The Milk Lounge

Maybe, please?

2008-09-19T13:03:00.002-04:00

With all the great shows coming through the southeast in the next few months, we might want to start posting in here again. I'd really like that, and maybe there are a few stragglers that would enjoy it as well. What do you think? Should we cover Girl Talk, Weezer, Of Montreal, The Faint and a few others? I personally will attempt to attend all of these shows, and it would be great to gain the inspiration and motivation to post regularly again.

Our Restraint // The Tampa Trip

2008-02-10T04:44:00.000-05:00

As I am writing this the former Musical Archives of the "Old Milk Lounge" are being wiped. Hundreds of songs are gone and no longer to be downloaded from The Milk Lounge, it pained me to do this, but it felt like the right thing to do. In the last post Riley mentioned that we are no longer going to be putting up music for "Download" however this isn't true. If the music is given on free release by the artist to us then we will provide it in a download form. Also if the music is a remix by an artist of an original work this may also be downloadable (is that even a word?). I hope you guys enjoy the new Milk Lounge as I'm going to. Lets begin with the first post...

The Tampa Trip

31 JAN 2008
10:47AM

Riley and myself depart from our Art Appreciation class (or as Riley so mundanely calls it "Fart Appreciation"). We opt against going to Sbarro's for the traditional after class pizza lunch and better decide to go to our rooms and sleep to prepare for what is to come. We both agree that we'll be skipping our Drugs & Crime class which we never seem to have anyways.

2:40PM~ish.

Packing what little things we can for the road (Beef Jerky, Water, Hookah Supplies) we depart towards the Leuthold residence so that Riley can get some money from his parents. We were also treated with a delicious meal.

4:00PM~ish.

We arrive at Richie's house to wait on Autumn, Danny and Selena. Khalid and Melony take a separate car, we load up on energy drinks and road munchies for the ride hop on I-95S and our journey begins. Smoking hookah while listing to custom mix tapes for the trip we ride.

10:00PM - 10:45PM

We arrive in Ybor City, Florida which is located somewhere North, South, East or West of Tampa. I make an immediate dash to the nearest club / gathering-place to, for lack of a better word, pee. After all that has been completed we decide to cruise around Ybor looking for food because many of the others with us were hungry. The place that we chose to go into first was without first notice a store for gays. Looking at the gay get-well-soon cards Riley and I realize that we were left alone in the Gay Store; soon finding that our friends had left and found a pizza shop around the corner. They eat, I smoke. We are approached by a young man who asks us, "Have you heard the good news!?" - This leads to him telling us that our salvation lies with Christ and badgering us of if we were to die tonight if we would go to hell or heaven. After dismissing the zealot we begin waiting in line outside of the Czar Bar to get our will-call tickets for Girl Talk. A few cigarettes, drinks and side-conversations later we are in the club anticipating the performance to begin...

11:00PM - 1:00AM

This happened:

It was a blast, Greg Gillis aka Girl Talk was an amazing and "totally worth it" show. If you find out that Girl Talk is coming anywhere near your town I incline you go enjoy the performance. It's something everyone should experience.

Grizzly Bear - Knife (Girl Talk Remix)

Legitimacy: An Exercise In Restraint

2008-02-06T20:26:00.000-05:00

As shameful and terrible as it may be, I have not posted since Halloween. A culmination of doubts, laziness and apathy is to blame, and I will now detail these reasons and discuss future plans for The Milk Lounge.

As much as I enjoyed writing on this mp3 blog, it began to become a chore. Writing every thursday and once or twice in between was an unspoken expectation between Pipe and I, and not one I looked forward to. This laziness caused me to search for an excuse to stop posting, and what I came up with has really made me think twice about the entire mp3 blog community. Don't get me wrong though, I love what these little journals and downloads can do for an under-appreciated band or forgotten source of nostalgia, but something still bothers me.

We were getting hundreds of views per day, which was very exciting for us, but I personally feel that many of these site visits were unfairly received. Free mp3s are very popular these days, and putting them up on The Milk Lounge surely attracted quite a few viewers, especially when we are included in such (wonderful) aggregators as elbo.ws and hype machine. But how many of these downloaders actually read our articles? Is it fair to offer free mp3s? Not only is it illegal, but when thinking about it, I begin to feel like one of those sleazy used car salesmen that advertises free hot dogs during car shows. And I'll let you in on a little secret: I used to go to these car shows JUST FOR THE HOT DOGS.

Basically what I'm getting at is that I don't think we should post free mp3s anymore. Pipe and I had a discussion last night in which we made plans for the future of the site. Most importantly, we want to start posting often again, but with less expectation. We want to keep it casual, but worthwhile. And soon, we plan on deleting all the mp3s in our archives. This may upset a bunch of readers, but we would rather have our hits come from those that are genuinely interested in our articles, not just the freebies. But don't expect the music to go away completely! Pipe is currently researching ways to have streaming music on the site, instead of downloads. This way there would still be music, we would still be providing the service that music blogs are designed for (sharing and exposing music), and we would no longer be breaking the law.

I would also like to thank the (as of now 3) people that commented on yesterday's sympathy post. You actually REALLY HELPED encourage us to continue this little hobby we have. We have never and will never lose our love for music and the desire to share it with others. I believe this is a big step for us, and will be a very mature decision on our part. While we will most likely get less hits, the visits we do get will be more valuable, because they will be from people that want to hear what we have to say. Thank you very much for your continued reading and support, and hold tight while we sort out exactly what it is we do next.

Enjoy.

-TakeoffZebra

Our Endless Numbered Days

2008-02-06T09:09:00.001-05:00

Does anybody notice that we're gone?

Thirty-One Days

2008-01-22T19:49:00.000-05:00

Life has become interesting again. Its finally slowing down as I've realized how truly finite this world is. Everyday brings a new pleasure, a new suffering, a beginning, an end. I guess there comes times where you just have to finally accept the world that you live in, and that you cant change it. I watched a movie, Kicking and Screaming (1995), directed by Noah Baumbach and in it one of the characters Chet says, "How do you make God laugh? - Make a plan."

I'm not going to explain why I like that line but you try and figure it out and go watch the movie. Although it wasn't showered in reviews like many other films it's still in my opinion a must see, great for those who are kind of lost but not ready to be found. Kind of nostalgic...

"I'm nostalgic for conversations I had yesterday. I've begun reminiscing events before they even occur. I'm reminiscing this right now. I can't go to the bar because I've already looked back on it in my memory... and I didn't have a good time."

Thirty Days

2007-12-22T16:22:00.000-05:00

My co-worker and good friend William McCoy has done it again, these days are more or less just a massive populous of people trying to retain their sanity. Times like these requires music like this. Down-tempo/chill whatever you want to call it, McCoy has done it again, with another instrumental jam. I know we have been idle here at the lounge but we've lost inspiration, but will keep on posting from time to time, its been thirty days since the last post as hints the title of this post. New trend? Yes.

William McCoy - "Jen's Song" [Removed]

Cheers,
Pipe

Twenty-Six Days

2007-11-27T21:00:00.000-05:00

Above: Antarctic

We've been idle for well over twenty-six days now and it's not that we don't care about music or about all of the work we've put into our website. Its that for a little while there and maybe we've lost a little bit of inspiration to continue doing what we do. Although we will continue to blog it will be a bit sparse, our college lives seem to be draining what little free time we have. I'm also a bit sad to say yet at the same time somewhat gladded to announce the death of the weekly Thirsty Thursdays. Although they were fun while they lasted they have sort of become a pain in the neck and its hard to plan a big post and songs and all of that with (as mentioned before) what little free time we seem to have. This does not mean that we are going to go into a hiatus of any sort, but it was nice to have a little bit of break.

I've also found some pretty incredible music during the break. Although Kate Nash's debut album was released on August 6 2007 I had never really heard of her or taken the time to listen to the music. However after hearing the song "Foundations" that was on a sampler CD that comes with the magazine Paste that ToZ and I read I was surprised at the young ladies musical talents. The music is just so delicately poppy and fun (and English). Her lyrics always bring a smile to your face.

Kate Nash - "Foundations" [Removed]

I've been friends with guitarist/songwriter Brandon Highfill for a long time now and I have always thought his musical abilities were amazing. His latest band confirms my longstanding belief that he will continue to do great things in the world of music.Antarctic has blown me away with their melodic progressive rock sound. The band is instrumental and I couldn't see it being any other way. If you like this track then I would highly recommend that you go to the bands myspace. All the tracks seem as if they are ment to flow together and wow. I listen to all of them almost what seems like once a day. I will be following Brandon and his band and hopefully get out to a show as soon as I can. Amazing drumming, fantastic guitar tapping. All of the songs include a tremendous build up and flow together effortlessly while maintaining variation from song to song. One could describe the music as the melodic portions of a somewhat hardcore band, the riffs just seem to jump out and grab your attention with every second that passes.

Antarctic - "Paseo de Salamandria" [Removed]

Cheers,
Pipe

The Sound of Animals Remixing & Live

2007-11-06T15:18:00.000-05:00

The Reissue of Tiger and the Duke with the bonus remixes was released in late June of this year, I'm not sure why I am posting these remixes now I think it's mostly because I just recently had the chance to listen to them all the way through, and wow. I was blown away, I can't believe I purchased this CD the moment it was reissued and never took the time to listen to the remixes. I seem to prove myself more and more moronic each and every day!

I'm going to go over my personal favorite remixes out of the eight. Begging with "The Heat in Dub" remixed by Technology. Although I've never heard of Technology before this and it was hard to find information about them on the internet, the artist(s) successfully were able to transform the sound "The Heat" into an sort of psychedelic reggae song. It's incredibly relaxing and dare I say trippy.

The Sound of Animals Fighting - "The Heat in Dub" (Technology Remix)

Portugal. The Man is a favorite of mine. I love the musical variation and vocals in their own work, they also remixed three of the songs for this release which is quite impressive my favorite of theirs is hard to determine but I would have to go with the "My Horse Must Lose" remix. It begins very subtle and remains relaxing with interesting bleeps and bloops along the way that never seem to make me lose my attention.

The Sound of Animals Fighting - "My Horse Must Lose" (Portugal. The Man Remix) [Removed]

Although the remixes in this album are amazing, there is one song that shines above all of the rest, and that song isn't even remixed. It's the only live track on the CD. The "Horses in the Sky" live version just blew me away, starting with a heavily synthed intro it feels like you are running across a sonic battlefield, explosions of noise to your right your left all around you. Guitar riffs ripping past your head has you try and find the nearest trench to take cover to avoid the musical grenades and mortar rounds. For a live song by far a 9.9/10 if I had to give it a rating.

[Highly Recommended]

The Sound of Animals Fighting - "Horses in the Sky" (Live) [Removed]

Cheers,
Pipe

Thirsty Thursdays: 27

2007-11-01T16:54:00.000-04:00

Photo By: Egil Paulson

MC Scott (Born William Scotty McCoy) is a Connecticut native and a Jacksonville resident. He began making music in 2003 and has now begun producing and engineering. McCoy has a unique sound, never quite staying with one genre but rather exploring what each type of sound and instrument has to offer. He has one such titles as 3rd Place Rap Solo in Florida (2004), 3rd Place National Rap Solo (2005) and 1st Place Rap Solo in Florida (2006). As of now he is working with the group For Real Ministries on sound production and recording. Beginning with an subtle and very slight oriental feel this instrumental wonder then transforms into a clash of beat and piano creating an almost low-fi jazz experience.

MC Scott - "Free" (Remix) [Removed]

British Sea Power has been swept up into the blogging frenzy as of late. And with good reason too, combining beautiful ambient instrumental with powerful vocals and lyrics. This song is from the groups debut album The Decline in British Sea Power.

British Sea Power - "Carrion" [Removed]

We had the pleasure to interview Aaron Schroeder once before and I would love to do this again. He is currently working on a new album, and is also now a proud father. As we all know kids are not cheap. You can purchase Aaron's Black and Gold at his myspace here.

Aaron Schroeder - "Cold Country" [Removed]

Minus the Bear has begun to slow down from their old fun selves. I'm not saying that this is bad thing I'm just saying that I miss the fun driving to the beach Minus the Bear stuff such as this great track from They Make Beer Commercials Like This.

Minus the Bear - "Fine + 2pts" [Removed]

I just can't let go. I refuse often times to listen to their new music. However as stated in the previous Thirsty Thursdays after the loss of guitarist Zeke Buck things just sort of became bland. However I will not let go of what was already made. Le Funk will be an album that I will always be comfortable listening to. It's great for any situation whether that be love making, partying, discoing, or even driving back from a court case in Atlanta, GA with all the windows rolled down freezing our asses off to stay awake and getting looks from people because we are blaring VHS or Beta. I will not let that kind of stuff go. I will not leave my disco paradise!

VHS or Beta - "Disco Paradise" [Removed]

Cheers,
Pipe

Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?

2007-10-31T12:52:00.000-04:00

Today is Halloween, so I figured I would post a Halloween song. Makes sense right? I thought so. This song, called "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?" was performed by North American Halloween Prevention Initiative, which is an indie supergroup. The contributors include, but are not limited to J'aime Tambeur, Beck, Dntel, Devendra Banhart, Feist, Jenny Lewis, Blake Sennett, Thurston Moore, Karen O, Win Butler, Régine Chassagne and Subtitle. The project was led by Nick Diamonds (The Unicorns) and Adam Gollner, and was released as a CD single. The disc includes the original long version, the radio edit, a Disco D remix, and Th Corn Gangg remix. The proceeds were donated to UNICEF.

NAHPI- "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en? [Original Version]" [Removed]

Thanks for reading and good luck tonight with whatever adventures or tomfoolery you happen to stir up.

Talleyrand Music & Arts Festival

2007-10-30T21:36:00.000-04:00

For anyone vaguely aware of music in the Jaksonville, Florida area, Talleyrand should already be tattooed onto your calenders. For anyone oblivious to such events, consider this your warning. This festival is the largest, most exciting thing that has happened to Jacksonville's music scene in as long as I can remember, and will only add to its reputation. This doozie of a show will take place at Metropolitan Park, will feature dozens of bands, and have the work of over 100 painters, sculptors and multi-media artists on-site. Awesome! The line-up shall include:

The Bravery
("Time Won't Let Me Go") [Removed]
Against Me!
("Thrash Unreal") [Removed]
Spoon
("The Underdog") [Removed]
Keller Williams & The WMD's
Pepper
Rooney
("Blueside") [Removed]
Arrested Development
The Polyphonic Spree
("Sonic Bloom") [Removed]
The Format
("The Compromise") [Removed]
Lifehouse
Sage Francis
The Stills
MC Chris
Pat Green
Perpetual Groove
Cee Knowledge
The Draft
The Beggarweeds
("Sunbeam Mountain") [Removed]
The Expendables
Pat Dinizio
Leslie
American Bang
Straylight Run
Matt Wertz/Dave Barnes
Whole Wheat Bread
kLoB
Inca Maya
Julius Airwave
("Tickle Me Penguin") [Removed]
Astronautalis
Captain Kid
Power Douglas
Fusebox Funk
Greenness
Shadow Agency

With such a diverse group of performers I would expect all Jacksonville area residents to take FULL ADVANTAGE of the oppurtunity Talleyrand offers, which is a rare chance to see these bands together in a festival setting. There will be more Talleyrand coverage to come, as we intend to conduct a few interviews. We'll also be at the show itself (of course) and will do thorough reviews of the performances we happen to catch. Hip hip? Hooray!

The Darjeeling Limited - Movie and Music

2007-10-28T19:02:00.000-04:00

Once again Wes Anderson has perplexed my sub-conscious with another trivial movie, however, this one hits a little closer to home. The brothers three; Jack (Jason Shwartzman), Peter (Adrian Brody) and Francis (Owen Wilson) have drifted apart from one another after the what seemed untimely death of their father. A year later the eldest brother Francis decides that he wants to reunited the estranged men and to know them as brothers again. This leads them towards a "spiritual journey" on a train ride throughout India. However, because of tensions between the brothers another path may await them. Anderson successfully captures the feelings of hatred, distance and togetherness demonstrating that paths cannot be predetermined but at the same time showing that things may happen with a certain reason in mind.

Anderson puts the melodic music of Indian Filmmaker and musical score composer Satyajit Ray to use, to better demonstrate the Indian culture. He also uses songs from various other artists such as The Rollings Stones and The Kinks. One of Anderson's goals for the movie was to successfully capture and portray the culture of one of the worlds most "spiritual" countries.

The Rolling Stones - "Play with Fire" [Removed]

The Kinks - "This Time Tomorrow" [Removed]

"I want us to become brothers like we used to be."

