OPEN HOUSE

He's the Nancy to my Lee, Part 2

2008-06-17T20:11:00.002-06:00

In preparation for Mr. Mark’s departure, we decided to go on one final road trip together in search of records. Several months ago, my good friend Brittany returned from a road trip telling tales of a "the coolest record store" she had ever been to, in Llano Texas of all places. Llano is a quaint small town populated almost entirely by old women and dudes with mustaches. It houses local businesses with names like Things N’ Such, and Chicken Bones. In the middle of downtown Llano, right behind the Burger Bar, you’ll find R.A.T.S., which stands for Records and Things Strange.

R.A.T.S. resides within a brick building that’s a 116 years old, and was at one time a bar and even more recently, a slaughterhouse. The rooms seem to endlessly sprawl from doorway to doorway, revealing a different surprise around every corner. The doorways themselves are nearly 10 feet tall and saddled with 8 inch thick doors, and the ceilings are metal and rusty.

As you navigate the labyrinth of antiques and pop culture oddities, you’ll find rooms with old board games in them like Murder to Go, rooms filled with old issues of Playboy and sports memorabilia, not to mention the room with the ugly concert t-shirts (Wynonna Judd, the Cranberries, etc.) and the "Last Action Hero" standee.

The air conditioning situation leaves a lot to be desired, unless you’re standing in the turntable/VCR (an excellent pairing by the way) room which contains the store’s only A/C unit.

The store is ran by a man in his late 50’s/early 60’s who used to run a store in Arlington called Crazy Wax. After a lifetime of collecting records, he moved to Llano to retire and opted to sell off his collection piece by piece rather than online, citing "I’m a collector, not a dealer," although he will sell the occasional record individually over the phone or online.

When Mr. Mark & I walked inside, we saw the owner sitting behind his desk in the corner. After a polite greeting, we slowly entered the room directly across from the front door. The immense scope of the wall-to-wall vinyl that inhabited the room was somewhat awe-inspiring at first; four levels of shelving wrapped clear around the entire room, with two double-sided/multi-shelved rows running down the middle. Every section of the room was packed with white boxes, alphabetized and categorized, each box with about 50 records in it, most of them in sleeves and almost all of them in near perfect condition.

The owner came in and gave us a tour of the room; upfront, boxes and boxes of the big hitters (Beatles, Rolling Stones, Dylan, Beach Boys, etc.), behind them, thousands of 45’s. On the row across from them, there was Rock A-Z, & Vocal A-Z. On the backside that row was the 50’s/60’s Rock A-Z. From the left side of the room, wrapping around the walls clockwise: Folk, World Music, Soundtracks, Industrial/Dance/R & B, several more sets of Rock A-Z, Soul, Jazz, and a lone box labeled New Wave. If I had to estimate, I would guess that there’s between 25 and 40 thousand records in that room.

Over the next couple of hours I pulled down, opened, searched, and lifted dozens and dozens of boxes, finding classics like David Bowie’s "Low," The Kinks "Village Green Preservation Society," & Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazelwood’s "Nancy & Lee."

I also found the 1977 debut album by 50’s-Pop-influenced Punk Rocker Mink Deville & the 1974 record "Mirrors" by Piano-Pop extraordinare Emitt Rhodes. The Emitt Rhodes record was sealed (I should say, is still sealed). It’s traveled 34 years to get to me, and I have no plans to open it.

After over 2 hours of searching, Mr. Mark had yet to leave the 45’s section behind. I, on the other hand, wandered through the rest of the building, looking at antiques and perusing the dismal Cd selection. There was also a small VHS collection at the far end of the main room. As I stood there debating whether I should buy a copy of "Black Fist," I felt Mr. Mark tap me on the shoulder and direct my attention towards the doorway that was literally right next to me. As I stared through the doorway, my eyes opened wider & my jaw rested agape as I realized that there was in fact...AN ENTIRE SECOND ROOM!!!

The second room was about half Country and half Rock, and within I found a perfect copy of Lou Reed’s "Berlin." When it came time to check out, I took my records to the front and the owner would examine them and quote me a price: $6 a piece for everything except the Emitt Rhodes, which was $12 due to it being sealed. With all of the records I had selected in front of him, the owner kept going on about "interesting life of Emitt Rhodes" which I thought was interesting in itself.

The store only accepts cash, and since I didn’t quite have enough on me at the time, I had to walk 5 minutes down the road to an ATM. While I was at the gas station getting money, I used the pay phone (because Rats exists in a universe where cell phones do not work) to make a long distance call to my friend Heather, who collects Burl Ives records.

When I told her that he had 40 Burl Ives records, she told me to only get the ones that were in good condition. When I told her that they were all in good condition, she started naming the records that she already owned and I started texting the title into my cell phone’s notepad. In the end the notepad looked exactly like this:

"Lollypop, weamerican, verstal, wayfarhng strange, truf love, cheer gal fal, animal folk"

When I returned to Rats with my cash in hand, the owner gave me the Mink Deville record for free since I "spent a lot money on gas to get down" there. I also spent an additional $20 on Burl Ives records. When it was all said and done, Mr. Mark only walked away with a few select 45’s, but he also left with a once in a lifetime experience. Afterward, we went to the Burger Bar and enjoyed a fine lunch.

Our initial trip to Rats occurred on May 23rd, and this past Friday, June 13th, I returned with some friends for my second visit. Planning only to spend about $40, I in actuality spent about $75. Granted, I bought more records this time around, but my average cost per record went up from $6 to $9. Here’s my score:

--Lou Reed "Sally Can’t Dance" $8

--Lou Reed "Coney Island Baby" $10

--Iggy Pop "Zombie Birdhouse" $10

--David Bowie "The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust" $10

--Capt. Beefheart "Doc At the Radar Station" $12

--The Shangri Las "20 Greatest Hits" $7

--Peter Ivers "S/T" $8

--Wreckless Eric $10

Memorable moments from this outing include:

--Heather finding the soundtrack to Skatetown USA, and 14 Burl Ives records.

--Sonja finding "Riot on the Sunset Strip" by the Standells, which was the Weird Wednesday movie 2 nights prior.

Rats Records is located at:

608 Public Square
Llano, Texas

Official Website:
http://crazywax.com/

Store hours:
Thurs-Sat 9-5
(call or email to comfirm)
Store (325) 247-4296
Home (325) 247-2018
crazywax2@verizon.net

--Popkoff

He's the Nancy to my Lee, Part 1

2008-06-02T02:06:00.002-06:00

In 1998 I got a job at Showplace Lanes because working at a bowling alley was Homer Simpson’s dream job. I met a guy there who managed the alley’s Concession stand named Mark Mendoza. He asked me what kind of music I listened to and I said "you know, rock music." Then he asked me "what kind," and I didn’t know how to answer. I had never really thought about it before he asked me.

As our friendship progressed he would make mix tapes for me with bands on them that I had never heard of before like the Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine. I had no frame of reference for that kind of music until he gave me those tapes, and even then, I didn’t really understand it. The more I listened to the tapes though, the more my musical taste expanded. When I tried to make mix tapes for him, I would try to find bands that he hadn’t heard of also, but I quickly realized that it was going to be difficult to do so. It seemed that no matter what I put on them, he would have already heard it. A short time after that, I begin researching and buying Cds with one purpose and one purpose only: to impress Mark Mendoza. You might even say that my initial interest in record shopping was fueled almost entirely by spite. Ten years after the fact though, my music collection is massive and I owe it all to him.

Today I said goodbye to my friend Mark, as he embarked on trip to Denver to begin a new stage of his life. Even though I’ve had well over a year to prepare for today, it still feels unreal to me. No more afternoon lunches, record store days, or walks around the neighborhood.

These days feel like the season finale of my life. There’s a feeling of change in the air as some people leave and others return, some friendships are beginning while others are ending. Whose to say what will happen when my life returns in the Fall?

The only thing I know for sure is that Austin got a little less rad today.

Much Love and Much Respect to Mr. Mark

--Popkoff

SXSW 2008: DAY SIX

2008-03-24T00:23:00.001-06:00

Well, my first Music day of SXSW began with me hoofing it over 18 blocks from my apartment to Mother Egan’s Pub to see former dB’s front man, Chris Stamey, perform with Old Ceremony as his backing band. They had never performed before together, which provided Stamey with some interesting moments in which he basically conducted the band during the songs.

The songs were jangly Power-Pop stompers, all of which punctuated by Stamey’s airy, somewhat nasally vocals. He told the audience that his 9 year old daughter had started a band called Weird Girls, and that in between every song, they told jokes. I think his set was made up of mostly new songs, I only recognized one of them, aside from his closing cover of Chris Bell’s "I Am the Cosmos"

The Summer Sun (mp3) - Chris Stamey
I Am the Cosmos (mp3) - Chris Bell

Next I went to Emo’s Main to see the the Raveonettes, who despite sounding good on record, just aren’t interesting live. Their too-cool-for-school-detachedness is a real turn off, how can an audience be engaged by your music when you not?

Attack of the Ghostriders (mp3) - The Raveonettes

Bored, I walked over to Emo’s Jr and saw a band I had never heard of called Let’s Go To War. After some embarrassing technical difficulties before their set, the band dropped a massive Funk Bomb on the audience.

Their bass was jaw-rattling and their energy filtered through the room with every pulsating beat. A Moog, Techics, & a white dude with 2 laptops and a purple shirt that said "All I do is Smoke Weed & Sip Syrup," what more could you want?

Life We Live (mp3) - Let’s Go To War

I then stayed in Emo’s Jr, and watched theDeathset. I saw them a few years ago at Flamingo Cantina, and back then they were just 2 guys and some pre-recorded beats. Now they’re like a totally different band, axing one of the 2 guys, replacing him, and then adding a drummer and keyboardist to create a full on Noise-Pop attack.

The crowd was totally insane for this band from the word go, dancing on stage and on the floor. It was without a doubt the best audience of the day, and one of the best shows of the day.

Around the World (mp3) - TheDeathSet

I then went across the street to the Emo’s Annex to await the Wedding Present at 5:15. Before they played, I caught a set by a singer-songwriter named Sean Hayes. Not really my thing, but kind of interesting. His sound was a throwback to the Folk-Country vibe of Jonathan Edwards, but his lyrics were really odd with songs about Alabama chicken, James Brown, Voodoo, & Rattlesnakes on the dance floor.

Alabama Chicken (mp3) - Sean Hayes

Afterward, the Wedding Present played. I was really looking forward to seeing them, and I have to admit that I was a little disappointed to learn that it was literally only half the band performing, vocalist & guitarist David Gedge & a bassist. Bottom line, it’s hard to dance when there’s no beat. On the upside, he said that the Wedding Present has a new album coming out and a North American tour in September or October.

Brassneck (mp3) - Wedding Present

After a 2 hour break, I went over to Habana Calle 6 to see Laura Barnett. Miss Barnett sat in her chair with her bare feet pressed up against various peddles at the foot of the stage. In her hands, she held a Kalimba, or thumb piano, an acoustic box with little metal tabs that when plucked made a xylophone-esque tone.

With her angelic voice, she crafted sweet, bizarro Folk songs about absurd topics like Robot Ponies, all the while performing them with an earnest sincerity.

She sang a song in which she told members of the audience what they were going to be, some people were going to Bears or Crocodiles, but I’m supposed to be a star in a video game. I really enjoyed her set and bought a Cd.

Robot Ponies (mp3) - Laura Barnett

I then went over to Red-Eyed Fly, and watched a couple songs by my favorite Furniture Records Supergroup, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth. I got to see them perform a new song (about having a seizure) and "It’s Not the Heat, It’s the Humidity" before heading over to Elysium to see Shellshag.

Let’s All Get Fades (mp3) - When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth

Shellshag is a band from Brooklyn who garnered my attention with the song "Gary’s Note" sometime last year. I thought it was a pretty safe bet to see them since they are part of a good scene and don’t really tour this way very often. I liked the duos set-up quite a bit, with their microphone stands entangled, crossbones style, with the guitarist on one side, facing the drummer on the other. Their sound was a combo of Trash Punk & Glam, high energy and fun and kinda dumb too. They did a cover of "the Promise" by When in Rome. If you were to judge a band by their fans, you would think that Shellshag were a couple of assholes, but obnoxious fans aside, I think they’re probably really nice people. They seem like one of those bands that don’t really fit into the scene they’re part of, but are kept around because they’re just good people. I don’t know, maybe that’s assuming a lot. Also, I don’t have any photos from this show, because this was the only show that someone from SXSW actually gave me shit for having a camera.

I then went to see Jeff Lewis at Club DeVille. This was my favorite show of the day. My friend Brit had been going on about Jeff Lewis since we hung out back in September, and I had just recently bought his new Cd, "12 Crass Songs," from Backspin Records a week or so prior to going to the show.
He played whipsmart Folk Rock songs about his many contradictory thoughts about Will Oldham, narrated a "documentary" about the Complete History of Communism in Russia using a book with giant coloring-book-style-drawings in it, and also did several Crass covers from his new album.

He also sold comic books at the foot of the stage. It was great.

End Result (wma) Jeff Lewis (Crass cover)

Lastly, I went to the Mohawk to see the Mae Shi, who had a lot of buzz around them, and they probably played a dozen shows during SXSW.

They were high energy, noisy, & boring. Sadly, it all seemed contrived and gimmicky. I wanted to like you Mae Shi, but when you pulled a white sheet out and held over the audience’s heads, it became pretty apparent that you were overcompensating for something.

Boys in the Attic (mp3) - The Mae Shi

--Popkoff

SXSW: IHeartComix vs. Mad Decent

2008-03-13T08:43:00.009-06:00

Fluokids, DJ Mel, & Flosstradamus
Before I begin to talk about the IHeartComix event, I want to review some of shows I have seen.
Monday, I went to the Beauty Bar for the Fluokids and Flosstradamus event. I must admit that the Fluokids were amazing, their DJ set included electro, old school techno, and tons of zany off the wall edits. My friends and I danced our asses off, and the open bar provided by imeem.com was also a plus. Flosstradamus began their DJ set with Crystal Water's 1994 classic New York House anthem "100% Pure Love". The whole dancefloor gasped and cheered with complete joy, it was heavenly and made me so excited and nostalgic...BUT THEN Flosstradamus played ANOTHER Crystal Waters song the influential "Gypsy Woman" from 1991, the guys kept cutting up the "la-da-de" vocal part with the organ riff, it felt like like the speakers were pounding the walls with soul.

I will admit something though, the DJ set that really moved me the most though was fellow Austinite, DJ Mel. He played a set that included house, soul, funk, 80's electro, and so much more. I was completely stunned that his musical scope was so vast and GIMMICK FREE! He really represented Austin well, and if you see an event with him on the bill, GET A TICKET! He is pictured above with my friend Herme, photo by Annie Ray.

Lindstrøm
Lindstrøm played a laptop set featuring music from his forthcoming release, “Where You Go I Go Too”. I arrived late to the venue, as I entered Diskjokke finished an animated sounding preformance. Shortly after, Lindstrøm set up his gear and began playing. The DJ set was a bit confusing to the some of the audience. There was A LOT of industry types there, who were sort of scratching their heads as Lindstrøm played for over what seemed like 10 minutes before dropping his first kick drum. He was slow and deliberate, taking his time to create soundscapes that were at times serene, dreamy as they were complex and cerebral. If this show was any indication of his next record, I can only say he has firmly moved from the space disco vibe of his earlier work to a more minimalist approach to disco that is at once laidback and transcendent. Definately, an artist to watch in 2008.

IHeartComix vs. Mad Decent
This Friday is the unreal free event featuring over 40 artists playing you every possible style of dance music imaginable. From the baile funk of Diplo, the fidjit house of Switch, to the Pop Funk of Walter Meego. This is going to be an interesting event.
One of the great things about SXSW, are the free shows giving you just as much as the actual label showcases. We truly live in an amazing city! RSVP for admittance.

IHEARTCOMIX official site
Mad Decent Official Site
Annie Ray offical site

---Mr. Mark

SXSW 2008: DAY FIVE

2008-03-12T11:00:00.000-06:00

Today was kind of lackluster; the crowd attendance dropped a day earlier than it usually does, due to the Music portion of the festival starting. I saw 4 screenings today.

First up, was Reel Shorts 3, a collection of 6 short films, mostly dramas. They were all surprisingly good, but by the end, 5 of the films were completely overshadowed by the uplifting spectacle of “Glory at Sea,” a 20 minute film that brought most of the audience to tears.

It’s a mythical take on Hurricane Katrina, in which the drowned dead are still spiritually alive at the bottom of the sea, while their surviving family members struggle to keep the spirits from being crushed by the devastation of the storm. In an effort to reconnect with their fallen family members, the survivors build a giant ship out of trash and items from their past, and launch out to sea where the journey ends in a bombastic gut retching finale. It was pretty moving.

Next up, we went to the Alamo Ritz to see “Yeast.” This film was actually quite inspiring in an unintentional way. My friend Boyd was so dissatisfied by it’s complete lack of visual look, likable characters, successful acting, and enjoyment, that he flat out told me that he’s making a movie this year to enter into the festival, because as he put it, if this shit can get in, I can get in.

For clarification purposes, the film is about 3 miserable women who are friends, but shouldn’t be, because they are all relentlessly bitchy towards each other in long repetitive, mostly improved sequences. That’s the whole movie from beginning to end, and while it may be realistic, as a viewing experience, it’s pure hell.

We then went to the Paramount to see “The Toe Tactic,” a very odd Comedy/Drama revolving around a group of people whose lives are unknowingly being directed by a group of animated dogs playing cards, all Greek Mythology-like, looking down from an omnipotent position and all.

The movie had a lot of weird casting decisions, at least as far as bit players are concerned, with Eugene Merman as a Elevator Man, John Sayles as an Apartment Manager, and David Cross & Eli Wallach as the 2 of the voices of the dogs. It was a colorful and sweet movie, but I’m not sure I would ever watch it again. It also had music by Yo La Tengo in it.

The last movie I saw of the night, and mostly likely the festival was “Nerdcore Rising,” a documentary about the growing Hip Hop subgenre, Nerdcore, that makes the logical fuse of Rap and Geek subject matter.

The movies really about the “inventor” of Nerdcore, MC Frontalot, and his band’s first nationwide tour. For being a movie about a subject I’m not too fond of, it wasn’t bad.

Okay, that’s it for movie, at least for me. I saw 23 movies in 5 days, not too shabby. It’s all music from here on out for me though.

