Archive for December, 2008

« Previous Entries

Milk N’ Cookies

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008
milkncookies1_web.jpg Playing squeeky clean, suburban teen power-pop in 1970's Long Island, Milk N' Cookies pretty much went nowhere despite sharing a manager with Sparks & glam act The Jook, a bass player with Roxy Music, and producer Muff Winwood (yeah, Steve's brother who produced all the good Sparks records). Oh well, they still put together one good record in '77 that walks a thin, sugar-coated line between the New York Dolls and the Archies. Milk N' Cookies - Tinkertoy Tomorrow Milk N' Cookies - (Dee Dee You're) Stuck On A Star Milk N' Cookies - Not Enough Girls (In The World)

Posted in Pop, Rock | No Comments »

Unpiano vs. H.H.S.A II

Saturday, December 27th, 2008
Podcast Did another podcast with Adam from Hammer Head Shark Attack where we trade off songs. These mixes just keep getting better and better, so stoked. You can click here to download it or click here to load the xml and subscribe. Thanks again to Fecal Face Dot Com for hosting this special holiday edition.

Posted in Podcasts | No Comments »

Johnny Mercer and Margaret Whiting

Wednesday, December 24th, 2008
245.jpg Happy Holidays.. This is all I want to listen to during Decemeber. It cancels out all that crappy Christmas music and sounds like a crackling fireplace. Hope you're somewhere warm tonight. Johnny Mercer and Margaret Whiting - Baby It's Cold Outside

Posted in Ballads, Holidays, Jazz | 1 Comment »

Vetiver

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008
vetiver_info_pic.jpg I've never given Vetiver much thought. Despite the band's pedigree, I sort of shrugged them off, never feeling they produced anything worth getting excited about (or even remotely interested in). This new E.P. is a little different, and besides the fact that the rest of the songs are a dead-ringer for Grateful Dead out-takes, this little Byrd's sounding jam has been on repeat for the last couple of weeks. Sure, the Elephant 6 clan and their ilk kind of did this to death in the later 90's, this would have been a standout track for that era. Better late than never. Vetiver - See You Tonight

Posted in Indie Rock, Pop | 1 Comment »

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

Wednesday, December 17th, 2008
tpobpah.jpg //photo by Nicki - Dead Herring This sunshiney New York band released one of my favorite singles last year. Dreamy, jangly pop drowned in fuzz, just like I like it. Draws a lot from the Primitives/C-86/late-80's vibe, kinda hard to imagine this record not involving Archie Moore in some way (from Velocity Girl, Black Tambourine - not the boxer). Perfect fit on the Slumberland label. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Stay Alive

Posted in Distortion, Indie Rock, Pop, Shoegaze | 1 Comment »

Chromatics

Monday, December 15th, 2008
chromatics_pic.jpg Mike Simonetti of Troubleman Unlimited has been keeping busy with his new disco-inspired Italians Do It Better label, releasing that Glass Candy EP I posted about a ways back, and this downtempo disco for the Jazzercise-set LP by Portland's Chromatics. A nice slab of mellow, Moroder/Mancuso inspired dance music that's perfect for long drives. Ian Svenonius put up a good argument for disco being one of America's only true D.I.Y. movements, with the whole "Disco Sucks" rhetoric from the dying days of punk as nothing more than racist backlash to its success and historical revisionism in music, so don't dodge these records on the account of punk-points. Chromatics - Night Drive Chromatics - Running Up That Hill

Posted in Covers, Downtempo, Electronic, Pop | 1 Comment »

Tonite

Thursday, December 11th, 2008


Here is the second installment of the December Tuff Town. Man, I had so much fun last time. It's so cold outside and so warm in there all the time. Here is the thing I wrote last time.. I hate the holidays but I love drinking so things sort of work out in my favor on this one. I love drinking (and playing records) so much in fact that I'll be djing twice with Jay this month. Two Tuff Towns. Two dudes. Two much fun..

Thursday  - December the 11th

Thursday  - December the 18th <-- Tonight!

Seriously though. I love you and it's the holidays and it would be great to see you and try to play your favorite song. Come get a drink and say hi.

TUFF TOWN
at the Attic Bar
24/Mission Street
10pm-2am FREE

Posted in Announcements | No Comments »

Raphael Saadiq

Monday, December 8th, 2008
Raphael Saadiq After Raphael Saadiq's new album The Way I See It dropped a little while ago, I held out on posting it until I could be sure which songs I liked the best. In actuality they are all amazing songs but good editing is key to any blog as I have found out on many occasions. I'm not sure why no one had this idea (or did it correctly) before now. Throwback soul with drum machines and loops combined with contemporary R&B lyricism.. and it works liked peanut butter and jelly. In a day where every R&B singer wants to use a pitch shifter and sound like a fucking robot, my man Raphael goes the opposite direction, puts on some 50's suits and starts sounding like Al Green. I don't want to gush too much, but I've been following him since I heard his previous album Instant Vintage (shit, actually since Tony! Toni! Tone!) and I'm excited to see him take more of a center stage in R&B. I wish D'Angelo was there with him too, but last I heard he was getting clean of cocaine and trying to to fly out of moving cars. Below is a little retrospective from the last couple of albums. "Let's Get Down" may seem a little dated, but that shit was produced by DJ Quik and is guaranteed to make your girl dance her ass off. Raphael Saadiq - Big Easy Raphael Saadiq - Staying In Love Raphael Saadiq - Keep Marchin' Raphael Saadiq - Kelly Ray (Bonus Track) Raphael Saadiq - 100 Yard Dash Bonus: Raphael Saadiq - Doing What I Can Raphael Saadiq - Be Here Raphael Saadiq - Faithful Throwback Bonus: Tony! Toni! Tone! - Let's Get Down

Posted in Hip Hop, R&B, Soul | 2 Comments »

Antony And The Johnsons

Friday, December 5th, 2008
antony_and_the_johnsons.jpg Lou Reed claims when he first heard Antony singing he heard the voice of God. Lou has a long history of saying stupid shit but I'm going to agree with him here. Antony dropped a new slab of wax, the Another World EP, a month or so ago, offering up a handful of the heart-string-tugging piano ballads you'd expect and then this gritty little stripped down soul jam that was a complete surprise. After being tortured with top 40 radio's obsession with vocal masterbation ala Beyoncé, Mariah, etc. (R&B's version of the hair-metal guitar solo), I love hearing this portly, fragile, gender confused ballad singer tear loose like this. The drums coming in half-way through, the skronky sax and the monotoned back-up singing mixed with Antony's restrained-to-riffing vocals are a nice tip-of-the-hat to some of my favorite soul singles. Antony And The Johnsons - Shake That Devil EDIT: I couldn't let this post go by without adding my two favorite songs of his from previous records.. (-jp) Antony And The Johnsons - The Lake Antony And The Johnsons - Hope There's Someone

Posted in Downtempo, Indie Rock, R&B | No Comments »

Mission Of Burma

Thursday, December 4th, 2008
Mission Of Burma I don't know what to say about these songs anymore. You probably already knew they were good and if you didn't before, now you do. Mission of Burma doesn't need anymore write ups, especially from a blog. This amazing record popped up the other day and it made me want to post it.. end of story. By the way, have you ever heard the R.E.M. version? Mission Of Burma - Academy Fight Song

Posted in Rock | No Comments »

« Previous Entries