Thirsty Thursdays: 26

2007-10-25T17:43:00.000-04:00

First off, I apologize for skipping last week's Thirsty Thursdays. My excuse? Well, laziness, but last Thursday was also the day I recieved an invite to the Hellgate: London Beta Test. For those who don't know, Hellgate: London is a new MMORPG coming out on Halloween. Maybe this is the point where I should warn the readers that this post is focused on video games and good music to listen to while playing them. Anyway, I was turned on to HG:L by the fact that many of its developers and designers are the same ones that created Diablo II, a game that literally consumed my middle school years. Seriously, I would wake up, go to school, come home, play D2, go to bed, rinse and repeat. Pathetic really, but I had a lot of fun, and have now fit a successful social life into my schedule. Hooray! The first track for this post will be from the Killer7 soundtrack. Killer7 is a fantastic on-rails shooter set in the midst of worldwide political turmoil. It's a very inovative gameplay system in which you switch between characters and fight off enemies. Blood spurts everywhere, and the plot spills over with adult themes and controversy. The soundtrack was composed by japanese music director, Masafumi Takada, and is one of my personal favorites as far as videogame soundtracks go.

Masafumi Takada- "Rave On" [Removed]

Speaking of my favorite VG soundtracks, the next song is from Metroid Prime. The Metroid series has always been known for its haunting sci-fi musical score, and Metroid Prime is no different. This track is taken from a point in the game in which you explore a ruined spacecraft that has sunken underwater. The music fits perfectly with the setting, as you float around and gently hop from platform to platform.

Kenji Yamamoto, Kouichi Kyuma- "The Downed Frigate Orpheon" [Removed]

This next song is not from a videogame soundtrack, but it's perfect for grinding. No, not the butt-shakin', ass-wigglin' kind of grinding, I mean the stay up all night and power level your character or do boss runs and find loot kind. It's a dark trance song by Techno Animal, one of Justin Broadrick's many side projects.

Techno Animal- "Robosapien" [Removed]

Next up is a song for casual gaming. It's a simple song with drum machine, hand claps, and vague, almost whicpered female vocals. It comes off smooth, sexy and very chill. The group is X District, two people that only met for about five minutes and sent sound tidbits back and forth over the internet. It's interesting, and makes for a cool premise for the music.

X Distict- "Color Correction" [Removed]

Now it's time for a song that might fit in both definitions for grinding. VHS Or Beta stole my heart with "Le Funk", and kept on lovin' with "Night On Fire". Their new album "Bring On The Comets" was alright, but just isn't the same without their original guitarist. I miss Zeke Buck and his electrodiscofunk style. Anyway, grind away with this dub version of "You Got Me".

VHS Or Beta- "You Got Me [Baby Daddy Dub]" [Removed]

My first gaming experiences were with cheap handhelds and the original gameboy. To this day, I can sit down and beat Super Mario Land straight through twice, which unlocks hard mode, and beat that without hesitating. I know that game like I know my CD collection. Well, those old games all had 8-bit music. You know, the shoddy sounding beeps and boops? Well, I have here an 8-bit remix of Beck's "E-Pro" from the "Hell Yes Remix EP". It's awesome, and it's full of nostalgic beeps and boops.

Beck- "Bad Cartridge (E-Pro) [Remix by Paza of The X-Dump]" [Removed]

Well, hope you liked the post. Thanks for reading, now go grind!

Video Games, Women, Drugs & Liquor Ruin Lives...

2007-10-23T15:36:00.000-04:00

We've kind of been slacking off lately if any one has noticed. I'm not sure why, well actually I'm positive as to why, games such as Hellgate: London and of course beer(s) and spirits of choice. We actually missed a thirty thursday... our bad. In all honesty right now I cant think of or find things to write on. I mean sure we could write about Radiohead's In Rainbows all day but I mean hell you can get that for free if you want. We can write about concert reviews... but you weren't there. We can write about CD reviews... but you may already have it. Almost complexing isn't it. College and trying to have fun seems to ruin all of the good things we had going for our website. I'm not saying that I personally am calling it quits, but more or less "waiting for inspiration" to come along.

Mojib - "Upside Down Reconstruction" [Removed]

Jesu: Lifeline

2007-10-22T22:36:00.000-04:00

If you say the word “metal” in musical terms towards someone, they may think of or you will describe it to them as “heavy rock guitar driven, drum pounding, bass ripping, music.” Whereas if you say “ambient” or “shoegazing” most will either have no idea of what you're talking about or they will think of calming and relaxing almost “scenic” music. What happens when you take “metal” and “ambient-shoegazing” and crush them together? You get Jesu. Formed in 2003 by U.K. New-age composer Justin Broadwick, Jesu has been separating themselves from mainstream music by clashing genres. With over five hours of recorded music under their belt the Jesu collective has recently released yet another mind blowing musical fusion masterpiece. I say fusion because, its at times hard to describe all music, there are your more noticeable themes and musics where you can say, “Oh, thats county”, etc. but with groups and albums with this type of sound it can be perplexing as to what to call it... this is where genres are created or crammed into words like “experimental-ambient-shoegazing-electronica-rock.” Among the genre confusion Lifeline is a certifiable EP by its nature, it is a lovely foreshadowing towards an even more diversified musical sound attacked by Jesu. Signature soft-vocals, harmonic programming, rhythmic drums, and almost at times “soothingly heavy” guitar and bass add true definition towards the release. The sixth release from Jesu only makes me crave more of the type of sound that only Broadwick has been able to manifest. The music reminds me of our modern day world in a sense. At times whilst looking outside the window of a car at the country side it seems almost tranquil as if everything is at still, at peace. While at the same time showing you should have kept your eyes on the road then you may have seen the truck coming... This duality of nature... peace, life, love, war, death, hate... is something that Jesu seems to capture through music alone. It can represent a bad day turned good through the miracles of everyday life, a good day turned bad through the trivial complications that our modern lives may present. Or at times just simply laying in the grass watching the clouds pass without a care in the world to plague your mind. Lyrically Jesu sings about everyday inner struggles, social flaws to drug trips. Justin may be Jesu's founder and front man, but he's also accompanied by talented individuals such as Diarmuid Dalton on bass guitar and Ted Parsons on drums and other percussion. Jesu was forged from the aftermath of U.K. Heavy Metal band Godflesh, the type of music released from Godflesh was angry and despaired. After moving to the more peaceful country side, Broadwicks music has come to show a more calmed side such as that of Jesu. Just try not to get hypnotized while listening to the music, and as I said before be sure to keep your eyes on the road ahead of you, as the world can play tricks on your mind.

Jesu - "You Wear Their Masks" [Removed]

No Black & White For Tomorrow

2007-10-15T20:48:00.000-04:00

Heads up to all of our Jacksonville, FL readers: The Hives are crashing Jackrabbits this Friday! I would hope that you already knew this, but now you have no excuse. While it is disappointing that the release of their new album, "The Black & White Album", has been delayed until November 13th, I will gladly provide a couple of songs from it so you can sing-a-long at the show. I'll save my review of the album for closer to the actual release, but I will say that it's their most diverse release to date, and they pull it off extremely well. First up is the first single from the new album, "Tick Tick Boom". This track opens the album, and also advertised Nike running shoes. If you've ever heard The Hives before, this will sound very familiar, because it's a persistent romp of choppy power chords and loud screeching vocals.

The Hives- "Tick Tick Boom" [Removed]

Next up is "T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S.", a song that strays pretty far from their customary fast-paced punk sound. It begins with a friendly 'welcome' and simple, yet groovy disco riff. The song continues on at a relatively slow pace that would be easier to slow dance to rather than crowd surf or stage dive. I think it's great, but I'll let you judge for yourself.

The Hives- "T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S." [Removed]

Another upcoming album that I'd like to talk about is Coheed & Cambria's "Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow". I'd like to point out that the album title is so long, the band's website abbreviates the abbreviation. They often refer to it as NWFT. Anyway, I saw the video for the first single "The Running Free", and have not yet decided what to make of the song. The production value on Claudio Sanchez's vocals was very well done, and there were some of CoCa's trademark onomatopoeias, but I was left wanting a guitar solo or some kind of impressive instrumentation. Luckily, the rest of the album makes up for this, and the following song, "The Hound (of Blood and Rank)", has a fantastic intro that showcases their growing Pink Floyd influence.

Coheed & Cambria- "The Hound (of Blood and Rank)" [Removed]

Well, hopefully you liked the tracks, and I hope to see a whole bunch of Loungers at The Hives' show this Friday! Enjoy.

Thirsty Thursdays: 25

2007-10-12T03:02:00.000-04:00

Its not like we are slackers or anything.... Yeah I guess we are sometimes, sorry for another thirsty Thursday on a Friday. Today my paste magazine came in which means I got some tracks that are going to make up for the 3 hour lateness, lets jump in.

Chicago indie-rock band Office released their fifth album September 25 and its a damn shame that I had never come across the group before. The music is great, the lyrics are great, collaborating bass, drums, and guitar pound together for an enjoyable song rhythm, a guitar solo to change things up, and layered vocals really make this song stick out.

Office - "The Ritz" [Removed]

There are so many groups and artists with "wolf" in the name; Wolf Parade, Patrick Wolf, Wolf Mother, Wolf Eyes, and the list goes on and on... So lets add another "wolf" to the pack, Sea Wolf that is, Los Angels anti-folk rocks more than just your standard guitar, bass, keyboard, etc. they also have a cellist! Bad ass... Their latest album "Leaves in the River" released September 25th.

Sea Wolf - "You're A Wolf" [Removed]

Bands get together, they play music for a few years, and some can keep it together, they are forces to go their separate ways. This happened to The Weakerthans, however Sept. 25 (noticing a pattern here...) released their fourth studio album "Reunion Tour," simple pop-punk-folk that only cheery Canadians could create.

The Weakerthans - "Civil Twilight" [Removed]

Jenny Lewis this Jenny Lewis that. Turns out there are other good female vocalists out there and some spell their names different too! Jennie Arnau's fourth album "Mt. Pleasant" (in Jennie's own words), "...has a real edge - it's country - oriented with jazz chording and rock rhythm," Jennie feels that her music is reflecting the "new face of southern rock."

Jennie Arnau - "Float on" [Removed]

You know those bad ass guys who can play the harmonica, play acoustic, and sing too? Peter Case is one of those gentlemen. Making music for over 20 years now Mr. Case continues to make great folk-rock and truly follows the folk feel with songs seeming to be stories more or less than just plain lyrics. From the 2007s "Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John."

Peter Case - "Every 24 Hours" [Removed]

Diego Sandrin provides a little of what I like to call sleepy time folk. Coincidentally the songs name only aids my little created genre,

Diego Sandrin - "Blanket" [Removed]

And with that I'm going to go climb into my bed,
Cheers & Goodnight,
Pipe.

Mojib—My Swedish Relaxation Savior

2007-10-08T20:02:00.000-04:00

Everybody has a bad day here and there, sometimes more than should be expected. I had one of those bad days where nothing seems to work. After finishing some essays for my Rock History class I checked my e-mail and what I found was just what I needed, what I wanted really. Staffan Ulmert a.k.a. Mojib blew my mind and left me breathless with his tracks. Taking all styles of music—mashing, grinding and fusing them together—he has created some of the most upbeat relaxed music that my ears have been privileged to hear. Using multiple samples from groups such as Sigur Rós and The Notwist this talented artist has put his own style on top of those songs creating an awe-inspiring experimental electronica sound that absolutely cannot be ignored. His debut album Whimsical Lifestyle will be releasing on October 16th, and you can be sure that the Milk Lounge will be covering Staffan's music.

Here is a little taste of whats to come from the debut album Whimsical Lifestyle. You can pre-order the album by clicking here. This is by far going to be one of the hottest releases of Q4 2007. Making music is expensive so help Mojib continue to develop great music by supporting his music. This track is not a demo or live recording but the actual album version! Enjoy!

Mojib - "Answering Machine at Night" [Removed]

The first song I listened to on the Mojib myspace page, using the Sigur Rós - "Starálfur" rhythm which is soothing enough as is, Mojib takes his own personal breakbeat eletronica introduction leading into this melodic enchantment of violins and drums.

Mojib - "Break of Dawn" (Demo Version) [Removed]

Taking the Notwist - "Consequence" as the base for this song Mojib chops the track up adding his own personal touch to the track which makes it seem to have an almost angelic undertone.

Mojib - "In a State" (The Notwist & UNKLE Mashup) [Removed]

Oh and of course his remixing abilities are just as grand, with the ability to take a song as upbeat as the Go Team's "Grip Like a Vice" and shaping it and molding it with his creative hands into an epic ballad.

The Go Team - "Grip Like a Vice" (Mojib Remix) [Removed]

Cheers and more to come,
Pipe.

Thirsty Thursdays: 24

2007-10-05T16:10:00.000-04:00

This past Tuesday night, I had the great pleasure of seeing Rilo Kiley live in Orlando, and I can confidently say that they put on a hell of a show. Even if I didn't have a heterosexual bias towards the cutiest of cute, Jenny Lewis, I believe I would say the same thing. The crowd at House of Blues was a good one, and they knew all the songs. It was a special treat when they played "Dejalo" and "Smoke Detector", because they apparently hadn't played those songs for the past few dates of their tour. Also, they threw giant balloons filled with gold confetti onto the audience, which were soon popped on balcony lighting. One of the amusing highlights was when Jenny said "You guys are fucking awesome...sorry to cuss." The audience giggled. Here is a song that they didn'y play live called "Jenny, You're Barely Alive". It's a non-album track from the stellar "Saddle Creek 50" compilation.

Rilo Kiley- "Jenny, You're Barely Alive" [Removed]

Art In Manila opened for Rilo Kiley, and I had never heard of them before. I didn't have time to do my usual research before the show, because I got a ticket unexpectedly the morning of. Anyway, I didn't know what to expect, but I thoroughly enjoyed their set. It was very chill, and the guitarist's subtle approach to lead guitar kept the music very interesting. After the show I looked them up and was suprised to learn that the singer was none other than Orenda Fink of Azure Ray and Now It's Overhead fame, also wife of The Faint's Todd Fink. Their debut album is decent, more so if you're already a fan of Orenda's sound. My only dissappointment is that the studio recording doesn't quite capture the energy of the live performance. The song "Spirit, Run" from "Set The Woods On Fire" does the best job of displaying their live abilities.

Art In Manila- "Spirit, Run" [Removed]

For those who don't already know, Bloc Party has a new song, and it's got me psyched! Produced by Jacknife Lee (just like "A Weekend In The City"), it's heavy on synth with a fast dancable beat, and Kele's got vocoder effects. Set for release on November 12. Good Weather For Airstrikes had a radio rip of the song that I would love to share with you.

Bloc Party- "Flux [radio rip]" [Removed]

Always happy to hear news about former Unicorns members, I smiled upon hearing of Alden Penner's new group, Clues, and their upcoming album, "Rad Boo Horror & the Glory". The album title seems fitting of a fomer Unicorn. The album's release is scheduled for "soon", so be on the lookout for that one. Here is a montage preview of tracks from the new album that has my ears tickled with delight.

Clues- "Rad Boo Horror & the Glory preview" [Removed]

Stereogum recently featured a tribute to R.E.M.'s "Automatic For The People" featuring covers of each track. Entitled "Drive XV: A Tribute To Automatic For The People", it features covers by Figurines, The Veils, Rogue Wave, Meat Puppets, and many more. I'll share with you the Shout Out Louds' cover of "Man On The Moon". It's delicious, with a nice conga thing going on. The entire tribute is available for free over at Stereogum.

Shout Out Louds- "Man On The Moon" [Removed]

I apologize yet again for another Thursday post on Friday, but I was distracted by It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia and late night swims. Hope you enjoy the tracks.

The Fall of Troy before the Fall of Troy

2007-10-02T14:05:00.000-04:00

Hardcore-experimental rock band The Fall of Troy from Mukilteo, WA have tantalized my ears with their music for well over five years now. Lead vocalist and guitarist Thomas Erak keeps me amazed by providing not only the rhythm guitar but also lead/harmonic guitar as well. Described as having a At The Drive-In and Blood Brothers sound, Erak's harmonics and effects, with bassist Tim Ward's thumping backing combined with drummer Andrew Forsman's light up drums (Yes! They really do light up when he plays them!) make this band a must listen to if you're into the prog-rock-hardcore type. The band has released three albums and with each album comes more complex and mature guitar work. Little do most TFOT fans know that Erak, Ward, and Forsman were both in a band before the Fall of Troy called The Thirty Years War. Both names were chosen the same way; by opening a school book opening to a random page and blindly pointing to their destined name. During the Thirty Years War era the three were accompanied by a forth member Mike Munro. Before becoming the Fall of Troy and losing Mike Munro to his day job the band released three EPs "Martyrs Among the Casualties" and "Live at the Paradox". Although the band did not receive much (if any) commercial success they did put out some great songs and some great previews for of what was yet to come.

The Fall of Troy's debut self-titled album was released in 2003 with a re-issue released by the band in 2006. The album featured complex riffs, hidden-meaning lyrics and mysterious ambiance effects. The Thirty Years War to TFOT jump can be witnessed in these two songs. You may notice the more mature and accurateness in The Fall of Troy version, whereas in the 30 Years War version you may notice a more dirty underground feel. You decide.