--Popkoff

SXSW 2008: DAY FOUR

2008-03-11T10:06:00.001-06:00

I managed to see 5 movies today. First up was a documentary about Crawford, Texas and the social & economic impact of George W. Bush’s residency, entitled “Crawford.”

There was really nothing wrong with this movie, but I didn’t really feel like it covered any new ground. I think I’m just completely burnt out on Political Documentaries.

Next up was a movie that I missed on Saturday called “Explicit Ills” which “stars” Paul Dano & Rosario Dawson, although it’s really an ensemble piece, and they’re no more in it than anybody else.

The film was Executive Produced by Jim Jarmusch and it sort of feels like one of his movies, slow paced and meandering, but never boring. It was definitely one those films that I had to think about for a while before eventually deciding that I liked it.

The story revolves around several poor people (many of whom are young first time actors) living in Philadelphia whose lives are all interconnected through their healthcare needs.

After “Explicit Ills,” I went to the Paramount for a screening of the Universal Pictures Comedy “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” This one falls under the Judd Apatow umbrella due to the facts that it was produced by him and written by & stars “Freaks & Geeks” aluminous Jason Segel.

All I’ve got to say about this Apatow crew is that they seem unstoppable. It’s not just that they make really funny movies, as much as it is that they really good adult comedies. This was so immensely enjoyable!!

I then went back to the Ritz and watched “One Minute to Nine,” a documentary about a woman who has 5 day left with her sons before beginning her 10 year prison sentence for the murder of her insanely abusive husband.

This one was pretty gut retching, and uniquely done, in sense that it avoided traditional documentary techniques like narration and outside exposition, opting rather to focus entirely on the situation at hand and allowing to story to unfold as it happens. It has a pretty shocking twist at the end as well.

Lastly I saw yet another Round Midnight movie, this one was called “Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie.” It was a documentary that I honestly wasn’t sure was real for most of it, but it slowly sunk in that these people were real. It’s basically about 2 aging “hillbillies” who for 24 hours a day, are consumed by finding and documenting a Bigfoot.

What it’s really about though, are their lives and their rocky friendship. It’s funny, but it’s the kind of funny you feel guilty about laughing at because the people seem so genuine. The filmmakers themselves seemed like really nice guys, and unlike some of the directors I’ve seen over the past few days, they seemed very overwhelmed and pleased with their inclusion in the festival.

This is my last day for seeing movies, if all goes well, I should end up seeing about 25 movies in 5 days. Tomorrow the music coverage begins.

--Popkoff

SXSW 2008: DAY THREE

2008-03-10T12:21:00.000-06:00

I had a volunteer shift at 9am on Sunday, which was really 8am, due to the crappy daylight savings. My shift ended around noon, so I walked over to 6th and got a couple breakfast tacos from Torchie’s, and then met up Daniel at the Austin Convention Center for “They Killed Sister Dorothy.” It was another documentary from the same distributor as “Wesley Willis’s Joyride,” but this was something complete different.

For starters, it’s one of those documentaries that is so insane, it seems fake, but I assure you, it’s very real. Basically, it tells the story of Sister Dorothy, a nun who spent decades in Brazil as a missionary and citizen of Brazil. She became leader of community and an advocate against the mass destruction of the rain forests until one day in 2003, when the 72 year old nun was shot 7 times in the middle of the village. The movie is at times, gut retching, but most of the time, it is completely riveting, especially the insanely Shakespearian courtroom scenes. The film received a extended standing ovation, followed by an emotion Q & A with the director, Sister Dorothy’s brother, & her best friend.

Afterward, Daniel & I got back in line, saw Eugene Merman, and watched Judge Dredd buy a coffee from Starbucks. We then watched “Super High Me,” Doug Benson’s pot-smoking send up of “Super Size Me,’ in which he goes 30 days without smoking pot, followed by 30 days of nonstop smoking.

It was everything I thought it would be, which is to say, very funny, but instantly forgettable.

Next up, we went to the Paramount, and saw “The Promotion,” a satirical Comedy staring John C. Rielly, Seann William Scott, Jenna Fischer, Lily Taylor, & Fred Armisen. The film tells to the story of 2 Grocery Store Assistant Managers competing for the same Store Manager promotion. It was a lot funnier that I thought it was going to be, and actually reminded me a lot of “Election.”

We then watched “Run Fatboy Run,” introduced by “Director” David Schwimmer. The new comedy has an impressive pedigree, staring Simon Pegg & Hank Azaria, and sporting Michael Ian Black as a co-scripter.

All of that made me wish the movie was a little bit more biting. It was funny, but syrupy sweet, plus I could of really done without all the slapstick. Not bad though.

Lastly, we saw “Dance of the Dead,” a Zombie Comedy that has a lot of charm. Filmed in Rome, Georgia, the movie is a lot of fun, playfully (but not condescendingly) poking fun at the conventions of both Teen Sex Comedies and Zombie films.

It is easily the best of the Round Midnight movie I’ve seen thus far this year.

--Popkoff

SXSW 2008: DAY TWO

2008-03-10T09:27:00.002-06:00

Saturday was extremely exhausting, mostly due to the “bad” daylight savings which resulted in me only getting 3 hours of sleep and prevented me from writing this post sooner, so here it goes.

I only managed to see 5 films on Saturday out of an intended 6. First off, I saw a documentary entitled “Secrecy,” which was about the immense amount of classified information that has been created in the wake of 9/11, the validity of it, and it’s effect on national security.

The film was good, but it got a little repetitive at times. Overall though, I give it a lot of credit for maintaining its objective point of view. It managed to detail several instances in history in which the media’s revealing of classified info completely under-minded our government information-gathering-capabilities, but also represented various ways in which our government’s intense secrecy and lack of communication harmed our national security. Apparently, the movie is going get some sort cable screening at some point, plus distribution to the educational circuit.

Second up was another documentary about the last 3 years in the life of cult-music-icon, Wesley Willis, entitled “Wesley Willis’s Joyrides.”

I thought this film was quite good, insightful, & surprisingly touching at times. After the film, the director did a Q & A in which he seemed to get choked up at just talking about Wesley.

After the Q & A, I drove from the Alamo South downtown and met up with my friend Boyd at the Ritz, we saw a film called “The Lost Coast.” It was preceded by a short entitled “Sunlit Shadows,” which I thought was better than the actual movie we watched. “Shadows” was about a loving couple lying around the house all day, but it was done in an eloquent and interesting way, showing scenes narrated by the guy in the relationship, and then re-showing the same scenes, but this time inserting the woman’s thoughts about them. It was a uniquely accurate account of love.

“The Lost Coast” was about a group of old high school friends who wander through San Francisco on Halloween night, two of them are forced to confront their unspoken sexual history. There was the potential for good film in this premise, but unfortunately, this was not it. It wasn’t terrible though.

Next up was one of my most highly anticipated films at this years festival, Harmony Korine’s “Mister Lonely.” The film was surprisingly straight-forward for Korine, but still considerably odd and beautiful. The plot centered on a Michael Jackson impersonator who meets a Marilyn Monroe impersonator, played by a completely foxy Samantha Morton. The two of them make a connection with one another, and she invites Michael to a commune populated entirely by other impersonators, Charlie Chaplin, Abe Lincoln, Madonna, etc.

I completely loved this movie, and was caught off guard by how optimistic and whimsical it was, plus Harmony Korine was there for a Q & A, that not only included a story about why Austin makes Harmony think of butter, but also, yet another amazing Werner Herzog story.

Because we stayed for the Q & A, we were unable to get into our next film, “Explicit Ills,” but I did see Rosario Dawson walking around. So we killed time until midnight and then watched a movie called “Shuttle,” which was a horror pic about some college students who take a shuttle from the airport that turns into what Wesley Willis would call a Hellride. Man, this movie sucked. As my friend noted, it was a completely unnecessary entry into an already over-saturated genre of torture films, not to mention the whole movie could of ended at any point if the characters characters in it would just make the most obvious & logical decision. This is the second year in a row that the Round Midnight films have been really weak.

Okay that’s all I can type now, I got another movie in 45 minutes, but I’ll catch up sometime in the next day or two

--Popkoff

SXSW 2008: The Fluokids & Flosstradamus

2008-03-09T05:21:00.003-06:00

March 9th and 10th, Farrell the head honcho over at the great music blog Fluokids will DJ for FREE at the imeem.com party at the Beauty Bar. Launched in 2005, Fluokids is more than a blog, it's a youth movement - an internet and musical revolution whereby enthusiasts and DJ's alike can download the newest and most wanted music coming out of Europe. By constantly posting remixes, these Gallic laptop maestros are pushing what people will like tomorrow. Teaming up with labels like Edbanger, Kitsune and Modular, the Parisian crew of seven regularly DJ all over Europe, and by their own admission are "nerds with an ultra-developed social life - as much on cyber platforms like MySpace as in real life."

Also on the imeem.com bill March 10th at the Beauty Bar is Chicago's own Flosstradamus. The Flosstradamus kids are part of the next league of mash-up/edit teams around the world blurring the lines between scenes and dance music genres. Expect their DJ set to include anything and everything from Baltimore Electro to mainstream top 40's pop, to classic R&B, these kids will make you shake your ass.

Expose on French Disco including Fluokids

Flosstradamus meets Matt and Kim

-Mr. Mark

SXSW 2008: DAY ONE

2008-03-08T02:39:00.001-07:00

Okay, it’s 2:55AM, so I’m going to try and keep this brief. I managed to see 4 movies tonight despite the fact that the film schedule is so unaccommodating. Basically, instead of having 3 simple rounds of films, 7:00 start times, 9:30 start times, and midnighters, the schedule is stacked in a way that makes so that the next film that you want to see determines the film you’re going to see before it. If you really want see the film at 8:00, you better see the one at 6:00 instead of 6:30, regardless of whether or not you want see it.

At any rate, I beat the system tonight by literally running from theater to theater. First off, I saw "Goliath" at the Austin Convention Center. In 1997, the Zellner Brothers made a film called "Plastic Utopia" that was a hit at the SXSW festival that year. Critically well-received and rarely seen, the film had my friend Justin Lincoln in it, playing the role of Corduroy Boy. I enjoyed "Plastic Utopia" very much, so when I saw the Zellners had a new film, it was a no-brainer for me.

"Goliath" is a dark Comedy about a man going through a divorce, who becomes obsessed with finding the one thing he has left from his marriage, his cat, Goliath. At only 80 minutes, the film feels a little slow paced, but it still has the same dark Coen-esque humor of "Plastic Utopia." To my surprise, it also has Justin Lincoln too, playing the divorce lawyer. It was actually a pretty revelation for me, because I recognized his voice before I even saw him on screen. The film also has Willy Wiggins in it as a man who gets fired in a bathroom stall, and the guy who does the introductions at the Austin Film Society Essential Cinema screenings, as a private detective.

Next up was "Ano Una," a film that I actually built up, which made the screening a little tense for me. Nerves aside, this was the best film I saw of the night. Between 2004 and 2005, the director took hundreds, possibly thousands of photos of his surroundings. He then compiled some of the photos into some semblance of a narrative, and then added a voiced-over dialogue. The effect was wonderful and constantly interesting.

I then ran to the Paramount to see "21," the new mediocre Kevin Spacey Blackjack movie. The film is yet another entry into the crowded "Rise to Power/Fall from Grace" genre, not to mention also another movie that tries to make card playing a spectator sport. To quote Hank Hill, "What makes celebrity’s think we want to watch them play Poker?" Also, next year will mark the 10 year anniversary of the death of Kevin Spacey’s career.

Finally, I went back to the Alamo Ritz to see THE ONLY MIDNIGHT MOVIE ON OPENING NIGHT, "Otis." The film is a "Political Film," but also a "Dark Satire" about a 40 year man who kidnaps teenage girls and forces them to take part in High School Football/Cheerleader/Prom Fantasy. The film stars Illiana Douglas, Kevin Pollock (both of whom were in attendance), and Daniel Stern. The twist on the teenage kidnapping set-up is lifted write out of "Fight for You Life," in which the tormented family circumvents Police justice, opting instead for Vigilante justice. It’s a little more complicated than that, but I digress. Overall "Otis" was not that bad though. It’s one of those movies that as it wears on, it takes on its own kind of cinematic logic. As my friend Boyd put it, the more ludicrous it got, the more he warmed up to it as a whole.

Okay, so that was my first night. Time for bed!!

SXSW 2008: Lindstrøm

2008-03-07T16:20:00.005-07:00

Imagine, it's 1978 you are at a disco; intoxicated, dancing, the lights are making you hallucinate. The DJ segues from a funky 4/4 string fueled number into Donna Summer's "I Feel Love". The speakers vibrate with a highly syncopated synthesizer arpeggio, you are immediately transported from the dancefloor into outer space. This is what happened to me the first time I heard Lindstrøm's 2005 single "I Feel Space", it introduced me to the Norwegian "Space Disco" sound. Along with Prins Thomas and Todd Terje, Lindstrøm makes music that is a throwback to disco without irony or sarcasm. Having released over 20 singles for Azuli, Smalltown Supersound, Eskimo, Expanded, Modal, Bear Funk and his own Feedelity imprint and just as many remixes; his sound has expanded into a restrained take of Italo Disco meets hypnotic percussion and off the wall synthesizer arrangements and a steady 4/4 beat.
This year, Lindstrøm debuts his new imprint label, Strømland. It's first inaugural release was the Dominique Leone single "Claire". Leone, a writer for Mr. Popkoff's beloved Pitchfork Media, has a full length set for release on May 20th. The single was a stomping vocal house track with wonderful shuffling percussion. The B side to the single featured the track "Clairevoyage", a scorching remix by Lindstrøm collaborating with Mongolian Jet Set. True to the Lindstrøm sound it is hypnotic, repetitive, and infectious pulling Arp, Moog, Fairlight and crazy vocals into the mix.
Lindstrøm will be playing 4 dates during his spring world tour. Austin, Paris, Mayrhofen, Austria, And Kiev. So you guys better recognize.

Feedelity Records

Lindstrøm Myspace

Lindstrøm will be playing the Smalltown Supersound Showcase
@ the Thirsty Nickel (325 E 6th St)

Lindstrøm "There's a drink in my room and I need a hot lady" [mp3]

Dominique Leone "Clairvoyage" [mp3]

Lindstrøm "I Feel Space"

---Mr. Mark

SXSW 2008: Cryptacize

2008-03-05T20:21:00.003-07:00

When Nedelle Torrisi (who has previously toured with Jens Lekman) & Chris Cohen (Deerhoof & The Curtains) watched a YouTube video of percussionist Michael Carrieira elaborately playing a cowbell, California’s Cryptacize was conceived.

With the recent Asthmatic Kitty release of their debut album, “Dig That Treasure,” the trio unloaded an atomic bomb of Super Sweet Minimalistic Pop that most likely demolished the hearts of every Indie Rocker within a 20 mile radius. Their sound is sparse, yet it intricately flows in directions that you would never expect. The songs are beautiful and lighthearted, but never seem cutesy or jokey.

Cryptacize are playing for FREE at End of An Ear (2209 S 1st) on Friday March 14th at 1:00, and again at the Okay Mountain Gallery (1312 E Ceasar Chevez) at 4:00.

They will also be playing their SXSW showcase show at the Central Presbyterian Church (208 E 8th) on Friday March 14th at 11:00pm.

No Coins (mp3)
We’ll Never Dream Again (mp3)

--Popkoff

SXSW 2008: Cut/Copy

2008-03-04T14:48:00.003-07:00

In 2001, Melbourne's Dan Whitford started Cut/Copy as a solo project to exercise his love of sampling and instrumental hip hop, over the course of the next seven years it has evolved into a full band and blossomed as an homage to bands like New Order, OMD, and ELO.

When I first heard Cut/Copy on their 2005 debut "Bright Like Neon Love" it was apparent to that these guys were walking the dance/rock tightrope common of the time and doing it exceptionally well. The album was solid and cohesive without sounding cliche-which is a feet in itself. If their current single, "Lights and Music" is any indication of what to expect from these guys I'd say they have successfully merged underground 80's disco and electro with modern pop. The sound is HOT. "In Ghost Colours", the bands highly anticipated second full length was produced by Tim Goldsworthy of the DFA and will be released in April 2008.

Cut/Copy will play at the Karma Lounge as part of the Modular Records showcase Wednesday, March 12 at 12am, and also appear as part of the Rhapsody party on Friday, March 14 at the Austin Convention Center. They are making limited US appearances this leg of the tour so check them out.

Cut/Copy "Lights and Music" (Modular)

"1981" [2001]

"Time Stands Still" [2005]

"Lights and Music" [2008]

-Mr. Mark

SXSW 2008: Dan Sartain

2008-03-03T18:20:00.004-07:00

Five years ago, Alabama's Dan Sartain released "Dan Sartain vs. The Serpientes" on Swami Records, a label responsible for not only the reissues of bands like Crime & The Penetrators, but who could also lay claim to more modern faceshredders like Hot Snakes and Drive Like Jehu. With attitude to spare & an ability to slither between Punk, Rockabilly, & Garage influences, Mr. Sartain fit in perfectly alongside his label-mates.

Two years after Sartain's second release, "Join Dan Sartain," he's bringing his wiry frame to Emo's for the Swami Showcase, which also includes the totally badass Seattle punk outfit, The Spits, as well as CPC Gangbangs. The show is on Thursday, March 13th, and Mr. Sartain plays at 10:35.

To quote Dan Sartain's Swami bio, "this guy's more talented than a 1000 talented dudes."

Tryin to Say (WMA) - From "Dan Sartain vs. The Serpientes"
I Could Have Had You (WMA) - From "Dan Sartain vs. The Serpientes"
Drama Queens (WMA) - From "Join Dan Sartain"

--Popkoff

SXSW HAS GONE CRAZY!!! Death Sentence PANDA! Invades

2008-03-02T13:02:00.005-07:00

Seriously though, the day shows this year are ridiculous. The Wedding Present are playing for free at Emo's on Wednesday, March 12th, at 5:15. Motorhead & Napalm Death are playing Stubbs on Thursday for free, and that show sponsored by VICE? Then there's the Mess With Texas Day show, which has expanded to Waterloo park and is offering no less than 30 bands; The Breeders, NOFX, Simian Mobile Disco, Islands, Kimya Dawson, Fucked Up, Matt & Kim, & Abe Vigoda, just to name a few. ShowlistAustin is adding more & more free shows everyday to there already huge catalogue of events, with bands numbering in nearly a 1000. Day shows aside, there are of course plenty of interesting showcase shows going on in the evening, but with that being said, I think that this years line-up is pretty week overall. It's also somewhat derivative of last year's line-up: hell, Jandek is playing the exact same venue in the exact same timeslot that he played last year.

