unpiano: music

//photo by jason fisher

Eat Skull dropped a new one and wow is it the hottest 80s New Zealand underground pop record to not come out of of New Zealand and not be from the 80s. What a fucking lovely trainwreck this band is. The whole LP is marvelous but worth it for this track alone.

Eat Skull – Heaven’s Stranger

I saw the movie Reprise a while back and was really impressed with the soundtrack. In addition to a number of great bands selected to appear, it also manufactured some bands just for the movie which were composed of famous Norwegian musicians and fronted by the film’s actors. Fictional 1990’s punk band Kommune, which performed in the film had it’s songs written by Knut Schreiner of Turbonegro and Euroboys and guitarist Andreas Tylden appeared in the other fictional band, Mondo Topless. The rest of the soundtrack was done by Norwegian composer Ola Fløttum who also makes some great music under the name The White Birch. My only regret is that I had to spend $40 on a CD of the soundtrack and have it shipped from Norway. Jesus, can we not get any distribution here or at least can Norwegians learn how to upload music like the rest of us?

Kommune – Fingerpult av Gerhardsen
The Jam – Set the House Ablaze
Serena Maneesh – Behiver II
Mondo Topless – Crash into the Unknown
Joy Division – New Dawn Fades
Z-Off – Hurra for Norge
Elektrisk regn – Naboen er nynazist

Bonus:
Ola Fløttum – Kari og Philips tema

Another pull from my inbox the other day was this track off the new K-OS album. I sort of played this Canadian rapper off a while back because I didn’t like how he jacked this beat from one of my favorite songs. Back when I used to play house records more often, one of my favorite records was Soho’s ‘Hot Music’ (which still stands on it’s one ten years later). One day I heard this song with someone rapping over it and next thing you know people were acting like he produced it or something. I wasn’t feeling it and filed him under the same title I reserved for other producers who couldn’t be bothered to break a beat. Anyways, I may have to retract that statement a bit because I actually like this new track and a couple of others that jumped out when I went looking. His voice is still a bit nasaly, and his videos are dumb but fuck it.. can’t win them all.

K-OS – 4321
K-OS – Rise Like The Sun

Bonus:
K-OS – Superstarr, Pt. 0

EDIT: I’m second-guessing myself big time on this one. Does this sound just like the Black-Eyed Peas? Fuck, I must be getting old.

//photo by chaz bundick <-- click above and check out his other great photos.

Sometimes I get bummed out on my submissions inbox because it gets flooded with record label garbage and street team mailers. It’s almost like music blogs are the new telephone polls, and people send you emails the same way they used to put up a poster on every pole in the city. So anyways, sometimes it takes me a while to go through it and recently as I was deleting things left and right, I came across some mp3s from Toro Y Moi (aka South Carolina’s Chaz Bundick). Every song is like wading into a warm, dirty, washed-out, lo-fi paradise and the best part is the songs are sort of indescribable as they run through a procession of genres. You may get caught up in Ariel Pink comparisons, but then try to explain yourself after you hear the house beat and bass line on the next track. I mostly posted the least electronic stuff here for consistency, but all of them are worth a listen (check the compression-crazy track ‘Talamak’). Also if you want to go overboard on the electronic side, go for a visit with his house music side project Les Sins.

Toro Y Moi – 109
Toro Y Moi – Take the L to Eave
Toro Y Moi – Drive South

Jay Howell made a mix over at The World’s Best Ever last month and I finally got a chance to give it a listen. It’s super good and while I was listening to it, the thought dawned on me that Jay will never ever run out of amazing old indie-rock songs (because he’s really old and owned them all on cassette). Anyways, click on the link above and get it for yourself or if that seems like too big of a deal for you, check out my three favorite songs below.

Kleenex Girl Wonder – Tendency Right Foot Forward
The Bats – Block of Wood
The Chills – Pink Frost

Bonus:
The Chills – Pink Frost live (video)

This hot hot hot re-working of 80’s NYC post-punk legends Bush Tetras ended up on mix CDR that was going around. As if the original wasn’t already a dance party winner, this version is perfect for summertime basement rave-ups in 100 degree weather.

Bush Tetras – Snakes Crawl (Burgler Tom Edit)

Playing records with Jay Howell for our annual Tuff Town party time. I was just in Arizona and I’m hella tan. Come see the magic!

TUFF TOWN
at The Attic
24/Mission St
10pm-2am

I went on a The Feelies kick about a month ago and this later track off Time For A Witness ended up on repeat for a good chunk of time. The New Jersey based four-(and sometimes five)-some started in the mid-70’s and honed their jangle-pop over the next two decades, spreading their influence from early indierock-dom to R.E.M. Of course eveyone’s going point to their early stuff on Stiff and Rough Trade as the “must own” part of their catalog, but I’m glad I didn’t pass up this last-gasp from 1991.

The Feelies – Sooner Or Later

Last time I was out record shopping, I picked up a Grizzly Bear 7″ that happened to have two of my favorite songs on it. I played it all week and then filed it away not thinking about it much. Well, apparently it was a huge deal that I found it at all since they were super limited and are selling for a ton on ebay already. Anyways, it appears that I do things right every now and then. The 7″ features a couple songs (which I may or may not have posted here before) from their performance on KCRW last year and are arguably better than the original as they sound a bit softer.

Grizzly Bear – While You Wait For The Others (live on KCRW)
Grizzly Bear – He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss) (live on KCRW)

This may seem like a weird way to start posting again after a brief break, but what can I say. if you want consistency go to Pitchfork or something. A friend of mine reminded me of this song when she posted this on her a blog a while back and I’ve been playing it once a week ever since. Vocalist/cab driver Q Lazarus was always pretty shrouded in mystery and getting a hold of a good photo of her didn’t work out so well (during my five minute internet search) hence the photo above. If you have a second you can read more about her here or just click on the photo (wish I could find a credit) and watch the clip..

Q Lazarus – Goodbye Horses