ILM Snaphot; A day in the life

I brought each of those records to work as well -- along with "Heart of the Congos," Vic Godard's "What's the Matter Boy?," Francoise Hardy's "Vogue Years," the new Gorky's record, and ILM fave Neutral Milk Hotel.

However, thanks to Ned, I'm wishing I had brought "Sulk"!

Last 24 hours? A split between AMG reviewing work (early Green Day, Green River), Amnesiac and Hot Shots II in anticipation of the show tonight, and Pete Namlook's Air discs to relax in the evening yesterday. Fun fun.

Cujo Adventures in Foam - Not bad for old drum 'n bass, a side project no less. Jim O'Rourke Bad Timing - Pretty, but kind of boring acoustic guitar. Tosca Suzuki - I've overplayed this all year, but its still by far my favorite K&D-related thing. Bows Cassidy - Gorgeous! Best new CD I've heard in a while. Michael J. Sheehy Ill Gotten Gains - Very nice. I kept playing this and the Bows all weekend.

...and Sunday eve:

(Forgot the band name. They're on Bella Union) Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads (Disc 2) - First listen. Kind of a Grandaddy-like grower? But cooler. Troublemakers Doubts and Convictions - Okay downtempo stuff, but not quite worthy of repeat listens. Dakota Suite Signal Hill - Dull. I yanked it about four songs in. Sebastien Tellier (forgot the title) - Damn, I haven't played this since it came out. I'd forgotten how good it is. Comsat Angels Sleep No More - Classic. Seems like an old fave, although I only heard it this year for the first time.

Cyclo.: Cyclo. (track 8 in particular) Cyclo. and Twerk tracks on "Clicks & Cuts 2" (the former makes my stereo shut down at three points in the track; Stillupstepya on "C&C [Music Factory] 1" only managed this once) Wheeler, Holland, Frisell, Konitz: "Past Present" Jean Sibelius: "The Swan of Tuonela" Alice Coltrane: various bits and bobs, went to bed after "Galaxy in Turiya".

Then today I did a bit of mixing on the Akai, none of it very fruitful, but I did manage to make "Happy Face" by Destiny's Child sound like bad gabba.

I did an MD comp in the afternoon for someone who doesn't visit this site, so I'm not spoiling it by revealing that there's Blossom Dearie, New Flesh, Ninotchka, Jim O'Rourke and Wolfgang Voigt on there.

2. Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band-Gorilla. It's the only Bonzo's record I own. What should I get next?

3. Super Furry Animals-Rings Around the World. I love Gruff Rhys voice. Global, groovy, best one since Radiator.

4. A tape I made in 1991. I forgot how great "Teenage Whore" was. And Trompe Le Monde.

5. Power 106 Where Hip Hop Lives-I don't know the names of any of the songs, though.

6. Bowie-Diamond Dogs. Finally saw Cracked Actor last night. I've waited 20 years! It was Bowie Weekend on BBC America. Man, he had some nasty choppers back then. Anyway, I had to listen to "Sweet Thing/Candidate" afterwards, just had to. Such a masterpiece.

7. Handsome Family-In the Air. An eerie way to start my day, but what the hell...

Pulp - "Different Class" In my opinion, the best album to come out of all that Britpop nonsense. Neither Blur or Oasis came close to this.

Scratch Pet Land - "Solo Soli iiii" I really love this. Totally, utterly strange, but in an oddly relaxing way, a pleasent confusion. "N No", though, is just madness.

Weezer - "Weezer" Debut album. The second track is just suberb, with that descending riff that opens and closes the song. I haven't heard either "Pinkerton" or "The Green Album" yet.

Monkees - "Definitive Monkees" 2-CD career retrospective bonanza. How anyone back in the 60's could deride them when they had kick-ass stuff like "Circle Sky" is beyond me.

Superball - "Superball" Five track ultra rare cassette from queens of "aho-core" (idiotcore). Three young girls from Japan without any musical ability or talent at all, randomly bash any instrument they can get their hands on while blankly reciting the Japanese alphabet. And it's fantastic.

That Victoria Beckham thing, can't remember what it's called Passed through me. Can't remember it at all, and I only heard it a couple of minutes ago. The video is awful as well, with her trying to look sexy but just looking clueless.

