Thurston Moore's Music Advice and Wixel's Youth Covers

via Nylon TV
More "Youth" matter's, two glorious instrumental cover's of Sonic Youth classics by a Belgium three piece called Wixel.

Wixel - Snare Girl.mp3
Wixel - Schizophrenia.mp3

Lucky Dragons live at the Joy Gallery

This is going to be an interesting night. They last album is banging, I just wonder how much is going to be live and how much is a going to be a computer backing track. It seems like most show I go to its some dude doing very little over a computer track, tres boring well unless your David Kitt or Y.A.C.H.T.. Anyways here's two kickers from Lucky Dragons 21 strong album “Dream Island Laughing Language” LP .
Lucky Dragons - Givers.mp3
Lucky Dragons - I Keep Waiting For Earthquakes.mp3
For more info on this show go HERE.
To view a super funny review of said album by "Nick Thinks" go Here.

A Faulty Chromosome's Chicago-Centric Childhood (in mixtape form)

A friend send me your very nice "things i fell in love with" post about my album and -- even though I have been periodically working on a mix for you, it kept getting bumped lower and lower on my 'things-to-do list.' But today I managed to somehow pull it together and finish. It's sort of strange, but you had said something about wondering what I listened to, so wonder no more:

Hi. My name is Eric and "a faulty chromosome" is what I named the band that I make all the music for (on account of people always asking me if I was retarded).
When I say that I am in a band, people often ask a variation of this question:
"What kind of music do you play / what are your influences?"
Personally, I always seem to struggle with this answer, as I like to be thorough with my explanations because -- if I don't do this -- I'm merely presenting a rushed response so as not to inconvenience the question-asker. But many people are quickly bored (most don't like being subjected to long-winded stories nearly as much as I do) and just want as easily digestible and obvious of a reply as possible, and then move on. Like:
Lazy reply: "It sounds like New Order mixed with My Bloody Valentine?
Even lazier question-asker: "Oh, I've heard of those bands. Got it. What's for dinner?"
But you see, if someone can accurately and precisely explain what my songs sound like by merely listing a few well-known bands, then I feel as though I am a failure, and am making redundant and mediocre music, and should not keep wasting mine (and everyone else's) time. If every second of every song doesn't somehow express something uniquely specific to me and who I am and what I am trying to convey (at the very least, to me, as well as whoever might feel brave enough to take the time to really study it), then I suck.
So I present to you, a compacted chronological view of my musical memories from 1980-1999; a time spent living in the exact same bedroom in the most dilapidated house in my specific suburban neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois USA (though I do not know how well it will translate, as others I have played it for seem confused or unaffected by songs that resonate so strongly for me, but here it is anyway, it all it's lo-fi cassette-quality crappiness!).
-------------------
Harry Caray (feat. 35,000 cubs fans) - Take Me Out To The Ballgame.

I was 4 when I went to my first baseball game and I still remember getting goosebumps in the 7th inning singing along with that many people. It's also one of the rare times in life where you can make eye contact with absolutely anyone near you and they will smile and not look at the ground (granted, most of them are drunk, but still, it's a wonderful and fairly rare thing in America).
Sun Ra and the Nu-sounds - Chicago USA. Driving in the car with my mother essentially guaranteed that you -- the passenger -- would be subjected to some of the most shameful attempts at "music" ever imaginable: Contemporary Christian Rock. Nearly alll other music was of the devil. But somehow, I managed to convince her to let me listen to jazz.

The Chicago Bears Shufflin' Crew -- The Super Bowl Shuffle.

This was the first record I ever bought (at Kmart, I believe?). I was five years old. I would flail around in the living room breakdancing/rapping along over and over (and oh, that air-saxophone solo!) every single day for years. When a swear is said, the referee blows a whistle, but my mom would still insist on turning the volume down anyway.
Mr. T - Treat your mother right.

Mr. T was a very big deal in my childhood. He was a local hero, and I still have a picture of me in my A-team pajamas looking very, very terrified as he has his giant hand on my shoulder when my sister and I met him at our local mall. I enjoy songs with a positive message, rather than wallowing in sadness or seething in anger.
Ministry - Everyday Is Halloween.