The Fall of Troy - "Reassurance Rests in the Sea" (2003) [Removed]

The 30 Years War - "Reassurance Rest in the Sea" (2002) [Removed]

Cheers,
Pipe.

Find more music by this artist at The Hype Machine and/or Elbo.ws

Thirsty Thursdays: 23

2007-09-27T22:50:00.000-04:00

Remember the Y2k Scare? The bank and credit card accounts are going to crash... nuclear missiles around the world are going to detonate... planes and satellites are going to fall from the sky and crater the earth... Needless to say nothing happened thanks to guys like in Office Space and because of kick ass '99 music. Two time Grammy Winners Rage Against the Machine have been one of the most influential American rock bands over the past two decades. Remaining loyal to Epic Records the band smashed charts with ear-splitting singles and monumental albums. "The Battle of Los Angeles" was a double platinum billboard smasher. Although "Renegades" was the group's last studio album together, I feel that "The Battle of Los Angeles" was a more successful project. On the '99 album, one song had its own year 2000 single, which became an underground political anthem; the justifiably named "Testify".

Rage Against the Machine - "Testify" [Removed]

Synth-pop band The Faint... is awesome. I'm at a blank. I don't know what to write about them. Honestly I'm sitting in my Earth Science class learning about under sea mountains, it's fascinating, and I wish I could listen to this song.

The Faint - "Call Call" [Removed]

I'm having a hard time with the posts today. I'm not sure what to say or if I want to say anything at all, between work, school, sleep, and everything else, it seems as if my brain is fried. TakeoffZebra turned me on to Pavement, when I asked, "What's so great about Pavement?" He simple replied, "I'm not sure... There just good." And this is true. I can't describe them either. It's just good music.

Pavement - "Spit On A Stranger"[Removed]

With the 2007 addition of Sky Blue Sky, Chicago-based Wilco has released a total of six albums, three before 2000 and three after 2000. Before moving on into the 21st century, Wilco released "Summerteeth", a great album that received scores such as 9.4/10 on Pitchfork, and a 4.5/5 on Music Guide.

Wilco - "A Shot in the Arm" [Removed]

Belle & Sebastian has been active for for close to twelve years now, churning out an album every two or so years. Their debut album, "Tigermilk" was released in '96, however only 1,000 copies were ever made. tt was then re-released in '99. First song, first album:

Belle & Sebastian - "The State I Am In" [Removed]

Finding a release by Beck in 1999 wasn't at all difficult. Mr. Hansen has released an album damn near once a year taking a few breaks here and there. Although all of the albums are great in their own right, I feel that "Midnite Vultures" is my personal favorite. The reasons are unknown to me, unlike other artists, you can't say "None of the songs sound the same" because, well, its Beck. For this album in particular, I can say that it just "flows" for me. It feels like a little bit more retro, impending choas, and confusion of youth.

Beck - "Sexx Laws" [Removed]

A while ago I promised to post more songs from the 1999 Shin's EP, Nature Bears A Vacuum, therefore its pretty fitting that I put another song up during this '99 post. Enjoy.

The Shins - "We Built A Raft and We Floated" [Removed]

That's it for this week, Cheers, Pipe.

Aaron Schroeder: Black & Gold

2007-09-26T14:08:00.000-04:00

A while ago, I had the priviledge to interview pop folkist Aaron Schroeder on his new album, "Black & Gold". Due to the hectic nature of moving back to the dorms and adjusting back to the chaos of college life, it took me an unforgivable amount of time to transcribe it, but here it is in all its glory:

----------------------------------------------------

The Milk Lounge- "Interview: Aaron Schroeder" [Removed]

TakeoffZebra: Alright, first of all, is there an official release date for the new album, "Black & Gold"?

Aaron Schroeder: Well, I'm gonna be getting them back from the pressing plant Wednesday, so that's as good as any official date. So what is Wednesday? The 22nd? I guess it'll be Wednesday, August 22nd then.

ToZ: Alright, and was there a goal from the new album that you were looking to achieve?

AS: I suppose that the main goal of the record was to take a style, you know, pop or country music, and stay in those same parameters where you have a verse and chorus and bridge, but do something a little different with it and a little exciting so it doesn't sound like it did 60 years ago. Also, I wanted to make a record where every song is really important, where there aren't any lazy sounding or throw-away sounding tracks.

ToZ: Do you think you achieved the goal?

AS: Yeah, I think we, and not just me, I mean I'm speaking for the whole band as well, that I think that with their help we totally achieved that goal. I'm actually really really excited about the record. I'll listen to it every now and then and there's always something new in there that I didn't even know that the guys were playing. We all kept ourselves very entertained and were able to make a record that's cohesive without being boring.

ToZ: You've lived in Los Angeles, California, Portland, Oregon, Boston, Massachusetts, and now Kennewick, Washington. Did your music differ between cities or at least, did the changing settings influence your music?

AS: Yes and no. It really depends not so much as the city I'm living in, but my living situation itself. Like when I was in Boston I was sharing a room with a buddy of mine and when I was living in Portland I had my own little tiny shithole apartment where the bathroom is down the hall and the hallways were just always filled with people and noise and drug dealers. But as far as the actual city itself, I'm not sure. It's more just my personal situation. When I was living in Portland, I felt like shit constantly because I was in kind of a bad situation, but in Kennewick I feel that everything has gone real well. The songs can take a storytelling aspect instead of being so centered around my journal, or some "poor me" type of shit.

ToZ: One of the more prominent styles on "Black & Gold" is folk. Your personal setting influenced your style more than where you lived, but did you study any of the local folk music in the places you've lived, or were there certain artists that influenced your folk styling?

AS: Not necessarily, I look at the record as a folk record primarily because its got acoustic guitars and I paid attention to my lyrics. I think pretty much the only thing that makes something a folk song really is the fact that its got some kind of lyrical aspect that is very different from a pop song. Generally, folk songs should tell a story, rather than communicate a mood, I guess. So the stuff that influences me is generally older stuff like Bob Dylan or Johnny Cash or something like that where the recordings are not so much what makes them special, but really the thing that makes those are the lyrics that they contain. But I would say in that aspect, Black & Gold is a folk record.

ToZ: What instruments did you play on the new album?

AS: I played guitar, piano, and the band did everything else. They did all the organs, glockenspiel, and violins and tubas, clarinet and mandolins.

ToZ: You have a lot of notable guest spots on "Black & Gold" including Ben Barnett from Kind Of Like Spitting, and Justin Meldal-Johnsen of Beck, Air, and Ladytron. Did these guests help you achieve the diverse sound on your album, because I noticed that every song is pretty different.

AS: That was definitely one of the goals with the album, I'm glad you picked up on that. I guess I wanted to kind of treat it like a hip-hop record, with lots of interesting people guesting on my music. I don't really care so much to showcase myself if I can bring in somebody else who can play something better than me, I suppose.

ToZ: Well, speaking of guest spots, what would your dream collaboration be, as far as artist and producer goes?

AS: Ah, didn't expect that one... guest producer would maybe be Trevor Horn, because I really, and I know that they get a lot of flac for this, but I really like what he did with "Dear Catastrophe Waitress", the Belle & Sebastian record.

ToZ: You've been around lots of different cities, so, East Coast or West Coast?

AS: Oh definitely the West Coast, definitely. I don't know where you guys are based out of, so I don't wanna talk too much shit about the East Coast, or say anything bad about it - but when I was in Boston, there's so much old money there, to the point where there are so many kids who go to high school, and then they don't have to get shitty jobs, they go straight to college and then straight from college they'll go to get a job where they'll get overpaid or whatever. I'm not used to that and it kinda freaked me out a little bit. I'm not used to being around people who have a shit ton of money without having to really have worked for it. So I'd say I prefer the West Coast, because people more have to make their own living I think a little more. A bit more DIY attitude, I suppose.

ToZ: You're what, 22, 23?

AS: 23

ToZ: Okay, how long have you been writing music?

AS: I've been writing music since I was like, 13 in various punk rock bands and all that. I grew up listening to stuff like Minor Threat, Fugazi, Bad Religion, and some of that NOFX stuff. I was always one of those kids that was in a bunch of different bands and had a bunch of different projects going on at all times. I didn't really start writing good music until a couple years ago.

ToZ: With such accessible song structures and pop stylings, do you have any plans to, you know, take over the world?

AS: Haha, I would have plans hopefully to have someone pay my rent long enough to go on tour. That's pretty much as big as my plans reach at this point. I would love to be able to go out on tour, I just don't have a label, so I don't have any funding to do that. But as far as taking over the world, no, I like all my buddies here and I like hanging out in Kennewick, so I feel pretty comfortable where I'm at right now.

-----------------------------------------------

I've been listening to "Black & Gold" for quite some time now, and it still impresses me everytime I hear it. It's calming, yet uppity, and it has such a positive feeling to it. I highly recommend buying a copy, and I think you'll agree after hearing "What We Don't Know", the 1st song on the record. Seriously, you must listen!

Aaron Schroeder- "What We Don't Know" [Removed]

Aaron was also kind enough to share an exclusive demo with us from his upcoming third album. The song is called "Platforms", and "will appear on the album in massively edited form".

Aaron Schroeder- "Platforms [Demo]" [Removed]

So a big thank you to Aaron Schroeder for giving us his time, his answers, and a Milk Lounge Exclusive demo track from his upcoming album. Enjoy!

Rant!

2007-09-25T15:34:00.000-04:00

Alright, enough is enough everybody. I'm fed up. I know sex sells, and you're all probably getting tons of site visits, but STOP POSTING MEG WHITE'S FAKE SEX TAPE! Seriously, do you want to run a respectful music website or a porn syndication? Make a decision, but think about it first. The White Stripes recently cancelled their remaining tour dates, citing Meg's anxiety as the reason. Do you think this scandal does her any good? Do you want to see The Stripes tour again? Ever? In my high school journalism class, I was taught the difference between hard news, and soft news. Hard news has real world pertinence. Soft news does not. This gossip should have absolutely no bearing on The White Stripes as musicians, but it might now, because Meg, known to already be extremely shy, is probably more embarassed than I will ever understand. And all for a FAKE sex tape that The White Stripes' publicist has completely and utterly denied as Meg White. I really don't know how else to say it, this whole situation angers me to no end and is very very childish.

Here is a seemingly appropriate White Stripes song. One of the three that Meg sings lead on. From "Get Behind Me Satan".

The White Stripes- "Passive Manipulation" [Removed]

Iron & Wine: The Shepard's Dog

2007-09-25T15:33:00.000-04:00

Bible Belt born and raised musician Sam Beam has shaken the modern folk music scene with his voice and guitar which combine to form "blog dominating" LPs and EPs. It seems as if the world cannot get enough of Sam Beam. Having already pressed fifteen other records (EPs, Singles, and LPs) Mr. Beam has once again put aside his plans for world domination and decided to instead bring melodic, relaxing, tantalizing rhythms to our ears. The Shepard's Dog is a perfect combination of Sam's beautiful musical composition and soothing vocals. The album is a little more lyrically dark and upbeat than Our Endless Numbered Days and The Creek Drank the Cradle, Beam has said that although his album is not endorse any sort of political propaganda that it does in fact have some underlying themes of political confusion. As of now Iron & Wine is plagued with endless 8/10's at music super-site Pitchfork. This album will hopefully bring a 9 to the review collection. Although its hard to claim a favorite album of any artist, especially one as diverse and broad as Iron & Wine, The Shepard's Dog will be enjoying its spot on my play list for quite some time.

Track Listing
1. Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car [Removed]
2. White Tooth Man
3. Lovesong of the Buzzard
4. Carousel
5. House by the Sea [Removed]
6. Innocent Bones
7. Wolves (Song of the Shepherd's Dog)
8. Resurrection Fern
9. Boy With a Coin [Removed]
10.The Devil Never Sleeps
11.Peace Beneath the City
12.Flightless Bird, American Mouth

Find more music by this artist at The Hype Machine.
Purchase Iron & Wine music, from the official website.

Thirsty Thursdays: 22

2007-09-21T18:24:00.000-04:00

Straight to the music! Jazzy instrumental rock-squad, Do Make Say Think, will be here in Jacksonville this Sunday to play a show at Jackrabbits. I hadn't really heard of them until I saw they were coming, but I checked out some of their music. It's really relaxing, jazz-infused stuff that's perfect for that time between classes when you want to rest, but don't want to sleep. Their latest album, "You, You're A History In Rust", is their first to include vocals, however, the band themselves did not do the singing. Several vocalists were called in, including experimental folkies, Akron/Family. Here's a song from the new album that features the collaboration quite nicely, and any Pipe and I look forward to seeing you guys at Jackrabbits this Sunday.

Do Make Say Think- "A With Living" [Removed]

Akron/Family is a great experimental group that blends field recordings, electronics, psychedelia, folk, and a bunch of other stuff. Their new album, "Love Is Simple", expresses this blend of spices through 11 soncally diverse songs and is definitely worth buying. This song has a frightening intro of spider-like plucking that leads into looping vocals and the declaration that "everyone is crazy".

Akron/Family- "I've Got Some Friends" [Removed]

Devedra Banhart is an indie, naturalistic psych-folk singer-songwriter that performs bizarre songs with simple structures. His new album, "Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon", continues this tradition and even has a guest spot from The Strokes' own, Nick Valensi. Here's the song with Nick providing backing vocals that starts with a story about being tempted by a rabbi's daughter, and goes on to provide some vocal percussion that wouldn't sound out of place on a Wes Anderson soundtrack.

Devendra Banhart- "Shabop Shalom" [Removed]

I'd like to point out that on The Strokes' website, there's a section in which band members answer some questions posed by fans. When asked what superpower he would like, Mr. Valensi answers "Sexual Healing", and when asked about his favorite meal, Nicholai Fraiture says "Shit Sandwich". I found these answers particularly entertaining, and big props to those that catch the sandwich reference, the sexual healing one should be easy. Anyway, the first single from The Strokes' latest album, "First Impressions of Earth", had a B-Side that I felt was better than any song on the album itself. The album wasn't bad, I just liked this song more, so here it is!

The Strokes- "Hawaii" [Removed]

The Unicorns were awesome. I don't know what else to say, they were just so ironically happy and canadian. Their debut album "Unicorns Are People Too" was limited to 500 copies, but showed promises of what would become their peak achievement, "Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?". Here is one of my favorites from the debut. It's a shortened version of Nick 'Neil' Diamonds list of his "52 Favourite Things".

The Unicorns- "52 Favourite Things" [Removed]

Ryan Adams has had a fantastic musical career with the likes of Whiskeytown, his solo outings, and collaboration with The Cardinals. He's also from Jacksonville, but not the Florida one. Anyway, here's a little known project of his called The Finger, a punk collaboration he did with Jesse Malin of D Generation. It's an unoffical Ryan Adams project, and they performed under the pseudonyms Warren Peace (Ryan Adams) and Irving Plaza (Jesse Malin). The name, The Finger, came from Ryan Adams picking his butt as a child and his mother being wary of "The Finger". Gross, but funny all the same. Here's one of the more tolerable of the songs from the "We Are Fuck You/Punk's Dead Let's Fuck" EP collection.

The Finger- "What Is It" [Removed]

Well, there you go guys, hope you enjoy. And to any Jacksonvillian readers, we hope to see you at the Do Make Say Think show on Sunday.

Interview: Tigercity

2007-09-20T00:38:00.000-04:00

Sitting at Taco Bell enjoying the companies newest dish (burrito, whatever); the "Cheesy Beefy Melt." My phone rings, "Hey Pipe?" - "Yeah" - "Hey this is Bill from Tigercity, we're uhhh, kind of lost, how do we get to the venue..." Needless to say I knew right then that Tigercity was going to be a very fun band to interview and meet. After directing them to the venue and forewarning them of Jacksonville's liquor store closing times, we sat down and discussed life, women, but most of all their amazing music. I've listened to their latest six-song album out on iTunes a hundred times over and I'm confidant that this four man band from New York is destined for great things:

Tigercity - "Powerstripe" [Removed]
Tigercity - "Solitary Man" [Removed]

______________________________________

The Milk Lounge - "Interview: Tigercity" [Removed]

Pipe- Is there a reason why you chose to release on iTunes?

Joel- We chose a digital release because we had a slew songs we needed to get out in some way, we didn't want to pay to do our own physical copies. Where all of the sudden we have 10,000 copies and we have to work by ourselves to get them all to stores or wherever we are touring. Versus a simple digital release; where it can still be treated as a real release, like as it has been. More and more people don't real care, they get their music. Go listen to it and throw review up. So it's the easiest thing we could do, for where we're at. We don't have a label.

Pipe- Do you guys ever plan to release a physicial copy of the album?

Joel- Yeah! I mean we have pro cd-r's that we made, with nice graphics and pictures and such, we sell them at shows.

Aynsley- If someone would've wanted to put it out we would've taken the deal. Or if the timing is not right and we have more music by the time we get in touch with a label that is going to be a good situation for both parties, it might just be new music.