Ed's Reedeming Qualities - "Bob" Cute, silly song played on fiddle, ukelele and bongos. "Your name is Bob, and there's nothing you can do, the ladies won't go out with you, because your name is Bob.... Bob, it's a name that means Robert, Bob, it's a name you don't want, Bob, it's a name that you have, Bob, if you spell the letters backwards it still spells Bob."

Lots more, but I forget.

Woke up this morning and didn't play anything until after noon, when it was "Super Black Market Clash" which was exactly what I wanted to hear last night but not today. So I farted around with CDs for a little while...I put in "Platinum Breakz" but I just wanted to hear "The Angels Fell" and "This Is Los Angeles" a couple times so that was that...listened to about half of disc one of "The Best Ragga Anthems 2000" before realizing it wasn't what I wanted either...ditto James Brown...settled on "3/5 by Les Savy Fav and actually got all the way through it...then it was a couple spins in a row of "Kid A" while I was cleaning the house...off to the record store, and the car soundtrack was "Moment of Truth" by Gang Starr...picked up "Rough Notes on High Stress" by Computer Cougar and the "Red Hot Car" single by Squarepusher and that was the soundtrack to the ride back home...been watching the Teen Choice awards tonite (don't ask) so it's been um...Eve, Usher, and a bunch of other teen pop favorites so negiligible they haven't even remained in my mind an hour later.

Sally Oldfield - Water Bearer. King Crimson - Three of a Perfect Pair. Chris Hillman - Desert Rose. Gram Parsons - GP. Prince - The Gold Experience. Yes - Tales from Topographic Oceans. Kaoru Abe/Motohary Yoshizawa/Toshinori Kondo/Derek Bailey - Aida's Call. Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun.

Kind of a weird mixture, that.

no music at all for me today, but i just put on godzuki 'your future'.

That's what I listened to, and the Smiths' "Louder Than Bombs" up until track 18. I used to always skip over "Shoplifters" & "These Things Take Time". I listened to them today and really dug them, esp. the latter.

Other than that it's been what's been in the car for weeks...Clifford Brown, Talib Kweli, Erykah Badu, Sonny Sharrock, and Richard Davis. All good stuff.

Oh, and I listened Kid A for the first time in months...it sounds much better than I remember.

soes anyone make the lone power of death seem more bitter then a country ballad ?

soes anyone make the lone power of death seem more bitter then a country ballad ?

As well i am listening to :

Johnny Cash- Dont bring your guns to town The american murder ballad. As powerful and important as anything in Childes
Neko Case - Running out of Fools Clever and Bitter Reproach, a cover which is claimed !
Nikki Sudden - Captain Kennedy The guitars moan, she moans, the drums beat back tears and the lyrics take about futilty and family traditon
Odetta - All the Pretty Horses How to make a lullaby sound like a hymn.

Spacemen 3 - 'Playing With Fire' - I listened to this as I drifted off last night. The more I play it, the more I love it... and I love it a fuck of a lot!

Stooges - 'Funhouse' - I just bought it, so it's still knocking my socks off; a weird thing to listen to first thing in the morning, though, I must say.

Chameleons - 'What Does Anything Mean, Basically?' - I found it! I finally found it! It's not as good as 'Script of the Bridge' or 'Strange Times' (at least as far as I can tell), but it's still great stuff - esp. "Perfume Garden."

Mouse on Mars - 'Vulvaland' - I found it used today... I like it quite quite quite a lot, and I know I'll be spinning it more. Beautiful production, great samples.

Philip Glass - Soundtrack to 'Koyaanisqatsi' - Another used LP I found today. I've seen the flick, and this soundtrack is just confirming something I've felt all along: Philip Glass is kind of wack. Some sample-able parts, though ;-)

Hey, I also got Funkadelic's 'One Nation Under a Groove' used today, and I'm thinking about listening to it next. Either that or Dream Syndicate's 'Days of Wine and Roses' (yet another used LP; it was a good day). What's it gonna be? Help me out!

Small Faces: OK as background, not that thrilling.

Clearing out, reading through (and destroying) old weekly magazines, so nostalgia was in order.

Old compilation featuring Elastica, Pulp et al. Then on to the end of Going Blank Again, then Juliana Hatfield Three (used to be big MM star). All of it is still fun, naturally. Ride's lyrics have not improved with age.