I first heard this song at a christmas-themed amusement park called "Santa's village" and it (specifically the "oom bop oom bop bop" part) stayed with me for years until i finally found out who it was. They became absolutely huge in middle school, and all the cool, tough kids wore black ministry (or metallica, or slayer) shirts every day (not me, I was not cool, but my 7th grade girlfriend would call me and play Psalm 69 over the phone). I didn't understand why he was from Chicago, dressed like a vampire, and sang like he was British though?
Maniac Mansion theme song for NES.

A large portion of childhood was spent playing nintendo. To think that those songs looping incessantly didn't somehow effect how I listened to music is crazy (note: this was not from chicago, though I certainly played it there).
Big black - Heartbeat.

I first heard this from my friend's older brother (I think it was 4th grade?). I remember seeing a picture of Steve Albini and thinking how weird it was for a nerdy looking guy to sound so dark and angry (it's probably worth noting here that -- by this time -- I'd begun to hide cassettes I dubbed from friends and the public library underneath the Michael Jordan posters on the ceiling in my bedroom).
DJ Funk - Fine Ass Pussy.
A different friend's older brother would PUMP this in his brand new Mustang (which he wrapped around a tree with me in the back seat one night when he was showing off speeding in the snow). I loved the beats and the simplicity of it all, but it made me sort of uncomfortable to think about this thing called "pussy" though.

Wesley Willis - Rock 'n Roll McDonalds.
A 300 lb. schizophrenic guy who almost always would ask for you to headbutt him when you made eye contact with him at a show (I did it once. I was little. It was scary). There was something horribly amazing about how awful it all was. About how he could sing/speak whatever he wanted over a pre-programmed casio beat and it was still beautiful (also, I have fond memories of going to birthday parties at Rock and Roll McDonalds when I was young). I also began to run gameboy headphones in the sleeve of my jacket in order to listen to music all day during school.
Smoking Popes - Let's hear it for love.
After getting my junior high heart broken, it was nice to hear that nerdy guys from the suburbs weren't afraid to sing about how stupid love was in a sincere way. It was around here that I began to write lyrics to melodies I would hum in my head instead of paying attention in history class.
Screeching weasel - Hey suburbia!
Once I started high school, I began to hang out with the punk kids (though I was never fully accepted because I didn't want to wear a leather jacket or dye my hair or smoke or swear or be mad and hate everything). But it became very real that I too could start a band when I saw that their first album had a drawing of the 711 blocks away from my house. Not New York. Not La. Not London. Prospect Heights. I bought a guitar. My mother cried because she thought I would begin to worship satan. I tried to learn it right-handed, but I couldn't get it to work. I thought I'd never learn.
The eclectics - Bitch.
At this point, friends began getting their driver's licences, and -- even though I was afraid I was going to get beat up in a mosh pit -- I began to go to shows pretty much every weekend: in people's basements, at bowling alleys, and anywhere with some sort of electrical outlet. Ska was fun because you could dance and flop around and you didn't need any skill, but very limited in that -- for a genre based on supposed unity -- there sure were an awful lot of fights.
Cap'n Jazz - Forget Who We Are.

By this time, I had joined a punk band and then gotten kicked out because the lyrics I wrote were too depressing (that band would subsequently/embarrassingly turn into pretty-boy emo band afterwards). Cap'n Jazz were a band of average-looking kids from down the street in the suburbs that made me feel slightly less crazy for attempting to make noisy and confusing music with really well-written lyrics about trying to understand life and not pandering to what was currently safe and popular.
Wolfie - (title unknown?).
Although I could easily scream in a punk band, I can barely sing (I have no range to speak of, and my projection skills are far better suited for movie theatres! awful joke. sorry), so the idea of making pop songs seemed unlikely. But twee gave me the gift of not having to worry about that, and focus on the joy of singing songs no matter how off-key I was.
Lake Of Dracula - Plague Of Frogs.
Finding no wave was a musical miracle for me, as finding a proper way to make my guitar sound as confused and frustrated as I felt had always been a bit difficult for me, but there it was, all jaggedy and squelchy (also, it helped that I finally figured out that I was much better playing left-handed guitar, so I began to write my own songs).
Magas - Pocket Racers.
Feeling absolutely hopeless that I'd ever be able to put together a proper band, I decided to purchase the cheapest drum machine I could find (mind you, this was 1998, and laptops were still far away from being the portable studios that they are today). At the very least, I could have concerts for myself in my bedroom, right?
(And then my parents divorced and sold our house, so I packed up my car and waved goodbye to the windy city)