At any rate, the band I'm most excited about seeing is Death Sentence: PANDA! from San Francisco. Ever since the moment I first heard their insane blend of No Wave Noise, Cheerleader shouts, and BOOM BOOM BOOM drums, I needed to see this band. They will finally be arriving in Austin on Thursday March 13th, for the Upset the Rhythm showcase at the Habana Annex Backyard (708 E. 6th St, 21+). They will be playing at 11:20, and will be alongside current hotshits, No Age. If you can't make it in for that show, never fear, because like everyone else, they're playing a day show the next day at Ms. Beas (1104 E 6th St @ Medina St 7pm?).

No Enemies (mp3)
New China Blazer (mp3)

Check back with us tomorrow, we should have another post up.

--Popkoff

Rebirth and Renewal

2008-02-24T04:15:00.002-07:00

A message from the inimitable Salvador Dali.

After a winter hiatus, we return. Currently, we are getting ready for this years SxSW showcase. There are many great bands both national and local playing this year. We will bring you some previews and some highlights. Stay tuned!

Sonderbarer Mittwoch

2008-01-09T03:26:00.000-07:00

I am keeping this brief because I want to take up some of your time. Recently, Mr. Popkoff let me listen to the album "Berlin" by Lou Reed. This was a real treat by a true master. Lou was in top form on that album. The piano, the string arrangements, and his delivery break your heart with their tragic beauty.

I found some videos on Youtube that some fan made...weird, but still beautiful. I also found period Lou Reed singing "Berlin" with John Cale-again heartbreaking. Enjoy!

"Berlin"

"Sad Song"

"How do you think it feels?"

"Oh Jim"

"Men of good fortune"

Buy "Berlin"
Lou Reed Site

-Mr. Mark

Epic Soundtracks

2007-12-29T21:39:00.000-07:00

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

2007-12-22T20:54:00.000-07:00

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

2007-12-19T00:51:00.000-07:00

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

2007-12-16T02:57:00.000-07:00

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

2007-12-15T15:12:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2007-12-14T09:16:00.000-07:00

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

2007-12-12T15:48:00.000-07:00

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

2007-12-11T20:15:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-12-02T12:39:00.000-07:00

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.

Sundialing

2007-05-18T00:52:00.000-06:00

I don't know how to describe the vibe I get when I hear this. When I was little, I was very sick with some crazy fever. I remember it was cold outside at the time, I had to be in the hospital for several days. The sun didn't shine, but it was still bright outside. I remember I could see down the hall from my room. I would watch people talk in the waiting room with the light from outside on their faces, for some reason, whenever I hear minimal music like this Caribou track I am instantly taken back to that exact moment. I like the feeling, but I question why I like it.

Caribou "Sinuses" [from Tour CD 2005]

Virb Site

BUY

-Drew

Nicholas Edward Cave

2007-05-16T01:53:00.000-06:00

I re-watched one of my top 5 favorite films of all time today, "Zero Effect," an exceptionally entertaining, funny, and emotionally effective mystery. Equal parts Comedy & Drama, the film is one of those experiences that stuck with me over time, and gained even more of my respect with each subsequent viewing.

When I watched it today, I was once again struck by one of the films finest transitions, a sequence that leads from a lovely diner scene to the character’s long-awaited and awkwardly beautiful sex scene. The whole bit is anchored by the musical cue of "Into My Arms" by Nick Cave.

A few weeks back I spent an entire evening looking up videos of both Nick Cave and The Birthday Party on YouTube. I’ve always liked Nick Cave, but I was never really blown away by him until I started watching these videos. On record, I think his stuff with The Birthday Party has dated much better than a lot of his solo work has, but after watching these videos, it easy for me to see why he continues to be such an influence. I realize that only posted covers, but in this case, I’m more fascinated by his style than his song writing ability.

I particular like this cover of "In the Ghetto"

In The Ghetto (mp3)

A wonderfully vulgar rendition of "Stagger Lee" complimented perfectly by the video.

Stagger Lee (mp3)

What A Wonderful World (mp3) – Nick Cave & Shane Macgowan

Bonus Video & Mp3:

Junkyard (mp3) – The Birthday Party

--Popkoff

Exquisite Trash

2007-05-11T00:53:00.000-06:00

Von Südenfed is a collaboration between Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner, of the electronic music group Mouse on Mars and Mark E. Smith, better known as band leader of The Fall. The three first collaborated on a 2004 12"double A-side "Wipe that sound/Cut the gain", which was released on the Sonig label; this is being followed by a forthcoming full-length "Tromatic Reflexxions", to be released on Domino Records in June 2007. "Fledermaus Can't Get It", is the first single and 12". If this song is any indication of the full-length then we are indeed in for a flirtatious genre/mind bending good time.

In sticking with my own personal agenda, if Mark E. [FUCKING] Smith makes a dance record then we seriously need to catch up...

Von Südenfed on myspace

Von Südenfed @ Domino Records

---Mr. Mark

When Opposites Attract! Outrageous Cherry & The Magnetic Fields

2007-05-02T11:57:00.000-06:00

Last week I revisited the Magnetic Fields "69 Love Songs," and by my count, there are really only about 28 to 35 songs in the 3 disc set that I truly like and/or love. That’s a lot of filler for a collection I once held in such high regard. Yes, there was a time a few years ago where I felt that the best gift you could give someone you cared about was Stephen Merritt’s masterwork, but as time goes on, tastes change and so too do perceptions. Listening to it again, it would appear that while some tracks are meticulously crafted with love, others seems to be spat out like watermelon seeds. The quirky songs are as catchy as ever, and some of the ballads still hit me on a gut level, but there are others that affect me merely because they remind me of the time in my life that I discovered them.

As I worked my way through the 3rd disc, I came across the track, "Meaningless," which has never really been a favorite of mine, although I can relate to it’s unabashedly bitter take on relationships. As I listened to the track, my mind drifted off, and suddenly I found myself humming another song in my head, "Togetherness" by the band Outrageous Cherry.

I first posted about Outrageous Cherry all the way back in April ‘06, you can check that out here, although the links are D.E.A.D. "Togetherness" was the first OC song that I ever heard; I remember sitting at my girlfriend’s computer, after reading about them, and searching for them on Limewire or Soulsearch, or whatever it was I was using at the time. Listening to it that first time, it didn't quite sound like “crazy Psychedelia” I imagined it would from the article, but several years later when I heard it again within the Jangle-Pop context of their album, "Out there in Dark," it made much more sense to me.

Strangely, both songs start at different ends of the "Love Spectrum" but eventually reach the same conclusion: breaking up kinda sucks. In a head to head comparison, I think “Togetherness” is a better song. While Merritt seems to fancy himself a lyrical wordsmith with a literary sheen, his deadpan delivery can undermine his harder sells, in other words, it’s just hard to take him seriously sometimes. Outrageous Cherry vocalist Matthew Smith’s straight-forward approach on the other hand, while not overly sentimental, nor immediate, really hits home as the song builds to it’s final refrain.

The Magnetic Fields – “Meaningless” (mp3)
Outrageous Cherry – “Togetherness” (mp3)

Thoughts?

–Popkoff

Close your eyes...

2007-04-22T20:17:00.000-06:00

It was 1992, my friends and I started going to raves. The music was not only futuristic: Detroit Techno, Acid House, and Hardcore Breakbeat; they were also new genres of music I had never heard. I was not only inspired to make music but to find as much as i could about it. [The rhythms and bass lines were beguiling and hypnotic.]

A year later, while visiting Melissa at her new digs, her then boyfriend Scott played me a song that would stop me dead in my tracks. It was this hybrid of breakbeats, Brian Eno style pads, spaced out bleeps, cartoon vocals, and tough stabs of Detroit Techno style synthesizers. The song was ACEN's "Close your eyes". It perfectly captured the spirit of that time in dance music.

The dark beauty of that track was brought back to my attention today after 14 years [!!!!] by an amazing update by Speakerjunk. Enjoy and remember...

The original Acen "Close your eyes" 1993

The update Speakerjunk "Close your eyes" 2007

The links are hosted by Zshare. When you click on the link, keep looking for the download icons.

---Mr. Mark

Adventures in Amazonia, Part Two: Martin Rev

2007-04-18T17:21:00.000-06:00

Alongside Alan Vega, Martin Rev formed the late-70's New York band Suicide. That fact alone was reason enough for me to buy one of Rev’s solo works, “Clouds of Glory,” an album recorded mostly between 1981 & 1984. Another reason? It was only a penny on Amazon, plus shipping of course.

The exact reason why I bought Rev’s album though was once again because of Little Hits. Back when I religiously visited that blog everyday, I downloaded his 1979 single “Mari,” which is an incredible Electro-Pop song, that caused a friend of mine to recently joke that “wow, those Postal Service dudes totally ripped this guy off.” That song is definitely poppy and even sort of bouncy, but the real appeal of it to me though is that it has a whimsical quality to it that’s not unlike the songs of Mort Garson.

The Verdict: Well I guess the best possible thing that could of happened would have been if “Cloud of Glory” were jam-packed with dreamy Synth-Pop songs like “Mari,” but it is instead filled mostly with what I would call Proto-Industrial tracks, which bare a mild resemblance to the soundtracks of many 80's Horror films. It’s not a total lost cause for me though, the track “Whisper” is right up my alley, and I’ve included that song below as well one of the other tracks from the album that better represents it.

Martin Rev:
Mari (mp3) from “Martin Rev”

Whisper (mp3) from “Clouds of Glory”
Rocking Horse (mp3) from “Clouds of Glory”

Suicide:
Cheree (mp3) from Suicide’s S.T.

Mort Garson:
Plantasia (mp3)

–Popkoff

Walking on Thin Ice

2007-04-13T05:06:00.000-06:00

"Walking on Thin Ice" by Yoko Ono was the first single she released in 1981. Ono and John Lennon concluded the recording of the song on December 8, 1980. It was upon their return from the recording studio to The Dakota (their home in New York City) that Lennon was murdered by a deranged fan. John had stayed up all night the preceding weekend listening to a preliminary mix of the song, and passed away clutching a final mix of it in his hands. Lennon's lead guitarwork on the track, which he had recorded that day, and praised by many as the most fascinating of his career, was thus his final creative act. At the end of January 1981, "Walking on Thin Ice" was released as a single and became Ono's first chart success, peaking at No. 58 and gaining major underground airplay. The single was released in February 1981 in the UK and reached number 35 on the chart.

The lyrics talk of the unpredictability of life and death -- of "throwing the dice in the air" -- and reach the conclusion, "when our hearts return to ashes, it will be just a story....". With the world in shock, a new poignancy was added to the already haunting yet highly danceable track.

Buy the album Yoko Ono "Walking on Thin Ice" HERE

--Mr. Mark

Adventures In Amazonia, Part One: Chris Stamey

2007-04-11T01:08:00.000-06:00

I have a friend who is sort of my movie counterpart. While I’m continually exploring the vast map of music and editing/revising my ever growing album collection, he is doing the same, but with his huge DVD collection. The glowing difference between us is that while I prefer digging through used binds, thrift stores, and pawn shops for great deals, he prefers to buy things new. Since he tends to enjoy films that have limited releases, it would make sense that he would make a lot of his purchases online.

That being said, sometime last year he began making a lot of purchases from Amazon.com, and enjoyed much success in doing so. He was so pleased with his Amazon savings that he practically became a spokesperson for the site, and he quickly sacrificed the convenience of buying something from a mega-store like Best Buy or Fry’s, opting instead to just order it off of Amazon. For me, the act of searching for a good deal is just as important as the satisfaction of the purchase itself, so initially, I was fundamentally against Amazon. The more I explored the site, the more I realized that it had little to offer me, due mostly to the fact that (when you factor in the shipping cost) I could find better deals in my day to day thrifting.

When I recently revisited the site, I made a few purchases, 3 albums that cost a total of $6.50, but when you factored in the shipping, came out to about $14.00. I was sure that I could find better deals if I just searched a little harder. I began looking through my collection of Mp3's at all of the stuff that I had downloaded over the last year or two. I looked up a lot of albums based on a track here or there, and cross-referenced it with info that I found on Allmusic.com. I ended up making 3 purchases that added up to a total of $0.95, plus shipping.

The first album I received was Chris Stamey’s "Fireworks" which was actually shipped from Austin, where I live, not from a record store or anything, but from an independent distributor off of 19th Street.

Stamey first came to my attention through the amazing mp3 site, Little Hits, which posted his 1977 single, "The Summer Sun." I’ve included that single in this post because not only is it the inspiration for my purchase, but it’s also a pretty incredible Power-Pop song.

Stamey went to college in North Carolina and formed the Sneakers, and after starting his own Label in New York, Car Records, helped form the Jangle Pop band, the dBs. After leaving the dBs, Stamey released several solo albums including "Fireworks" (originally recorded in 1988, but not released until 1991), which I purchased unopened for $0.84, plus shipping.

The Verdict: At first, I thought certain tracks on the album sounded a bit dated, but it has grown on me considerably in the last week or so. The first blast of vocals on the opening cut, "Company of Light," instantly warmed my ears with it’s familiar dreamy twang, and the intricate lyrics of that song have endeared it to me even more. "Glorious Delusion" is absolutely gorgeous and is reminiscent of so much modern Indie Pop. "Two Places At Once" is characteristic of the whole album, deceivingly simple Pop Rock that’s as "radio-ready" as it comes, right down to the huge chorus. There’s nothing particular groundbreaking about "Fireworks," but in it’s own way, it is very comforting, and it has gone a long way in revealing to me how truly unadventurous something like the Mountain Goats is, which isn’t necessarily bad thing mind you.

From "Fireworks" (Buy It)

Company of Light (mp3)
Glorious Delusion (mp3)
Two Places At Once (mp3)

Bonus:

The Summer Sun (mp3) (1977)

–Popkoff

I Was Born, Lucky Me

2007-04-08T01:33:00.000-06:00

It so funny (& nice) to see Mark E. Smith looking so young in this video.

The Fall -- Victoria (mp3)

The Kinks -- Victoria (mp3)

Return to Forever

2007-04-01T01:22:00.000-06:00

My last post in OPEN HOUSE was made almost 5 MONTHS AGO! The time was spent; working late hours and sleeping all hours of the day, there was a lot of dinner parties, getting great Christmas gifts from my friends, too many lazy winter days sipping lattes being induced into a sugar coma, probobly too much Korean food, and long hours listening to great music procastinating. That being said, I decided in order to ease back into the "making frequent posts mode" that I would make a mix sharing some of my favorite tracks from the past few months and right now.

Artists include: Claude Von Stroke, Magda, Ritchie Hawtin, Heartthrob, Marnie, Cosi Josias, and many more.

Download DJ SET HERE

---Mr. Mark

Oh and Happy April Fool's Day!

South By South-Rest

2007-03-31T00:18:00.000-06:00

Well, after months of combing the internet for rumors & details, making lists & editing schedules, SXSW has finally come & gone. I have spent the last 2 weeks trying to write the most long-winded, overly detailed account of the 9 day festival I could muster, but it's been increasingly difficult since I had to make up a lot of lost time at work, not to mention, take in some much needed rest. So here are some highlights from the Music portion of the festival.

Wednesday:

Wednesday was a great day all around, I saw 60's Folk legend Donovan, who was added to the festival line-up a short 2 weeks or so prior. The audience at the show was packed in tightly, and made up of a wide cross-section of old and young people, and apparently a lot of my friends were there, but couldn't find me.

Donovan was an authentic relic of 60's Psychedelia, his wild-man hair, child-like demeanor, and loopy delivery seemed ironic in the context of the Church. He was in fact so authentic that at times, I thought he bordered on parody (I even had images of Will Ferrell in my head at certain moments), but still, it hard to argue with the songs and the audience response, pews of people singing along and clapping to "Mellow Yellow."

Donovan - "Colour" (mp3)

I also saw a great show by a band called Oxford Collapse, they are a rock band from Brooklyn that make Post-Punk influenced shout-alongs, fast & funky, all baselines and saxophones, plus, the guys all dressed like yuppies (or David Byrne circa 1978). Their set was really fun and rocking.

Oxford Collapse - "Loser City" (mp3)

The Highlight of the night, and possibly of the whole festival for me was seeing Rosie Thomas again.

Miss Thomas is someone who I have admired ever since I first saw her at SXSW in 2001. I have wrote about that show before on Open House:

"When I walked through the doors that night I had no idea who Rosie Thomas was, but the concert experience that followed would stay stored away in my brain for long after. As anyone who knows me well enough will tell you, there is a part of me that really enjoys a good musical train wreck (that's why I like to go see Mark Eitzel) and her performance was that and more. Sandwiched between 2 punk rock bands, Thomas sat down in a chair with her acoustic guitar in hand and a pair of oversized black thick-rimmed glasses sliding off her nose. When she spoke her voice was squeaky, high-pitched, and child-like, but when she removed her glasses to sing it would morph into the soothingly strong, rich voice of an angel. At the end of every song she would punctuate it with quickly-spoken "thank you very much" reminiscent of Latka Gravas, she would then put her glasses back on and resume a nervous chit-chat with the restless audience. The real derailment occurred when Vancouver's lame glam-punk-revivalist, the Black Halos (a band on the same label as Thomas mind you), began heckling her, she in turn took jabs at their punk rock credibility. All in all it was uncomfortable, beautiful, and slightly confrontational."

Wednesday night at the Presbyterian Church was a different story altogether, the show was beautiful and the experience went even further in endearing Rosie Thomas to me. Snuggled up in the second pew of the church, I sat entranced by the sheer delicacy of her music. She sat on stage wearing her "little bow peep" dress alongside Denison Witmer and another guy who I can't remember the name of. The sorrow in her music still contrasted with the giddy banter she squeezed in between the songs, but they still, remarkable, complemented each other well. My favorite part was when she said "this next song is cover, it's called....'Margaritaville.' No, but wouldn't that be awesome?" During the set, she also spoke of her past SXSW experiences including the show in 2001 with the Black Halos heckling her.

Early that day when I was at End of an Ear, I saw her new CD, "These Friends of Mine," which had came out the day before, but I decided not to buy it then, opting to buy it directly from the artist that night. When I arrived back at the Church for her set, I was surprised to find that she did not have a merchandise table set up.