Joel- And the other thing is that we've been offered a couple of deals and they're just shitty. And there is no reason to sign five years of your life away for something thats just not right.

Bill- We had already gotten the work done and stuff. So with the means that we have, it was the easiest way to do it. And get it to the most people.

Pipe- Being unsigned... Where are you guys most excited to go or where have you been most excited to be?

Bill- This tour has been awesome 'cause its been all about swimming in peoples pools and the ocean. So I'd have to say that I'm liking the East Coast tour better than going to the Mid-West. Not that to diss the Mid-West or anything. We did a West Coast tour back in June, that was awesome 'cause a bunch of us had never been to California... It was also our first expensive tour. So it was just a really awesome expierence and we got to see a bunch of friends we haven't seen in a long time... I don't know; do you guys have any one place?

Aynsley & Joel - Well, Miami.

Bill- Miami was fuckin' awesome.

Aynsley- Miami has been good to us. We went there before, we have a friend there who threw good parties. We're confidant that shows going to be the best show so far.

Pipe- Something I've just got to ask... Your album cover is four white stallions galloping on a beach, what drove you guys to choose that?

Bill- Actually our friend CAS who's done all of our design work... showed it to us one day - he's like, "I think I just found the cover of your album." We're like, "Fuck yeah you did!"

Pipe- You guys are currently unsigned, how much longer do you plan to stay unsigned?.. What would your dream label be?

Joel- I think its about the terms of your agreement. Could be an unkown label... it doesn't matter... It could be a major label or totally unknown... Working with the right people... the right personalities... people who understand what you're doing, and meeting good people.

Pipe- ...How's it been touring with Stylofone?

Bill- Dude their awesome, their amazing. First of all their not only one of our favorite band in New York, but their some of our best friends in New York. Their an absolutely amazing band. For that reason this has been my favorite tour.

Pipe- You mentioned the West Coast-California, so you have no intentions of leaving the East Coast to go to the West?

Bill- ...Well when we get our huge acting contracts and movie deals, then we'll definantly move to 90210. I don't think we have any plans right now. We dream about pretty much about every nice place we visit, we're like, "Yup we'll have a house here" so far we have no houses anywhere. [Laughter]

Pipe- You guys list influences such as Prince, Daft Punk, Chic... if you could share the stage with anyone who do you think that would be?

Bill- Current band? I'd say Daft Punk, for me.

Pipe- Each song has its own unique stylings, does the album have a specific theme you were trying to follow or does the theme differ from song to song?

Bill- I feel like there's actually a trend that runs through all of them... Joel and I wrote pretty much all the lyrics together... we didn't start off with them like "this will be about that" It was just kinda what we were thinking about... It's about living in New York being single... Just dealing with the ridiculous New York lifestyle. Just the way relationships come and go, the different kind of modes your in throughout that track.

Joel- A lot of the lyrics kind of reflect a fantastical-exgeration of that.

Pipe- What do you guys have planned after your final tour date?

Bill- We go back to New York, and we're gonna record some stuff. We have a bunch of CMJ shows... a show in Boston.

Joel- A couple of one off shows, we're recording a new track or two. One of the songs we play "Red Lips" has yet to be recorded.

Bill- We're gonna work on that. We'll be back during October, and then we leave again for all of November.

Pipe- Would you ever like to do a European tour?

Bill- Of course!!! Fuck yeah. No... I've heard that place is lame and doesn't believe in freedom... [Laughter]

TakeoffZebra- I don't wanna fool any suprises but do you guys play any kind of cover songs or anything like that?

Bill & Joel - We have. But not so much on this tour.

______________________________________

The conversation went on for some time after that and even after the recording. These guys were great to talk to and they put on one hell of a show. Guitarist Andrew put on an excellent performance. Bassist Joel not only could slam down some great bass lines but also proved that he, like Bill, too has a remarkable singing voice. Drummer Aynsley's preformance cannot be described in words, just go see them LIVE, NOW!!! (Their myspace for tour dates). They may be from New York state, but they made some friends in Florida and hopefully they will return.

Cheers,
Pipe

Thirsty Thursdays: 21

2007-09-13T15:14:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the glorious and what I'm sure has become (to returning visitors) a very exciting moment of the week! Although my heart was set on other gems, I've got some great remixes for your enjoyment.

One of the Milk Lounge's first posts was the "Must Be the Moon [Hot Chip Remix]". That was close to six months ago, since then the !!! original has been sliced diced, looped, sampled, edited, remixed, and God knows what else has been done to the glorious one night stand jam. The Midnight Juggernauts did a great job throwing a house-sci-fi twist onto the track. Enjoy.

!!! - "Must Be The Moon [Midnight Juggernauts Remix]" [Removed]

Take indie-Brit-rock legends Bloc Party and the dance-rock-Canadian duo Death From Above 1979; mix and mash them together and what do you get? A transatlantic synthed out, bass thumping, drum pounding bundle of joy. From the Silent Alarm Remixed [Disk 1]

Bloc Party - "Luno [Bloc Party vs Death From Above 1979]" [Removed]

A while back when I began reading blogs, I stumbled upon the glorious shrine of remix goodness known as Palms Out Sounds: Remix Sunday. One of the first (if not the first) Remix Sunday download I ever indulged in was a glorious remix of a Faint original.

The Faint - "I Disappear [Matthew Savant Remix]" [Removed]

I mentioned Hot Chips remix of "Must Be The Moon" in this post. So might as well put up a DFA remix of Hot Chips "Colours." Speaking of colors, the season three premier of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia was, needless to say, amazing. Acid was involved in both episodes... colours.

Hot Chip - "Colours [DFA Remix]" [Removed]

Cheers,
Pipe.

Interview: A Place To Bury Strangers

2007-09-11T11:27:00.000-04:00

The psychedelic-thrash-noise-pop three piece, A Place To Bury Strangers, isn't just another band that is lively sprouting up out of the New York underground music scene; they're just starting their take over... The Milk Lounge recently has had a chance to do an interview with APTBS's guitarist/vocalist Oliver Akerman:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Anywhere you read about A Place to Bury Strangers you're bound to read "The Loudest Band in New York" - Many readers have only heard your studio recordings; how would you describe yourselves in a live set?

We're loud as fuck, blistering guitars, lights, 16mm film projections, smoke, chaos. We have as much going on as possible so it's a sensory overload for ourselves and the audience. To experience the full effect is like being on drugs.

You only released 500 copies of your album which was recently reviewed on Pitchfork with a 8.4/10. Do you think this has encouraged you to manufacture more of the album? If so when will these be available?

Definitely. The second pressing will be ready to ship by September 23rd from Killerpimp.com

While listening to your music I made a special notice that no one song sounds the same, was this a major goal for the release? What other goals did you have for the album?

This was not a major goal for the album. Every song on this album was recorded and written as a song; as apposed to the album being written as an album. There was no goal for this to be an album at the time that it was conceived. The next album is going to be similar in that respect it is just a lot of songs that we have held on to and didn't ever release or record on purpose... When recording a demo or the first time you record something really magic happens in that you are writing the song while you record it. When you capture that, it is fresh and really makes the track what it is meant to be. Not some rerecorded rehashed idea.

The New York music scene is blowing up right now, what do you think separates your band from the others; besides genre?

We are just doing our thing. There is little musical inspiration coming from other bands in the area except the whole raw energy of the scene. It just feels great to be in New York. It is expensive, hard to afford to eat, live, work and that just makes your own personal inspiration stronger. I feel like the scene is blowing up because some people who really want to make something happen in their lives are gravitated towards New York and those people are amazing players/songwriters who thrive on ambition.

Most of your live performances stretch across venues in New York City; where would you prefer to tour/where will you be touring?

We would love to tour all over the world. I think that should be a dream of everyone in the world. Getting to travel and experience new things, it can only help you as an individual.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Pitchfork put up an article stating that APTBS had landed a record deal with Chicago based Highwheel Records and have begun to book a tour. Be sure to look out for these guys in your home town; Oliver's description of their shows is reason enough to go!

A Place To Bury Strangers - "To Fix The Gash In Your Head" [Removed]

A Place To Bury Strangers - "My Weakness" [Removed]

Find more music by this artist at The Hype Machine.

Thirsty Thursdays: 20

2007-09-07T16:55:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Thirsty Thursdays: 20! We've been goin' at it for at least 20 weeks, so to commemorate the occasion, we're going to take you 20 years back, to the 80s! It was a glorious time, a time I don't remember, but one that Pipe and I were born in. But enough about us, here's some music!

First up is a song by Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac. If you've ever seen National Lampoon's Vacation, or the European and Vegas sequels, you've heard the song. "Holiday Road" is a road trip song driven by its steady bass line and sing-a-long chorus.

Lindsey Buckingham- "Holiday Road" [Removed]

Thomas Dolby released the album "The Golden Age Of Wireless" in 1982, and revolutionized the synthpop genre. This quirky album was a huge hit, and is still his magnum opus, but Mr. Dolby has gone on to do much more than making records. He was known for being the CEO of Beatnik Inc, which developed polyphonic ringtones, and is creditted with the Nokia theme. But here's "She Blinded Me With Science", a truly great synthpop song.

Thomas Dolby- "She Blinded Me With Science" [Removed]

R.E.M. are alt-rock legends and one of Athens, Georgia's greatest bands. Without further adieu, here is "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" from "Document".

R.E.M.- "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" [Removed]

Van Halen is awesome. Well, they were awesome until David Lee Roth left, but "Jump" from 1984's appropriately titled album, "1984", showcases a good 80s vibe with happy lyrics, peaking synths, and Eddie Van Halen on guitar.

Van Halen- "Jump" [Removed]

Queen was around for a while before the 80s, but didn't start using synthesizers until 1980's "The Game". The song "Rock It (Prime Jive)" is a good example of Queen + synth, and is much better than Queen + Paul Rodgers.

Queen- "Rock It (Prime Jive)" [Removed]

I figured a good end to the 80s music post would be a Guns N' Roses song. They really do seem to bridge the decade gap pretty well. "Appetite For Destruction" really is a fantastic album. Here's the song that, back in middle school, was the sole reason I became interested in music other than hit radio. Thanks guys, but Axl, seriously, where's "Chinese Democracy"?

Guns N' Roses- "Welcome To The Jungle" [Removed]

Alright then, sorry for the late post. College proves to be busy, but we have much more on the way. Hope you enjoyed this short tour of the 80s. Enjoy.

The Weekend and The Aftermath

2007-09-07T02:30:00.000-04:00

GO GREGG GO!

Hope everybody has been having an amazing holiday weekend, I know that we have (Hell it's not even over yet). Just a little list of what's to come:

-Interview w/ "A Place To Bury Strangers"
-Interview w/ "Aaron Schroeder"
-Interview w/ "Tigercity"
-Thirsty Thursdays 20
-Exclusives

Cheers,
Pipe

Popular mash-up artist Girl Talk, from the album "Unstoppable."

Girl Talk - "Cleveland, Shake" [Removed]

Find more music by this artist at The Hype Machine.
+Website
+Myspace
+Buy [Unstoppable]

Thirsty Thursdays: 19

2007-08-31T01:17:00.001-04:00

Finally settling down into classes, with tons of new (and old) music! The blog has come a long, long, LONG way since we first started a while back. In case yall didn't notice we're actually listed on Andrew W.K.'s official website which of course is a great honor to us. We'd love to see more comments though, to get some encouragement to keep on going (like we have any intentions on stopping), sit back and get ready for another Thursday of Thirst... err.... Thirsty Thursdays.

The Fall of Troy was a big inspiration for me musically. Thomas Erak's experimental styling is what made me more interested in musical instruments and how they can be manipulated beyond conventional means (hehe their latest album is titled "Manipulator"). After watching them live a myriad of times, I got the most enjoyment out of the bands live "Jam" sessions and introductions. So I've got a couple for you guys today; enjoy.

The Fall of Troy - "Live Jam #2" [Zumiez Couch Tour, Seattle, WA] [Removed]

Beck has been stamping out his own version of American electronic-rock for well over fourteen years now. The man has done everything from Rocker, Folk Musician, Multi-Instrumentalist, uhh... Rapper. What hasn't Beck done... Oh what things the random button can find. The Beggining of this track reminds me of the Beastie Boys. From "Odelay" - It's in the Becktionary.

Beck - "High 5 (Rock the Catskills)" [Removed]

Progressive Indie Rock phenomenon Mew just never seems to get old. Perfect driving music. Every time I listen to their albums I'll pick up on something new that I never quite noticed before. From the album "Frengers."

Mew - "Her Voice Is Beyond Her Years" [Removed]

When I think post-indie-instrumental; I think Mogwai. Although most of their tracks are Instrumental, vocals are featured on some tracks. The musicians do a fantastic job of selecting which tracks they should put vocals to, or what music to write around lyrics. Never taking away from the song itself. From 2001s "Rock Action."

Mogwai - "Dial: Revenge" [Removed]

Cheers,
Pipe.

Stronger-er

2007-08-29T16:31:00.000-04:00

Daft Punk's iconic hit, "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" from 2001's "Discovery", just never seems to get old, and this fact is only aided by the many refreshing treatments the song has received from various artists and DJs. First there was the original, which was featured on "Discovery" and the film Interstella 5555, then came various remixes for the single and "Daft Club" remix album. Also, Kanye West's upcoming album, "Graduation", is set to feature "Stronger", a song prominently sampling Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger". And most recently, Kanye's prodigy DJ, A-Trak, has remixed the song. I thought I'd share a portion of the song's progress over its 6 year history, enjoy!

Daft Punk- "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" [Removed]

Daft Punk- "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (The Neptunes Remix)" [Removed]

Kanye West- "Stronger" [Removed]

Kanye West- "Stronger (A-Trak Remix)" [Removed]

Andrew W.K.: Close Calls With Brick Walls

2007-08-28T16:03:00.000-04:00

If anyone were to ask me what artist I am currently most interested in and excited about, I would without a doubt say Andrew W.K. Not just because he churns out uber-party anthems, or because he was really friendly when I met him at Warped Tour a few years ago, but also because of his pure philosophy on life and mysterious sense of identity. Today marks the belated release of his third full length, "Close Calls With Brick Walls", here in America as a special limited edition double colored vinyl package that includes 5 unreleased bonus tracks, a full color booklet, new photos and special artwork. The album contains some of Andrew's head-bangingly familiar rock songs like "Not Going To Bed" and "You Will Remember Tonight", but throws several curveballs into the mix by including abstract sound collages such as "Close Calls With Bal Harbour", instrumental piano interludes, and experimental sound structures like in "I Came For You". This showcases an evolution of Andrew's from the metaphorical Carrot Top of music into a real creative force, and hopefully foreshadows his future success in creating innovative and inspiring albums.

It's unfortunate that the less party-driven sound of the new album is probably to blame for the one year time period between Asian and American release dates, but Your Friend, Andrew W.K. is much more than just a hard partier. In fact, he's what I'd like to call a modern renaissance man. Mr. W.K.'s résumé includes an advice show on MTV2, appearances on Late Night With Conan O'Brien, Last Call With Carson Daly, Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, a feature in the New York Times, a judging position in the New York City US Air Guitar Regional Championships, performing and producing positions in the avant-garde music collective, To Live And Shave In L.A., a spot on the live line-up for Current 93, drumming for Boredoms' 77 Drummers project, 3 studio albums, a live DVD, several solo piano performances, conductor of open discussion lectures, and countless other random tasks. His to-do list is equally as impressive, as it includes recording 3 studio albums, titled "Young Lord", "The Carrier", and "Eberwhite", an untitled UK EP, an untitled solo piano album (!) and a contribution to the 53rd edition of Visionaire, creating a TV show on New York City Public Access, writing a book, openning a multipurpose venue in lower Manhattan and partying hard. Honestly, it would be hard not be interested in this man's career.

If you are already a fan of Andrew W.K.'s, "Close Calls With Brick Walls" has just the right amount of his signature anthemic rock to satisfy expectations, but includes enough inspired and reputation alterring material to attract plenty of new listeners as well. Here is one of the US release's 5 bonus tracks, an energetic drum machined rocker entitled "Big Party". Hmm, I wonder why it was chosen for the American release...

Andrew W.K.- "Big Party" [Removed]

Also, today is Pipe's birthday, so be sure to congratulate him on all of his hard work and wish him a happy bloody anniversary. As he would say, cheers.

It's Not A Mystery Anymore

2007-08-27T19:57:00.000-04:00

New York's own finest, Murder Mystery, is beginning to rise out of the ashes of the New York music scene. Dominating the competition with catchy lyrics, riffs, and poppy-electronics Murder Mystery is starting to paint the bigger picture for their music. But how could they not? With influences claimed such as the Beatles and of course [as listed] the '95-'96 Chicago Bulls these guys (and gal) are ready for the big leagues.

Their album "Are You Ready For The Heartache, Cause Here It Comes" has a thick and modern pop-indie base with a creamy topping of the sister/brother vocal works of Laura and Jeremy Coleman. Listen, enjoy, support. Check em out!