Download A Faulty Chromosome's super sweet "Chicago-Centric Childhood (in mixtape form)"

Thanks Eric, it was well worth the wait.

Gamelan Gong

I picked up Sprigs Of Time 78s From The EMI Archive from Honest Jons Records here. A joyous collection of gems recorded by EMI between 1903 and 1957 from Tokyo to Constantinople, Baghdad to Bali, New York to Uganda. Here's one of the tracks uncovered by one of britian most intriguing labels, Honest Jon. Oh watch the live video of Balinese gamelan music Gamelan Gong, it's like a unhear Reily or Reich track. this is why youtube can be so good.

Gamelan Gong - Lagu Kebiar.mp3

V. A. - Songs For Ireland 2008

Here's fifteen songs by fifteen Irish artists and groups that tickled my fancy that you might have missed this year. Oh I read that the Irish equivalent of the nonmerit and frankly who cares Mercury Awards (Choice Music Prize) revealed their nominations yesterday. Surprise, surprise none of eight acts featured here, that released a long player this year are in the running but hey what do I know.
Here's the tracklist:

01 IXCHEL - Clockwork Castles
Epic and ethereal song that I include in the Virtual 7" series I start. Barry and Tim spent their summer up in Portland hang out with Valet, Yellow Swans, White Rainbox and Bradford Cox. At least there are a couple of folks out there that know the wonder of their debut "Dreaming Of"LP. Get IXCHEL's virtual 7" Here.


02 Hulk - We The Burning Night
Elegant opener from Hulk's new album. He was one time member of the amazing The Plague Monkeys and his follow up to "Silver Thread of Ghosts" is just as glacier and roaming. Zithers and bowed bits and bobs shoe stringing together in a land slide that pulls and pushes you in different directions with every listen. Available on Dublin's fine Osaka Records.


03 On Platinum Rays - Sunken Foal
More electronic sweetness with large dollups of organic instruments. This time by Limerick's Sunken Foal who was it happens is playing tonight with Somadrome in whelan. His rightous debut album is out on Planet Mu.


04 Hunter-Gatherer - Snow-globe
Another artist that was featured in that Virtual 7" series, he's efford is available HERE. This track is just as icey as the Hulk song, but more remote and synthetic, great stuff though.


05 Engine Room Orchestra - Proximity
A myspace find, Engine Room Orchestra is the music musings of Brian Flynn. Orchestral hints of Moondog ricoshades in your headphones on this punch punch ditty.


06 Rollers/Sparkers - C.I.E. Action Figures
Oh such a fun and still engrossing record, "Hames" is LP no.2 from Ireland primeir hynotic kings Rollers/Sparkers, total underrated like alot of acts in this list. Available on the always good Lazy Bird Records.


07 Storkboy Choons & Colours Move - Anchorage
Stunning track from Storkboy Choons & Colours Move's wonderful LP made available free by Analogue Magazine Here. You got to put your hands together for Analogue Magazine, they are really leading the way in music publications in our wee island, and two excellent release under their belt which features five of the bands in this list. This track is my new "Lambic 9 Poetry", up up we go song, head spinningly good.


08 Sarsparilla - Over Sexed
Opener of his slick, free ep "Day Rider" get it HERE. "Oh no he didn't" street groove and a sample from the "The Last Dragon". Sarsparilla has got the Midas Touch, check out his debut album 'KARAHEE' if you haven't already, top notch stuff.


09 Supernova Scotia - Capogg
Electro pop sweetness from Kilkenny's Supernova Scotia. This song feature on Analogue mag's free "Peek: Irish Underground" vinyl/cd. Bursting pop goodness with killer synth lines all over it.


