Epic Soundtracks

For Christmas this year, one of my brothers got me one of those Visa gift cards for $25 that are good anywhere, and that night I went to Cheapo Discs (open 365 days a year till midnight) to spend it. One of my finds was Epic Soundtrack's first album entitled "Rise Above."

Epic Soundtracks was the stage name of Kevin Paul Godfrey, drummer in the Nikki Sudden fronted Post-Punk band, Swell Maps. Epic was also the real life brother of Sudden, and an accomplished solo artist. Between 1992-1997, he released 3 solo albums, each consisting of a kind of simplified, piano-based Orchestral Pop. "Rise Above," his first album, in it's sparser moments, reminds me of the His Name Is Alive/Pale Saints side project, ESP Summer. In it's more intricate parts, the album's sound leads me to believe (though I have no real reason to suspect this) that it could of been a major influence on the song-writing style of modern Pop Balladeer, Badly Drawn Boy.

Sadly, Epic died in his sleep in 1997.

The song below has J. Mascis on drums, Martyn P. Casey (Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds) on bass, and a sly guest vocal by Kim Gordon.

Big Apple Graveyard (WMA) – Epic Soundtracks

To download, follow link to Mediafire, wait a second for it to load, then hit "Click here to start download."

--Popkoff

Sitting In My Hotel

A couple of days ago, I had lunch with a friend, and over chips and salsa, I tried to explain to him my thoughts about the album-listening-process. I started off by saying "Man, I think listening to CDS is so weird sometimes." With a sincere look of confusion on his face, he replied, "Really, even after all this time?" It made me laugh, but I went on to explain that I still find myself surprised by the way my perception of a song (or an album) changes over time.

In the same way that the listening process still surprises me, so too does the feeling that comes over me when I find a song or record that I’ve been searching forever for.

Tonight I went to the new Backspin Records location on Airport, which is in the same exact location as the CD Warehouse I used to work at, not to mention, the same location of Austin’s long lost and much beloved A,B,C,D’s. It’s strange to go in there now and see the same stage that I used to sit at and listen to CDs at when it was A,B,C,D’s; the same stage that I would years later clear off to assemble a speaker system for an in-shore performance at Cd Warehouse. There’s a lot of good memories in that building for me, and I’m glad it’s once again a record store. Since Backspin opened up last year, I’ve had really great luck there, and tonight was no exception.

Three or four years ago, I bought a Kinks record on vinyl for $0.99 in Round Rock called "Everybody’s in Show-Biz." It was released in 1972, and contained a lot of radio-ready 70’s rock that, I think most would agree, is a far cry from the Classic Pop sound of the 60’s Kinks. It’s not bad, but it’s not great either, and I’ve held onto it for the longest time because of a single track, "Sitting in my Hotel."

From the opening airy vocals of Ray Davies, to the keyboard heavy chorus, to the backing trumpets, "Hotel" is a melodic comfort for me. For years, I’ve have searched the internet for a download of the track. I’ve looked for the album to download as well, but I have never been able to find it.

Tonight I found the album at Backspin for $5.99, the Cd case was old and scuffy, and it had the old Rhino logo on the side. On the back, the previous owner had placed 2 white stickers next to the track-listing, in which they wrote the track-lengths on (it probably belonged to a disc-jockey).

That was about an hour ago, and now I’m posting the song for you. I don’t if anyone else will like it as much as I do, but if they do, they will at least have some place to download it from.

Sitting In My Hotel (mp3) -- The Kinks

To download, follow link to Mediafire, wait a second for it to load, then hit "Click here to start download."


--Popkoff

December will be magic again

A classic for this time of the year from Kate Bush. "December will be magic again" is taken from the retrospective box set, "This Woman's Work".



Kate Bush Official Site
Buy "This Woman's Work" here.

--Mr. Mark

What you want

I initially was going to write about the psychedelic dream pop band, The Church. About how their music was great, ethereal, etc...Then, as I was listening to new music on KVRX, I was completely stunned by a jaw dropping cello and slide guitar cover of "What you want". It was Japancakes covering My Bloody Valentine! Upon further research, I came to learn that the latest Japancakes record is a song for song cover of My Bloody Valentine's 1991 opus "Loveless". I was immediately overwhemed after listening to the entire album. Japancakes have used beauty, skill, and space to recreate one of the the most dazzling, hazy, dense albums in rock music, and they somehow completely disregard a crucial element that made "Loveless" brilliant, feedback. Japancakes did not use any feedback! Instead, by stripping the music to it's essential parts and using instruments often associated with country/singer songwriter music they present the songs as a pastoral homage to lush Americana...and in my opinion, they did a great job!

Japancakes "What you want" 2007
My Bloody Valentine "What you want" 1991
zip file with both tracks here.

Buy Japancakes "Loveless" [Darla Records] here.
Japancakes @ myspace listen to the Cocteau Twins cover
Offical Site


My Bloody Valentine "What you want"


--Mr. Mark

Opera House Carnival tonight at 7PM

Pataphysics plays last (9pm?)
come early. get into it. get your face painted. get in on that cakewalk. coloring contest, alright.
The Carnys are also playing
Bill Jefferys is in another band, mockingly named The Bill Jefferys. They're playing too.

2209 South 1st Street
suggested donation of $5. so don't let that stop you.

House Show Tonight!!!