After her set, I walked up to her and stood patiently for her to finish taking photos with some friends. When she finished she turned to me, and as I began to speak, she put her arm around me. I asked her if she had any copies of her new CD, and she joked that she "wasn't sure if it was okay to set up a merch table, since it was a church and all," giggling at the thought of saying "meet me at the back of the church, and I'll sell you stuff." She then told me that she had some CD's in her van, and I told her that I wouldn't mind waiting. She then informed me that she actually had promotional copies in her van, and that she would just give me one for free.

Shocked, I said something about that being great as she scurried off. After a few minutes she surprised me by sidling up next to me from my left, she exclaimed "here you go guy!" Even though, it was promo, I still tried to offer her money, and she refused. I then told her that I was at the SXSW show in 2001, and her eyes lit up as we discussed how incredibly rude those guys were. "I'm so glad you were at that show, all these years I couldn't tell if I had blown that whole thing out of proportion" she said right before saying her goodbye. Like a friend I have known for years, she said quickly "okay, come here" as she stretched her arms out and gave me hug. Bottom line, I'm celebrity-crushing hard on Rosie Thomas

Rosie Thomas - "Paper Doll" (mp3)

Thursday:

The first half of Thursday was a total bust. I wanted to see Boris play the Vice Party at 2:00, but traffic prevented it, so Mr. Mark & I had lunch instead. I then briefly bounced into see the Melvins, but found myself pretty much bored by them. I then, on a hunch, decided to go see Mika Miko play at Mrs. Bea's, figuring that all of those girls would be there. Unfortunately, like someone who hasn't lived in Austin their entire life, I walked in the completely opposite direction and ended up going to Antones instead to see Blonde Redhead. That show was running late by 45 minutes to an hour, and although I saw Jenny Smith there, the rest of the show was pretty much a total let down. I waited over an hour through what seemed like an unbearably long sound-check period (it still sounded like shit by the way) only to leave 3 songs in due to my immense disappointment with their new material.

On a side note, I really hate Antones.

I then walked around the corner to see Badly Drawn Boy play for free at the Cedar Street Bar, figuring that I might as well since I was in the neighborhood, but guess what, they were running behind as well. It was now nearly 6:00, so I decided that I would walk back toward the highway and try to find Mrs. Bea's again, hoping to catch Marnie Stern play at 6:30. When I finally arrived, I was not surprised to find out that they too were running behind, but for the first time that day it actually worked out in my favor.

As a result, I ended up discovering the Tiny Masters of Today, the Highlight of my Thursday. They are a noisy Garage-Punk band from Brooklyn comprised of a 10 year old girl on bass, a 12 year old boy on guitar, and Russell Simins from the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion on drums. Their music was simple, sing-songy, and fun, and their apathetic little-kid voices really completed the whole package. The audience started off sort of passive, but when people started dancing, the kids would smile and awkwardly laugh while singing. When they introduced their song "Bushy," the little girl said "this song about how we don't like President Bush," to which the boy replied "Um, no, it's about this big bush in our front yard." They also did a Moldy Peaches cover, and then closed with a cover of "Jump Around" (by House of Pain) that brought the house down.

I saw Marnie Stern, but still don't know what I thought of her, outside of the fact that she's quite charming.

That night around 2:00am, I talked to someone from work, who was covering my inventory shift for me, and they told me that we were apparently $1500 short for the week. So I went up to the theater around 3:00 and I was there until about 6:30 in the morning. I cut the shortage in half, and then went home and took a shower around 7:00. Unfortunately for me, I had a 9:00am SXSW Volunteer shift to go to, so I didn't go to sleep that night at all.

Friday:

After my shift that morning, I went to the Convention Center and saw Iggy Pop & the Stooges get interviewed, which means that within the course of a year, I have seen Morrissey, David Lynch, & Iggy Pop get interviewed, not bad I'd say. The interview was a lot of reminiscing, not much talk about contemporary things.

One of the Highlights of Friday was seeing the Tiny Master of Today play again at Club De Ville, this time with a tiny backing dancer. I also saw Automusik, which is a local trio that would best be described as Sprockets-esque. They are basically a parody of late 70's/early 80's German Electro-Pop. Very funny and very very silly. They don't play often, but I would recommend seeing them when they do.

I guess the best part of my Friday was seeing 31 Knots from Portland. They are sort of a hard band to peg on record, and I didn't really know what to expect when I saw them. Given the serious demeanor they have on their albums, I certainly wasn't expecting the lead singer to start the show by dressing up in a marching uniform, and blowing a whistle loudly while standing behind the audience. He then charged/stumbled/leaped onto stage and began performing the first song. After the song ended he took off the marching uniform, and was wearing a sort of 1920's farmer-type of outfit, white shirt and black suspenders, coupled with an eerie blue mask (might of been of Asian decent). The best I can tell, he was playing the role of an intense preacher during that song. The slight variations on costumes continued though out most of the set, as did the overall intensity of the lead singer/guitarist performance. Throw in some time spent writhing around on the floor in the middle of the audience, sniffing the chest of one of the guys in the audience. and then pretending to shoot everyone with his guitar, and you would pretty much get the idea of the show, it Rocked.

I was awake for like 37 hours that day, and as I was driving home my eyes were playing serious/dangerous tricks on me. At one point, while driving down Koenig, I thought that I was on Red River driving past Brackenridge Hospital.

Saturday:

Saturday, I saw Rosie Thomas play an instore at Waterloo Records, and then I went to Emo's to go see the Buzzcocks. Saturday was very notable for me since I got to see both the Buzzcocks & the Stooges in one night. The funny thing is that given all of the hoopla about the Stooges playing SXSW, I actually ended up enjoying the Buzzcocks set more.

Don't get me wrong, finally getting to see Iggy perform was amazing, but there is something to be said for the Buzzcocks set. They played a 45 minutes opening slot to a huge crowd packed into Emo's Main. The set was fast and jam-packed, only old material, no new, and all the songs just rolled right into the next. It also helped that I danced, I never dance at shows...ever. Dancing for me is just jumping around a lot, and I'm rarely at a show where the mood strikes me enough to do that, but the Buzzcocks were legitimately awesome. I danced and sang along from beginning to end, what more could I ask for? Oh, and their t-shirts were the vintage designs and dirt-cheap to boot.

Most of what I wrote above could not be said for the Stooge's show. The t-shirts were new, expensive, and ugly, and they only touted the new album. I didn't really dance, which isn't their fault, I wasn't really deep in the crowd, I was further towards the back and on the side, not to mention that it was the last show of SXSW, so I was too tired to dance. As far as the material they played goes, I wasn't shocked that they played new material because that's what they were there for, but I was shocked that, with the exception of the closing song, "No Fun," the latter half of the set was completely dominated by new material. I was expecting them to wind down the show (or wind it up, depending on how you look at it) with "I Want to be Your Dog" or "TV Eye," but both of those songs were shockingly played with in the opening minutes. All of that aside, seeing Iggy was like seeing a really grouchy endearing old friend (one springs to mind right now), and he really is showman, especially when it came to the new songs, it seemed like was doing everything he could to sell those. By the time the last song rolled around, the inevitable end to the whole SXSW experience started to settle in, and it was ushered in by a very memorable finale:

SXSW FEATURED: ROCKFOUR

2007-02-23T13:33:00.000-07:00

This is kind of a repost from April, but since all of our mp3's are screwed up prior to December, and it is relevant, I see no harm in reposting these songs. The plight of RockFour at South By Southwest is sort of a depressing one. Imagine being a 60's influenced psyche band from Israel, and traveling all the way to Austin, Texas to play a 45 minute set at SXSW, but when you arrive, the club (in this case, the Continental Club) you are playing is completely isolated from the rest the city. Couple that with the poor decision to sandwich the band in between 4 Country acts, specifically Pam Tillis & Ian Moore, and you have a rather depressing scenario on your hands.

Fortunately for RockFour, their music will be worth crossing the river for. After spending years on the American Guitar Pop label, Rainbow Quartz, RockFour are releasing their new record, "Memories of the Never-Happened," through Israeli Label Earsay Records, it should be interesting to hear. The songs posted below are from their 2004 release, "Nationwide."

RockFour will be fighting for attention Friday March 14th at the Continental Club (1315 S Congress Ave) at 10:00PM.

Nationwide (mp3)
Candlelight (mp3)
To The End (mp3)

-Popkoff

SXSW FEATURED: THE ISLES

2007-02-21T12:19:00.000-07:00

With South By Southwest right around the corner, I have spent most of this week trying to figure out my schedule for both the movie & music portions of the festival, while also trying to figure out how I’m going to balance my volunteer shifts with my actual job. I’ve decided to add another task to my load for the next few weeks by posting a series of SXSW specific blogs.

Looking at the Lineup for this year, it’s not the usual crop of "in-the-moment-hipsters" that’s got my attention, but rather, it’s the slew of bands that have been on my radar for years now, but for whatever reason never seem to actually travel to Texas. Bands such as The Forms, Rockfour, 31 Knots, & The Isles are perfect for an event like this, essentially giving me an opportunity to kill many birds with one stone. Part of the fun of SXSW is having the freedom to walk from venue to venue and still be able to get in and see what you want. Clubs like Emo’s & the Parish, which will no doubt be housing some of the bigger named acts (Blonde Redhead, Mountain Goats, and whatnot) are harder to get into, unless you’re willing to commit your whole night to it. With this in mind, these lesser known bands should really be the ticket for me this year.

Our first post is about The Isles from New York. I first heard their "Back to Terrific" EP in 2005, and immediately thought to myself, "why aren’t these guys huge?" Their sound, a mix of Sunny California & Dreary British Pop, felt unusual, yet familiar at times and the recording seemed near perfect in it’s balance of emphasis. The vocals were clear, pretty, but not too sugary, while the drums were light, but diligent pops. A friend of mine recently described their vocalist as sounding like what might happen "if Interpol & Death Cab for Cutie had a baby and peed on it," which he said was a compliment. I can see where he’s coming from on that, but I think they’re better than the sum of those parts. Since their 2005 EP, they have released several singles, and a rather impressive full length entitled "Perfumed Lands"

They will be headlining Wednesday March 14th at Habana Calle 6 Annex (708 E. 6th St) at 1:00AM, and I will be there.

Fuck (mp3)
Eve of Battle (mp3)
True South (mp3)
Pills From Mexico (mp3)

-Popkoff

Wire

2007-02-06T01:24:00.000-07:00

It's almost cliche now to claim to like Wire. So many bands and artists have cited them as an influence, that it almost feels un-hip to not like them.

I stumbled upon Wire in the bargain cassette bin of Hastings many years ago. I bought their first 2 albums ('Pink Flag' and 'Chairs Missing') for a buck each. For about a year I listened to those albums so intensely on my headphones, that I can now recite every lyric. It was 1991 and I had grown tired of radio, tv and college rock.

Within the span of 2 albums though, Wire changed from a manic punk band exploding into 2 minute songs to a post punk art band willing to experiment with, and abandon, what they had done previously. A year hadn't even passed, 'Pink Flag' came out in 1977. 'Chairs Missing' came out in 1978.

The music was pure balm to me. The melody, energy and angular guitars from 'Pink Flag' can still be heard today (Interpol, Elastica, Lush, Bloc Party, Rakes anyone?), and the dubby textures, echo reverb and fantastic use of silence from 'Chairs Missing' are still being employed today to great effect (i.e. Mogwai, Trans Am, Colder, etc...)

Here's a few tunes from both, but i highly suggest tracking down both albums today.

Field Day For The Sundays from 'Pink Flag'
Ex Lion Tamer from 'Pink Flag'
Mannequin from 'Pink Flag'

Practice Makes Perfect from 'Chairs Missing'
French Film Blurred from 'Chairs Missing'
Another The Letter from 'Chairs Missing'
Men 2nd from 'Chairs Missing'
I Am The Fly from 'Chairs Missing'

-Drew

I wish everything was this easy

2007-01-28T02:42:00.000-07:00

Something sad sparked my recollection of this song yesterday, but I’m really glad it did. I had not thought about the gentle Alt-Country styles of the band known as Tarnation for quite some time, and not only was it a welcomed trip down memory lane, but it was also an enlightening one. It would appear that the long dormant 4AD band is now on the verge of releasing a new record (well sort of.) Apparently after Tarnation’s 1997 sophomore effort, "Mirador," main songwriter & lead vocalist Paula Frazer dropped the moniker and released several records under her own name on the unlikely Retro Fuzz label, Birdman Records. This March 1st, Frazer evokes the Tarnation name once again with the release of "Now It’s Time," also distributed by Birdman.

I listened to the title track on her Myspace profile, and got really excited. The song is gorgeous and has a strange Cat Stevens quality to it. If that song is any indication, I suspect that the new album will still have the same dreamy feel of Tarnation’s debut, "Gentle Creatures," minus the tin-can vocals.

The song I’m posting, "It’s Not Easy," is probably my favorite Tarnation song, and easily one of their most upbeat. The beautiful contrast of Matt Wendell Sullivan’s lead vocals and Frazer’s wailing yodel comforts me every time.

It’s Not Easy (mp3)

-Popkoff

Beans

2007-01-20T01:34:00.000-07:00

Rising from the ashes of Antipop Consortium, Beans bridges the gap between the Avant Garde musings of Sun Ra, and the electro street spirit of Afrika Bambaataa.

He has 3 albums under his belt. ‘Only’ (his most recent) takes a hard left into experiemental territory, which was briefly visited on his first two LP’s. His work with Prefuse 73, Dani Siciliano, Arto Lindsay, Ghislain Poirier, EL-P, and Outhud keeps him tied to the Indie/Underground scene, but this is still straight up Electro Hip Hop.

71 (mp3) from 'Only'
Bubonic (mp3)
Down By Law (mp3) from 'Shock City Maverick'
Mutescreamer (mp3) from 'Tomorrow Right Now'
Win Or Lose You Lose (mp3) from 'Now, Soon, Someday'

Bonus:
Prefeelings (mp3) - Arto Lindsay feat. Beans
Morale Crusher (mp3) - Prefuse 73 feat. Beans

-Drew

Goodnight Mr. Spaceman

2007-01-16T16:42:00.000-07:00

Last March I saw Billy Bragg perform as part of Anti’s SXSW Hootenanny at the Central Presbyterian Church, a unique experience to say the least. I didn’t really know much about him then, nor do I now, but I have a general idea of who he is, and his place in musical history. Recently I picked up a MOJO compilation for a $1 that had a song by him on it, and I liked the song so much, it inspired this blog. It’s a very simple, very endearing Pop Rock song about a girl, a song that would fit nicely along side Wreckless Eric’s “Whole Wide World.” That being said, I realized that most of my favorite Love songs are in fact simple little Pop Rock tunes.

A dear friend of mine recommended Television Personalities to me a long time ago, and cited them as a reason to like Jens Lekman (since he covered them, he couldn’t be all that bad.) I’ve like everything I’ve heard by them, and if nothing else, I like the fact that they wrote a song based on dialogue from the film Gregory’s Girl.

Speaking of Jens Lekman, his entire song-writing style is more or less akin to that of Jonathan Richman, who will be playing both the Cactus Café & the Continental Club in late February. I’m pretty excited about seeing him.

The only things I really have to say about the Velvet Underground right now is that this particular version of “I’m Sticking With You” is in my opinion better than the none-demo version. It was playing in my car several years ago when I got into a car accident with a pillar that probably should killed me. Plus, I also learned how to sign the lyrics of this song for an American Sign Language assignment.

New England (mp3) - Billy Bragg
Someone to Share my Life With (mp3) - Television Personalities
Everyday Clothes (mp3) - Jonathan Richman
I’m Sticking With You (Demo) (mp3) - The Velvet Underground

Bonus:
Someone to Share my Life With (mp3) - Jens Lekman

–Popkoff

7 Minutes In Heaven

2007-01-06T01:07:00.000-07:00

So I just want to thank the guys at You Ain’t No Picasso for turning me on to this totally inspiring Zombie’s song, it really made my day. I can’t remember the last time I listened to a song for the first time, and was instantly moved by it’s warmth. I listened to it at least 8 times before leaving for work today, and all I could think about tonight was coming home and listening to it again.

As a bonus, I’m posting another amazing sentimental reflection on life, "In My Life" by the Beatles (it was recommended a few weeks back by a dear friend.) As a second bonus, I’ve been on a real Kinks kick recently, so I’m posting one of current faves.

This Will Be Our Year (mp3) - The Zombies
In My Life (mp3) - The Beatles
This Is Where I Belong (mp3) - The Kinks

–Popkoff

The End's Not Near

2006-12-31T13:28:00.000-07:00

Well Open House has returned after an unofficial break throughout the entire month of December. Unfortunately our hiatus was not by choice though, it was in fact due to "technical difficulties." To make a long story short, in October when the file hosting website that we paid for, EZ Archive, decided to "upgrade," it also decided to downgrade the quality of our mp3 files, making them muffled and slightly distorted. We did not realize this until the end of November, resulting in our month long break. When we inquired about the loss of clarity in our files they said that they "found in the past that allowing people to download files when shared was primarily being used to share copyrighted materials and that created infringement concerns, which was not the intention of the service." In spite of their obvious "concerns" about copyrighted materials, they for some reason still provide the same service that allows people to download files, but now it is the subscribers that are getting screwed. Everything that was posted prior to this post probably sounds like crap. Whatever.

At any rate, we are moving forward with a free service called Filexoom. In most cases you will probably still be able to simply right-click, and save-as. For some reason though, it will also occasionally make you click on the link and actually go to the Filexoom site. If that happens, just simply scroll to bottom and wait for about 15 seconds until it says you can download the file. This does seem like a hassle to me, but at least the sound quality will be up to snuff.

There is yet another change in the works for Open House, this one is less annoying, we have a new contributor named Drew. His first post will be on Tuesday.

For now, since there’s going to be a crapload of New Years Eve parties tonight, I’ve decided to return to the Sunday Singles format with a song by the New Year about a party.

Sinking Ship (mp3)

Bonus
The End’s Not Near (mp3)

Sorry about all the problems, please check back on Tuesday.
We hope everyone has a Happy New Year.

-Popkoff

Bahamadia

2006-11-28T15:39:00.000-07:00

Bahamadia is synonymous with True School Hip Hop. From her beginnings as a protégé of Guru and DJ Premier to her affiliations with the Roots, Talib Kweli, Vikter Duplaix, Slum Village and countless others, she has consistently been involved in hip hop with a jazz and soulful vibe. Bahamadia is known for her subdued monotone delivery and her socially conscious lyrics. Her new album is set for release this year and from the previews at her Myspace, it looks like it is going to be a scorcher.