Murder Mystery - "What My Baby Said" [Removed]
Murder Mystery - "Sooner or Later" [Removed]

Find more music by this artist at The Hype Machine.
+Website
+Myspace
+Buy [Are You Ready for the Heartache, Cause Here It Comes]

Additional Note:
I'm pretty stoked for tomorrows classes. TakeoffZebra and myself will be enjoying "The History and Appreciation of Rock." If you're jealous, it's okay. It's going to be sweet.

What's A Notwist?

2007-08-26T18:35:00.000-04:00

The Notwist is an Experimental-Progressive-Indie German musical collective. Their first albums and demos were a more aggressively based metal genre, although with their age came more curiosity on pushing the limits, trying new sounds, new instruments, the use of synths and drum machines, keyboard and guitar effects... Their 2002 (Europe) | 2003 (America) album "Neon Golden" had shown the members willingness to try new things, to play with sound. Pitchfork gave the album a 9.2/10! Luke Buckman, writer of the Pitchfork Review wrote at the end of his piece, "It's a shame that most people might not have a chance to hear it." Although the review was written when there was no North American release. However, the album is still not very well known, even after four long years; yet demands so much more attention. The first post ever made on The Milk Lounge included my personal favorite track from the album. I'll be including another favorite in this post. Both of the songs are soothing, and if I had to label them... "electronic indie" would be my first choice.

The Notwist - "Consequence" [Removed]
The Notwist - "Off the Rails" [Removed]

Find more music by this artist at The Hype Machine.

I guess what I'm trying to express in this is to branch out and try something new. Discover something hidden away in the corners of the internet and give it a chance. Kind of like The Notwist took a chance, by branching out of their old genre of music and experimenting with something new.

Thumping and Pounding—fucking headache

2007-08-25T00:49:00.000-04:00

I don't know what it is, the lack of sleep or the alcohol splitting my veins. But this won't go away. It's not one of those headaches that are due to over thinking or even loud noises but rather one that squeezes your temples until you feel like they just might—no they will implode. Not even soothing music is helping it go away. Perhaps you have a headache though, and this will help lull it away.

Iron & Wine - "Sinning Hands" [Removed]

Find more music by this artist at The Hype Machine.

Thirsty Thursdays: 18

2007-08-23T15:04:00.000-04:00

Hey woah! Check out the new image! I know it's awesome... you can thank me later. But right now we've got some sweet tracks to cover. Uhh.... yeah lets get started.

"Welcome Home," the second single off of Coheed and Cambria's album "Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through The Eyes of Madness" absolutely blew me away. Claudio and Travis both blew me away with their guitar abilities and composing on this track. Here's the acoustic version from the iTunes Exclusive, enjoy.

Coheed & Cambria - "Welcome Home" [iTunes Acoustic Set] [Removed]

Grizzly Bear has released four studio albums and from three separate record labels. I was recently able to get the bands debut album "Horn of Plenty" because of my current obsession with folk / indie music. Needless to say "Horn of Plenty" didn't disappoint.

Grizzly Bear - "Don't Ask" [Removed]

What more is there to say about Omar Rodriguez? He's a brilliant experimental guitarist, he's on his way to becoming a great producer; he's got it all. From his first solo album, "A Manuel Dexterity: Soundtrack Volume One"

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - "The Palpitations Form A Limit" [Removed]

First song from the first album released by Mew. The song really takes hold of you with its uplifting guitar rhythm, soothing vocals, and subtle electronic effects. From "A Triumph for Man"-

Mew - "Wheels Over Me" [Removed]

I know we just gave away a teaser track from Rilo Kiley's album "Under the Blacklight" but I just couldn't help but to release another track from the album. By the way if you don't buy this album then something is wrong with you. It's in my opinion the best release to date from Jenny and the boys.

Rilo Kiley - "Give A Little Love" [Removed]

Cheers,
Pipe

Rilo Kiley: Under The Blacklight

2007-08-20T02:29:00.000-04:00

Rilo Kiley have been at it for almost a decade now, and each year seems to bring them more and more attention. Their latest output, "Under The Blacklight", is the fourth notch in their studio album belt, and showcases a diversity of sounds that range from soulful backing singers to uppity keyboard synths. This new album's countrified rock is like The New Pornographers but with more sex appeal, (ironic, I know), and has a production value that allows for several layers of sound and incredibly smooth textures. Speaking of pornography, one of "Under The Blacklight"'s themes seems to be just that. Topics include porn, daft sexuality, adolescence, alcohol, and loss of innocense. Wow, it's high school all over again. If "Under The Blacklight" can be summed up in one word, it'd have to be 'sexy'. Not only because of the subject matter, or because they themselves declared it as their "sexiset ever", but because of the sensual way each song melts over varying musical styles. And it doesn't hurt that Jenny Lewis is the cutiest thing since Ms. Pacman. Be sure to pick up the album. It comes out today, August 20th.

"Smoke Detector" is my personal favorite from the new album. It's got 60s Beatles guitar, hand claps, and a promiscuous narrative that demands multiple listens. Enjoy.

Rilo Kiley- "Smoke Detector" [Removed]

Find more music by this artist at The Hype Machine.

A SPECIAL HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO KRISTEN B.-TINE!

Love, Pipe and R.

Passwords...

2007-08-19T18:27:00.000-04:00

7:00PM --Hey everyone; not sure why it's asking for a username and password to download the files! I'll try to have this fixed ASAP.

8:11PM -- I swear I didn't break anything! It just started happening! I'm on hold with our hosting provider right now trying to figure out what the fizzuck happened.

8:13PM -- Techy said that it would take 24 hours to resolve the problems; SORRY GUYS! Hopefully it will be fixed by tomorrow morning!

8:42PM -- The issue has been resolved wahoo! I'm so happy that I could, why I could! Give away a an mp3

Iron & Wine - "Ping! 33" [From The iTunes Exclusive] [Removed]

Find more music by this artist at The Hype Machine.

Thirsty Thursdays: 17

2007-08-16T18:18:00.000-04:00

Pictured above are Swedish garage rock greats, The Hives, on the alleged cover of their upcoming fourth studio album, "The Black and White Album". You may have seen them recently in a Nike/iPod combo commercial that's guaranteed to get them exposure. In the commercial, you hear a snippet of the first single from the upcoming album, called "Tick Tick Boom". "The Black and White Album" is scheduled for an October 9th US release, but until then, check out this live recording of "Tick Tick Boom". Being a live clip, it features some of Howlin' Pelle Almqvist's legendary stage banter. He's a cocky one, and it adds a lot to the persona of the group. You can enjoy more of their fantastic live antics on "Tussles in Brussels", a DVD capturing a full live set, several music videos, TV spots, and a documentary. I highly recommend it.

The Hives- "Tick Tick Boom [Live]" [Removed]

A while back, I posted three different versions of Matt and Kim's exclamatory tune, "Yea Yeah". Here today I have a fourth, which is a live take from Dinner With The Band, an internet show that is "the perfect mash-up of indie music and edgy food". I love Matt's commentary before and after the song, and his exaggerated pronounciation while singing. Be sure to check out Matt and Kim's self-titled album as well.

Matt and Kim- "Yea Yeah [Live on Dinner With The Band]" [Removed]

While browsing the infinite sea of chaos that is the internet, I came across this live cover of Of Montreal's "Wraith Pinned To The Mist and Other Games" by Beck. Needless to say, it caught my attention and I'd like to share it with you.

Beck- "Wraith Pinned To The Mist and Other Games" [Removed]

Interpol have recently released their third full-length, "Our Love To Admire", but I'd like to mention their first claim to fame, a song called "Obstacle 1" from their debut album, "Turn On The Bright Lights". It's the song that introduced me to the band, and the song that convinced me to buy the first album. Well, I recently came upon "Obstacle 1 (Arthur Bakers Return To New York Mix)", and am enjoying the reinterpretation of the tune as a percussively diverse stop-n-go rock tune.

Interpol- "Obstacle 1 (Arthur Bakers Return To New York Mix)" [Removed]

I was flipping through catalogs the other day to look for a mini-fridge, when something caught my eye in the New Releases section. An album called "CexCells" by a group named Blaqk Audio. My mind told me I knew what they were, then I remembered. Blaqk Audio is Davey Havok and Jade Puget of AFI. Shortly after the release of "Sing The Sorrow", they announced Blaqk Audio as an electronic side project. I was very excited, because I loved the dancy electronic breakdown in "Death Of Seasons". Well, what I've heard of "CexCells" isn't very dancy and might feel more at home on the Donnie Darko soundtrack, but it's catchy electronic retro goth that's far more appealing than AFI's recent output. Check it out and judge for yourself.

Blaqk Audio- "Stiff Kittens" [Removed]

Reggie and the Full Effect have dropped off the map recently, which is unfortunate. I remember back when the only reason I wanted to go to Warped Tour was to see Reggie perform "Mood 4 Luv" in short shorts. To my dissappointment, he cancelled his Warped dates in order to work on a follow up to "Songs Not To Get Married To" with producer Sean Beavan (NIN, Slayer, Marilyn Manson). A while afterwards, I read that he had plans to release an East Coast/West Coast double album, but that seems to have been cancelled as well. Also, on his MySpace profile, which his official website now redirects to, released a song entitled "F Train" for only 24 hours last year on Halloween. That's the last I've heard of James Dewees' solo efforts, but hopefully something comes through in the coming months. "F Train" is said to remind people of James' Coalesce days, and is a very heavy, screamy song. Let's see what you think of it.

Reggie and the Full Effect- "F Train" [Removed]

That should do it for this Thirsty Thursday. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the tunage.

Liars: Liars

2007-08-16T02:13:00.000-04:00

Dance-punk/art-rock/noise-pop/experimental genre chameleons, a.k.a. Liars, have a new self-titled album coming out August 28th. Actually, I'm a little unsure of the release date. Their official website says August 20th, but most other sites list the 28th or TBA. Looking past the confusion however, the album is a noisy mesh of drums and guitar squeezed through various effects with vocals and other instrumentation stirred right in. The experimental album is very reminiscent of The Microphones' first full length, "Tests", with its odd studio horseplay and echoey, almost lo-fi atmosphere. As expected, its not dancy like their debut, "They Threw Us All In A Trench And Stuck A Monument On Top", but music doesn't have to be dancable to be good. Here's track 5 from "Liars" titled "What Would They Know". It's a steadily droning tune with Interpol-ish vocals, slinky effects, and robotic guitar. Enjoy, and be sure to pick up the album whenever it drops.

Liars- "What Would They Know" [Removed]

Find more music by this artist at The Hype Machine.

"Devil I Say, I Say iTunes"

2007-08-14T22:56:00.001-04:00

iTunes...

What do you think? Is it a great application to download and listen to music from? Or is it part of the reason that music industry is going downhill? Well here's what I think:

iTunes offers subscribers great things from artists called "iTunes Exclusives." Is this fair to people who don't chose to support and/or use Apple? Are they just left to find other ways of attaining that music from that artist that they so desperately love? Legally, no. This is just one of my complaints against Apple. What they're doing is going up to these artists and asking them to make songs or take previously un-released songs and make them "iTunes" exclusive, Apple offers them a bigger cut on the individual sales of songs (Artists usually make 11 to 54 cents on an 99 cent song). But who is this really helping? iTunes or the music artist(s)? Now after the so said dedicated fans purchase their music iTunes gets that cut thus filling the corporations pockets. Because the "iTunes album" isn't offered in any physical form or from any other "legal enterprise" this allows them to dominate the market.

iTunes also sucks in new musicians by allowing them to charge for their music on the iTunes stores as a "cheaper" alternative to making those horribly expensive CDs. Lets not forget that iTunes also can monitor and publish what music you listen to and what you purchase.

But maybe this is just me venting because a musical interest of mine has their latest tracks only available on iTunes... Because I refuse to download them... I can't get them by legal means.

Fuck.

This track is from Portugal. The Man's debut EP, "Devil I Say, I Say Air"
Thank God this CD is actually physically attainable.

Portugal. The Man - "The Pines" [Removed]

Find more music by this artist at The Hype Machine.

Architecture in Helsinki: Places Like This

2007-08-12T00:30:00.000-04:00

Australian based musical group Architecture in Helsinki's third album (if you're not including the remix album) "Places Like This" is slated for U.S. release August 21st.- Here I am writing this and I cannot honestly think of how to describe the album or the sound for that matter - Okay! I got it! I think. No, wait, I know.

From the first second of pressing the "play" button the music screeches into your head. Not slipping in but rather falling in; letting you know it's there, maybe it always has been? Then the toe tapping begins. Unlike other albums where at first you're hesitant of new material, kind of like going to a place you've never been before, maybe a little shy or nauseous, this album does quite the opposite. It dances it's way into the happy-green-fielded-rainbow-filled parts of your ear. Perky, poppy, funky, mysterious? "Places Like This" is a great progression for the sextuplet Architecture in Helsinki. Oh yeah, support the band so they can continue to make great music; get the album here.

Architecture in Helsinki - "Red Turned White" [Removed]
Architecture in Helsinki - "Feather In A Baseball Cap" [Removed]

Pre-Release beast,
Pipe

Find more songs by this artist at The Hype Machine.

HORSE the band: A Natural Death

2007-08-11T14:32:00.000-04:00

Metalcore/post-hardcore HORSE the band's latest album "A Natural Death" will be releasing August 28th. The album is, well, to say the least crazy, spastic, random, etc. Ranging from crazy metal breakdowns to Nintendo sounding electronics to ear splitting screams. A Natural Death is certainly an album in which no two songs sound the same. You can pre-order the album here.

The first song featured, "Murder" is based of the motion picture series Lonesome Dove. To be more precise its based off a Native American character in the series, "Blue Duck." The song is as I have stated before, crazy, spastic and random.

HORSE the band - "Murder" [Removed]

Emphases on the "Randomness" of this album. Here's the eight track from the album, affectionately titled...

HORSE the band - "Sex Raptor" [Removed]

Nathan Winneke the bands lead vocalist has quite an interesting background to himself. He was the former bassist and drummer for HORSE. He also claims to be a Taoist. He's the leader of an online cult, "The First Church of The Mechanical Hand."

Find more songs by this artist at The Hype Machine.

The Devil Wears Prada: Plagues

2007-08-10T13:10:00.001-04:00

The Devil Wears Prada is a metalcore band from Dayton, OH. They are currently signed to Rise Records. In 2005, I was searching the net for some new material and found TDWP. I immediately bought their debut record Dear Love: A Beautiful Discord, the album was very well done and immediately had become one of my personal favorites for this genre.

The bands sophomore album Plagues is set to release August 21; over 400 copies were sold pre-release date during shows, interviews, etc. After finally listening to the new CD, I was very impressed by the bands progress and sticking to their lyrical messages. The only part that was "lacking" in the album was the guitar work of Chris Rubey and Jeremy DePoyster. I felt that the guitar work had not matured and was actually not as well done on Dear Love: A Beautiful Discord. However, the drumming in Plagues was great by Daniel Williams. DePoysters vocals were also very well done with an Anthony Green sort-of sound.

The albums opener begins with an eerie undertone; almost as if you're at the bottom of a well. In complete darkness. You hear sounds in the distance and then a hot breathe on the back of your neck. Rubey and DePoyster come slamming in. With Mike Hranica on vocals shortly after.

The Devil Wears Prada - "Goats on a Boat" [Removed]

The Bands Name: The inspiration for the bands name did in fact come from the book of the same title. However, the movie was released shortly after they got together. Mike Hranica has made a comment further explaining the name on the bands blog:

"It's the same concept as our lyrics 'emeralds hold no hope' and many many others. What we believe it to mean is that possessions don't matter at all and someday everyone will realize that this is true. When standing before God, He won't care about your sweet Prada scarf or Gucci shoes or whatever. It's a Christian reasoning for the name, we didn't name it to attempt at being fashionable or whatever."

Thirsty Thursdays: 16

2007-08-10T01:46:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the late post everyone, I was attending a Ben Kweller show here in Jacksonville. It was fantastic albeit a little awkward, as I went alone. Concerts are meant to be enjoyed with friends, and the more the merrier, but that didn't stop me from having a good time. The opening act, Tim Fite, blew me away and in my opinion, stole the show, but I'll save him for a feature in a future post. Kweller's set was great and was just what I expected. He came out and warned the crowd that he had been drinking, but you couldn't tell from his performance. He also proclaimed his love for country music and announced that after the tour in September, he plans on going to Austin, Texas to RECORD A COUNTRY ALBUM!!! "Don't worry guys, I'll record a rock album too." Oh believe me Ben, I'm not worried one bit. Your rendition of Roger Mills' "Chug A Lug" was stella. Here's a live recording of it in Toronto from a little while back. Also, be sure to check out his latest self-tiled album.

Ben Kweller- "Chug A Lug [Live]" [Removed]

Also, here's a track from the "Stubbs The Zombie: The Soundtrack" that's a Ben Kweller cover of the 1950s classic "Lollipop". It's charming and quaint.