The Cure, Standing On A Beach: took this off after a while.

Glo-Worm / Rolling Stones double whammy. '19th Breakdown Effect'!

+ a couple of country-rock-pop tracks of my own in between. Have heard them too many times now, so - boring!

In Mass.:
Joy Division, Substance
Manics, The Holy Bible
Some Skinny Puppy CD (I forget which one)
Joy Division, Closer
(Apparently it was a very dark day)

On train:
Jay-Z, Vol. 3
Now That's What I Call Music! 7
St. Etienne, Too Young To Die

Once home:
"Wish You Were Here" about 40,000 times. My roommate put it on repeat, it was bizarre

To Clarke -- Funkadelic, if you're still tracking the thread or at a crossroads. And you surely must agree with me that "One Flesh" is of the gods.

Oh, so what, Ned, you're trying to tell me that you think you can tell heaven from hell? WELL YOU CAN'T.

Sorry. I do wish I still had that song in my head though, cos right now what I got in my head is fucking Particle Man by TMBG. I don't even know how it got there.

*Why* did you say this, Pinefox? WHY?

I shall formulate a response later, as too busy now.

Therapy? - Troublegum
Dinosaur Jr - Greenmind, I wanted to feel sad, Thumb usually works but didn't this time around
J Mascis and the Fog - More Light, only listened to the Ammaring
Beach Boys - Live in London
Megadeth - Peace Sells, But Who's Buying?
Beach Boys - 15 Big ones
The Various Artists - Alone in the Robotic Future, my home recordings
Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express
Lotion - The Full Issac, nice sweeping songs with a touch of meloncholy

I think that is all.

All I've listened to is an old The Nation of Ulysses tape and the new A Camp single which I've just bought.

Well, that's us for you, sitting around in Massachusetts, spending our 3-day weekends trying to see who can look more dour and vague- goth and wanky. Everyone has to have a goal.

It just struck me as funny when I posted it, I hadn't realized how very pathetic and 14-year-old my listening selections were that day :)

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - No More Shall We Part

Hudson's Hope - ST I think, its a friend of my ex gf and its surprisingly good as his from a small dinky town in Ontario.

Teenage Fanclub - Songs From Northern Britian

North of America - This is a Dancefloor Numerology, or whatever its called, I just saw it in the store and bought it. It doesnt sound much like there first ep but I like it better then their last album. Though they hve now left behind most of their Pavement influences I still think they sound like Shoot The Plane Down theoreticaly done by a punk band. Spent most of the afternoon listening to that.

Before that, while cooking, I had on Sulk by The Associates, which to my complete astonishment, I am enjoying throughly. I wrote earlier how I couldn't get past Billy Mackenzie's voice, but as I was listening to "18 Carat Love Affair" last night, something mysteriously clicked, and I've become almost obsessive of it since. Funny that after purchasing it one year ago this summer, I am finally getting into the album.

Before that is pretty hazy. I think I had on Madonna's Like A Prayer, an assortment of MP3 tracks, most notably Sisqo's "The Thong Song", which I never cared for until downloading it the other day and really giving it a listen. Yes, my life is as boring as it sounds.

I then went out to eat at a nearby bar/grill and over a plate of nachos heard Patrice Rushen's "Haven't You Heard, a song I'd always been beguiled by but could never remember long enough to do a search on. So when I got back home I downloaded it from AudioGalaxy.com, the best site in the world. First, though, had to wait as a bunch of Angela's (my current and soon-to-be-ex housemate-- I should say benefactor, really, I've been staying here with her for five months now) songs came in first. (This is her computer. Once again, A, thanks for everything.) As this occurred I listened to the first half of Armand; then I played the Rushen song and put on Robert Christgau's show on Village Voice radio--the computer malfunctioned (I had several windows open at once and this isn't the most memory-rich piece of equipment), so I only caught about 25 mintues total. He was playing some Natacha Atlas before it cut out; I came back on at the end of something else Arabic, I know and care not what. Then he ended the show with Fela's "Roforofo Fight", one of Fela's best tracks. (I recently took a job at a record shop and am working around people who say things like "I don't have a favorite Fela song--they're ALL good!" which make me wonder why I bring up mild differentiation around people who aren't also critics and/or ILM contributors. But I digress.)