From the album B.B. Queen:
Common Wealth (Cheap Chicks) [mp3]
One-4-Teen (Funky for You) [mp3]

From the album Kollage:
UKNOWHOWWEDU [mp3]

As a bonus here are two tracks that include her as a guest:
Sylk 130 "The Reason" [Playa Duplaix Remix] [mp3]
Roni Size "New Forms" [mp3]

Buy Bahamadia’s records here.

---Mr. Mark

Sunday Singles: Champion Sounds, indeed!

2006-11-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

Dance music is based on repetition and keeping a groove. Great dance music keeps a solid groove and still manages to make it sound interesting. I don’t like Fatboy Slim, but this remix is amazing. It is completely un-EQed, raw electro, and verges on falling apart before old school synth horn hits blast into the mix and it turns from just dance music into pure ear candy. This rawness and disregard for industry standards is uncommon among such big-named DJ’s and producers, in my opinion I think Switch is pushing the new electro scene forward-we are so lucky.
On a side note, Switch teamed up with Sinden to form A. Brucker and Sinden.

Fatboy Slim "Champion Sound" [Switch Remix] (mp3)

as an added bonus YOU NEED THIS:

Switch "A Bit Patchy" (mp3)

Buy his music here.

—Mr. Mark

For John: Daniel Francis Doyle (Live on KXLU)

2006-11-21T15:04:00.000-07:00

Daniel Francis Doyle = drums, feedback, guitar loops, microphone headset. He is from Austin, TX. This performance was recorded for KXLU in LA, and contains a new track by DFD, "You're Nowhere."

This recording has been edited by Open House:

1) Intro (mp3)
2) Pitching Arm (mp3)
3) Strange Way of Speaking (mp3)
4) Ready to Develop (mp3)
5) Wrapped Up (mp3)
6) You’re Nowhere (mp3)
7) Official News (mp3)
8) Heads Up (mp3)
9) Outro (mp3)

We Love you Dan,

-Popkoff

A Day Like Tomorrow

2006-11-21T08:59:00.000-07:00

Jazz. /jaz/ noun
1. music originating in New Orleans around the beginning of the 20th century and subsequently developing through various increasingly complex styles, generally marked by intricate, propulsive rhythms, polyphonic ensemble playing, improvisatory, virtuosic solos, melodic freedom, and a harmonic idiom ranging from simple diatonicism through chromaticism to atonality.
2. a style of dance music, popular esp. in the 1920s, arranged for a large band and marked by some of the features of jazz.
3. dancing or a dance performed to such music, as with violent bodily motions and gestures.
4. Slang. liveliness; spirit; excitement.
5. Slang. insincere, exaggerated, or pretentious talk: Don't give me any of that jazz about your great job!
6. Slang. similar or related but unspecified things, activities, etc.: He goes for fishing and all that jazz.
from Dictonary.com

Some of my jazz favorites:

Jose James "The Dreamer" (MP3) [Brownswood Recordings]
Carmen McCrae "How Long Has This Been Going On" (MP3) [Verve]
John Coltrane "Giant Steps" (MP3) [Atlantic Records]
Nuyorican Soul "Gotta New Life" (MP3) [Giant Step Records]
Jorge Ben "Comanche" (MP3) [Compost]

--Mr. Mark

Sunday Singles: Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me

2006-11-19T12:09:00.000-07:00

Friday night I found a single that I have been searching years for, and cheap no less. I was fortunate to come across Low’s rendition of the Smith’s "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Love Me," which of course, is not as good as the original version, but is still well worth a listen. As expected, it pretty much remains faithful to Low’s traditional shoegazer sound, but it is not in such obvious contradiction, as say, their beautiful cover of Joy Division’s "Transmission."

Low:

Side A: Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me (mp3)
Side B: Because You Stood Still (mp3)

Bonus Tracks:

The Smiths – Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me (mp3)
Low – Transmission (mp3)
Joy Division – Transmission (mp3)

Come to think of it, this probably should of been a Themed Thursday, but whatever, Enjoy!

–Popkoff

THEMED THURSDAYS: JOHNNY THUNDERS

2006-11-16T18:14:00.000-07:00

Several years ago I attended a creative writing class, in which a student wrote a short story about the ghost of Johnny Thunders. In the story, the notorious New York Doll’s guitarist haunted the New Orleans hotel that was the site of his death. At the time, I wasn’t aware of who Johnny Thunders was, and thus, I didn’t fully appreciate the story, but a part of me has always wished I could go back and re-read it now.

I’ve posted the Kinks song that, although I haven’t read anything that confirms it, probably gave Johnny Thunders his name, along with a classic Thunders track, and a fitting Murder City Devil’s tribute.

Johnny Thunder - The Kinks (mp3) 1968
You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory - Johnny Thunders (mp3) 1978
Johnny Thunders - Murder City Devils (mp3) 1998

–Popkoff

I TRIED TO PLAY YOU THE SADDEST SONG, BUT ALL I DID WAS MAKE YOU SMILE

2006-11-15T15:14:00.000-07:00

Recently I purchased "The Richard Swift Collection: Volume One," a single disc that combines two of Swift’s albums into one, "The Novelist" and "Walking Without Effort." Richard Swift, a native of California, first came to my attention last March during South by Southwest, when two of my friends returned from his show at Emo’s, gloating about the amazing set that I had just missed. The only other thing I knew about Swift prior to my recent purchase was that he had played keyboards on a few Starflyer 59 albums (you can download songs by them here), a plus in my book.

Overall, the double-album, which was released by one of my favorite labels, Secretly Canadian, is a strong, but somewhat uneven release. Combined, the two albums clock in at around 45 minutes, which is pretty standard for a 17 track CD. The problem for me is that the first 8 tracks ("The Novelist") have a far warmer sound to them than the latter half of the disc. There is a richness to the keyboards, and a total lack of guitar throughout, that keeps it interesting from track to track. "Walking Without Effort" on the other hand, while nice, relies heavily on an acoustic guitar that causes the keyboards to play second fiddle, so to speak. Swift’s voice is different on "The Novelist" as well, he has a kind of slurred-form of singing that makes the whole album sound kind of like Rufus Wainwright doing "Franks Wild Years." That method gives way on the second album though to a more standardized form of annunciation.

From "The Novelist"
Lovely Night (mp3)
The Novelist (mp3)
Looking Back, I Should Have Been Home More (mp3)

I wanted to post mostly from "The Novelist," but also give you something I liked from "Walking Without Effort" for comparison. You can also download another song from that album from the Secretly Canadian site, here.

From "Walking Without Effort"
Beautifulheart (mp3)

Also, check out Swift’s Homepage (It’s a hoot!), and his Myspace profile.

–Popkoff

We Never Had Fancy When We Could’ve Had Plain

2006-11-06T17:00:00.000-07:00

A week ago I went downtown to catch the Mountain Goats, featuring the nasally vocals of Indie’s hippest un-hip troubadour, John Darnielle. If you are not familiar with the prolific works of the Goats, they basically write little lo-fi narratives that usually have something to do with either unhealthy relationships, small towns, or bad decisions. Admittedly, I’m not the biggest Mountain Goats fan in the world, but the songs I do like, I really like a lot. Unfortunately, the show, while memorable in it own way, fell a bit short for me. I guess I thought that it was going to be more energetic and personal than it actually was. I imagined (based on live recordings) that it would be kind of like a guy sitting around a camp fire rambling tales over fiery acoustic strumming, but it was in fact, exactly like a guy making awkward facial expressions and doing, what amounted to, a poor impersonation of Mitch Hedberg during the in-between-song-banter. The music was fine, but for me, the performance was nothing special.

This really didn’t bother me until Friday night when I hiked 9 blocks to Emo’s Lounge to see Stiff Record alumnus and cult Pop-rocker, Wreckless Eric. Eric (born Eric Goulden) found success in the late 70's with his only big hit, "Whole Wide World," a song that I’ve always thought belonged in a film. It will finally be getting that chance later this month with the release of "Stranger Than Fiction." Though "Whole Wide World" was his only real hit, he still generated quite a reputation throughout the late 70's/early 80's, not only for his unusual Pop sensibilities, but also for his notoriety as a heavy drinker.

My first exposure to Wreckless Eric was through the 1993 Rhino Compilation Series, DIY. The song "Whole Wide World" was featured on the "Teenage Kicks: UK Pop (1976-79)" disc and it immediately struck me as having a rather timeless quality to it. I then read up on him and gained even more insight from a couple of pivotal (for me) blogs on Post-Punk Junk (which can be found, complete with downloadable mp3's, here & here).

When I found out that Wreckless Eric was playing Emo’s 2 months ago I didn’t even think he was alive, much less touring. I knew that this was probably going to be a once in a lifetime experience, so I made it my goal not to miss it. Knowing all of that, I still found myself hesitant to go out Friday night; it was cold, late, and I had to get up at 5:30 the next morning, but I knew I would regret not going, so I forced myself to go. I have to admit, I am soooooooo glad I did.

Wreckless Eric took the stage a short time after setting up his guitars. His physical appearance was far different than the many younger photos I had seen. It reminded me of how different Henry Winkler looks now when in comparison to the eternally young Arthur Fonzarelli. That thought was then followed by a slight awe at the fact that Eric’s unique voice, now 30 years along, sounded exactly the same now as it did then. He surveyed the crowd from atop the stage, commented on a young lady’s hair in the front row, and then remarked, "you’re all so young; when I was popular, you weren’t even born." He then started the set with what I recall as being a rollicking rendition of "Joe Meek." By the end of the second song, the emotionally cathartic rant "Same," I had a growing urge inside me to say aloud, "fuck the Mountain Goats!"

Wreckless Eric (1977)

Wreckless Eric (1991)

In front of me stood a man in his mid-50's, without a record contract or any prospect of conventional success. He stood there playing music in a small club half way around the world for people 30 years younger than himself. When he played, his acoustic guitar had a harshness and forcefulness that most guys playing electric guitars lack. He had a stomp and a yell and a lifetime of experiences John Darnielle could only invent. He had a pain in his face, an understated sense of humor, and a genuine oddness to him. There was no need to fake a vocal quirk when speaking either, since he was born with his a long time ago. Simply put, Wreckless Eric was putting the Mountain Goats to shame.

Midway through the third or forth song, the cell phone began ringing loudly, it belonged to the same young lady on the front row. Eric paused momentarily and looked down at her, smiled and said "honey you might want to answer it, it’s out of tune with my guitar." There was an effortless crowd interaction throughout the whole of the evening, he would relay stories about songs, stopping at one point to actually read a passage from his book. This action in some other context might seem pompous, but in this environment, it seemed only natural. Towards the end he asked if he had left anything out, anything anyone wanted to hear. One person asked to hear the song that they were supposedly conceived to, "Broken Doll." The idea that someone had sex listening to his music, and that their offspring then grew up to come to one of his shows, sparked Eric to remark, "wow, just imagine that."

Even a bored drunk woman shouting for the Elephant in the Room (in this case "Play Whole Wide World!!!") couldn’t halt the momentum of the show. After assuring the woman he would play the song once, and then being forced to confront her nagging again, Eric eventually gave the drunken embarrassment what she wanted. Before he did so though, he thanked the audience for being so nice, "even the ones who yell at me and tell me what to do." Staring down the awkwardness of the situation, he could of played the song in an obligatory manner, but he instead played with the same playful enthusiasm he had churned out during the previous hour and twenty minutes. When the song was over, he put down his guitar and took a look at the applauding audience, and said quietly "well, you made an old man happy."

Wreckless Eric (2006)

In retrospect there is no direct cause for a comparison between the Mountain Goats show and Wreckless Eric’s, I mean, they’re both from different times and perform different styles of music. As a friend of mine put it though when I tried to explain the way I felt after the show, "sometimes it takes experiencing something real to see how pretentious other things are."

Whole Wide World
Joe Meek

I found a neat live recording from a recent radio broadcast at WFMU, and I edited a couple of the songs down to individually mp3's. Both of them are very good, and characteristic of the show Friday night. "33's & 45's" starts off a bit slow, but stick with it.

Same (Live from WFMU)

33's & 45's (Live from WFMU)

I also encourage you to check out his website, particularly his "biography"

–Popkoff

Pull of You

2006-10-26T05:11:00.000-06:00

Have you ever heard music that completely stumps you? Music that for some unknown reason is just not structured like other music; it does not fit the mold even though it uses the same palette of sounds that everyone else uses. Records like Philip Glass' "Einstein on the Beach", Aphex Twin's "On (D-Scape Mix)", Kit Clayton's "Repetition and Nonsense" all made profound advances for their respective genres. I believe this record will have the same effect.

Ricardo Villalobos, who has been well-known for his work within the minimal techno and microhouse genres for years, offers to the world, "Fizheuer Zieheuer," an album that goes completely over the top with a dub infused Latin house micro percussion synthesizer soundtrack that hints at minimal techno, but reaches well beyond that. There is not a catchy bassline, vocal, or any distinct sound that carries the track. It is literally the absence of the hook that makes this track so effective. It references Latin America, Eastern European, and Spaghetti Western music, but is subtle in it's excecution. This release in it's entirety is over 60 minutes long, and with it Villalobos proves his mastery of dance music. This is the 12" version.

Ricardo Villalobos "Fizheuer Zieheuer [part 1]"

Buy it from PLAYHOUSE

---Mr. Mark

Aimee's Mix

2006-10-24T02:08:00.000-06:00

It is too easy to fall victim to your own record collection. Here are two tunes to get you out of your slump.

Kelley Stoltz "Ever thought of coming back" (Popkoff's choice)
Cornelius "Beep it" (Mr. Mark's choice)

---Open House

I Let Myself Fall In Love With You

2006-10-17T01:49:00.000-06:00

I spent most of last Friday night at Emo’s with my hip pressed up against a giant speaker and a amused look on my face. I would occasionally remove my hands from my pockets to quietly snap a few photos, but for the most part I only removed them to applaud the genuine quirkiness of Rosie Thomas. Formerly of the Dreampop outfit Velour 100 (side project of His Name Is Alive), Thomas split the band and released her first solo album, “When We Were Small,” on Sub Pop in 2002. My first encounter with her came in March of 2001 when I paid $20 at the door to go to Sub Pop night at Emo’s during South by Southwest, which featured such diverse bands as the Go, Nebula, and the band I originally paid to see, Red House Painters.

When I walked through the doors that night I had no idea who Rosie Thomas was, but the concert experience that followed would stay stored away in my brain for long after. As anyone who knows me well enough will tell you, there is a part of me that really enjoys a good musical train wreck (that’s why I like to go see Mark Eitzel), and her performance was that and more. Sandwiched between 2 rock band, including the rude ‘n crude Black Halos, Thomas sat down in a chair with her acoustic guitar in hand and a pair of oversized black thick-rimmed glasses sliding off her nose. When she spoke her voice was meek, high-pitched, and child-like, but when she removed her glasses to sing it would morph into the soothingly strong, rich voice of an angel. At the end of every song she would punctuate it with quickly-spoken “thank you very much” reminiscent of Latka Gravas, she would then put her glasses back on and resume a nervous chit-chat with the restless audience. The real derailment occurred when Vancouver’s lame glam-punk-revivalist, the Black Halos (a band on the same label as Thomas mind you), began heckling her, she in turn took jabs at their punk rock credibility. All in all it was uncomfortable, beautiful, and slightly confrontational.

Friday night was a different story altogether, Rosie took the stage after local indie darlings, the Lovely Sparrows (celebrating the release of their new album), performed a well-received, but utterly unremarkable set, complete with the requisite, cookie-cutter cover of one of their contemporaries, in this case, the Magnetic Field’s “All My Little Words.” This time around she had her brother, Alex Thomas (on piano), and the crowd on her side. She played a confident set filled with gorgeous songs and hilarious discussions sprinkled in between them covering a wide range of topics including tabloid obsessions, knock-knock jokes, and Halloween costume suggestions (Steve “the Gutte” Guttenberg or The Fog!?!). The strength of her performance was striking and still surprising after all these years. When her set was over I checked out her merchandise stand where she sold among other things, self-designed hand-made purses and rather neat custom denim bracelets. Bottom line, I would marry Rosie Thomas.

The headlining act was the critically acclaimed (rightfully so) atmospheric country of Damien Jurado, a performer with a quiet simple demeanor similar to that of Karl from Sling Blade (minus the retardation and murderous tendencies obviously). This was the third time that I have seen Mr. Jurado, and it never ceases to amaze me how gentle and unassuming his persona appears to be, it’s as if he just finished riding a tractor for 3 hours, and now he wants to play me some songs. He seemed to play mostly stuff from 2003's “Where Shall You Take Me?” (including the beautiful “Abilene”) and the brand new “And Now That I’m Your Shadow,” out on Secretly Canadian. Towards the end he slipped in “December” from 2000's heartbreaking “Ghost of David” and closed with fan-favorite “Ohio.”

Rosie Thomas:
Farewell (from When We Were Small)
Let Myself Fall (from Only With Laughter Can You Win)
Sell All My Things (from Only With Laughter Can You Win)

Damien Jurado w/ Rosie Thomas:
Parking Lot (from Ghost of David)

Damien Jurado:
Medication (from Ghost of David)
December (from Ghost of David)
Ohio (from Rehearsals For Departure)

and just to prove that I don’t hate covers, here’s a Damien Jurado cover:
Ohio - CocoRosie

--Popkoff

It really is a cycle.