Ben Kweller- "Lollipop" [Removed]

Derrick Comedy is a popular sketch comedy group, best known for YouTube shorts like BRO Rape: A Newsline Investigative Report and Keyboard Kid. Well, tucked away on their official website is a little tidbit of musical tomfoolery known as "Whatcha Gonna Do With The Groove?". Reportedly performed by The Electronix, this humorous dance song attempts to find a use for 'the groove', which, in my opinion, is powering this song. Check it.

The Electronix- "Whatcha Gonna Do With The Groove?" [Removed]

Also, Donald Glover from Derrick Comedy goes by 'mc DJ' for his musical outings. He's got two albums out and several remixes of bands like The White Stripes and Feist. Most of this electronic DJ experimentation is available for free download on his blog. It's great stuff, and I'll go ahead and post a highlight here from his latest album, "Love Letter From An Unbreakable Bottle" which was put up for download back in March.

mc DJ- "Central Park Love" [Removed]

Alright, that should do it for tonight. Enjoy.

10,000!!!

2007-08-08T03:18:00.000-04:00

Pi-yow! We've hit the 5 digit mark in site visits, and what better way to celebrate the occasion than by posting some truly awesome music? Let's get to it.

Chic was a popular disco/funk band in the late 70s. Their song, "Good Times", from the 1979 album, "Risqué", is not only a fabulous peice of disco history, it's also one of the most sampled tracks ever with acts such as Grandmaster Flash and The Sugarhill Gang getting in on what are indeed "Good Times".

Chic- "Good Times" [Removed]

As a bonus, here is a great mashup of Chic's "Good Times", Franz Ferdinand's "Take Me Out", and Beastie Boys' "Triple Trouble" by one of my favorite mashup artists, Party Ben.

Party Ben- "Chic Franzie Boys" [Removed]

Speaking of good times, I've got a great symphonic jazz cover of Percy Sledge's "When A Man Loves A Woman" by none other than guitar great, Wes Montgomery. The string section starts the song off incredibly smooth and mellow, then the guitar comes in with the easily recognizable melody. This song can be found on the Greatest Hits comp appropriately titled "Greatest Hits".

Wes Montgomery- "When A Man Loves A Woman" [Removed]

This next song is an all-time favorite of mine. I got it on a sampler the very first time I went to Warped Tour, and have been jamming to it ever since. "Welcome To My World" is a ridiculous slacker anthem by Nerf Herder (Star Wars reference anyone?), and it's got a cheery synth intro that breaks into punk guitar and humorous lyrics such as "this old shirt is startin' to stink/I don't give a damn what people think/I can take a leak in the kitchen sink/welcome to my world". This track is from the 2002 album "American Cheese". Enjoy, I've been getting plenty of use out of this track.

Nerf Herder- "Welcome To My World" [Removed]

Atom & His Package is also an all-time favorite of mine, and one of his most popular songs is called "Punk Rock Academy". Here I have the live version from his live album "Hair: Debatable", which is a recording of the very last show Atom played before ending his affair with His Package. The real treat here is lyrics like "We will import a token jock and we will kick his token ass!/And there will never ever be a physical education class!", and knowing that this is the last song from the last set that Atom & His Package ever played.

Atom & His Package- "Punk Rock Academy [Live]" [Removed]

Alright, well, that should do it for now. I just wanted to post some fun/cheery music in honor of getting 10,000 hits. But really, this post is for you, the reader. Without people like you, this blog would have no purpose. It's because of you that this site exists, and it's because of you that it stays alive. On behalf of Pipe and I, I'd like to express our sincere gratitude for your continued interest in what we have to say and the music that we post. Thank you, we aim to please, and what pleases us most is the feedback we get from satisfied readers. Keep it coming guys, and we'll do the same. I'd like to also mention that readers should stay tuned for exclusive interviews with the likes of countrified singer songwriter Aaron Schroeder and brazilian dance-funk group Bonde Do Rolê.

Minus the Bear: Planet of Ice

2007-08-06T13:33:00.001-04:00

Minus the Bear's newest CD "Planet of Ice" is scheduled to be released August 21st. The album holds true to the Minus the Bear rythem and sound. New keyboardist Alex Rose makes an impressive debut on the album after replacing Matt Bayles who went on to focus on his production career. The band continues to put to use their incredible guitar delay and reverb effects (the band has a total of eight Line 6 DL4s between the bassist guitarist and guitarists!). Minus the Funny Titles; Minus the Bear was formerly known for having funny song titles such as "Hey, Wanna Throw Up? Get Me Naked." however this tradition dissipated after the release of "Menos El Oso." I was hoping to see the tradition be restarted with this release, unfortunately it didn't. TakeoffZebra pointed out that the track "Dr. L'Ling" could be refering to "DLing" as in downloading.

I had a difficult time picking the song that I wanted to put up for this post however, after listening to the album a few times over I decided on Ice Monster. The song has a very melodic intro and the enchanting vocals of Jake Snider. The song leans to more of the relaxing soothing side of Minus the Bear. Song number 2 is "Dr. L'Ling" which I've posted on the blog about a month back. I hope you guys enjoy both songs. I plan on purchasing the new album and you can also help support the band by purchasing/pre-ordering their albums here.

Minus the Bear - "Ice Monster" [Removed]
Minus the Bear - "Dr. L'Ling" [Removed]

If you found the use of eight Line 6 Delay Modifiers interesting then check out the bands equipment on Dave Knudson's dedicated WIKI here. It's nifty to see the types of devices they use to produce their sound.

Enjoy,
Pipe.

Find more songs by this artist at The Hype Machine.

Some April Snow

2007-08-05T17:35:00.000-04:00

Great news readers! Shameless Complacency (One of the blogs that inspired us to start blogging) went into a indefinant hiatus about a month back. However the blog has returned (under a different name) say, "Hello! And welcome back!" to Some April Snow. Shameless always had great reviews and posts of course great music. So expect some good stuff. See ya!

Idiot Pilot: Wolves

2007-08-05T11:36:00.001-04:00

Idiot Pilot's to be released album "Wolves" is due out September 25. After listening to the entire new album a month ahead of its release date, I'm impressed by the duos progression. The album shows the lighter side of their music. Still featuring its signature electronics and programming work along with some great guitar break downs. I've been long awaiting to get my hands on this album; as I have been a fan for some time of Michael Harris and Daniel Anderson of Idiot Pilot. Although there is no pre-order out for the album yet I'll make a post updating everyone on the status and when you can get it.

The track I'll be featuring is the seventh track off of the sophomore release. The track begins with a simple programming beat and a mysterious sounding guitar riff. Both Michael and Daniel demonstrate their vocal talents in the track in both singing and in screaming. Many vocals are in high harmonics and very well done.
Idiot Pilot - "Red Museum" [Removed]

The album itself has some interesting background information about it; it was co-produced by Mike Hoppus (Formerly of Blink-182) it also features some drumming done by Chris Pennie of Coheed and Cambria and Travis Barker (Also Formerly of Blink-182). The track "Retina and the Sky" is featured on the Transformers movie soundtrack. Sweet...

Cheers,
Pipe.

Find more songs by this artist at The Hype Machine.

Thirsty Thursdays: 15

2007-08-02T23:15:00.001-04:00

Featured above is John Gourley [Guitar/Vocals] of Portugal. The Man which has recently become a band of obsession for me. The style of Portugal. is very interesting indeed. The band makes use of many electronics, drum machines & synths - and of course guitar, drums, and bass guitar. The music is mysterious, interesting and at times haunting. The bands name is not "Portugal the man" it is in fact "Portugal. The Man" Is there a reason to this? Absolutely. Gourley explains, "A country is a group of people, with Portugal it just ended up being the first country that came to mind. The band's name is Portugal. The period is stating that and 'The Man' states that it's just one person." Interesting.

The first song up will be Portugal. The Man's "Ruby Magic" this song is a snippit from the 23min track "It's Complicated Being A Wizard." It can only be described as "Mysterious and Electronic(y)."

Portugal. The Man - "Ruby Magic" [Removed]

Next is from the bands debut full length "Waiter: 'You Vultures!'" Great song, interesting lyrics:

"If I were a god I'd be the greatest of all
With a speech so soft that loud it would kill you
Standing up tall from the top of that hill
I'd shout out commands to down below
They are restless tangled mess protests burned
And ears that bleed in rivers through the pipes
That heat your homes and families plates"

Portugal. The Man - "Bad, Bad Levi Brown" [Removed]

The Notwist is a German based indie/electronic band that first stole my heart with the song "Consequence" which can be found in our archives. This song is from the EP "Different Cars and Trains" which is essentially a remix EP. All songs remixed come from the album "Neon Golden." You can get both of these here.

The Notwist - "Pilot (Console Remix)" [Removed]

Oh snap it's Dem Franchise Boys. Classic hit "Lean Wit It" has been remixed by Lazer Sword and needless to say. Its awesome. So check check check it out. Oh and by the way check out the archives for some other sweet Lazer Sword Remixes

Dem Franchise Boys - "Lean Wit It (Lazer Sword Remix)" [Removed]

I got The Go! Team's album "Proof of Youth" a few days back, I figured it would be your average run of the mill U.K. electronic experience. However, after listening to a few tracks I was blown away. Electronic with a Junior Senior kind of feel to it the album left me wanting more.
The closing track left a particular impression on me. I look at the track as being sort of a "Ode to Good Times" its very uplifting and energetic. Check it out. Get the album here.

The Go! Team - "Patricia's Moving Picture" [Removed at Artists Request]

De Facto, In Fact

2007-08-01T01:52:00.000-04:00

I've been a huge fan of Omar Rodriguez ever since I heard the guitar solo on The Mars Volta's "Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt", so I'm very suprised that it took me this long to hear any De Facto material. What began as jam sessions after At The Drive-In shows became the missing link between ATDI and The Mars Volta, as it kept Omar Rodriguez, Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Ikey Owens, and Jeremy Ward together after ATDI's split. The De Facto sound can best be described as a fusion of dub, electronica, and jazz, or what I like to call 'Dubtronijazz'. This song, "Fingertrap", starts off with a Super Metroid-esque intro, followed by thick drum samples and some jazzy reverbed trumpet. The instrumental continues on with more trumpet and tweaky effects, and can be found on their second album, "Megaton Shotblast".

De Facto- "Fingertrap" [Removed]

Unfortunatley, De Facto called it quits in 2003 after the untimely death of sound manipulator, Jeremy Ward. Not only was Mr. Ward a key member of De Facto, he was sound technician and vocal operator for Tha Mars Volta. He was also the one that found the journal on which The Mars Volta based their second album, "Frances The Mute", and came up with the word 'amputechture' which TMV used for the name of their third album.

Iron & Wine: Boy With a Coin

2007-07-30T02:08:00.000-04:00

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.

Thirsty Thursdays: 14

2007-07-26T23:18:00.001-04:00

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.

Blog, Snog, Cog, Pog, Flog, Mog, Fog, etc.

2007-07-26T02:46:00.000-04:00

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.

Billy Corgan: On Trial

2007-07-23T21:04:00.000-04:00

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.

Thirsty Thursdays: 13

2007-07-19T15:05:00.000-04:00

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!

Sorry Guys (...and Gals)!

2007-07-19T02:41:00.001-04:00

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

Hell Yea Yeah!

2007-07-09T23:05:00.000-04:00

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!

One Hit Wonders (70s & 80s)

2007-07-08T12:41:00.000-04:00

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]

Thirsty Thursdays: 12

2007-07-05T17:14:00.000-04:00

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!

New(s)

2007-07-02T02:28:00.000-04:00

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.

Thirsty Thursdays: 11 (+ Requests!)

2007-06-29T17:53:00.000-04:00

I'd like to first off apologize for the delayed entry. The excuse? Viruses. Pipe's computer caught one and his main hard drive was corrupted. Thank God his music drive is safe. I also caught a virus myself, and had to take a shot in the butt from the doctor. But I'm here today and in perfect condition to post some music and a bit of commentary. The first song here will be by a man named Joseph Arthur. While not necessarily a household name, he is most recognized for his song "In The Sun" which was covered by Michael Stipe with Chris Martin, remixed by Justin Timberlake, and featured on Scrubs. His live solo performances are noted for their use of looping techniques and a large array of effects pedals. His latest album, "Let's Just Be", was released back in April with his new band The Lonely Astronauts. Also, the above painting is a Joseph Arthur original, probably featured in his limited CD/Book combo release "The Invisible Parade + We Almost Made It". The song for download is "Anywhere With You", my personal favorite from the "And The Thieves Are Gone" EP, which had a very limited release to specific indie music stores. The song seems to slowly rotate with slurred vocals, spastic organs, and echoing guitar effects. Fantastic.

Joseph Arthur- "Anywhere With You" [Removed]

How about some electronic music? I certainly can't say no. This here is Kavinsky, a french dude that's touring with the likes of Daft Punk, The Rapture, Justice, and SebastiAn. The tour of all tours if you're into dancing. Seriously, I would drop everything and go if it came within 500 miles of Jacksonville, but of course, it doesn't. I'll just sit here and listen to "Testarossa Autodrive", the coolest song about one of the raddest cars ever, plus it has a hella sweet music video. His mini-LP "Dead Cruiser" is coming out soon, and until then, enjoy dancing to Ferrari themed techno.

Kavinsky- "Testarossa Autodrive" [Removed]

Film School is a band. Demetri Martin is a comedian. This is a song. More specifically, this is a song made by the two for Demetri's "Clearification" webisodes, and it's awesome. Film School started off in the late 90s in San Francisco with members of Pavement (!), and is set release a third album, "Hideout", this September. Demetri Martin is an Emmy-Award winning comedian that contributes to The Daily Show and is being considerred as a replacement to Conan O'Brien in 2009. He also has a great comedy CD/DVD out called "These Are Jokes".

Film School & Demetri Martin- "Electric Brain" [Removed]

Now onto the requests. Sorry to keep you guys waiting, but it will hopefully be worth it. Electric President's former namesake, Radical Face Vs. Phalex Sledgehammer, is a little known, under-appreciated musical output. This song is from the album "Typecast" and is a little more serious than the rap spoof I posted earlier. Ben Cooper's lyrical abilities are shown off by lines like "I can unpredict a thousand things in a day/ starting with the future and then moving on to better things" or "I've never been much of an optimist, so when life gives me lemons, I throw them at cars". Again, I do not have the tracklist to this release, so the song title is unknown.

Radical Face Versus Phalex Sledgehammer- "Track 9" [Removed]

Unicorns are people too, and unreleased music is music as well. I'll help shed some light on this instrumental Unicorns track by putting it out to the metaphorical sea on a metaphorical iceberg. Good luck Billy!

The Unicorns- "The Adventures Of Bayou Billy" [Removed]

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists is a band of overlapping genres, varying between punk, indie, rock, dub and others. This rare track is from the Cosmodemonic Telegraph compilation "Transmission One: Tea At The Palaz Of Hoon", and borders more on the punk side.

TL/Rx- "You Always Hate The One You Love" [Removed]

And there we have it, hope the anticipation wasn't too painful, and I'll do my best to make some sort of post this weekend, thanks guys.

Song and the Story Pt III & IV

2007-06-23T18:41:00.000-04:00

Photo by Rachel

This is going to be an REALLY long post. Hope you're in for a good read. I'll be covering The Sound of Animals Fighting Act III and IV from "Tiger and the Duke" however the treat is BOTH SONGS are off of the new reissued "Tiger and the Duke" remixed and remastered CD. Which I highly recommend from getting from their website here. The DVD is amazing also. These songs are in my opinion more awesome than the original two. I'll release Act I and Act II remastered tracks eventually. Enjoy.

ACT III
"Light had gone and I could hear them speak of approaching rain. The Drunk Captain had hid himself from the coming storm in the deepest annex of his vice. The blue of his eyes was gone. They had now become grey and tremulous orbs, wavering in his stark, violent oration to the crew. "Sails full!" he screamed to them, his voice wrathful and unsure "we will beat this storm yet!" His bravery poured not from his heart, but from the bottle at his lips. His one hand clutch the helm, the other the bottle, and his sons toiled below him with rope and sail, and I could see there was mutiny in their eyes. We traveled with sails full, and the water grew angrier, throwing us and our property about with its surge, trying to extinguish the fires of commerce within our hold. And though the luster of the ship's gold and ivory burned bright, in crate and cage, the sea swelled, and the beasts yelled louder than before! The Drunk Captain's two other sons, Fapheth and Ham came to his either side, taking one of his hands each. "Come Father." They said, "you've had far too much to drink, and you must take down the sails and sleep, or we will not survive the storm." - "Where would you put me?" he asked, "With our cargo, sleeping in the warmth of their refuse?" He called to Shem to help him, but his son would not listen, for his brothers had convinced him of their will during the night. "My son, wil you not answer my call?" The Drunk Captain looked to me now, his eyes sad and empty, the anger from them had settled. His sons grabbed his either arm and took him from the helm onto the deck. Shem opened the hatch, and the cry of beasts called from below, and The Drunk Captain said "Secrets and irises open the door to a pride of lions and murder of crows, no one knows how I began, but how I'll end." And with this, shook his sons from his arms and ran towards the port side, leaping over the edge into the sea. His sons ran to the side of the boat, holding their heads in despair. "Save him, Save him!" they cried, looking with horror at the cruel sea far below."

