unpiano: music

It just got hot here in the Bay Area (74 degrees.. what?) and that means windows down and seatbacks low. I hate that I love that new Diddy song, but it’s got synths and I’m a sucker for stuff like that. Everything is going great until he makes that weird phone call at the end. What’s up with that and have you seen his youtube videos lately? Dude is crazy. I also reached back and grabbed some Juvenile because I heard it the other day and forgot what a great song it is. Also, some Mims and Rich Boy for good measure because they make they make my front speakers hiccup.

Diddy feat. Keyshia Cole - Last Night
Juvenile - Slow Motion
Mims - This Is Why I’m Hot
Rich Boy - Throw Some D’s (Remix)

I have a lot of favorites, but the one that I use as a gold standard for a great pop LP is Bust ‘em Green by Henry’s Dress. Somehow this San Francisco by-way-of Albuquerque three-piece brought together everything I like from the last 40 years of rock - crackling distortion, boy/girl vocals, quick catchy songs, a little bit of punk, a little bit of mod - and created one of my favorite LP treasures of the 90’s.

I had picked up their split 7″ with Tiger Trap and a few other Slumberland singles on a whim while shopping at Mod Lang around 1993, gave it a half-assed listen and shelved it without thinking much of it. Luckily I caught them at a basement show in Davis a couple months later and was reminded that I need to get my ass home and listen to that record a few hundred times. How I could have slept on that, I still don’t know, but their 1st and only LP came out a year later I just about lost my mind over it. Members went on to a handful of equally great projects - The Aislers Set, The Coachwhips, The How, Sic Alps, Go Sailor and a bunch more.

Henry’s Dress - Winter ‘94
Henry’s Dress - Get Yourself Together

This Ratatat remixes album is kind of killing it for me (in a good way). I know this is old, but sometimes I’m a little slow on the draw so this post is for all of the people like me who find about things after the fact. I don’t know where you can buy it since I’ve never seen it sold anywhere and I don’t even know if it is official or not, but you can grab it from the interweb I think. There are a bunch of bangers on here but the real gems are the Ghostface and Jada track ‘Run’ and Missy’s ‘Hot’. Both track sort of melt my tape deck (yes I still have a tape deck in my car). I think this album works because Ratatat’s music is normaly so easy to have blend in the background, but with some vocals it comes alive a little.

Ghostface and Jadakiss - Run (Ratatat remix)
Missy Elliot - Hot (Ratatat remix)
Kanye West - Get Em High (Ratatat remix)

Leslie Feist is another one of those vocalists I was referring to when I was writing the Emily Haines post. A singer who never bores you and uses her voice like an instrument, taking it to places that are unexpected. Also like Emily, she has collaborated with Broken Social Scene and bunch of other Canadian bands (is Canada the new UK for bands or what?). Anyways, her new album The Reminder is super good and has both rockers as well as songs that will have you drifting off to sleep. I also posted the video for ‘1234′. It’s my new favorite video and I think I’ve maybe watched it 1,234 times.

Feist - My Moon My Man
Feist - 1234

Watch the video

Bonus:
Feist - My Moon My Man (Boys Noize remix)

Mark Edwards began recording under the moniker My Dad Is Dead in Cleveland Ohio during the mid-eighties and to this day, continues to produce deranged pop records with a rotating cast of players. On record, MDID come off like an American cousin to a lot of Factory Records bands, but with the roomy, rhythm heavy production that has become the watermark of Midwestern post-rock. Something makes me think there’s a little MDID influence on a lot of DC bands from a few years later, especially Unrest and their compatriots. Across the pond, later Wedding Present shares a lot of similarities too. What is it about Ohio that makes it the undisputed noise-rock capitol of America anyway? There’s a hefty dose of arty noise-rock dating back to the early 80’s throughout the midwest, but the Buckeye State has almost seamlessly produced a seemingly never ending undercurrent of weird art-punk that’s stretched from the 80’s to present day (see Times New Viking write-up below). MDID is an early Ohio favorite of mine and if you can track down the early Homestead releases (all OOP) you’re stoked. Most of the MP3s are available for free of their site, but their early 90’s output on the famed SCAT label is amazing as well and worth looking for.

