The Supremes are one of the many influential Motown acts to come out of the Motor City

City Sounds goes to the Motor City this week to listen to some of it’s native sounds.

Detroit is known mainly for it’s automobile industry, but a close second would be Motown.  As the birthplace of Motown Records, Detroit provided the world with one of the most important musical genres of all time. An influence to almost every other musical genre following it’s dominance, Motown and it’s notoriety still stand as the ideal for popular music.

Artists like Smokey Robinson, The Supremes, and Stevie Wonder topped the charts with hit after hit after hit, and it set a new standard for pop.  Motown reigned supreme (some pun intended) through the ’60s and into part of the ’80s. Even though the hits have dwindled in quantity, the quality of music is still heard around the world.

Motown put Detroit on the map, but it wasn’t the only source of great music.  Detroit also had it’s moments during the garage rock revival in the early 2000s with bands like The White Stripes, The Von Bondies and Electric Six.  It also presented the world with arguably one of the most influential rappers of all time, Eminem.

There’s plenty of great music from Detroit that will all be covered on Monday, November 23, from 11pm-1am on WERW. Tune in and listen up!

– Kyle Kuchta

Since E6’s new album ‘Kill’ hasn’t been released in Kiwiland yet (I’m waiting on the phone call), I’ve been reminiscing.

Here’s the classic ‘Danger! High Voltage’ as performed on Live With Jules Holland.

Electric Six always have been hedonistic.

The classic albums ‘Fire’ and ‘Senor Smoke’ were defined by their free-for-all fun. Not every track was a hit, but that was the point. They were albums made on month-long benders, or so they sounded. But there was craft too, in the less sloppy moments cut with wit (‘Gay Bar’ for instance).

Then along came ‘Switzerland’ and I lost faith. Overall, their sound became too considered, really.

Now, a couple of albums later and we have ‘Kill’ – and the single ‘Body Shot’. The track is genre-cheating, sleazed-out porn rock. The kind of thing they do best, but which they also overly depend upon.

The video is an explosion of crassness, as though the distinct but subtly played sleaze of ‘Danger! High Voltage’ has been exponentially and uncontrollably exploded away from. But, my! how wonderfully it achieves its crassness.

It might just be enough to win me back.

Hello once again good people of blogworld. I felt that it was about time I posted again as it’s been nearly a month, my excuse if you’re interested is that I started a new job just about a month ago and I have been just a little busy. But enough of that and on with the post!

Have you read in the press about the celebrations accompanying the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall? I can’t believe that it was 20 years ago, can you? Anyway part of the celebrations involved a concert near the site of the old east-west barrier which included a twenty minute set from U2. The whole shebang was promoted and I believe set up by MTV. I assume that they have some highly paid and highly skilled PR people working for them. Highly paid maybe but highly skilled I doubt very much. Why do I draw this conclusion? Well largely because in their infinite wisdom MTV decided to ensure that the 10,000 ticket holders were going to be the only people that would see the stage. How did they do this? Well they built a wall of course! Did no one see the irony in this? Many German Radio Stations with tickets to give away in competitions sent them back in protest and I must say that I don’t blame them. You can read about it here

Even the combined weight of the giant members of U2 couldn't crush MTV's Berlin Wall

It’s been a while since I last posted any criticism of the banking industry, but now those poor impoverished bankers (apologies I should have started that with a W rather than a B shouldn’t I?) are getting close to their bonus levels of old the time is surely ripe. What I will never understand is how a bunch of people who came close to destroying the whole industry and have caused serious damage to the world economy should be paid any form of bonus? What the f*ck is that all about. Anyway if that wasn’t bad enough it has been brought to my attention that Wall Street Banks Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley have bullied their way to the front of the queue for the swine flu vaccine H1N1. At the same time many health care workers, pregnant women and people at risk are still waiting. Click here to read the story. It used to be said that in the event of a nuclear catastrophe in the world the creatures that would survive and thrive in post apocalyptic times would be rats and cockroaches. I believe that is still essentially true, however I think that bankers should also be added to that list although perhaps they are just rats and cockroaches already! What do you think? OK as I have said many times before that this is essentially a music blog so let me bring so music into it, something relevant to the story of course.