The Sound of Animals Fighting - "Act III: Modulate back to the Tonic" [Removed]

THEMES OF INDIVIDUAL TUNES: (ACT III)
Fingerpick beginning: morning on the plains of earth sun's first light. Left guitar descending while right guitar provides ascending counter melody. Middle channel is more of a bass line than anything. All melodies interweave like the grass on the Sahara that I imagined. Chorus: first use of actual bar chords; modulate to parallel minor of the five chord- b minor - d major - a major - needed to be solid like a rhino stampede. Breakdown: Pink Floyd all the way brah!!! Modulate back to the tonic - can't remember what chords I used in that, though I believe it was very similar to "Dark Side..." Kept progressions relatively simple as the lazy life of a plains beast.

INSPIRATIONS
Act III inspired by the book Peter Pan by F.M. Barrie.

---

ACT IV
"The storm raged stronger than before. I was taken below deck and shackled in a cage with two slaves, as thought I was more a threat than the tempest above deck. The Captain's sons were above , the sails had been taken down and we sat in storm, battered by the sea from every direction. I heard them scrambling above through the night, and the rain and storm came heavy at us, as though God spoke to us in tongues of sleet and wind. The crew above me spoke to each other, their lips dripping with water, they said, "Still it rains, and there in that box he remains." The ship began to sway, and the planks creaked and the sides bulged, and the animals screamed deafening screams that echoed through the hold, in notes louder than the cacophony of Hell itself. The ship swayed left, and then right, and the crates slid to each side of the ship, crushing the animals against the walls. The poor beasts tore at each other's flesh, gnashing and biting at skin and wall, not knowing of the miles of sea on the other side. The voices of men stopped, and I heard only the storm above. Then the ship capsized. The sound of animals fighting ceased. When at last the heavens were steady again, I found myself alone in the darkness. I saw only this blackness, deep, and cold and wet. The water seeped in at the seams of the bow, flowing into the darkness of the broken ship, and the unexplored patches arose and spread, black shadows moved about it them, the roar of the beasts f prey was quite different now. It was one of despair. My cellmates were silent, dead or unconscious, I didn't know. The cabin filled to its half and the water covered us, and we were hanging by our ankles in the foam. Animals drowned all around, screaming as the water engulfed them, screaming and dying, their hooves and paws could not tread the death water of the black ocean.

"I am sinking, o' Captain, I am sinking." I said, to none but the great sea."

The Sound of Animals Fighting - "Act IV: You Don't Need A Witness" [Removed]

THEMES OF INDIVIDUAL TUNES: (ACT IV)
Counter attack of the machines: Math-y beginning C natural minor run resolving to A flat 9 and B flat 9. Modulate to E minor to keep consistency of first machine onslaught. Hits" harmonized, diminished mode in tri tones (flat fives). Chorus: dancy-y as fuck like violent and ecstatic sex; Luna rides a pterodactyl now and nimbly dodges the attack of the machines. Her Venus light is now apparent to the earth as the coming of a new age. E minor triads played in octaves resolving with g9-a9 and then g9-a9-b9-d9. Ninths harmonized over E Aeolian mode versus - apeggiations of E minor - more repeating Act I theme.

Thirsty Thursdays: 10

2007-06-21T16:30:00.000-04:00

Happy 10 week anniversary Thirsty Thursdays, on to the random assortment of songs. To celebrate the release of The White Stripes' new album, "Icky Thump", I'm gonna share the very first thing this Detroit rock duo ever released. Prized by collectors, the "Let's Shake Hands" 7" was released back in 1998 with only 1000 copies pressed. It was re-issued in 2002 with another 1000 pressings. The song is great. It's loud, noisy and fast. With this very first peice of vinyl, they brought forth their combination of rough rock and raw blues that has risen them to present fame. Congrats guys.

The White Stripes- "Let's Shake Hands" [Removed]

I'll admit, I used to be a huge Star Wars nerd. I'm still a nerd, but the obsessive habits wore off with the lack luster prequel trilogy. Well, I have a deluxe edition of the soundtrack to "Return Of The Jedi: Special Edition" and was listening to it recently. A couple of songs stuck out from the usual John Williams orchestrations. One being an obnoxious song played by Max Rebo's Band in Jabba's palace that John Williams had nothing to do with, and a baroque recital used in some of the Jabba's palace scenes. This baroque recital uses classic 17th and 18th century instruments and is a refreshing and relaxing turn away from the rest of the album that can easily be put on repeat to add a special "spacy yet sophisticated" atmosphere to any room.

John Williams- "Jabba's Baroque Recital" [Removed]

The Unicorns (R.I.P.) were a fantastic Canadian indie-pop band that were known for their colorful album art and suprisingly dark lyrics. Unfortunately, the band is no longer together, but key members have gone on to form Islands. Well, if The Unicorns had stayed together just a little bit longer, they may have released all the songs that they didn't have time to. Here's one of those unreleased songs, called "Do The Knife Fight", that highlights the bands happy sound and dark, disturbing lyrics.

The Unicorns- "Do The Knife Fight" [Removed]

Earlier today I was listening to an old, out of print compilation from Cosmodemonic Telegraph called "Transmission One: Tea At The Palaz Of Hoon". It's most notable for it's exclusive Bright Eyes song "It's Cool, We Still Can Be Friends" (which is now also available on the Bright Eyes rarity comp ("Noise Floor (Rarities: 1998-2005)"). It also has an exclusive Ted Leo and the Pharmacists song. But the song I'm going to put up is by a group I have never heard of and that I really could not find information on. They are The Positive-Negative Men, and the song is called "Broadcast Electricity". It's a synthy race through energetic electronic organs and distant vocals.

The Positive-Negative Men- "Broadcast Electricity" [Removed]

Fatboy Slim is best known for his dance hits and the music video of Christopher Walken dancing. His songs are great to listen to and toe-tap/head-bop away while browsing the net. A great example of this is the b-side "Always Read The Label" from the "Rockafeller Skank" single. The heavy use simulated motion through stereo is a little disorienting when listening to this song in headphones. It's awesome.

Fatboy Slim- "Always Read The Label" [Removed]

In honor of Justice's new album "†" I'll post a remix that the french duo did of Death From Above 1979's "Blood On Our Hands" from the single by the same name. Yeah, good times.

Death From Above 1979- "Blood On Our Hands (Justice Remix)" [Removed]

There we go, Thirsty Thursdays is in the double digits. We're gaining a larger viewer base and things are going great. Thanks go out to all you lovely milk loungers who check the site, leave feedback, and tell people about us. Without you guys, well, we'd be wasting our time.

April 2007 Archive Restoration

2007-06-21T13:55:00.000-04:00

Photography by Rachel

Hey everyone! We'll we've been around for a little over three months now and we have some excellent posts in our archives (which are to the right under "Archives" where you can look at past posts.) Back in our first month of April we had a horrible file host and couldn't hold that much music, so in order to make space we had to remove a bunch of songs from our site. However, today I'll be re-uploading those songs and reattaching them to the site! I realize that I may have confused you in this post so I'll simplify it. No Space... Had To Delete Songs... Songs are coming back... These posts are in the April 2007 Archive. Phew. I hope people are looking forward to the Thirsty Thursdays post this afternoon!

Quirk?!

2007-06-20T19:19:00.000-04:00

Quirk. It's an abnormality, a kink, an eccentricity. It's something that can completely turn someone off to a song, or it can make the song unique and therefore endearing. Being quirky is a risk, but when done right, it's something I cherish. I can't stand people without humor and the same goes for bands, so here are a few songs that I feel exemplify the quirk aesthetic. We'll begin with the King Of Quirk, Mr. Weird Al Yankovic himself. Classically trained on the accordion as a child and master of parody, Weird Al is a Grammy Award winner and has had his own movie, a TV show, and has directed several music videos. The song I have chosen to represent the Yank Attack is "Yoda", a parody of "Lola" by The Kinks about everyone's favorite jedi master and is from his "Dare To Be Stupid" album. Indulge:

Weird Al Yankovic- "Yoda" [Removed]

Next stop on the vagary van is a group of ska superheroes, The Aquabats! Famous for their heroic live shows and mythology, The Aquabats have a strong fan following of Aquacadets and are touring for most of the summer. This song, "Captain Hampton and the Midget Pirates", is off their second album, "The Fury Of The Aquabats", which is the only album with drummer The Baron von Tito (aka Travis Barker).

The Aquabats- "Captain Hampton and the Midget Pirates" [Removed]

Atom & His Package is a long-time favorite of mine. Ever since I heard the squeal of Adam Goren's voice combined with a single little synthesizer I couldn't get enough. He writes songs about what jews do on christmas, marrying his own grandmother, octopi, hammers, barbecues on the north pole, and plenty of other silly notions. This one is called "Nutrition" from a compilation of his early releases called "Making Love" and details that although he has very few ambitions, he at least cares about what he puts in his mouth.

Atom & His Package- "Nutrition" [Removed]

The Bloodhound Gang is known mainly for the sexual anthem "The Bad Touch" and most recently for "Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo", which is the NATO phonetic alphabet equivalent of an F-bomb. I still say they stole the idea from Van Halen's "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge". Anyway, the song here is called "Ralph Wiggum" from their latest album, "Hefty Fine". And yes, it is a Simpsons reference. Actually, all the lyrics are quotes from the show. They even chant 'Yvan Eht Nioj!' Awesome.

The Bloodhound Gang- "Ralph Wiggum" [Removed]

Sonic Youth had a side project back in the second half of the '80s. This project was highly experimental and was called Ciccone Youth. Ciccone is Madonna's original surname. Well, this project gave birth to one album called "The Whitey Album" which contains (among other things) spoken word poetry, Thursten Moore rapping, a cover of Madonna's "Into The Groove", 1 minute of silence for the 2nd track, and a cover of Robert Palmer's "Addicted To Love". Here's "Addicted To Love":

Ciccone Youth- "Addicted To Love" [Removed]

Electric President has gained a lot of popularity recently. Being based here in Jacksonville, I can remember back when they went by a different name: Radical Face Versus Phalex Sledgehammer. Well, three albums were released under that name, one of which was "Typecast". It's a fantastic album that my friends and I listened to on repeat back at summer camp, but the quirky treats are the hidden tracks at the end of the disc. This one here is a rap song that has me laughing everytime. The lyrics are rediculous: "If the bitches all skinny get some chicken n' fat in 'em". I remember they used to have a Hip-Hop project listed on the website, but it has since dissappeared. I do not know the name of this song, so the title is unknown. But I think it can be enjoyed anyway.

Radical Face Versus Phalex Sledgehammer- "Track 13 (Hidden Rap Song)" [Removed]

Well guys, I hope you've at least found something in this bunch of quirky tidbits that's either refreshing, funny, or somewhat pleasing, and if not, well, I'm sorry.

Song and the Story Pt. II

2007-06-19T18:52:00.000-04:00

ACT II
"Out in the torrid wake of the sea, the gale shook the bow-planks like tremors, and our cargo rioted in voice below the decks. Though the winds shook us, The Drunk Captain showed me that the sun was high, and assured me that the seas would grow calm, and that our passenger-cargo, ten and one thousand animals of burden and beauty, would not perish in the storm or sea. The sailors' provisions were meager, and one ran about the ship catching food. His way was to pursue birds that had food in their mouths suitable for humans, and snatch it from them. "That is my son Shem." The Drunk Captain told me, "Who I love most of the three sons I have borne, and though he is a fool, his heart is good." He drank from his bottle. "Come with me now," He said. "For you have not seen your fellow passengers." We went down into the ship's hold. And I saw at my every side beasts of all colors and size and breed, howling from disease and madness. "Why do these beasts howl?" I asked."My dear Duke..." the Drunk Captain said to me, with eyes as blue and dark as the water outside the room's walls, "...they howl for the same reason I suffer. I've been trapped here for one hundred years. Blood, women and drink have been my only vessels on this vessel." He stared at the animals with pity, and said to the ceiling, to the sky, to none but himself and God: "Pray Horizon, lead me back to port."

The Sound of Animals Fighting - "Act II: All is Ash or the Light Shinning Through It" [Removed]

THEME OF INDIVIDUAL TUNES: (ACT II)
Choppy, math-y beginning: the first destruction finger-picked empty, quiet battlefield. Maiden-sort-of-chorus: unification of sea creatures and their haste to aid. D harmonic minor jazz richter part: E whole tone scale harmonized with F minor Locrian to create half tone dominant chaos - the whales collective song of defiance.

INSPIRATIONS
Act II is inspired by the poem "Anorexic" by Eavan Boland

"Anorexic"
By: Eavan Boland

"Flesh is heretic.
My body is a witch.
I am burning it. Yes I am torching
ber curves and paps and wiles.
They scorch in my self denials. How she meshed my
head
in the half-truths
of her feverstill I renounced
milk and honey
and the taste of lunch. I vomited
her hungers.
Now the bitch is burning. I am starved and
curveless.
I am skin and bone.
She has learned her lesson. Thin as a rib
I turn in sleep.
My dreams probea claustrophobia
a sensuous enclosure.
How warm it was and wideonce by a warm drum,
once by the song of his breath
and in his sleeping side. Only a little more, only a few more days
sinless, foodless, I will slip
back into him again
as if I had never been away. Caged so
I will grow
angular and holypast pain,
keeping his heart
such companyas will make me forget
in a small space
the fallinto forked dark,
into python needs
heaving to hips and breasts
and lips and heat
and sweat and fat and greed."

Fathers Day

2007-06-17T23:01:00.000-04:00

Yo, sorry for this belated fathers day post everybody. I hope everyone had a wonderful day. Currently listening to Rodrigo y Gabriela's self-titled release right now. Seriously... wow. I highly recommend buying their CD it's freakin' amazing! Enjoy the music!

Led Zep - Stairway to Heaven [Removed]
Pink Floyd - Astronomy Domine [Removed]
Explosions in the Sky - A Song for Our Fathers [Removed]

Site Updates

2007-06-16T01:09:00.001-04:00

Fixed the redirect for our URL finally... You can now use http://www.themilklounge.com to access the site, HOORAY! The contact us forum has been finished also so if you've got anything to say, would like to ask us a question, ask for promotional support or anything really... just let us know. Oh by the way, enjoy this track; it makes me happy every time I listen to it.

Belle & Sebastian - We Are The Sleepyheads [Removed]

Thirsty Thursdays: 09

2007-06-14T17:56:00.000-04:00

Sorry this post will be somewhat abrupt however, it does include some pretty awesome music.

This week has been somewhat horrible, first here in Atlanta we got decked by a miniature hurricane. Winds that picked up my entire back porch set, hurling it throughout the yard. Getting pummeled by hail isn't awesome. Needless to say the place was a mess. Mulch from the gardens, tree branches, leaves, etc. thrown in the yard. It sucked, cleaning it up sucked too. Then my 3 year old half brother Joey decided to put my cellphone into my computer which wiped out my primary hard drive. THANK GOD that my music hard drive didn't fail. Phew. Alright enjoy the music, we've got some awesome stuff coming up this next few weeks!

VHS or Beta - "Disco Paradise" [Removed]
Hot Chip - "Just Like We Break Down" [DFA Remix] [Removed]
The Killers - "Somebody Told Me" [Mylo Remix] [Removed]
The Go! Team - "Ladyflash" [Simian Mobile Disco Mix] [Removed]
The Mars Volta - "Ambuletz" [Removed]

Song and the Story Pt. I

2007-06-11T12:09:00.000-04:00

The California based progressive-experimental rock group known as The Sound of Animals Fighting (TSOAF) will be re-releasing their debut album, "Tiger and the Duke." Which was previously out of print. (Awesome) The album will be reworked and remastered and will also feature remixes of the groups newest album "Lover the Lord Has Left Us." - It will be released June 26 if all goes according to plan. Which I highly will be recommending!!!

To educate you on this great musical group and the genius behind their music, I've decided to start this mini series entitled, "Song and The Story." In reference to Tiger and the Duke. I will be giving the story to the song and then giving you the song itself. I will also be giving you the themes in the individual parts as according the group. First lets get a little background info on TSOAF.

TSOAF is a multiple member, multiple label group. Featuring members/former members of groups such as Finch, Rx Bandits, Circa Survive, Chiodos, The Hippos, and The Autumns. The way the albums are recorded are unique in themselves the artists never actual play out the song together, rather than doing that producer and musical genius Rich Balling would ask them to sit down and play something and write something based on a theme that he would give them. He would then take those snippets of the artists music and put them together creating a song with multiple attitudes, senses and feelings towards it. Now that this information has been provided to you let's move onto the themes story, and songs. Before listening to the song I highly recommend reading the story and the underlying themes that are placed by Rich Balling.