10 The Booklovers - She Says
I posted a cover they did of "And Then He Kissed Me" a while back which is twee pop brillance. This song is just as shambolic and sweet and a Stylophone hook that will make you hop bop like a buckfizz skittles induced gittiness.


11 Katie Kim - Heavy Lighting
Forget her song "Radio", it's too Gemma Hayes coping for me anyways, but with this moody, broody track for Waterford's Katie Kim, she as found a sound what is far less a homage and more a statement on entent. Musically it's thunderous and full of woe like the heavier Will Oldams. I'm looking forward in picking up a copy if her "Twelve" LP.


12 Patrick Kelleher - Windertimes Doll
Like a killer's confession with phasing violins from all sides that builds and builds, eventually collapsing with a sharp pin drop din. Patrick Kelleher's "You Look Cold" EP was wonderous listen and will be getting stetched out to a full LP and a proper release in the coming months on Osaka Records. It should be a big year of Mr Kelleher.


13 The Jimmy Cake - Haunted Candle
Spectre & Crown' is as good as their debut and thats saying something, as I still protest that their deleated "Brains" LP is better than anything Godspeed released.


14 Chequerboard - Skating Couple
Another Lazy Bird release. On paper he is Ireland's Juana Molina, both are graphic artist, both are dap hands at the loop pedals and both use the same axe to carve their tunes out with, the noble Spanish guitar. But musical they are quite different, Molina is the rave to Chequerboard campfire gathering but his "Black Penny" LP is just accomplished as Juana Molina last effort. This track, "Skating Couple" as the title suggests, swirls and skids effordlessly flowing further and further up.


15 The Bear People - Static
Stratosphering guitar soundscape from Waterford's The Bear People. It remind me of this scene in Twin Peaks "Fire Walk With Me". I would kill for a live outing, but the man just won't do one, "Come on, come on, come on."

You can get his delish Virtual 7" Here.

Thats it, hope you enjoyed what folks on our wee island have put out in the last 12 months.

Download V. A. - Songs For Ireland 2008

h**p://www.mediafire.com/?m1bixx2zmgm

Replace ** for tt

Sonic Warrior Previews Two New Tracks Live

Snookered

Surprise Stefani

With Ponytail's drummer, So Percussion and others helping out.
Via Pitchfork TV

Taxi Cab Confessions

Things I Fell In Love With Last Year: AU - Verbs (2008)

I spend the summer with one mp3 disc in my walkman, and I never got past the first two albums cycling around our "dirty old town". The two albums in question were A Faulty Chromosome's As An Anorexic's Six Sicks Exit and Portland AU and their orchestral soaring odyssey "Verbs". Its minimal but yet burst with energy, it ebbs and flows from gentle wanderlust guitar to a forrest roar of twenty strong choir (featuring members of Yellow Swans and Parenthetical Girls). Its understated but hypnotic like all my favourite Moondog pieces. Luke Wyland has made an album that I don't think will sound dated in ten,twenty or fifty years time, which can't be said about the majority of the highly praised albums that came out last year, if any.

AU - RR vs. D from Rainbow Dropshadow on Vimeo.

AU - Are Animals.mp3

Buy it HERE or in Europe buy it HERE.

AU are playing Europe in the end of April and May, no Irish shows yet,
If any one has the means to bring them over contract their EU booking
at "MARIE@JULIETIPPEX.COM"
Shit, if no one does maybe Ill get them to play in my concrete box shed.

Adrian Gurvitz - Classic

Tonight

Estel
Das Wanderlust
Cian Nugent

&


B12 Shot

Attention Bebe
Sixfoot Apprentice
Maryjane

Denis Lavant Doing What He Does Best

The clip is take from Clare Denis's Beau Travail. A wonderful hypnotic film about the break down of one man in the france Foreign Legion. Go HERE for a vid with UNKLE and for two with director Leos Carax go HERE and HERE.
Also here's a killer track from Beau Travail OST which was orginally on Neil Young's 1994 album Sleeps With Angels. Radiohead's Talk Show Host was carved from the same burnt lump of wood as this haunting desert song.

Neil Young - Safeway Cart.mp3