“Rat In Mi Kitchen” – UB40. The band bought their first instruments with £4,000 compensation that former lead singer Ali Campbell received from injuries he received in a bar fight as a 17-year-old. Compensation people, not a bonus ok!

“Reward” – Teardrop Explodes. One of the bands early singles was “Bouncing Babies” which actually had its own tribute song released by the Freshies, “I Can’t Get Bouncing Babies By The Teardrop Explodes“

A banker with swine flu.........'nuff said!

Another story in yesterdays newspaper was about yet another failure in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Cerne. It has just been returned to service after nearly a year out of action and £23 million of repairs following a serious electrical fault in September 2008. The LHC in simple terms is trying to recreate conditions that existed just before the Big Bang that created the universe billions of years ago. The search for the elusive ‘god particle’ was stopped this time by another power cut. How was this caused? Well when an LHC support worker found the source of the outage he found a piece of bread being eaten by a bird! I wonder if the bread was the remains of an LHC workers lunch or was it manna from heaven? I thought I’d include the last comment to placate any creationists that might be reading this, you’re wrong but at least I placated you! You can read the Guardian’s article on this incident by clicking here. I must add that this is also one of the headlines of the year too! Big Bang Goes Phut As Bird Drops Baguette Into Cern Machinery!

This time those boffins at the large hadron collider in Cern had made sure that their plans for a big bang would not be upset by some bird brained idea. Crustice had to be seen to be done

“Danger High Voltage” – Electric Six. A rather excellent song and listen out for the counter point vocal from none other than Jack White off of the White Stripes, Raconteurs and Dead Weather

And finally I simply have to mention ITV’s X Factor, sadly I have been hooked beyond the point where all the no hopers have gone (well except for john and Edward, although more about them later). Finally this week John and Edward (or Jedward as the tabloids have christened them) made it into the bottom two this weekend. I would have expected Simon Cowell to use his casting vote to cast them out, but he chose to put it to the public vote which meant that Lucie Jones leaves the show. I never have had any respect for Louis Walsh but I used to maintain a degree of respect for Mr Cowell. However that has completely gone now. Given the opportunity to rid us of Jedward he copped out, or did he simply want to get rid of the act most likely to beat one of the acts he is mentoring. At this point I really hope that Jedward win the competition, not because I think that they have any talent or deserve to win, but simply because that would mean Mr Cowell would have to give these two walking toilet brushes a £1 million recording contract. Perhaps that would finally kill off awful TV shows like X Factor. Big Brother is dead now let’s kill the X Factor!

John and Edward

Two toilet brushes

Okay, enough stalling guy, let’s do this.

If you couldn’t tell, it’s been nearly six months since my last “now playing” post and, wouldn’t you know it, those are the posts that attract the most folks. I’ve come across some music from throughout the year that I’m just now getting into, so pardon the tardiness of some of the choices.

Zee Avi – Zee Avi

Her website says it all: “Zee Avi is only 23, but she is an old soul.” She’s my pick for adorable album of the year. Jazzy, soulful, and heartfelt, Miss Avi’s style and voice remind me very much of Zooey Deschanel, but there’s this very lounge/old time feel to it that makes it unique. Take this album out on a rainy day (like today), lie down on the floor, and just listen. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did.

Recommended tracks: Bitter Heart, Just You And Me, Kantoi

Deer Tick – Born On Flag Day

2009: The year folk and country reclaimed my heart. Don’t ask me what happened. Maybe it was my constant roadtripping back and forth across the south. Perhaps it was my return home/longing to be back in Texas. Maybe electronica has me a bit worn down and I wanted to get back to music with non-electronic instruments. Whatever the cause may be, Deer Tick is on the top of my favorite country/folk album list so far this list. Hell, this one could take album of the year (well, maybe). The singing style is harsh, but truthful and comforting. It’s heartbreaking and yet it there is that idea of moving on from all your troubles. The instrumentation is rich and beautiful. It ranges from rock ‘n’ roll to classic country, which is wonderful. My only gripe is the mixing on my favorite track of the album, Friday XIII. Whoever decided to pan everything hard left and right leaving nothing in the middle as well as adding heavy reverb to one voice but not the other needs to be punished. It’s annoying as hell and hurts an amazing track. Regardless, this is an amazing album.