My Dad Is Dead - Baby’s Got A Problem
My Dad Is Dead - It’s Not What You Said
My Dad Is Dead - The Big Picture

Bonus: Jesse’s picks
My Dad Is Dead - Boundries
My Dad Is Dead - Nothing Special

I guess it was only a matter of time before someone looped up Peter Bjorn and John’s Amsterdam and started blazing in it. There might be others now, but Brooklyn’s Spec Boogie was the one to scoop it first. The loop is off tempo and that bugs me as a nerd, but maybe it makes it better, I dunno.. I like his super depressing verses though. They are a good fit for a beat like this one that makes you feel like dragging your feet anyway. I’m feeling lyrics like this: “I told her give it up, but she said she ain’t a quitter.”

Peter Bjorn and John ft. Spec Boogie - Amsterdam (Loosie remix)

I’m not really sure why I’m posting Sea Wolf. They are pretty derivative of everyone else (Postal Service, The Shins, Arcade Fire - speaking contemporarily) and I’ll probably hate it tomorrow. I guess their only saving grace is that they put on a pretty decent love show. I saw them a couple of nights ago for when I was selling posters for a friend at The Independent. They were opening for some horrible band that I won’t even mention, and I thought the night was going to be really really long. However, when they got on stage they were great and even though the songs sounded like everyone else’s, for some reason I didn’t mind. Anyways, you can listen and decide on your own. Oh also, for some reason after I got wasted at the show I kept getting the name wrong and telling their manager how much I loved “Sea Monkeys” (fuck bands with the word “wolf” anyway). Oops.

Sea Wolf - You’re a Wolf
Sea Wolf - Middle Distance Runner

A while back (like Thanksgiving 2005 or something) several members of the Wu-Tang Clan preformed live on XM Satellite radio using a backing band. The band was The El Michels Affair, a funk band from Brooklyn who before backing for Wu-Tang, had been putting out some hot records for a minute. Anyways, the XM Radio thing went so well (the show is pretty sick) that The El Michels Affair started making more Wu-Tang related records. With the RZA’s approval they made 4 cover songs, released on two separate 7 inches, of classic Wu-Tang joints. Mind you these are not covers of the original sample sources, but covers of the Wu-Tang records that sampled them. I tracked down the XM Radio recording, but I forgot about it and have been sitting on it for a couple of months (sorry). I’ll try and post their C.R.E.A.M. cover as soon as I get a chance.

Wu-Tang w/ The El Michels Affair - Duel of the Iron Mic
Wu-Tang w/ The El Michels Affair - Glaciers of Ice
Wu-Tang w/ The El Michels Affair - Criminology
Wu-Tang w/ The El Michaels Affair - Uzi (Pinky Ring)

Bonus
El Michels Affair - C.R.E.A.M.

My friend introduced me to this band last year when he started emailing me once every two days to say “I ordered you a great record, but it’s still not out yet”. About a month later he showed up at my work and said “I ordered you a great record and it’s still not out yet, but I found a weird version of it in the used bin at Amoeba and here it is”. He had somehow found a limited all black (black print on black jacket) version of Times New Viking’s Dig Yourself LP on the newly revived and always legendary Siltbreeze label, and for some weird reason didn’t keep it for himself. Sucker. I had that thing bouncing off the turntable at full volume for a month straight. Blistering lo-fi, no-fi punkish art pop - the very thing that made d.i.y. indierock fun in the late 80s/early 90s. They just signed to Matador so scoop up these first releases while they’re still in print.

Times New Viking - Not High
Times New Viking - Natural Resources, I Love Mine

The new Blonde Redhead is pretty cinematic. Sweeping strings and electronic ballads make it seem like a movie soundtrack or a rock opera (remember those?). We when heard it in the record store the other day, Jay said it sounded like the Neverending Story soundtrack. Either way, I kind of like it. It’s good driving music and there are a couple of tracks I’m going to try and play out next time - I’ll let you know how it goes.

Blonde Redhead - Top Ranking
Blonde Redhead - Dr Strangelove
Blonde Redhead - Spring And By Summer Fall