2006-10-13T06:41:00.000-06:00

What can be said about music today that has not been said before? What is the importance of this genre or the next one to be unearthed? For me the value of a music review is the context in which the reviewer can relate to the music.
My tastes in music have almost all been derivative of disco and post punk.
Hearing reggae/lovers rock/ska for the first time, I was too young to appreciate the genres’ beauty. Almost 2 decades later the beauty reveals itself in a most curious way. I will spare you the onion/butterfly analogy and just say that by rediscovering and listening to songs from my childhood, I have found a wealth of music not new per se, but the appreciation and understanding is new.
How did I arrive back at the beginning again?
In the late eighties, I was knee deep in electro, synthesizer pop and pre-industrial music. A few years later that fandom was completely hypnotized by early Acid House and English/Belgian Techno records. The insistent and perfect rhythms providing a solid backbone to the warm bouncing bass lines.
At around the same time rock was very interesting to me as well; The Jesus and Mary Chain release "Automatic", a year later Sonic Youth stand up perfect with "Goo", and yet another year later My Bloody Valentine dumbfound the entire rock community with "Loveless". These three records would have a profound effect on my taste for the next few years.
Across the pond, what was being called Hardcore [which was a precursor to drum’n’bass and breakbeat] was sampling Northern Soul and American R&B to reconstruct techno into a new abstract shape that was quite refreshing to my ears. The beats were tough and at insane speeds, the bass was deep and bubbly. The vocals all sounded like helium was present in the studio when the engineer pressed record.
Then it happens, Joey Beltram’s "Mentasm", Acen’s "Close Your Eyes", and Human Resource’s "Dominator" all have the same hoover type synthesizer sound that forever changes how I will choose my records. The sounds fuels countless imitators and births that famous sound that will grow into drum’n’bass' trade mark.
Drum’n’bass [d’n’b] emerges and it is unlike anything before it. The genre is built around reggae, techno, hip hop, jazz, and the limitless possibilities of sampling. I become reacquainted with reggae around this time period. The vocals on most of the d’n’b tracks from around this time period 1993-1996 all feature Jamaican Patois and toasting atop the elastic rhythms and throbbing basslines. The music will change but this brief time period in the genre proves to be influential on my musical palette.
In other areas of my musical growth I discover, around this same time frame, the wonder of the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds", The Velvet Underground, and of course, the Beatles' "Rubber Soul". I begin to think that maybe there is something to looking back to the past for understanding sounds from today.
Immersed in nightlife, the music being played at various clubs I frequent during peak hours is cold and synthetic and exciting to hear. I notice however a sharp contrast to the music being played at the end of the night. After parties around this period take on a "low key" guise and the DJ’s all spin the same music to come down to: hip hop, IDM, soul, and roots reggae. Artists like Desmond Dekker, Gregory Isaacs, Horace Andy, and Dawn Penn all become instant favorites.
I start perusing record stores for more sounds like the artists being played and come across an amazing label Blood and Fire. I hear something in their catalog that I cannot place my finger on. It turns out to be Dub. King Tubby, Jah Stitch, the Congos, and Scientist all offer worlds filled with countless reverb, delay and endless echo chambers. The sounds took me back to my childhood. Hearing it imitated on the Grace Jones records played on my mom’s stereo. It all clicked.
Those sounds my mom played in her workshop, in her car, the records my older sister played on her turntable all just fell into place. I had not discovered anything new, but actully became reacquainted with the past.
The cyclic in my musical journey makes this post possible.

For your listening pleasure:

Paulette Williams - My Island
Judy Mowatt - She Kept Talking
Marcia Griffiths - Don’t Let Me Down
Lloyd Parks - Little Better
Jennifer Lara - Ain’t No Love
The Soulettes - Bring It up

---Mr. Mark

Honing the Drones

2006-10-10T21:10:00.000-06:00

This morning I awoke to the sound of rain outside my window. Since it was going to be a dreary afternoon I decided to rev up Pacific UV’s self-titled debut for my lunchtime car ride. There are some places where Dreampop, Slowcore, & Space-rock cross paths (I guess in this case, it’s Athens, GA), but rarely do the bands birthed from these intersections produce such satisfying and encompassing albums as Pacific UV. Their record was released in 2003 on Warm Records (a dreamy electronic label also based out of Athens), and it is a gorgeous collection of heavenly vocals, dense drones, & echoing jangles.

The (slide?) guitar wooziness of "Out in the Blue" recalls everything from Pink Floyd’s "Great Big Gig in the Sky" to Big Star’s "Big Black Car" to all of Mojave 3's "Ask Me Tomorrow." On the flip-side of the coin, the surging opening guitars of "Blind" sound like Sigur Ros rewrote the theme to Top Gun in an surprisingly good way, and when the unavoidable "explosion" of rawk detonates at about the 6 minute mark, it is welcomed thick swirl of reverb.

Out in the Blue
Maryanne
Blind

Buy It!

-Popkoff

The Lolls Harm Indie Rock Image (in a Good Way)

2006-10-05T12:05:00.000-06:00

Simplicity works, but then again so does advertising. In many ways it is a miracle that I have ever heard anything from Extra Small Records given their limited exposure throughout this virtual universe known as the internet. It is truly surprising to me that the San Francisco based label, which from what I’ve heard seems to excel at delivering familiar, yet uniquely simple and catchy pop music, has provided potential listeners with so little to grasp onto. After searching for an hour or so on the internet for any information about the label and specifically the Lolls, all I was able to come up with was a barely interactive homepage, a Myspace profile with 2 friends (one of them being Tom, the other a band that’s not even on their label), and two album reviews (one positive, one negative). That being said, it should come as no surprise that I did not hear about them from the internet, but rather from the real world. When local record store 33 Degrees closed down several years, they had a sale on everything, so as a result I bought a lot of interesting looking albums, sound unheard.

The Lolls debut album, Come On, was one of the CDs I took a chance on. The duo of Gail Conway & Jordan Rode won’t blow your mind with their instrumental expertise, nor will they win you over with their innovative ideas about song writing, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have some things going their way. To me, the obvious draw are the female vocals which are decidedly unpretty, and certainly not the kind you hear everyday. They have a little Kim Gordon apathy to them, but for the most part they have an individuality all their own. The music is very straight-forward low-fi garage, but it’s the vocals that really sell the songs. On a track like "Jesus," where the lyrics are not only cheesy ("Save the drama for your momma, Get your groove on,"etc), but, for lack of a better description, dumb, Conway’s over-exuberant vocals illustrate yet again that in music, it doesn’t matter so much what say as how you say it. The same can be said for a track like "I Don’t Care," that breaks zero ground in the originality of it hopeless lyrics, but is nonetheless effective in it’s delivery.

Jesus
Girlfriend
I Don’t Care

I swiped the title for this blog from the negative review of the Lolls album because I found it funny that the author actually thought that this modest duo could ever "harm indie rock’s image", whatever that means. Indie rock is more than some sort of minor league where potential major label talent gets an opportunity to "shine," or at least it should be. If anything, I think a band like the Lolls represent an essential aspect of what indie rock should be, a place for anyone. Not everybody can play guitar with the technical precision of Stevie Ray Vaughn, but his music bores the shit out of me, and sure Minor Threat’s songs sound like they could of been made by anyone, but to quote myself, "they weren’t, they were made by Ian fuckin’ MacKaye!" The bottom line is that you might not like the Lolls, but it won’t be because they sound like everything else in your collection.

Extra Small Record’s last release appears to have been in 2003, but there is still a mailing address and e-mail address here if you are interested in purchasing anything from them.

–Popkoff

Well at Least We’re Not a Cult

2006-10-03T23:16:00.000-06:00

Last night I joined 19 other people (25 if you included the band) at Emo’s for what felt more like a private performance by widely acclaimed New York singer-songwriter Nina Nastasia, but what was in fact the tail end of her nationwide tour. The music was at times sparsely orchestrated with cling-clangy piano pieces and symbol scratches, but it always consisted of Nastasia’s delicate strumming. The set was so quiet that I took very few pictures because the digital camera I was using makes an annoying "snapshot" sound whenever you take a photo, and I didn’t want to disturb the band (on that note, the front door of Emo’s could probably use some WD-40). At any rate, the audience was attentive, in fact, they were more than attentive, they were uproarious, exploding with applause and uncharacteristic hoots and hollers at the end of every fading song. Perhaps it was over-compensation for the small turn out, or maybe just undying admiration, but the audience response was said to be the best of the entire tour.

She played a lot of stuff from "On Leaving," her new album from her new label, FatCat Records. The label is based out of London, and has kindly put up several songs from the new album you can listen to here. The album comes out today, and I encourage everyone to at least give it a listen if this sort of thing interests you.

She closed with a solo encore which featured a song I was not expecting to hear at all, an acoustic version of "The Matter (of Our Discussion)," an electronic track by the artist known as Boom Bip for which she provided vocals for last year. She closed with the requested "That’s All There Is."

When she hopped off stage to a chorus of applause, she walked passed my friends and I who were just smiling and clapping at her. As she walked by she reached out and touched my arm and said "Thank you." When I told my friend about it, he responded, "well, she’s a real woman." Exactly!

Stormy Weather (from "Dogs")
All Your Life (from "Dogs")
That’s All There Is (from "The Blackened Air")

Bonus Track:
The Matter (of Our Discussion) - Boom Bip (feat. Nina Nastasia)
(from Blue Eyed In The Red Room)

–Popkoff

Shining...

2006-09-29T19:35:00.000-06:00

Chromatics are from Portland. Their sound is filled with atmosphere, insistent synths, and a detached coolness. The sound in itself is a contradiction, it is both effortless and intense, a fey darkenss if you will. I first heard their track "Healer" a few months back and knew that it was different; slow dance rock with just a hint of humans pushing buttons and strumming guitars. Yes! A new album is in the works and for now we have these. Enjoy!

In the City
Baby
Animal Nitrate [Suede cover]

Visit Chromatics.
Buy Chromatics.

---Mr. Mark

Little Bowie in a Ziggy Wig

2006-09-27T00:22:00.000-06:00

Recently while digging through a clearance bin in Chicago, I came across an album that was buried in the back of my mind for years. When "Listen to the Night" by the strangely named Team USA first came out in March of 2002, I remember reading several positive things about it, but back then when I stood at the listening station with the case in my hand, I wasn’t too impressed. Several years later though, being well aware of how much my tastes have changed over time (and with it only being $0.99), I decided to give it another go round.

The album is uneven, but nonetheless energetic and catchy fun. There is no irony (despite their album cover wardrobe) to the retro vibes either, which is always nice. The funny thing about indie-pop (especially of the retro variety) is that it’s very easy for a band, any band, to get lost in the mix. Hell, for a band like Team USA, it’s even easier to get lost in the sea of pop bands on your own label. In their case, StarTime International (French Kicks, Dios Malo, The Futureheads, etc.) has seemingly given up on them after just an album and an e.p. It’s their loss I guess, although they were nice enough to do a news update on the bands current output. Essentially the band has recorded, designed, and is self releasing a new 8 song album entitled "8."

You can e-mail band leader Johnny Mathias here, and order a copy for only $5.

Give these tracks a listen, and tell us what you think. Personally, I’m currently in love with the song "Hey."

Hey
The Postcard
Too Young
Halloween

Buy It! Cheap!

–Popkoff

The One Man Beatles?

2006-09-23T00:42:00.000-06:00

The wonder of Emitt Rhodes is quite new to me. At first listen, his sugary 70's golden pop sheen was an immediate draw. However, after many listens a darkness surfaces from beneath the gloss and sunny production. His sound is often compared to the Beatles and while that was obviously an influence, traces of Burt Bachrach, PET SOUNDS era Beach Boys, Phil Spector, and even Serge Gainsbourg all make appearences.

His intricate pop craft was sadly a victim of the record industry's corporate greed. The great American catalog of music he should have left never came into fruition, but we do have four albums worth of material to ponder what could have been.

With my face on the floor
Somebody made for me
Promises I made
Pardon me
Holly Park
Til the day after
Bad man
Warm self sacrifice

These sounds seem tailor made for headphones, listen for yourself.

---Mr. Mark

2006-09-17T11:32:00.000-06:00

All the photos in this blog were taking by John Newberry.

Friday morning Austin drove Mr. Mark & I to the airport. I was nervous but not too much. As we sat in the Terminal I noticed this comic in the Statesmen:

Chris Mosley thought that perhaps his friend Brittany was going to be on the same flight as Mark & I, and sure enough she was. She was even coincidently on the row right behind us. There were only 3 seats on our row, Mark & I occupied two of them, and a little boy wearing a Longhorns shirt had the window seat. We eventually agreed to have him switch with Brittany so she could sit with us and he could sit with his brothers, but before any of that happened he looked out the window at the engine right next to us and said to me "If this window breaks, we'll probably fly into this thing and die." All I said in response was "probably."

The flight was sort of nerve-racking, but not nearly as bad as a rollercoaster. The fact that there was a window to look out of made it seem like it was something that was happening on tv. We flew into Chicago around 12:15 and as we descended we had to fly out over Lake Michigan and circle back towards the runway, that part was a little scary. We picked up our bags and then Mr. Mark abandoned me less than 5 minutes after arriving, he had to leave to go stay with his friend Troy. Before he left, I had commented to him that when we arrived in Chicago (my birthplace), it would have been funny if everyone there talked like me (since I have always been told that I talk funny). Later on during the trip, Chris Mosley would compare this idea to "a baby Sasquatch returning to the woods to an entire civilization of Sasquatchs he didn't know existed."

Brittany & I killed time walking around waiting for Mosley, DFD, and John to arrive. Before they showed up we met up with Mosley's friend Mary. Her and her boyfriend Alex are two of the nicest most generous people I have ever met, if it wasn't for them I don't know how much time I would have wasted trying to navigate the city. I don't know how Mosley does it, but he's been blessed with the friendship of some amazing people.

With everyone there, we rode the train into the city (I bought a 3 day pass for $12 and I used it for my entire trip, not a bad deal), and then we went to Mary's place.

Danny Doyle on the Subway

Mary & Brittany on the Subway

Over the weekend I really became accustomed to riding the subway, I wish we had on here. We grabbed a slice of pizza on our way to the Hideout for the first night of the Touch & Go Festival.

When we arrived there, they made us show our ID's if we were drinking. As we were waiting to enter, the gentlemen checking ID's (he was probably in his mid-forties) was having trouble explaining to a young Italian guy what he was needing for him to do. Frustrated the guy checking ID's turned to Danny Doyle (I guess thinking that they were both Italian) and asked him to explain to the Italian guy what was going on. Danny, caught off guard and feeling like he needed to help in someway, began translating English to English. Mosley later remarked that the guy just realized that Danny spoke "human."

Once inside we checked out the area and went to watch the Shipping News play. I had never really heard them before outside of a couple comps, and they weren't bad at all.

Shipping News

Afterwards we went and sat down at a table while some band called Supersystem (poppy dancey electro stuff) played. None of us really had any interest in them, although I kind of did when I had them confused with this band called Supersilent. During this time Mosley's friend Natalie showed up, and I got to hear DFD hunger for something to eat from the Timeout Chicken stand which was actually the Timeout Chicago (a local Magazine) stand, I don't think I'll ever let him live that one down. Danny also ran into his friend Nate during the down time, Nate was doing behind the scenes work driving the bands around and thus relaying stories to Danny about some of his favorite bands). Some of us went to go watch Girl Against Boys play, they preformed the album "Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby" in it's entirety for the first time ever. They weren't bad, but I couldn't really get into them, although I sometimes I think actually knowing some music by a band can make all the difference. Some of us watched Ted Leo & the Pharmacists (I didn't), while some of us hung out. During this time I ate a Pizza Pretzel from Wholefoods and an Orange while also learning that Chris Mosley has a somewhat prevalent fear of broken glass. We took the train/bus back to Mary's place, talked, and crashed pretty early around 11:00.

The next morning we woke up early determined to get to the festival by noon for the first band, The New Year, but first we yearned for pancakes, except Danny who opted for a sandwich from 7/11. Alex and Mary took us to this place called the Melrose for breakfast. It was really delicious although as Danny commented "everyone's plate looks amazing, but Popkoff's eating shit (pancakes & scrambled eggs)." My only defense was to tell him that he bought a sandwich from 7/11. John bought everyone's breakfast (bless him) and running late we all rushed to try and make The New Year's set (Danny & I literally ran). When we got there they were performing Danny favorite song "Disease".

..>

Disease (thank God for YouTube)

We saw 4 songs and they closed with my favorite New Year song "18" The New Year, in typical Slowcore fashion, are a difficult band to appreciate from an audience perspective since they basically just stand there hardly moving, but fortunately for them, their songs are wonderful. Their set also played really well with the dreary weather conditions, there was rain predicted, but fortunately it didn't come that day.

Without a doubt the most startling performance from the festival for me was from a band called Uzeda which features the guitarist and vocalist from the present day band known as Bellini, as Danny Doyle put it: they sound like Shellac if Shellac was fronted by a mid 40's (ultra intense) Italian woman. If you're having a hard time imaging what that sounds like, how about Shellac if they were fronted by "Rid of Me" era PJ Harvey. Still don't have it? Here, download this!

They were unbelievably raw and effective, and I certainly wasn't expecting such an amazing performance. I bought an album by them afterwards and I also bought an XL (only size they had left) Big Black t-shirt (when I went back later to buy Daniel one, they were sold out) and Shellac's "1000 Hurts" (which I got Todd Trainer to sign). I didn't watch Pegboy, but I kind of heard them from a distance (sort of standard early 90's punk rock).

Afterwards Tim & Andy from Silkworm played a one song set.

If you are not familiar with Silkworm tragedy that occurred last year, you can read about it here. The performance was very touching, and Tim was said to have broken down in tears as soon as he walked off stage. Here is a clip of the actual performance someone posted on YouTube (the sound is not that great, but since it's a quiet song, it's not that noticeable)...>

Next up was The Ex, a noteworthy punk band that has managed to remain relevant since the late 70's. The guitarist by himself would probably make a pretty mind-blowing band, his guitar was probably the nastiest looking guitar I've ever seen, and he played with a rather fidgety intensity. Maybe by the second song or so, it had became quite apparent that he had cut his playing hand while strumming and had begun bleeding all of his guitar. It was very unsettling to look at and to a degree, disturbing, but punk is not pretty.

Playing Harmonica into his guitar.

When they played the song "State of Shock" Mosley claimed that he cried during the song, but I didn't see it, although I did hear him shout "Fuck Yeah!!!!" at the end.

The Crowd at The Ex (Mosley front & center)

I missed out on Killdozer, but saw the short set played by Jon & Kat (of the Mekons & The Ex respectively). I really wish the Mekons would of played the festival, although Danny Doyle really seems to hate that Jon Langford guy. I pretty much ignored the Didjits and P.W. Long. I wanted to see Negative Approach, but since they were playing on the opposite stage of Scratch Acid I opted to stay there instead. Poor Sally Timms was issued the unflattering task of playing a 15 minute electro-folk set prior to the long awaited Scratch Acid reunion. Danny thought that she should of not giving a shit what the audience thought and just played without constantly referencing the awkwardness of the situation, but I thought she recognized the unfortunate scheduling and was just trying to make things go along as smoothly as possible. ..>

The Scratch Acid set was one of the more anticipated performances of the festival and you could certainly tell by how packed in everyone was for it. Danny was a couple of people in front of me before they came on, but not too long after their set began, so too did the pushing and shoving (I pretty much lost sight of him after the 3^rd or 4^th song). I started off in the middle of the crowd, and the sound seemed really muffled, but by mid-set I had moved towards the left side of the stage (where I met up with Mosley, Brittany, Mary, & Alex) and it sounded much better.