Recommended tracks: Easy, Straight Into A Storm, Friday XIII

The Dutchess & The Duke – Sunset/Sunrise

With folk taking over, I tend to search out acts with guy/girl vocals. I came across The Dutchess & The Duke looking up free mp3s around the net and instantly went to buy the album (buying albums, on a side note, is odd now that I don’t work at SCAD Radio). This album definitely has a retro sixties feel to it and I love it all the more. It’s a fairly mellow venture, making it a good listen at, well, the sunset. The title track shines through in the middle of the album as the finest track, which sounds like it’s straight from a sixties flick. They’re a talented group and I look forward to much more from them.

Recommended tracks: Scorpio, Sunrise/Sunset, New Shadow

The Postmarks – Memoirs At The End Of The World

This is the Postmarks’ second original album (their actual sophomore album being an album of covers) and this band blows me away. Like The Dutchess & The Duke, The Postmarks channel a sixties musical vibe, but in a completely different style. Think epic Italian cinema or James Bond instrumentation, but add the album’s theme of, obviously, the end of the world. This is just music nerdlery mixed in with pop sensibility and I cannot help but love it. The group’s lead singer, Tim Yehezkely (yes, she’s a girl), is beyond charming in the album and shines throughout the entirety of the recording. The production value is wonderful, the instrumentation is epic, and the final product is incredible. I need to hunt this down on vinyl.

Recommended tracks: My Lucky Charm, For Better…Or Worse?, Gone

Electric Six - Kill

What can I really say about Electric Six that hasn’t already been said before? Dick Valentine and the boys are up to their old tricks, whipping out electric disco rock overflowing with dramatic, humorous lyrics. I still can’t get over the phrase “…your Jack & Coke eyes” in the second track, Waste of Time and Money. And the opening track, Body Shot? I don’t have one complaint about the song. My friends and I learned the cues of when to shout during the song when we saw them live just one week after the album’s drop. It’s goofy and just fun, live it up.

Recommended tracks: Body Shot, Waste of Time and Money, The Newark Airport Boogie

Okay, so that’s it for now. Not really, but I figure if I keep these things down to five albums each time, I’ll be pushed to make them more often. We’ll see. Next time: Mariachi el Bronx, Pomplamoose Music, and much more!

Cheers.

I got an A+ on today’s precal quiz!

It brought my grade up to a C-.  I outly several bell curves, there.  It was on long division with polynomials and involved one simple proof, several simple procedures, and one long problem to which I administered patience.

Struggling with the work.  I am chipper.  I’ve started sleeping with my guitar again.  Señor Smoke and I are besties, even though it makes me feel stupid.  Boy or Girl? isn’t their best song, but it makes me feel less guilty about indulging in rock-and-roll machismo.  MELcat needs Tribe 8, Bikini Kill. I took out Angry Women in Rock and read about Tribe 8 – super interesting band.  I’d love to see them come to the cool out here.

The big bad thing that happened today was I fucked up getting a letter of recommendation.  I asked if I could proofread the cool art teacher’s letter, because some parts of it were a little messy.  And I asked tactlessly, and today she told me off and I deserved it.  She was pallid, and I went off and cried.  I love her so much.  She’s really the only teacher at the high school I bonded with – she isn’t uptight, and I’m good at what she teaches.  I need to quit giving her a hard time.  Resolved, henceforth.

If there’s an official video for this song, I don’t want to see it – this is too good:

Oh my dear lord:

This unofficial video officially rocks (especially at 4:32):

I just jammed in my shorts:

I’m totally filled with hate now:

file this under Chuck Norris

Electric Six

w/ The Gay Blades and Millions of Brazilians

18 & up. Doors open at 7:00PM, show starts at 10:00PM.

Seneler önce Zalgradis’in bir videosunda dinlemiştim. Bugün bir arkadaş başka şarkılarını yollayınca aklıma geldi.