Friday, December 14
@ Rancho Relaxo
3402 Merrie Lynn
Austin 78722

Daniel Francis Doyle
Yellow Fever
The Numerators
La Panza

Show starts @ 9pm and is over by midnight.

$5 suggested donation (don't have any money? no problem.)
*access to a keg of adult beverage.

please come

Christmas Time is Blah blah blah

Man, I haven’t even started shopping yet. I made this Christmas Mix today though, and I think it’s pretty fun.

1) "Baby Jesus (Radio)" -- Bruce McCulloch
2) "Here I Am Lord" -- The Vandals
3) "I Don’t Believe In Christmas" -- The Sonics
4) "Holiday Hymm" -- Orange Juice
5) "Run Away With Me" -- Jens Lekman
6) "Jingle Bells" -- Booker T. & The MG’s
7) "Donna & Butzon" -- Badly Drawn Boy
8) "Winter Wonderland" -- Cocteau Twins
9) "Just Like Christmas" -- Low
10) "Christmas Time is Here" -- Vince Guaraldi
11) "Linus’ Speech"
12) "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) -- Darlene Love
13) "Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight)" -- The Ramones
14) "Father Christmas" -- The Kinks
15) "St. Nick" -- The Beach Boys
16) "Merry Xmas Everybody" -- Slade
17) "Alan Parsons in a Winter Wonderland" -- Grandaddy
18) "Stocking Stuffer" -- Grand Buffet
19) "Back Door Santa" -- Clarence Carter
20) "Baby, It’s Cold Outside" -- From the film ’Elf’
21) "The Christmas Song" -- The Raveonettes
22) "Let’s Trim the Christmas Tree" -- Line Material
23) "I’ll Make Everyday Christmas (For My Woman) -- Joe Tex
24) "What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve" -- King Curtis
25) "Hang Myself From the Tree" -- The Vandals

Unfortunately, I had to split it into to separate downloads, tracks 1-13 in the first one, 14-25 in the second.

To download Part One, Click Here. Wait a second for it to load, then hit "Click here to start download."
To download Part Two, Click Here, and do the same thing.

--Popkoff

Fire Engines - Hungry Beat

If Jesus & the Mary Chain had a baby and called it the Feelies, it would probably sound a lot like the early 80’s Scottish Post-Punk foursome, Fire Engines. Birthed from the same scene that produced Pop acts like Aztec Camera & Orange Juice, Fire Engines forged a distinctive sound that inspired such bands as the aforementioned Mary Chain, Primal Scream, & Franz Ferdinand.

With a sizeable dose of tinny guitar, and an excessive about of cowbell, the heavily instrumental group skirts the line between Jangle-Pop & punchy Dance Rock. Although lead guitarist & vocalist David Henderson occasionally drops in syrupy vocals on tracks like “Candyskin,” the majority of the album is made up of his yelps and spirited screams. Bassist Graham Main’s kinetic rhythms are not only incredibly dance-able, but also rough sounding. Needless to say, I have had a great time driving around town listening to this.

Recently the band reformed (upon request of Franz Ferdinand) to play a couple shows in Glasgow & London. Here’s hoping that there are more to follow.



"Candyskin" video

Hungry Beat (mp3)

More tracks at:
Acute Records
Myspace


–Popkoff

What is your greatest ambition in life? To become immortal... and then die.

On Saturday night, Mr. Mark & I drove to San Marcos to do some record shopping, we hit-up Sundance Music, Hastings & Half-Priced Books. One of the things I purchased from Hastings was a DVD copy of Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 French New Wave film, "Breathless," for $10. I had never seen it before, but I had been harboring an interest in it ever since the Alamo Drafthouse played it back in May or June. I remember that when they screened it, the gimmick they offered was that the purchase of your ticket afforded you the right to smoke in the theater during the film. This "luxury" was obviously due the excessive amount of smoking that occurs in the film.

If I had any doubt about making my purchase Saturday, it was wiped away by the girl (Jean Seberg) on the cover of the DVD who, lets just say, is right up my alley.



In all honesty though, after watching the film for the first time tonight, the entire thing is pretty much up my alley. It's a slow moving train, but it's short & beautifully filmed. There's a ton of long interesting tracking-shots & what seems like an endless amount of playfully charming dialogue. There's an air of high-brow artistic existentialism here and there, but the majority of the film plays it straight, and manages to capture the whimsy of new & uncertain love. The editing is a little choppy for my taste.

The plot as outlined on IMDB:

"Michel Poiccard, an irresponsible sociopath and small-time thief, steals a car and impulsively murders the motorcycle policeman who pursues him. Now wanted by the authorities, he renews his relationship with Patricia Franchini, a hip American girl studying journalism at the Sorbonne, whom he had met in Nice a few weeks earlier. Before leaving Paris, he plans to collect a debt from an underworld acquaintance and expects her to accompany him on his planned getaway to Italy. Even with his face in the local papers and media, Poiccard seems oblivious to the dragnet that is slowly closing around him as he recklessly pursues his love of American movies and libidinous interest in the beautiful American."

Back in September, when I attended the Fantastic Fest at the Alamo, I saw a wonderful 1967 Japanese thriller called "Velvet Hustler."

That film oozed cool in a way that's hard to replicate, but the funny thing is that after watching the end of "Breathless" tonight, it's pretty clear to see the influence it had on "Velvet Hustler."

"Velvet Hustler" is a lot more difficult to locate, but I recommend trying to seek both of these films out, perhaps even view as a double feature.

They have a coolness that's just fuckin' timeless.