David Yow is a hell of a front man (duh), and John caught one of his beer cans that he kicked into the audience, and he had me take it back to Austin in my suitcase to give to Danny (I think he wanted to save it because it had his DNA on it, so we could clone him in the future and make an army of David Yows like they did with Hitler in the "Boys from Brazil").

Next up was Man...or Astroman?, who were playing on the opposite stage of the reuniting Big Black, so as expected, I didn't watch them. When Big Black came on there was a strange energy in the air ( I wouldn't call it magic exactly, but I certainly felt like I was part of something). Steve Albini lit some tiny firecrackers and tossed them across the stage, they burst and popped in a brief flurry that you could have easily missed if (for some reason) you weren't paying attention. As promised, they only played 4 songs, but thanks once again to the glory of YouTube, you can watch all of them (with pretty decent audio in fact).

..>

Dead Billy

..>

Pigeon Kill

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Cables (this is probably the worst quality of anything I found)

..>

Racer X

Musically for me, the whole weekend peaked with the Shellac performance. After seeing them again, I'm convinced that they are one of the best (if not the best) live bands in the world.

Their Q&A section was hilarious as usual, but even more so thanks to their drummer Todd Trainer's rant about not wanted to be bothered ("Autographs? I love 'em. Photos? I'm a poser. Wanna make out? Fine, just don't fuckin' bother me"). He also gave a heartfelt thanks to Corey, founder of Touch & Go. ..>

Afterwards we all went to a 24 hour diner called The Pick Me Up, it sort of had the ambiance of Star Seeds, but with much much better food.

The next morning we woke up prepared to get more pancakes, which we did once again from The Melrose, this time Alex paid (bless him). It was drizzling, and somehow even though the first band we wanted to see, The Monorchid, wasn't playing until 2:00, we found ourselves running late again. Group Indecisiveness led to Mosley paying $16 dollars for a cab to the festival when there was really no way of us seeing The Monorchid. After we got there we heard that their set was cut short because they blew out 2 speakers. Sunday was filled with a lot of lackluster, interesting but not really that interesting bands. A lot of them were the kind of bands you can see anytime (Quasi, Enon, Pinback etc.) So not having that much interest in the bands coupled with wanting to see some of the city resulted in us detouring from the festival for a few hours and hitting up a bookstore (Myopic Books) and a record store (Reckless Records). When we got back to the festival, there was a rather hilarious interaction that involved Mary insulting Mosley and him responded by throwing his umbrella over his shoulder and saying "I'm Out!" He then walked away leaving us somewhat bewildered. When we went looking for him, Mary, Brittany & I were spinning around in circles trying to spot him when one of them pointed behind me and said "there he is." When I turned around and saw him, for some reason, maybe it was the way he looked at us and sped away coupled with the fact that he was tiptoeing to avoid puddles, or maybe it was his Baby Sasquatch comment earlier in the trip, but I was reminded of this image:

..>

We eventually watched Brick Layer Cake (Todd Trainer's one man band). Afterwards DFD and Mosley managed to get backstage for an hour or so while the rest of us wandered around. Danny & I (maybe John as well, but I'm not sure) were the only ones to watch CocoRosie (Dan watched from backstage). Their set was neat, but I still don't know what I think of them overall.

..>

K-Hole

That night Mosley, Mary, Brittany, & went back to the Pick Me Up and they had milk shakes while I had something called a pizzadilla. While there Mosley got a call from Danny Doyle who informed him of some truly bizarre events that transpired after we left them at the festival. At the end of the festival all the bands got to gather and sang Happy Birthday to the founder of Touch & Go, Corey, and then they all had Birthday cake. Somehow, with Danny and John being backstage (maybe Danny's waiting experience factored in, I don't know), the two of them ending up serving cake to some of their favorite bands.

Here's One of several staged group photos (check out Nick on the end rockin' the 2 beer cans and a cigarette, who does he think he is?)

The next morning Mosley and everyone left before I did. I walked to an IHOP around the corner and met up with Mr. Mark for...pancakes. It was raining and 7:30 in the morning, and our flight wasn't until 1:40. We walked around and slipped into a tea house, read Optic Nerve, and waited for the other Reckless Records to open at 10:00. We spent an hour there and got some good stuff before catching the bus/train to the airport. Our flight got delayed so Mark and I ate at the airport McDonald's. Before that though, I had a strange encounter with one of the guys from the band Calexico, who approached me at the Terminal when he noticed by Touch & Go bag. It was a lengthy and awkward conversation mostly due to the fact that I was trying to avoid the subject of his band.

The flight back was way less stressful, although the final descent seemed to take forever (ear-popping pain) and most of it was spent in the white haze of the clouds. It reminded me of that scene in the movie The Others where Nicole Kidman is walking through the woods and she becomes surrounded by fog and silence.

Well, I guess that's it.

2006-09-14T01:15:00.000-06:00

The end of summer is almost here for those of us who live in Southern Texas. It has it's character, you can see it all around you; the yellow grass, the brown leaves falling from the trees, the dark skin slowly losing it's gold. I look forward to the fall when the sun isn't as hot, people will walk freely in the sunlight, and we will pull out our long sleeves.

Roisin Murphy "Sow into you"
International Pony "Leaving Home" (Akufen remix)
Ultramarine "Saratoga"
D*Note "The Garden Of Earthly Delights"
Jazzanova "What a..."
Heavy "Unbelievable"
The Matthew Herbert Big Band "Everything's changed"

Put these songs on your music player and go for a walk.

---Mr. Mark

2006-08-27T20:18:00.000-06:00

An Emotion Dam

A year and half or so ago, when the new Half Priced Books opened, I spent quite a few hours sitting on the floor digging through their $0.98 Clearance discs. Through this excavation I came across a lot of promo CDs by artists on Mute Records. One of them was by a band from Liverpool known as Mountaineers, a classic example of a band that throws everything at the wall and walks away with a mess on their hands. On their only full length, ironically titled Messy Century, you will find elements of electronic psychedelia, Brit-pop folk, hip hop, and the occasional radio-friendly anthem-esque chorus. Most of these things never really jell. So you might wonder why I would take the time to write about this band, two reasons: their album is in fact interesting and might be more appealing to someone else, and there are 3 really good songs placed back-to-back right in the middle of the album. Not only were these songs good enough for me to hold on to the CD for, but I guess II also thought that they are worth writing about.

I Gotta Sing
Belgique Limb
Want To Write You

-Popkoff

2006-08-22T12:58:00.000-06:00

Writer’s Block

It’s been a while since I’ve posted something new, so today we get two posts in one. First off, they say that downloading music is wrong, but let me present this for your consideration. A month ago I had never heard of Peter Bjorn & John, a Swedish pop rock duo in the same vain as Belle and Sebastian or Camera Obscura. Then I came across the song "Young Folks," on this mp3 blog The Torture Garden, and I loved it. So, I downloaded the whole album, Writer's Block, and surprisingly I loved it as well. So then I looked the CD up on Amazon to see how much it was running there and to my surprise, it’s still not available in America, and the imports are like $25. Long story short, a month ago I had never heard of them, and now I’m chopping at the bit to buy their album at my local record store.

(Right Click, Save Target As)
Objects of My Affection
Young Folks (feat. Victoria Bergsman)
Amsterdam

The second thing on my agenda today is another duo that Peter Bjorn & John remind me of (especially the song Objects of My Affection, which has the same "little drummer boy" quality to the drums), Damon and Naomi, formerly of the popular indie group Galaxie 500.

The Wondrous World of Damon & Naomi was released in 1995 on Sub Pop and is often referred to as "new psych," but it’s really just folky strumming over interesting atomospheric sounds. It’s pretty...like a pony.

(Right Click, Save Target As)
The New Historicism
Tour of the World
Life Will Pass You By
Who Am I

-Popkoff

2006-08-20T21:42:00.000-06:00

Recently, I had the pleasure of visiting New York City. It was everything I expected it to be and more. The absurdness of Times Square, the faded glory and stateliness of Jamaica Queens, the amazing 10 city block flea market in the heart of NYU on Saturdays, vendors with their knock off's and amazing seafood in Chinatown, subways so intricate you wonder where they all go, the grit and history of Christopher Street after dark, the lushness of Central Park, and of course; SOHO, NOHO, Greenwich Village, the East Village, Tribeca, Washington Square Park. I really loved it.
My pictures:

My soundtrack:
Right on for the Darkness - Curtis Mayfield
Could I be falling in love? - Syl Johnson
Whatever U want - J*Davey
Tres Bien - Jazzanova

---Mr. Mark

2006-08-04T03:36:00.000-06:00

"The smoke of my own breath,
Echoes, ripples, buzz'd whispers, love-root, silk-thread, crotch and vine,
My respiration and inspiration, the beating of my heart, the passing
of blood and air through my lungs,
The sniff of green leaves and dry leaves, and of the shore and
dark-color'd sea-rocks, and of hay in the barn,
The sound of the belch'd words of my voice loos'd to the eddies
of the wind,
A few light kisses, a few embraces, a reaching around of arms,
The play of shine and shade on the trees as the supple boughs wag,
The delight alone or in the rush of the streets, or along the fields and hill-sides,
The feeling of health, the full-noon trill, the song of me
rising from bed and meeting the sun." - Walt Whitman

Everything's Changed - The Matthew Herbert Big Band
Aquaworld - Shelby Gaines
So Sound - NB [Neil Badmington]
Whole World - Aloe Blacc

---Mr. Mark

2006-08-01T11:29:00.000-06:00

I'm Just Remembering...

The power of familiarity is often thought of negatively as it relates to music. It's usually the scapegoat that explains why people sometimes listen to bad music, but I think in some cases it can be a positive force. I bought “Bright Flight” by Silver Jews sometime in 2003 while I was employed at CD Warehouse, I would often put it on while working. I remember the initial attraction being the detached slightly ironic vocals and the nonsensical lyrics. It was a bizarre funny album that just made me want to sing along.

When I listened to it again recently for the first time in at least a couple of years, I had a much different attraction to it. It was like I bumped into an old friend by chance, and not only were things not uncomfortable, but they were in fact glorious. The nonsensical lyrics now meant much more and seemed comforting; the ironic vocals were replaced with a genuine bittersweet country sadness. I was taken back to a different time in my life, and more importantly I was reminded of how good that time in my life was. I've spent too much time recently allowing the present to reshape the past.

Time Will Break the World
I Remember Me
Tennessee
Death of an Heir of Sorrows

Drag City Records
-Popkoff

2006-07-22T02:30:00.000-06:00

the history of the beats

the AMEN break
this clip says it all, listen and learn

Here are two examples for you!!
The Winstons "Amen Brother"
J. Majik "Your Sound"

Enjoy!

---Mr. Mark

2006-07-18T12:13:00.000-06:00

You're Born Once Again For Me

So this might seem like an obvious post, but I try to post stuff that is interesting to me at the moment. Recently I’ve begun working on a David Bowie compilation for a friend which has meant that I’ve been listening to a LOT of Bowie. It’s funny how time changes so gradually that you don’t notice when something is completely altered. There was a time a few years ago when I wouldn’t go anywhere without at least one of the 19 Bowie albums I own, and I have often said that he’s definitely in my all-time top 3 solo artists (alongside Morrissey & Tom Waits); all of which I am not nearly as obsessed with as I used to be. My tastes have expanded further and when I hear these records now, it’s like I’m listening to them with new ears. Some things seem better (Diamond Dogs, Low), and some things worse (Aladdin Sane), but it’s all very nostalgic for me, especially "Fantasitc Voyage," which in all honesty might be my favorite Bowie song. So here are some lesser known Bowie tracks that really do mean quite a bit to me.

Quicksand - from "Hunky Dory" (1971)
Letter to Hermione - from "Space Oddity" (1972)
Word on a Wing - from "Station to Station" (1976)
Fantastic Voyage - from "Lodger" (1979)

In my various searches for David Bowie on YouTube I came across these odd clips:

-Popkoff

2006-07-12T12:27:00.000-06:00

Wouldn’t You Miss Me At All?

Syd Barrett has died at the age of 60. The former Pink Floyd co-founder, who it seems is regretfully best known for his widely publicized drug-induced breakdown, died quietly several days ago, (rumored cause of death was either cancer or complications from diabetes). Along with the early Floyd records, Barrett also released two solo albums that are uncomparable, his sound was truly his own. Below are several tracks and a few quality covers. “Dark Globe” is my personal favorite.

Dark Globe
Octopus
Golden Hair
Late Night

from “The Madcap Laughs”

Dolly Rocker
Effervescing Elephant (Take 2)

from “Opel”

A Couple of Bonus Covers:
Golden Hair - Slowdive
Late Night - This Mortal Coil

Here's a link to a nice article on We Shot J.R.

–Popkoff

2006-07-12T05:28:00.000-06:00

sebastien tellier "la ritournelle"

---Mr. Mark

2006-07-08T22:42:00.000-06:00

i cannot wait to see him!
for ricky-enjoy!

from the album "come on feel the illinoise"

come on feel the illinoise

john wayne gacy, jr.

decatur

chicago

the man of metropolis steals our hearts

sufjan stevens home

buy!

---mr. mark

2006-07-02T22:13:00.000-06:00

Ice-Pulse
So i guess in my early twenties i missed a LOT of television. my friend jason suggested we watch a few episodes from the show THE PROFILER which was from 1996 or so. it was suprisingly good and exceptionally well put together. the show had this very odd atmosphere. it was dark, mysterious, yet it had elements of joy and love. it reminded me a lot of the cocteau twins. here is a little treat to tide you over. i will post a much larger post in a few days until then, enjoy these little slices of heaven.

Cocteau Twins
Ice-pulse
Mizake the Mizan
From the Flagstones

purchase more from the Cocteau Twins here.

P.s. thanks for showing me the episodes and thanks for the lasagna!

---Mr. Mark

2006-06-29T21:44:00.000-06:00

...And So Anyway

Recorded in early 2003 by Steve Albini, Icarus by The Forms is quite simply not like any other album I own (believe me, Mr. Mark and I listened to the whole thing today trying to decide who it reminded us of). It clocks in at 10 tracks, a mere 18:20, and it’s not a punk rock album either. In fact it seems to move at a lumbering pace, with thick bass lines chugging away, it pokes and prods the listener with flourishes of drums and bursts of crunchy guitars. The vocals soar somewhere between a yelp and whale, slightly reverbed, and endlessly expressive. Take a listen and if it reminds you of another band, please feel free to let us know. Also, if you like what you hear, you should definitely buy it off of Amazon for $4, I mean $4 people!

Sunday (Part 1)
Seagull
Classical
Stravinsky

Buy It!

Threespheres Records

-Popkoff

2006-06-27T22:17:00.000-06:00

So This Is Goodbye?

junior boys "so this is goodbye" [domino]

new tracks from the new junior boys album arriving instores shortly. these tracks further the duo into electro-pop bliss. this music sounds so effortless and elegant....

---Mr. Mark

2006-06-27T17:50:00.000-06:00

Simply put, this is very amazing. just sit back, pour yourself a drink, and let this take you away. from the full length "in between",

L.O.V.E. and You & I - JAZZANOVA [rope-a-dope/JCR].

---Mr. Mark

2006-06-25T21:35:00.000-06:00

it all began on thursday...

These songs were the soundtrack to a beautiful weekend. now they are yours...

"thursday" Steve Spacek
"talking eyes" Pamela Beatty
"oh yeah, yeah, yeah" Vivian Carrol
"let nobody love you" Virginia Blakely
"try my love" Toni & the Showmen

---Mr. Mark

2006-06-21T17:38:00.000-06:00

Try a little Adventure.
So I had lunch with an old friend today who works in South Austin, a part of town I do not frequent as much anymore. After lunch I went to Half Price Books, stood outside next to the Clearance racks waiting for the rain to yield, and then went to the nearby Goodwill. While there I purchased some $0.99 vinyl, Grace Jones’ “Nightclubbing” for Mr. Mark, Ian Dury’s “Laughter,” and this little gem:

The follow-up to Television’s fondly-reflected-upon debut “Marquee Moon,” “Adventure” seems destined to forever be overshadowed by it’s predecessor, which makes sense considering it lacks the prominent riffs and guitar solos so often associated with them. It’s also a somewhat softer record, but I believe it to be a stronger one, due in part to the epic soothing sweep (especially from the keyboards) on songs like “Carried Away” and “The Fire.” The album in a lot of ways seems more earnest than “Marquee Moon” and it lacks the New York attitude that record has, which I find interesting since I think singer Tom Verlane’s voice often echos that of Lou Reed's, especially here on the song “Glory.” I guess overall, I just think “Adventure” is a more solid effort, the second half of “Marquee Moon” always seemed to drag to me. I think I’m done now. Enjoy.

Glory
Days
Carried Away
The Fire

Buy It!

--Popkoff

2006-06-18T22:05:00.000-06:00

"Love taught me who was, who was the BOSS!"

Recently, I have been into seventies r&b/soul/jazz/funk. My fascination began with two people; my Mom and Louie Vega.

Growing up in a rural smalltown, my mom was quite sophisticated. She ALWAYS had music on in the background. The music, though, was always urban. Funk/Disco/R&B were staples in the car [8 track of the Spinners anyone?], her workshop, and in the gameroom. I remember her hating Diana Ross [so "conceited"] and LOVING Donna Summer ["That my JAM!"]. I remember the Salsoul Orchestra, Sylvester, Lou Rawls, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder....The thump of the bass drum was omnipresent. Little did she know what she was playing would have a profound effect on me.

As part of the DJ/Produciton team MASTERS AT WORK, Louie Vega spins the vibe of the Disco era with the new music steeped in the spirit of the seventies. Three years ago while downloading music I came across a DJ set by Louie at the Winter Music conference. He played "Love hangover", "Another star", and "Is it all over my face". Hearing these songs again presented in the modern context of a house set blew me away. Not only was he paying homage to the influences he had, he was also showing the relevence the music STILL had on modern dance music.

My obsession to find these tracks was born. In a way, hearing this music takes me back to that golden age of my childhood...and the arrangements-AMAZING! All this being said, I recently had the pleasure of meeting a new friend who was also obsessive about this "vibe". These songs are for you.