Antville has a list of the 101 best music videos of the 2000s, and the list is fairly canonical. I recommend a look.

I would, however, like to point out five of the best videos not included on Antville’s somewhat limited list…

M83 – Don’t Save Us From the Flames: A sweet unrequited high school love story with a great tune, plus girl on bike meets dream boy on bike in ghost outfits! Come on, don’t pretend like you didn’t enjoy it.

Juvenile – Get Ya Hustle On: Post-Katrina, Juvenile’s drug rap seems somehow anachronistic, but the video itself highlights the relevance of the genre. The rather blunt political imagery — marching street thugs in Cheney and Bush masks, a rims-clad Escalade towed by horses — has nothing on the stark image of a man amidst the rubble holding a sign: “STILL HERE.” Katrina changed everything, and nothing.

Kanye West – Throw Some D’s (remix): Kanye’s old ass cousin? Stripping sign-language translator? Spirit fingers for Alicia Keys? “That just happened.”

Electric Six – Gay Bar: OK, it’s a gimmick. But how could you go wrong with Abraham Lincoln(s) in various states of undress? Also, bonus points for bleeping out “war” and “nuclear war.”

E-40 – Tell Me When To Go: This Face alone would have sold me on this video, but everything about it screams the do-it-yourself amateur joy of hyphy. I love how E-40 has just the right amount of nonchalance to carry this video; he vaguely acknowledges the camera, but on the whole, it’s clear that he is enjoying himself behind that smirk. Hip-hop had suffered from a downer phase, before the ignorant bliss of hyphy brought it back. Then Soulja Boy and Auto-Tune had to come ruin things…

1. Body Shot
2. Waste Of Time And Money
3. Egyptian Cowboy
4. Escape From Ohio
5. Rubbin’Me The Wrong Way
6. One Sick Puppy
7. Steal Your Bones
8. My Idea Of Fun
9. I Belong In A Factory
10. The Newark Airport Boogie
11. Simulated Love
12. You’re Bored
13. White Eyes

Myspace

Music log: Stardate 10-20-09 it was a slow week for releases but there are some shinning stars in the murky abyss.  Here they are:

Electric Six – Kill [A ridiculous dance rock party in your ear]

Flight of the Conchords  - I Told You I Was Freaky [I imagine this is exactly what you expect]

Florence and the Machine – Lungs [I am not sure if this is good or bad but I bought it and I will know soon enough]*

Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport [The name says it all]

Sufjan Stevens – The BQE [An orchestral album commemorating a bridge? I'm in (And it comes with a Viewmaster slide!!]*

Well there ya have it kiddos another week, another shipment from amazon!

–Ben

Here are this week’s new music releases:

Brett Anderson – Slow Attack
Danny Barnes – Pizza Box [MP3 Download Only]
Taylor Barton – Spiritual Gangster [MP3 Download Only]
Bomshel – Fight Like a Girl
Sam Bush – Circles Around Me
Cartel – Cycles
Terri Clark – The Long Way Home
Electric Six – Kill
Flight of the Conchords – I Told You I Was Freaky
Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport
Gwen Stacy – A Dialogue
Ivan & Alyosha – The Verse, The Chorus [MP3 Download Only]
Kings of Convenience – Declaration Of Dependence
Kutless – It Is Well
Maps – Turning The Mind
Tim McGraw – Southern Voice
Loreena McKennitt – A Mediterranean Odyssey
Josh Ottum – Like The Season
Sandi Patty – Sandi Patty Christmas Live [CD/DVD]
Rammstein – Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da
Jon Reep – Metro Jethro [CD/DVD]
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson – Summer Of Fear
Russian Circles – Geneva
Timothy B. Schmit – Expando
SOiL – Picture Perfect
Spiral Stairs – The Real Feel
Kristina Train – Spilt Milk

Tja, was soll man dazu sagen. Ein Paar, das leicht gealtert und ein bisschen schmierig aussieht, sitzen in ihrem Herrenhaus und performen das Lied. Jedesmal wenn im Refrain “High Voltage” gesungen wird, glüht beim Mann der Schritt und bei der Frau glühen die Brüste. Das ganze endet in einem wilden Rumgeknutsche, dass mehr als verstörend ist. Sehr schön ist auch, dass dem Elch auf dem die beiden zeitweise sitzen, ebenfalls die Genitalien leuchten. Das ist Liebe zum Detail!