Back to the review-plate, I listened to AVH in full, chased with the recently-purchased The Secret Tapes of Dr. Eich by Paperclip People (a.k.a. Carl Craig). Tracky and not a great listen, but lots of good tracks sorta made up for it, plus it includes "Throw," one of the best neo-disco records of the '90s. Afterward, I played Sun Ra's "Love in Outer Space," from Somewhere Else, just to clear my head from all the techno. Back to AVH, which I'd now taken extensive notes on and began roughing out a structure, which I'd make hash of later. After AVH was finished, I went to the shelves and decided on Ethiopiques 5: Tigrigna Music 1970-1975, for similarly head-clearing qualities. It worked--except the Mahmoud Ahmed discs, which I find difficult to listen to for more than fifteen or so minutes at a time because the vocals give me a headache, this is easily the most boring volume of the series.

I laid down on the bed for a while during the Ethio and deliberately forgot about the review. When the record was over, I put AVH back on, sat down with an old copy of the magazine I'm writing the review for, and proceeded to type out reviews from it in order to warm myself up to the task at hand. Suddenly, in the middle of the second graf of my second review-retype selection, I hit upon a lead that worked for me, and began writing in earnest. From that point on, I played AVH exclusively while writing--four times in all, plus a couple relistens to particular songs to check lyric quotes and contexts. Finally, I finished the review about a half-hour ago, and after sending it off and puttering around on ILM a bit I began writing this, all to the tune of disc two of Tigerbeat6 Inc., which will go unheard in its entirety (we're on track five now) as it's 6:30am and I'm dead tired.

Hey, I'm touched that I should come to mind! Anyway how was Johnny Hates Jazz in he Emerald Isle? Did they do all the hits?

Today's listening: the pinefox - Rolling Stones' first LP (good old r&b thrills) - B&S LP4 (had to turn off when silly Stevie J started his groaning) - Aztec Camera (too much Soul for me) - Proclaimers (not great but I still love 'Letter From America') - Nat King Cole - Carter Family - 69 Love Songs (just 4 tracks; can't listen to it much anymore, too familiar) - Radio1 (not good) - Violent Femmes (rediscovered after years - surprisingly diverse) - Lloyd Cole, DON'T GET WEIRD ON ME, BABE (aah, at least something I can savour from start to finish; a modern masterpiece).

DAAAAAAAAAAAAAM YOU, now its in my head. This is a fate worse than hell of alot of other things.

so far today(from right now on backwards):

Vitesse -- Chelsea 24087 (whatever)
Exploding Hearts -- Guitar Romantic
Spacemen 3 -- Playing with Fire
Radiohead -- Hail to the Theif
Guided by Voices -- Mag Earwig
The Zambonis -- The Chippy Sessions
Broken Social Scene -- Whatever the new one is called

My thoughts on all these? "God, I hope this gets me thru the day."

So far after arriving home I have loaded up

V/A, Club Classics 1982-84 Vol. 1
Why did I buy this shit? Oh, it has 'It's Yours' by T La Rock on it (first Rick Rubin production on record). Jesus what a crap buy. I hate myself.

V/A, The Original Chicago House Classics
The fact that I can enjoy this compilation at all illustrates the fact that my tolerance for excruciatingly primitive exercises in stupid sampler/909 tricks has not waned since high school. Oh, and it's got the full 12" mix of Mr. Fingers' "Can You Feel It" on here, which makes it completely worthwhile.

Whale, We Care
This is such a brilliant fucking album, I need more shit like this, somebody please make some recommendations. What a great drinking record. Standouts include "I'll Do Ya," "That's Where It's At," and the irrefutably classic "Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe" - in the back of my mind this record always makes me think of how easy it would have been for me to become just a regular weird Southern teenager had I purchased it when it was new, instead of becoming extremely bizarre Southern teenager and getting into Detroit techno and IDM.

* Way too many drum trax yesterday (my band just started recording an EP)
* Sam Prekop solo album as I was falling asleep last night
* This morning at work, a couple songs from DJ Shadow's The Private Press
* Hail to the Thief this afternoon

My thoughts on these: relatively few. Background music for a busy Monday.

Hail to him upthread for listening to Playing With Fire, I think that's next on my boombox!