(Please note that all of this is according to the album)

THEMES THROUGHOUT RECORDING:

Ascending diminished triads. Culmination of kinetic aggravation, folky finger picking, and the raw innocence of mother nature.

ACT I
"We had come off the black coast, where I could see the fire still burning on the shore. The cities were swallowed up by it. I saw, in the fading grey night, as our ship tread into the white-sky horizon, the great machines of industry grazing on the coast, their monstrous legs bowing with the weight of their metal gullets. All the cities of my travels, all the crossed borders, the hovels and estates, the stone terraces of great castles, all were crumbled in their wake. We left the port city of Anon and hour before dawn, gathering our sordid cargos into the bow of the ship, and cast ourselves to the cruel sea. There were a thousand ways out of that city, a thousand ancient paths to old kingdoms of dreams and terror, but the roads and cities had burned, and I only knew one other. I resigned. I saw my fate with my eyes wide open, to be the cargo of the last ship to new worlds. All others burned at the docks, sunk in their slips, their cargo buried in their ship's charred bow. All was ash or the light shining through it. We came out high into the sea, toward the horizon, where a million golden arrows shone, "Straight on 'til morning!" the Captain shouted."

The Sound of Animals Fighting - "Act I: Chasing Suns" [Removed]

THEME OF INDIVIDUAL TUNES: (ACT I)
Minor one / major six progressions, modulations between natural and harmonic minor.
Aggro part: C9 to a flat 9, F9 to Gmin 9 revert to F sharp minor. Dorian mode to retain the D sharp that is present in E harmonic minor scale. Half step modulation:
John Coltrane "Impressions" rip-off, I'll be honest (though I threw about a million notes in there).
Full step modulation to F sharp natural minor at end, triumphant sounding I guess. Most chordal arrangment in song left to pure arpeggiations to embody the digital encoding of a machines processor.

Thirsty Thursdays: 08

2007-06-07T22:06:00.000-04:00

Our 8th week of Thirsty Thursdays? Wow, that's like, 2 months. I'll start off with a small addition to my last post involving notable modern guitarists. Pictured above is the mexican acoustic guitar duo, Rodrigo y Gabriela. They met in a thrash metal band, got fed up with the narrow minded mexican music scene, and moved to Dublin. Their style is a fusion of flamenco, jazz, latin and rock. Their latest s/t album is an all instrumental acoustic guitar masterpeice that includes a cover of Led Zep's "Stairway To Heaven" and Metallica's "Orion", along with seven other original works. They are currently touring the US, and are confirmed as an opening act for Muse at Wembley Stadium. The song below is the opener for their latest album and was inspired by a man in Mexico named Tamacun. This man lives in a small town and takes care of all the crocodiles being threatened by government construction. On the bonus DVD that comes with the album, there is footage of Tamacun with his crocodile friends that is very entertaining.

Rodrigo y Gabriela- "Tamacun" [Removed]

I purchased Omar Rodriguez's latest solo album, "Se Dice Bisonte, No Bufalo", a couple of days ago and would like to share a track with you. You already know about him from the previous post so I'll just talk about the song. It goes by the name of "Rapid Fire Tollbooth" and is actually a mainstay of The Mars Volta's live setlist. This is the first time it has been formally released in a studio version and has a great guitar solo. It's fantastic.

Omar Rodriguez- "Rapid Fire Tollbooth" [Removed]

That conclude's the addition to the guitarist post, now back to some delicious tracks that have caught my ear recently. This one is a cover of Andrew WK's "I Get Wet" by a man named Jon Sebastian. I think it's the simplicity of this song that makes me love it so much. I'm pretty sure it's just a keyboard beat, some acoustic guitar, and overdubbed vocals, but the amazing thing is that Mr. Sebastian transforms this in your face party anthem into a soothing, almost apologetic ballad. It's not just the novelty of the contrast between the two versions, this song is genuinely beautiful and I highly recomend that you download it.

Jon Sebastian- "I Get Wet [Andrew WK cover]" [Removed]

Now for Dan Deacon's "The Crystal Cat" from his recently released "Spiderman of the Rings" album. DD is an electronic music composer with graduate studies in electro-acoustic and computer music composition. Cool! This song is a journey into electronic experimentation that includes a little dance, a little rock, and a pinch of quirk. Excellent.

Dan Deacon- "The Crystal Cat" [Removed]

I was listening to my library on random today when I heard a familiar voice. I checked the song and it was from The Microphones' "Tests" album. It's called "Oh Anna" and I'm almost certain the guest vocalist is Khaela Maricich of The Blow. This would make sense as The Microphones and The Blow share space on the K Records label. Khaela is my most favoritest female vocalist at the moment, and hearing her guest on a Microphones track was a pleasant suprise. "Oh Anna" is a bouncy, lo-fi diddy complete with hand claps and muddy guitar. Yummy.

The Microphones- "Oh Anna" [Removed]

Shout Out Louds stole my heart with "Hurry Up Let's Go" from their debut "Howl Howl Gaff Gaff". Now they have a new album "Our Ill Wills" slated for US release on September 11, 2007. They've toured with the likes of The Strokes, Kings Of Leon, and Secret Machines, and the bass player was the director for Peter Bjorn and John's award winning video for "Young Folks". Also, Bjorn of PB&J produced the upcoming album, which is already out in their native Sweden. The first single for "Our Ill Wills" is "Tonight I Have To Leave It" and I have it here for your listening pleasure.

Shout Out Louds- "Tonight I Have To Leave It" [Removed]

Hope you enjoyed the songs and I hope you like the blog. Pipe and I put a lot of work into and would love some input on what all of you think about it. So feel free to comment, e-mail, or even stalk. Also, if you'd like to find more great mp3 blogs, search for music that you like on The Hype Machine and check out the blogs that come up. Works for me!

A Selection Of Notable Modern Guitarists

2007-06-04T19:03:00.000-04:00

Hello folks, I feel the urge to post. Whilst listening to music lately, I have put most of my focus into the guitar parts like I used to. I generally listen to songs as a whole or a mixture of sounds that melt into one, but it's still fun to pick apart the peices and find new and interesting things. Anyway, while focusing on guitar, I realized that modern guitarists do not necessarily get the attention that the classic rock legends (ie Angus Young, EVH, Brian May, Hendrix, SRV, etc.) seem to bask in. Perhaps it's because we haven't been listening to these modern songs over and over again for twenty years, or maybe the technical skill and showmanship involved in Guitar Deism have taken a backseat to ellaborate stage shows and vocal performances. Only time will tell, and until then I have put together a few songs that feature some modern guitarists that I feel are worth mentioning. First off is a 12 and a half minute jam by The Mars Volta called "L'Via L'Viaquez" from the "Frances The Mute" album, and the single by the same name. The first two guitar solos are by John Frusciante of Red Hot Chili Peppers fame. But RHCP aren't his only output, his solo releases come highly recommended by yours truly. The third solo is Omar A Rodriguez-Lopez (pictured above) or Omar Rodriguez for short. Omar is half of The Mars Volta alongside Cedric Bixler Zavala, and also releases several solo albums and collaborations. The song starts off slow with overlapping loops, slowing grows and then Frusciante melts face. Being a Mars Volta track, expect a psychadelic experimental rock song with noticable Latin influence.

The Mars Volta- "L'Via L'Viaquez" [Removed]

Next in line is Stephen Malkmus of Pavement, Silver Jews, and solo fame. Favored for his heavily distorted and evolving guitar parts that range from lo-fi garage rock to blues to psychadelia and back again. This Californian actually borders on legendary status already from being the Pavement frontman, and only continues to release new material (new album anticipating commercial birth in early 2008). Here's a track from his latest album "Face The Truth" that highlights his bluesy rock-jam side of guitar. It really reminds me of Traffic's "Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys" but I can't seem to understand why.

Stephen Malkmus- "No More Shoes" [Removed]

Jack White. Familiar name I'm sure. This Detroit blues rocker has been everywhere. He's half of The White Stripes, apparent figurehead for The Raconteurs, he produced the latest Loretta Lynn album, provided vocals for Electric Six's "Danger! High Voltage", played bass on Beck's "Go It Alone", contibuted to the Cold Mountain soundtrack and a Coca-Cola commercial. Oh, he also won some Grammys and married a supermodel. Wow. His guitar style is heavily blues-based, and his live performances with The White Stripes are incredible. I super highly recommend the concert DVD "Under Blackpool Lights". The song I selected has three guitar solos and was performed when Jack "Three Quid" White made a suprise appearance with Bob Dylan in Detroit. I don't have the recording of that performance, but I do have the album version from "Elephant". That should suffice.

The White Stripes- "Ball And Bisquit" [Removed]

Belle & Sebastian's guitarist, Stevie "Reverb" Jackson, has a warm retro sound that's hard to resist. His songs add a smoother, 60s vibe to the usual (but still amazingly enjoyable) Stuart Murdoch tracks. For dowload below is a Jackson penned song from "Dear Catastrophe Waitress".

Belle & Sebastian- "Roy Walker" [Removed]

So there you go. John Frusciante, Omar Rodriguez, Stephen Malkmus, Jack White, and Stevie Jackson. Just a few of the amazing guitarists out there today that deserve to be heard. Enjoy and feel free to comment. I really like feedback.

Thirsty Thursdays: 07

2007-05-31T14:52:00.000-04:00

Welcome back for the seventh installment of "Thirsty Thursdays." Today I'll be posting some pretty out there stuff. So yeah... get use to it. Check it out, and broaden your fucking horizons. We'll open with The Human Abstract's "Sotto Voce" - Which in Italian means "under voice" meaning to speak under ones breathe confidentially. In music this means to dramatically lower the vocal or musical tone. This song is played in entirely classical dueling guitars. Flamingo style.

The Human Abstract - "Sotto Voce" [Instrumental] [Removed]

YACHT or rather Jona Bechtolt has been sweeping the blog world with his catchy beats and lyrics for some time now. I'm not sure why but this song always seems to cheer me up. It's sort of funny in it's own way.

YACHT - "See A Penny (Pick it up)" [Removed]

We've posted one Legion of Doom song before, however it only covered their hardcore side. The duo, Chad Blinman and Trever Keith, do have a softer side. This song is very interesting combining the soft singing of Chris Carrabba and the delicate guitar work from his band Dashboard Confessional with the harder guitar-riffs and the chorus from Brand New's "The Quiet Things Nobody Ever Knows."

The Legion of Doom - "The Quiet Screaming" [Removed]

The Knack a Los-Angels based rock band, claim to fame was their first single in 1979, "My Sharona."
A cover of this song was featured by New Jersey based grindcore band, The Number 12 Looks Like You. In a funny sort of way their cover also helped promote their band just as much as it did for the Knack. The song is very similar in sound, however the lyrics are screamed, there is a solo towards the end of the song which is very worth a listen to preformed by the bands very own Alexis Pareja, he's known to preform the solo on top of one of the lead singers shoulders at live performances.

The Number Twelve Looks Like You - "My Sharona" [Removed]

Today we'll be ending with the same band that we begun with. This is one of the Human Abstracts best songs in my opinion. Some people would say that this is simply "Hardcore" however i'd like to make a claim that this is "Epic Hardcore" the band combines many classical elements into their musical work. Enjoy. Check out this band on warped tour this summer! GET THE NEW ALBUM "Nocturne" here. It's fucking great.

The Human Abstract - "Vela, Together We Await The Storm" [Alternate Version] [Removed]

Ramblings: 03 "Loneliness"

2007-05-26T22:33:00.000-04:00

Well it's been almost a month now. College out. The loneliness of "home" begins. There will always be times in almost everyones' lives when they feel "lonely." However, music will always keep me company. Finally I have a job in Atlanta. Working at a gas station, yeah, don't be jealous it's pretty sweet. Listening to music and serving global corporations go juice to the masses. I'll be out of here in two more months though. It'll be sweet going back home. When I go visit TakeoffZebra for the first time I'm pretty sure the reaction will be something like this.

You know what, we post some beautiful music. We really do. Life isn't always perfect and happy everyday though. So I'm going to do something different. Something that makes you want to kill, maim and/or destroy. It's a pretty sweat mash up. Go destroy something beautiful.

The Legion of Doom - "Ebola In Memphis" (Every Time I Die vs. Norma Jean) [Removed]

Thirsty Thursdays: 06

2007-05-24T19:30:00.000-04:00

I love instrumental music. I don't know what it is, but sometimes everything can be that much better if everyone shuts up. When the musical expression is purely musical, and the sound can convey all the meaning without any verbal support, the artist deserves major respect. But enough with all these cluttered words, let's get to the music.

Al Di Meola- "Race With Devil On Spanish Highway" [Removed]

This jazz fusion guitar beauty is off Al Di Meola's second album, "Elegant Gypsy", which won Best Guitar Album in 1977 from Guitar Player Magazine. This song is just plain amazing and I've used it on several mix CDs.

Red Hot Chili Peppers- "Pretty Little Ditty" [Removed]

Everyone knows the RHCP, and for good reason. They've been making great music for over 20 years and have influenced music greatly. If parts of this pretty little ditty from John Frusciante's debut with the band, "Mother's Milk" sound familiar, it's because they were stolen by Crazy Town for their song "Butterfly". Horrible, embarrassing song. But this Chili Pepper track is excellent.

Reggie & The Full Effect- "Laura's Australian Dance Party" [Removed]

This little electronic dance track is from Reggie & The Full Effect, the former side project and now main outlet for ex-Get Up Kid keyboardist, James Dewees. This track from his latest album "Songs Not To Get Married To" is also claimed by one of Reggie's several alter-egos, this one being the european dance-pop sensation Fluxuation.

Secret Machines- "Marconi's Radio" [Removed]

I've been a fan of the Secret Machines ever since I saw the video for "Nowhere Again". They've got a great unique sound to them that's hard to describe, much like this song from their debut album (which some do not consider an album) "September 000". Here's to hoping they continue their success after one of the trio quit a little while back.

Silver Jews- "Night Society" [Removed]

This is one of my favorite instrumentals ever. I'm a HUGE Pavement and Stephen Malkmus fan, and this track is pretty much a guitar jam by Stephen Malkmus on the Silver Jews' third album "American Water". One of my favorite songs from one of my favorite albums. It deserves some kind of reward or something. Seriously.

Stevie Ray Vaughan- "Scuttle Buttin'" [Removed]

We should all familiarize ourselves with th is amazing guitar peice. Stevie Ray Vaughan was good friends with Hendix and was also a genius with a six-string. This furious openning track for SRV and Double Trouble's second album "Couldn't Stand The Weather". It's hard to believe a song from this album actually got airtime on MTV back in the day.

I know that this is a tiny little bit of music that does not even come close to expressing the intrumental side of music, but it's a grouping of wordless tracks that came to my head while posting this entry. Enjoy them fully and let me know what you guys think.

Ramblings: 02 "Idiot Pilot where art thou?"

2007-05-19T13:29:00.000-04:00

Idiot Pilot, where are you. Their debut album "Strange We Should Meet Here" was a awesome bit of electronic guitar thrashing nintendo core. Their upcoming album Wolves will be a much anticipated release... Until the release you can satisfy yourself with there multiple singles albums and remix singles available at their online store. Or you could just enjoy this video. Its pretty awesome. It's from the debut album; "A Day In The Life of A Poolshark."

Thirsty Thursdays: 05

2007-05-17T16:12:00.000-04:00

1,000 views and a month later; we still hope to keep the milk lounge going strong. Continuous improvement is what we hope to accomplish. And of course... Supplying the people with music. I know, you don't have to thank us. We enjoy this too much.

Ratatat is the power rock-pop-hiphop-synth-guitar/bass-wielding duo hailing from New York. Or rather simply put: Mike Stroud and Evan Mast. Their most recent release entitled "Remixes, Volume II" has just what it's title eludes to. Remixes. A lot of them. All great. Many other blogs have been covering this release however, they all are posting the same tracks. Here we are to make a difference.

Slim Thug, T.I., Bun-B - "Three Kings" (Ratatat Remix) [Removed]
Z-Ro, Devin the Dude - "The Mule" (Ratatat Remix) [Removed]
Young Buck, T.I., Ludacris - "Stomp" (Ratatat Remix) [Removed]

Lil' Wayne has rocked the south for some time now. My roommate really got me interested in his stuff throughout the Spring Semester. Not to mention his lyrics crack me up. Both these remixes are off the latest mix tape, "Da Drought III."
Lil' Wayne - "Swizzy" (Remix) [Removed]
Lil' Wayne - "My Daddy" (We Takin' Over Remix) [Removed]

Now lets do a complete genre switch: Animal Collective is another New York based music group (some trending here on this post). Defined as only experimental noise rock I look forward to their new pending release "Strawberry Jam."
Animal Collective - "Tikwid" [Removed]