Der Song ist recht bekannt geworden, da er auf dem Soundtrack von Drei Engel für Chalrie – Volle Power (also Teil 2, wer macht solche Titel) enthalten war. Daher kenne ich ihn auch. Die Band macht eigentlich nur solche Songs, mit einer Pop/Rock mischung und sexuellen Andeutungen in den Texten. Ein weiteres Video ist “Gay Bar”, wo man diverse schwule Abraham Lincolns im Weißen Haus sieht. Auch eher ein Kandidat für schräge Music Videos, aber einmal Elctric Six bei 10 Videos reicht!

Stay tuned for #8

Electric Six was always a weird band but the video for their new song ‘Body Shot’ takes the crown for strangest music video ever. It’s fully fucked but also fully amazing at the same time. Tit mountains and granny strippers galore.

The song is still shit though.

Oh Yeah the video is probably NSFW

Por: Lourdes Maldonado (Editora Asociada)
PSN ID: Lulusoy

¿No es "Ironic" que Lourdes regresa cuando sale mi canción en Rock Band?

¡Hola gente! Estoy de vuelta y vengo con mucho ánimo. ¿Díganme, me extrañaron? Bueno pues yo sí los extrañé. Por si no lo sabían, fui víctima de “YLOD” así que estuve de luto por varias semanas. Terminé comprándome un PS3 Slim. Bajar todas mis canciones y DLC al nuevo PS3 tampoco ha sido tarea fácil pues mi conexión de Internet parece no ser el mejor del mundo, pero aquí estoy de vuelta y con muchas ganas de “rockear”.

Esta semana salen 9 canciones (DLC) para Rock Band. Las bandas son: Alanis Morissette, Electric Six, Flotbot y The Raconteurs. Empezaremos hablando de Alanis, original de Canadá y considerada como una de las artistas de mayor venta en la historia. Es canta-autora, actriz y productora. Nos trae esta semana dos de sus más conocidas canciones: Head Over Feet e Ironic. Ya había salido en RB2, You Ought to Know, todas del mismo disco.

Por otra parte la banda Electric Six nos trae: Dance Epidemic, Gay Bar, y la canción I Don Like You. Electric Six es una banda activa americana de rock alternivo conocida por su éxito Danger High Voltage, pero esta canción no está disponible en RB. Quién sabe, quizás más adelante estará disponible. A mí personalmente no me gustaron ninguna de sus canciones. Y que me dicen de Flotbot? Lo conocen? Otra banda americana de rock alternativo y hip-hop formada para el año 2000. La canción que nos traen es Handlebars, tampoco recomendada por mí. Por último tenemos The Raconteurs, la cual es otra banda americana nueva del 2005 y nueva en RB con 3 canciones: Many Shades of Black, Salute Your Solution y Steady as She Goes, siendo esta última canción la más conocida.

Mi recomendación: las dos canciones de Alanis Morisette. La dificultad mayor en ambas canciones se ve en la batería y en la parte vocal, pero se puede manejar dado que no son imposibles. Yo de seguro las compro. Si no tienen mucho dinero para gastar pues lo mejor es que guarden para octubre 20 que va a salir un paquete de 10 canciones de Queen y el álbum completo de Abbey Road ($16.99) para The Beatles Rock Band y esos sí hay que comprarlos. Y si les parece poco, en noviembre sale Lego Rock Band ($49.99) que también viene con tremendas bandas.

Bonus Track: te hace falta sacar el trofeo de Flawless Singing? Solo necesitas hacer 100% en una canción en modo experto y la mejor canción para hacer esto según los expertos es So Whatcha Want de Beastie Boys de RB2 porque la canción es como hablada. En mi casa funcionó con Testify de Rage Against the Machines. Suerte ahí!

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