"The Boss" (Masters At Work Remix) - The Braxtons [Diana Ross cover]
"Like a Butterfly" - Masters At Work featuring Patti Austin
"Feelin' Love" - Hott City

---Mr. Mark

2006-06-13T21:24:00.000-06:00

The sounds of summer

After a short haitus here at OPEN HOUSE, we are back and better than ever.
News about us-in no particular order:

The summer begins like all summers-with a change: the heat seeping into everything, the warm evenings with clear skies, new music to listen to, dinners with old friends, and new faces to meet.
We have recently moved into a wonderful new neighborhood in our wonderful city of Austin, Texas. What a lovely place to live!
Snow cones, I am certain that the Raspa Snow Cones on Anderson is THE best place in the city, but Mr. Popkoff disagrees. I shall try the competition on Guadalupe this Thursday.
Whatever happens-don't forget the sunscreen!

A few weeks ago we dined with our friend Mr. Chris Mosely. We chatted about dancing to soul and funk. These songs are my current favorites. Enjoy!

"Dollar" Steve Spacek [sound in colour]

"Don't joke with a hungry man" Quantic [tru thoughts]

"nervous like me" the Dap Kings [kay dee records]

"24 Carat Black Theme" 24 Carat Black [enterprise]

"A Rae" Joao Donato [EMI-odeon]

and last but not least, Welcome home Daniel Francis Doyle!

---Mr. Mark

2006-06-13T12:21:00.000-06:00

The Sounds of (ESP) Summer

A big BIG thanks to Mr. Mark for introducing me to this album oh so long ago. ESP Summer was a one time studio project featuring Warren Defever of His Name Is Alive and Ian Master of the Pale Saints. Originally distributed in 1994 in very limited numbers on cassette, it eventually found it’s way on to CD in a slightly bigger, but still limited release.

The album’s complete lack of drums (there’s some tambourine percussion on "Sticky Sun") creates the illusion of sparseness throughout, but if you give it one listen on headphones it becomes apparent that there is a lot more going on, namely a lot of electronic noodling. The airy vocals and folksy experimental structures make it quite an interesting listen recalling everything from Stars to Sun Kill Moon to even Radiohead ("More Water," at least for me).

I had a hard time narrowing down the tracks I wanted to post, so I went ahead and posted the first 5, I figure this one is going to be hard to come by anyways.

Sticky Sun
Web of Dreams
Great Eye is Simple Eye
More Water
Golden Heart of the Year

Buy It!

Time Stereo

Bonus His Name Is Alive track (for Daniel Francis Doyle, who returns home today from his 6 week tour)

This World is Not My Home

-Popkoff

2006-05-23T01:36:00.000-06:00

Ah, Warmth through electricity...

So Mr. Mark and I have both had a bit of a dry spell with the blog posting and whatnot, due mostly to the fact that we’ve been stressing out about finding a new place to live. We’ve signed the lease, so it’s time to get back to business. So far, I’ve posted a lot of rock music, so for a change of pace, let’s try some electro-pop. Admittedly, nowadays I really have to be in a certain mood to listen to stuff like this, but when I’m in that mood, this is what I bask in.

Art of Noise – II Pleure (At The Turn of the Century) (From the album The Seduction of Claude Debussy)
Jackson & His Computer Band – Utopia (From the album Smash)
Fischerspooner – Never Win (From the album Odyssey)
Boom Bip – The Move (From the album Blue Eyed in the Red Room)
Nobody – The Porpoise Song (From the album Pacific Drift: Western Water Music Vol.1)
Daedelus – Something Bells (From the album Daedelus of Snowdonia)
Koushik – Be With (From the album Be With)
Felix Laband – Miss Teardrop (From the album Dark Days Exit)
The Go Find – What I Want (From the album Miami)
Hood – The Lost You (From the album Outside Closer)

For starters, putting Art of Noise on here was sort of a risky proposition considering they’re best known for their remix of the Peter Gunn theme, but I didn’t know that when listened to this CD at a Borders in 1999. The album that this song comes from is a hotchpotch of classical music, opera, drum n’ bass, and some truly awful stabs and hip hop, plus it has John Hurt narrating it throughout. Granted they have a rather gimmicky and dated sound, but this still holds a special place in my heart. Warp Records is the home of Jackson & His Computer Band, which is a bit more glitchy sounding than most of the stuff I like, but I really do enjoy the theatrical feel of the "Utopia" refrain. What can I really say about Fischerspooner other than they’re really serious about being cheesy, they’re an absolute blast "live" and Odyssey is a far more cohesive and polished follow-up to #1. This Boom Bip track just sounds so effortless, don’t you think? You should also check this CD out for the song The Matter (Of Our Discussion) featuring Nina Nastasia on vocals, it’s very nihilistic and kind of bittersweet at the same time (I don’t really understand how that happens). The Porpoise Song is a Monkees cover and really reminds me of what an electronic version of Elliott Smith might sound like. This CD was stuck in my car stereo for over 6 months, and I still like it! Something Bells, the beginning of this song always makes me think of Charlie’s Angels for some reason. Be With, whoever I date next should be forewarned, I’m probably going to try to make out with you to this song, sorry. Miss Teardrop, so back when I posted stuff by that band Oxford Collapse, I quipped at the end about not reading promotional liner notes anymore (because they’re misleading), well in the case of Felix Laband, the quotes on the promo package actually discouraged me from listening to it. Seriously, this stuff is laughably pretentious: Richard Dorfmeister (K & D) says "Miss Teardrop is a sublime brill supertune. Sneaking carefully into your ears and remaining there for a long time." Martin Gretschmann (the Notwist) says that the album is "the soundtrack for sensitive people’s lives – very recommendable." Peter Kruder (K & D) calls it "an inspired and deep album of esoteric kindness and warm technology! Had a very sensual evening with this record." Very sensual indeed. The Go Find album was a pleasant surprise when I came across it a few years ago, it’s still surprising to me that it never really caught on, hipster girls usually love shit like this. I really really like the band Hood, they’re from Leeds, England and they’ve struck quite a balance between droney guitar rock and electronic experimentation, and they seem to be getting better with every album.

So there’s that, enjoy and please...
forgive our hiatus,

-Popkoff

2006-05-13T12:49:00.000-06:00

How Insensitive

How insensitive . . . I must have seemed
when she told me that she loved me . . .
how unmoved an' cold . . . I must have seemed
when she told me so sincerely . . .
Why . . . she must have asked
do I just turn an' stare in icy silence?
What was I to say . . .
what can you say when a love affair is over?

Now, she's gone away
and I'm alone with a memory of her last look . . .
vague an' drawn an' sad . . . I see it still
all her heartbreak in that last look . . .
How . . . she must have asked
could I just turn an' stare in icy silence?
What was I to do . . .
what can one do when a love affair is over?
What can you do
when a love affair is over?
It's over . . .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
purchase it here.

2006-05-08T00:12:00.000-06:00

Who Can Do It? I Can.

Friday I went to Half Priced Books with Mr. Mark and found a few things that I would like to share. First of all, I bought Claudine Longet’s "Love is Blue" on vinyl for $0.98. Several years ago a friend showed me Blake Edward’s "The Party" starring Peter Sellers and featuring Claudine.

I was blown away by how stunning she was, and her performance of "Nothing to Lose" is probably my favorite scene in the whole movie. This album is only available on CD imported which seems to run around $45, so below I provided a link to more modestly priced best of comp.

Love is Blue

Buy It!

Secondly I purchased a Rainbow Quartz Label Sampler from 2004. They are self-described as "your source for perfect guitar pop." The label seems to mostly specialize in 60's influenced pop and they are currently the home of Outrageous Cherry, who I posted about in April. Here are a few choice cuts.

Denise James – Come Home To Me (From the album It’s Not Enough To Love)
The Telepathic Butterflies – Four Leaf Clover ( From the album Songs From a Second Wave)
The Jessica Fletchers – (Come On) It’s Only Nine (From the album What Happened to the?)

Another band that was on the album sampler was Rockfour, a catchy and strange pop rock band from Israel. I stumbled across an album of their’s a few years ago called "Nationwide," it’s quite good, especially the song "Candlelight."

Nationwide
Candlelight
To The End

Buy It!

And lastly...

...as many of my close friends already know, I sometimes tend to enjoy bad movies, mostly of the horror/exploitation genres. Occasionally in the past I’ve purchased movies based completely on the prospect of them being awfully awfully bad, so bad that I felt compelled to see them. For the first time that I can recall, a similar thing happened to me while I was CD shopping, I bought a CD based on the packaging, not because I thought it was going to be good, but because I suspected it was going to be so bad, I couldn’t pass it up (it helped that it was only $0.98). The album in question is by Rick Hubbard, a "children’s" musician, and it’s called "Who Can Do It? I Can." Was it worth it? You tell me

Who Can Do It? I Can

www.kazoobie.com

Weird Al & Rick Hubbard at the World’s Largest Kazoo Band and Chicken Dance 1999 (I always knew I was missing out on a scene somewhere).

-Popkoff

2006-05-07T15:54:00.000-06:00

The wonderful world of SA-RA

Pronounced "Sah-Rah", O’Mas Keith, Taz Arnold, and Shafiq Husayn comprise the partnership and their name translates to "the off-spring of the most powerful energy in the universe”. They have already lent their sound to the likes of Common, Pharoahe Munch, Bilal, N.E.R.D., Jurassic 5, and Erykah Badu.

The group recently signed to Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music label through Sony and are finishing their debut album due late spring 2006.

Their fusion of musical styles and elements is refreshing and they have a unique twist to the modern R&B sound. The basics of their compositions are all hip-hop, funk, soul, and electro, but the outcome is altogether different.
Enjoy.

Rosebuds
Nasty You
Second Time Around
Deep Inside-Platinum Pied Pipers [featuring SA-RA]
Too Cold-Roots Manuva [remix by SA-RA]

Purchase more music from SA-RA HERE and HERE.

Official Site HERE
Look for their album to drop soon on G.O.O.D. Music.

---Mr. Mark

2006-05-03T08:57:00.000-06:00

Rare Groove

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rare groove is an umbrella term that refers to relatively obscure funk and soul tracks from the 1970s. Originally coined by Kiss FM DJ Norman Jay in 1985 through his show The Original Rare Groove Show, 'rare groove' tracks have been influential on the musical genres of hip hop, techno, house, breakbeat, jungle and others.

~~
In the past few years, I have become increasingly enamored by rare groove tracks. No amount of my praising "the sound" can make you understand it's influence on modern music.
if you find that you are feeling these tracks please visit the places that promote the sound and keep the information available.

Straight No Chaser [the bible]
Worldwide with Gilles Peterson [a weekly 1xtra show-total class]
Wax Poetics [more information than you could have ever known]

~~
Jennifer Lara "I am in love"
Ethal Beatty "It's your love"
Limiko Kasai with Herbie Hancock "Butterfly"
Leroy Hutson "Lucky fellow"
Thelma Houston "Saturday night, Sunday morning"
Cesar Mariano & CIA "Metropole"

This post would not be possible without the great advice of Mr. Chris Mosely, to you I give greetings and immeasurable thanks.

---Mr. Mark

2006-04-30T14:55:00.000-06:00

A Good Ground

Playful? Yes. Danceable? Yes. Yelping? Yes. Sing Along Choruses? Yes. Brooklyn? Yes. Fidgety? Yes. Good? Surprisingly, Yes. Sonic Youth? No. Mission of Burma? No. Wire? No. Oxford Collapse? Yes.

I must stop reading promotional liner notes.

Prop Cars
Last American Virgin
The Boys Go Home

Kanine Records

Buy It!

2006-04-25T19:46:00.000-06:00

The Wedding Present
from the album "Hit Parade 1" [RCA]

"Blue Eyes"

I don't think I've ever mentioned this before
But I couldn't possibly love you any more
Oh it's been ages
Let's not do that again

I think you said that when you wrote to me
I'm not as certain as I ought to be
I lost the pages
It didn't seem to matter then

There's a lot of things I should have kept
But there was so much I could not accept

I watched some film round Alexandra's place
But I kept seeing your blue eyes in her face
I tried to call you
But you must have left by then

And you know that stuff about your being here
I changed my mind, no, I just want you near
I don't have to own you
I just want you home again

There's a lot of things I used to say
But that all changes from today
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

other songs from The Wedding Present's "Hit Parade 1"

Three
Come Play With Me

Buy it here

---Mr. Mark

2006-04-25T18:00:00.000-06:00

If You Were That Way Now I Think I’d Love You More

Short and sweet (emphasis on the sweet) today: Toothpaste 2000 basically has 2 types of songs, simplistic, straight-forward, driving pop rock (male vocals) or sugary sweet, girl-group-influenced low-fi pop (female vocals). These tracks come from their 2000 release "Va Va Voom!"

Spacecat
Schoolgirl Affection
I’m in Love With Who You Used to Be
Va Va Voom

Parasol Records

Buy It!

–Popkoff

2006-04-23T12:52:00.000-06:00

Before I Turned Inwards

A few years ago, while scavenging for music in the dollar bins, I stumbled across this album by Gravenhurst, "Flashlight Seasons." I initially bought it based on the fact that it was on Warp records, but I was disappointed to find that it was not some glitchy electronic record, but rather a sad whiny British acoustic album. I quickly removed from my cd player and literally tossed into my backseat where it disappeared in the haze of newspapers and trash. Quite some time passed before it was excavated from the backseat and placed back into my cd player again, but oh what a different experience.

I hate writing about acoustic music because I’m always tempted to use cliches like "delicate" or "introspective." I’ll keep it simple, I really like these songs. Listen to them, and tell me what you think.

Damage
Damage II
The Ice Tree

Warp Records
Buy It!

-Popkoff

2006-04-18T14:57:00.000-06:00

The Strategy Unfolding

Outrageous Cherry’s name sounds like a hair metal band from the 80's, but rest assured they are a contemporary band that makes some very solid pop music. Hailing from the traditionally non-pop city of Detroit, the band plays a jangle-heavy mix of sunshine 60's pop and reverb laden 70's stoner rock with more emphasis on the former. If you like this, you should buy it off of Amazon, a used copy is like $3.00.

Where Do I Go When You Dream?
Eclipsed
Tracy
A Bad Movie

Del-Fi Records

Buy It!

-Popkoff

2006-04-18T11:14:00.000-06:00

"When the evening paints the streets...."

I am going to keep this short and sweet.
I enjoy music with lots of delay and tons of reverb. These are some of my favorite songs.

P.S. Explore the world of music...get out and visit your local record store today!

The tunes:
She Bangs the Drums - Stone Roses
She's So High - Blur
Since K Got Over Me - The Clientele
A Man called Sun - Verve
Treasure - Chapterhouse
Alison - Slowdive
Gone World Gone - the Kitchens of Distinction
Bill and Ben - The Catherine Wheel
Baby Blue Eyes - Dennis Wilson
How to tie a tie - the Lucksmiths
Under the Milky Way - The Church

--Mr. Mark

2006-04-15T10:21:00.000-06:00

Driving Through the Mountains Listening to a Song

So Hudson Bell crept onto my radar about a month ago and they have remained firmly planted there based entirely on the strength of one song, "Slow Burn." They’re on Monitor Records, which is a label that is endearing itself to me more and more as time passes, and they make the kind of layered sprawling pop rock that instantly worms it’s way into your heart. I highly recommend checking out their debut "When the Sun is the Moon."

Slow Burn
The Falls

Monitor Records

Buy It!

Also, I wanted to post a couple songs by the band Shooting At Unarmed Men.

The main draw to them for me is that they feature former Mclusky guitarist Jon Chapple. Admittedly the band’s sound is far different from that of Mclusky’s and certainly not as instantly gratifying, but I do see the potential for this album to become a future favorite of mine. The songs themselves seem sort of subdued on record, but structurally tight. Given their strong rhythms and rousing sing-along-type choruses, I suspect that the songs will really flesh out more live. A couple other things to note; the liner notes omit the band member’s names and simply offer the phrase "those who need to be thanked will be thanked in person."

No-One Can Waltz
The Pink Ink

Too Pure Records

Buy It!

Plus, here is one of my favorite Mclusky tracks.

You Should Be Ashamed, Seamus

Too Pure Records

-Popkoff

2006-04-12T21:59:00.000-06:00

All the Flowers Can’t be Wrong

Hailing from San Francisco, the band known as Young People bring a strange mixture of noise-rock, country twang, and dare I say...Broadway to their sophomore effort "War Prayers." On this album the band strings together tiny and eclectic bursts of style to form one and a half minute long opuses, all the while anchored by the simultaneously awkward and fascinatingly booming voice of Katie Eastburn.

These songs are all at once abrasive, theatrical, heartfelt, surprising, and playful. If you don’t like the first 30 seconds, stick around, it will change.

Ask the Dust
Dutch Oven
The Lord
The Night of the Hunter

–Popkoff

2006-04-11T20:03:00.000-06:00

Two Sick Sisters

Today's tunes come from the early '90's. The distinct wonder of the Pale Saints wasn't the pretty vocals or the polished guitars, that often lumped them into the shoegazer niche of the time. Rather, it was the odd use of pop structures and the ability to change tempo and chords in the middle of songs. Ian Masters and Meriel Barham [the original vocalist from Lush] often sang in a fey ethereal voice that was just icing on the layers of guitars and keyboards.

4 songs from two EP's:

Half-life EP
Half-life, remembered
Baby Maker

Flesh Ballon EP
Hunted
Kinky Love

---Mr. Mark

2006-04-10T19:18:00.000-06:00

the scene that celebrates itself

"Not since The Jesus and Mary Chain has there been a debut of such glowing, commanding beauty. It's so assured it really doesn't sound like a debut at all. Moose have a fierceness and urgency that belies their loveliness. Trust me, they're a band you could learn to love a lot...." Melody Maker, March 9, 1991

"Sonny and Sam" by Moose is an older EP that is definitely worth your time and effort to find. the guitar work and the arrangements are simply gorgeous. i found videos on youtube for a visual.

enjoy.

jack
butterfly collector
last night i fell again

---Mr. Mark

2006-04-09T00:01:00.000-06:00

Can We Ever Make It Right?

Starflyer 59 is playing tonight at the Parish, so I decided to go ahead and do a post about their last album, "Talking Voice Vs. Singing Voice.".

I hate to say that I’m a newcomer to Starflyer 59, but I didn’t really get into them until this record. The thing that struck me the most about these songs was the lushness of the guitars and the effortlessly poppy structures.

The Contest Completed
Good Sons
Longest Line

Check ‘em out tonight.
$10, doors at 9:00, music at 10:00.

-Popkoff