day. So if you see "Bob", tell him it's too bad we have to wait 'til the year 8661 for the aliens to invade. But on to the music, this thursday's selection will highlight songs involving America. This first song will be by the only non-American band in this post, Spinal Tap, the famous rock/mockumentary stars. If you have not seen This Is Spinal Tap, you need to go buy it immediately. Their amps go up to 11 for God's sake! This song, "America", is about, well, America, therefore it should be a fitting addition to this week's post. It comes from the soundtrack album from the movie.Spinal Tap- "America" [Removed]
This post would feel a bit empty without Jimi Hendrix's live rendition of the Star Spangled Banner from Woodstock. This track, as well as several others are available on the 2-disc "Live at Woodstock". This should need no introduction.
Jimi Hendrix Experience- "Star Spangled Banner [Live at Woodstock]" [Removed]
What could possibly be more American than a song by a band named America that was played at the inauguration of a professional wrestler to Governor of Minnesota? Jesse Ventura asked America to play a few songs at his inauguration, and what better song to play than 1972's "Ventura Highway"? I mean, c'mon. Here it is in all it's double guitar harmony splendor, from the album "Homecoming". It's too bad Janet Jackson had to sample it for one of her songs, but don't worry, I'm not posting "Someone To Call My Lover".
America- "Ventura Highway" [Removed]
Andrew WK exhibit's an amazingly positive spirit that's perfect for heroic 4th of July outings. Especially in this album openner from his sophomore album, "The Wolf". "Victory Strikes Again" has an enormous, anthemic quality that stands right along with lyrics like "We are here, we are high/and this is why we love to live our lives". Amazing.
Andrew WK- "Victory Strikes Again" [Removed]
Weezer recently announced that, contrary to popular belief, they were not breaking up and that they have another album in the works. Let's just hope it's nothing like "Make Believe". Well, the song "Surf Wax America" is a fantastic Beach Boys influenced jam from 1994's "Weezer (The Blue Album)". The song available for download will be the live version from the Deluxe Edition of the same album. And don't worry if Weezer never surfs, because the Beach Boys didn't either.
Weezer- "Surf Wax America [Live]" [Removed]
The Killers' new album, "Sam's Town", was supposed to be a "great american album", and the song "Read My Mind" provides great commentary on American society. This excellent remix by the Pet Shop Boys is available on iTunes and a Best Buy exclusive single.
The Killers- "Read My Mind [Pet Shop Boys Stars Are Blazing Mix]" [Removed]
So, 4th of July was yesterday, but that won't stop you from turning it up to 11 and blasting some American music. Go ahead, it's patriotic!
Labels: america, andrew w.k., jimi hendrix experience, spinal tap, the killers, thirsty thursdays, weezer
Hey guys, I felt like making a post about a few upcoming releases I have my eyes on. We'll start off with Simian Mobile Disco, a bangin' production/remix duo from England. They're probably best known for their single "Hustler" that just happens to have the greatest music video ever. Well, after all the singles and remixes they've released, they finally have an album out in the UK which is due here in 'Merica September 18th. And even though five of "Attack Decay Sustain Release"'s ten songs have already been released in one form or another, I'm willing to bet this album will be pretty popular in the fall. Here's the first song from the album called "Sleep Deprivation". It's a tweaky 5 minute instrumental that just happens to be perfect for me as I write this at 3 in the morning.
Simian Mobile Disco- "Sleep Deprivation" [Removed]
Canadian indie rockstars The New Pornographers have been at it for a decade, and I've yet to hear any complaints. Their fourth studio album, "Challengers" is set to drop on August 21st in standard and "Executive Edition", the latter of which will include not one, not two, but THREE bonus discs. One's for rarites, two's for live performances, and three's for visual goodies. I have trouble turning down superior editions of stuff like this. Wallet, prepare for landing! The openning track for the upcoming album is called "My Right Versus Yours". It's a calm escalator ride from the slow beginning to the full realization of "the truth in one free afternoon". Enjoy.
The New Pornographers- "My Right Versus Yours" [Removed]
Horribly under-appreciated Danish indie rock group Figurines (not to be confused with Jimmy Tamborello's group Figurine) wow'd me with last years album "Skeleton" and are prepared to do it again with the upcoming "When the Deer Wore Blue". Fingers crossed for a September 11th release here in The States. Their unique sound is sensible folk/pop, with smooth yet strained vocals and persistant drumming. The first single from the anticipated new album is "Hey, Girl", and it adds a little bit of retro styling into the mix. I love it.
Figurines- "Hey, Girl" [Removed]
Also of note is the upcoming Pitchfork exclusive download of Girl Talk's remix of Of Montreal's "Gronlandic Edit". Seriously, be on the lookout for that one, it's gonna be huge.
Labels: figurines, girl talk, of montreal, simian mobile disco, the new pornographers