Getting home last night:
Miles Davis - Sketches Of Spain
Dunno - was just in that kinda mood - didn't listen right the way through, but this is a great record when you're a bit miserable. Cheered me up enough to move on to...

Nas - Illmatic
Probably one of my favourite hip-hop albums of all time. Nas's flows still sound fresh to this day, particularly the line from Halftime: "I set off on my own rhyme, coz I'm ill like a convict who kills for phonetime." Anyway, this helped me get a few more boxes packed for my upcoming house move, leading on to...

Jazzie B Presents Soul II Soul: The Africa Centre
This is a killer CD - the perfect composite Soul II Soul party mixtape. It's out round about now and I love it. Just full of classic, classic records including "specials" from Horace Andy and Shabba Ranks. Nice way to round off the day.

This morning on the way to work:
Dizzee Rascal - Boy In Da Corner
Officially my favourite album of the year - garage-rap at its absolute best... Dizzee's flows are mind-blowing with a maturity and insight that belies his age. And underneath all the bragging and bad-bwoy posing there's an underlying sense of vulnerability, hopefullness and beauty here, too... in these moments (Sitting Here, Brand New Day, Do It) the rhythms flit between fragile, chiming, Ryuichi Sakamoto-style melodies to twitchy electronica that out-IDMs even the most intelligent stuff on Carpark and Morr Music. Then all of a sudden it's gutter garage, good and proper: primordial, swampy, bottom-heavy, headphone-wrecking bass distortion, cavernous empty spaces, clattering top-end riffs and atonal bleeps rising like pockets of air turbulence, all topped off with a hefty dose of scattershot, don't-give-a-fuck MCing... hell there's even a track with operatic vocals (a la dancehall deejay Bucanneer) and rock guitars... Just stunning stuff that I defy anyone not to like.

Muddy Waters- The Anthology (Disc 1)
Flipper- Sex Bomb Baby
Superchunk- Foolish
The Clash- The Clash
my band's demo tape

and three compilations I made this past weekend, one being all music from 1994, the other a punk/postpunk mix, and the other some long epic 70s rock (Can, Traffic, Hendrix, Stooges etc.)

new melt banana lp
von bondies live and rare lp
jeff buckley 'grace; (in the shower)
mars volta, deloused...
honey cone, best of
camp lo, uptown saturday night
uncle tupelo, still feel gone
byrds, younger than yesterday
lotsa shite i got sent that didn't last more than a coupla minutes before hitting the 'to trash' pile
new beyonce/pink singles
finlay album - wicked ragged genius

Are you sure you've not been listening to the new Disinfo record, cause that's all I hear round Joe's... ;-)

Well, for a start, The Man on the Burning Tightrope by Firewater. I've had it for a couple of months, but it was just officially released, so I've been spinning the non-promo version (there is no difference between the two). Beyond that....I think we were listening to William Orbit's disarmingly newagey Pieces in a Modern Style over dinner last night. Prior to that it was Mind Bomb by The The and.....in the interets of settling a debate, we (the wife and I) played the soundtrack to "9 1/2 Weeks" in the interests of hearing the slightly crapariffic John Taylor track ("I Do What I Do"). Oh, and we played the shit out of 1984:For the Love of Big Brother by Eurythmics too (damn, 80's much?)

yesterday morning (well, afternoon, cuz I got up at 2)
Can - Monster Movie
Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime

(went to work, walked home listening to recent 4-track stuff I've done, reaffirming it doesn't suck too bad and it's worthy of showing to friends)

Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime
Sugar Ray - In Pursuit Of Leisure (the first few songs)
Bright Eyes - Lifted (though I didn't listen to the first song or "Waste Of Paint")
Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet

And then this morning I listened to the Damned's "Neat Neat Neat" before realizing I wanted to go downtown and check my e-mail. Since then I've been listening to part of a mixtape that goes:

Kix "The Itch"
Limp Bizkit "Rollin'"
Make-Up "Walking On The Dunes"
Stevie Nicks "Edge Of Seventeen"
Kelly Osbourne "Disconnected"
Pretenders "Precious"
Queen "Dancer"
Rolling Stones "Live With Me"
Smashmouth "Your Man"
Turbonegro "Get It On"
Urge Overkill "Bottle Of Fur"

and that last one is about to end just now....now I sleep alone, ooooh, Now I sleep alooone, ooooh! *church bells*